Chapter 13
Legendary
When Sammy first opened his eyes, he thought he was dead.
A bit melodramatic, perhaps, but hey. He'd been through a lot. He'd earned the right.
Everything was black. Which seemed odd, actually, because the last thing he remembered was… fog? Yes… Yes, a white fog, completely surrounding him. And a figure emerging from the gloom, indistinct, snatching him up and carrying him away.
But to where? The afterlife? Is that where this was? Somehow, now that he was conscious, he doubted it. Wasn't the afterlife supposed to be… pleasant, or something? He didn't feel so good. His entire body felt stiff and sore, his thoughts sluggish and out-of-sync, a terrible sort of weakness seemed to have settled deep in his core, nestled into his very bones, and his head felt tight like a drum, the insides pounding in time with a sharp, steady ache.
This sucked. If this was the afterlife, he'd rather just be dead.
He opened his mouth to call out - see if any other-worldly beings would be chill enough to fetch him an aspirin and a glass of water - but his throat was so dry that instead of words, he instead let out a violent sort of coughing fit that left every bone and joint in his body aching in protest - and sent a sharp, stabbing pain arching up from his ankle.
Something moved at his side - a lump of warmth he hadn't even fully processed had been there until it suddenly wasn't - and as his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he could see a pair of familiar almond eyes glittering down at him.
"L… Leafeon?" he said, his voice raspy and hoarse, and with a delighted cry, his starter launched herself at him, nuzzling her prickly muzzle against his cheek and mewling affectionately - and if he didn't know any better, he'd almost say it sounded like she was crying.
He had half a mind to push her off of him, but he was surprised - and somewhat alarmed - to find that he didn't have the strength. Even just moving his arms seemed to take a herculean effort. He felt as weak and helpless as a Feebas.
More movement. A figure, standing over him. Gallade? It was hard to make out his face, but he looked concerned.
A second later, there was the sound of a door being opened and light washed over the room.
He was lying in a bed in an unfamiliar place with crude wooden walls. And there, silhouetted in the doorframe, was Jade.
Despite the haze of weakness and pain, he felt a smile work its way across his face at the sight of her.
"You're alive," he noted, forcing as much strength into his voice as he could.
He expected her to fire back some clever insult or quip, as was their way. The essence of their friendship was defined by their rapport.
Instead, with a poorly restrained sniffle and genuine affection, she said, "Yeah… You, too."
Ah, so that was the tone they were going for. Well, they had all almost died.
He tried to sit up. He really did. But his limbs simply were not having it, and after a moment of futile struggle, he found that Jade had walked over next to Gallade and was looking down at him in concern.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, voice going to 'doctor mode', as he and AJ had taken to calling it, and he coughed again.
"Like I nearly froze to death," he replied, deadpan, and she nodded.
"Any notable pains? Anything that seems to stand out?"
"My leg," he gasped as his attempts at sitting up caused another sharp stab of agony to lance up his injured limb.. "I think… I think I broke my ankle? I'm… It's hard to remember. And I'm so thirsty…"
"I'll take a look at it," she said. "But first… Gallade, we should move him out to the couch. We can get some food in him while I look at his ankle, and I don't want to disturb Pichu."
What Pichu had to do with any of this, Sammy didn't know, but it seemed to confirm that AJ was also around - wherever they were - and that was an enormous relief. Sammy did his best to lift his arms, expecting Gallade to haul him up and help him walk his way out to the couch, but a second later and with a brief touch, his pokemon had instead teleported him there. Well, that was unexpected. And extremely disorienting.
It became clear to him then that they were in a log cabin of some kind. The thick curtains in the outer room had been drawn back, letting in pale sunlight from outside, though with the heavy cloud cover, it was difficult to say what time of day it was.
The 'couch' was really just a wooden bench with a thin padding of cushions, though it was positioned directly across from a roaring fire that crackled merrily in a rough stone fireplace, the mantle of which was decorated with a series of crude, hand-carved pokemon figurines. The stone floors were covered in multiple rugs to stave off the cold, and the room also held a narrow bookshelf in one corner and a pair of rocking chairs, along with a handful of other odds and ends.
Gallade helped Sammy into a seated position, wrapping him up in a blanket that had been left on one of the chairs as Jade and Leafeon exited the back room where Sammy had presumably been sleeping, Jade shutting the door softly behind them and heading over into the small kitchen area which held only a few cupboards, a dining table clearly not meant for many, and an old-fashioned cast-iron stove.
As Leafeon hopped up onto the couch beside him, resting her head in his lap, Jade messed around the kitchen for a bit, pulling bowls and spoons and things out of the cupboards, which showed Sammy that she was familiar enough with the building that she must have been here for a little while. A moment later, she was heading back to him,
"Here," she said, holding out a bowl and a steaming tin cup. "You need to get some food in your belly while you can."
He reached for the food, grateful, but his hands were trembling so much that Jade refused to give it to him. Instead, Gallade dragged a stool over and began feeding him like he was some sort of invalid. Which… Well, ok, that's exactly what he was, but it was still humiliating.
Jade had fetched another stool from somewhere and used it to prop up his injured leg while she sat herself in one of the rocking chairs and looked him over. After a couple of minutes of silence in which Gallade alternated between feeding him the warm - if somewhat bland - stew and the unbelievably tart cider, Jade had rolled up his pant leg, stripped off his woolen socks, and was examining his swollen, purple ankle critically.
"You really did a number on this guy, didn't you?" she said finally, standing again and heading off into the kitchen to rummage through some more cupboards.
"That's what happens when you fall off the back of a flying Metagross," he replied blandly after swallowing some more cider. He felt like his tongue was starting to go numb from how sharp the flavor was.
Jade, who was returning with what looked to be an old first aid kit, cast him a sorrowful look.
"Sammy… I'm so sorry-"
"Shut it," he said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "It wasn't your fault. I'm the idiot who slipped and fell. Let's just be happy we're all alive."
A heavy sort of silence fell over them then, and for a moment it was almost peaceful in a somber kind of way - at least until Jade began wrapping his ankle, the pain of which nearly had him starting out of his seat.
Once she was done, he settled back into the couch and asked, "So… where is AJ, anyway? And where are we? A Rangers Station? How did you find me?"
They were clearly still on the mountain, that much was obvious. But why? Had they just not wanted to move him yet?
Jade, who'd been repacking the first aid kid, stilled.
"Uh… Not… Not a Rangers Station, no."
He waited for her to continue, but she didn't. She seemed to be waiting for him to ask.
He glanced around again, taking in the sparse decor, the lack of any electricity or anything one might associate with the trappings of modern convenience. Who else but the Rangers would have a cabin on Mt. Silver?
"Well… Then whose cabin is this?"
She turned to stare at him. Then, after glancing towards the window for some reason like she was checking for eavesdroppers, she said, her voice pitched low, "Sammy, I have the craziest story to tell you and you are not going to believe a word of it but you need to shut up and let me tell the whole thing without interrupting because otherwise this is gonna take all day and I don't know how long we have till they get back."
That came out in a rush. And all in one breath.
"Uh…" he replied dumbly. "Ok?"
They? They who? The people who owned the cabin? AJ? Why did it matter when they got back?
He opened his mouth to ask, but Gallade seized his opportunity and shoved another spoonful of stew into his mouth, forcing Sammy to either chew or choke to death and allowing Jade to begin speaking uninterrupted.
What followed was the most ludicrous tale he had ever heard in his entire life - and he wanted to study legendary pokemon for a living.
Apparently - at least according to Jade - after they'd been attacked by that gang of Snover and Abomasnow and had been separated, while Sammy was off freezing himself to death, AJ and Jade had, by complete happenstance, stumbled across AJ's long-lost grandfather, who, as it turned out, had taken to living as a hobo on the restricted slopes of Mt. Silver after he'd been essentially kidnapped forty years ago by the actual, literal, real-life pokemon Mew.
If finding him wasn't coincidental enough - insane reason for being here notwithstanding - it seemed that Ethan's story about that powerful trainer with the Pikachu he'd met here had been correct. It was the actual, literal, real-life Ash Ketchum, AJ's father, who had taken to living here himself for some inexplicable reason, and when AJ found him, she apparently lost her ever-loving mind and challenged him to a battle in which she'd been defeated so spectacularly you'd have thought she was a greenie challenging her very-first gym leader.
And finally - because all of that wasn't enough already - apparently these old men were hanging out in the wilderness like this because there was a secret legendary pokemon preserve on top of the mountain that no one knew about, and some monster of a pokemon named Mewtwo who was totally a real thing she swears and not at all a figment of a trauma-induced hallucination was allegedly holding them all hostage now to keep the secret.
Now, Sammy had known Jade for a long time. He knew she liked to talk, and she liked to tell a tale or two when she knew she had an audience. And she was definitely prone to embellishing. But she wasn't really the type who lied, at least not outright - not unless she was joking.
But usually her jokes were funnier and more coherent than this.
Several minutes later, after she'd exhausted her tale, during which Sammy had sat mutely on the couch being spoon-fed by his Gallade, he was finally allowed to speak.
"Jade," he began slowly, keeping his tone as moderate as possible. Hey, it wasn't easy having to tell your friend that she was suffering from some form of post-traumatic hysteria and needed to speak with a specialist, but that was just what friends did for each other - but she cut him off.
"Don't even," she said quickly, stabbing a finger in his direction. "I'm not crazy. I'm not. Everything I just said is the complete truth."
"But I mean…" he said, finding a smirk working its way onto his face. "Mew… two? You can't be serious. Like, were you even trying with that name?"
She gawked, clearly offended.
"I didn't-! I'm not the one who named it! Ask your pokemon if you don't believe me! Ask! Mewtwo is real, right?"
Leafeon, it seemed, had actually fallen asleep on his lap at some point during Jade's story, but Gallade was nodding, looking stern.
Sammy stared at him for a moment, then let out a snort.
"Yeah, alright," he said, tugging the blanket around him more securely. "Well, let's just hope it doesn't mega-evolve into Mewthree, otherwise, we might have a real problem on our hands."
Jade looked like she was seriously considering the ramifications of socking a sick person in the schnoz when the sound of footsteps and muffled voices approached from outside. A moment later, the front door swung open, and in along with a sudden blast of cold came AJ, who was walking backwards, apparently talking to someone outside, oblivious to his presence.
"Jade," she called over her shoulder in a sing-song voice. "I've got some great news for you!"
"I bet mine's better," Jade replied, smirking, and AJ finally turned, her eyes landing immediately on Sammy.
He smiled, weakly.
"Sup?"
The backpack she'd been holding fell out of her hand with a dull thunk.
A moment later, she'd practically launched herself at him, shouting his name and throwing her arms around his upper torso in a fierce hug that, on any other day, would have given him the high of his life. On this particular day, however, his body was achy and weak and sore, so instead it just hurt like crazy.
The sudden commotion woke Leafeon, who let out an alarmed shout, thinking they were under attack. Gallade eventually had to pry AJ off of his trainer so he could breathe again.
"I'm so happy you're ok!" she finally said, stepping back and smiling gently down at him, genuine joy and relief in her too-blue eyes, cheeks rosy from the cold.
He adjusted the blanket so it was more secure around his shoulders and did his best to hold his sour expression. It wasn't fair when she looked at him like that.
"I won't be for long if people keep jumping on me," he managed in a suitably sour tone, and she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, whatever, you love it. Oh yeah - Jade! Look!"
It was Jade's turn to let out a scream of delight, as in through the front door came her Sableye, who gave the room a brief once-over, spotted Jade, and immediately ran straight to her.
"Sable!" she shouted, catching her pokemon as it threw itself excitedly into her arms, chittering in delight as Jade nearly squeezed it to death - if ghost pokemon could die again - rocking it back and forth and cooing into its ear.
"My buddy! My Pal! I'm so sorry we got separated! I've missed you so, so, soooo much!"
Her Sableye responded with equal enthusiasm, practically bouncing in her arms. Sammy was soon distracted from the boisterous reunion scene by the third and final figure who came in through the open door, shutting it firmly behind him to prevent any more heat from escaping and stooping down to pick up the bag that AJ had dropped.
It was an older man, maybe in his sixties, with a weathered face, a thick, gray beard, and a broad physique that spoke of years of manual labor. His gaze seemed to pierce right through anything he looked at, but from the crinkles around his eyes, he was no stranger to smiling.
"You forgot something, lass," he said, his voice a bit gravely, and AJ gave him a grateful smile that Sammy couldn't help but notice was a bit forced, almost as if this older man made her feel uncomfortable.
"Thanks," she said quickly, snatching it out of his hands. If the older man noticed anything odd in her attitude, he didn't let on. Instead, he turned to Sammy with a genial smile and said, "So! You're finally up, lad! It's been a couple days. Good to have you on your feet. The name's Cole."
"Sammy," he replied, taking the man's hand and giving it a shake. Or, well, letting him shake it - Sammy still felt too weak to do much more than hold his arm out. Holy Arceus, how many calluses did this man have? His palm felt like granite!
"And I'm not quite on my feet just yet," he continued, retracting his arm back into the cocoon that was his blanket. "But thanks for helping me and my friends out. Sorry to impose."
"Nah, it's not a bother," Cole said genially, waving it off. "Anything for family."
An awkward sort of heaviness filled the air as AJ seemed to stiffen, her eyes fixated on the inside of the backpack. Jade let her gaze bounce back and forth anxiously between her friend and Cole.
Sammy just stared, his mind working as quickly as it could. Had he just… confirmed Jade's story? Was this strange old man really AJ's long-lost grandfather? The improbability of that statement was so outlandish, his inner Oak wanted to cast it aside without thought, and yet… Why would he lie? And why would AJ go along with it? A bad practical joke? But AJ didn't joke about her father's side of the family…
What kind of insane soap opera had he just woken up in? Was he the one who was hallucinating?
He didn't get a chance to ask, however. Not with the old man himself in the room. He'd ambled over to the kitchen area to fetch himself a glass of this too-tart cider, but the cabin was small enough that he was still well within earshot. So instead of discussing the obvious gray-bearded Copperajah in the room, AJ instead filled the awkward silence with discussion on what they'd found.
Apparently, she and the old man had left the cabin that morning to go scrounging for herbs, as they'd used much of Cole's stock previously and now that there were so many people in the cabin, they needed all they could get. Not just medicinal herbs, but also any kinds of nuts, berries, or tubers they could scrounge up by foraging. And while they'd been able to find some, the bigger haul by far was discovered mostly by mistake.
"He just came out of nowhere!" AJ was saying, having taken a seat on one of the stools and beaming over at Sableye. "There I was, hunched over, trying to dig through the snow with frozen fingers, when I heard a shuffling noise and turned around and - Bam! Sableye!"
Jade's pokemon let out a delighted chittering sound that may have been a laugh, though it still sounded eerie and cruel. Sammy knew better, though - Sableye just naturally sounded that way.
"Mama's little hero," Jade said, ruffling Sableye's head affectionately, and Sammy made a face, just like he always did. It was so… weird… hearing her refer to herself as anything's mother, but especially a pokemon he'd known for so long. To be fair, she had hatched it from an egg, but still.
"And look what he found!" AJ continued, brandishing the navy blue metal-framed backpack, one of its torn straps flopping around listlessly. From the looks of it, it was actually his. "I think it must've been left open when we went to sleep that night, 'cause it was open when Sableye gave it to me and it looks like a lot of your stuff is missing from the main pocket, Sammy. But I checked the smaller pockets and I found some good stuff! Spare pokeballs, some repels, your food supply - human and pokemon, thank Arceus - and best of all, clothes!"
His clothes, he knew, had actually been in the front pocket together with his food. But like most trainers, he kept them stored inside pokeballs to reduce their weight as well as the space they took up. It was a surprise to hear they hadn't fallen out during the avalanche, but then, stranger things had happened. Just today, in fact. Though unfortunately, it sounded like much of his scientific equipment was lost, including his notes, surveying equipment, his pokedex and pokegear, etc. They were far and away the most expensive items he'd had on his person, and the hardest to replace, so in a way, losing them somehow seemed worse despite none of them being useful in an emergency situation in the same way food and clothing were. He needed to adjust his priorities.
"I wasn't able to find any of our stuff," AJ continued, "but I was hoping maybe Sableye could take us back to where he found the backpack and maybe we'd have a bit more luck searching around there? I think my Arcanine has recovered enough to help us sniff them out. Jade? You wanna come with me and look? Ninetales would probably be a big help, too."
Jade hesitated, casting a nervous glance toward Sammy, but he nodded.
"I'm fine," he said resolutely. "Just need some more sleep is all. Shame you didn't find any medicine in my bag, but if you go out and look some more, maybe you'll find yours or AJ's. That would be more useful to me than you hovering over me while I nap."
"Fair enough," she said, smiling. "Little Sammy is cranky, after all."
He glared at her with as much hate as he could muster, but his friends just laughed. The jerks. He couldn't stand them, sometimes. And he was so happy they were all alive.
"We heading out again so soon?" said Cole as he rejoined the conversation, and at once, AJ's body language seemed to close up.
"Oh, Cole - you don't have to come out with us again," AJ said, trying to be polite, though Sammy had known her long enough to recognize the tone of 'please leave me alone' that was laced through her voice. "I'm sure you're tired, and Sablye can guide us back to where the backpack was. You can stay here and relax - and maybe keep an eye on Sammy."
Part of him felt a little miffed that she was pushing this stranger off on him, but then again, assuming the story was true - and he was still having a hard time coming to grips with that - she had her reasons. And he really was planning on going back to sleep. He was exhausted.
But Cole simply waved her off, an animatedl smile on his face, looking for all the world like he was oblivious to her poorly-hidden discontent.
"Bah, nonsense! We still need more food, remember? Better to scrounge up as much as we can while the weather's good - and you can use some of those pokeballs to help us carry more back, and in just one trip! Not that I'm not grateful to hear you found more food - I hope you don't mind if we use it, lad, but I'm rather looking forward to gettin' to chow down on something other than berries and tubers for once."
"Feel free," Sammy said with a crooked grin. "Food's meant to be eaten. And you are taking care of me, after all."
"Now that's a good lad!" Cole exclaimed with a full-bellied laugh. He seemed… really chipper, despite AJ's obvious cold shoulder. Then again, the man hadn't had a normal meal in decades, from the sound of it. Were he in his shoes, Sammy would probably be openly weeping from unrestrained joy.
Within a few minutes, AJ and Cole were back out the door, this time with Jade in tow. AJ lingered just long enough to ask Gallade to please remember to also keep an eye on Pichu while they were out, who was still in the bedroom sleeping on the bed. They'd offered to move Sammy back there, but he'd politely declined. The bed was certainly more comfortable than this would-be couch, but his seat in front of the roaring fire felt more inviting. Plus, with how exhausted he was, they could have laid him out on a bed of rocks and he'd still have conked out in under five minutes, so what did it matter? Let Pichu have the bed to himself.
Sammy wasn't sure how long he was out for - at least a couple of hours, judging by how the fire had died down and the light outside the window had changed - but before he knew it, he was waking to the sound of someone rooting around through the cupboards in the kitchen.
Still feeling somewhat groggy, Sammy struggled to push himself up into a seated position. Despite having just eaten not that long ago, he felt like he could go for another meal. One made from their actual food supplies and not that flavorless hobo stew.
Only, when he looked over toward the kitchen toward the sound of the noise, he was surprised to find not either of his friends or the strange and overly-friendly old grandfather, but another man altogether.
Younger than the first, though old enough to be Sammy's father. If the hat and the Pikachu sitting on the counter weren't enough to give him away, his face would have done it. Though old, weathered, and decidedly male, the family resemblance was still there for anyone who had studied AJ's face as closely as he had.
This was the Ash Ketchum. Hero of a Hundred Stories. Champion of a Thousand Battles. Befriender of Legendaries.
Eater of… walnuts, apparently, judging by what he was holding in his hand.
He didn't notice Sammy was awake at first, munching away at his snack and gesticulating randomly at his Pikachu, who had the walnut cracker held awkwardly between its tiny paws as it struggled to break the shell on its own protein-rich treat.
It struggled in vain for a moment, grunting and straining, fighting with the awkwardly held implement clearly not designed for its pokemon paws, all while Ash looked on, laughing as quietly as possible, too amused to consider offering help.
After a moment, the cracker slipped violently from Pikachu's grip and was somehow flung across the kitchen, hitting the stone floor with a metallic clatter. Pikachu let out a cry of despair that resulted in Ash letting out an ungainly snort of laughter, flecks of chewed walnuts flying everywhere. A moment later, he slapped his palm over his mouth and turned toward where Sammy had been sleeping, only to find him awake and sitting up, watching them both in a mixture of amusement and slight disgust.
There was an awkward sort of pause as the two males examined one another while Pikachu went scrambling for the misplaced tool. After a moment, Ash swallowed down the rest of the walnuts, wiped absently at his mouth with his hand, then, after taking a fortifying breath and clearly second guessing himself, slowly stepped forward.
"Sorry," he said after a moment. His voice was scratchy but kind. "Did we wake you up?"
"I was up before the walnut cracker went flying," he said. "But it's fine. I probably needed to wake up anyway."
Another awkward pause. Ash adjusted his weight from leg to leg while Sammy let his eyes bounce randomly around the room. Great. Now he had to make smalltalk. This was out of his wheelhouse. Where was Jade when he needed her?
After a minute of cloying silence, Ash slowly made his way into the sitting area, pulling out a stool instead of the free rocking chair and taking a seat. Gallade, who had been resting in the other rocking chair opposite the couch, stood to offer Ash his seat, as though his was somehow preferable, but the older man waved the pokemon down. Pikachu returned from the kitchen, hopping up onto its trainers back and let out a cry of greeting directed at Sammy, which he returned with a polite nod. He looked around for lack of anything else to do and found his Leafeon still sleeping at the foot of the couch. He doubted she'd left his side even once. She was such a worrywart.
"Your partners are well trained," Ash spoke up suddenly, sounding like he was reaching desperately for something to say to fill the silence.
How was it that it was him who sounded nervous and uncertain? He was Ash Ketchum. If anything, it was Sammy who should be the one feeling out of sorts - and just to be clear, he absolutely did. He had no idea how he was supposed to be navigating this veritable ocean of awkward.
Not only was he now being forced to make nice with a veritable living legend, one who was supposed to have been dead for nearly two decades, but he was also the long-lost father of the girl he'd been in love with for years. And she absolutely detested this man. How was he supposed to approach this? Be polite and make a good impression, like you'd normally do when meeting the father of the girl you liked? Or would AJ like it better if he was rude? Should he be calling him 'Mr. Ketchum'?
This was too much. Couldn't he just go back to sleep?
"Thanks," Sammy said after a moment. "My parents taught me well."
"Your father is Gary Oak?"
"Yep," he said. "And you're Ash Ketchum."
"Small world."
"Not so small if you've been able to hide in it for nearly twenty years."
Ash's face grew awkward again.
"Yeah, it… It's a bit of a story," he said, taking off his hat and running a hand through his unruly black hair.
"I've heard. Something about a… magical fairytale land on top of a forbidden icy mountain where legendary pokemon frolic, guarded by some scary monster who's holding us all hostage. Something like that?"
"Something like that," Ash repeated.
"Sounds a bit crazy, if you ask me."
"To be fair, it is a bit crazy."
Well, at least they could agree on that. Still, as absurd as it all sounded, it was getting harder and harder to dismiss it out of hand, now that the actual Ash Ketchum was sitting right in front of him. The man was basically a legendary pokemon himself, in a way. Somehow, despite never having actually met the man before, it all sounded more plausible coming from him.
"You're lucky to be alive," the man continued, changing the subject. "How much do you actually remember?"
"From after the avalanche?" Sammy asked, and when Ash nodded, he shook his head. "Honestly, not much. We wandered about for a bit, lost, looking for AJ and Jade, but all we found was a nest that had been displaced in the disaster. Only one of the eggs was intact, but I couldn't tell what kind of pokemon it was. We took it with us, figuring it was safer that way - away from predators, you know? But we never found help. The last thing I remember is white fog and something grabbing me… Was that you? Are you the one who saved me? And what happened to the egg? Is it alright?"
Weirdly, Ash was smiling again - this time, a genuine, full-lipped grin, and Sammy almost had to ask him to stop. The resemblance to AJ was uncanny. Seeing that grin on someone else's face was discomforting.
"No, I didn't save you. The egg's mother did. She was flying around, desperately searching for her nest in the aftermath of the avalanche, but couldn't find it. But you'd carried the egg high enough that the sound of the baby's beak pecking the shell from inside could carry far enough to reach her. She found you both as it was hatching, and decided to carry you with her and the infant into the Sanctuary. You saving that egg likely saved your life."
Sammy blinked, taken aback. So he'd be dead right now, frozen and buried under a heap of snow, likely never to be found, if he hadn't stumbled across that random egg and decided to carry it with him. He knew he'd been close to kicking the bucket there, but somehow, hearing this just made his mortality feel all the more apparent.
"...But what kind of pokemon was it?" he asked, finally. "I couldn't figure it out. You said the mother was flying around, and I vaguely remember seeing something with wings before I passed out, but it definitely didn't seem like a Skarmory egg. Was it some introduced species I'm not familiar with?"
"You really don't know?" Ash asked, and when Sammy said no, the older man let out a bark of surprised laughter that made Sammy sit upright, affronted. He may be an Oak, but that didn't mean he knew literally everything there was to know about pokemon.
"Sammy," Ash said, sitting forward. "That was an Articuno egg. You helped save an endangered species - and a legendary one, at that."
An… Articuno…?
No, that's not… It couldn't be. There was no way that- He had to be lying. This was a joke. It had to be. It had to.
But there was… something about this man, about the look on his face, the glint in his eyes. The confidence. The pride. It was similar to how he felt when he was working with his father. He wasn't lying. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. Ash was telling the truth.
Slowly, Sammy sat forward, placing his face in his hands, and stared into nothingness.
An Articuno. An actual Articuno. He'd had the egg in his hands - actual proof that they do indeed reproduce like regular pokemon. He'd seen the nest. The egg had hatched in his arms and the mother had appeared in front of him and saved his life… and he remembered almost none of it.
He'd lost his supplies, so he'd been able to take no notes, no samples, no pictures - nothing. A once-in-a-millenium, groundbreaking, earth-shattering pokemonological revelation the likes of which hadn't been discovered in decades… and he had nothing to show for it. Nothing but the hazy memory of a blue eggshell and a broken nest.
What would his father say? Would he even believe him at all?
"Are… you ok?" Ash asked, sounding nervous again. "Do you need some water?"
"I'm fine," Sammy said, taking a deep breath and schooling his features as best as he could. The despair he felt at hearing that he'd been so close to the discovery of a lifetime only to have it slip right through his fingers was… a lot to process, but he could handle it. He was an Oak. "I just feel like someone out there is mocking me, that's all."
If that made any sense to Ash, he chose not to comment on it.
"Well, you'll be happy to know the baby survived. You did a tremendous thing, carrying that egg along and protecting it, even when you knew you were likely going to die."
Sammy leaned back again but kept his eyes averted. He was too depressed at missing his impossible chance to be flattered at a compliment from the Ash Ketchum.
"It's not like I did anything grand," he said, staring into the fire as though it was the most fascinating thing in the world. "I didn't even know what I was doing, honestly. I was pretty out of it. The fact that it survived was more luck than anything."
He chanced a glance at Ash only to find a small smile twitching at the corners of his lips. A disturbingly familiar smile. If he ever told AJ that her smile looked like her father's, she'd probably punch him straight in the jaw.
"How's your leg?" Ash asked, changing the subject again, much to Sammy's relief.
"It's certainly been better," he replied sarcastically, but Ash merely nodded.
"And Pichu?"
Here, Sammy hesitated. He could joke and downplay his own injuries all he wanted, but Pichu…
"I honestly don't know," he said. "I haven't seen him myself, but from what I've been told, he's still in a bad way. The others are out looking to see if they can find any of our supplies. If they can find our medicinal stores, then I think he should be fine, but…"
But the mountain was huge. Just because they'd lucked into finding Sammy's backpack in no way meant they had any realistic shot of finding the rest of their supplies. And if Pichu's recovery time relied on that, then his odds weren't looking good. He probably wasn't going to die - Jade and especially AJ wouldn't be content waiting it out if that was on the table - but an improperly healed injury could lead to the end of a pokemon's battling career. The stakes were still fairly high. But what else could they do? Were they really trapped on this mountain?
Ash was quiet for a moment, but though his gaze was locked on Sammy, from the look in his eyes, it was evident he was seeing something else, far away. The silence stretched on, and his scowl grew deeper. Finally, with a sigh and a shake of his head, he broke his gaze and looked down at his shoes.
His Pikachu wandered over, glancing up at his trainer expectantly. Ash shook his head again, muttered something under his breath, looking for all the world like he was arguing with himself. Pikachu growled, then chattered for a bit, and Ash stared at it as though he could understand every word it said. Finally, with one last, beleaguered sigh, he looked back up at Sammy.
"Listen," he said reluctantly. "There… may be another way to help Pichu. And even you, maybe. I'm not sure. It's more likely to work for Pichu, but considering what went down with that egg…"
"What are you on about?" Sammy asked, completely lost.
He worked his mouth for a second, no words coming out. It looked like he was struggling to find the best way to string a sentence together as he absently played with his hands.
Finally, he said, "You're an Oak, right? Which means you're probably pretty smart. I mean, if you're anything like your father…"
"I do alright," Sammy replied, and Ash nodded.
"Good. So then, how much would you say you know about legendary pokemon?"
Sammy blinked and fought down the urge to sit up straighter. He needed to seem unphased.
"As much as can be known, I suppose. I've studied about as much as there is to study about them."
Ash was still nodding along, but he didn't really look like he was fully paying attention.
"The thing is, the Sanctuary… Well, some legendary pokemon live there, yes. But most of them just sort of show up every now and then. Whether it's migratory, or if there are other factors, or if it's just on their whim, I don't know."
Sammy felt his fingers start to itch. He wanted to go there so badly - to study them, to take photos and chart patterns and write up theses and… No, stay calm, don't geek out. If Ash started to think Sammy was too excited, he might think it was for the wrong reason and prevent him from seeing the Sanctuary for himself. Please, let AJ and Jade find more of their missing supplies - he needed his research materials more than ever.
"The thing is," Ash continued slowly, "sometimes… Sometimes, some pokemon… Well, they can be… Summoned, I guess. Not all of them, but… Some of them seem to embody various… Well, ok, I don't know exactly how to put it, Gary would probably be pulling his hair out right now, but some pokemon can seemingly be everywhere and nowhere all at once - and you can… compel them to manifest if certain conditions are met."
Sammy frowned. It wasn't unheard of, strictly speaking. Some pokemon, like Spiritomb, worked in more or less the same way, though he'd never heard it explained in such terms. You weren't so much 'compelling them to manifest' as you were establishing the correct conditions for a given phenomenon to occur, but that didn't matter. He could study this later.
"Are you saying there's a legendary pokemon we can meet in the sanctuary who can… what? Heal Pichu? And maybe even my leg?"
"Possibly," Ash said. "At least, I've seen it heal injured pokemon before. But it doesn't always heal everyone who comes to ask. I don't know why, or if there's any rhyme or reason to it. But considering your lack of options…"
Then it was worth taking the chance. What did they have to lose? Even if he didn't get his leg healed, this would still be a remarkable opportunity. He'd need to at least find a pen and a notepad. His great-grandfather was never going to believe this!
A thought popped into Sammy's head then, and he turned to Ash with a frown.
"If you knew this was a possibility, then… why did you wait so long to say anything?"
For a moment, all was silent save for the crackle of the fireplace and the haunting wail of the wind outside the cabin walls. The look on Ash's face was… hard to describe. For once, he didn't look much like AJ.
"Honestly," he said, finally, his voice quiet, his eyes downcast, "I… wanted to keep you away from the Sanctuary as much as possible. I know that… doesn't make much sense anymore. AJ and Jade have already been there, and so have you even if you don't remember it. There's no sense in keeping it secret. It's not like Mewtwo would just let you go, not without a fight, not now that you know. But I just… I don't know. I thought… I thought I was keeping you safe, I guess. I don't know…"
Sammy stared at him silently. Was this… really the Ash Ketchum? From all of the stories he'd been told, it had always seemed like the man had been able to do anything. And yet, here he was, seemingly at a loss. Was the legend… really more of just a man than Sammy'd ever given him credit for?
"Is this Mewtwo really that big a deal?"
Ash looked up, meeting his gaze. There was a weight there. A pressure Sammy couldn't seem to name.
"He is. He's extraordinarily strong. But he's not… Contrary to what it may seem, he's not a bad pokemon. He's just been through a lot - seen a lot of the horrors of the world, and it's… warped him, in a way. Made him protective of pokemon and mistrustful of people. That's why he acts the way he does. That doesn't make holding people hostage ok, but…"
"But I mean," Sammy said, sitting up straighter and searching for the words he wanted to say. "You're… I mean… You're… You. You're Ash Ketchum. I mean… Is he really stronger than you?"
From the stories, Ash could do anything. There was no battle he couldn't win, no legendary he couldn't tame. It made Sammy somehow feel… betrayed, though he knew that wasn't fair at all.
"I might be able to beat him in a fight," Ash said, shrugging, his gaze once again glued to the ground. "Maybe. If it was just him, and if no other pokemon came to back him up - and that's a big if. He's become their defacto leader. They trust him to protect them and this home they've built for themselves. BUt even if we did beat him, what then? He'd just come after us again, over and over, so long as we know the secret, and then what? How much carnage would he cause? How many cities destroyed, how many lives lost? He has no qualms against killing humans if he needs to. But I… I can't bring myself to kill him. He's one of a kind, and he isn't…."
So that was it, then. It wasn't that Ash couldn't beat Mewtwo, it was that he'd never tried. Never tried because the consequences seemed too dire. If Mewtwo really was as strong as he said, and if he really intended to pursue them endlessly, then there really only were two options to keep both people and the pokemon of the Sanctuary safe. Either kill or capture him, assuming he could even do so, but which Ash seemed to be completely against, or else stay here and be his willing hostage and help to protect the Sanctuary with him.
It was… heroic, in a way, Sammy supposed. And yet…
"...and the reason you're telling me and not one of the others?"
Here, Ash let out a humorless chuckle.
"AJ won't speak with me. And I don't blame her, honestly. I see the way she looks at me. There's… There's real hatred there, yknow? And Jade - Well, I won't pretend like I know her, but she seems to be fairly loyal to AJ. She's been avoiding me too. You're the first one to give me a chance to speak."
Part of that explanation rankled, in a way. The implication that Sammy being willing to engage in dialogue with Ash somehow meant he was less loyal to AJ than Jade was. But it was true that, of his friends, he was easily the most rational, the least prone to being swept up in emotion. Solid Oak genetics and all that. Avoiding Ash may be AJ's petty way of getting back at him or avoiding having to engage with difficult emotions she wasn't ready to process just yet, but it didn't actually help their situation at all. Ash knew things, things his friends might need if they wanted to escape this situation.
But if this was something AJ couldn't do right now, then that was fine. Let Jade be her emotional support - Sammy would handle Ash.
"Just, do me a favor when you broach the idea to AJ," Ash said, rising suddenly to his feet, signaling that their unexpected conversation was at an equally unexpected end. "Don't tell her the idea came from me. Tell her it was your own idea. You've studied the legendaries - you said so yourself, so it won't sound outlandish coming from you. There's a legendary who can heal. I'll talk to dad, too. You can probably make the trip tomorrow, once you've rested a bit more."
"I mean, sure," Sammy said slowly. "But… why?"
Ash shrugged, heading back towards the door.
"I just… She really hates me, you know? If the idea was coming from me, she might just reject it out of hand."
Sammy felt a surge of annoyance wash over him as he turned to follow the older man's exit from the cabin.
"She wouldn't risk Pichu over something this petty," Sammy said flatly. "Give your daughter more credit."
Ash stared, surprised, then slowly looked away. If anything, he suddenly looked sheepish.
"Yeah… You're right. I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"
After a beat, he left the sentence unfinished and a moment later was out the door. The cabin fell silent again.
Sammy settled back on the couch, his hand drifting down to stroke Leafeon's prickly fur.
Exhausted as he felt, sleep was a long time coming, his thoughts instead filled with legendary pokemon and equally legendary trainers, and how neither of them seemed to be at all what he had always expected.