This is the final part of the Spell of the Unown. Hopefully you all like it
Red
"Bloody hell" he said holding his hand out for Cynthia as he helped her stand up. When she grabbed his hand though he felt it burn and quickly let go as he looked at his hand strangely.
"Ow" she exclaimed looking at her own hand before looking at Red "what was that?"
"I've no idea" Red said confused "your aura tried to attack me. I wonder why."
"I don't have aura" Cynthia said looking confused.
"Of course, you do" Red said dismissively waving her comment away "even though mine has gone I can still feel yours lying dormant underneath your skin. How do you think you're able to use Aura Spheres?"
"Oh" she said looking at her hands and conjuring another sphere.
"Yes" Red said moving closer but not touching her "I suspect I may have activated your aura, unintentionally."
"Are you my destined mate then?" Cynthia asked looking up concerned at the thought.
"Mew No!" Red said looking disgusted by the idea "I have always been and will always be in love with Delia."
"No need to sound disgusted by the idea" she said frowning.
"You will find Cynthia that when you find your mate the idea of being with another person will also disgust you" Red said unapologetically.
"Oh ok" she replied her expression still unhappy "you still could have phrased it better. Anyway, what the hell did we battle?"
"I suspect it was something the Unown conjured up" he replied as he looked at the pedestal that was long since destroyed in the battle "for some reason the tiles were missing, I wonder why."
"Well as it came from that room" she said nodding to the doorway which had reverted back to normal "I believe we should go through."
Nodding Red recalled his Charizard and attached a full restore bottle before handing one to Cynthia who gratefully did the same with Garchomp. As they walked through the doorway Red looked at the tomb of Jupiter Bonelle in silence before something drew his attention. On the warning a particular letter was protruding from the tomb, pulling it off he stood up as another passageway had opened up.
"That wasn't there before" Red muttered as he led the way down the tunnel with the tile still in his hand. It was the letter C but on the back was a depiction of Ho-oH. "Very strange" Red muttered handing it over to Cynthia to look at as they walked out of the tunnel and entered a huge room with another tomb in the centre, with three doors leading away that were sealed. Looking over the four doorways were pictures of four Pokémon.
"Ho-oH, Aerodactyl, Kabuto and Omastar?" Cynthia said looking around before walking to the tomb where along the bottom was another warning. At the foot though was what looked like a stone chest with a stone lid. Upon it was another message "Only the name of the all-maker can undo what has begun" and below it was six squares, two of which were filled in.
"The all-maker?" Red asked he looked at the inscription "I didn't know there was one."
"There must be" Cynthia said "there's depictions of what's thought to be a creator in several tombs around Mount Coronet in Sinnoh. It was said to have given birth to the world at one stage only no one knows its name, or whether it's real."
"Well, someone believes it to be real" Red said as he placed the letter into the various slots, leaping back when it clicked into the 3rd one "Blank, R, C, blank, blank, S"
"Nope, I've no idea" Cynthia said "do you think the other tombs have the tiles?"
"That's actually a good shout" Red said looking around "there's three letters missing and three more tombs to explore."
"Only it doesn't look like we can gain access from this side does it?" she asked as she walked up to a doorway that was sealed shut.
"Damn" Red said as he started to walk back towards the open tunnel "well we're on a time limit so shall we get cracking?"
Twenty minutes later they reached the entrance of the second tunnel and sighed in resignation before walking on, descending downwards until once again the purple forcefield blocked their way. Not wanting to waste time Cynthia called out Togekiss who made short work of the psychic barrier before they entered the pedestal room where, as before a screech was heard from the open doorway of the tomb of Aramis Dreadfire.
"From what Ash described I think this is Aerodactyl" Red said as he released his Gyarados, with Cythnia once again releasing Garchomp as out of the doorway several purple Aerodactyl came screeching as they zeroed in on their opponents. Thankfully Gyarados and Garchomp were able to deal with them without taking many hits, the same couldn't be said for Red who was growing frustrated at his lack of aura, something he used to use liberally to fight opponents. Cynthia however didn't comment, seeing his frustration all over his face and instead walked into the tomb of Aramis. Once again on the tomb was a letter protruding, which Cynthia grabbed.
"The letter U and a depiction of Aerodactyl" she muttered as the passageway behind the tomb opened up. Before she could proceed however Red stopped her.
"Is there any point in putting that tile in yet given we need to travel to the other site to get to the other two tombs. We'd just be walking down there to walk back up here."
"You have a point" she conceded as she pocketed the tile "if we get the other two tiles, we can put them in the slots at the same time, can't we?"
"That was my thought" Red said as he turned back and headed back up the tunnel and eventually, they saw light ahead of them. As they exited, they sighed in relief as they gulped in fresh air. Releasing Charizard he told them of his plan and Charizard commanded the others to keep watch on the tombs and to make sure no one entered. Lowering himself Red climbed on, helping Cynthia to get on too, wincing as they made contact again but brushing it off as Charizard took wing and headed North, circling around the crater to the Valley and continuing on until they landed ten minutes later at the Ruins of Alph. As they were travelling Red gave Cynthia a brief overview of what he knew about the Unown and the guardians, making her fall silent as she processed it all. They ignored the shouts as they landed from some of the scientists as they brushed everyone aside but before they entered the tunnel Cynthia released Spiritomb who cackled as he came out of his keystone.
"No one enters this place Spiritomb" she said looking around ignoring the shouts of outrage from the researchers "do whatever you need to do to prevent them from following."
Without waiting for a reply Cynthia followed Red down the tunnel where after demolishing the barrier they found the pedestal room that once housed the Kabuto puzzle. Strangely though the doorway didn't enlarge itself as it had done previously, but they heard chittering from within the tomb room. Cynthia released her Gastrodon waiting for Red to release his Pokémon only she stopped in surprise as he released a familiar looking Kabutops.
"Isn't that Ash's?" she asked him.
"Yes" he said "she's been helping me train my own Kabuto and I forgot to put her Pokéball back. Anyway, here they come! Kabutops, anything that comes through that doorway is an enemy."
Kabutops screeched in understanding but was slightly apprehensive as an unending line of Kabuto streamed through the doorway. There must have been at least fifty that came through when she screeched in anger and amazingly, the Kabuto all stopped. Kabutops realised something strange was going on and she screeched again and astoundingly they all began to attack each other.
"They understand Ancient" Red said amazed "that's why we can't understand fossil Pokémon, they all speak Ancient."
"It makes sense doesn't it when you think about it" Cynthia said recalling her Gatrodon and looking at the carnage as the fossil Pokémon demolished each other until soon the stream of Kabuto stopped coming from the door and only one remained, which was quickly despatched by a Night Slash from Kabutops. Red walked in and plucked the letter from the tomb, ignoring the doorway that opened and walked back into the pedestal room.
"One left" he said as he led her and Kabutops down the tunnel and down the next one.
"Now, I have no idea what this one is as Ash couldn't get to see this tomb" Red said as they stopped in front of the barrier "but given the depictions on the central tomb doorways we can assume it's Omanyte or Omastar."
"Let's get it over with" she said as Togekiss did her duty again and they walked into the room only this time the doorway to the tomb room was shut as pedestal was lying broken on its side.
"What the hell?" Red muttered as he walked over and tried to right the pedestal. Cynthia came over and helped and between them both they managed to get it upright and manoeuvred it back into position where it clicked into place. Picking up several more pieces they managed to recreate the original pedestal and the room rumbled as the walls glowed purple and several Omanyte and Omastar came streaming out of the doorway where Kabutops did her thing again, even joining in on their destruction until they had all gone.
"That was rather brutal" Cythnia said shaking her head.
"I know" Red agreed nodding "Ash found that she loves battling, but she loves destroying her opponent even more. He's often had to stop her draining the lives of her opponents in the past, much to her chagrin."
"She is a predator" Cynthia said taking it in "it's her nature to do so I suppose."
"Yes, I suppose so" Red said as he led the way into the tomb room where he laid eyes on Tarin Saurwolfs coffin. Picking up the final letter the room rumbled, and a doorway opened behind the coffin, and they headed downwards where the huge room was located. Walking to the chest they placed the tiles into the slots and jumped back as they placed the final letter.
ARCEUS
"Arceus" Red said aloud as he remembered the conversation he had with Ash a few days earlier "Ash mentioned that name a few days ago, I thought he was making it up."
"Evidently not" Cynthia said as the lid of the coffin slid off with a heavy thud to the ground. "I wonder what it looks like, it must be immensely powerful to create an entire universe"
"I suppose so" Red said "I still don't know if I believe in a God though, especially one that only my son seems to know about."
Ignoring the chest for now they cautiously walked up to the tomb where letters appeared on top of its lid, glowing an eerie purple.
Tabitha Lockheart
"Oh, my word" Red said tracing the name with his fingers and looking at Cynthia "It's her, the original wielder of the Unown. She's the girl they used as their conduit to destroy several cities and untold people. Why would they bury her here?"
"Perhaps they pitied her" Cynthia said as she too traced the name "after all, from what you told me she was more of a puppet to them, and they used her emotions to feed off. That poor girl."
"Hmm" Red said uncommitted "I don't know if I agree with your assessment but there was no doubt she was grieving when they encountered each other."
"What do we have here?" Cynthia asked as she looked inside the chest and pulled out a long thin item that was bound in a rag, tied up with rope. Undoing the rope, she gasped as she pulled aside the rag and found a dagger, around two feet in length, glowing a familiar blue with a strange symbol on the hilt. It was rather beautiful, but it was the presence coming from it that made her gasp out loud and recoil in horror, quickly dropping it.
"It's an Aura dagger" Red said as he held it using the cloth "but how is it still here?"
"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.
"Any item made out of aura will usually crumble and disappear once their use is over as they're created from the very air around us" Red said "when you shape an Aura Sphere you are commanding the molecules and atoms in the atmosphere to shape themselves into what you wish them to be but they have a downside, that being once their use is finished they explode into thousands of tiny particles and disappear, assimilating once more with the aura of Earth ready to be used again. The only exceptions we have come across are Time Flowers, which are used to record the aura users' movements. We assume that they stay around because they're usually used as training aides or warnings, so their use is never truly finished with. It all depends on the mindset of the creator but they're the only things that have ever survived for an extended period of time. My own time flower for instance disappeared when I woke up at home."
"Well maybe you've just answered your own question" Cynthia said "this obviously still has a use and its creator, or creators gave it a task, one which is not finished."
"The Unown!" Red said coming to the realisation "This is what is used to seal the box of Unown. The book was very vague about what they used to seal them last time, it could only be this."
"I'm not sure how I feel about holding a dagger that was used to not only murder a little girl but seal a Mythical Pokémon in this tomb" Cynthia said looking around. "What puzzles me more though is why the Unown weren't kept in this tomb instead of Aramis'. Surely that would guarantee no one could disturb them."
"No, me neither" Red said as he wrapped it up again and held it gingerly "but we need to get this to Ash as soon as possible."
Nodding Cynthia and Red quickly made their way up the tunnel, through the tomb and pedestal rooms and exited the ruins, sighing in relief once again.
"This site is now closed" Cynthia said as she recalled her Spiritomb who cackled as it disappeared "by order of the Archaeological committee. Hopefully over the next few days we will be relocating the tombs of the Aura Guardians. As of now this site is officially off limits to all. I am not going to argue with you over this" she finished shutting the researchers down "In fact, Garchomp I need your assistance." Garchomp emerged making several people back up at the fierce looking dragon "I need you to seal this doorway." Nodding Garchomp gathered power in one of her fins and leaped into the air, slamming her fin into the archway over the door as she came down, causing the doorway to crumble as it sealed with the rubble falling inwards. "Enough" she shouted as several people shouted in anger and abruptly stopped before they began shuffling off back to the trailers. Hearing a chuckle she frowned and both Garchomp and Cynthia turned to Red and glared at him, making him laugh aloud.
"Those looks don't work on me" he said shaking his head "I've been with Delia since she was sixteen, trust me her expressions long since stopped working on me, so you have no chance."
"Hmph" Cynthia and Garchomp said as one making Red shake his head before he called Charizard out "we need to get to Greenfield as soon as possible, we have an item that Ash needs urgently. Are you getting on?" he asked Cynthia who shook her head and climbed onto a lowered Garchomp who leaped into the air, tucked her fins in and started soaring around. Red climbed aboard and soon the foursome were wending their way West, hopefully on time.
Ash
Ash didn't have time to react to the attack but as he was sent flying through the hole he quickly released Venusaur onto a platform but was unable to get a command out as gravity took over and he fell towards the ground. He didn't even have time to think of his loved ones before he hit the ground, and his aura was still very depleted from overuse, so he wasn't able to call his protective bubble around him but strangely when he hit it wasn't as hard an impact as he first thought. Hearing a grunt, he opened his eyes, and he looked around bewildered as he was soaring on the back of a dragon.
"Once again, I Charizard am here to the rescue" Charizard said "you can thank me later."
Landing Ash slid off his Charizard and collapsed onto his knees before looking up and openly crying at his big orange lizard. Taking a few minutes to gather himself he stood up and hugged his fire starter before setting himself.
"We need to get back up there" Ash said pointing to the tower which looked in serious danger of collapsing "mums up there and if that tower collapses she'll be buried inside. There's three Lucario and a young girl in there too, everything else is an enemy. If you get the chance, grab the girl and leave, hopefully distance will break the Spell of the Unown and all this will collapse into nothingness. At least I hope it does."
"Where are they?" Charizard asked looking around as if hoping to fry some of them.
"They're in Spencers office, but I need a key to get in" Ash said "my aura isn't powerful enough to break the door down."
Nodding Charizard lowered himself again and barked orders to his two fellow dragons and they took off, quickly reaching the hole Ash was blasted through and had to quickly dodge another lance of electricity as Raikou came bounding out of the hole engaging one of the Charizard. Jumping off into the doorway he ran through it and stopped at the sheer devastation that had been caused, quickly moving his head to dodge a stray Aura Sphere as the battle between the beasts and the Lucario was still going on. Two Lucario were down for the count as seemingly was Entei, Pikachu though had stayed back and helped out from distance but as they had discussed before entering the mansion his mother was the top priority, so he was staunchly defending off any stray attacks that came her way. Delia had long since given up staying behind the screen, which at this point was well beyond repair. Instead, she had sat in the corner holding Molly close to her as the girl cried from the scene unfolding in front of her.
Quickly dodging attacks Ash ran up to his mum and got her attention and her grief-stricken face soon turned into a grateful smile as her she realised her son was still alive.
"Oh Ash" she said clutching him with Molly still between them "I thought you'd died. When you fell out of the window, I thought that was it."
"It will take a lot more than that to kill me" Ash said hurriedly "we need to get you both out of here. Come on, stay low and follow me."
Grabbing hold of Molly he fireman carried her as quickly as he could, dodging out of the way of an Ice Beam which caused him to nearly slip but Venusaur managed to grab him before he fell with a vine before engaging Suicune again. Making it to the door he called out for Charizard who sent one final Fire Blast Raikous way before swerving to head to Ash as his underlings took over the battle for him.
"Take them both out of here" he said loading his mum onto his dragons back with Molly in front "there's a camp set up over those hills, get mum to safety."
Nodding Charizard took wing again and began to wend his way over the grounds of the seemingly endless mansion that Molly had created. The Unown feeling their host get further away started to rotate and undulate more harshly as they created barriers of thick crystal thorns to put in front of Charizard who ploughed straight through them, ignoring them but grunting as he quickly became scratched up. Delia had to really grip hold of Molly tightly as she started to scream and convulse as the Unown frantically tried to get her mind to come up with more obstructions but the further away they got the less she began to struggle until finally Charizard made it through, escaping with his quarry. Making his way to the camp that had been set up he noticed something very peculiar but ignored it for now as he circled and landed in front of two very familiar men.
"Oh Delia!" Sam said rushing forward to take her off Charizard, Blue grabbing hold of Molly as she slid off too.
"I'm ok Sam" she said smiling gratefully at him "Ash is still in there though."
"Red is on his way" Blue said gaining her attention as he handed Molly off to a doctor that was ordered to the site "he left the Ruins about twenty minutes ago so he shouldn't be long."
No sooner had he said this than a sound was heard coming from the East and they looked over astonished as twenty yards away a great blue dragon landed with a red one not far behind. Charizard grunted at the ex-alpha before staring at the Garchomp who gazed back impassively.
"I'm first boy" Reds Charizard said baring his teeth.
"You'll need to go through me first old man" Ash's Charizard said "or are you forgetting who's Alpha now?"
As nonchalantly as he could Charizard looked back at the conversation unhappy with the disrespect but knowing today wasn't the time to be having this argument.
"I'm fine Delia" Red said hugging his wife who clutched onto him "I'm so glad you are too."
"I felt the worst when those Unown took over my mind but luckily I gained my mind back when Molly mentioned Ash" she said looking over at the girl who was just sat up staring into space.
"Hopefully she wasn't under their thrall too long" Red said as he shifted the parcel into his other hand "but we need to get this to Ash as soon as possible. I have a feeling getting you two out was the easy bit. Do you know where they're located in the mansion?"
"Ash believes them to be in the main office" Charizard said gaining their attention "but he couldn't get in."
"He'll likely need this" Delia said pulling out a bronze key from her pocket and handing it to Red "Molly had it."
Red couldn't have been more correct with his presumption as the Unown had gone haywire once they realised their host had been taken from them and started to spam more and more constructs to overwhelm their assailants. Ash and Pikachu had long since abandoned the crumbling tower and made their way down the stairs where they felt they could combat on an even footing. Calling everyone out from their Pokéballs the battle became ferocious, but it quickly turned into the Unowns favour due to the sheer number of Pokémon that were sent their way.
"We need to take out the Unown" Ash shouted over the battle-din to Lucario who was amazingly still standing and fighting.
"Then go, we'll cover you Ash" he shouted charging forwards with a Bone Rush taking out a Tyrantrum sending it crashing down where it disappeared in a sparkle of purple showers.
Nodding Ash shouted to Pikachu who joined him in running to the doorway which was just a black hole, standing in the middle of the field. Ignoring attacks that was coming from behind them they both instinctively ducked as two huge orange balls of light flew over their heads, from out of the black hole and crashed into the Pokémon chasing Ash scattering them in every direction. As the balls of light came to a stop they roared in defiance before the two Charizard engaged them, joining in with their fellow conmrades.
Heading into the corridor the sound was cut off from them so abruptly it made Ash pause and clean his ear with his finger. As the doorway to the office came into view Ash stopped in shock. It was open. Why was it open? As he made to open the door he paused as he heard a growl and out from the gloomy corridor Entei padded forwards growling in anger at Ash.
"You took away my daughter. I will not suffer you to live" Entei said before charging forwards at great speed. Ash though expected this and quickly flattened himself as Entei barely missed him but quickly turned around as the walls expanded again for him. "Let's go Pikachu" Ash said charging forwards with his hands glowing blue, accompanied by a yellow streak at his side.
From inside the room though a different scenario was playing out. After opening the door Red had stopped in shock as the Unown were there in all their glory, undulating and pulsating wildly before calmly orbiting the office desk which was five feet in the air. Warily Red walked forwards, the dagger still wrapped in the cloth before he stopped as the table turned towards him. On the table some of the tiles had created names. He saw SPENCER, MOLLY and AMANDA's names spelled out before they flew back into the box and more tiles came out. Red gasped in shock as they spelled out RED, using the D going downwards it spelled DELIA and using the A it spelled ASH but what shocked him the most was using the L was ?L?.
"What the hell?" Red said confused looking up at them before taking a step back as a video started playing for him. It was only after twenty seconds that he realised he was looking through the eyes of a young girl as she wandered from place to place leaving destruction in her wake before she was eventually captured. The scene quickly changed to an above shot of the ritual taking place with each guardian pouring their auras into a dagger, quickly collapsing after they drained themselves before a horrific scream was heard as the dagger was plunged into the young girl's heart, absorbing the psychic energy that had threatened to explode. As the coffin lid was placed on her by several acolytes in blue robes Red could have sworn he heard a voice call out 'mother, help me' before it slammed shut.
The scene quickly cycled through the aftermath, all of which was felt by the Unown from inside their own tomb until a tall man entered the picture unsealing the box only to go away with a massive headache and replacing the pedestal tiles how he found them. He wasn't compatible with them, they could wait longer if needed, and as they had been unsealed, they could now draw power from Mother Earth herself to aid them in their recovery.
The next scene showed Red a very familiar face as Ash wandered into the tomb looking around in awe. The Unown receded into themselves, desperately trying to reign in their power as they felt this man was an aura user. They were unable to help themselves though when he picked up a tile as they quickly rifled through his mind before barriers came up halting them. He left the same way the previous man did but this time they held out hope as the memories they had gained from Ash were invaluable. There was a young girl out there, desperate and lonely despite having parents that could aid them and help them finish their tasks of destroying the world and reshaping it in a perfect image. And the young girl's mother and father were the ones who unearthed them! This could only be their mother helping them at long last, so they quickly took hold of Amanda and had her unseal every entrance before taking her essence to further power their own. It was fate they decided when they landed on the fathers desk and took his to.
"Why are you showing me this?" he asked out loud unable to tear his eyes away from the projection. The Unown however just carried on rotating as the scenes flew by and very quickly he arrived at the last few days. Watching Molly and hearing her desperation for her parents made Red very angry at their nonchalant way of parenting. Strangely though the scene carried on as Delia entered the picture making Red smile at his wife. She was still as beautiful as she always had been, that smile quickly disappeared though as the scene changed to a funeral scene. Red was standing by her side, her belly swollen and the Unown pulsing behind them both, but their bodies betrayed their grief as the coffin was lowered into the ground. It was only when he saw the headstone and gasped that he realised what he was seeing. ASH SATOSHI KETCHUM 22nd May 1986- 9th June 2001. The Unown though carried on as the scene changed to see a young girl pick up a photo and turn to her mother and ask who it was. Was that his daughter Red wondered as Delia broke out in sobs as she clutched the photograph, the Unown still pulsing behind them. Red though looked at the young girl and saw her eyes, they were his! Only, they had a purple tinge to them. That couldn't be right, no Ketchum would ever become a psychic, it just wasn't in their DNA. Red however quickly connected the dots as he looked at the Unown and back to his 'daughter' and his rage started to build.
"You would dare try and use my daughter after killing my son?" he asked his voice quickly rising. The Unown though started to become agitated as sounds were coming from the doorway. Red quickly turned around and listened as an almighty crash, and a bright yellow light came through the crack in the doorway. Red would recognise that action anywhere, it was his son and his Pikachu fighting side by side just as he once did with his own. It galvanised his own mind and focused him like never before and he dropped the cloth and gripped the handle of the dagger, ignoring the pain he felt as it tried to find his aura before shouting a war cry as he raced forward to where the box was. The Unown sensing danger quickly tried to conjure barriers but the dagger cut straight through them absorbing some of their power in the process. Realising they were in mortal danger they quickly leaped back into the box one after another, sucking all the crystal energy in with them creating a vacuum of nothingness where gravity seemed to weigh ten times as much for Red. Nether-the-less he willed himself forwards and just as the lid closed Red plunged the dagger into the lid, piercing straight through where it went all the way through the box and into the table. Red never heard the screams from behind him as the build up of power exploded outwards in a wave of purple sending him hurtling back to the wall. He was unconscious before he hit the wall, missing the flash of purple and more thumps on the floor.
Delia was clutching her hands as she looked at the mansion, terrified for the lives of her son and husband. She had ignored any conversation, and the others who were there stopped trying and fell silent besides her. When the crystals started to recede, Cynthia shouted loudly to gain their attention and they watched on amazed as the fields became grass again, the mansion uncovered itself and the tower disappeared in a shower of purple sparkles. Delia leaned her head forwards against the table and sighed in relief; they had done it. But before anyone had the chance to voice that thought a huge purple wave passed through them all causing them all to collapse and hold their heads in pain, for Delia though that wasn't the worst of it as she screamed in agony clutching her heart at the feeling of something being ripped from her and the feeling of something hanging on by a tether. It was absolute agony, something she had only experienced once before and hoped she never would again.
For the next half an hour no one was able to move properly as they recovered from the psychic wave that passed through them. Gradually everyone was able to move freely and they quickly moved an unconscious Delia to a makeshift bed beside a catatonic Molly.
"We need to get them both to hospital" Sam told the pilot who nodded and radioed ahead "keep me posted Blue, I want to know how Red and Ash are doing." Blue nodded as the helicopter took off with the three of them and looked back as a commotion was happening just outside of the camp. Rushing forwards he moved people out of the way as on the ground was Ash and Red, looking deathly pale along with two other bodies.
"Is that…Amanda and Spencer?" Blue asked wonderingly as the doctors on site got to work on Red and Ash.
"It is" a voice from behind said making Blue turn around in astonishment.
A few weeks later
The last few weeks had been harrowing for the Ketchum family as all three were in the intensive care unit in Goldenrod Hospital. None of them had moved an inch as they were all hooked up to ventilators and all kinds of other machinery designed to monitor their lives. Blue had done his best to keep the newspapers from speculating what happened but as the only people who knew what actually happened were in the ICU rumours ran rampant. The fact that the current Kanto Champion had taken on the Unown with the former Pokémon Master had created massive headlines and the fact they had saved the day had the public clamouring for daily updates on them. Blue ignored them for the most part as he was far too concerned with the state his best friend was in, again.
He had recovered their Pokémon who were found exiting the mansion with each other, supporting two Lucarios who looked beaten up. Cynthia had been overjoyed to see her friend again, which quickly turned into worry when Lucy told her what happened. Thankfully no one had been hurt too badly and within a few days Lucas and Lucario were on their way back to Rota to inform Ilene personally what had happened, unaware of the news that was about to filter out of the castle walls.
Charizard had demanded an update from Blue and had a Charizard stationed at all times on the hospital roof near the helipad before he made his way back to the Valley. Blue had sent all of Ash's Pokémon back to his home to recover except for Pikachu who growled at the sheer thought of being away from Ash. Reds Charizard had also stationed himself in a nearby cave and returned daily to get an update too before flying off when he received negative news.
Molly had been moved into the room with her parents who were also out cold and was as unresponsive as she was. Lucario had stayed close by with her for a few days going through her mind trying to heal it but there was only so much he could do. Ironically the best person to help her was lying in a room just down the corridor but he was as equally as unresponsive.
It had been seven days since the event when Dr Johnson was doing his rounds checking up on the Unown patients as they had become known as when he noticed movement from Amanda Hales bed. Walking over he halted as her eyes shot open and she leaned up screaming as if in agony. This seemingly caused a chain reaction as Spencer did the same thing. Immediately Johnathan called for aide and they eventually managed to convince a hyperventilating Amanda and Spencer to calm down when they realised they were no longer being held captive and they drifted back off to sleep. It took them a few days to recover from what they'd been through as Blue had told them what he knew.
"To be blunt you two are bloody lucky you're still alive" he said looking at them both after informing them of what happened in their absence "your daughter however was not so lucky and will likely take a long time to recover from her trauma. I suggest you two take a good hard look at yourselves and decide what you want to be. Researchers or parents because it's quite evident you cannot be both."
"You have some nerve" Spencer said looking angry "given the stories we've heard of you; you have no right to criticise."
"I know full well the failings I have had as a parent" Blue said glaring at him "but I at least took a good hard look at myself and corrected myself before it was too late. Thankfully my daughter is one of the most forgiving people I know, and we now have a great relationship, one I am incredibly grateful for. You however have never put your daughter first for anything and the Unown latched onto that and used it to create havoc. She was that desperate to have a parent love her unconditionally and to have friends she created a whole fantasy world" Shaking his head he stood up and looked at them both in disgust "your daughter has paid the price for your arrogance and hubris, think on that."
Leaving them Blue headed into the Ketchums room where Delia was sat up reading. She had been awake now for a few days, looking very tired.
"How are you feeling?" Blue asked her as she looked up at him.
"Knackered" she said placing the book on the nightstand and looking over at her husband and sons bed, grateful for every rise and fall of their chest. "Thankful."
"Yeah, me too" Blue said sitting down heavily and sighing.
"The Hales?" she asked looking at him.
"Yeah" he replied "I have doubts whether Molly will ever recover from what happened. We had an aura doctor here sent from Rota and she looked over her and found her mind to be suspiciously blank. Almost as if it had been wiped but she found a doorway that was locked tight. We suspect her memories and personality are locked behind them. Sandra said she wasn't powerful enough to unlock them, and that it may do irreparable damage if she tried."
"That poor girl" Delia said unconsciously holding her stomach, something which Blue narrowed his eyes at.
"How far along are you?" he asked her making her to look up in alarm "I've had two children Delia, and Daisy is expecting her first one too sometime in the new year. I know what a pregnant woman looks and acts like."
"I think I'm eleven weeks" Delia said, "I took a test the day Red collapsed at the Plateau but I haven't had a chance to see the doctor yet to get an exact due date."
"Does Red know?" he asked.
"No" Delia said shaking her head and looking over at him "I wanted to be certain before telling him."
"I don't know if you've been told but the box containing the Unown have been destroyed" Blue said. Seeing the concern on her face he quickly continued "whatever Red or Ash did wiped them out. When it was recovered the box was full of tiles again only this time they had no power coming from them. Only the hilt of the dagger was found too, according to Cynthia it had served its purpose and was no longer needed so it evaporated."
"That was a turnup wasn't it" Delia remarked when she heard the news that Cynthia would be seeking a trainer to master aura. Rota had been suspiciously quiet in trying to recruit her which surprised Delia "I wonder why Ilene hasn't tried to stake her claim on her."
"Ah, that may be because her husband abandoned her and her child a few days ago" Blue said before wincing at his inability to keep his mouth closed.
"You are joking?" Delia exclaimed "what a bastard. Do we know why?"
"Yes" Blue said before shutting his mouth firmly and looking away.
"Blue…" Delia said, "why did he leave her?"
Sighing he told her of what he had heard, stating that they were likely untrue rumours.
"It doesn't surprise me" Delia said as she processed the information "I knew she'd never try and let go of the torch she holds for Red. I don't know who to feel sorrier for. Roland or their daughter."
"Laura will be here in the next few hours as I'm needed at the Plateau" Blue said nodding as he stood up to leave before he said anything else he shouldn't "they'll be ok Delia, they're still alive."
The next few days flew by for everyone except Delia who was still waiting for her husband and son to wake up. There had been a change on their heart rate monitors over the last few hours and their vitals were steady again so the doctors were hopeful they would wake up soon. They were at least breathing unaided which was a relief. Delia had taken that time to go and see a doctor and found out she was actually further along than she thought. She was closer to five months pregnant and was due late October. This had set in a panic as four months was not a long time to get things in order so she had immediately asked Laura to bring her laptop from home and they spent hours ordering items to be sent to her home. She was currently sat in a chair next to Red looking at prams when she heard a voice from the side of her.
"The pink one looks nice"
Immediately she shot up, the laptop falling to the ground as she jumped onto the bed and hugged her husband crying her heart out. The doctors hearing the commotion came rushing in and gently prized Delia off as they looked Red over. Half an hour later, after checking on Ash Delia was sat holding Reds hand when she finally processed what he had said.
"So, you like the pink one then?" she asked.
"I do" he said nodding at her carefully looking her over "you're very loved you know."
"What brought that on?" she asked.
"There was an incident when I was with Cynthia" he said before hurriedly rushing on with his story as her hand gripped his tightly "nothing happened. I grabbed her hand to help her to her feet and our hands burned each other. It's how she found out she had aura but it made me remember the first time we kissed and how right it felt being able to hold you, knowing that you were mine and I was yours. It was that feeling that filled me when I confronted the Unown. They played scenarios from their past, what they'd forced Tabitha to do and Molly too before they showed me what they hoped for the future. They killed Ash because he was going to eradicate them, and they needed him out of the way so they could use our daughter. It's why I'm not surprised at you looking at prams by the way but that anger filled me and I stabbed the box. I don't remember anything after that."
"Oh" she said softly "does Cynthia know who her mate is?"
"No" Red said "at least I don't think so as she asked me if I was her destined mate. I don't think she knew what was actually happening but once I'd explained we mate for life and why she accepted it and we carried on with our task."
"That's kind of sad" Delia said before asking "why pink and not blue? Don't Ketchums always have sons?"
"I have one" Red said looking over to Ash "but as I said the Unown showed me her."
"That's not fair!" Delia said as she finally processed it and looked down at her belly "I have to wait four more months to find out what you look like and your daddy is never going to let it go."
Chuckling Red gripped her hand again "so, names? Any ideas?"
"No" she said "I only found out how far along I was a few days ago. I took a test last week, but I didn't have chance to confirm it as we were both so busy, but I was going to make one for this weekend. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
"It's fine" Red said looking at her "honestly, it's fine. It's been a hellish few weeks, hasn't it? I had an idea, how about Florence, or Flora for short?"
"After my mother?" Delia asked looking at him before looking down at her belly "yes, that sounds right."
"Do you think she'll have aura?" Delia asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I hope not" Red said sighing as he looked over at Ash again "it's caused us nothing but trouble."
"Me too" she said quietly "what happened to him?"
"He tried to save me" Red said "he grabbed me just as the blast happened. I think he just about drained his aura to try and protect me."
"He did" Pikachu said yawning and stretching "he didn't have much left to start with after our battle with the Entei."
The next day Red was able to move about the ward as he was feeling much better. Sitting in the café having breakfast with Delia he wondered what today would bring when he heard his name being called over the tannoy. Picking up his bacon barm he wandered through to his ward when he heard a terrific commotion coming from his room. Rushing forwards he pushed past a few doctors and stopped as he took in the scene before him. In the doorway was a blue barrier that was preventing anyone access but as he looked inside the room he saw the beds had been upturned to provide extra barriers and Ash was standing glaring behind his at the doorway threatening anyone that came into the room.
"Ash" Red said gaining his attention "what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he replied as he waved towards the doorway "I'm stopping the Unown from getting to mum. I thought I'd sent you to safety with Charizard" he said turning to her.
"You did" Delia said standing with her back to the wall looking concerned "Ash we're safe, we're in the hospital. You and your father did it, you beat the Unown."
"How do I know this isn't a trap?" he asked looking around defiantly "the fact they can't enter proves this is a dream and that they are all made up by the Unown."
While this was going on another person had pushed their way through the crowd to stand just behind Red and heard all of this.
"Ashton Satoshi Ketchum! Let this barrier down this instant!" the voice said shocking everyone at the tone. Red moved aside, amused at the voice as he had heard that tone so many times over the years from Delia.
"Nia?" Ash asked in disbelief as he slowly walked forward "what are you doing here? It's too dangerous for you to be here!"
"Stop talking crap" Nia said walking straight through the barrier shocking everyone "look at this mess." She said looking around at the state of the room "pick those beds up right now, I've been travelling for a week to get here, and I want to sit down, and I will not sit down on the floor like a barbarian." Ash was about to reply when she continued "and another thing, lower that barrier and let the doctors and nurses do their jobs!"
"We're really out of Hale Mansion?" he asked quietly to himself "is this real?"
"Of course it's bloody real!" she said grabbing him by the neck, something she struggled to do as she was a good foot smaller than him and kissed him full on the mouth before hugging him tightly "you nearly died." She said punching his chest "AGAIN! You bloody imbecile, when will you stop throwing yourself into situations?"
"They kidnapped my mum" he said outraged as his brain finally kicked into gear "what was I supposed to do? Those moronic researchers didn't listen to my warnings, and I had to sort it out. Hey! You kissed me!"
"Of course, I did" she said looking at him as if he was stupid "now pick those beds up."
"No need to be so harsh" he mumbled as he did as he was told.
"What was that?" she asked sweetly to which he wisely didn't reply.
Unbeknownst to him the barrier had dropped the moment Nia had kissed him and Red slipped in, grabbed Delia's hand and pulled her out before she could say anything.
An hour later, after a lot of poking and prodding from the doctors, and a lot of grumbling from Ash he was back in bed with Nia in one chair and his mum and dad cuddled up on Reds bed watching them.
"Why did you kiss me?" Ash asked confused.
"Why do you think, you moron" she said shaking her head at the stupidity of the question "is he always this dense Pi?"
"You've no idea" Pikachu said causing Ash to shout in outrage "do not deny it! We've talked about this so many times over the past few years Ash, I'm just glad I don't need to have the conversation again."
"You've known for years?" Red asked curiously gaining their attention.
"Yeah" Ash said nodding "I've known since just before my final against Drake. At least that's when I admitted it to myself anyway."
"What about you?" Delia asked Nia.
"The day he arrived at Indigo Plateau to be the torch runner" Nia replied "I wish I could say it was me that figured it out, but it wasn't, it was Zoe. She noticed I could understand the conversation between him and Pikachu and immediately knew what that meant. Unfortunately, I didn't see him again for a while so I couldn't test her theory. But as always Zoe was right as when I visited his home before my journey to the Orange Islands I could hear what his Pokémon were saying to him so I just accepted it. The rest is as they say history. So, what happened the last month to lead up to Hale Mansion?"
Sighing Ash told her his story and his assumptions, with comments from his mum and dad in many places as he explained about the elemental guardians, the researchers, Amanda and Spencer, the Unown and finally reached the day he went into the mansion.
"That's a point" Pikachu said as he reached the part where they trekked up the stairs to the tower "you said you felt three humans inside the tower but there was only two."
"No there was three" Ash said looking over to his mother who smiled at him "does dad know?"
"I do" Red said smiling too "Ash is going to be a big brother" he continued.
"Oh congratulations" Nia said tearing up "so you could feel your sibling? I didn't know you could do that with aura."
"World's Most Powerful Aura User" Ash said succinctly raising an eyebrow at her "Every word was capitalised by the way. It's not a brag Nia, I can feel every life form inside this building if I focus."
"Oh" she said leaning back and shutting her eyes "do you know what they're having?"
"I think so" Ash said concentrating on his mother "I think it's going to be a girl."
"It is" Red said "the Unown showed me my future. Possibly to try and entice me but it didn't work. But she was so pretty Ash, she looked like Delia but with my eyes. Flora will be born sometime near the end of October."
"After Grandma" Ash said nodding as he closed his eyes and yawned "that'll be nice."
Astonishingly to everyone except Pikachu Ash had fallen asleep at that statement. Nia chuckled as she said her goodbyes to Red and Delia as she left to sleep at the Pokémon centre.
The next few days flew by, Red had spoken to his Charizard who nodded and set off back to the Valley along with the watcher to inform Ash's that he was ok and soon enough Ash was getting the itch again.
"You want to travel again, don't you?" Nia asked sighing "even after what happened you still want to leave."
"It's not his fault" Red said as he packed up his bag "he gets that from me. It took me a few years to get it out of my system as it will Ash. Don't forget he's on a time limit to finish gaining his mastery so he won't be travelling for very long."
"Three to four more years" Ash said nodding "I've been given until the end of the Indigo Tournament in 2005 to beat three more leagues and their Elite fours but with the way things are going I doubt I'll be able to do so as the Unown event has already set me back two weeks, and I was already six weeks behind schedule before that. I'm going to either have to not train in Mt Silver and just try to win the Silver Conference this year or wait until next year to compete."
"I'm sure you'll figure something out" Nia said sighing in exasperation "anyway I need to get the train in an hour, walk me there?"
"Sure" he said shouldering his backpack before stopping and looking at it "how the hell did I get this back? It was in the servants' quarters of Hale Mansion."
"Ah" Red said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. Curious Ash took it and opened it, looking up in surprise. Nia gently took it from his hand and looked up clueless.
"Why?" Ash asked his dad who just shrugged "and how does he have embossed paper and I don't?"
Laughing Red gave him a one-armed hug before leaving with Delia to go home.
"I want embossed paper" he mumbled as he sighed before holding out his arm for Pikachu to run up and settle on his shoulder and his other arm that was quickly looped by Nia. Twenty minutes later an orderly came into the room to clean up and noticed the piece of folded paper. Curious he opened it before shaking his head and throwing it into a bag. Why would someone emboss a large purple M and stick a cats pawprint over it?