Traveler

by The Straight Elf

Ash Ketchum has been determined to become the best since he was a toddler. He has his eyes set on a charmander, but a twist of fate led him to the humble Nidoran. Note: Mix between anime and the games.

43. Chapter 43: The Dream

The inky blackness swallowing him whole seemed to go on for an infinity. Ash wasn't sure how long he'd been walking – all he knew was that he'd given up on running after his lungs began to feel as if he was sucking in hot cinders every step. Occasionally he thought he heard the scuffle of one of his friends, or a low rumble in the distance (from behind or ahead, who knew?) and sometimes Ash swore he heard a keening chorus all around him singing to some otherworldly tune. It nagged at him, like he should recognize it but could never quite place it.

Ash grimaced as he kept his pace. His legs felt like they were filled with lead. It wasn't painful yet, but it was plenty uncomfortable. Throw in the disorientation of the Hale Mansion's huge interior – he knew for a fact that it wasn't a tenth of this size – and frustration began to mount.

He rubbed his arms as he forced his way through the darkness. There was no indication of how much time had passed. A minute? An hour? Without his senses Ash found it impossible to tell. It was like he'd been suspended in outer space. Perhaps even worse. At least in space there would be the light of the stars to navigate.

All he knew was that he had to keep going. There was no use stopping and complaining – white-hot fury flashed as he nearly stumbled over his own feet. Ash knew there wasn't anything he could have tripped on and he glared out into the darkness, desperately wishing whatever Legendary owned this place would stop these games.

There was something wrong here. Ash wasn't sure what it could be beyond the obvious…the obvious being the silent, blank void he was in. That definitely wasn't here the last time he'd visited Uncle Spencer. But something brushed at the edge of his senses. It was ill defined and little more than a vague pull of intuition, but it was enough to alert Ash that another force was acting on him.

He tried to hone in on the feeling over time, but it was like trying to catch smoke with his bare hands. Or looking at an eye floater. Whenever he got close it just slid away and began the process all over again.

Ash growled. This was ridiculous. And it wasn't helping that every step was getting harder and harder. His breaths were labored, like he'd just finished racing against Steven. What was this? His bones ached with every twitch and he found himself exhausted after just a few more minutes (or was it seconds?) of walking through the darkness.

If only he could find his team…Bruiser would be a great help, and even though Infernus' light and heat had been swallowed up in this abyss he'd find comfort in the Magmortar's presence. Plume might not be able to help carry him, but at least he'd have someone here. Try as he might he just couldn't seem to find them no matter what direction he swayed or reached. It didn't make sense that Infernus' heat was undetectable, but sense had left this place long ago.

The boy rubbed at his legs, gasping as the weight redoubled. He wasn't strong enough to move for long if this kept up…

He steeled himself as the blackness brushed against him again – this time he barely remained standing and had to brace himself against his legs. What was happening?

It gradually swung at him again, and Ash groaned as the sensation started to overpower him – it felt like his bones would rip from his skin if this kept up. There was a painful tug at his teeth, like the strange force weighing down and exhausting him was about to yank them from their sockets. Ash ignored the little trickle of worry and wheezed, grasping madly for the Feather – he needed it right now.

The Feather was dead and lifeless in his hands.

Ash snarled helplessly as it laid inert against his hand, the fine obsidian frame refusing to respond to him. There was power there, he knew it! Power to get him out of this, to dispel whatever effect this was…power to help him win!

It thrummed in the void, glowing with a light again with sparks shaking onto his chest and melding happily with him and little threads of electricity winding its way into his skin, but it didn't bless him with the strength of Fire or the focus of Lightning. The dark power Sneasel injected into him had stolen its strength away for a time…

He grit his teeth as the pressure redoubled, finally forcing him to his knees. Ash groaned as it nearly drove him to the floor (what was he even standing on?) and something in his body threatened to give. Panic, another desperate grab for the Feather's aid, and nothing.

Ash refused to give into the force. He stayed where he was, mind intent only on reaching and reaching and grasping the power so close to where he was. He knew it, knew it could fuel him for as long as he needed. There was only that damn trickle right now but if he could just find it –

Something gave. It wasn't his body. Ash couldn't even scream as the Feather ignited, all the latent power regenerated after Sneasel's touch flooding him in an instant – Fire boiled his blood, forced his muscles into action. Lightning jolted him and for a dreadful moment he feared his heart stopped, but then the seizure hit. Ice numbed him, deadening him to everything except the hot burning inside him.

Fingers curved into claws snagged at the Feather helplessly, their raw animalistic strength doing everything it could to rip the instrument from his chest. Anything to stop the elemental flood, even if the Feather's wild light seemed to dispel the pressure crushing him. But he didn't care: the Feather would snuff his life out faster than the darkness ever would.

Another presence, hot like fire but with a core of cold steel, reared up in the back of his mind. It numbed the tugging at his soul, pacifying it to the point that it wouldn't destroy him. Ash laid gasping in the darkness, beads of sweat frozen to his forehead and palms thanks to Ice's touch.

The void didn't touch him as he curled into the darkness. His breathing was hard and quick and rasping as he sucked precious oxygen into his lungs – they burned again like he'd just left Mt. Ember. He tried to regain his bearings, but failed.

Stupid boy.

He snarled at the familiar voice, but couldn't find it in himself to reply. Ash needed just another moment or two before he tried speaking.

Did you really think removing the Conduit would accomplish anything but your own ruin? Do you really think your link to Fire and the rest of those simple Birds is rooted in that?

Ash scowled at Mewtwo's mocking words, but didn't reply. He just basked in the sudden relief of the Feather's influence going numb again – despite his annoyance, he felt almost grateful to Mewtwo for extinguishing it again.

That left a bad taste in his mouth.

The Conduit is a symbol and nothing more. The connection rests in you. You hold the essence of the Birds within you. It is yours and you are theirs.

His mind was quick enough to catch onto Mewtwo's meaning. Ash thought quietly to himself, puzzling out the psychic Legendary's cryptic words. He felt a surge of the icy fire within his mind, mocking and acerbic as always. Ash was too exhausted to care. It felt like he'd just run a marathon…just that brief surge of Lightning and Fire had practically sapped the rest of his strength.

Are you going to let them master you? I expected better, Ash Ketchum.

Ash caught onto…disappointment? He'd never thought Mewtwo capable of it. He growled beneath his breath and steeled his will, reaching for the power again. If what Mewtwo said was true…

There was something lurking below the surface of his thoughts. Something subtle, yet deep as an ocean. Ash focused. His mind recoiled from the great forces storming at the edge of his fingertips, always there yet never apparent, but Ash thought back to what Mewtwo had said.

They are yours and you are theirs.

He brushed the powers, in constant conflict yet always balancing each other out, and tore them out. Just as the Feather could influence Ash, Ash could influence the Feather. And right now he needed a lot of influence.

Ash's jaw locked up in the resulting inferno that flooded his every cell, followed by a veritable lightning bolt that shot through him in an instant. He seized in agony, mind blank with the overwhelming force of Fire and Lightning, but a light nudge from the splinter of icy steel in his mind pointed him to the direction he needed to take.

Even as Fire burned his body inside out, roasting his skin and muscles and leaving his hairs to twist and curl with heat, and Lightning made his limbs twitch erratically and flail in a hundred different directions, Ash reached for Ice.

His lungs filled with icy cold air and he fought the urge to wretch and gasp for more, guiding the relentless blizzard in his veins and skin with an iron will. Ash quickly learned he couldn't force it anymore than he could force Fire to stop burning or Lightning to stop shocking, but he shaped pathways and directives with his will and thoughts and Ice followed, soothing the burns and numbing his nerves.

Ash lurched to his feet, eyes askew and every single inch of him in agony. He didn't feel like a person right now – he was more like a puppet or doll being yanked every which way by a much greater force. Every twitch wasn't through his own power, but through the rough direction of Lightning to signal, Fire to move, and Ice to calm the destructive forces.

Ice grew too strong, rearing against his guidance. The smoking hairs started to twist and harden into little frozen strands. Ash's skin went numb and white with cold, though the deep chill in his bones left his teeth chattering erratically. His limbs slowed and resisted his commands as Ice froze the muscle fibers and stole away their energy. His eyes started to sting as little crystals started to form, and he reached for Fire – anything to stop this!

The Fire burst to life in a roaring blaze crackling in his every cell…it seared him badly – so badly – but he clung to the heat as though it were a lifeline. It scorched away Ice, roasting him from the inside out, and his face warped into an ugly grimace as his skin went hot, hotter than he could take –

Ice, then Fire, then when both stung at his core and sapped his body of all semblance of balance, he instinctively reached for Lightning.

It arced through his nerves, seizing his muscles, and he fought back a scream as it pounded him and every one of his muscles cramped up mercilessly…Ash's teeth clanged together as his jaw tightened, then a touch of Ice brought him back to earth. Lightning calmed and slowed under Ice's touch, becoming a more manageable current that waxed and waned with Ash's breath.

He finally opened his eyes again as Fire, Ice, and Lightning finally reached a primitive, barely-there balance. Ash grimaced at the sight (or lack thereof) that greeted him. The deep black void wasn't the most welcoming thing, though he found it almost peaceful compared to the intense focus he had to maintain to keep moving.

His first steps were awkward and haphazard, like Ash was learning to walk again. The boy's eyes narrowed and he stopped almost as soon as he began. That sense of unease was back, stronger this time. Ash didn't waste time trying to catch it – he'd accepted that he wasn't likely to figure it out that way.

Instead he stopped. He breathed. He closed his eyes, focusing on what he knew was real.

At this point it wasn't very much. Ash himself, Fire, Ice, and Lightning were all he could really believe in right now. It was all he could feel, see, or hear. He frowned and added Mewtwo's presence as well, though he'd rather discount the shade entirely. The thought of it being as much a part of him as Fire, Ice, and Lightning wasn't something he liked to think about.

But that didn't matter. Ash focused on what was real, felt his erratic heartbeat underneath Lightning's influence, and opened his eyes.

For a moment he just saw the void again, empty and infinite as it had ever been. A pressure brushed against him, doing its best to sap his strength, but Fire seared the presence away before he could react. Ash ignored it all. This void didn't make sense. It couldn't exist, could it? He'd have walked miles by now…Ash stared past the darkness, past the impossibility.

It melted away in the blink of an eye. Ash blinked, startled at the sudden change from the emptiness to the end of the hallway he'd entered what felt like hours ago. Though it was heavily encrusted in thick plates of crawling, grasping crystal he recognized it easily enough – a few of Uncle Spencer's paintings and pictures (mostly of Uncle Spencer, Molly, and even one of them with his mom that hadn't been there last time he visited) were still entirely uncovered by the crystal. The heavy door was practically entombed in crystal. He'd need his team to break through that…

Ash's breath hitched as he glanced to his friends. They were all in varying places down the long hallway. Plume seemed frozen in motion several feet above the ground, utterly suspended in the air – a few strings of crystal hanging from the ceiling reached down to ensnare her, but hadn't even reached her feathers yet. Ash was quick to recall her – she was too big for the mansion.

Bruiser was frozen in motion just twenty feet behind Ash. Unlike Plume, his lower body was completely covered in the crystal. It seemed to recede every few seconds, but ultimately climbed higher inch by inch…in a few minutes Bruiser would be covered entirely. Ash refused to entertain the thought of Bruiser turning against him – he'd stop the crystal by then.

But how?

He glanced to Infernus and squinted. What was that? For a moment there seemed to be some kind of glow about Infernus – something red and orange and gold and familiar, laced through his thick skin (and deeper) that vanished as soon as he tried to get a better look. Ash frowned, more than a little frustrated, but he shook it off. Right now he needed to get his friends free.

The Magmortar was barely five feet from Ash and the crystal hadn't yet made it past his ankles – hardly any heat was emanating from him, which was concerning, but he didn't seem injured or uncomfortable. If anything Infernus looked peaceful. His face was drawn into tight concentration and his only movement was the twitching of his cannons, although Ash didn't think he'd be firing them any time soon.

Ash's body lurched closer to the Magmortar. How would he free him? Sneasel would probably dispel the illusion entrapping Infernus easily enough, but Ash couldn't help but discard that idea. If Sneasel so much as brushed him there was a chance it'd ruin the delicate balance he'd maintained between Fire, Ice, and Lightning. He couldn't risk that right now.

He wobbled over to Infernus, hand grasping the crystal-slick wall for support. Ash's muscles burned with the strain but he put up with it…there was even a little flash of vindictive pleasure when the crystal fled from his touch as though it was scalded, leaving Ash leaning against smooth, polished wood.

Ash stared at Infernus for a moment. A tiny part of him didn't want to wake his friend up. He wasn't normally so peaceful.

It didn't take long to ignore that foolish notion – he didn't need peaceful right now. He needed Infernus.

He laid his hand against Infernus' muscular chest. It was warm enough to be uncomfortable against Ash's skin, but for Infernus it might as well have been cold as ice. Ash was a bit concerned, but he was breathing normally and didn't seem unhealthy. It was just a side effect of whatever was going on in this place.

The Magmortar didn't twitch. Ash frowned and shut his eyes, guided by instinct more than anything. For a moment he swore he saw Infernus' shape behind his eyelids, radiant and burning brighter than he ever had, but it flitted away like the illusion it was. He paid no more heed to it before he grit his teeth, grasped Fire with every bit of his will (Lightning and Ice spasmed, allowed to run free in his burnt out body) and guided it into Infernus –

Ash hissed as he staggered back, reeling from the sudden blast of dry heat emanating from Infernus. He blinked madly, doing his best to moisten his eyes, and silently thanked Ice for numbing the burns littering his face, arms, and hands…they'd be much worse than the equivalent of sunburns otherwise.

Infernus' shape glowed violently, his eyes open to reveal a brief glimpse of burning red before the energy slipped away and his eyes went white and black. The Magmortar sagged over, exhausted, before he seemed to regain some of his stamina and straightened up. He looked around, eyes narrowed to vicious slits, but relaxed on seeing Ash.

"I'm okay," Ash reassured Infernus as the fire-type glanced at his minor burns. After everything else he'd been through today Ash barely registered them. Infernus nodded, trusting Ash, and glared at their surroundings. "We didn't make it far before that illusion caught us. What did you see?"

His friend shrugged, his shoulder and head flames flaring slightly at the question, and mostly ignored Ash. He frowned but didn't push it. They had more important things to deal with. Ash glanced over to Bruiser, who was still frozen in the slowly-rising crystal. "Can you get him out of that?"

Infernus grinned and raised one of his cannons at Bruiser, a deep orange glow – "Without throwing a Flamethrower at him!" Ash interrupted quickly. Infernus frowned but finally nodded. He walked over to the fighting-type and was quick to shift his cannons to his claws. The sharp points quickly raked down the crystal entombing Bruiser's lower body and it melted away into a steaming puddle on the floor…even Infernus glanced at his claws oddly. He had no idea what was going on more than Ash.

He wouldn't question it, though. Ash just took the lucky break in stride as Bruiser's eyes snapped open, wild for just a second or two before he realized where he was. "Are you good?"

Bruiser rolled his shoulders and nodded. He looked distrustfully at the crystal clinging to the roof and walls and quickly walked with Infernus to meet Ash. He took the massive, intense heat better than Ash – his burns itched and seared and for a moment he could taste volcanic ash in his mouth when Infernus came closer. He ignored it, though, and turned to the door that would take them into the mansion's heart.

"That's going to be rough," Ash murmured as he saw more and more crystal flooding from the walls and ceiling and floor to the dark wooden door. It piled on more and more, and sometimes he swore the crystal simply appeared, as if drawn from the air itself.

Nidoking and Dazed appeared at his side a moment later. He'd need their Shadow Balls to destabilize the crystal enough for them to break through (at least if he didn't want his team to exhaust themselves). Altogether the narrow hallway was extremely cramped but he didn't care too much as he backed away to a safe distance. His team were quick to maneuver to a point where they all had a clear view of the doorway – Dazed and Nidoking stood side-by-side in the rear, ready to unleash their ghostly barrage as soon as he said so, and Bruiser stood behind Infernus.

He grimaced as the heat pouring off Infernus became greater and greater but stomached it. They needed Infernus at his strongest right now.

"Alright, everyone," Ash rasped to get his team's attention. Nidoking's ears perked up, but none of the others indicated they'd heard him aside from tensing. He glared at the crystal as it flowed seamlessly over the entrance, almost as if it wanted to block the whole thing off. "Go!"

Ash couldn't properly describe what happened next. He was blinded, nearly hurled off his feet from the simultaneous barrage of attacks that hammered into the hardened glass in the span of a single second – his ears rang thanks to their cramped quarters, but he could still hear a low keen in the distance grow higher and sharper in the attack. It hummed angrily, a few notes out of place, then began its singing again.

The stars in his eyes finally dimmed enough for Ash to squint at the damage. He was pleased to see that quite a bit of it had been melted away by the Shadow Balls and the follow up attacks, although it was replacing itself too quickly for his liking. Ash grimaced as the crystal beneath his feet oozed forward (yet not disturbing his footing) and left dark wood bare and pristine underneath him. His heart ached at the reminder of what this place really was, but he quickly focused his attention on the door.

"Again! Before it can –"

He was cut off by a thin, concentrated blade of shadowy matter that stole the strength from his limbs as it swept by, just a foot from his arm. Ash grimaced as he stumbled, though a soft, firm hand snagged him before he could fall. Ash wheezed as he immediately asserted his will over Fire, Ice, and Lightning before they could fall out of balance. There was still something fighting him, though – something destabilizing the forces and making his skin crawl.

"Karen?" Ash wheezed, eying the slender woman in disbelief. Her team stood behind her. The Weavile and Absol (the source of the dark-type scythe that had struck the crystal and paralyzed it) he recognized. He hadn't seen the Houndoom, Honchkrow, Umbreon, and Gengar except from afar or in her televised battles.

Ash ran a quick eye over her team. Weavile, Gengar, and Absol were in good shape, albeit tired. The rest looked alert but there was a weight to them, as if they were mentally exhausted. He wasn't sure they would be able to fight much longer. They had to be running on fumes after holding the line against the crystal tide.

They'd probably been Revived, Ash noted. The stimulant was strong enough to jerk a pokemon out of unconsciousness or the worst exhaustion, although they'd suffer for it over the next few days.

If they had another few days. That wasn't a certainty at this point.

Then he remembered the last time he'd seen her and yanked away from her grip.

"Are you still Karen?" Ash growled, eying her warily. She didn't look corrupted. Not like Will had, anyways – he'd been clad in a suit of glass armor. There wasn't a single fleck of the twisting crystal on Karen, though that didn't mean he'd trust her. Who knew if it had just learned from his past encounter with it and flowed to somewhere he couldn't see?

Her team tensed, ready for battle. She just watched him impatiently. Karen brushed a few strands of crisp, burnt hair across her face. It was still slightly disfigured and wrinkled from the burn, he noted. "I'm me," Karen said at last. The look on her face made Ash want to back away. "But I was almost gone – almost like Will and Lance," the Elite grimaced. "Agatha dispelled the crystal with a tap of her cane and revived my team. She sent me in here once the Beasts arrived to back you up while her and the reinforcements chip away at the crystal."

Ash didn't dare trust the woman. He leveled a scathing look at her, and frowned.

"Reinforcements?" Ash questioned. He waited patiently as Karen waved her hand at the shielded door he'd been trying to break through – Gengar grinned with too many teeth and too many mouths as its gaseous body flowed past his team smoothly, eagerly flooding the whole surface…it quailed and squirmed at the touch, melting away as if covered in acid. The rest of Karen's team simply waited as Gengar melted away the defenses.

Karen didn't look at him, instead watching her ghost quietly. "Morty, Phoebe, Fantina, and Sidney are all here to reinforce the SPECTERs. They've brought contingents from Hoenn and Sinnoh as well. Gym Leaders and Elite Four members are pouring in with their own forces...I heard talk of Unovan and Kalosian support as well. We're just trying to stay out of the Beasts' way…"

"What are they doing?" He asked. They'd already taken care of the Entei he'd been fighting – he'd seen that for himself. To be honest he was surprised the Beasts hadn't turned their fury on the Hale Mansion by now. It wasn't like they cared about preserving it. "Are they causing trouble?"

"No," Karen scowled as Gengar sloughed more and more melting crystal off the door. Soon it would be thin enough for Ash's team to plow right through. He figured she was trying to use his fresher team for the muscle. Hers needed to be saved for situation like this. "They're fighting the second Entei right now. It's a stalemate."

Ash's sharp eyes stared daggers at her. "What?" He hissed, nails cutting into his palms. Fire roared inside, heating his skin and threatening to boil his eyes, but even Ice could just barely numb the flames. "I saw them – they killed the other Entei…they ripped its head off and impaled its body so it couldn't regenerate! What happened?"

The Dark Master glared back at him, clearly no happier with the situation than he was. She folded her arms. "It flailed around for a while, then it dissolved into crystal. As soon as it touched the ground it regenerated and sucked a bunch of crystal into it – it's stronger now. It was playing at our level before, not its limits…" Karen exhaled, calming down a bit. She sounded very tired. "The Beasts are winning, but it's slow. It just comes back from whatever hits it. And it's smarter now – before I came in I saw it dissolve part of its body to avoid Raikou's claws. We're just trying to starve it of any other crystal so that it can't regenerate. Once that happens the Beasts will be able to tear it apart."

Something ugly curled in his gut. It was stupid of him to have thought it would be over that easily. He'd thought the Beast to be outmatched. And in a sense it was…but it had adapted and come back even stronger, just like it had when his team had finished it off. Was it even possible to kill it? Or would the false Entei just keep returning until it had won through attrition?

It was an unpleasant thought, but he realized it made their mission even more critical. The false Entei would inevitably win if it could outlast the Beasts – starving it of its crystal could slow its regeneration, but he'd seen how quickly the crystal tide spread, crawling and covering the landscape like some hungry beast. Who knew if the League would be able to push it back?

No, the only way they would win this was by finding the heart responsible for all of this and ripping it out. His fingers grasped into claws that dug at his palms. They had to act quickly.

"If you're trying to trick us…" he trailed off warningly as he eyed the silver-haired Elite. She sent an ugly look right back, and he didn't finish his thought. No, she understood. It would be difficult to betray him anyways considering her team were at least somewhat resistant to the crystal's foul touch.

He glanced to the crystalline wall. It was oozing away, eroded by Gengar's noxious presence. It only barely clung to the wall, squirming desperately to remain on the surface and block their way. "Have Gengar back off. We can get through this. When we destroy the rest of the crystal have Gengar block the rest of it from regenerating."

Karen nodded and snapped her fingers. Gengar quickly flooded away, raking its shadowy claws down the ceiling and cackling as the crystal fell away like dead worms. Ash crossed his shaking arms, struggling to remain upright. Bruiser was considerate enough to pick up on his struggle and propped him up on one of his shoulders.

"Thanks," Ash exhaled as his body stopped shaking. He looked to the membrane of crystal still remaining. "Infernus…blast it!"

Infernus grinned and leveled one of his cannons at the crystal, which writhed in a panic as heat flooded the room – then a long, angry tongue of flame erupted from his cannon and licked at the crystal and door, searing and devouring it all with contemptuous ease. The cone of fire burned bright for one, two, three seconds, then dimmed away. Ash wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow and nodded to Karen. Gengar instantly surged forward in a shadowy purple mass, coalescing into a ring that shielded the rim of the doorway.

"Everyone through!" Ash ordered, grateful to Bruiser as the Machoke hauled him up and followed the rest of his team through the doorway. He grimaced as Bruiser's heavy footsteps nearly made him lose focus – and control of the elements warring within him – but weathered it.

The world went black, like a candle carelessly snuffed out. Ash was no longer in Bruiser's arms. He laid helpless on the floor, trapped by the overpowering weight of the air against him. "Nidoking?" Ash called into the void, praying for a response. There was nothing. Not even a breath.

"I'm afraid your paltry team isn't here to help you this time," someone chuckled in the distance. Ash squinted, despite the utter blackness that surrounded him. That voice sounded so familiar… where did he know it from?

"Who's there?" Ash scowled. His hands scrabbled against his belt, though it only alarmed even more when his team's pokeballs were nowhere to be found. The hair on the back of his neck raised and he futilely tried to pull himself backward against the awful sensation of being crushed. His lung struggled to inflate, trapped beneath the pressure. He breathed rapid, short gasps that only made his heart pound and his mind jump to the worst of places: beneath the awful, cloying stench of raw sewage in Mt. Moon, free-falling into the utterly black ocean as the St. Anne sank to its doom.

The void remained lightless, but the grinning man that hovered over him appeared as if he stood beneath the sun at high noon. It became harder and harder to breathe. Cold sweat stained Ash's battle-worn clothes and lent his tan skin a light sheen. Every gasp was a monumental effort. His eyes locked onto a figure he'd only seen in his nightmares for almost a year now.

Rocket Executive Pierce leered down at him. His fingers fiddled with his long, grey coat. His eyes reminded Ash of a Sharpedo's: cold and blank, like there was a light supposed to be there that had never been sparked. Despite the impassivity on his face, there was an aura of cheer around Executive Pierce that set Ash entirely on edge.

"It's been too long, Ash," Pierce knelt down at his side. Every nerve in Ash's body screamed when one of the man's gloved hands tapped against Ash's forehead mockingly. "The tables have turned at last. I have to balance the scales after our last meeting, don't I?" The tall man's dark green eyes narrowed murderously, and his free hand wrapped around Ash's throat. His hands wildly tried to rise and clutch at Pierce's impossibly stronger arm, but there was nothing he could do. The pressure around his throat grew tighter and tighter. It slowly began to crush his windpipe. His eyes bulged and blood trapped in his head began to pound…

Fire was nowhere to be found. Lightning wouldn't answer his call. Ice eluded his dying prayers. He couldn't even think as his oxygen-starved brain began to black out. His fingers began to slacken.

Pierce grinned. "Look at the great Ash Ketchum now," he crowed. "This is the boy who defeated? This is the pathetic little child given such lofty titles? Pathetic!"

Ash groaned silently, and -

"Ash? Ash! Wake up!"

The pressure of the grip vanished like a ghost. Pierce's cackles ceased to exist. The blackness gave way to the pale light of the crystal and he was acutely aware of being pressed into Bruiser's arms - his friend's broad face peered down worriedly at him, surrounded by several of his teammates and Karen.

"You alright?" Karen wore her concern openly for once. She let his hand go and he gratefully sucked in air, blind to everything around them. Absol stepped away from Ash and gracefully pulled his furry white head off his skin. "We walked through that door and you just blacked out and started hyperventilating. Absol had to flood you with Distortion to get you to stop."

Ash squeezed his eyes shut as he struggled to recall the horrific vision that had assaulted him. It had been so real…

Like a gravely wounded man desperate for relief, Ash grasped for Ice. It was distant at first - probably from what Absol had done to him, he dimly realized - but his determination to escape the fear and nerve-wracking memories pulled him through. He breathed a sigh of relief as his body and mind went cold and still, but embraced the feeling all the same.

Logical and cool again, he pushed Pierce and the nightmares behind him out of his mind. Now was not the time to be afraid. It was the time to move on and focus on action. With that thought in mind (and the last tremors wracking his body gone) Ash looked around at what must have been the Hale's entry hall.

He narrowed his eyes at the void behind the ashes of the wooden door. That hadn't been here before. This was supposed to be the main hall…he remembered a large room of tile floors and twin grand staircases and seemingly hundreds of portraits and pictures and paintings that the Hale family had amassed over the years. They were renowned for their collections of art – or so Uncle Spencer had said, anyway.

Ash reflexively glanced to his left, where his favorite (a picture of his mother with Uncle Spencer and Professor Oak when she'd studied with them) had always hung. He should have known better, but he couldn't pick out a single thing within the inky blackness. Only a few strands of crystal gave off enough light for him to notice.

Despite himself, he remembered his lesson from last time. He spared a single glance as the rest of Karen's team entered the portal behind him – he didn't miss the fact that wherever the dark-types stood, there was light (albeit wispy and indistinct, like a cloud had covered it) and then looked past the darkness as he had before, revealing what he knew to be there.

His first reaction was of disgust. Ash sneered at the main hall. It was nothing like what he'd remembered – every inch of the place was covered in thick, shifting plates of crystal. Little filaments grew from the glass floor like stalks and shaped into an orchid of squirming diamond flowers…if it wasn't so grotesque and unnatural it might've been beautiful. But as it was the thousands of little flowers just made him feel a little ill – they flowed to point in his direction, and he got the uneasy feeling that they were watching him. Every now and then he swore the flower petals would twitch and blink, like eyes. Whenever he looked more closely they froze into place aside from a few dull twitches.

Even more great, stalactite-like growths hung from the ceiling. They swung and flowed constantly, spreading into more and more branches that swayed as though pushed by an invisible wind. One of the tendrils swung his way, as if to grab him up and snatch him away, but Nidoking's Shadow Ball slammed into the thick mass – it screamed, an otherworldly noise joined by every other flower and stalactite in an awful chorus, and recoiled as fat slugs of the crystal fell from it. They oozed away from him and every time he looked closer they melted away into the fields…

Ash nodded gratefully to Nidoking, who snorted and looked away. His whole team (and Karen's) glanced around the room. None of them felt half as bad as Ash did. He could still hear that singing from before, louder and more erratic than ever now. When he looked to the crystalline growths covering the room, he realized they swayed and danced in tune with the melody. It was hypnotic, though a heavy nausea filled him when he stared.

He looked away. Ash did his best to ignore the chorus (it felt like it came from above, behind, within, and without all at once) and instead looked again at the hall. Every picture except for a few of his mother, Molly, Spencer, Teddiursa, and a few old people he didn't recognize was covered in a heavy purple barrier that hid them from existence. Some of the portraits seemed to stare at him – he pointedly avoided looking at any of his mom.

Not that it was easy to see in the first place. Even with the void dispelled (was it ever real at all, he wondered, or was it just an illusion conjured up by whatever Legend had made this place its home?) it was much darker and foggier than it was outside. It conjured up images of twilight, though he doubted twilight had ever been this dark. If it weren't for some unseen light source shining from the ceiling and the gentle glow of the crystal there'd be no light in this place at all.

"What is all of this?" Karen whispered by his side, horrified as he was. She nearly reached out to touch one of the tendrils winding towards them, but he shook his head. Absol was quick to leap into the tendril, severing it with a single swipe of its blue horn. "What should we do?"

Ash blinked once at the authority Karen was giving him, but shrugged. He had been around many more Legends, though none had been quite like this. He used a gentle pulse of Fire to point at the orchard of flowers in front of them. There was no way Ash was going to walk through that – they'd probably grow into vines or something and strangle them.

He narrowed his eyes as Fire filled him. Cinders flew from his fingertips, dancing erratically in the thick air before they withered and died. Only a few wispy strands of smoke were left of them.

"Those have to go," Ash coughed. He looked pointedly at Infernus. "Karen, have your team hit all of that with some Dark Pulses. Infernus, burn the rest once we know it won't come back."

He wrinkled his nose as Karen's team silently stepped forward. The crystalline growths cried out as the melody missed a note, writhing away from their reapers as dark wisps of energy bled from the team. It was so potent Ash could smell the dark-type energy conjured up. It was odd, a scent he really couldn't place but one that almost reminded him of ozone mixed with something indescribable. A heavy, cloying scent that stank of rot and fresh grass and smoke.

They shone black for a moment, flooding the field before them with Dark Pulses, Night Slashes, and Shadow Balls. Ash was nearly blinded by the bright white that followed each as the force behind the crystal was disrupted and natural light shone brilliantly, but he quickly adjusted…only to be blinded again when Infernus loosed a white-hot stream of flame that seared all of the flowers and stalactites away in just an instant. They had no hope of resisting his powers while already disrupted by Karen's team.

The orchard wailed and melted away into nothingness, streaming away in vivid glass trails as ethereal bubbles of the substance boiled away underneath the heat of the fire. He bared his teeth at the crystal's retreat – that was more satisfying than it should have been. Ash glanced to the walls as the glassy material crawled away from the floors, leaving bare tile and cloth that somehow survived the flames and dark-type barrage unscathed. His eyes narrowed but he ultimately thought nothing of it.

"C'mon!" Ash ordered. Bruiser was quick to haul him up and carry him forward, careful to allow several other members of his and Karen's teams to take the first steps. The vanguard would be able to survive any nasty surprises a lot better than he could. Karen kept pace with Bruiser, clearly uneasy. She kept looking deep into the remaining crystal (it had darkened to a deep violet, to the point it was nearly black as it piled atop itself to avoid the small army invading its sanctum) and went paler and paler each time.

"What do you see?" He asked, genuinely curious. Ash had to fight to look past the darkness veiling the rest of the room – it was hard to trick your mind into seeing the truth of things. To see underneath this false reality was going to give him a headache sooner or later. If he lost focus it would slip back into the swirling inkblots of the void.

His companion blinked and jerked her attention back to him. Her eyes refocused after a moment. "Eyes."

"Eyes?" That was weird.

Karen nodded stiffly. Her hands curled into fists and the veins on her forearms throbbed. "Yes. Can't you see them?" She stared at the walls and pointed to a spot covered in blackness. When Ash saw past it he picked out a brief glimpse of bare, untouched wall before the chorus inside him shrieked and he squeezed his eyes shut. "They're watching us…they're all around us. They see us."

Ash shook his head and looked at Karen oddly. He actually did believe her. There was something wrong going on in the mansion and who knew what the truth was? But it bothered him that he couldn't perceive the same things Karen was. It itched at that rational part of his mind that demanded everything make sense.

But what about this made sense? They were in a mansion covered in crystal made of psychic energy looking for the source of all the madness while a beast capable of regenerating from nothing faced down its "siblings". And all the while the League was trying to quarantine the whole mess.

It would be enough to give him a headache even if he wasn't probably suffering from a concussion. As it was the whole situation was just icing on the cake.

The chorus grew more and more intense as Bruiser carried him up the main stairs towards another door. This one wasn't covered in crystal (the substance practically fled from Karen's team) and he would have been grateful if the chorus would just shut up. "I wish that singing would go away," Ash grumbled.

Karen frowned as she kicked a tiny glob of crystal out of the way. It hissed as it landed a few feet to the side and oozed away. At least she wasn't looking at the walls anymore. "What singing?"

He looked at her oddly as the disordered chorus hit a particularly high note. Infernus, Dazed, and Bruiser all flinched. "You can't hear it?"

"Just like you can't see the damn eyes," his companion bit out. She swung her head to the side to stare at another blank section of the wall. Ash watched her warily. A deep paranoia had started growing as soon as he realized the crystal – or whatever controlled it – could alter their perception. "I hate this place."

Ash nodded, avoiding a bit of crystal that grasped for him. It hummed as he passed by. It didn't dare reach for any of his team – he smirked as Dazed melted it away with a miniscule Shadow Ball. Her eyes twisted up in a smile. "Yeah, I hate it too. It's disgusting what the crystal did to it."

Karen turned to look at him, obviously curious. Her curls bounced lightly as she twisted her neck. He admired the sight before flushing at her annoyed stare. "You've been here before?"

He nodded with a grimace. Ash raked his eyes over the seemingly infinite expanse of shifting, thrusting, and swaying crystal swallowing the walls and ceiling and floor, growing and yearning and testing the limits of Karen's team – it retreated whenever the dark-types so much as looked at it, but when they looked away it crept forth like a shining tide of molten glass. Moltres stirred within him and the crystal yanked back, as though scalded. The glistening sheet melted into nothing, yet reappeared as soon as Fire sizzled away.

It would keep going after them, he realized. The crystal hated their presence. Some of the stalactites twisting from the ceiling seemed as though they might drop down and swallow them whole.

The chorus fell into discord as Gengar raked its shadowy claws along the walls, cackling merrily as the vast orchard of unnatural flowers and vines and trees starting to unfold into fractals dissolved away. He grimaced as it struck something deep within him and looked away from the walls – he suspected he didn't want to give the crystal a chance to affect him anymore than it already was.

"Ash?" Karen asked again. He shook himself out of his stupor, realizing he'd become lost in thought as he glared at the abominations crawling their way up and down the walls of the former mansion. "You alive?"

He didn't miss the concern in her voice. Ash flashed her a strained smile. It was hollow, but that was all he could manage. "Yeah. I used to come here with my mom to see my Uncle Spencer. This was the main hall. Up through that door," he pointed to the crystallized door standing proudly above what was once a grand flight of stairs, "is a little garden I used to play in. After that is just a bunch of bedrooms and old studies."

Karen blinked, distracted from their unnatural surroundings for just a moment as she processed his words. "Spencer Hale?"

Ash nodded. "He's not my real uncle, just an old friend of my mom's. They worked under Professor Oak together," he explained. He was glad to take his mind off of their foray into this place, though now he was dealing with unpleasant thoughts of what might have happened to Molly and Uncle Spencer…there were so many mysteries.

Were they okay? His mother seemed to think so. And how did Molly tie into all of this? There was something deeper going on here. He couldn't help the brief surge of Fire as the frustration flooded him – he hated mysteries. He hated being kept in the dark.

"Really?" Karen asked, snapping him back to reality. It was appreciated. The darkness of the room seemed to recede as he looked at Karen's pale face. "Does she know about everything going on? She must be worried about you."

His gut twisted into a knot. "She was the one that Entei brought back," Ash muttered. Karen grimaced and actually apologized. It was odd seeing her be…well, not really nice, but amiable. Her exhaustion must've worn away her pointy edges. "The last I saw of my mom was her melting into crystal…"

Karen was silent for a few moments. She actually looked awkward, something he'd never expected from the woman. "Sorry," she finally sighed and looked away, focusing on something Ash couldn't see. Whatever it was must have been horrible, because she squeezed her eyes shut just a second later. "That's pretty rough, Ash. I hope we find her."

"Me too," he whispered. Ash glanced up at the stairs, frowning when he realized they still hadn't reached the top. Bruiser had been carrying him up for at least a minute…

"Seriously?" He scowled when he looked back. Every step they took didn't even move them forward! They were still in the middle of the staircase even after climbing up it for what felt like ages! He was tired of these stupid games! There wasn't even any crystal covering the stairs! It had all been melted away by Karen's team.

"What is it?"

"We aren't moving," Ash pointed out. It was like the staircase was a secret escalator or something. He jerked his head back to motion behind them and she scowled when she caught on. "See?"

The look on Karen's face could have stopped a Gyarados in its tracks. "Yes. I do. Gengar?"

Ash blinked, but caught on a moment later when Karen's Gengar giggled and the scent of burning sewage filled his nostrils. He barely had a warning before the specter dissolved into a cloud of noxious purple smoke streaked with blood and white teeth – it took care to avoid him, but brushed worryingly close at times. It gave Karen a wide berth, of course.

There was a sudden lurching, a distinct feeling that something had just unraveled in his gut, and his eyes reflexively shut as they snapped back into reality while the damned chorus snarled like it had just stubbed its collective toe. When he looked up next the world was just as it had been, but the entire staircase had been stripped bare of the foul corruption. Ash couldn't help the wistful smile that came up when he saw plain, aged wood and intricately patterned red carpet – it was just like he remembered.

He wished they could have given the entire mansion this treatment, but he got the feeling that this wasn't easy for Gengar – it hadn't yet managed to collect back into its corporeal form yet, and the scraps of gaseous matter seemed a little…less than they once were. By the time Gengar had reformed its smile was a little less and tiny wisps strayed off its blurred body (the edges bled off, like he was looking at Gengar underneath the water) and Karen saw fit to let it straggle behind.

"C'mon!" Karen ordered as she began the march up the steps. Her team followed. Ash waited to make sure she actually moved up the length before he did as she said. He didn't miss wriggling serpents of crystal inching their way back onto the stairs…this brief flash of normality wouldn't last long. It bothered Ash more than he thought.

Some sixth sense screamed in his mind – Ash looked back just long enough to see a great, pulsing, shuddering amorphous mass of flailing crystal arms and an immense, spherical core of dark violet glass collect on the ceiling (the choir hit a high note) from the vast sheets plated all over the room. Then, like a fat drop of water, it swelled nastily and dropped to the ground. Dozens of tentacles instantly sprouted from the thing, the thickest pushing up from the bottom in a bizarre parody of legs, and a furious light emanated from deep within its murky depths.

"Run!" Ash howled, realizing that they'd pushed the crystal to its limit. It was done passively resisting – he didn't want to fight this abomination. Bruiser was quick to follow his orders and darted up the stairs in a blur. The sudden acceleration jarred Ash and rattled his teeth, but he bore it steadily. The rest of his team were quick to follow suit. The monstrosity hadn't moved yet, but the utter stillness of the thing was almost as uncanny as it chasing them.

Then it shifted, scraping along the ground with its legs like some strange bug-type. Ash grimaced at the sound and took another look at it as a great flare of heat roasted his skin – damn it, Infernus! His friend had turned to face the crystalline creature, blazing with a wild grin on his face, and raised a cannon to engage the creature. On one hand Ash appreciated the effort, but he also knew that Infernus hadn't done this out of altruism. He just wanted to fight…whatever this thing was.

So Ash returned him. He was sure Infernus was going to be frustrated later but Ash really didn't care. He had no intentions of engaging this construct unless he had to – they needed to save their energy for later. Besides, he doubted that he and Karen would be able to fight something like that. Karen might be able to stop its regeneration, but if it just unleashed all of its psychic power at once it would probably kill them and their teams.

He glanced at the door Absol had just shorn open with a Night Slash – the crystal bled and peeled over to the sides, exposing the wood beneath like a gaping wound. Sorry Uncle Spencer. Ash couldn't find himself caring too much as Bruiser shot between the group of Karen's pokemon, who turned to face their new enemy after Absol easily tore the heavy wood apart with a Shadow Ball – it almost looked like Absol had vaporized it. Karen's team were packing some serious firepower. Dazed or Nidoking could have cleared it, but they'd probably just blow it up. Karen's team removed it completely.

"Let's go!" He shouted, heart pounding like a frantic drumbeat as Bruiser shot into the blackness of the new exit…he hoped the construct wouldn't follow them in. They could probably beat it if they caught it off guard, but they were also fighting it in its own lair, with endless reserves of crystal around to augment its abilities and regenerate itself. It wasn't a fight he wanted.

The rest of his team weren't as stubborn as Infernus. He could feel them thundering behind him, moving as quickly as they could to follow him through the portal into whatever new nightmare was waiting for them. Karen, who had stayed back with Absol, followed after them once she was sure he'd made it through.

For a moment there was darkness, inescapable and suffocating and muting all of his senses. It was like it had reached into his brain and shut off everything but his own thoughts…he couldn't even feel himself breathe! Ash reached for Moltres' Concept to fill his heart with flame and heat and power but the void vanished as soon as it began, giving way to the gentle heat of the sun and the aroma of vast fields of grass and flowers unspoiled by civilization.

Ash's stomach lurched as they unexpectedly…stepped up? They were walking in a straight line. There wasn't any feeling of going up stairs, but somehow they had ascended. Regardless, they kept walking up. He felt more than a little uneasy as Bruiser walked forward…up? His brain was about to break trying to understand these geometries. The chorus sang for a few moments, taunting him.

Bruiser froze, just as confused at the impossibility they'd emerged in as Ash was. The rest of his team slowed to a halt behind him. Nidoking took his place by Ash's side, ears twitching frantically. His huge nostrils flared as he peered around warily, alert for any sign of danger…or explanation for the fact that they'd just emerged in an exact replica of Greenfield.

And not the ravaged, ruined mess of Greenfield that they'd just escaped. This was Greenfield exactly as Ash remembered it. There was even a replica of the Hale Mansion in the distance, proud and tall and unspoiled by the crystal – if anything it looked vastly larger than the true mansion. It made Ash's heart ache. He stared longingly at the towers, though quickly realized this was the least of their concerns.

The singing was louder here, though it had quieted to a murmur ever since they'd appeared. Ash did his best to ignore it. Instead he decided to break this illusion – it was even more frustrating than the void he'd been hurled into the last few times. Was the Legend that had twisted reality like a Meowth playing with a ball of yarn mocking him? A flush of anger filled him, spurred on by Fire's volatility, and he looked past the miles and miles of beautiful flowers and lush pastures –

Nothing changed. He wasn't in Ash froze, then tried again. He focused on what he knew to be real: himself. An awareness from his spirit's deepest depths brushed his mind, pouring information that confirmed what he had been afraid of all along: this was real. How and why? This didn't make any sense. This was beyond the strange crystal and the undeniably Legendary force behind it. He could accept that it could somehow bind an Entei to its will – possibly even construct one of its own through the crystal. But this? Ash didn't even think Mewtwo could accomplish something like this!

For once, Mewtwo was silent. Ash didn't miss that, but didn't give it much thought as he ruminated on this impossibility. Dazed seemed just as fascinated, though at least as perturbed as he was. Tangrowth was the only one unbothered by the mystery and saw fit to poke around curiously, careful to avoid damaging any of the flowers. The only place he avoided was the inky doorway that was behind him – Ash felt a surge of worry when he realized Karen and her team still hadn't emerged from behind them, but didn't focus on it. She could take care of herself.

It's real, Ash. Unnatural, but real. In our bones we know it to be true. Tread lightly. A terrible force has constructed this reality from the flesh and blood of our own. It doesn't belong to us anymore, warped and bent as it is.

Ash felt a little sick at Dazed's words. They held a sense of finality to them. He'd hoped this was just some grand illusion to slow them down and confuse them, but it was worse than he could have imagined. This beautiful vision was in stark contrast to the corrupted main hall and the crystal creeping and collecting all over it, but in a way it was even worse. He preferred the nightmare he could see, not the one lurking innocently beneath his feet.

If he remembered correctly, the door they'd entered normally led to a simple garden. It wasn't especially large, but it was a nice place to relax. Some of his earliest memories were of sitting in the garden listening to Uncle Spencer and his wife tell stories about pokemon and myths while his mom held him.

He ignored the pang in his chest when he thought of his mother. No time to feel bad.

"Nidoking, can you shoot a Shadow Ball at some of the flowers?" Ash ignored Tangrowth's shock and hoped the grass-type wouldn't hold this against him. Nidoking snorted and lowered his head, a swirling sphere of otherworldly energy collecting on the tip for just a moment before he released it into the distance.

Ash traced its flight easily. Zapdos' influence helped a lot in that regard, quickening his perception a tad. It wasn't instinctual, but he found it a bit easier now that he'd been forced to rely so heavily on the powers of the Birds.

The Shadow Ball rippled through the air unscathed – so at least he knew they weren't breathing in some sort of strange psychic air, which was just about the only bright point in this whole situation – and skimmed the top of a beautifully green hill before shooting off into the vaguely purple sky, lit by a vividly violet sun that burned brilliantly overhead, for what must have been miles and miles away. It should've struck some sort of barrier, but instead it seemed to fly off for an eternity.

Ash grimaced as the Shadow Ball seemed to peel the illusion away where it struck the hill. For a moment the mound held up, though the edges blurred and rippled, then a few strands of sickly grey energy ate away at the top. The ghost-type energy gnawed hungrily at the hill, devouring a crater several feet wide before the crystalline force finally overcame the Shadow Ball remnants and flooded the area, returning it to the perfect image of Greenfield again.

He felt Karen arriving behind them. She sagged as she ascended the impossible stairway – something about the fleshy, pulsing crystal that surrounded it made Ash's stomach turn – and grimaced once she had the chance to look at their surroundings.

"This is impossible!" She whispered. Absol nodded mournfully. The rest of her team just examined the new Greenfield warily, expecting an attack from any direction. It was too calm. Too serene. "Do you know what's going on? Is there anyone else here?"

Ash shrugged in Bruiser's arms, idly noting how the grass melted smoothly away from the dark-types . "I have no idea," he admitted. What else was new? That didn't stop him from guessing, though. "But it's not an illusion. It's real – as real as it can be, anyway. We managed to damage it with Shadow Ball but it grew right back."

"How can this be real?" His fellow frowned, really taking in the sheer scale of the new Greenfield for the first time. It had to make up miles and miles of area. "There's not enough space in the mansion for this."

He snorted. "I think we left real behind a long time ago," Karen looked sharply at him, annoyed, but he ignored her. "I'm just worried about what this thing could be. None of this makes sense. I'm trying to put things together."

She folded her arms. Despite the urgency of the situation he was glad they were taking a moment to relax. He'd been going nonstop since he'd gotten to Greenfield. There had been no real time to think. This might be the only chance they had to work things out since there wasn't any crystal expanding or trying to attack them. It would be stupid to waste it.

"So how did this start?" Ash questioned, more to himself than to Karen. Dazed stood by his side, analyzing everything with her calm, collected gaze. The rest of his team milled about, intermixed with Karen's dark-types and ghosts, but made sure to avoid straying too far.

Karen grimaced. "About six hours ago from what I understand. We got a report from Spencer Hale's research assistant. He and the Hale family butler barely escaped the crystal when it surged out from the mansion. They said it looked like it came from deep within the mansion. Sabrina gave us just enough warning to be prepared for the report. After that we arrived with the SPECTERs to set up a Distortion Field and limit the crystal's growth."

"Where does Entei fit into all this?" He muttered, a flurry of theories flooding his thoughts. The Entei he'd fought was distinct from the Entei that arrived with the rest of the Beasts – it seemed much weaker, plus it was tied to the crystal. Not to mention that it could speak, or knew Molly somehow. That was the most puzzling part of all this, an irritating little distraction that had itched at his thoughts whenever he'd had the time to think. It was so unlike any other Legend he'd met, especially in stark contrast to the other Entei. The corrupted purple fires (which he'd at first thought a symptom of the crystal's touch), the human eyes, the odd behavior…it was all a puzzle he didn't have enough information to answer.

His partner chuckled bitterly. "That's the big question, isn't it? All we know is that it came tearing out of the mansion a few minutes after we started pushing it back. It ripped a hole in our defenses before it took off – we had a few ACE trainers and psychics track it, but when we realized it was headed right for Goldenrod we had to take action. I stayed to oversee the containment while Will teleported the others to cut it off."

Ash thought back to how effective ghost and dark-type energies seemed to be against the crystal. "That was probably a mistake." Karen was probably the only one that was able to do any lasting damage to the Crystal Entei. "That must have been when Lance called me."

Karen sent a curt nod his way and folded her arms. She looked up at the deeply violet sun uneasily. Its heatless rays pounded heavily on their battered skin. "I believe so. They evacuated as much of the area as they could, but they weren't able to stop Entei. From what I understand it went straight to Goldenrod University and took –"

His teeth ground together as he hissed, "My mom."

She nodded, actually looking like she regretted bringing it up. "Exactly. Then Entei returned and that's where you come in."

"Interesting…" Ash said to himself. He mulled over what Karen had just told him. "Did Uncle Spencer's assistant have any idea what happened? He must've had some kind of idea. I know they studied Legendaries – I think my mom said he was studying the Unown a few months back."

"He had no idea. All he included in the report was that Dr. Hale had recently gone alone to the Ruins of Alph to conduct some sort of research," Karen said, slowing thoughtfully.

"The Ruins of Alph?" Ash echoed. He'd never heard of those – it sounded like some kind of excavation or something.

Karen turned away from him, staring off into the horizon. Absol strode to her side and nuzzled her hand, which she seemed to appreciate. "It's some new find. An ancient city that turned into a tomb – I don't know anything about it," Karen admitted, a little frustrated. That staved off any new questions from Ash. "All I know is that Lance was keeping an eye on it."

That said volumes to Ash. The Indigo Champion wasn't one to pay attention to those sorts of things unless it related to his heritage or the League itself. Uncle Spencer – or someone else the League employed – must have had suspicions that there was some kind of Legendary influence there. Ash didn't know much of anything about the Unown other than that they were rare and scattered all across the world, but maybe they were what Uncle Spencer had discovered.

Of course, that realization just brought with it another wave of frustration – they really needed to start telling him these things. Ash seemed to be the one always getting caught up in the devastation whenever a Legendary or two came out to play.

"So all we can know for sure is that the Ruins of Alph are probably involved. Uncle Spencer might have taken something that attracted a Legend or carried it somehow," Ash held back a shudder at the idea of anything that could contain a Legendary this powerful. What could have designed something like that? "And somehow it unleashed the crystal, controls an Entei –"

"That thing isn't Entei," Karen spat. Ash jerked in Bruiser's arms, a little shocked by the sudden vehemence. His frazzled partner shook herself out of her fury a moment later. "We know that now. I have no idea what it is, but the real Entei is out there!" She jerked a finger vaguely in the direction of the door they'd climbed through. "That thing is just an imitation."

Ash hummed, acknowledging her point. That made sense. Maybe the crystal had just created it to act as a guardian? A living defense that could act more directly than the crystal itself? It would make sense, he supposed, but that just raised more questions.

Why an Entei?

Why create this copy of Greenfield?

Why did Entei take his mom and know who Molly was?

And how did the Unown (possibly) factor into everything?

He grit his teeth. There were too many questions and zero answers. Every deduction led to a hundred new mysteries and every mystery shrouded a hundred more behind it. There was no way an Unown could have done this. Individually they were weak. He knew they could act together, but they'd never existed in the numbers to do something like this – they couldn't create an entire world, right?

Ash looked impassively at the beautiful world they'd entered. Despite the wrongness of it he couldn't help but appreciate it for a moment – the crystal had shaped Greenfield with the love and care of someone that knew it well. If anything it was more beautiful than the true land, even if the unnatural depiction gnawed at him. The grass was greener, the flowers were more vibrant, and the Hale Mansion was massive, though as he looked closer he realized there were a few small details missing, as if it had been painted by an expert artist from memory.

Then a thought entered his mind…if he kept walking past all of this, how far could he go? Had the Legend created an entire new world in this tiny garden? Would it end in a void, or just stretch on as far as he could walk?

That stray question bothered him more than he'd like to admit. Dazed shifted uneasily, perhaps just thinking of the possibilities of that herself. How powerful did something have to be in order to create an entire world out of nothing?

Whatever it was, it was clearer now than ever before that there was so much more to the crystal than the sea of it settling outside the mansion. Would it ever stop expanding?

"There's no point," Ash whispered. Karen looked at him oddly, but he ignored it. "We're not going to find any answers here!" He decided. Ash looked to the towering spires of the mansion that stood a mile away on a field of bright green and arrayed yellows, oranges, and reds. "We need to go to the mansion."

"Agreed," Karen said curtly. She narrowed her eyes at their surroundings. "Do you think it'll fight us?"

Ash looked out at the gorgeous fields. They were just a simulacrum of the real thing, composed of living crystal that stole the will and mind of everything it touched, but he felt a great sense of peace as it swayed in an empty wind. The crystal outside was a hostile thing, reactive and crawling like a vicious bug-type. In here, the heart of the Hale Mansion, it had settled comfortably into the foundations. An infection that had chewed up the reality here and swallowed it whole.

"No," he said with more certainty than he felt. Ash shook his head. "We just need to be careful. I don't think we have anything to worry about in this place – yet," he corrected.

Karen didn't seem particularly convinced but she went along with his suggestion regardless. "Should we head to the mansion?"

He shrugged and scanned the rest of the fields. "I have no idea – it doesn't look like there's anything else here. What do you guys think?" Ash directed at his team. They shared a few glances, most uncertain, but after a moment of contemplation Dazed's eyes flashed.

Yes, that seems apt. I sense a great force there, distracted though it may be. The construct is where we will find our answers, Friend-Trainer.

"You hear that?" He asked Karen. She snorted.

"Barely. Psychics have a hard time talking to me unless they put some power behind it – I've been around my team too much. It's why the others had to leave me behind when they teleported earlier," the young woman explained with a rueful smile. Umbreon nuzzled against her, seemingly taking pride in the statement. "The crystal ?"

Well, that was interesting, Ash mused as he replied, "We're going to the mansion. Dazed senses something in there." How often would he have to be around ghosts or dark-types to block out psychics? Obviously Sneasel wasn't powerful enough to do that. Did it just accumulate over time or did the resistance show up immediately after exposure? He was fairly certain the crystal had wiped out Karen's psychic resistance earlier, but had Agatha's touch restored it?

Questions for another time, he decided.

"Let's head out. I have the feeling it's going to take us longer than we'd expect to get to the mansion," Ash scowled. He really hoped there wouldn't be another illusion or trick of his perceptions…that was more frustrating than the strange crystalline monster that had chased him into this faux-Greenfield.

Karen nodded and took the lead. Her team fanned out around them evenly, providing a defensive perimeter. They were better suited to it than Ash's team, although he would have released Sneasel if he had the chance. Ash didn't miss how the orchards' pastels flickered and washed away whenever Karen's team drew near, revealing a glossy purple beneath the disarmingly bright colors that reminded him of what lurked beneath the surface.

Ash relaxed into Bruiser's huge arms as they made their way across the landscape and closed his eyes. For a moment he reached deep within him and tugged on the Concepts of Fire, Ice, and Lightning still dancing inside, but withdrew his touch almost immediately once he felt heat and cold grasp his limbs…they were still there, unaffected by the crystal or this new world that they'd entered. He could still use them if he was truly desperate.

That said, he dearly hoped that wouldn't be necessary. Now that he was safe with his team and bolstered by Karen's as well he hoped that he wouldn't have to draw on the Birds until this was all over. He'd gotten an objective look at the feelings they engendered and found himself more than a little worried.

The powers he could use hurt him. They practically stole away his thought and rationale, replacing his human mind with one touched by vast, inhuman forces he could never hope to truly control. All he could do was guide the elements inside him, diverting them in paths and entwining them to bolster himself and oppose their siblings lest they burn him out and leave him a mindless husk.

But it was satisfying to use that power – addicting, even, to renew his strength and spirit with Fire, to allow Lightning to flow through and sharpen his mind and reflexes. To quench it all with frigid Ice and numb the effects. It was something altogether different and certainly unnatural…or was it natural? The Legends were older than him, certainly. Probably older than any living thing.

How was he even doing this? The question repeated itself over and over again in Ash's thoughts. He wasn't an idiot. It was obvious that this wasn't a result of psychic powers – while he might not be an expert, he was well-versed in the basics of psychic abilities. Psychics were all about manipulating what was already there. They generated force to change the world, could twist minds to cast illusions or warp thoughts, and transverse time and space.

They did not create. And somehow Ash knew that's what he was doing when he drew on the Birds. Maybe a skilled psychic could generate fire or electricity or freeze something (he'd have to ask Steven about that later) but they didn't make it from nothing.

This was something deeper, like he was creating something from nothing. Brushing against some deeper, transcendent force and drawing it into the material world. It was impossible…

Ash checked his surroundings – the faintly purple sky, the rolling hills overgrown with flowers which stretched for miles around, and the replica of the Hale Mansion across them – and decided he really shouldn't be deciding what was possible or not. Reality was more of a suggestion at this point…

"Ash!" Karen hissed, catching his attention. He followed her gaze to just a few feet in front of the party and stared as glistening steps of a shimmering glass materialized from the heavens as if they'd been there all along. Ash tried to see where they began, but it seemed to go on forever – thousands and thousands of feet into the sky, so far that they disappeared into space. "Should we destroy it?"

He hesitated. "Not yet. This is something new. It might help explain some of…this," he gestured at the incredible world they'd arrived in. His eyes narrowed as his team readied themselves. "But be ready. If it's dangerous we'll have to hit it with everything we have!"

"Got it."

A chill crept up his spine as Karen's team spread in a semicircle, angling around the staircase to view the base of the stairs from every side. Anything of the crystal would find itself melted away in a storm of dark-type energies. The only question was whether they could keep it down.

"Let Karen's team act first," Ash directed. His team listened raptly. "Hit it with ranged attacks as soon as they're done. Nidoking and Dazed, keep it from regenerating with Shadow Ball. We need to keep it under pressure constantly, alright?"

Nidoking and Dazed were quick to show their assent – Dazed's pendulum emerged from beneath her snowy mane and Nidoking thrashed his tail against the orchard, shattering hundreds of delicate flowers into tiny shards of crystal before it flowed back into shape.

The others took up their positions as well. Torrent floated between Umbreon and Gengar, taking a rear position to get a better angle. Infernus found his spot in the gap between the muscular Houndoom (who he eyed with more interest than Ash would like) and Weavile, who didn't seem to appreciate the heat pouring off of the fire-type very much.

Those two would be the most responsible for keeping anything attacking them down. Their incredible elemental offenses would deal real damage to the crystal so long as it couldn't regenerate. All the others on his team would just work to make up for the gaps. Hopefully this would be enough to at least slow their unseen opponent down…

"Tangrowth!" His friend jerked and gurgled cheerfully at Ash's call. His vines waved erratically, barely resisting the urge to run over Karen's team and make some new friends. "Don't touch whatever's coming through here, alright? Charge up a Solar Beam or use Ancient Power."

The grass-type's vines drooped at that, but the full-body wriggle Ash got made it seem like Tangrowth understood. He spared the huge Tangrowth a smile before he motioned for Bruiser to back him up to where Karen stood. Honchkrow circled overhead, beak pointed in the direction of the staircase. Hopefully it would go mostly unnoticed. Plume veered higher still, ready to shear whatever emerged in half with a Steel Wing if necessary.

Something in the air changed. A pressure, gentle but strong enough to raise the hair on his arms with a violet glow, wafted from the stairs. Ash tensed in Bruiser's arms. Karen looked a pale wreck beside him, eyes set deep in dark circles. Her hands shook.

"The eyes, the eyes…" she murmured beside him. A chill set upon him as Karen seemed to unravel, only the fierce core of determination to set the world right keeping her together. "They see us."

He'd grown numb to the giggles and keening choir singing throughout this world, but they redoubled their efforts with a jubilant laugh. Ash squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could as the frenzied singing hit a high note – he felt the flowers dancing beneath his feet to the erratic notes, brushing close every now and then and winding in circles. The wind itself leapt to the choir's tune, crying and howling madly and he wanted to join it! To become one with the wind and sky and solid, real earth beneath his feet. It called to him, a lure that became harder and harder to resist in each passing moment…

If he just let go he could be so happy. Free. One with all of this beauty. Perfection was in reach. All he had to do was submit.

His eyes snapped shut, a snarl caught in his throat as his instincts warned him of the danger. Ash felt a few glossy petals retreat from his exposed ankles, rearing away as if they'd been lit aflame. He glared down at the interlopers. He'd been stupid to disregard them…they were essentially fighting inside a Legendary's mind right now. Maybe not literally, but considering they were standing atop its psychic power the analogy worked well enough.

"Hi!"

Ash's attention immediately settled on the figure that strode down the stairs with an easy confidence he recognized in all powerful trainers. It was the kind of relaxed, easygoing demeanor that came from someone that knew there was nothing to fear.

He stared as the girl came to a stop, hands on her hips. She seemed oddly familiar, like he'd met her before. But he was pretty sure they never had. It was faint, like he was seeing a ghost. Overall she cut an odd figure. She looked to be about Karen's age with bronzed skin, honey hair and dark blue eyes that watched he and Karen raptly. More interestingly, she had a row of pokeballs clasped onto her belt that he'd never seen before – they looked to be formed from the same crystal that had dominated the mansion in its unnatural grip. It was more blue than purple, however, and even appeared to have a few scratches artfully etched into the material.

It was her clothes that really caught his attention though. His teeth bared and Moltres boiled his blood in his veins – this girl was wearing his mom's clothes! They were a bit different – a little looser, covered with a long white coat – but the similarity was too much to be a mere coincidence.

He opened his mouth to demand some kind of explanation, but Karen's bloodshot eyes stared in his direction and cut him off with a shake of her silvery head. Ash reluctantly cut himself short (though he had to numb his rage with Ice just to do so) and waited for Karen to make a move. She was more experienced in this sort of situation…well, he hoped so. Normally when he was faced with a mysterious stranger he'd prefer to blast his way out.

Karen took a step forward. Just as she began to approach the newcomer she was cut off by the woman's excitable babbling. "Wow!" She admired Karen and Ash's teams, zeroing in immediately on Nidoking. The hulking poison-type shifted nervously at her stare, beads of venom trailing constantly down the length of his horn. "He's so big! I only ever saw him on TV."

Ash and his teammates exchanged odd looks. "You watched Nidoking?" He hedged, hoping to break the ice a bit.

"Of course! My mommy had all the videos!" The woman bragged. Ash frowned at 'mommy'. Seemed a bit odd for someone in their late teens or early twenties to say that. Karen seemed just as perturbed.

"Who are you?" Karen demanded, taking a few rushed steps toward the new woman. She seemed to have lost any patience she'd showed earlier, though he probably should've seen that coming. He didn't consider Karen wholly sane at this point – the crystal hadn't left her whole. "Did you do this? If you are, then you're under arrest!"

It was the woman's reaction that bothered Ash more, though. He watched her oddly as she stumbled back, obviously scared of Karen despite her previous ease. "STOP!"

Karen stopped. She was locked completely in place for several seconds, frozen like a statue. A clap of thunder and flash of purple lightning fired in the distance, the clouds went black and a great quake shook the earth beneath their feet – even Bruiser nearly fell, unbalanced as he was by carrying Ash. His team was frozen in place as well, although they weren't bound quite as tightly as Karen…as terrible gales of wind whipped across the fields, rustling the crystalline flowers, her hair refused to so much as blow. Her eyes were blank and for a moment Ash worried that she had outright been killed.

It ended as soon as it began. The woman put some more distance between them, but the fearful look was gone. She seemed more curious than anything. Karen collapsed into the flowers, exhausted and dazed from the ordeal. She laid limply against the grasping flowers before she struggled to her feet, brushing off little worms of crystal that had tried to meld into her skin. Absol trotted over to her side, offering some support to the woman.

"Who are you?" Ash wondered. The girl looked at him like he was stupid.

"I'm Molly! You know that," she laughed, twisting a curl of honey hair around her finger. It was like she didn't even realize the sudden pallor to Ash's face, or the way his blood ran cold. He stared at her, horrified. What was going on?! This couldn't be Molly…she was just a toddler!

He couldn't speak for the life of him. Whenever he tried to form words they died in his throat, choked out by his lack of incomprehension. Nothing made sense anymore!

Molly teetered back and forth on her heels and frowned at him. Ash barely noticed. "What're you doing down here? You're supposed to be upstairs with mommy and daddy!"

A haze settled over his vision, throwing everything out of focus. "You're right," he smiled. "That sounds like a wonderful idea – wait," he caught himself, fury filling him as he tore himself from the dream. "What did you just do to me?"

A petulant scowl crossed Molly's face. "I didn't do anything!"

He scowled right back, but held his tongue as a fierce gale whipped across the false Greenfield. Arguing with Molly wouldn't get him anywhere – it was clear she was at the source of this, even though he didn't understand how. The mystery was still there, but the pieces of this puzzle were starting to fall together. Molly's involvement and seeming control over this world explained why the Entei knew her name and why it had kidnapped his mom…at least she was probably safe.

That took a burden off his shoulders that he hadn't even realized was there. Ash visibly exhaled, tension flooding out of him. "Fine, fine," he said to Molly, who seemed to have eyes only for him. An idea came to him – this was probably his only chance to get any kind of answers, he realized. "Can you tell me where all of this came from?" Ash gestured to the vast world they'd emerged into.

"This is Greenfield, dummy!" The woman laughed girlishly, doing a little spin. She smiled happily as the flowers bloomed, their crystalline stalks extending a foot in a minute. The orchard leaned in towards Molly, seeking her touch like an obedient, loving Growlithe. "Isn't it pretty?"

"But where did it come from?" Ash stressed, trying to get some sort of information out of the woman. She didn't seem to know much, but anything would help.

Molly wrinkled her nose at him. "I wanted it! Outside is filled with all of those dumb people trying to get in and bother us. I don't want them here!" She stamped her foot against the flowers, which stretched away to avoid her stomping feet. Ash shuddered as the temperature fell fifty degrees in an instant, briefly frosting over for a breath before they returned to normal. "They'll try to take mommy away…" she muttered under her breath.

"Okay, okay," Ash said soothingly, hoping to avoid upsetting the girl like Karen had. She was somehow tied to the crystal, though he was pretty sure she wasn't a psychic. Besides, it didn't seem like she was going to hurt them. "I don't you remember you being this old."

"But we just saw each other!" Molly protested. Her eyes widened, seemingly noting Ash's exhausted state as Bruiser carried him. "Are you feeling okay? I know you were getting worried earlier. Do you need mommy to –"

Ash frowned. "I'm fine," he said firmly. It was odd having such a casual conversation with the girl considering how stressed he was right now. There were so many questions he wanted to ask… "But aren't you three?"

"No, dummy," she scowled, grinding her heel into the dirt. The temperature spiked a few degrees, drawing a few beads of sweat form Ash's brow. Her eyes narrowed at him. "You know I'm four and a half! You're acting weird."

He wasn't sure why Molly had any idea of what he normally acted like, but he put it out of mind. "Sorry," Ash muttered, actually a little embarrassed that he didn't even know how old she was. He'd thought she was much younger. "But how'd you make this?"

"I already told you! I didn't want to go outside because there were bad people out there," Molly seemed a little frustrated. He decided to back off. Nothing good could come out of antagonizing her.

"Okay, I get it now," he said placatingly. Molly relaxed a bit. "But why do you look older?"

Molly giggled, a stark change from her earlier frustration. A few stalks of grass brushed against Ash happily, though he was quick to adjust his feet away from the overly friendly stalks. "Because I wanted to! I saw her," Molly pointed at Karen's trembling form," and she's so pretty! I wanted to be old."

"Alright," Ash murmured. He could work with that. Molly's mind seemed as childish as it would normally be, so he wouldn't be getting any logical answers. But she obviously had some extreme control over the crystal. It seemed utterly entwined with her wishes, reflecting whatever she wanted at that point in time. But how did that work? Was it a psychic connection? She probably wasn't gifted herself but maybe she'd formed a bond with whatever had actually created the crystal. "When did all this start?"

"This is boring! Can't we talk about something else?" Molly whined, shifting around. She brightened all of a sudden, ignoring Ash. "Look at what I can do!" She ripped a fistful of flowers and blew on it, giggling madly as a few tiny, vividly colored Butterfree sprung forth from the flowers as her breath reached them. Ash, Karen, and their teams stared, absolutely stunned by the simple act, but Molly didn't have the patience to let them do that for long. "Come on! Let's do something! We can play a game!"

Ash and Karen exchanged glances. "What kind of game?" Karen hedged, far more cautious as she leaned heavily on Absol. She wouldn't anger Molly again – not willingly, at least. She was smart. She'd caught on that they needed to have Molly help them, not hinder them. "And what do we get if we win?"

Molly didn't seem happy that Karen was talking at first, but she smiled brightly as Karen finished her words. "If you win…you get ice cream! I have a ton! And if I win, you have to everything I say forever!"

No way. For one, Ash wasn't about to put any kind of food that was probably made out of the insidious crystal into his body. Second…no. Just no. "How about we make another deal?" He suggested, wincing as his useless muscles struggled to pull his body up so that he could look at her better. Bruiser adjusted him to be more comfortable. "If you win, we spend the day with you and do whatever you want. Tangrowth would love to play with you," he said, knowing Tangrowth was the only one of his friends that wouldn't hate him for putting him in that situation. Tangrowth waved, which Molly responded to with a bright smile and a shy wave of her own. "If we win, you have to do whatever we want for the day."

The girl-turned-woman's face scrunched up as she considered the deal. Ash desperately hoped she'd take it and not just throw the crystal at them…there was no way they could resist her if she really put effort into it. If they pushed her too far this world would become just as hostile as the one they'd just escaped from.

"Okay!" Molly agreed at last. She rubbed her palms together eagerly. "What kind of game do you want to play? I'll beat you at anything!" The girl boasted.

Ash caught an aside glance from Karen. It looked like she was planning on letting him handle this. He definitely got on with Molly better than she did.

"Alright…" he murmured, mind racing frantically with any idea he could think of. The games he'd played as a kid were mostly games with Gary about training and exploring and imagination.

Ash did not want to test Molly's imagination. He got the hunch that it wouldn't stay imaginary for long.

What else could he do, though? She'd win any normal game. The crystal would probably make sure she won. He'd suggested that they'd spend the day with her because it was the safest way to get answers and have a chance to safely observe this new world. This was a win-win situation for them even if they lost.

That said, he'd rather win. Not just for his own competitive spirit (even though that was rearing its head) but because Molly working with them was the best option. If she was willing to listen to them they might have a chance to stop this whole catastrophe in its tracks.

"Hurry up!" Molly whined again, glaring at him. Ash nodded, then turned his eyes to the crystalline pokeballs on her belt. A small smile split his face.

He had an idea. "How about we play two games at the same time?"

"Two games?" Molly asked. He nodded. "Yes! That sounds fun!"

"Alright," Ash smiled. "Do you know how to battle?"

Molly's eyes got huge and she squealed (Ash and most of the pokemon winced at the piercing noise). "Yes! I've seen all of them!" She bragged. "I've never battled, though…"

"It's easy," Ash reassured her, glad she was taking the bait. "You'll battle Karen –"

The sky became overcast, though no thunder rumbled in the distance. "But I want to battle you!" Molly grumbled at him. "I don't want to battle her."

"You can practice on Karen," he was corrected himself. Molly relaxed at that, and the blackened skies quickly brightened to a brilliant purple reminiscent of Nidoking's leathery hide. "In the meantime, how about we mix some hide-and-seek in? While you and Karen battle, I'll go find somewhere to hide. When you finish up you can try to find me."

Molly's smile brightened. "Sure! I'll catch you so fast!" She boasted. Ash didn't doubt it, but maybe Karen would occupy her long enough for Ash to uncover more about this place. And at least this proved that they could work with Molly peacefully…she wasn't any smarter than she would normally be. How hard could it be to trick a three – sorry, four-and-a-half year old?

"Great," Ash smiled, pleased that this was going about as well as he could hope. He winced as he adjusted himself in Bruiser's arms, then another idea struck him. "I'm not feeling too good," he directed at Molly, almost feeling guilty at the way her eyes grew wide with concern. "Is there anything you can do to help?"

"Oh no…" Molly rushed over to him, her hand warm as she placed one on his forehead – he caught Nidoking's horn lowered as if to gore the young woman, but thankfully his friend restrained himself. An ugly feeling weighed in his gut as her gesture vaguely reminded him of the way his mother would treat him when he was sick.

Her eyes squeezed shut and a startling heat (so different from Fire's hot burn) flowed into him from Molly's skin. For a moment he thought to jerk away, but it seemed to lock his limbs in place. Almost instantly he felt the strange power weave itself into his every muscle, filling them with vigor and strength. There was still an underlying ache and exhaustion in his core, but he still felt a million times better than he had just a moment ago.

Ash curled his fingers and straightened them with wonder – it was startling to realize how low he'd been brought by the events of today. Everything felt clear and smooth again, though there was still a residual pounding in his head that told him his concussion wasn't entirely healed. But the overpowering ache that had distorted his thoughts was finally wiped away, leaving him clear to work with his full brain.

"Thanks," he muttered as Molly grinned down at him, pleased with how much better he looked. Ash was surprised to find that he meant it as he allowed Bruiser to lower him onto the ground. It was nice for his legs to actually support him without trembling or giving out at the lightest stress.

As he straightened, stretching his rejuvenated muscles, he glanced around at his team. With Molly willing to work with them he didn't need to have them all out. Ash doubted the world would actively fight him anymore, and if it did he could just release his team. But right now they would slow him down while he raced to find the source of this new reality.

So he returned them. Only Bruiser and Sneasel remained. The dark-type was beginning to stir, thankfully...of course, right now he just looped the furry Sneasel around his neck like a scarf. His limp body would give him some measure of protection from the crystal.

The thought of having Molly wake Sneasel up crossed his mind, but he decided against it. Sneasel was too unpredictable and might lash out with his vicious claws in his confused state. If he scared Molly then this whole plan would be ruined. He could just give Sneasel a revive once he'd cleared the area.

"I'll teach you the rules for battling," Karen offered. Molly turned to her with interest. It looked like she was already forgetting her dislike of the Dark Master. "I know you've seen some, but there are secret rules we don't teach anyone. If you want to be as good as we are then you'll need to follow them," she finished. Ash looked at her oddly, but she ignored him.

Ash got the feeling that Molly might be a little confused about how to battle when they got out of this. Karen had caught onto the plan. What they needed now was time.

"Alright!" Molly nodded, big blue eyes wide like she was about to learn some secret knowledge. "I'm so going to win!"

"I'll go ahead and look for places to hide," Ash offered. "When you and Karen finish up you can both come and look for me, okay?"

"Okay!" Molly cheered, looking just as happy as her younger self had in the photos his mom had sent. And that reminded him…

Ash stared right into Molly's eyes. The girl smiled at him like the child she really was. "What happened to my mom?"

Molly pursed her lips, obviously confused. "She's upstairs in my room taking a nap. Don't you remember?"

"I do," he nodded, heart lightened at the news his mom was fine. With any luck he could find it himself (or have Molly bring him there) soon. The sooner he found his mom the sooner he could get her out of here. "Thanks."

The sooner she would remember him.

"I'll see you in five minutes," Molly stuck her tongue out at him as Ash started walking up the crystalline stairs, which were quite a bit sturdier than he'd expected. They didn't sink at all as he ascended them. Ash turned to look at Molly when he was about thirty stairs up and watched her chattering inanely to Karen, who looked like she was about to throttle the girl.

His lips curved into a smile, somehow amused by that. It was a lot less stressful now that he could walk on his own without relying on the Birds' strength, though he found his attention still on them. Ash looked up into the infinite sky, spirit dismayed ever so slightly as he saw an endless spiral of the crystal stairs to climb.

Did they ever end? He hoped so – Ash could already hear the chorus singing higher and higher, the erratic wails and keens leaving him uneasy. He was getting closer.

Ash took one more step and considered releasing Dazed to potentially teleport him. Maybe it wouldn't be so difficult for her anymore now that Molly knew who they were. They needed all the time they could get and every second wasted on the stairs was a second he could be searching for the source of this nightmare.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, he and Bruiser stepped into a dark room. He froze, jarred at the sudden shift, and felt Bruiser fall into a fighting stance at his side. Ash motioned for him to stay calm and took a moment to examine the new room.

It didn't take him long to realize this was just another copy of the entrance hall. In fact, the only difference was that this version wasn't covered in crystal. He could easily picture him, his mother, and Uncle Spencer striding through these doors on their way to dinner or the garden to rest and tell stories.

A light pang went through his heart, but he ignored it. With the agonizing weakness the Feather had subjected to gone it was like his mind was finally clear again. He'd forgotten how nice it was to be able to think.

Where should he go to? To be honest, Ash didn't really remember the layout of the mansion that well. At once his mind leapt to the thought of finding his mom – she was in Molly's room, at least according to the girl herself. Ash was inclined to believe her, but he wasn't sure where her room would be. The one he used to stay in when he was younger, maybe? There wasn't that much space, but even if he was in the real mansion (as he remembered it, anyway) he couldn't be sure everything was as it was in reality. For all he knew opening doors could lead him into more and more versions of the mansion.

Ash's fingers curled into fists. He hated this whole situation. He couldn't fixate on it – there was work to be done – but he savored a brief moment to bitterly reflect on the day. Nothing made sense anymore. Molly apparently controlled this false world, him and his team's only ally in the belly of the beast was forced to stay behind and buy him time, and he was still no closer to finding out what was really going on here.

"Where do you think we should go?" He questioned. Bruiser shrugged, beady eyes skimming over the room with no real destination. Ash sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought. We need to find my mom and get her out of here."

Bruiser nodded. Ash grimaced, traitorous thoughts warning him that his first priority should be finding the cause of this. If he didn't stop it in its tracks then there might be no use in finding his mom at all. He hesitated, but convinced himself that she might able to help point him in the right direction.

But would she help them? That same voice whispered again, damning him with its cold logic. She hadn't even remembered he was her son. The thought was like a cold blade twisted into his heart but he drew upon Ice to numb his feelings. They would betray him.

Ash squeezed his eyes shut and released Dazed. She was the only one who could really help guide them right now. The Hypno materialized a little slower than normal, hands clasped together around her pendulum – the crystalline loop shone with an ethereal purple flame, a heatless light so bright that he could see the thick bones of Dazed's fingers through it.

We are near!

He hissed in agony as the brute force behind Dazed's whisper slammed into his mind like a sledgehammer. Ash barely weathered the mental barrage, though Bruiser fared far worse – he'd been brought to his knees and groaned pitifully as his huge hands clutched uselessly to his ears. Without any hesitation Ash placed a comforting hand on Bruiser's powerful shoulder, though he feared it did nothing to really help his friend.

Dazed recoiled as if struck, then squeezed her eyes shut. Purple flame seared him through her eyelids, burning terribly bright. Her fingers shook as if she had just been pumped full of stimulants and it was only getting worse as the seconds ticked on.

"Where's my mom?" Ash shouted, barely able to hear himself above the mental groans emanating from Dazed. Her eyes snapped open, though it hardly made a difference considering how bright the power consuming her had become. She looked at him blankly, trembling uncontrollably. "Dazed! I need you!"

She still didn't answer. Ash readied the pokeball to return her if she didn't recover…he wouldn't risk permanent harm to his friend, but he needed her help. Desperate, he clasped her hands in his smaller ones and thought of the cold haze of Ice, remembering its frozen numbness and praying for Dazed to experience it.

Ice frosted his hairs, stilled the pumping of his heart, and left his airway burning with comforting cold. Ash remembered the lessons he'd learnt when he first entered the mansion and guided Articuno's force into Dazed through their physical connection, careful to hold back all but a trickle of the Concept lest he drown her in yet another Legendary's influence.

The enormity of Dazed's mental presence drew back, limited by Ice's numbing effects. Ash immediately cut off the flow as he saw the fiery purple behind Dazed's eyes flash a cold, still white and exhaled as the power of Articuno receded back into the Feather. He thanked the Bird silently, grateful for its assistance, and looked to his friend. She had stilled her tremors and appeared to have regained some measure of control over herself. Ash lowered the pokeball, though he'd return her in an instant if she was lost again.

Thank you. I must be swift – Ice will not stay the Hive for long.

Ash nodded and waited for her to continue. He did not speak, but simply thought. She'd hear it just fine.

The Hive is near – they sing creation and their master's will. Beware them…their song will grow stronger the closer you get. You will need your strength to retain your own will. Do not slip for a moment. I cannot tell you where they are. They are everywhere.

An image of his mother went through his mind. Dazed's eyes drooped.

I can sense her, but her presence has bled through this world. She is whole! But be careful, Ash. There is another here…not the Beast, but something else. I cannot –

Two things happened in that moment. The first was that Dazed stopped speaking. She froze, then collapsed. Ash barely had time to return her before an inhumanly powerful force bowled into him from behind, forcing him onto his hands and knees and snatching the breath from his lungs. He wheezed helplessly, vision red with rage as adrenaline pumped through his veins, and flipped as quickly as he could only to blanch at the sight of an enormous purple beast looming over him with a terrible fury in its black eyes. Its muscular tail, covered in heavy plates, thrashed into Bruiser with enough force to smash a street light to the ground.

Impossible! He thought, pale as an enormous Nidoking glared down at him. Bruiser was thrown down by his side and landed heavily, though he was clearly ready to stand and fight if need be. Where had the beast come from?

"Nidoking, that's enough," a voice declared. There was something odd about, like Ash had heard it before. Ash's blurry vision (he really hoped he hadn't gotten another concussion) could barely focus as the shape of a boy came to stand by the Nidoking's side. From what he saw the figure was around his height with tanned skin, black hair, and a hat turned backward. There were more than six pokeballs on his belt and the clothes he wore seemed familiar.

Then he saw his face. Something snapped in him, yet instead of leaving him in a frothing rage a tranquil state came over Ash.

"I don't think you should be here," the boy said evenly, rolling his shoulders as a small, fluffy Zubat crawled up to stare at Ash. He looked at Ash calmly and crossed his arms, utterly confident in Nidoking's ability to protect him. Ash knew that feeling all too well. "Leave. Now."

"Who the hell are you?" Ash asked as he picked himself up with his elbows, too calm for this situation. He already knew the answer. He just needed to know for sure. Then he would know how angry he should be.

The boy looked at him oddly. "Don't you know me? I'm Ash Ketchum."

"No you aren't! I'm Ash Ketchum!" Ash snapped back, pulling himself to stand. Bruiser mimicked the motion, though Nidoking – the Imposter's Nidoking, Ash corrected – rumbled a warning and swept his tail from side to side. "Now back off!"

The Imposter's eyes narrowed. With the exception of the scars Ash had gained on his travels they could be mistaken for twins. The only real difference aside from the scars were tiny, minute things – the clone was too clean cut, for one, like Ash had been when he'd participated in the Conference. There was none of the dirt or grime or experience reflected in the clone's features. Everything was just a tiny bit off, like he was seeing the clone through the lens of a camera or from a distance away.

Everything was there, though. Even the voice was like his, but a little softer. Not as scratchy.

Both of their mouths curled into a sneer. "You aren't giving the orders here. And you can't be Ash Ketchum," the clone declared and pointed at himself, "because I'm Ash Ketchum. I don't know why you're here, but you're going to have to leave."

He snorted. "Get out of my way. I'm going to find my mom and stop this. If you don't move then I'll make you."

The clone grinned dangerously and reached down to his belt – there was one less pokeball there than Ash had, he noted – and grabbed one. "You made a mistake coming here," a stony face identical to his own stared. "You won't lay a hand on mom or my baby sister!"

Ash froze, some of his anger quelled by confusion. "Baby sister?" Realization struck him and he wanted to punch something (preferably his clone) really, really hard. "You mean Molly? She's not my sister!"

A darkness overtook the clone's features. His Nidoking snarled, baring its long fangs and squaring itself for battle. "Shut. Up."

He allowed his fingers to drift to his pokeballs, ready to release Nidoking. Nidoking had Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball. Those could end this fight before it even began, although it would really only buy him time. His other hand squeezed Sneasel's paws, holding on tightly in case he'd have to move. It was a miracle that the little dark-type hadn't been dislodged from around his neck when he'd been shoved.

But did this really have to end in a fight? Ash analyzed his clone's expression – it wasn't a calm one. It looked like he'd really angered it with his comment. He could probably beat his clone, but was it worth it? All he'd do is fight another incarnation of the crystal that would come back again and again until he'd destroyed this entire room. He was in the heart of a Legendary right now and he had to remember that.

Maybe the best way through this obstacle was around it.

Ash let his hand drift away from his pokeballs for a moment, though he could release several of his team in a single movement if necessary. The clone didn't miss that. "Sorry," Ash grimaced at the apology – it was honestly a struggle to say it to this false version of himself. He wanted nothing more than to unleash Infernus on the imposter but knew it wasn't time for a fight.

"Apology accepted," the clone said after a long, tense standoff. "You still have to leave. I don't trust you," his imposter said bluntly.

Inspiration struck. "Molly is the one who let me up here!" Ash all-but-shouted. The clone looked at him oddly, like he didn't believe him. "We're playing hide-and-seek while my friend battles her."

His clone squinted at him, but stood silently before nodding. "Fine. You can stay – I can tell you aren't lying. I am playing hide-and-seek with Molly…I remember now."

"Can you help me?" Ash asked measuredly as he mulled over the clone's confusing logic, hoping against all odds that the clone's answer would be yes. He needed a guide, especially since Dazed could barely stand this place. When the clone looked unconvinced he added, "Molly would like it if we gave her a challenge."

"Sure," the clone shrugged. "I can take you to a few spots while we wait for Molly."

Ash pretended to think for a few seconds. "How about where mom – you and Molly's mom," he corrected, hating himself for letting the words come out of his mouth, "is staying? It'd be the last place Molly would look."

The clone stared at him blankly. "Out of the question," it declared. "We might be playing hide-and-seek with Molly but I won't take you to mom's room – I don't trust you. You will never lay a hand on her!"

A chord of bitterness arose in Ash's gut, but he stayed quiet. He'd rip this clone apart the second he could…nobody would keep him from his mom. Ash decided to take another chance. "How about the thing making all of this," he motioned around the false entrance hall, "Where is it?"

"The Unown? Through there," the clone said flippantly, pointing at the door settled at the top of the staircase. It was the same door that he and Karen had walked through only to emerge in the false Greenfield.

A vein on his forehead throbbed. Then the clone's words caught up with them…it was the Unown. They were the source of all this, but how? How many had Uncle Spencer uncovered for them to do something like this? How did they get to Greenfield?

And how did he stop them?

The chorus reached the highest notes yet, stabbing into his brain with lyrical scalpels. He winced, fearing they'd begun to pick up on his intentions. If the Unown decided to turn their attention onto him he wouldn't last a moment – Ash might be strong, but they would shatter his mind and make him another slave of Molly's.

He'd be worse off than this clone. At least the clone didn't know what he was.

"You can't go in there," the clone shifted, seemingly unaware of the tempest brewing in Ash's brain. "Molly doesn't want anyone else going in there. The Unown don't like other people."

Ash stared at the doors. They were so close…

He tuned out the clone as it continued to speak. It was just drabble about places they could hide. No, all he could think about were the League personnel struggling against the Crystal Entei outside…the faster he resolved things here the faster they could take it down and get to work destroying the crystal itself.

Maybe all he'd have to do is distract the Unown. If he could take some of their focus off the battle in the real world and bring it on him it might let the League break through. But what could he even do to the Unown? They had made this false reality from nothing. He'd probably be obliterated the second his team tried anything.

But he had to try, right? It was his duty.

"Take me to see the Unown?"

The clone scowled. "Why? I already told you Molly doesn't want anyone but her to see them," he said as if Molly's wishes were law. "I can't let you in, even if I wanted."

"So you're just a slave?" Ash jabbed, hoping to get a little more information out of his clone. He had to admit it felt good to see the clone stiffen uncomfortably.

"Not a slave," his clone said quietly and stared calmly at Ash. "Her brother."

The Crystal bubbled and writhed and twisted upon itself as its master spun it into the form she desired. Memories not of its own mind stirred, flooding it and shaping it into something new. Videos of the last Indigo Conference, a woman – Mama – pointing proudly at a black-haired boy with hard eyes and a soft frown wherever he went, wondering what it would be like to have a big brother to take care of her when Mama and Daddy were gone and she was all alone…

Ash recoiled as if slapped, straining to separate himself from the vivid sense of longing he'd felt. It slipped away like smoke, but its shadow still hung heavy in his chest. Those must have been Molly's feelings – Ash swallowed the lump in his throat and wiped any sympathy for her away. "You were created just to be her big brother?"

"I am Molly's big brother," the shadow said, not seeming to think there was any difference. And perhaps to the clone, to the Not-Ash, there really wasn't any difference. Ash wondered if it was really sentient or if it was just like some kind of bizarre robot limited by its programming. It seemed organic, but how deep did the act go? Was it an act at all? "And we should stop these pointless discussions. We need to find out where to hide. Your friend won't keep Molly occupied for long."

So the copy had some awareness of what was going down in the other Greenfield. Ash wanted to question it, but the point had been made – they didn't have much time. "I want to see the Unown. That's the only place I'll hide."

Not-Ash shook his – its, Ash reminded himself – head. "I told you I can't do that. She doesn't want anyone going in there, not even me."

Gah, this was pointless. Ash spared the door that would take him to the Unown a glance. Maybe he could get past the Not-Ash and tear his way through the door if he was quick enough. Nidoking could dissolve the crystal with a Shadow Ball while Infernus blasted a hole through it…

No, he knew that wouldn't work. There was a warning that came from his gut. The Unown wouldn't allow their sanctum to be breached by force. If he tried to fight his way past his shadow and attack them directly he'd probably be lost in this dream world forever. They'd constructed an entirely new reality in the confines of the Hale Mansion…casting him adrift in space and time would be child's play.

Literally.

So fighting was out. Diplomacy was out.

"What if I asked Molly? She'd give us permission."

The clone frowned in consternation. "Perhaps."

Ash wasn't about to let the chink in the clone's armor go. "Tell me how to talk to her, then."

"Maybe when she finds you," the Not-Ash allowed. Frustration mounted inside Ash, and he couldn't help but allow his mind turn to dark places…Karen wouldn't last much longer. Fire intensified him, fanned the flames of his frustration into a righteous, burning anger. Maybe it was worth trying to fight. "Don't try it!" Not-Ash scowled at the glitter in Ash's eyes.

The Imposter's Nidoking acted before Ash could have considered giving in to Fire's all-consuming rage. It grumbled and charged, horn lowered to permanently end this intruder. Ash's breath hitched at the sight - there wasn't much more imposing than a six-hundred pound purple behemoth sprinting his way - and he barely reacted in time to stop the furious crystal construct.

Nidoking appeared in a flash of scarlet light, eyes constricted to mere slits with his unfettered fury. Bruiser yanked Ash out of the way moments before the juggernauts met with twin roars and flashing horns.

He grimaced and pushed Fire away as he righted himself. It gave him strength, but it had also landed him in this stupid fight. This was not how he'd wanted this to go… it looked like he wouldn't get to talk his way out of this one.

Ash snarled as Not-Ash's Nidoking plowed into Nidoking right before his friend could rip his crystal clone's body to shreds with a well-placed Shadow Claw. The hulking beasts roared in unison, suddenly impossible to tell apart in the plumes of glittering crystal they kicked up with their brawl – the ground itself quaked and cracked with their every step, leaving a great expanse of broken ground and swirling glass shards in their wake. The twins stabbed at their horns, barely shielding against the attacks as they dueled their way through the room.

"Stop this!" Not-Ash hissed, backing away just in time as Bruiser threateningly stepped his way. There was no mercy in his reptilian gaze. "You can't win – my family and I are unbeatable!" His clone boasted, eyes bright with pride in his team.

"That's funny – so are mine!" Ash taunted as his brothers and sisters exploded from their pokeballs to surround him. All but Aron materialized in an instant, eager and ready for battle. Even Seeker clung tightly to his shoulder with her sharp claws, prepared to stymy any attackers in a flurry of wings and screeches. "Take us to the Unown or –"

Not-Ash didn't back down. If anything he looked more determined as he cut Ash off with a glare. "Or what, Ash?" He dimly realized this was the first time his clone had called him by name. "You can't kill my team or I. You can't destroy this place. We will rebuild any damage you do! All you have is bravado and empty threats on your side."

He ground his teeth as his team fanned out, preparing for the inevitable battle. Nidoking and his clone had split apart, eying one another warily. His brother hadn't suffered any noticeable injuries and stood beside Torrent – the Not-Nidoking regenerated before his very eyes, crystalline threads climbing from the floor to sew its deathly wounds shut.

Ash himself conceded the point to his clone, though he was more concerned with backing towards the staircase that would take him to the Unown.

Ash couldn't argue that his clone was right. Fighting was the last resort for a reason – he couldn't win. Not really. This was going to be a losing battle, but it was his last chance…Molly had said she'd never take him to the Unown and he'd felt their reality shake when he'd so much as asked.

"I know it's not your choice," Ash admitted as he took another step closer to the Unown. Bruiser stepped in to close the gap – he'd block any attack sent Ash's way. Right now their only priority was finding the Unown and stopping them. Everything else was a distant thought by now. "But what I'm doing is the right thing to do."

"Not for Molly…" Not-Ash whispered as he reached to twist his cap backwards. Hard, determined eyes just like his mother's burrowed into him with an unnerving intensity. "Not for me!"

Well, that was true. Ash had to concede that point. The clone wouldn't exist without the Unown. As for the first point… "This is better for Molly," Ash swore. He took another step toward his goal. "She needs to grow up in the real world, not this," he wave his hand at the false reality surrounding them. "It's not right."

"This is the real world," his clone said, a dark shadow passing over his hard face. For a moment Ash swore he saw the construct's eyes glint a pale, glossy violet. "We are all she needs! We are her family!"

A gale swept through the hall, battering against Ash's team, and he grimaced as the temperature dropped and dropped and dropped…Fire nor Ice could grant relief here. Ash steeled himself for the brawl he could sense coming.

Sneasel, barely awakened from his exhausted rest, tensed at Ash's feet. He wished he could order Sneasel to lash at his clone with his cruel, hooked claws and stop this in his tracks but he knew it would only postpone the inevitable. It would be a waste of his power to fight the crystal. Pointless, even. There was more crystal than Karen's elite team could beat back, let alone a single immature dark-type.

No, he'd have to use Sneasel sparingly.

"Now!" Ash roared, his hoarse voice clear as day as it echoed throughout the uncannily silent hall. Time seemed to stop for a second as his words reached his team, then the battle began.

Infernus was the first to strike. He grinned like a maniac and heat rushed from his blindingly hot form as his cannons lowered and glowed – then light and flame flooded from them in blisteringly hot streams that swallowed his clone whole. Ash almost felt pity for the construct, even if it couldn't feel.

Nidoking didn't hesitate to focus in on his own opponent. A Shadow Ball ripped into the Not-Nidoking, carving through its chest like a hot knife through butter, and left a gaping hole two feet wide in the construct's chest. Not-Nidoking looked down dumbly, then bared its teeth and charged, heedless of the pointless wound. It was slow, though, and slowed even further as Torrent immediately buried it beneath a heaping mound of snow and ice, though Ash could still see the movement of Not-Nidoking beneath it.

Not a moment later he caught sight of movement in the swirling storm of smoke, flame, and crystal shards – shapes rising from the mansion's floor and coalescing into familiar shapes. A hulking, muscle-bound Machoke rose up next to the Not-Nidoking and tore the icy coating holding the crystalline beast away with meaty fists. It wasn't long before a Kingdra tore itself smoothly from the walls, a dispassionate glint in its scarlet gaze. The shriek of a Pidgeot came from the ceiling, then the happy gurgles of a Tangrowth as a writhing mass of vines fell from far above them.

He paled, realizing his clone had released his own team, and realized he had less time than he'd expected. For whatever reason it was hard to imagine the clone having more than the Not-Nidoking at his beck and call. It was unnerving to consider the firepower he'd be facing now, although he wasn't sure if they'd really be on his team's level. It was like New Island all over again.

And then the moment he truly dreaded arrived – a figure he knew terribly well arose from the area Infernus had scorched. All he needed to see were violet fires bursting from its shoulders, a vicious grin on its face, and twin cannons burning purple before Ash turned away from the battle immediately, though he ached to check on his team's safety with every roar and sound of shattering glass or burning air. Heat and smoke brushed his back and he barely managed to stop before walking directly into his clone.

Even Ash couldn't stop the way his breath hitched in his throat at the sight of his clone – the construct was a mess. His face had been melted half-off by Infernus' fires, revealing shiny purple innards smooth as glass. It was like his clone was made entirely of the crystal with the exception of the surface layer – as he watched he could see tiny little fibers of crystal weaving up and down his misshapen body, sewing his clothes back together and building upon themselves to shape his melted torso, limbs, and face together expertly.

The clone didn't hesitate to take advantage of Ash's shock. Ash clutched feebly at the deformed hand that wrapped around his throat and slammed him up against the railing of the staircase with supernatural strength. His vision darkened as the clone held his grip, though it seemed careful not to push too far – Ash was still aware of everything, though his legs kicked uselessly at the air and the railing and everything he could reach. The clone's arm simply lengthened in response, stretching another foot to protect the main body.

He gurgled out something even he wasn't sure of, striving to call for anything that could help him, but no help came. Ash dimly watched Seeker cry out and flutter at his clone in a blue blur of flapping wings and painfully loud noise, but the clone simply reached out with his other hand and allowed his fingers to dissolve into a net of fine, crystalline wires that ensnared Seeker easily in its net – she struggled wildly, panicking in her haste to assist Ash, but the wires tightened until the Zubat couldn't move.

"Let her go!" Ash roared, his vision red, as soon as the grip slackened. His clone looked at him, unamused by his resistance. "I'll kill you if you don't let her go! Now! Stop and let her go!" He rambled into nonsense as the fingers tightened again, cutting off his air supply but avoiding his trachea. The world went dark and everything seemed mute and far away as the clone stepped closer…

"We didn't have to fight, Ash," the clone sounded…sad? Disappointed? Its right eye watched him warily. The left was being rebuilt by the delicate action of the crystal. Ash would have been fascinated by its movements in any other situation. "I can't lose here. Our teams will fight. Yours will win, at least for a while. But mine will learn. They will take everything they can from this pointless battle. They will copy memories, skills, personalities…we will become as real as your team," Not-Ash smiled wanly. "And when we have learned all we can, we will beat you. I will deliver you to Molly and we can make you understand."

The grip slackened. Ash gasped for breath. Every bit of oxygen was sucked in desperately for his starved lungs. His vision cleared. The sounds of battle – the screams, the roars, the sizzling of burning air – all sharpened. Even his thoughts lost their mugginess as the choking hand allowed him some reprieve.

"Call your team off," Not-Ash demanded. He looked past Ash to the battle. "I don't want any of our brothers and sisters getting hurt in this stupid fight."

Brothers and sisters? He was pretty sure the clone hadn't called them that before…Ash's mind whirred for a moment, then his eyes widened as he realized exactly what was touching him right now. What was absorbing his thoughts and feelings and knowledge.

"I wondered how long it would take you to figure it out," the clone chuckled humorlessly as the skin of his fingers vanished, revealing the pale purple crystal beneath. "Yes, the crystal – me – is going to learn from you. I might be her big brother, but my baby sister wants the real Ash Ketchum. I'm going to become that for her."

Ash wheezed, struggling to form words underneath the pressure of the clone's fingers. Not-Ash looked at him oddly, then allowed some of the force in his grip to slacken. There was still quite a bit of strength in it, though, as a subtle reminder not to try anything. "Are you ready to call your team off? There's been enough fighting today."

He met his clone's eyes, stared, and made up his mind.

Several things happened all at once: sharp claws wreathed in shadowy, unnatural power carved into the clone's glassy flesh and sent both Ash and his doppelganger collapsing to the ground. The Feather burned. Ash held back a ragged scream while Fire coursed through his veins – the rumbling of a volcano and the roar of a wildfire in his ears, and the sensation of dry, baking heat on a hot summer day over his skin – and he roared Fire into the world.

A great cone of flame erupted from Ash's throat and bathed liberally into the clone's shocked face, spilling onto the floor and leaving it all a melting, squirming mass of crystal that struggled to rebuild itself over and over again only to be reduced to nothing by Ash's breath a thousand times over. He poured his anger into the fire, redoubling it twice, thrice, and again as all his frustrations and shame and doubt were channeled through the Feather.

Ice balanced him, protecting his body from the effects of the enormous heat that would blister his tissues and peel his skin away without any real effort. Ash finally felt the inferno engulfing him dim and die, fading away into a few cinders lingering onto the ruined mess of the floor without any real indication it had happened at all…Ash stared at his grisly handiwork for only a few stunned moments before he arose, well-aware that his clone wouldn't be put down for long.

"Thanks!" He gasped to Sneasel and Seeker, grimacing as his throat filled with ash and smoke and all the feelings he'd had since him and Lance had challenged Moltres atop Mt. Ember all those months ago…

Sneasel hissed and flicked some of the wriggling crystal off his claws (the keening crying of the choir went dim as Ash watched the dissolving glass melt away into nothingness), glanced at him with more than a little concern, and peered back at the battle. The sounds were getting closer, though Ash didn't dare look to check on his team's progress – they were fighting for him right now. If he wasted even a second he was dishonoring their struggle.

Instead he dashed up the staircase as quickly as he could. Sneasel followed just behind him, though Ash knew his friend could have been at their destination before Ash reached the first step. He was dimly aware of Seeker fluttering up onto his shoulder as he reached the top and smiled, grateful for her support.

"Can you break through this door?" Ash asked Sneasel. It was a thick thing, covered in heavy purple plates of shifting crystal and more piled on all the time. He felt doubt worm into his heart as he considered it. More and more crystal consolidated itself atop the door, as if it was armoring itself. He'd have felt more comfortable if he had the combined firepower of his entire team to take this down…

There is no time to waste. End this cancer before it swallows us all.

Ash gasped as a cold presence saturated the air, an oppressively heavy thing that made his head pang and his heart skip a few beats. He grimaced at the urge to fall to his knees and submit to the source of this awful power, but resisted with all his might and watched uneasily as the crystal covering the door paled, losing its purple hue, and suddenly pulsed an icy blue before vanishing entirely (the door included).

Thank you. Ash could scarcely believe he was showing gratitude to Mewtwo, but he had to give credit where it was due. Though he had to admit he was worried that the artificial Legend thought it was necessary to help out at all…that didn't bode well for the scale of the threat they faced. Mewtwo had saved him once before – it was all too easy to remember the vicious, relentless cold that had touched him to his bone as he was whisked out of Articuno's Blizzard in a cocoon of psychic energy – and it had grated on him.

Now? Well, he was grateful. Anything to stop this aberration from spreading any further. Anything to save his mom.

He dashed through the portal without a second thought, his feet pattering loudly against the slick glass of the floor. It hummed at him, beckoning Ash with promises of knowledge, peace, and power – he grimaced during his mad sprint when he realized the crystal already knew what he valued. But he didn't hesitate. There was no time to be distracted by the crystal's false promises. Whatever it would give him it would take again tenfold.

Sneasel slowed beside him, cocking his head oddly as they emerged into a great, gaping void – Ash could only detect the barest hints of definition forming the vague shapes of walls and a ceiling above them, the only things of substance in the strange world they'd emerged in. In the far off distance, seemingly thousands of miles away, he could spot little pinpricks of light shimmering and pulsing at random. On occasion he could see what looked like other worlds, other rooms in Molly's dreams, and even visions out of the corner of his eye as he ran. Ash craned his head to look closer –

A tall, pretty woman (the best and most beautiful in the whole world!) with honey hair just like hers and a bunch of bags laying beside her yelled at Papa in the entrance hall. She couldn't understand what was being said but she still watched. Why was she so mean to Papa? It wasn't fair! Why couldn't they just be happy? Tears trickled down her cheeks in hot, wet lines. Teddiursa wiped them away with his cute paws. He was crying too. Mommy didn't say anything when she left. She never came back.

He stumbled in his run, gasping for air as he came to again. His thoughts were in a frenzy, full of jumbled memories and little threads of feelings and emotions intricately intertwined with his own, foreign and familiar and everywhere.

"Hi, sweetie," the woman smiled at her. She was crouched down at her level. She immediately liked this new person – there was something familiar about her. Teddiursa held her hand in his paw but she cautiously let go. Papa smiled and rubbed her back.

"Don't you remember your Aunt Delia?" He laughed. "Delia and Ash came by a few years ago to visit. You were just a baby then," Papa trailed off. "Go on, say hi!"

She looked at the nice woman cautiously but finally worked up the courage to get past her shyness. Papa always told her to be nice. "Hi!"

The lady smiled. She liked that smile. It was nice.

"Keep going!" Ash ordered as he recovered for another few seconds. Sneasel seemed uncertain and sent Ash a quick look, but he forced himself on. They had to hurry. Something else was coming, not just a memory but a presence –

"This is my son, Ash!" Aunt Delia pointed at the black-haired boy surrounded by so many pokemon! She sat on the edge of her big bed next to Delia, her legs kicking out impatiently. She felt a little jealous at how happy Aunt Delia looked when she talked about Ash. Aunt Delia normally only acted that way around her… "Isn't he so cute?"

"Yeah…" She muttered and balled her comforter up in her fists. What was so special about him? Aunt Delia had just gotten back. It had been months since she first came by! Why couldn't they just talk together and not about dumb Ash?

Aunt Delia didn't notice how unhappy she is. "I hope you get to meet him again. I bet you two would get along great!" She laughed, tracing over the dumb boy's picture fondly. Aunt Delia spoke again after a little bit, this time in a whisper. She had to lean close to Aunt Delia to hear her right. "He acts tough but he's a big softy on the inside…you should see him around his pokemon!"

Her eyes got big. "He has pokemon?" Her voice dropped to the same whisper Aunt Delia was using. Wow! That was so cool! She had Teddiursa but that was different… "How many? Is he a trainer?"

"Uh huh," Aunt Delia giggled and wrapped an arm around her, drawing her close. She froze, but smiled and snuggled into Aunt Delia. She was the best. "I don't know how many he has now…before I left I think he had around ten?" The woman furrowed her brow. "Let's see…oh!" Aunt Delia smiled a big, bright smile that made her feel warm inside. She flipped through a few more pictures before she found one of Ash and so many pokemon!

"Let's see…" Aunt Delia pointed at a big, scary purple pokemon standing next to Ash. What was that? It looked mean. "That's Nidoking. He's big and strong but he's Ash's starter pokemon. They're so close and they act so similar – I'm glad they look so different or else I'd have trouble picking them apart!"

She giggled with Aunt Delia and watched on with rapt interest as Aunt Delia pointed out the rest of Ash's pokemon. Wow…she didn't know there were so many! Would she ever have that many pokemon? Maybe she could be just as cool as Ash was.

"Can I be a pokemon trainer?" She asked hopefully. Her Papa never talked to her about that stuff. He said they could talk about it when she was older. But she didn't get that. She was plenty old – she was four!

Aunt Delia hugged her tight and rested a hand on her back. She hugged her back just as hard and never wanted to let go. Mommy's hugs were never this warm. "Of course you can be a trainer! You can be anything you want to be!" Aunt Delia said firmly. She felt Aunt Delia smile into her hair. "You know, I bet we can find some of Ash's videos from the Indigo Conference. If you want to be a great trainer those are a good place to start – Ash is going to be the best trainer in the world!"

He wiped his eyes free of any moisture. Ash allowed the pangs in his chest to die down and be swallowed up by Ice. There was no time for this. He wasn't even sure if the source of his tears were from seeing his mother the way he remembered or the feedback from the memories. They had to be Molly's memories.

Just thinking her name caused another star to shine bright, and he drowned again in a tide of thought.

"Why does Aunt Delia have to go?" She sniffed and wrapped her arms around Papa. He chuckled and held her close, bobbing her up and down as he paced around her room. "Why can't she stay here forever?"

Papa hefted her up onto his hip as he sat down on her bed. "Delia has her own life to live," he comforted her. She didn't feel any better. Didn't Aunt Delia like her? Why would she want to go anywhere else? "You should be happy for her, Molly. She's going to learn in Goldenrod, just like me! She'll be able to tell you all kinds of cool stuff when she gets back."

She frowned. Telling her cool stuff was what her Papa was for. Aunt Delia was supposed to be fun! "Why didn't she go learn with you?"

"She did. We studied with Professor Oak – I showed you a picture of us, remember?" Papa said. Molly rubbed her chin. She thought she remembered that. Papa looked so weird in it! Aunt Delia was even prettier than she was now, though. "Delia just had to take a break. She's just now getting back to studying."

"Why'd she have to take a break?" She asked curiously.

Papa laughed. "You just love asking hard questions, don't you?" He teased. She pouted. That wasn't a hard question! "We can talk more when you're older. Right now all you need to know is that she had a hard time back then and needed to be on her own for a bit."

"I'm old enough now!"

"How about this?" Papa hummed thoughtfully. He ruffled her hair with one hand and she struggled to pull away, but he just laughed and hugged her tight. She finally dissolved into a pile of giggles and gave up. "When you're as old as Delia and I were in that picture I'll tell you everything I can, alright? I think that's fair."

She frowned. "But that'll take forever!"

Her Papa just laughed. He liked to do that. She wrung her hands together. "Aunt Delia was really pretty in that picture."

"She was," her Papa said quietly. It sounded weird, like he was sad. When he saw her looking he perked up. "I think she's still pretty. Don't you?"

"Yes!" She cheered. "She's the prettiest…I wish she would stay forever and be my Mommy!" She shut her mouth immediately. Her Papa didn't like it when she mentioned Mama. He didn't get mad but he'd be so sad…

This time was different. Her Papa smiled. "I do too."

Ash flitted back into his own mind, almost shocked as he found himself still running. His legs and lungs burned in equal measure but he ignored the pain – Ash wasn't sure how far they'd gone, but he knew that something would happen if he just kept moving down this endless hall. He could practically feel the anticipation, the tangible sensation of a great force growing nearer and nearer.

He was ready. Ash cast aside the odd feeling he'd gotten from the memories. There was plenty of guilt thrown in. It didn't feel right for him to see these private moments, even if he didn't choose to view them of his own volition. There might be more important things to worry about, but it still bothered him to so blatantly invade Uncle Spencer's privacy.

Though he waited for another vision, none came. Every few seconds he'd get a foreign feeling – the soft brush of grass and flowers against his fingertips, the gentle heat of the sun washing over his skin, and great wells of euphoria that he'd never felt before. Then he'd see the bright silver sickle of the moon shine overhead, or a cold rot of fear and despair spread through his mind like a deathly chill. It would be gone as soon as he felt it, replaced with desperation and a steadfast determination Ash could proudly claim as his own.

How long did they have to keep running? Ash was ready to find the Unown and put an end to –

The little clay pieces came alive as her tears dripped to the ground. Her Papa was gone and she couldn't find him! He'd just gotten back too! Aunt Delia wouldn't be back for days and she was all alone…Teddiursa was here, but he was just as scared as she was.

It was so scary here. She loved the house but it scary when there was no one else here. Too big. Sometimes she heard noises and she didn't know where they came from – it was so silent most of the time and she hated it.

Why couldn't her Papa be here? He'd yelled and she came here and he was nowhere to be found. She'd even cried and he was always there when she cried…why couldn't he come and pick her up and chase her around like he was Entei? Papa always said Entei was supposed to protect her. He said he was like Entei and he'd always be here for her. But Papa wasn't.

Aunt Delia would help her, but she needed to come here! She would hug her and help her find Papa. Everything would be okay if she could just have her Aunt Delia. Maybe Aunt Delia would stay forever and be her Mommy when they found Papa. She'd be the best! She'd never leave.

She looked up when the clay started singing. They flew up and hovered around her, shining brightly. Their light was even purple, her favorite color! It was so pretty! It distracted her from her crying for a second and she looked at them hopefully. "Are you nice?"

Shapes that looked like the letters Papa and Aunt Delia melted out of the clay…it vanished as it touched the ground, like it was never there at all! "Wow…" she whispered. The Shapes sang to her and she knew they were nice. They wanted to help her! One of the Shapes – of the hundreds flying out of her Papa's little box she'd found in the room – squealed and touched her hand and she giggled at how cute it was. "You're cute. Can you help me?"

The Shapes sang to her. Their eyes opened and she was afraid at first, but they fluttered away and shrank and she realized she'd hurt their feelings. "I'm sorry…" she whispered and stretched out her fingers. The Shapes danced closer, weaving in and out of each other like they were happy! "I didn't mean to scare you. I know you're nice."

They came close enough to touch. She did and laughed as more and more appeared from nowhere – there were so many! It was like a big swarm of Butterfree! And they could sing so prettily. "Can we be friends?" She asked hopefully. They came closer, surrounding her all around, and she giggled madly as they tickled her. They were so nice…

She jumped when the doors slammed open. The butler and a man she'd met a few times stared – somehow she knew they were afraid. "Go away!" She screamed, more scared than ever…why were they scared of her? She hadn't done anything! She rubbed her eyes and the last of her tears landed.

Where they landed, little spots of purple crystal grew. She wished those two men would go away and leave her alone with her new friends…the crystal hummed and grew, her friends sang happily, and she giggled as all the Eyes blinked…

"So the Unown are here somewhere," Ash muttered as he came to. He'd known it already, but it felt different to say it now. It was strange to see so many of the strange creatures. Who could have known they'd be capable of something like this? Jessica's Unown, Uno, was barely capable of anything. The most it could do was minor psychic feats that Dazed could have easily outdone as a newborn Drowzee.

But the swarm that had somehow appeared in the Hale Mansion seemed countless. They numbered in the hundreds at the lowest and most likely in the thousands – possibly even the tens of thousands, Ash thought. It made him a little ill to consider what he was up against. Could he hope to outfight the Unown? They didn't seem aggressive, but the power they commanded was on the level to demolish him and his team without a thought.

No, he couldn't fight this. At best he could find the Unown and hope that Molly would show up. She was the key to all of this. If she'd been the one to release the Unown then maybe she could seal them away.

But how could he find them? He'd been running in this void for ages. It wasn't an illusion. It was just another layer of reality Molly had created and folded on itself. Well, more likely it was a defense generated by the Unown. Molly didn't seem to actively create very much. It just followed her whims.

He slowed to a trot. Seeker snuggled close into his shoulders, shivering as the chill of the void sank into her bones, but Sneasel sprinted along for a few more feet before matching Ash's pace. "We'll never get through this."

Sneasel hissed. Ash could guess what he was asking. "I want to find the Unown. Molly doesn't want anyone to find the Unown. I'll never reach them…we're playing by her rules," his eyes hardened. That made things much harder than they needed to be. He'd hoped he could brute force his way through the defenses, hope that he could trust in Mewtwo's help. But it was all wrong.

Ash had to remember that the rules here didn't have to make sense. Distance meant nothing. Time meant nothing. All that mattered was that what he wanted didn't matter. As long as Molly was working against him (consciously or not) he would lose.

He didn't dare look past the ill-defined barriers of this place into the void. Ash wasn't sure he could take anymore memories – it was already hard to keep ahold of himself when the laws of physics weren't on his side. Instead he closed his eyes and tried to ignore everything else.

"Molly!" Ash called out (coincidentally in the same tone he'd use to settle disputes with his team) into the vast expanse of nothingness. It echoed for minutes on end, his voice crying out the same words over and over again.

Finally he opened his eyes and dared to hope that his attempt had worked. Disappointment welled in his chest when he realized nothing had happened.

Then…the world changed. Nothing perceptible shifted, but Ash knew in his bones that has cries had been heard.

"What do you want?" The scowling grimace of his clone answered his plea. Ash winced at its ruined appearance – it didn't look like Not-Ash had recovered from his grievous injuries at Ash's hands. Little strands of crystal organically knit his ruined flesh together, but it was slow, unsteady work. It appeared to flutter wildly at times, piling upon itself to rebuild the construct, but at other times the squirming fibers dulled and slowed as if they had been frozen.

If his clone had been an actual human he'd have been killed by Ash's attack. It made something in Ash twist unpleasantly, but he subdued the thought as he observed the clone: his face was nearly blasted off, a smooth crystalline face all that remained of one side of his head. He limped as a result of Sneasel's wicked work, leaning heavily on his left leg. The right hadn't fully recovered yet. Its heel was still sliced without any real repair – had the clone tried to lean on his right leg it would have toppled to the ground. There were still great swathes of flesh and cloth that hadn't been restored, still present as nothing but smooth, solid crystal.

"Are you going to say anything?" The clone raised an eyebrow. Ash coughed, somewhat embarrassed at his distraction. He did his best to ignore the unsettling sight of his own ruined body.

"I need to talk to Molly."

Not-Ash barked out a harsh laugh. "You think I'm going to take you to see my baby sister? You've attacked me," he waved a hand over his burnt, shredded body, "my team," his eyes narrowed dangerously, "and you've ignored any attempts to work this out without violence."

Well, he wasn't wrong. He grimaced at the thought of Fire's sudden surgence. Things could have gone differently. "I don't want to fight anymore," Ash spoke quietly. His mind went to the thought of his team…what had happened to them? Were they alright? Were they still locked in combat with the clone's team? It couldn't have been that long since he'd escaped Not-Ash. "All I want is to speak with Molly and resolve this. I swear!"

The clone watched him mistrustfully. "Why should I believe you?"

Ash hesitated. To be honest, he wouldn't have trusted himself right now either. "Because my team needs me. I know we can't win against you," Ash admitted. The intact side of the clone's face quirked up in a smirk that really rubbed him the wrong way, but he didn't allow the irritation to influence him. "But my team needs me. I wouldn't risk them if I didn't have to. I just want them back and safe and working with Molly is the only way to ensure that."

He waited. The clone didn't respond for a while, glancing him up and down. The crystal slowed again, failing to rebuild his clone's form to any meaningful level. They were so sluggish that it was like they'd been buried beneath a great mound of sand.

"Do you know why I'm like this?" His clone said suddenly, waving his hand over his ruined, ravaged form. Ash frowned and shook his head. The imposter smiled tiredly. "It's because Molly met you. My team is the same – they're ruined now, barely intact after your brothers and sisters had their way with them. We're on our last legs because my sister saw you for real. She believes in you now – she knows you. Karen's told her about you."

Ash frowned again as the pieces slowly began to fit together. The clone chuckled. "Do you see it? Molly doesn't need us anymore. She has you." Ash noted that his clone didn't seem nearly as bitter about that as he would have been. Maybe the clone didn't even have the capacity to be angry with Molly. "We're ruined."

"…I'm sorry," Ash offered, genuinely bothered by the clone's words. It seemed wrong for something to be discarded so easily, even if it wasn't really alive. But that was what kids did, wasn't it? They found a new toy and got bored of the old one.

Maybe the same would happen to him in time. Maybe Molly would meet him, tire of him, and throw him away as soon as something more interesting came along.

"Molly wants to meet you," the clone said quietly. "She wants to meet her big brother for real. So I'll take you to her. She will be happy and I will as well. Then I will fade."

The clone met his gaze evenly and extended a gloved hand. "Take my hand. I will take you to her."

Ash killed his fear, distrust, and all the hesitation that came with it. He returned his team and took the hand. No sooner had he brushed his fingers against his clones' before he felt a sudden, irrevocable shift.

Stars twinkled, then stretched from the top of the void to the bottom until they became great, shining lines. He gazed at them, awestruck despite the seriousness of the situation, and marveled at the sight even as the world around them faded and fragmented apart into a billion little fragments of pale purple glass. Reality itself shattered like a mirror struck with a hammer, cracking about Ash and his clone until everything warped and twisted around them.

"Look away," Not-Ash whispered as their surroundings changed into forests and great fractals of crystal branching every which way, collapsing in and upon itself and spiraling ever further into the abyss Ash knew to be just out of sight…

The Choir's humming reached ever new pitches, wailing and crooning and cackling in equal measure in a thousand different tones as the landscapes blurred across the corners of Ash's vision. He snapped his eyes shut and the murmurs lightened, but he still had the unsettling feeling of being watched by an entire stadium's worth of eyes.

Still, he found himself somewhat grateful to his clone as he gripped Ash's forearm tightly, steadying him and anchoring him. The Choir's wails were less cutting, the nausea of being whipped across a stormy sky lessened, and Ash felt more...him. Less as though he were being stretched and twisted in twenty directions at once.

He felt the clone's hand (it felt like a real hand, he noted, not one sewn and shaped from living crystal) release. "We're here," Not-Ash said softly and stepped to the side. There was something warm in his voice, a gentleness that hadn't been there before.

Ash opened his eyes and stared. He ignored the great glass arches that spired into the heavens above, or the heavy plates of crystal making up the floor and rising up to form plain, admittedly beautiful furniture. He ignored the hopeful little girl holding Not-Ash's hand (the crystal construct had a big, dumb smile on his restored face) and even Karen, who looked utterly resigned to the situation.

"Mom?" His voice hitched. He hated himself for the show of weakness but he couldn't bring himself to care. How could he when she was right there? And there was something in her gaze that hadn't been there before - a warmth, a spark, recognition. She remembered him. "Are you okay?"

She laughed and Ash was almost embarassed at how much he had missed that. It made him feel like a little kid again. His mother rose from the massive bed - Molly's, he realized as he remembered it from the visions in the stars - and spread her arms wide. "Come here, Ash. I've missed you!"

He didn't think. Ash threw all caution to the wind and embraced her. The burden on his shoulders felt a thousand times lighter now that he knew his mom wasn't lost to him - she hadn't been snuffed out by the crystal. "I missed you too," Ash said, voice muffled by his mother's shoulder.

His mom's lips curved into a smile and he couldn't bring himself to care about Molly or the Unown or the League or the Legends…

"It's good to have you back," she cooed. His mother pulled away and held his arms, obviously concerned at the damage to his clothes and the numerous scuffs and singes left all over him from the events of the day. She brushed little worms of crystal away with a huff. "Look at you! What have you been up to, mister? I've heard you've been making trouble for your little sister all day!"

Little sister, Ash mouthed, dumbstruck. What was she - No. No, no, no. This wasn't happening! He pulled away, staring at his mother like she was a stranger. And was that even wrong? She didn't even really know him anymore. She didn't know her own family. Her mind was twisted around Molly's finger and who knew if he was even talking to his real mom right now? Maybe this was just another of Molly's constructs, another crystal clone designed to fulfill Molly's fantasies.

"What's wrong, Ashy?" The stranger said, reaching out for him. He nearly pushed her away, but couldn't find it in him to go through with it. The thought of pushing his mom (or even something wearing the face of his mom) was too much. "Do you need something? You can rest if you're tired. Where's your team?"

"I - I don't know," Ash confessed despite the maelstrom swirling within him. His heart felt like someone had reached into his chest and squeezed mercilessly. The pang couldn't be ignored, but he did his best. How could he deal with Molly and the Unown if he spared even a second to think of his team fighting bravely against their phantoms? Images he couldn't describe - of ruin, blood, and broken bodies - flitted through his mind.

He ignored his mother's arms when they encircled them and finally turned to face the giants in the room.

"Hi, Molly," Ash tried to come off as warm, but it sounded hollow even to his ears. Molly didn't seem to mind, though. She stared at him with big, blue eyes filled with hope and a hunger he couldn't quite name. He stared back, taking in the true Molly.

She looked just like she did in the pictures his mother had sent less than a month ago. A tiny girl with honey-blonde hair and a small pout on her face. Molly was utterly pristine in her fabricated reality and it was bizarre how neatly she seemed to fit. Even his mother and Not-Ash were out of place in this bizarre wonderland of shiny fractals and spires shaped of lustrous diamond, but Molly was at home. The world shifted around her, seemingly brighter and possessing some indescribable quality that made her feel more real than any of them.

"Hi, Ash," Molly said. She grinned madly at him and gestured grandly at the bright room around them. Grand curtains came alive despite being encrusted entirely in the Unown's crystal, rustling in an unseen breeze. Lights of some brilliant, ethereal substance that swam in the air as if it were an ocean. Giggles - the shrieking howls of the choir were easier to bear here, gentle and comforting - filled the air and he thought he heard all kinds of voices singing from the walls. His mother's, Uncle Spencer's, Molly's...even his own, though it spoke of conversations he'd never had. "Do you like my room? I made it myself!"

"It's...bright," Ash replied, struggling to find something that sounded vaguely complementary. It was hard to do when his first reaction to seeing the girl was to grab her and shake her until she lifted this illusion and made everything right again. Well, he would have tried. Ash was pretty sure Not-Ash and the room itself would write him out of existence before he even touched the girl.

Molly laughed and twirled around, little sparkles and rainbows threading about her every move. "Thanks!" She stopped and looked up at him again. It was hard to believe someone so tiny could cause such a huge mess. "So I win the game, right?"

"Game?" Ash furrowed his brow until the realization hit him. "Oh, yeah. Hide-and-seek. Yeah, you won. You found me." Well, sent his clone to teleport him to her but he wasn't going to disagree with her. The last thing he needed was to upset her and have her warp his mind like she had to his mother.

"Yes!" She cheered, pumping her little fist. "I'm so happy! I knew I'd win," Molly boasted. His mother giggled at Ash's side and knelt down to ruffle Molly's hair. The girl seemed to soak up the attention like a sponge - she practically glowed as Delia sat on the bed next to her. "First I beat Miss Karen and now I beat you! I'm the best!"

He just nodded along and spared a glance at Karen. She looked normal for the most part, but he didn't miss the tell-tale dusting of shiny crystal flakes on her skin. It actually looked good on her, as did the doting smile she sent Molly's way.

"So you beat her?"

"Fair and square," Karen snorted, drumming her fingers on her thigh. She actually looked vaguely annoyed at her loss. At least Molly hadn't totally rewritten her personality. Perhaps the crystal infecting Karen hadn't wormed its way deep enough yet. "I just couldn't keep up - she's so talented. One day she might even be able to beat you, Ash."

Molly beamed at Karen, who smiled back softly. That glow was back. Ash thought back to her memories he'd glimpsed in the abyss and his anger and bitterness ebbed, replaced by a lingering guilt and shame.

This wasn't Molly's fault. She wasn't a monster trying to hurt him or his mom. She probably loved his mother as much as he did - the secondhand emotions he'd picked up from viewing her memories told him that much. Molly was just a desperately lonely little girl who missed her mom and thought she'd found a new mom and a brother who she could idolize. She'd eaten up his mother's stories to the point of willing a copy of him into being.

"It's good to finally meet the real you, Molly," Ash said finally. It was nice to see her as she was.

"Huh? We've known each other forever!"

"I know," he said, fighting the part of him (the part the choir crooned to) that really believed what she said.

Molly pouted. "You aren't making any sense!"

Ash just laughed and finally felt comfortable in the silence that followed. His mother seemed content to sit and brush her fingers through Molly's long locks. Karen flipped her hair as she reclined on the bed, staring at a pokeball she tossed up and down. Even Not-Ash finally relaxed, hobbling his malformed

It was almost peaceful.

Unfortunately, the brief period of respite had to end. Too much counted on him ending this.

"So what do you think of the people outside?"

Molly peeked up at him from where she sat on the crystalline plate directly underneath his mother. A nasty scowl was on her face. "I hate them! I just want them to leave us alone…" she murmured. Ash nodded along. "And they keep hurting Papa! He just wants them to leave and they hit him!"

"What if they win?" Ash asked, sitting down upon a surprisingly comfortable throne of crystal (it had conveniently erected itself across from Molly not a moment before). He felt newfound confidence surge through his veins. He knew what he needed to do. "What if they beat your Papa?"

"No!" The world lost a bit of its shine as Molly shouted at him. It returned to normal just a moment later, but it was a sign that he appreciated. Molly wrung her hands together at his mother's feet, sullenly staring at them. His mom hushed her, whispering soothing nothings into the girl's ear. "Nothing can beat my Papa! He's the biggest, strongest person in the world!"

Well, that settled it. It confirmed what Ash already knew - the League could never defeat the Crystal Entei. Molly's will drove the Unown's crystal. They'd keep feeding it more and more power until it inevitably triumphed through sheer attrition. Even the Beasts couldn't fight forever, and as soon as the Unown turned the majority of their power outward and focused it against Molly's unwitting enemies, they'd win.

It was impossible to prove, but the theory lined up with everything else he'd learnt in this world.

"I know," Ash said after a moment, trusting that his mother had calmed Molly down. He was aware of Karen's sharp eyes burning holes into him - the crystal hadn't dulled her wits at all. Ash wasn't sure how deeply into Molly's trap she'd fallen, but the Dark Master knew he was up to something. "But even if he wins your Papa is still getting hurt, isn't he? You don't want that, do you?"

"No!" Molly growled cutely. Her fists balled and Ash wiped a few beads of sweat away as the temperature in the room spiked. "I won't let Papa get hurt!"

He hid a smile. "I know you won't," he nodded, "but I want to help you make sure he doesn't get hurt anymore. I can help. I know some of those people outside - they aren't all bad," he grimaced at the surge of heat, but pressed on quickly. "A few are my friends. Karen's friends, too!"

"Really?" Molly asked doubtfully. She looked over to Karen, who nodded, then back to Ash. "Wow! How many friends do you have?"

"Lots!" Ash winced at how wrong his cheery voice sounded. He swore never to use it again after today. He waited a moment before he leaned in closer to Molly, smiling at the hopeful look in her eyes. "I bet they'll be your friends too. You'd like them. They're grown-ups and a lot are way stronger than I am."

"But you're the best trainer in the world!" Molly protested. He couldn't help but bark out a laugh at that. Oh, if only she knew…

After a moment he leaned back in his chair. It flexed with him. "Maybe you should meet them yourself," he plastered on a grin. "But we'll have to get them to stop fighting, first."

"How?" The little girl scowled as she crossed her arms and huffed. "They're mean! They won't leave us alone!"

Ash shook his head. "They're just scared. Right, mom?"

His mother cheerfully nodded, not really paying attention to anything other than braiding Molly's hair. "Yep!"

"See?" He asked Molly. She hesitantly nodded, looking more and more unsure of herself. "I know how you can get them to stop, though. If you have your Papa stop fighting them and send Karen out to talk with them I bet you can make sure nobody else gets hurt."

"But I don't want Karen to go!" Molly was suddenly laid in Karen's lap, clutching at the woman's bare arm. The crystal dusting Karen shone brighter at Molly's touch and hummed happily. "She has to stay here with me. We're friends!"

Before Ash could try to convince Molly any further, Karen spoke up. "I think he's right," she said to Molly, hugging the girl tightly. Molly's fingers gripped tightly onto Karen, refusing to let go. His fellow Elite Four member caught his eye and nodded. "I can help you. Send me out there and I can stop the fighting. They'll listen to me!"

Molly hid her face in her hands. The room was silent.

"Okay," she said at last, and a moment later Karen vanished as though she were never there in the first place. Ash blinked, surprised, then smiled. Things were finally working out for a change. With any luck Karen would be freed from any influence the crystal was exerting by Agatha or another ghost or dark-type user. She would be able to feed the League valuable information.

And if not, well, maybe she'd succeed in talking the League down. The more Ash spoke to Molly the more certain he was that she could be reasoned with. She didn't want to hurt anybody - she wasn't even aware of the destruction she was causing. If Ash could just convince her to return things to normal then maybe they could buy enough time to somehow sever the Unown from her and seal them up somewhere.

He paused for a moment to consider his next move. There were a few things he needed to ponder. Mostly he had to ensure his team would be kept safe - Ash doubted that Molly would harm them, but he wouldn't feel secure until he had them by his side again. That said, his biggest priority would be to get Molly to end this. If he couldn't convince her to sever whatever link she had with the Unown (if she was even capable of that) then he'd at least do his best to get Molly to return things to how they were.

That meant leaving a time bomb - it didn't seem Molly was in complete control herself, or at least didn't consciously direct it - but he could work with that.

"I'm bored!" Molly declared, suddenly standing in front of Ash. He flinched but nodded along. She looked at him. "We should play a game!"

"We could battle," Ash said reflexively, though he nearly facepalmed after he said it. There was no way that could go well...maybe he should try to pick up a hobby outside of battling? No, he decided, that would be a waste. It was hard not to smile at Molly's wild grin, but he barely held it back. Were those his feelings or the crystal's? It was so hard to tell at this point…

His mother clasped her hands together. "That sounds like a great idea!" She chirped, hugging Molly tight to her chest. The little girl immediately relaxed, snuggling in tighter. A darkness that was entirely his own rose in Ash's chest, but he quelled the feeling after a moment. "Let's go! We can play in the ocean and then go into space and -"

Ash interrupted her. It wasn't hard to catch sight of a darkening tinge to the room, or the crystal raining down around them sharpening into focus. "I have a better idea!"

She leaned back into his mother's arms. "What is it?" Molly didn't look pleased at his interruption but at least she was giving him a chance. He could work with that (even if Not-Ash's baleful stare from the corner was a bit distracting).

"How about we do something else before we battle?"

"What are we gonna do?" Molly leaned forward, eyes alight with eagerness. She squirmed in his mother's lap like she'd just been struck with lightning, but he figured she was just excited. "Do you want to go fly? I did that with mommy and it was so fun!"

He blinked. "Nope."

"Do you want to go to the moon? Or what about a spaceship?" The little girl rambled aimlessly, raising a finger at every suggesiton. He could barely keep up. "Oh! I know! We can sneak into Papa's room and look at his stuff. He has all kinds of fun stuff!"

"No!" Ash said a bit too sharply, wincing at the hurt look on Molly's face. He needed to reign his temper in. Nothing good would come out of angering her. "Sorry," he apologized. "But how about we show each other something cool?"

She pursed her lips and sucked juice through a curly straw embedded in a bright orange cup that had just appeared in her hand. "Something cool?" Molly asked. He nodded. "That's easy! I have all the cool stuff! Look at all my toys!" She pointed to the corner of the room where Not-Ash lurked in the shadows. Ash was pretty sure it had been completely empty before, but now it was crammed full of hundreds (possibly even thousands) of toys piled nearly twenty feet up in the air. There were toys he was pretty sure he'd used to own, plushies of pokemon and a few that looked like Sabrina, Lance, and the Cerulean Sisters (Misty was nowhere to be seen), and an obnoxiously large Snorlax that might have been built to scale with the real thing. He couldn't even keep track of the vast hoard.

"Wow," he said. It was hard to hide his frustration. Of course that was what Molly would think was cool… "But I meant something else."

"Huh?" She didn't appear to really be paying attention, enraptured as she was with a little stuffed Nidoking she was hugging to her chest.

Ash sighed. "Like this!" He squeezed his eyes shut and grasped for the Feather with his newfound familiarity. It stung to reach for the power again, but he ignored the slight pain and fatigue and allowed Fire to flow through his core. A tingle filled his palm, then heat.

Fire burst from his hand in a blazing column of whipping heat and light, spiraling madly into the sky, searing away the crystalline flecks dusting the air. Ash felt a righteous blaze fill his spirit, casting a wild grin on his face as he held an inferno in his grip. The light dimmed, then faded as he ceased to feed Fire into reality.

"Boring!" Molly yawned. That stung his pride, and Ash couldn't do much more than grunt in confusion. What? She leapt from his mother's arms and twirled in a dress glinting madly in every hue of the rainbow, shifting seamlessly into a blaze of fire and dancing sparks, and finally flowing purple crystal. Auroras filled the sky and suddenly they had left Molly's room and hung suspended effortlessly thousands of feet in the air, staring down at a floor of clouds. Mountain peaks pierced the heavens around them, jutting past into the void above.

Ash sighed. Maybe he should have realized she'd been playing with the Unown's powers for at least a day or so…

"Okay, you beat me," he raised his hands placatingly. The little girl stood proudly with her hands on her hips, beaming. "But there's something else I want to see before we battle."

"Fine," Molly rolled her eyes. He could tell she was starting to get frustrated with him, but at least she was still playing along. For now she was content to cuddle in his mother's lap and go along with whatever he said.

"The Unown," he announced, wincing at the scowl adorning Molly's face.

"Why?" She pouted. Not-Ash appeared at her side, staring daggers at Ash. The construct palmed the pokeballs on his belt (Ash didn't miss that an additional one had appeared, likely containing Aron). "They're MY friends, not yours. They don't like other people!"

His eyes lit up. "I've just heard all these cool stories about them. One of my friends has one, but only one. I want to see them all!"

Not-Ash leaned in close to Molly and whispered something. She frowned. "Okay. I can take you there for a minute…but you have to show me something really cool first, not that dumb fire!"

Something seared in his chest - Ash was pretty sure Moltres was vaguely offended - and Ash was left dumbfounded. It was so close and then just ripped away. How was he supposed to know she wouldn't be impressed by literally conjuring Fire? What did he have left?

Desperation filled his chest, and with it came the salty scent of a sea breeze. A whisper of deep, mysterious notes that brought to mind images of the secret places of the sea and sunless ocean depths welled in his mind, and suddenly the solution was clear as day. Molly might not be impressed by the cruder displays of his gifts, but he thought she might be more susceptible to a subtler use.

"There is something I can show you," he grinned and reached for his pack. With a thought the flute gifted to him by Lugia materialized in his hand, its pearly sheen a pale, luminescent glow in the dim light of the heavens they rested in. The cool material fit perfectly in his hand, as though it had been crafted specially for him - and hadn't it? It had been some time since he'd touched the smooth length of the flute and he marveled at the gentle presence wrapped up in its form.

Molly stared. "It's so pretty!" She marveled, reaching out a hand to grasp for it. Her brow furrowed after a moment. "Why won't it come to me? I want it!"

Ash winced as Molly's words cut deep, as though her frustration had taken form and lashed out. For a moment he felt a harsh force grip upon the flute, but it washed away from the instrument like waves on the shoreline. The flute remained securely in his hand, unwilling to yield to Molly's whims.

"It's mine," he said absently. Molly looked a little less frustrated now. His mother securely hugged the girl and smiled at him.

"Why don't you play for us, sweetie?" His mother suggested. Molly grinned and clapped her hands together.

"Yeah!" She cheered, watching Ash raptly. He nodded after a moment, confident that this would satisfy Molly's curiosity.

He pulled the flute to his lips as though it were second nature. Ash had spent a few lonely nights practicing with the instrument while his battered, exhausted team huddled around him (he longed for the peace of those long nights) but he really wasn't any good. All he'd managed to do was produce a few consistent sounds and reduce the amount of time Seeker, Nidoking, and Sneasel would cringe away when he hit particularly painful notes.

Yet he knew one song by heart. Ash didn't draw on Lugia's influence. He didn't reach deep for the Song. He simply pulled the flute to his lips and played. The clear, high notes spun a spell around Molly and his enthralled mother and they watched raptly as he played. His fingers worked on reflex as he fell into the tune, all the worries and tension flooding away.

Ash closed his eyes to concentrate, but he could feel the world around them flowing and dancing to accomodate the Song. Waves lapped up against the clouds. The air smelt of salt and brine. It cooled more and more, soothing his hot skin and a gentle darkness chased the light away. Shadows wrapped around them all, hiding the little flecks of crystal dancing in the air. Molly hummed along, tapping her feet to the tune. He could feel it, just as he blindly felt the tear running down his mother's cheek.

The final notes of the Song hung in the air longer than they should have, as though Molly's reality was loath to part with them. At last they washed away, though if Ash listened closely he could hear the faint tune woven into the constant murmurs of the Unown.

"That was beautiful, Ashy," his mother brushed away the liquid streaking her cheeks. She smiled, and Ash thought he could see a spark of something bright in her eyes. Something he'd thought lost. "When did you learn to play? I could never get you to try when you were little like Molly here!"

She always had to work Molly in, didn't she? Ash sighed, unwilling to relinquish his good mood. "Just recently. A good friend taught me that song."

"It's really pretty!" Molly appeared at his feet. Her eyes were locked on his flute - he wondered if the little girl was so enraptured by it because it was the one thing she couldn't have here. "It was like when Mama and Papa took me to the beach!"

"Yeah," Ash nodded tiredly. He angled the flute to let Molly look at her reflection in the silvery instrument. She oohed and awwed at the sight. "You know, it's your song now too. It'll always be with you."

Molly looked up at him with big blue eyes. "Really? It'll never go away?"

"Never," he promised. Molly smiled, but he didn't miss Not-Ash taking a few steps back to return to the corner he'd occupied before. Not-Ash didn't seem bothered, but Ash felt a strange sense of pity for the construct. It really was just an extension of Molly - a human doll shaped by the Unown and Molly's desires before it was stained with his own experiences.

As though Not-Ash had heard his thoughts, Not-Ash spoke up. "You said you'd take us to the Unown, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Molly chirped, and something lurched. "Close your eyes!"

Ash meant to, he really did. He didn't want a repeat of his trip to Molly's room. But there was something he saw in the heavens, some glimpse of illusory starlight, that caught his gaze. He had eyes for nothing else as their surroundings melted and bled into itself, with only himself, Molly, and his mother remaining untouched. Even Not-Ash bled into the surging, writhing crystal with only a vague silhouette remaining of his form.

Ash couldn't care less. Some part of him demanded he listen to the choir's croons and whispers and stare deeper into the abyss, the flowing nexus of desire and makeshift reality and a thousand sights his puny human brain couldn't even begin to process and secrets that seared his eyes to witness.

The abyss rewarded his daring with a stare of its own. The Unown laughed. The sound snaked into his mind and echoed endlessly in his ears.

A man, clad in blue and bearing a black cloak, stood in a cavernous area filled with a peaceful green glow. The black-haired man regarded the tiny pink figure - Mew! - warily and with great respect.

"I offer my Aura as tribute! Guardian of Life, restore this land and shield my people...I beg this of you!"

The vision was gone as quickly as it had appeared, little more than jumbled fragments in Ash's memories. He'd seen that vision before, though in much less detail...it was at New Island, his frazzled mind recalled. What was that?

Murmurs roared. Whispers cut deep into his essence. Ash saw. Before him swarmed thousands upon thousands of Unown, flitting this way and that. They numbered so many that he could barely tell where they ended and the blackness of the void they inhabited began. Some danced by him, brushing against him without thought - they dashed away quickly, giggling like Molly all the while. They were harder than their insubstantial forms would suggest. It was almost like they were shaped from stone or baked clay.

"We're here!" The master of the Unown chirped. The Unown waggled happily, like a Growlithe greeting its master. Hundreds circled slowly above them, drawn to Molly. "Aren't they cute?"

Cute wasn't a word Ash would use to describe the Unown. Fascinating, unsettling, entrancing...those seemed more apt. While the swarms of Unown (he felt their thousands of eyes focus on him in unison as he stared) might dote on Molly, Ash could tell they had no regard for anything else. They were obsessed with her. Ash wasn't even sure they were aware of the world outside of the little girl.

"They're adorable," his mother crooned. A few Unown floated around her, brushing through her hair and ruffling her clothes. One even clutched to her shoulder, sticking onto her blouse as if it had been glued on. She stroked it gently, marveling at the creature. Ash couldn't help but smile - at least he knew his mother was still in there somewhere. "Do they always follow you around like this?"

"Yep! We're best friends," Molly boasted, twirling through the fluttering Unown. They spun around her cheerfully, singing in tune with Molly as she hummed the Song. Ash even hummed along himself before he snapped back to reality - well, Molly's reality. "I love them."

His mother laughed and stepped closer to Molly, passing through the swarming Unown with ease. They parted for her, allowing her to rest a hand on Molly's shoulder. Ash didn't join them. Instead, he regarded the Unown even as they regarded him.

They knew his motives. By now they had likely divined every last thought that had passed through his mind and dissected it a hundred times over. But if that was the case why didn't Molly know what he was thinking? She seemed aware of more than she should, but not as much as she could. By all rights she should be omniscient if the Unown were feeding her everything that went on in her realm.

So why didn't she know he wanted to end this?

The possibilities filtered through his mind endlessly. Was she simply unable to process that much information? Were the Unown too occupied carrying out her whims? Could Molly simply be uninterested in knowing everything? Of course, there was also the chance that the Unown were just trying to preserve Molly's happiness. Somehow he didn't think she'd enjoy knowing his true thoughts.

That actually made him feel unpleasantly guilty. Molly didn't deserve the disdain he'd given her before.

"How do you control them?" He called out, hoping he'd be heard above the frantic songs of the Unown as they spun around in an elegant routine. Some slowed, some sped up, and others stopped moving altogether. They all stared unblinkingly at him.

"Huh?" Molly stopped dancing and cocked her head quizzically. The void darkened even more, if that was possible. "Control?"

He waved a hand at the swarm, which had frozen entirely. It was actually more disturbing than the vast numbers of Unown flitting in every direction. Ash felt as though the world itself were watching him. "How do you get them to do what you want?"

She frowned. "We're friends."

"Okay," Ash frowned, "but how do you tell them what you want them to do?"

"I already told you!" Molly stamped her foot. The Unown glared. Even his mother looked at him disapprovingly, folding her arms in that familiar way that meant he was about to be in trouble.

A scowl marred his face. "I just want to know how you work with the Unown!"

"We're friends!" His pint-sized opponent howled, a gust of freezing air sweeping through the void. His blood chilled and Ash staggered under the weight of the Unown's sudden shriek, the choir losing the comforting cords of Lugia's Song and replacing it with the overpowering weight of Molly's simple fury, amplified a thousand times over until he felt as though his blood vessels would pop underneath its pressure.

He groaned as his knees buckled. Even the Feather's might quailed underneath the power of the Unown, sputtering uselessly until all he could think of was the endless screams of the Unown and the faint echos of Molly's underneath it all, driving them to further and further madness until it snapped.

"Agh!" Ash cried. A brutal force crushed him to the ground. Thick nails dug into his chest and heavy pads pressed hard enough to the point his ribs would soon crack. Ash's fingers scrambled uselessly for his pokeballs, desperate for his team to provide any kind of relief, but cunning strands of crystal tangled his fingers and glued them together.

Hot, smokey breath smothered his face. Ash gagged, fighting back a wretch, and opened his eyes. The terrible sight of the Crystal Entei (he noted with satisfaction there were great swathes of its fur still regenerating from where the true Beasts had gotten ahold of it) greeted his vision.

That wasn't half as terrible as the terrible roar that greeted him. Ash quailed at the primal sound, though he could scarcely move underneath the Crystal Entei's massive bulk. Its shaggy fur brushed his face, practically drowning him in its scent. It smelled of burning wood, like a campfire or logs in a fireplace in the depths of winter.

"What have you done to Molly?" The Crystal Entei roared. Ash winced at hearing Uncle Spencer's voice erupt from the Beast's throat - it actually reminded Ash of the time Uncle Spencer had caught him after he'd knocked over some old, priceless vase - and was very, very thankful when the pressure holding him to the floor lessened.

He waited a moment before he pulled himself up into a sitting position. Ash didn't dare rise to his feet, but regarded the Crystal Entei warily. For once it wasn't the biggest threat in the area. He was even more aware of the Unown suspended behind it.

"I didn't do anything!" Ash coughed as the Crystal Entei stared him down. Molly appeared on Entei's gigantic neck, weaving her tiny hands into its thick mahogany fur and wrapping it around her wrists like reins. "We just had a disagreement!"

The Crystal Entei looked at him like he was a particularly irritating bug-type. "Apologize to Molly. You are the one at fault."

"What?" He blinked, though quickly relented when the Crystal Entei's eyes narrowed. There was no way he would risk the Beast's anger. Not when he was so close to getting through to Molly… "I'm sorry, Molly. I didn't mean to upset you."

Molly frowned at him, but finally broke into a cheery grin. "Okay!"

The atmosphere was quickly broken as something...shifted. Three roars echoed throughout the void, and the Unown twitched. Ash didn't miss the frenzied activity that followed, or the slight frown on Not-Ash's face. Even the Crystal Entei shifted uneasily, its great bulk swaying from side to side.

Ash grinned.

"What was that?" Molly panicked, gripping on tighter to the Crystal Entei. His mother materialized behind her and stroked her hair. "I don't like it. Make it stop!"

"It's the Legendary Beasts," Ash and his clone said at once. He looked at the construct oddly, only to frown when he realized Not-Ash was doing the exact same thing. That was annoying.

Molly shook her head. "But they're supposed to be nice…"

"I don't know about nice," Ash trailed off, remembering the savagery with which the Beasts had dispatched the Crystal Entei. No wonder the Crystal Entei was so uncomfortable at their reappearance… "But they are good."

Judging from the perplexed look on her face, Molly was having a hard time with the concept. For her nice and good were one and the same.

He decided to help her. "They want to do the right thing and help everybody, but they aren't always nice about it."

"Then why are they trying to scare me! Why are they hurting Papa?" Molly sniffled. Her face was white as another set of earth-shattering roars quaked throughout the void, echoing endlessly. In fact, they were louder now. Was Molly's fear amplifying them? "Why aren't they helping me?"

Ash spotted an opening and cut off his mother and his clone. "They're just trying to make things right."

"Everything's perfect!"

He cocked his head at her. "Do you know what's going on outside?"

Molly scrunched her face up. "Yeah!"

Ash waited patiently.

"The bad people are trying to get in and hurt us," Molly said confidently. His mother, Not-Ash, and the Crystal Entei nodded with her. Ash rolled his eyes. Why didn't he see that coming?

"Can you read minds?"

"Duh," Molly giggled. "Who can't?"

He didn't dignify that with a response. Instead he recalled his arrival to Greenfield: the anxiety of seeing a familiar place defiled, the terror of the crystal tide's surge, the awful power of the Crystal Entei, and a thousand more impressions, thoughts, and snippets of memory highlighting his experiences. "Read mine."

Molly grinned for all of two seconds before the waterworks came. Ash grimaced at the sight - he didn't feel good about traumatizing Molly. It was probably the most intense experience she'd ever had in her very, very short life. She sobbed into the Crystal Entei's fur, tears and hacking sobs and coughs and all the other things Ash wasn't comfortable with coming out in droves. He was tempted to comfort her, but he was pretty sure Not-Ash and the Crystal Entei were about to murder him for hurting Molly.

Then the Unown threw their support in. Ash gasped as his own feelings (already reflected onto Molly) were amplified ten times over. It stole the breath from his lungs and his face blanched at the field of abject misery suffocating all the joy and life and warmth from the room. His mother hung limply over Molly, dully stroking her hair as she stared off into space. The Crystal Entei rest on all four, eyes shut tightly. Even Not-Ash -

"Make it stop!" Molly shrieked, pulling at her hair. Ash wiped the tears from his eyes, struggled to think of anything happy and failed…

A blankness washed over him. It seemed to have touched Molly as well if her sudden calm was anything to go by. The sheer relief was well worth his concern over what had caused it.

Stop blubbering, boy. If you do not wrest control of the Void away from the squalling brat then I will.

His eyes hardened at Mewtwo's words, a protective feeling briefly overcoming him. Despite his irritation, he knew Mewtwo was right. Ash had to hurry this up. The longer Molly retained control of the Unown the longer she threatened to throw the entire world into chaos. Even if the Beasts did break into the Dream World he doubted it would solve anything… they'd just terrify Molly and amplify the Crystal Entei's power. All it would achieve was more devastation.

"Hey, Molly," he said quietly, well-aware of the eyes (most of them the Unown's) upon him. Molly wiped some tears away and watched him warily. She wasn't hostile, but he could tell she was unstable right now. "You didn't like seeing what I did, did you?"

"No!" She wiped some snot away with a shimmering cloth. "It was bad… that wasn't supposed to happen!"

He nodded. "Yeah. I know, Molly. I know you didn't want to hurt anyone. You're a good kid."

She puffed up. Ash couldn't help but smile. "Really?"

"Really," Ash confirmed, echoing their exchange from earlier. He met her eyes. "Molly...are you ready to wake up?"

Molly frowned. "Huh?"

"All of this…" he motioned to the void and the Unown and the stars far off in the distance. "It's not real. You made it."

"But it's right here!" The girl whined, pointing out the obvious. Well, she wasn't wrong. For all intents and purposes this whole reality existed. If Ash didn't need to end this whole fiasco he'd have a much harder time arguing with her. Molly waved her hand and they were standing on firm, solid ground again. "See!"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, I see," he felt oddly comforted to have something visible underneath his feet again. There was something unsettling about hovering in the middle of an infinite space filled with bizarre, living figures capable of altering reality. It was funny how that worked. "But you get what I'm saying, right?"

"Nope!"

Huh. That made things a little more difficult. "Well...think about it like this: you made all of this."

"I know. Isn't it great?" Molly entertained herself by tracing pictures in the air with crystal, laughing as one of a Butterfree animated itself and flew away.

"But it's not real. There's no substance to it," Ash explained, helpfully ignoring the fact that Molly probably didn't understand what he was saying. "Life is about struggling. It's about growing. You can't do that in this world."

Molly shook her head and shimmered for a moment before she reappeared in the teenage form he'd seen her in earlier. Ash shook her head - he'd always be disconcerted at the change. "Yes I can! Just like this. See?"

"Yes," Ash rolled his eyes. This was painful. "But what did you learn from that?"

She didn't know what to say to that. Ash pressed on. "As long as you're controlling everything in this world then you'll never really grow up. You'll always be a little kid."

"That's not true!" Molly shouted indignantly.

"Yes it is!" Ash shot back, careful to avoid saying it in a way that might stress her out. Things were tense enough already. "You'll always be a little kid. You'll never really connect with anyone - not me, not my mom, not your dad. We can't be a family like that! We're just your toys!"

Molly froze. He did too, once he realized what he'd said. "We could be a family?"

"...Yeah," Ash said hesitantly. He felt oddly vulnerable meeting her eyes like this. His words weren't entirely earnest (and absolutely colored by uncertainty), but it struck a chord in him as well. "I think we could, Molly. We could be a real family out in the real world. We could help each other. We could make each other grow."

"But I want that here!" She folded her arms stubbornly. "I like it here!"

"I know. I would too," Ash admitted. "And maybe you can come back here one day. But don't you want to grow up first? Think how much more you could do once you see the world. Maybe you'll even be a trainer."

That made Molly grin. "I'm a trainer here though! The best in the world!"

"It's not the same," Ash shook his head. Here she could never really lose. If she wanted to win she would win. That wasn't being a trainer. There was no fun without the risk. "Winning all the time is boring. It's fun at first but after a while you crave the challenge. You crave the battle. Trust me, Molly."

He thought that she did. Molly at least seemed to take his words seriously.

"Let's end this together," Ash proposed and extended a hand to her. Molly didn't take it, but he thought she was at least considering the idea. "I know it's fun in here, but don't you want Greenfield to be Greenfield again? Don't you want your Papa back?"

Molly looked away. He allowed her a few moments to think, well-aware that she wouldn't respond well if he pressed too hard. The last thing he needed was for Molly's anger to fuel the Crystal Entei or reinforce the Dream World to become more hostile...it might not bode well for the League forces, who would absolutely be trying to chase after the Beasts.

"I don't want to leave," she said at last. Ash grimaced at her declaration, wary of how this could fall apart at the slightest provocation. "I like it here!"

"I know," he replied. To be honest, Ash didn't blame her. Who wouldn't want to live in a world where their every whim would become reality? The temptation would be too much for most, let alone an isolated girl who spent most of her days fantasizing about making her dreams come true. "But don't you want to do more with your life? Don't you want to live?"

His mom held Molly's shoulders. "I think we should wait to eat before we continue this discussion, don't you think? Look how stressed she is."

Ash sighed. He couldn't even tell if this was Molly's control over his mother or just her caring personality shining through. "We don't have time," he said. As if to punctuate his point, the illusion trembled again. Everything seemed a little less defined, though it snapped back to its original substance a moment later. The Beasts sounded a tad closer, as if they were wading through a long hallway full of sand. It was dim but Ash knew they would reach them eventually.

"What do I do?" Molly sniffed, wiping her eyes with the Crystal Entei's long fur. His mother brushed her hair. The great beast they rode stared at Ash uncertainly for a moment, as if considering a momentous decision. Its human-like eyes narrowed, and it shook its great mane.

Not-Ash grabbed her hand. "Listen to him, Molly."

Ash blinked, shocked, as the Crystal Entei nodded its assent. "You can't stay with us forever, little one."

What? What was going on? He'd never though he would count the constructs as allies, let alone in trying to get Molly to give this world up. They would wither and die, fade away until there was nothing left but their memories.

"No!" Molly cried. She clung to the Crystal Entei ever tighter. Tears dripped down her cheeks and left streaks of glittering crystal. "You have to stay with me!"

The constructs paused at her words. Ash cut in - he was starting to understand how the rules of this game worked. Molly's inner conflict was driving this battle. He had to fan the flames. "They'll always be with you," Ash promised. Molly blinked and watched him raptly. "You know that song I showed you?"

"It's pretty," she smiled tearily, but didn't lessen her grip. The choir calmed and the soothing notes of the Song wove its way through their ears.

Ash nodded. "It is," he agreed, "but do you feel it? It's inside of you now. It's as much a part of you as your bones are."

Molly's face went white. "It's inside of me? Is it going to hurt me?"

"No!" Ash said frantically before the world could react to Molly's fit. "No! It's fine. It's good."

"Oh," she relaxed. "Is that why I can hear it all the time?"

"Exactly," Ash confirmed. He glanced at Not-Ash and the Crystal Entei. Both stared at him with inhuman focus. They didn't voice their feelings but he could sense their approval. What odd creatures. Did they even care that they were campaigning for their own demise? "That's how these two will be. They'll always be with you, no matter what."

His mother stroked Molly's hair, but pulled back after a moment and smiled dreamily off into space. Molly finally spoke again. "Okay...but I can't leave my friends! They'll miss me!"

Friends? What - oh, he thought as he watched dozens of the Unown brush against Molly and cuddle up to her. The choir quieted to a content hum instead. "They'll be fine," he said, not really sure how to handle this.

"No they won't!" Molly shouted, giggling as some of the Unown whispered to her. They stared at her like a starving man stared at a feast. "See? They only like me. They'd be sad if I left them."

How was he supposed to react to that?

"What if we found a way to keep them around?" Ash brought up the only idea he thought might work. His first reaction was to push for sealing the Unown away and having Dazed wipe the location from his and Molly's minds, but he doubted she'd go for that. "We just need to make sure they return things to normal, you know?"

At Not-Ash's gentle encouragement, Molly finally conceded. "Okay…" she whispered, obviously heartbroken at the thought of leaving her newfound friends behind. She might just be a little girl, but Ash felt his respect for her go up a notch. He smiled encouragingly at her. "But I don't know how to make things go back," Molly balled her fists up and looked pleadingly at Ash. "Can you help?"

"Of course," he nodded. What did she need help with? Did she need him to direct her thoughts, or help reign in the Unown? Ash caught sight of them buzzing throughout the air, swirling in an agitated way. Molly's turmoil was affecting them, though dozens still hovered around her and clung to her desperately. "What do you need?"

Molly appeared before him, tear-stains still wet on her cheeks. Ash knelt so he'd be closer to her level and awkwardly lifted a hand to place on her shoulder. It felt wrong to be in contact with anyone that wasn't part of his team or his mother, but he quelled his discomfort in favor of helping Molly. She needed it right now.

"Will you hold my hand?" Molly asked shyly. He nodded and gripped her tiny hand in his own. It was wet with the remnants of her tears. The Crystal Entei strode to their side with a single step and laid by Molly, its hot breath washing over them. It licked Molly's hair with a massive, hot tongue and chuckled when she giggled and tried to smooth her hair back.

Not-Ash appeared at his side and spoke. His voice was quieter than before. Frailer. "Your sister is about to attempt to revert Greenfield to its former state," Not-Ash said in clipped tones. It was almost uncannily even, and sounded as if the construct had just returned to civilization after a long time in the woods. The single-minded focus in the clone's words was plain as day to Ash. Was that what he sounded like? "Focus on her. Guide her. Shield her and ground her as she directs the Unown. Do not fail."

"I won't," Ash said with the same certainty as his clone. The last thing he saw was the construct's slight smile before the Unown's song began again, weaving its way in and out of his ears -

"You're back!" Molly shouted as Aunt Delia arose from the pretty floor. The prettiest lady in the world looked around before she grinned wildly at Molly.

"Of course! I just can't stay away from you," Aunt Delia laughed and spun her around. Bubbles followed her and popped, showering them with sparkles and glitter like the stuff Aunt Delia had bought her a few weeks ago. "I love you Molly. I'm sorry I had to leave. I'll never leave you alone again!"

Some of that ugly feeling in her stomach (the one that always bothered her when Papa went away or when Aunt Delia left to go back to school) went away and Molly giggled. She thanked her friends for making this happen - she wanted Aunt Delia back and they'd brought her! Papa would be so happy.

"Look who showed up!" She pointed at Ash while Aunt Delia cuddled her in her warm arms. She loved the smell of Aunt Delia's pretty pink blouse. It smelled like the outside and grass and pokemon! Teddiursa always liked sniffing her and it was always so cute how Teddiursa would spend forever following Aunt Delia!

Aunt Delia's eyes lit up when she saw Ash standing in the corner. "Ashy! I knew you'd be here with your baby sister - where have you been? This awful little boy outside said he was you and it made me so mad!"

She frowned. That wasn't right. Ash was right here where he'd always been. He'd never leave her!

Ash gasped as the sensation of being dunked in a cold lake froze his blood and shocked his system. Her memories flooded over him, a few scenes and visions he could almost trace that were then replaced by endless streams of visions, sensations, colors, and harsh feelings. Loneliness was prevalent, but so was love. Joy in the little things he'd forgotten: finding a pretty rock in the flowers, or watching the flight of a lone Butterfree around the gardens. Molly's emotions were fleeting and intense, shining more brilliantly than his ever had.

It was as though he were drowning.

How did she process this? Ash could feel the connection between them deepen, driven along by Molly's desires and the Unown's fanatical obedience in carrying out her whims. The bond became stronger. Visions became memories, memories became real. He saw years of life in an instant, watched her mother walk out the door. Played with Uncle Spencer and learned about his research (even if Molly didn't understand it), and wished every day that he wouldn't leave. Watched his mother walk in the door, brighten up her day and tell her the most amazing stories, then walk out again and again and again.

There was joy, too, though. Days spent playing with her Donphan slide and chasing Teddiursa around the mansion. Nights spent watching videos of his battles and children's cartoons and hiding under the blanket pretending to be asleep whenever Uncle Spencer would check in suspiciously when she'd laugh or Teddiursa would knock one of her toys over.

After a while the memories slowed. Yet at the same time he found it harder and harder to remember himself. All he clung to was his team, his family, and the Concepts bound to him. Ash just barely retained his sense of self.

Then a thought struck him. Was Molly experiencing the same thing as he was? He couldn't tell. They were almost indistinguishable in his mind, but he could sense fear, confusion, darkness...she must have discovered his memories.

He retreated away from Molly Hale even as the Unown forced their minds and spirits closer together. Guilt washed over him as he felt the barest sensation of a little girl sobbing into his chest from the physical world. She couldn't take this.

Instead he tried to direct her attention to the bright spots of his life. Parts were scary but there was so much beauty. Meeting his team and discovering their quirks - Nidoking's habit of rubbing up against trees and stripping their bark off whenever he got itchy, Torrent's love of aweing the local pokemon whenever they set up camp, or the way Oz doted on Aron and had to be kept from giving him her food. The thrill of a victory, of crushing everyone in his path and celebrating his team. Meeting new people and discovering who they were. His training with Lance and Steven, his long discussions with Professor Oak in the days before he came to Hoenn. Battling with Gary and Jonathan and Amelia in Pallet after the Conference. Revelations of the world's history - Chinatsu, the First's Rhydon, and uncovering the secret places hidden away by time.

So much to live for. So much beauty.

The Feather burned against his chest - Moltres erupting from Mt. Ember, golden wings ablaze. Flying atop Lugia and watching the last flight of the Birds. Paying his respects at the First's tomb. Sneasel hatching. Meeting Nidoran and setting out on his journey. His first victories - over Misty, over Brock and the other Gym Leaders. Defeating experienced trainers in the Conference and humbling even George Grey.

Molly calmed. He relaxed and brushed his awareness against her burgeoning consciousness. She'd learned to separate herself - yet he could still recall everything about her.

Relax.

She stirred, afraid, but quickly realized who and what he was. Ash finally focused his attention on the great undercurrent between the link. The vast well of power gifted to them - no, to Molly - by the Unown was more immense than anything Ash had ever felt, dwarfing even Mewtwo with its depths.

It called to him. Demanded his (Molly's) attention. Whispered for her wishes, for her desires.

Ash answered their calls, guiding Molly to answer them. He kept her focused, grounded her childish whims and inattention and directed her with his own laser focus.

Greenfield restored to a paradise of vast fields and orchards. The Hale Mansion whole and well, no longer a labyrinth of dimensions and realities far beyond their own. The crystal wiped away from the planet, recalled to the Unown's dimension. Everything set right. Freedom for those bound to the crystal.

With Molly focused on enacting her will, Ash looked deeper. He brushed against the Unown's vast consciousness - the choir's whispers grew ever more inviting and friendly as he and Molly became ever more intertwined - and stared.

The Unown stared back.

There was nothing behind their consciousness. No drive. No motivation. No intelligence. They were blank as a brand-new canvas. All they held was power. Vast, untapped power just ready to be used. Entirely compliant to whatever master they served.

They weren't alive. Not like the other Legends he'd met. The Birds were driven by their natures, but they weren't mindless. They possessed an intelligence as great as any human, and likely greater than he could ever comprehend. Lugia was wise and brilliant as the moon. Mew liked its games and hid a ruthlessly sharp mind behind its easygoing exterior.

He immersed himself deeper. They did not push back.

As he touched their minds, fumbling in his ignorance, Ash finally began to appreciate the true complexity and immensity of the Unown. They numbered in the tens of thousands, yet he could sense that they were but a tiny fraction of the true numbers of the Unown. If he focused he could feel them off, split apart from one another by time and space (yet that distance meaningless, as they were one and all) and could feel those Unown left inert and lifeless, static without the will and spirit of a master to drive their powers. Others sang to other masters' tunes, dancing to that beat without a care in the world for their brethren.

And the power...it was like a beacon to him. It was bound intricately to Molly, suffused with some insubstantial thing that Ash could recognize as distinctly Molly. What was that? Was this how the Feather was bound to him? The Unown would never bend to anyone but their tiny mistress…

The Unown hummed in agreement, and Ash pulled away reeling with the knowledge and comprehension of the Unown. His brain ached and Ash knew he'd pay for his little dip into the Unown tomorrow.

Instead of lingering on the issue, he paid attention to Molly as her willpower directed the Unown. She conducted the Unown's symphony masterfully, the hymns and tunes sung by the choir finally gaining a semblance of order and rhythm as they commanded the crystal to return to its creators, restored the great scars in the land (gouges from the King's wrath, miles of blackened, scorched land left from Entei's wrath, pulled hills together from the debris left over by Raikou's lightning, and calmed the north wind mercilessly whipping against the Hale Mansion), and dissolved the crystalline threads puppeting Lance and dozens of others who had been touched by the Unown's insidious weapon.

He watched with satisfaction as Greenfield healed from the crystal scourge, wiped clean as though the events had never happened at all.

But they had. He knew it. Molly and his mother knew it. The League knew it. He thought back to those reporters he'd had to drive away from the scene. How much had they caught on camera? If they'd gotten anything significant, then the entire world would learn of what happened here as well… he felt uneasy at that, but decided that was a worry best left for later. The League could handle that particular mess.

Through the awareness of the Unown - their psychic power had saturated the area around Greenfield for miles around, spread by little spores of crystal that had been released to expand Molly's domain even further once the League had started beating back the crystal sea - Ash watched as Lance and his dragons collapsed in their brutal fight against nearly a hundred League trainers and were quickly attended to, saw Koga seize and reveal himself and his team before they could strike at the League SPECTERS, felt the last vestiges of the corruption banished from Karen as she spoke with Agatha and her spirits.

Dozens of other nameless League trainers were freed as well. Ash caught sight of numerous Gym Leaders he recognized. Brawly and other Hoenn leaders shored up the west, having just arrived and led by the familiar forms of Steven and Wallace. Sabrina led the leaders of Kanto from the east, supporting the faltering League forces that had first responded to Molly's actions.

There were others, but Ash found his awareness snapped back to the present as the bond between himself and Molly frayed. The last he felt was the sensation of the Unown collapsing the infinite realities they'd constructed within the mansion at Molly's behest: dimensions folded and the boundaries between the Unown's constructs and the real world vanished into nothingness.

Finally, it was over. All that remained of Molly's universe were the two constructs standing nearby. Not-Ash smiled at Molly and rested his gloved hand on her shoulder. The Crystal Entei licked her head again, leaving her hair standing up wildly. Despite what had just happened, they seemed proud more than anything.

Ash could respect that.

"It's finished," Not-Ash said, his voice so low Ash could hardly understand what he just said. His clone took his hat off and toyed with it as he looked up at Ash. A cool flame hung on an obsidian flame burnt beneath his shirt, only visible because Ash knew where to look. "Thank you for helping her. She could never have restored Greenfield and set things right without your help."

He quirked his lips and shook his head. "I think you're wrong there," he regarded Molly as she yawned and stretched. His mother leapt from Entei's back and wiped her tears away - Molly looked like a mess, although she appeared more at peace than Ash had seen her before. "She can do anything she sets her mind to."

Not-Ash chuckled. It was an odd sound to hear from the serious entity. Like sandpaper scratching against itself. "You understand, then."

"I think I do," he glanced around the room. They were in the main hall of the Hale Mansion. Ash tried to consider the geometries of how they'd gotten here, but it made his brain (already aching after peering at the nature of the Unown) hurt. "What now?"

His clone shrugged and fiddled with the bill of his cap. Ash idly noted it was bent like his own now (a thoughtful gift from Plume nipping it all the time) unlike before. "That's Molly's decision."

Ash rolled his eyes. That was uninformative yet helpful all at the same time. Would it kill his clone to say more than three words at a time? They could really speed this up if Not-Ash wasn't so tight-lipped about everything.

Something struck him. His blood ran cold. "Where's my -"

"- Team?" Not-Ash asked. Ash nodded tersely. The clone glanced at his belt. "Look."

Ash did, and realization struck him. "They were returned?"

"A while back. Unharmed," Not-Ash confirmed. A great burden lifted from Ash's shoulders and he audibly sighed in relief. If they'd been hurt… "I wish I could say the same for my team."

He winced at the blank look on Not-Ash's face. "I'm sorry," he offered, not sure of what he should say. If he were in Not-Ash's shoes there would be nothing that could console him - he wouldn't even be able to function.

"I know," his clone said simply. "Thank you."

A soft hand brushed the side of his face. Ash flinched, but relaxed when he caught sight of his mother (still holding Molly's hand of course). His mind spun. Was she freed from Molly's spell as well, or did it still infect her?

"Ash?" She whispered, confusion in her eyes. Molly looked up at him guiltily. "It's you. You're my son?"

"Yes," he nodded. Your real son was on his lips before he caught sight of Molly and Not-Ash. The cutting words died before he could ever say them. He wouldn't do that to them.

"My only child. Or…" She frowned worriedly at Molly, gripping the tiny girl's hand tightly.

His eyes narrowed. She seemed better, but was she truly? "What's wrong?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't know, Ash! There's so much in my brain. So many memories and they're all so different. Your father, Ash...who is he?"

Ash blinked. What?

"Hurry!" She snapped, panic-stricken, and Ash blinked again. His mother never raised her voice at him.

"Giovanni!" He blurted out. Rage filled him at the admission, and he wasn't entirely sure if it was his or Mewtwo's. Ash forced himself to calm. He couldn't risk agitating Molly when he'd only just fixed everything with her. "My father is Giovanni."

His mother muttered to herself and wrung her hands nervously. "So not Spencer…"

"What?" He blurted out. "Of course not!"

"I'm sorry, Ash!" She reached out to hug him to her. He felt wetness against his skin from her tears. "I just...I can't handle this. It hurts. I can't make sense of anything, it's like I've lived two different lives! Please help me."

He held her shoulders as she shook. "Molly! Make her sleep!"

Molly nodded. She was just as panicked as his mother was (and he was starting to feel it too) and responded to him instantly. Ash heard a brief chord sung by all the Unown and his mother's shaking form collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. He caught her with the help of Not-Ash and gently lowered her to the floor. He watched over her worriedly, a million wild thoughts flying through his mind like a hurricane.

She was released from the Unown's control, but she hadn't left unscathed. They hadn't removed the memories. Could they do it? He'd assume yes, but maybe it was too intricate. Maybe they couldn't remove the memories without harming her in some irrevocable way and had simply left her with two lives to process.

"Can you fix her?" He demanded of Molly, who latched onto his mother like her life depended on it. Great heaving sobs wracked her and not even the Crystal Entei's comforting licks could calm her. Ash, his clone, and the Crystal Entei looked to the sky worriedly as the Unown's wild dancing became ever more erratic, ever more unstable, and ever more mournful. Their giggles turned a dark chant, violent mutterings, and whispers of things his puny mortal brain would never be able to grasp. A chill filled the air and crawling, writhing crystal sprouted around Molly -

No. Not again.

"Give me the Unown," he grabbed Molly's shoulder as gently as he could. Ash prayed to Mew, Lugia, Moltres...any entity he thought might listen. She had to listen to him. "I'll try and fix her!"

"They're my friends! Not yours!" Molly screamed at him, fists flailing everywhere they could reach. "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

Not-Ash hauled him off of Molly, a dark look in his eyes. He said nothing. Ash snarled and stared at Molly while she threw a tantrum - if this lasted even a minute then the Beasts would reach them. Some deep, primal part of him knew they wouldn't hesitate to kill Molly if it meant ending the threat.

That couldn't happen. Who knew what the Unown would do at the death of their master? All of Johto (maybe even Kanto) would be ruined by their wrath and desperation. It might not even be possible to reign them in.

Ash drew on Ice. Its frosty bite filled him, transcending the spiritual into the physical world. He clenched his teeth at the pain of Ice unbalanced by Fire or Lightning, but bore it resolutely. Without thinking he reached for the part of Molly he knew - the part he'd interacted with as they reshaped the blighted Greenfield - and brought Ice to her. She was as much an extension of Ash as any of the Concepts he bore now, tangentially connected at all times.

It worked instantaneously. The frost in the room grew overpowering for a brief few moments, but with the vicious cold that left all of them shivering Molly was calmed. Her emotions were numbed just as her body was and she simply looked at Ash with blank eyes. It was uncanny, though Ash thought it was a welcome change from the screaming girl that had threatened to throw the world into chaos for a second time.

"What's that?" She asked evenly.

"Ice," Ash said after pondering the question. Before she could investigate any further he cut her off. "Molly, I need the Unown. Can you transfer them to me?"

She frowned even through Ice's numb haze. "But they're my friends."

"They always will be, remember?" He leveled a stare at her until she nodded. "I need them, Molly. You chose the real world, remember? You can never have that unless you give up the Unown. I know they're your friends, but they won't be good friends for you until you're older."

Molly was quiet for a bit. His hands shook. He kept looking at his mother's dreaming face. "You're a good friend," she said at last. "I know you. Will you take care of them?"

"Yes," Ash said. His heart beat faster. "I promise."

The girl turned away from him to face the Unown. Many started to pull away from her, though they sang just for Molly. They spun around, wobbling as Molly faced her own uncertainty, and finally froze.

"You want them to protect us," Molly stated. Ash blinked. She sounded far, far older than four in that moment. Then again, he hadn't been the only one to gain knowledge in their brief connection. She'd experienced Ash as much as he'd experienced Molly. She knew him as well as he knew himself. "From the Legends, right?"

"Right," Ash confirmed. He was still a little off guard from Molly's sudden insight.

She hesitated, then turned to look at Ash. The Unown vanished as though they'd never existed. Their songs cut off and Ash finally heard blessed silence. Molly held out her tiny hand. In it was a small stone tablet, barely the size of his palm. It was massive for Molly.

"My Papa found them like this," Molly sounded like herself again. She looked so vulnerable, like she was on the verge of tears. Ash knelt and opened his hand for her to hand him the tablet. There was no feeling of power from it, but Ash knew better than anyone what kind of potential was hidden in that tiny little stone. "You'll be their new friend?"

"Yes," he said solemnly. Ash could hardly keep himself from shaking as the power of a Legend was literally handed to him. The entire world felt like it froze when it touched him and Molly's will drove the Unown to Ash en masse.

He couldn't even speak. The Unown swarmed about him, threading each individual creature within and without his essence. In less than a second he had gone from Ash Ketchum to something more. At once he was aware of so much. The Unown were his greatest sense. They searched the world for him, granting him something that transcended his meager physical perceptions.

They saw the Truth. The intangible Truth of the world of which the physical world was a mere manifestation of. Ash looked deeply. He craved that knowledge, craved the power of knowing all there was to know.

The Unown knew his will and obeyed. He almost laughed as they opened his mind to the Truth and stared into it as deeply as he could. There was so much that he almost buckled underneath the strain, but the Unown immediately felt his desire for relief and took it away. Ash desired to know more deeply than anything, but put it off for the time being.

He had all the time in the world. Ash could feel it now. Always forward, never backward. But that was a human perception, wasn't it? Flawed, imperfect, limited. Now he could traverse the winding ways of time with but a thought. With a simple desire. He could meet anyone he wanted to, see any event he wished. Ash could not yet perceive the Truth of Time - it evaded even the Unown, dodging his initial forays to comprehend - but he would.

But there was time for that later. There were greater matters to attend to.

Ash opened his physical eyes. It was symbolic more than anything. The Unown let him see more than he could ever hope to. His vision was more of a handicap than anything, distracting him from the mysteries of the universe. Distracting him from his victory.

He glanced down at his mother. Would she still love him like this? With but a thought he could see every moment in her life from the moment of her birth to the last breath she ever took. Despite his questions, Ash managed to resist the urge. Just because he had the unconquerable power of the Unown (and could wield it far more effectively than Molly) didn't mean he should abuse it. Then again, if he looked he could just wipe away the knowledge once he'd learnt it.

No. That was a slippery slope. Ash reigned himself in.

Could he heal his mother? Purge the imperfect knowledge Molly had crudely forced into her head with the power of the Unown? He wished nothing more than for the Unown to rewire her neurons, act with precision on a level he could never truly comprehend (at least until the Unown fixed that for him), and make her right again.

Yet he couldn't. His will to protect his mother overwhelmed his ability to fix her. The Unown could fix her memories. They could reach in with their reality-altering powers and change her until she was the woman he knew. The woman who had raised the child of a cruel, awful man with nothing but love and grace. The woman who had never doubted him, who had such high regard of him that Molly had created a clone of Ash to be her big brother.

Ash's physical eyes (had everything always been so dim, he wondered) turned to face the Crystal Entei and Not-Ash. They hadn't dissolved yet, but he supposed he'd grown somewhat attached to them thanks to his close contact with Molly. He bore some kind of respect for them.

Not-Ash regarded him warily. His perception of the construct must have colored its own views. "It's complete?"

"Yes," he said, though he did not move his lips. Ash's soul - no, his Aura, the whispers of the Unown spoke to him as they chased after the knowledge he so desired - brushed against the extension of himself that was Not-Ash.

"Are you there?" Molly asked. Ash smiled at her. It felt as though he were watching a movie of himself. It was odd watching himself from the perspective of the Unown (and Not-Ash, and the Crystal Entei) but he quickly adapted. It was impossible not to. "You look funny!"

Ash ruffled her hair. Molly laughed and he felt good. He couldn't believe he'd seen her as an enemy at one point. Not when she'd given him this. "I do, don't I?"

"It feels really weird at first, but it's super cool," Molly chattered. He barely listened to her, keen on observing the movements of the League. They were near. They followed the Beasts - the brilliant Legendary Beasts, mortals raised from the ashes by resurgent Ho-Oh - as they rushed through the Hale Mansion. Ash idly decided that space should stretch for them all. A single step became a thousand. The Hale Mansion became a labyrinth again, though without the horrific monstrosities and alternate realities. Those additions were just excessive, born out of Molly's love of exploring and creating instead of pragmatism.

That would take them a while. Ash didn't want to hurt them, but he wanted some time to comprehend his abilities before he spoke with the League. At least Molly was safe from the Beasts. She was inconsequential to them without the power of the Unown behind her.

Ash marveled at the little girl again. His body hefted her up onto his back and she squealed, delighted at his actions. He barely paid attention to it. Instead he thought of how amazing it was that Molly had the strength to give this up. Could he do the same?

He wasn't sure. Ash didn't plan on finding out. There was so much he could do with the Unown behind him. With their strength he would ensure the Legends never awoke. He would seal them away forever. He would be humanity's knife in the dark. They would never know what he had done.

His physical form stared off into the distance. The Unown's power saturated the grand hall of Hale Mansion. The tablet sung to him.

In an instant they ceased to be in the Hale Mansion. The room transformed into a crude copy of Pallet. They stood outside his own home. Pallet's beautiful green fields stretched on endlessly, only a few of the houses that stood in the actual location present. Mostly he just focused on the woods, cliffs, and fields that he'd roamed since he was a toddler. The Oak Corrall shaped in the distance.

"Wow! It's so pretty here," Molly marvelled. Not-Ash was silent, though he recognized the area. Ash absentmindedly dotted a few pokemon (Arcanine and his troupe of loyal followers) to the area to entertain Molly for a while. He had other things to focus on. A bed materialized beneath his mother.

Mountains rose in the distance. Stars dotted in the sky, shining just brightly enough to make everything a tad bit clearer. Ash didn't experiment for long, though he was tempted to conjure great elemental storms to put the strength of the Unown to the test.

But why waste this opportunity? Physical challenges were pointless with the Unown. When wielded properly they could accomplish practically anything.

No, what he craved was knowledge. Knowledge of the Legendaries. Where they hid, what they embodied, how dangerous they were. Knowledge of their Concepts. It was so plain to him now, thanks to the Unown. A thought came to him.

He did not stare into the endless knowledge offered by his eternally loyal Unown. It would always be there.

Ash looked within.

First he felt the inexorably potent thrum of the Unown singing inside him, a vibrant chorus of a thousand different notes that always sought to remind him of their presence, of their devotion and adoration. Ash marveled at the crowd staring at him. It was almost magical…

They weren't just Void. They weren't so limited. No, the Unown represented something different. Though on their own the Unown were inert and lifeless, it did not mean they were powerless. Without a will of their own, but never powerless. Power was wrapped up in their very existence. They were Potential: dreams ready to become reality, power resting and ready to be used, motion that was still and lifeless. Void was just one facet of their existence.

The Concepts of Fire, Ice, and Lightning dwelt within him. Infinite forces of untapped power that he could only barely appreciate as Ash Ketchum. Now that he saw their full scope, he desired nothing more than to comprehend their strength. Fire and Lightning channeled themselves more potently through the Feather, but Mewtwo was right about it. The Feather was nothing more than a symbol of his connection. A crutch. Fire, Ice, and Lightning were bound to him.

The Concepts of the Birds stirred at his analysis, but did not fight back. They had bowed to him when he was just a twelve-year old tempered and steeled by contact with Mew and Mewtwo. With the power of the Unown intimately wound throughout his Aura they refused to challenge him. That was nice. He was tired of being at the whims of their power.

But there was more, wasn't there?

The Song. Ash felt its comfort even now, wrapping around him like a cloak. He didn't need it anymore but he couldn't bear to toss it aside. Lugia had openly helped him and given him a warning that might spell the only possible victory for humanity. He would never abandon the Guardian of the Sea.

Life. It was a tiny little fragment stained into him, but he could detect it like a blazing wildfire all the same. When Ash glimpsed it he felt the surge of the Unown as they chased after the true source (Mew was full of Life, but he could sense it was only a channel for the power) but he ceased when his brain began to ache. Instead he appreciated what Mew had given him. It gently worked its way through his being, leftover by Mew's resurrection. It was hard to sense its true purpose, but Ash was confident he could work on it in time.

Ash didn't pay it much attention, though. He was more focused on the twisted mimicry of Life, brought into being through deceit and woven with a hand of darkness he could never hope to detect with the Unown (that was more frustrating than he'd like to admit) and the link between it and him.

The Unown gave him a broader understanding within an instant of thinking of Mewtwo than he'd comprehended in months. There was a bond between them, forged in the moment when Mewtwo had consumed him and Ash had died. They -

Amber

With that one name, Ash chased a thousand little connections. Little snippets. Hatred. Rage at Giovanni, disgust of Pierce, regret and empathy and a thousand other things he'd learned to quell at the foot of Giovanni. Respect. Life and Death. Knowledge as deep as Ash's that he chased with a fire identical to the boy's.

And then he was forced out. Ash stumbled and fell, and did not dare to brush against Mewtwo again. He felt a horrible, deep sadness (inexorably intertwined with a vicious, homicidal rage) that nearly shattered him even across their bond.

Even as he spiralled into the darkness, he felt the arrival of the Beasts. Fiery Entei, disgusted at the sight of its shadow. Raikou, eager to see this conflict done away with so he could roam again. Suicune, resolute in its duty yet patient enough to command its siblings to wait. Ash sent a wave of respect their way, and in their vast, ancient minds he sensed the same regard. They would wait.

Though he refused to even think of Mewtwo lest he be drawn into a mental conflict he would surely lose, Ash couldn't bear to wait to investigate his own desires. He thought of the small snippets of visions he'd received throughout his time in the Hale Mansion as a powerless mortal and saw as he chased them ever further through space-time.

The black-haired man gave everything he was to Mew -

The One forged the Legends of its Plates

Scattering of the Unown when they were no longer needed. Legends took their place

Earth and Sea comatose when the star-shaped Desire granted humanity's wish, gouging out twin Orbs of Red and Blue from their hearts

The strong man with brown hair gathering the Shards, presenting them to the One, and gifted the Jewel of Life - God-Emperor

A child, no more than ten, discovered Mew in a clearing. The Legend taught its best friend the power within his soul

The woman stood with her Roserade at her side, prideful and satisfied at the union she had weaved

A tall man of black hair and piercing blue eyes, guided by his vengeance, quelled Kanto and united it and Johto under his rule

The Guardians of the Lakes, the Fractured Mind of the One bound two Orbs, one faceted and one smooth, to the victorious grin of a madman

One boy unraveled the mysteries of the Legends with his treasured friends at his side

A great Shadow peered through gaps in reality

The Beasts raised from the ashes by Ho-Oh

The boy again, crouching before a Nidoran

An azure flute of Space and Time and Distortion, sounding with the chants of the Unown

He snapped away, fearing for himself as he fell deeper and deeper into the gifts offered by the Unown. Ash focused upon his body and recoiled at the sights around him. The sky was dark and grey. The green grass had lost its luster. The Beasts eyed him warily. Molly clutched the fake Arcanine's hot fur.

Ash staggered, coming to reality once more as the Unown beckoned him with sweet nothings. They whispered invitation after invitation, inviting him to know everything there was to learn. To uncover mysteries the most brilliant of scientists could scarcely dream of. To dive deep into the nature of the Legends and bind their power to himself.

Oh yes, he wanted to. Ash knew himself that well. He wanted the power. He wanted to reshape the world. He wanted to conquer the unruly Legends, to lock them away so he would never have to deal with the Awakening that Lugia had warned him about. It would be easy to give into that lure. All he had to do was want it and it would be his. The Unown would whisk his mind on a journey to achieve everything he could ever have wanted.

He itched for it. He itched for the power. For the control over his own fate. To finally escape being trapped in a world bigger than him. No more Rockets, no more Legends. Just peace.

All it would take was a thought…

Ash thought of his team and they were released. They marveled at the sight of him, yet seemed to know exactly what was going on. Could they feel what was going on from within their pokeballs? He latched onto them, his physical body warm as Nidoking, Plume, and Seeker rushed to him. The others hung back, willing to wait their turn.

He sent warm waves of affection to his brothers and sisters, but it felt wrong.

You've grown, Friend-Trainer.

"I have," Ash acknowledged Dazed. She watched him interestedly as she polished her gem-like pendulum. It shimmered and leapt erratically, dancing about as it was suffused by a white glow. "You can feel it?"

I feel it as I feel the heat of the sun.

Just as he knew she would, Ash smiled. He turned to the others, though he dared not touch their minds with his own. Though he felt himself slipping under the weight of the Unown, Ash realized that he couldn't invade their privacy like that. They had grounded him that much - he knew he'd lost himself to his connection with the Unown for a time.

Ash laid his eyes on each of his teammates. The Unown reached out, eager to carry out his desires and reconnect with his team, but Ash just barely managed to restrain them. He wouldn't forgive himself if he invaded their minds…

"You can't control it," Not-Ash broke the silence, voicing Ash's unspoken fears. The construct came to stand by Ash's side, enraptured by his team. He could feel the envy bleeding off his twin. Dazed's eyes flashed and Not-Ash cocked his head. "You realize you aren't the true master of the Unown, right?"

He blinked. The Unown sang in protest. Not-Ash flinched.

They have mastered you.

Ash scowled at Dazed's thoughts, but grimaced as the sky darkened just a shade. The Hypno recoiled at his annoyance, wincing as though she'd been struck.

"Dazed!" Ash reached out, but hesitated as he saw the nervous look in his team's eyes. They...they were afraid of him? Even Nidoking eyed him warily, as Ash would a wild Ursaring. That stung him more deeply than any physical wound. Tears pricked at his eyes. Raindrops descended from on high before he quelled his feelings.

Was this what Molly had felt? An utter lack of control was all he could think of. The Unown would act before he reigned in his whims. They were too responsive. That he had even shocked one of his friends with his powers…

He hesitated and took a step away. He couldn't hurt them. Never.

Infernus stepped forward. His normal manic grin was there, but dimmed somewhat. The Magmortar stood ablaze in the field, his heat enough to set the grass beneath his feet aflame in the real world. This was Ash's world, though. Infernus would never hurt anyone here.

The Magmortar eyed him for a moment. The urge to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to challenge Ash, to face his brother-in-arms in genuine battle, practically bled off Infernus. For a moment he tensed, ready to take on Infernus' challenge, but the fire-type snorted after a moment or two. Instead of attacking, Infernus tapped his fiery head with a sharp white claw.

An invitation. Ash hesitantly allowed the Unown to touch Infernus. He felt Fire, leftover from the Magmortar's possession of the Fire Sphere, and marveled at it. It was screaming to be released, to be loosed and unleashed upon the world. To burn and awe and change.

Yet that wasn't what Infernus wanted him to see. Ash grimaced at the memory of Infernus eying Ash and the team in the Shamouti Islands. He knew what was coming. Infernus watched Ash and considered him, the team (even the weak ones), and the infinite power coursing through his veins.

Stolen power.

The thought made Ash - or Infernus, rather - sick. What was the use of power not earned by sweat and blood? Where was the satisfaction in watching your enemies break beneath your flames when it wasn't yours to begin with? Those were empty victories.

Death was preferable.

Ash hesitated again, though he nodded at Infernus. He sent the rest of his team a considering glance. They were still wary of him. Not exactly afraid, but well-aware that Ash couldn't be trusted right now. Not by his own doing, but by the doing of the Unown stitched to his Aura.

He focused inward again. Felt the power gifted to him by Molly. She had given it up to him. She had held all this power in her hands, accomplished more with it than Ash had, and handed it over like it was just a present.

Thunder boomed.

The truth of the situation struck him like a lightningbolt. It humbled him, demeaned him. His pride - no, arrogance - demanded that he disregard it. Yet he couldn't. He couldn't throw away the truth because of his own flaws.

Ash Ketchum could not control the Unown. Perhaps he could guide them, but even now Ash felt them dredging up his subconscious. They were more attuned to Ash than his conscious mind was. The world shifted around him at random, fixing imperfections and warping to what the Unown knew he wanted. Nothing was stable. Everything was in flux in a nexus of creation, reality rewritten according to his whims.

The Unown were his master as much as Ash was theirs.

He lowered his head. He needed help, didn't he? The people whose opinions he valued most, the people who would know what to do.

His mother's eyes snapped open and she lifted herself onto her forearms. Confusion reigned within her at their familiar surroundings, but she didn't dare say anything. Her thoughts were a maelstrom, whipping about at every turn. Ash smiled lightly now that his mother was back, but he didn't address her yet.

She wasn't the only one the Unown had brought here.

"Ash?" Lance's booming voice split the air. His team turned to watch him, though Ash had no need to move. The Unown provided everything he could know. Despite the situation, he marveled at how deeply Fire ran in Lance, like a cinder ready to be stoked at the slightest provocation. If Lance was any more deeply connected to Moltres then he might as well become an avatar of the Bird… "What is this? Why are we in Pallet Town?"

He wheeled around to look at Lance. His first impression was that the Champion looked like death frozen over. Lance was pale as snow and looked like he'd just fought his way through an army (which he technically had). The Champion sagged in exhaustion. A strong breeze could probably knock him over.

"I control the Unown," he announced. The Unown cooed happily at the acknowledgement, gifting Pallet with rays of sunlight to break through the cloud cover. Ash ignored them in favor of catching the dumbfound expression on Lance's angular face. If the situation weren't so dire he'd enjoy that for the rest of his days.

Lance obviously had no idea what to say about that. "Okay. And you're the one who fixed Greenfield, then?"

"I can't take credit for that," he pointed at Molly, who watched every curiously from her position by his mother. The little girl only had the faintest recognition of who Lance was. "She did most of the work. I just sort of...took over."

The Champion blinked, but allowed himself a grin that took years off his weary face. "Well, I owe Molly my gratitude. Thank you," he said, though Ash could see that Lance hadn't forgotten what her crystal had done to him. At least he was being reasonable.

A thought occurred to Ash, and Lance stiffened as foreign memories rushed into his brain. Ash wasn't entirely sure how it all worked from a physical standpoint (and pointedly refused the Unown's attempts to teach him) but there was no doubt in his mind that it was a disgustingly complex process.

Lance clutched his temples and reeled back as if he'd been struck. "I'm sorry to have pulled you into this," he grimaced and massaged his face. "You shouldn't have had to face this - any of it," he murmured and looked away, staring at Ash's team. "But thank you. Thank you for doing what was necessary."

"You're welcome," Ash said through his physical mouth. Through the Unown he sensed the immense presence of the Beasts - ancient, wreathed in a blazing shroud of the divine that cloaked a mortal core - approaching nearer and nearer. The League's teams had followed them. If he didn't slow them any further then they'd reach them soon. "Lance...I can't control the Unown. It's taking everything I have to keep them from expanding!"

As if to punctuate his point, a great boom of thunder rolled throughout the simulacrum of Pallet Town. Molly squeaked and hid underneath the sheets of the bed that appeared rather out of place among the green hills of Pallet. The rest of his team simply watched on, eager to help yet uncertain as to how to approach him.

Ash hated that feeling. It made his blood boil and the air heat and the meadows burst into -

Wait, no. With another thought he cooled the impulsive destruction threatened by his anger. The Unown's notes fell, then quieted as his cool head reasserted itself.

"I know," Lance regarded him with something unknowable in his gaze. "I feel the tension in you. My Feather...it's like it's burning brighter. Like I'm about to be scorched from the inside out."

"What do I do?" Ash asked quietly, worried for the Champion. The Feather had shown it could affect Lance's health for the better or for the worse in the past. Like Shamouti...memories flashed through his mind, adrenaline and cortisol pumped, and he fought the urge to lash out. The Unown were barely held in check before clouds covered the sky and blotted out the sun.

Lance's eyes glinted. "How powerful are the Unown?"

Ash reflected on the events of the day. Of the infinite layers of reality folded in the Hale Mansion, of the crystal seeking to spread its dominion over the world under Molly's control, of the small army gathered by the League to contend with it. The Beast - no, the Crystal Entei, he thought as he looked at the construct - overwhelming every threat it faced as it sucked up more and more crystal like a sponge.

"Powerful enough," he said simply. It took every bit of his self control to avoid staring deeply into Lance's thoughts. The Unown made it so hard to resist his impulses...every single second, every single thought was a test in self-control. It was no wonder they had spiraled so out of control with Molly - she likely hadn't even realized the full scope of what she'd done.

"I know what to do!" Lance said proudly and took a step nearer. Ash listened, though he had an idea of where this talk was going… "Transfer them to the League."

He raised an eyebrow. "To who?" Ash asked. There were only a few with the willpower and knowledge to exert any kind of control over the Unown. Chinatsu, the ancient Ninetales that once belonged to the First Champion, likely could. She was old and wise, tempered by a millenia of life. Sabrina, perhaps? Then again, human psychics were so susceptible to the Legends...Sabrina could handle being around Ash, but would she even accept the power? Other than those two he wasn't sure he could give the Unown to anyone in good conscience. It would just be a ticking time bomb until a thought or idea went awry.

"Sabrina," Lance began, a small grin on his face as he explained his plan. "She understands the most about the Legends. She would be in the best position to use the power well. She could divine the location of the Legends and hide them away for good."

Ash hummed. He saw Lance's side, but it just didn't feel right. Sabrina wouldn't allow the power to go to her head, but he also didn't think she would use it the way Lance wanted her to. The psychic had proven again and again that she'd only use her precognitive powers in the slightest of ways, offering a nudge or a few hours of proaction. He couldn't imagine the strongest human psychic willing to strike early, or use her powers blatantly. It wasn't who she was, and the Unown would ensure her powers stayed true to her.

No, he didn't think that was the way. He couldn't imagine giving the power to the League. Perhaps his duty as a member of the Elite Four, demanded it, but there was something deep in his gut that demanded he refuse. Ash wasn't sure what it was, but he knew that giving the power to the League was a mistake. They had good intentions, sure, but they hadn't handled any Legendary event particularly well.

Good intentions didn't always work. Lance wanted to fight fire with fire, to bring the unimaginable power of the Unown to bear against the Legends and the threat they created. But that had never worked in the past. Again and again the League had been swatted aside, practically ignored by the ferocious might of the Legends. No, conflict wasn't the way…

His mother finally spoke up. She had stared for a few moments at Lance, as though she couldn't believe the sight of the renowned Indigo Champion, before she made her opinion known.

"Throw it away, Ash," she begged. Ash blinked. What? His mother's eyes were wide and wild. Intense. "No good will come out of keeping it. As long as the Unown are out, nobody wins. They'll keep doing this again and again and again until they're gone!"

"No!" Molly sat straight, protests on her lips. "You can't lock them up! They'll be lonely without you…"

Ash grimaced. That was the truth. Molly would know better than anyone. And even though he hated what the Unown had driven, he couldn't exactly dislike them. They were nothing but the reflections of their masters. They were Potential given power by those they bound themselves to. Without a human or pokemon driving them they were nothing.

Would they even mind being sealed away? Ash wasn't sure. The Unown hummed that yes, they'd do whatever made him happy, but he couldn't exactly trust them, could he? They might be entirely inert and unconscious if he bound them away, but would they be aware?

In the end, he supposed it wouldn't matter. Molly put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Just ask my daddy! He knew everything about them!"

Ash blinked. That...was actually a good idea. He nodded, then reached out with the Unown. They hummed, sought Spencer Hale, and a moment later the man was before him on the ground. Uncle Spencer was curled in the fetal position, arms carried above his head to ward off any threats.

"- just take me away!" Uncle Spencer cried, refusing to open his eyes. Ash simply watched him unblinkingly. The man finally stopped, stunned, when Molly giggled and chased after him before slamming into him like a heat-seeking rocket. She latched onto him tearfully and stammered a million things Ash couldn't even begin to understand without enlisting the Unown's help. "Molly? Is that you?"

Lance took up a position by Ash, standing amongst the horde of Ash's team. The Champion looked oddly exposed there, barely standing but for the fire in his eyes. He thought Lance seemed lonely without his own team by his side. Today had taught him how wrong that situation was.

"Yes!" Molly chirped. His mother stared at Uncle Spencer like she couldn't believe her eyes. Uncle Spencer appeared virtually untouched despite his apparent panic. Ash felt the Unown pulse whenever he looked at the tall man - they recognized him, recognized the man who had freed them. In his mind he knew that Spencer Hale had been their first master (if briefly). They'd taken his request rather literally, the Unown revealed, and hid him away in a secret place to keep him safe. "So much has happened!"

Ash decided to speed this up. Using the same trick he had with Lance, Ash allowed his own memories and experiences to flow into Uncle Spencer's brain - it was as easy for him as pouring water from one glass into another. The man flinched beneath the weight of Ash's memories - he was pretty sure Uncle Spencer's heart had skipped a few beats - but stared at Ash unnervingly.

"Return them to where they were buried," Uncle Spencer said raggedly as he hauled himself to his feet. The Unown spoke to Ash, painting images of an ancient tomb lost to time. Glyphs were carved deeply into the walls, too precisely and too neatly to have been done by human hands. It was dark, still, and utterly isolated. Just the way its creators had desired it when they sealed the Unown away more than a thousand years ago… "The Ruins of Alph. They need to be returned and bound!"

He looked away at the sheer passion in Uncle Spencer's words. Spencer truly believed that was the best thing. And why shouldn't it be? Even without wishing for it, Uncle Spencer's thoughts screamed with his knowledge of the Unown. The reasons behind their burial. Great dramas that had taken place millennia ago. Catacalysms and rebirth. Tyrants and great builders. Men and women lost in the visions of the Unown, thirsty for knowledge and transcendence over the physical.

Lance frowned and stepped forward, dwarfing them all with his bulk. The Feather blazed on his hand. Flames licked out from beneath the sleeve of his combat suit. He took a long look at his mother, Uncle Spencer, and lingered on the Crystal Entei for quite a while before he spoke. "I understand why you want to hide the Unown away, I really do," the Champion insisted to the doubtful audience, "I've fought their powers all day. They made me a puppet!"

The pain in his voice spoke more of ruined pride than physical trauma, but Ash had no doubt that Lance would have preferred the latter. He was a proud man (and rightfully so). Lance's heritage was legendary, befitting that of a mythic hero. It had to have been jarring to have been consumed by the unchecked desires of a little girl.

"What I'm trying to say," Lance exhaled, "is that we've been given a gift. The Unown are a Legendary that we can control!" The Champion's glee couldn't have been plainer. He had a big grin on his face like a child who'd just found a giant cup of icecream. "They're here, in our hands, and they're obedient. Think of what we could do with them! Shield the world from the Legends. Enforce peace. They could fix every problem in the world. We could live in a paradise."

Molly looked completely out of her depth, but Uncle Spencer glared at Lance. "You saw Ash's memories just like I did. Do you not realize it's impossible? The Unown are loyal and devoted, yes, but no human could ever control them. They're beyond us. They warp reality before we can filter them. Look at us! Even Ash can barely keep this world in place! Can you imagine what would happen if we were in the real world? Without ironclad focus, the Unown consume you. It's the height of arrogance to assume otherwise."

Lance's eyes narrowed. Before he could say anything, his mother cut in. "I'm not sure who I am anymore," she said slowly. Ash's heart panged at the rawness of her words. Despite it, she continued. "I've lived two lives and I'm not always sure which is the real one. Half of who I am is a lie right now and not even my son can fix that," she smiled sadly at Ash. Then her gaze sharpened when it fell on Lance. "But in my memories, I know the things you've done."

The Champion frowned. "Oh?" He challenged and folded his arms. Uncle Spencer took up by his mother's side. "What have I done?"

"You've involved a young boy in battling terrorists," his mother stated matter-of-factly. Lance flinched as she raised a finger. "You've involved a young boy in these...these Legendaries!" She spat. Another finger. "You've inducted a twelve-year old boy into the Elite Four and sent him off to Hoenn to do your dirty work! My son comes back every time quieter and scarred. Whenever I see him I catch him staring off into space, or waking up in cold sweat when Dazed can't put him to sleep, or ignoring everyone else to train! Because of you, he's a man in a child's body. You can justify it however you want, Champion, but you've risked my son's life too many times for me to stand by and let you drag him into your fights another time!"

The Champion stood, flabbergasted, and Ash knew the burly man had no words. He was in shock at being dressed down by a small woman who'd spent her life raising a child by herself. Lance Wataru, youngest Champion in history, the chosen of Moltres, and one of the most powerful men in the world, couldn't defend himself against Delia Ketchum.

Ash wasn't much better. He stared, shocked. He'd never have imagined his mother could speak to anyone like that. She was normally so calm and cheerful...was this what went on in her head? Had she really seen so much of a change in him? Was he really so different from the boy who'd left Pallet less than a year and a half ago?

"I think that's enough," Ash said quietly. Despite the volume of his words, everyone immediately fell silent and awaited his next move. Was that the Unown at work, or did they really care about his opinion? He found himself doubting this world more and more… "I appreciate your help and advice, but you can't fight over this. What everyone here doesn't seem to remember," Ash raked his eyes (and those of the Unown) across his mother, Uncle Spencer, and Lance, "is that I'm the one who makes the decision about the Unown."

Uncle Spencer cut in manically. "Seal them away! They don't belong in this world! Their power -"

"Isn't yours," Ash said firmly, though not harshly. Uncle Spencer's next words were snuffed out in his throat. He considered the situation. They all had points, though Ash couldn't settle on a single path to follow. The Unown were too dangerous to stay active. That was fact. Uncle Spencer was right when he said that Ash could barely control them even in a world of his own choosing. Every single second was a potential disaster in the making.

But something deep inside him refused to throw them away, to let the Unown remain lonely and stagnant in some dark hole for the next ten thousand years until they were discovered again by some unlucky soul. Ash would lie if he said it was out of concern for the Unown. They would live. They could no more die than any other Legend. They wouldn't even care, would they?

No. Ash grimaced inwardly (the air smelled foul all of a sudden, like the smog in the steel jungle of Saffron City) as he focused upon the true reason he couldn't just release the Unown: they were powerful. Wasn't that what all this was about? The Unown offered everything he could ever ask for. Power. Knowledge. Control. They would bring out his truest potential, yet snuff it out all the same. With a thought he could divine the locations of the Legends and force them to slumber until all of humanity had finally laid to rest. Like Lance had said, he could create a paradise. A world of perfection impossible in mundane reality.

It was what he'd chased since the first days of his journey. All he'd ever wanted was to have the power to protect his team and his family, to be strong enough to stand on his own two feet and crush anyone who would dare to hurt him. To be bigger than the nightmares that haunted him: Pierce, the Rockets, the Legends infinitely greater than him.

He hated that he couldn't throw the Unown away. He was weaker than Molly, a little girl who'd barely understood what was happening! It grated at him, to know she had succeeded where he would absolutely fail.

In that way, he had failed.

"The Unown are mine," Ash declared, unfettered resolve revealing itself beneath the softness of his words. His mother watched sadly. Uncle Spencer wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut. Even his team remained perfectly still - and that was worse than anything else.

"Ash, just think of what we can do with them!" Lance protested, cape flapping madly in the gusts chasing across Pallet. "They're everything we could hope for!"

He barely glanced at Lance, focusing instead on the small tablet gripped tightly in his palm. The conduit through which the Unown would act. It was his, and it would stay that way. "I'm not throwing it away," Ash said, and Lance looked conflicted. "But I'm not giving it to the League. I can't."

Lance blinked. "Why not? You're one of us," he said earnestly. Ash knew he meant it. When he'd joined the League he'd become a member of Lance's family. Anywhere he went he would have a home and companionship. It hurt to go against that, but Ash had to follow his gut. He had to be true to himself. "We can work together."

Ash nodded along. "We will," he said after a beat. Lance grinned wildly, and Ash wanted so badly to return it. "But I can't trust the League with this. I can barely even trust myself. We can't fight the Legends with the Unown," he said with certainty. Lance frowned, like he couldn't comprehend what Ash had just said.

That was how Lance worked, wasn't it? It had served him well in the past: Lance was mighty, his force of will and unending resolve enough to conquer everything before him in the past. But against the Legends his confidence and willpower might as well be a newborn Rattata trying to gnaw on a mountain.

Lance only saw the way through an obstacle, never around it. Steven's rigid nature left him unbalanced and prone to being caught off guard, but Lance's obstinance left him just as blind.

"My team and I will deal with the Legends. With the League's help, but this is something I need to do on my own," Ash cut off Lance's baffled protests, choosing instead to stare at the tablet. It thrummed in his palm, practically begging for him to use it. "I choose another way."

What will you do, Friend-Trainer?

He grinned at Dazed, who patiently polished her pendulum. Ash took in every member of his team through ten thousand angles. "I choose us."

And with those words he made his last wish. His thoughts blazed, empowered by Fire, stabilized by Ice, focused by Lightning, and bolstered by the childish resilience he'd learnt from Molly. The dimension they were in shuddered, cracks like those of a shattering mirror threaded throughout the whole world, and the Crystal Entei closed its eyes and fell into a restful sleep from which it would never wake up. Molly cried out, but Not-Ash clung to his existence and held her with his mother and Uncle Spencer. Lance stared, enraptured by the sight.

Ash allowed the Unown to connect him to Not-Ash one last time. The construct seemed to recognize Ash's intentions, and gripped Molly tighter than he had before.

Keep her safe. Treasure your team. Live well, Ash Ketchum.

I will, Ash promised, and Not-Ash faded into that from which he came without regret. An odd emptiness overshadowed him at the loss of the construct he'd come to see as so much more, and it was only through a brief touch of Ice that he resisted the Unown's amplifications of deep-seated despair.

Now was not the time for regret. Not when the Unown would pick up on it so easily.

When he opened his eyes, they were once again in the Hale Mansion. Dimensions shuddered and warped before space and time were restored to their true state. The League forces were almost near - the Beasts had vanished, and with a last glimpse Ash briefly brushed against their minds with the aid of the Unown.

Raikou, Entei, and Suicune were each wrapped in a sunny shroud of the divine which concealed their mortal core. Ash marveled at the sensation, at recognizing the true nature of the Beasts, before they sent him a single image and scattered to resume their wandering: a burnt tower of brass.

Before he could think anything more of it, he returned to the present and resumed his focus.

As the products of the Unown withered away to nothing, vanishing as he woke up from this terrible dream, Ash felt his connection with the swarming creatures grow stronger and stronger. As less of their power was invested into creating his reality, they could focus more and more of it into their connection. It was like the world got sharper and clearer every moment, until he could detect everything in perfect detail.

It was beautiful. The Truth was there and it was incredible. He saw what things were, not just what they looked like.

And he tossed it aside.

The world grew dull and dim as his physical senses trumped his mental ones. An ugly look grew on his face as he returned to being a normal human, but the knowledge that this was the only way to achieve what he desired kept him focused. If only he could keep the sight granted by the Unown…

Their connection strengthened, and he hurriedly backpedaled. No, he had to reject them entirely. He had to bind them.

He watched as the tablet trembled, stilled, and laid lifeless in his palm. Ash focused the last vestiges of the power, fought to ignore the addictive hums of the Symbol Pokemon that chipped away relentlessly at his self-control, and stole away the last scraps of power available to him to create a thin loop of Molly's glassy crystal (warm and liquid and alive) that looped through the tablet.

With shaking hands, Ash placed the amulet around his neck. The crystal was hot as it touched him, then cooled and solidified into a silvery substance not unlike the ethereal material that made up the flute. Ash brushed his fingertips against it and marveled at the loop, then held the lifeless tablet of the Unown against his heart.

Nothing.

Unbind. Deconstruct. Seal yourselves away. Remove your influence from me. Lock the Potential away. Vanish from the world.

Ash sagged as a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him, but Nidoking was quick to bolster him with a sturdy shoulder to lean on. He gripped tightly to Nidoking's leathery hide (quick to avoid any of his long, poisonous spines) and held the tablet tightly while his team rushed him. It was dead. Dead, lifeless, and still.

The Unown were gone. His will enforced their absence, binding them by their own nature. For now, the Unown were separated into their own dimension by a thin veil. His own wish - something full of focus and desire beyond his normal capacity thanks to the influence of the Legends - would secure them.

The Unown were beyond his reach.

Something inside Ash told him that they weren't gone for good. Perhaps he'd built that into his wish subconsciously… Ash knew he couldn't throw the power away. But if it was just inaccessible except in the direst circumstances, in the times that humanity would prefer a false reality to absolute devastation, then perhaps he could prevent it from leaking out.

It wasn't perfect, but in time Ash hoped to comprehend it further.

But right now, surrounded by his loving team and his mother (and Molly, who'd snuck her way into the crowd to latch onto his leg), Ash couldn't care less. He tuned everything else out. Lance's uncomfortable, introspective look was disregarded. Uncle Spencer's presence was ignored. The sound of the League's forces, led by Steven and a tall, blonde woman flanked by Metagross and a hulking, ferocious Garchomp, barely merited a glance.

The day, and the dream, were long…

It was time to greet the new day. A new beginning.

A/N: Wow. I'm finally finished. It feels surreal, like I've written an entirely new story. Before I say anything else I'd like to thank all of you for your unimaginable patience. It doesn't matter what kind of excuses I've made. Life got in the way, work picked up, writer's block struck, and a million other things happen. But they aren't excuses. I'm honestly very disappointed in myself that it took me so long to complete this chapter. I really am sorry. It's inexcusable that it took me almost exactly a year to complete this, especially when I'd convinced myself over and over that I'd release next month, or in two weeks, etc. It really won't happen again. For the last several years I've been awful about updating. Two or three updates a year isn't acceptable for me any longer.

I wrote a little about it on my P atreon (which everyone should check out in the future for updates about chapters and short previews) but this story will be taking a very different turn in the future. As opposed to huge, massive updates around 20-30k I'll be shifting to a more manageable 10-15k per chapter. It's significantly less work and with this schedule I hope to have an update every month. I never want to leave you guys and girls waiting this long again.

The future of the story will also change. Several of you have brought up the very good point that the story has drifted significantly from the things that originally made it successful. I've gotten too deep into Legendaries and the metaphysical stuff that I've built in my head. Instead of feeling like a story about Ash and his team, it's started to feel like a story about the Legendaries. While they will remain an important background event, I can confidently say that it will be a VERY long time before another Legendary event occurs and the story will be more grounded in the future. I'm not abandoning the myth arc I've been working on, but it's going to have less focus and be more spread out throughout the story. What I want to focus on is Ash and his character. I want to develop him, his team, and build up characters that have been neglected with the change in focus in the story (such as Oz, who despite being present throughout more than half the story still feels like we barely know her). I want to bring the focus back onto exploration and discovering the pokemon world. To ground things and be relatable again. Most of all I want to strike a balance between what I wish for the story and what it's become.

Now, for some less heavy stuff. I want to thank everyone who's hung in and supported me and this story despite the atrocious update rate. It's going to change, I promise. I'm in my last semester of school and, despite a new job, have more free time than before since I'm only taking a handful of classes. I plan to use that free time well.

I know this chapter might not have been everyone's favorite, but I do hope you enjoyed parts of it. It's important for the rest of the story. I'll go ahead and say that the next few chapters (probably three or four) will be a short Johto arc to kind of cool off. During it a few things that have been building up for years will happen, and I really hope that you guys enjoy it! After that we'll get back to Hoenn and back on track.

Thanks for reading this far! Before I take off, I'd like to give a shout out to everyone to check out Traveler's TVTropes page and also Master Thomas on you tube. This guy has posted readings of the first two chapters of Traveler on his channel. For reference, the video of chapter 1 is an hour and thirty eight minute long lol. I think he deserves some support for being crazy enough to try and read through this behemoth out loud.

And lastly…wow. With this chapter, Traveler's crossed the threshold into one million words. Thank you so much for sticking with me up until now! The wonderful reception this story has received makes me happier than pretty much anything. Seriously, you guys are awesome and I'm grateful I've had the chance to create something so many have enjoyed.

Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter!