Chapter 9
Reunion
AJ wasn't sure how long she was out. Though padded with cushions and quilts, Cole's couch was still technically just a wooden bench, which meant her sleep was punctuated by the tossings and turnings of a person completely incapable of getting comfortable. She eventually found herself being roused by Jade as her friend began dabbing at the cuts and bruises on AJ's face with a cotton swab soaked in disinfectant.
She hissed at the sudden stinging sensation, jerking away, still half-asleep and trying valiantly to fight Jade off, but her friend was having none of it.
"Girl, put the gloves down or I will tie you up. You know I will. If you don't let me clean you up, you're going to get an infection or worse. Scars. How are you ever going to be a mermaid princess if you let your pretty face get all messed up?"
AJ grimaced but let Jade do her work, glowering up at her petulantly with the quilt pulled protectively around her shoulders. Not that she cared about being a mermaid princess - she knew Jade was just kidding, or at least hoped she was - but she was at least right about her needing to get her injuries treated. She'd actually managed to forget for a bit that she was hurt, what with the more pressing issues of the cold and exhaustion. Now that she was focusing on it, however, her head ached and her spine still felt stiff and sore.
After Jade had done her work and wrapped a large cloth bandage around her temple to cover the lovely bump she'd received from the avalanche, AJ could admit that she did in fact feel better. Not perfect, of course, but compared to how she'd felt after climbing out of that hole…
The short nap in front of the fire along with the warm cider-like drink and the quilt cocoon seemed to have improved her condition considerably. Jade gave her some pain killers that Cole apparently had stashed away in his first aid kit, and AJ felt confident that after a warm meal and maybe a bit more sleep, she'd be back to almost normal condition.
The meal was actually the real reason Jade had chosen then to begin treating AJ's wounds. Apparently, the stew was done and it was time to eat, and as much as they knew AJ needed to sleep, they knew she needed to eat, too.
As they gathered around the small, somewhat rickety table, Cole and the girls were joined by Pikachu and her now-awake Pichu, who looked much better than he had earlier. AJ took a moment to examine the cutlery. While the cups and bowls appeared to be made of some kind of pottery, the spoons Cole had provided were made of metal. She eyed them and the cauldron that he had cooked the stew in, then turned to look at both the stove and the first aid kit.
Cole, who was seating himself at the head of the table after having served his guests, noticed her confused look and seemed to intuit what she was thinking.
"Most of what we have here we make ourselves," he said. "But some of it we trade for with some of the Rangers at the base of the mountain."
Jade looked up in surprise, her cheeks full of stew.
"Uh hanges 'o ooer 'ere?" she asked, and both AJ and Cole pulled identical disgusted, yet amused, faces. Pikachu was staring at her with a look of mild exasperation.
Flushing, Jade swallowed and tried again.
"The Rangers know you're here? I thought no one was allowed to be here."
"They're not," Cole said with a smile. "Though I've been here so long that no one seems to mind. I'm friendly enough with some of the older Rangers, and I give 'em a hand every now and then. In return, they sometimes get me things that I don't normally have access to - like the first aid equipment you used. These spoons were a gift, actually. As long as I'm willin' to help 'em out, they're content to turn a blind eye to me bein' here."
Well that sounded distinctly illegal. Then again, Cole clearly wasn't a bad guy or doing any harm to the pokemon or the environment. He was just a kindly old hermit who had apparently given up on society. The Rangers must feel like they can trust him if they were willing to risk their jobs like this.
Then again, remembering how bored and lazy the Rangers had looked when they'd checked in at the station, it was entirely possible that the favors they had Cole doing were just normal Ranger assignments that they didn't want to do themselves. She almost pitied him - but then, he seemed to benefit from it, so no harm no foul?
The stew was, honestly, delicious. She'd had her doubts before, but even lacking the spices she was used to, the food was phenomenal. It has a rich, smokey flavor, and with every bite, the warmth seemed to spread from her mouth to her belly and straight out to her fingers and toes. She couldn't remember eating anything so wonderful in her entire life. Either Cole was just that great a cook, or starvation and nearly freezing to death had dulled her taste buds. She decided to be charitable and lean towards the former.
Cole encouraged them to dig in, paying special attention to AJ as he did so. He kept pouring her more cider or passing her more slices of bread - freshly baked from his Slugma-powered stove. He actually seemed a little… too eager. Almost like he was mothering her. She chalked it down to him being lonely, but she noticed that he wasn't nearly as pushy with Jade or Pichu. Maybe he was just worried about her health?
He also kept focusing much of the conversation on her. Though it was still Jade who answered most of his questions and kept the back-and-forth alive, he kept turning back to AJ, asking about her life - where she was born, if she had any siblings, if she was closer to her family, etc. If it wasn't for the delicious food, and Jade obviously playing her spokesperson, she might have found all of the prying annoying.
Her reprieve came in the form of the sound of the front door opening, catching everyone's attention.
"Hey, I'm back!"
Pikachu let out a delighted cry, leaping off of the table even as Cole, his expression suddenly flashing to one of nervous excitement, quickly pushed his chair back and rose to his feet.
Before Cole could speak, before the newcomer had even fully entered the house, AJ turned her head, muscles still a little stiff, and felt the smile slip off of her face and splatter at the ground at her feet, her insides knotting together so quickly and tightly you would have thought they'd turned to stone.
He was far older than the pictures on her grandmother's mantle. The five o'clock shadow was new, as were the crinkles on his face and the clothes on his back. But if the old, tattered hat on his head wasn't already a dead give-away, then his eyes would have been enough.
A dirty amber that glinted with boundless confidence and purpose. An admittedly charismatic look that she'd found herself studying for years, one she'd never quite been able to duplicate…
She had actually found her father.
He'd just walked in, out of the clear blue. That wasn't… He was supposed to be dead, how could he…? How hard had she hit her head? Was she still asleep? Still trapped under the ice and snow, hallucinating mere moments before death? That had to be it - the only explanation.
For a moment, the sudden silence that had seized hold of the cabin seemed to ring out in her ears. AJ's entire body had stiffened unnaturally, her face gray and slack, food like cinders in her mouth as she stared, absolutely poleaxed, at the man who had just walked in the door. He stared right back at her, his face betraying equal amounts of confusion and apprehension.
Jade, who had been in the middle of shoveling more stew into her face when the door opened hadn't actually looked up yet. She had one hand covering her mouth as though trying not to be rude, chewing as quickly as she could until, with a large gulp and an embarrassed smile, she turned her head towards the newcomer.
"Hi!" she said brightly, pearlescent smile illuminating her face. "We're just-"
Then she stopped, her eyes going wide, her face an odd mixture of surprise, disbelief, and horror, looking for all the world as though a Timburr had just struck her across the face with a two-by-four. Slowly, she turned around to look at AJ, as though to gauge her reaction. AJ barely seemed to notice.
The awkward silence seemed to stretch for a moment, expanding to fill the space between them, Cole and the stranger both having immediately picked up on the sudden tension that had filled the room, though neither seemed to understand the cause.
Finally, the man stepped further into the room, shutting the door behind him and slowly taking off his hat. He gave the girls at the table a quick once-over before turning his attention to Cole.
"Dad," he began casually, "I see you decided to invite our neighbors over for dinner. Neighbors who we don't have."
There was an odd undercurrent there, as though he was trying to subtly chastise Cole for something, but all that AJ could focus on at the moment was the sudden realization that he didn't recognize her.
But then, of course he didn't - how could he? He'd never met her. He'd run off before she was even born.
Something inside of her seemed to snap then, whatever had held her petrified with shock at his unexpected appearance before now fracturing beneath the sudden wave of white-hot hate and rage and betrayal that she felt frothing up inside of her, rising hotter and faster than the geysers on Cinnabar Volcano.
"Son," Cole began cautiously, his eyes bouncing back and forth. "Listen. This is-"
AJ forced herself to her feet, startling Jade and upsetting the table, making the dishes rattle.
"You're Ash Ketchum," she announced, the dull bluntness of her voice sounding odd in her ears.
The man hesitated almost indiscernably, then smiled.
"I'm sorry?" he asked, his voice perfectly polite and controlled, almost quizzical. His eyes, however, were as blank as stone.
Cole held up a hand.
"Lass-"
"You're Ash Ketchum," AJ repeated, this time a little louder, and she suddenly became aware of the fact that her entire body was trembling as she stared into the face of the man some had called her father and he stared right back without even a hint or trace of recognition in his eyes.
She could feel the fury quaking inside of her now, writhing in her insides, clawing at her intestines, twisting up into her throat. She tasted iron, but her stomach was tying itself in painful knots.
"Listen, miss," he said, and the fake sympathy in his voice, like he was speaking to a child, was like throwing gunpowder directly onto an open flame. "I can see you've hit your head and I think you may be a little confused-"
"Stop it!" she screeched, the volume scratching at her throat, and the occupants of the room drew back in collective alarm. A small part of her mind registered that she was being hysterical, but she could hardly hear the voice of reason over the sound of her ragged breathing or the blood thundering in her ears. With every pulse, she felt her self-control slip further and further away.
A lifetime of cooped-up furry was about to get a long-awaited outlet.
"You're Ash Ketchum," she repeated again, this time spitting the words out like an accusation. "The one-time runaway Champion of the Kanto League. The one who abandoned his friends and family like a coward rather than own up to his responsibilities! Admit it! Admit that's who you are!"
The cabin had grown deathly still, all eyes fixated on AJ and the man who had just walked in.
His countenance had changed with the impact of her words. Gone was the false facade of simple, polite obliviousness, replaced by a harsh and bitterly cold glare, harder than the mountain they were standing on. Even still, his eyes still held that glint of confidence and charisma that so grated on her.
"Listen," he shot back gruffly, "I don't know any Ash Ketchum who ever ran away from anything, but that's beside the point. I don't know who you are, how you came to be here, or why my father let you in," he bit out the last words with particular venom, shooting Cole a sharp look, "but whatever it is you're after, say it and get out of my house."
"Ash," Cole cut in quickly, looking alarmed, "you don't understand! This girl is-!"
AJ felt her heart suddenly leapfrog into her throat and she quickly cut off the older man with a somewhat panicked, "He doesn't need to know who I am!"
The look that Cole sent her could be best described as exasperated, but she ignored him, focusing instead on Ash. She didn't want him to know who she was. He didn't deserve it. He'd left her, and that was that.
But if he was here and alive, then there was something she needed to do. Something she needed to prove, to the world and to herself.
"Two weeks ago," she began, breathless and agitated, "I challenged and defeated Lance for the title of Pokemon Champion of the Kanto League – but if you're still alive, that means you're still Kanto's Champion and until I defeat you, my title is a lie-!"
"No."
The unexpected interjection had AJ tripping over her words, spluttering in confusion as her entire dramatic spiel fell to pieces before she could get it past her lips.
"I… what?"
"No. I won't battle you." The look on his face was condescending to the extreme. "I don't have time for this. Get out of my house and go be a Champion somewhere where somebody cares. Come on, Pikachu."
He turned to leave, the little yellow mouse hastening to follow its master. Cole raised an impotent hand, looking forlorn, and at the sight of her father turning his back and walking out on her once again, AJ's fury ignited with a passion that drove all reason from her mind.
Without pausing to think, she seized a cup from off the table and hurled it at the wall where it exploded into hundreds of pieces as she screamed after him, "You're just gonna walk out on my challenge like you did on your wife?!"
"AJ!" Jade squeaked, looking horrified, but she was past the point of caring. The blood was pounding too loudly in her ears and it had felt so satisfying to hurl that at him. She only wished her voice hadn't cracked there at the end.
Ash had frozen in his tracks in front of the doorway, hand still on the handle, completely still. AJ held her stance, facing him as defiantly as possible, but she couldn't seem to stop the way her body was shaking with poorly-repressed fury.
Finally he turned, face ghastly, gaunt eyes like augers, and pointed a solitary finger at her so forcefully that she nearly drew back.
"One battle," he grated, voice guttural and hoarse, "That's it. Win or lose you leave my house and never come back. Agreed?"
"Fine."
He jerked the door open and headed out into the fading light. AJ followed immediately.
"A-AJ!"
"Ash!"
Neither Ketchum spared a comment for their friends in the cabin. They stalked around the side of the building towards a relatively large, open plot of land between the cabin's exterior walls and a large rock formation that jutted out of the side of the mountain. The ground was snowy, interspaced with the occasional tree or rock or patch of dead grass, and though the daylight was swiftly dying, it was still more than bright enough to see. The perfect location.
They faced off across their makeshift field, glaring for all they were worth as Jade and Cole took their places at the sidelines. Her best friend was trembling, arms wrapped tightly around her midriff as anxious tears welled up in her eyes. She was worried for her. She shouldn't be. She ought to know by now that AJ could handle herself. Cole for his part simply looked furious, though whether his anger was directed at her, at her father, or at himself, she didn't know.
Pichu climbed up her leg, positioning itself on her shoulder. Across the field, Pikachu did the same.
"Here's how it's gonna play out," Ash called, sounding dispassionate. "Six one-on-one matches. No replacements, no items, just straight out battle. To make things easier on you, if you can take out even three of my pokémon, I'll consider you the victor."
Her teeth grated in irritation. Many words had been used to describe her father in the past; arrogant was never one of them. He wasn't taking her seriously. He didn't think she was a threat. She'd prove him wrong.
Without pausing to answer, she snatched a ball off of her belt and hurled it into the ring. The capsule opened with a burst of red light, and in a moment her Arcanine materialized on the ground before her, piles of snow evaporating into steam around his feet.
There was a pause as her father examined her pokemon almost appraisingly, and then, "Y'know, Miss Champion of the Kanto League, official League guidelines state that the defendant is the one to first choose a pokémon so as to give the challenger the advantage. Guess you must have forgotten that little tidbit. Ah well, don't let it worry you; I'll go easy."
And with that cocky declaration, he plucked a ball from his belt and tossed it lazily into the air.
There was a flash, and Venosaur appeared in the ring, massive haunches shifting, the petals of his enormous flower testing the air. Arcanine let out a roar of challenge, his powerful cry startling the nearby Hoothoot from their trees, but Venosaur seemed unperturbed, examining Arcanine with calm detachment.
Hot, sticky rage bubbled inside of her. He deliberately chose a grass-type to fight against her fire? And a slow grass-type at that?! Oh, she'd show him alright… No one disrespected her pokémon…!
As one, she and Ash grabbed their hats and twisted them backward. She saw confusion flash across his face for a moment, but she chose to ignore her sudden flush of embarrassment and take advantage of his lack of attention to the battle that was about to begin.
"Arcanine!" she shouted, not waiting for the referee to start the match since technically they didn't have one and she doubted either Jade or Cole were willing to fill the vacancy, "Flame Charge!"
Arcanine exploded into a dead sprint, flames erupting around his body, twisting and twirling around him in a tangled red-orange blur as he charged down his target like a fiery meteor.
She wasn't usually one for the 'in your face' battling style, but her need to shut her father's unworthy mouth was overriding any other thought. His Venosaur didn't stand a chance against her Arcanine, and there was no way it could move fast enough to dodge the hit.
She waited for her father to call an attack, but he never did. Instead, while her eyes were trained on him, waiting for the command that never came, she didn't notice Venusaur lift its right foreleg and slam it into the earth.
All at once, the ground beneath them jumped upward and AJ was thrown back with a crash. Scrambling to right herself, she barely managed to climb up on all-fours in time to see the arena change drastically.
The floor between them fissured and cracked, chunks of rock and earth jutting upwards at all angles, altering the battleground from a peaceful snowy field to one that better resembled the mountainside she'd been climbing earlier. It was the earthquake attack. Typical.
Arcanine, however, had been trained better than that. The moment the ground had begun to shake, it leaped high, soaring over the trembling ground, barely dodging a massive stone that had erupted to impede him.
He landed, paws outstretched, on a second stone and used it as a springboard to quickly change his direction without losing speed. The ground still trembled and shook but Arcanine was too fast to catch, crisscrossing the battlefield in a flaming blur, leaping from stone to stone, almost flying, waiting for an opening.
She felt herself smile; if Venusaur hoped to catch him, he'd have to get up earlier than that.
Without warning, Arcanine face-vaulted and smashed into the floor, flames going out. Before AJ had time to accurately understand the full implication of the root she saw wrapped around Arcanine's paw, her Pokémon was suddenly lifted high into the air by Venosaur's massive, powerful vines and violently smashed against the mountainside.
AJ's breath caught as Arcanine was tossed like a ragdoll to lay limply at her feet, whimpering slightly, struggling to stand.
Fumbling at her side, AJ retrieved his pokeball and returned him to safety. Mind still blank with shock, she turned her attention back to her opponent, who was regarding her with obvious disappointment on his face.
"You'd think Kanto's so-called Champion would be able to recognize such an obvious distraction when she saw it," he drawled lazily, recalling his Venusaur. "Earthquake followed by Grass Knot followed by Power Whip… child's play. You're going to have to do better than that to defeat me."
She didn't think it possible, but if anything, her hatred grew. Snatching another ball off her belt, AJ called forth her next partner.
Togekiss materialized with a cry of delight over the ruined ground and immediately turned to face its trainer with concern. No doubt it could instantly sense the open hostility and hatred coursing through AJ's veins, but she didn't have time to explain.
Across the field, Ash called forth his second pokemon, and a large lavender cat with a forked tail and a gemstone on its forehead appeared, taking in the surroundings with cool serenity. Espeon, then.
No type advantage this time, but no resistances either, and she knew for a fact he had other pokemon he could call out to make this battle harder for her, like his Pikachu for example. He still wasn't taking her seriously.
"Togekiss!" she bellowed, the wind blowing back her hair and jacket as she jabbed her finger furiously at the opposing pokemon, "Make it quick! Sky attack!"
At once, AJ noticed Espeon's tail begin twitching, but she paid it no heed as her pokemon soared up into the air, preparing to land a blow she was sure would put her father's Espeon out of commission; psychic types were notorious for having weak constitutions.
Suddenly, Espeon began multiplying, sending various copies scattering around the battlefield, each one staring contentedly up at AJ's pokemon.
"Crap!" she snarled, changing tactics. "Alright, forget the sky attack, Togekiss! Use Aura Sphere!"
Double-Team… figures he'd wuss out and use a trick like that. Then again, it was a smart move for a psychic type.
There were ways around it, though; other psychics who possessed foresight, for example, or canine pokemon who could track by scent. Togekiss was none of the above, but she did have one thing… quite the list of moves that were difficult to dodge, Aura Sphere among them.
As the sphere of energy manifested in front of Togekiss's body, AJ shot a smug look at her father only to see boredom splayed across his face. She glanced back down at the awaiting Espeons and saw that their gems were glowing, tails swishing lazily back and forth, awaiting Togekiss's move.
The energy ball fired, aiming towards one of the Espeon below, ready to explode in a wave of energy that would dissipate every clone and reveal who the true pokemon was - and suddenly, a massive energy shield appeared above the clones.
Light Screen.
The sphere exploded on the powerful psychic barrier, what little of the Aura Sphere that managed to burst through dissipating a handful of clones, but not nearly enough. AJ's plans were once again shot.
"Alright, forget that then!" AJ snarled, enraged that her attack had failed. All hope was not lost, however; special attacks would be weakened, but not physical. "Get in close and use Aerial Ace!"
Togekiss swooped low like a Mantine, building up speed before slashing through the first line of clones, each of them exploding into dust upon making contact with Togekiss.
As his clones went, Ash remained impassive, staring at AJ as though waiting for something. The feeling of his eyes on her only kindled her fury farther, and she egged her pokemon on, eager for the moment when she struck his Espeon down.
Finally, they were down to one Espeon. How she'd managed to hit all but the real one, she didn't know, but it didn't matter anymore. It stared apathetically at the swiftly approaching Togekiss, gem still glowing, tail still swishing back and forth until with a heavy thud the two bodies crashed into each other.
"Yes!" AJ cried, triumphant. "We got 'em!"
Ash shook his head as though incredulous.
"Yeah, that's right!" she shouted across the field. "Not feeling so cocky now, are you?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" he responded, voice oddly flat. "You just gave me the battle."
"What are you-?"
In that moment, she realized two things - the first, that the Espeon her Togekiss had knocked across the arena had suddenly turned itself into a tree branch. A substitute. Second, that Togekiss was writhing uncomfortably up in the air, wings twitching spastically as though in great pain yet somehow still airborne.
"Togekiss?" AJ called, feeling uneasy, but a moment later her pokemon took a nosedive and crashed painfully into the ground in front of her.
"No!" she yelled, running forward and examining her beloved fairy. Her eyes were closed and her breathing labored. "What…? I don't…?"
Something brushed past her with a purr. She jumped back, startled, and could only stare as the missing Espeon calmly strode past her, returning dutifully to its master.
"Like all psychic pokemon," Ash started up again, adopting a lecturing tone, "Espeon possesses the ability to see into the future. It may not be as developed as certain other species, like Xatu, but she can at least predict what move her enemy is going to make. This, on top of how short-sighted and gullible you are, makes you easy to fool.
"I distracted you with a children's tactic; double team and light screen. You thought my strategy was defensive, when in reality, Espeon used that time to repeatedly calm its mind and sharpen its focus, heightening its attack. You needlessly exhausted yourself in your effort to beat me. You're not thinking enough."
"Shut up!" AJ snarled, hands shaking as she recalled her unconscious Togekiss. "You have no right to tell me what to do!"
"You're right," Ash stated simply, petting Espeon lightly on the head and recalling her as well. "In any event, you've proven you're impossible to teach. Let's just get this over with so I can go back to my peaceful life, eh?"
Go back to his peaceful…?!
AJ hadn't known it was possible to loathe someone as much as she did him in that moment. Standing up, she stomped back to her designated spot and drew her next pokeball.
"This fight isn't over," she spat, chucking her ball in the air. Milotic materialized before her, preening elegantly in the fading sun.
"Kid, this fight ended before it even started," he replied, throwing his own ball. With a roar and a burst of flame, Charizard appeared. "I'm getting tired of this. I'll go ahead and make this quick, ok?"
"You fat-headed-! Milotic, Hydro Pump!"
Milotic reacted at once; nose held high, it took a deep breath, focused its strength, and from its mouth spewed a massive jet of water with enough force to carve stone.
What happened next was nearly unbelievable.
Faster than you could blink, Charizard leaped forward, straight over Milotic's stream of water, and, wings flapping furiously, began charging straight at her.
"Up, Milotic!" AJ screamed, suddenly terrified. "Milotic, up! Aim up!"
She tried, but the speed Charizard was displaying was insane, and controlling a stream of water being expelled at such high pressure was no easy feat. Angling higher to avoid the rising column of death, Charizard covered the distance between them in seconds with a terrifying roar, claws outstretched, ready to strike…
And passed Milotic's head seemingly without noticing. For a wild moment, AJ thought he'd missed his target, but all too suddenly his true motives became clear.
Charizard dove and seized Milotic by her rainbow-colored tail, and with a few beats of its powerful wings, the two were airborne.
The Hydro Pump was cut suddenly short as Milotic wailed in surprise. Shock had stilled AJ's senses, and she couldn't think of a single command to issue. What sort of bizarre tactic was this?!
Charizard looped high, then began diving down, Milotic flapping behind him like a serpentine streamer, only for Charizard to loop upwards again. He was flying in circles, slowly building speed, going faster and faster and faster…
Suddenly he erupted into flames. He began to rotate, still flying in one massive loop, as before her eyes a massive circle of flame began to glow in the air, Milotic dragging through it, defenseless as she was roasted alive.
AJ inhaled sharply and wracked her brains for a command that could help, a tactic, an idea, anything, but it was too late. With the savage ferocity one would expect of a fire dragon, Charizard utilized all of his gathered momentum and hurled the flaming Milotic downward where she crashed in a fiery pile into the snowy embankment.
"Milotic!" AJ cried, running forward.
Without warning, the ground exploded as a flaming Charizard came crashing down in a spectacularly horrifying pile driver.
"No!"
Charizard clambered off the steaming pile with a disdainful snort, shaking snow and dirt off of his snout and wings as he stomped back over to his master, leaving AJ alone with her pokemon.
Milotic was, predictably, unconscious. Black burns ran up and down her once-beautiful body, but though it looked like several of her bones were broken, she was still breathing. Marvel Scale must have activated in the fiery ring before she hit the ground.
She recalled her Milotic, feeling tears of fear, humiliation, and hatred welling up in her eyes, but refused to let them fall. She'd lost three of the fights already. She couldn't afford to lose another.
Stumbling back to the starting point, she remained quiet as she called forth her fourth pokemon.
Aegislash took to the battlefield with the dignity one would expect from the ancient, regal pokemon. Across from him, a truly massive Snorlax faced off against it. Surprisingly, it was not asleep.
AJ frowned; she had the advantage, as Aegislash could faze out and avoid most of Snorlax's attacks, but everyone knew that a battle against a Snorlax was always a battle of attrition. Thankfully, Aegislash could endure just about anything.
"Aegislash, swords dance!" she cried, deciding to not immediately jump into the offensive this time. She was still enraged, still desperate to beat her father into the ground, but she was more cautious, especially after what had happened to Milotic.
As her pokemon began his empowering dance, Snorlax slowly meandered closer, a look of lackadaisical peace on its chubby face.
AJ wasn't fooled; all of Ash's pokemon had seemed harmless. Well, maybe not Charizard, but…
"Quick, King's Shield!" she called out just as Snorlax got close enough to strike, remembering that Snorlax sometimes knew the odd dark or ghost-type move.
Instantly, Aegislash went rigid, placing its large, ornate shield in front of its body, ready to deflect any attack.
But Snorlax didn't attack; not directly. Instead, it reached out, grabbed the now solidified Aegislash in one hand, grasped the shield in the other, and yanked.
Under normal circumstances, a pokemon like Snorlax could never hope to reach out and touch a ghost-type like Aegislash… but by using King's Shield, AJ had forced Aegislash to manifest its entire body on the physical plane. And there was something about this Snorlax… it was larger, far more animated, and more muscular than your average Snorlax. The shield was torn from Aegislash's grip, and before either AJ or her pokemon could react, Snorlax clapped his hands together, smashing Aegislash's face into its own shield with a tremendous crash.
AJ's jaw dropped. Aegislash's eye was spinning, disoriented from the blow to the face from its own indestructible shield. Snorlax calmly gripped the ghost by its handle, it being too stunned to phase out of the corpulent monster's grip, and drove the blade into the mountainside.
Before AJ could react, Snorlax lashed out, shield in hand, and Mega Punched her pokemon's body into the rock, effectively trapping it.
AJ felt a shudder spasm its way across her body as Snorlax dropped her Aegislash's shield absently on the floor and strode back to its trainer. All she could see of her pokemon was its hilt, and its ethereal arms blowing lazily in the wind like tassels. It was unconscious. Snorlax, defeating her Aegislash without even breaking a sweat… had she not seen it first hand, she would have said it was impossible…
"That's four," came her father's cold, dispassionate voice from across the field as his hulking monster of a pokemon vanished into its pokeball in a flash of red light. "I said if you could win three fights I'd name you the victor. You failed. Get off of my property."
Red-hot rage exploded inside her as she considered the way she'd been defeated. Her hatred of the man she was battling had grown to such an extent that any and all rational thought had flown out the window. She wasn't leaving that field until she took at least one of his pokemon down.
"Pichu, go!" she snarled even as she recalled her unconscious ghost back to his ball, the little yellow mouse she'd started her journey with leaping from off her arm and onto the battlefield, looking determined to make its trainer proud.
She half-expected him to tell her to knock it off and leave; it would've been the 'responsible' adult thing to do, after all. She'd already failed his challenge.
Instead, to her surprise and further annoyance, he merely scoffed and said, "Haven't you suffered enough embarrassment yet?"
Wordlessly, he summoned a large, aged Blastoise to the field.
"Why didn't you evolve that Pichu of yours?" he continued from across the field, a sardonic look on his face. "I certainly hope it wasn't to prove a point."
"I'm going to kill you…" AJ snarled under her breath.
"AJ," the elderly man called from the sidelines in warning, but Ash cut him off.
"No! If she wants me to beat her entire team into the ground, I will! Let this be a lesson! How could she ever hope to truly be a Pokemon Master if she can't even take care of her partners? If she treats them like pawns in a selfish game, seeking personal glory or whatever this stupid vendetta of hers is about? Look at that one - it's just a baby! It's not even fully grown! No matter what title she thinks she's earned, if this is how she cares for her pokemon, then she deserves to be stripped of her license and have her pokemon taken away-"
"Shut up!" AJ screamed, absolutely beside herself. "Who are you to talk about raising-?! Who are you to-?! PICHU, VOLT TACKLE!"
Pichu immediately scampered across the snowy field, cheeks sparking, electricity forming around its small body until it formed one solid mass of energy.
Once again, her opponent didn't react. In the blink of an eye, Blastoise was immersed in a shield of water and AJ lost sight of his form.
She snorted in derision; if he thought Aqua Ring would do him any good against a Volt Tackle, he was dead wrong. A split second later, Pichu crashed head-first into the bubble of water, and with an explosion the battlefield was suddenly covered in steam.
Squinting through the mass of vaporized water, AJ sought desperately for the sight of the opposing Blastoise's unconscious body, but it was no good; the steam was too thick.
Without warning, something massive exploded from the cloud of steam and slammed violently into the mountainside, water spraying in every direction as though from a fire hose.
Blinking in stunned disbelief, AJ watched as the object revealed itself to be Blastoise's shell, stuck partially buried in the rock, water still dripping from the holes where its legs should have been. The steam was now clearing, and though she could see her opponent's callous face, she couldn't see her pokemon anywhere. Where had Pichu gone? And why was Blastoise stuck in the wall?
The sound of shifting stone could be heard, and a moment later Blastoise emerged from where it had been stuck like a dart plucked from a dartboard, shaking dirt and bits of loose gravel off of its arms and head, trying to reorient itself. A fuzzy yellow lump tumbled to the ground amidst the debris.
Bile rose in AJ's throat.
Half-stumbling, half-sprinting, AJ crossed the distance between herself and Blastoise and fell to her knees beside the limp body of her starter pokemon.
"P-Pichu?" she stammered, voice suddenly an octave higher than usual.
There was no response.
The world seemed momentarily frozen; she cast her eyes wildly about her, feeling helpless and lost. Pichu wasn't moving… Pichu wasn't responding… Pichu wasn't… He wasn't…
Jade had her hands clamped tightly over her mouth, eyes wide and tearful. Cole seemed gray and unmistakably aged as he looked over her with mourning evident on his wise, stony face. Even Ash seemed to be showing signs of evident concern, but she had no time for her opponent's feelings; the only thing she could focus on was the lifeless, broken body of her best friend lying silently before her in the snow.
"Pichu… Pichu, please…"
Silence, and then…
Pichu coughed.
AJ inhaled sharply, scrambling wildly for the never-used ball on her belt.
"Oh! Oh! Pichu, hold on! I'm here, I've got you! You'll be ok! Just… Just get inside, and-," she clicked the button on the pokeball and Pichu vanished inside in a burst of red light, "-and I'll make it all go away, ok? Just hold on! Oh…"
Her hand reached blindly for the backpack she'd forgotten wasn't there. She'd lost it in the avalanche, meaning she had no potions, no medicines. Nothing she could use to ease his pain.
She was hardly aware of the fact that she was rocking back and forth on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably as she hugged his ball to her chest. Please be ok, please be ok…
A voice cut through her despair, restrained but no less firm and insistent.
"The match is over. You have lost."
I have lost…
AJ stilled. Her eyes had glazed over as she stared down at her slowly recovering Pichu and let the words of her father wash over her.
"I'm sorry for your Pichu, but I told you this would happen. Recklessly endangering your pokemon isn't something that anyone should ever do, especially not the Champion. Keep in mind in the future that when you battle, more than your pride is at stake. At the end of the day, the fault for your pokemon's injuries is yours, not anyone else's. Own up to that, and you'll be one step closer to deserving the title you bear."
Recklessly endangering… was that what I was doing? Do I hate my father so much that I put Pichu's life at stake? Am I… a monster? But… Pichu isn't a baby. He was strong enough to take on Kanto's Elite Four and the Champion, Lance. If anyone's a monster, he is. Any sane trainer would have stopped their pokemon before something like this happened. He's the monster. His pokemon are monsters. I'm not…
Ash half-turned as though to walk away, and AJ's eyes flew wide open.
But I do have a monster of my own.
Across the field, AJ noticed Ash hesitating. Her hand had twitched towards the last pokeball on her belt.
"…What are you doing?" he asked, eyes trained on her hand.
She grasped the ball and plucked it from her belt. His scowl darkened.
"If you do this, I'm not responsible for what happens next," he warned.
"Ditto," AJ replied, voice dry and husky.
She lobbed the ball into the air.
A massive being materialized in the space between them, larger than Cole's cabin, and a skull-rending roar split the air.
"AJ, no!" Jade called, but her cry was lost under the sound of the beating wings and ragged breathing of AJ's final pokemon.
A pokemon so dangerous, she couldn't let it out of her sight, not even with the professor.
A pokemon so dangerous, she couldn't use it even against the Elite Four.
Hydreigon's three heads whirled around, testing the environment, screaming defiance at everything that moved. She could sense the same confusion and fear that she always felt whenever she dared to let Hydreigon out of its ball, but she seemed even more agitated now than usual. Something inside her told her that it was feeding off of the negativity and pain that AJ herself was feeling. Good. Finally, she and Hydreigon were on the same page. Both had suffered. Both experienced so much hurt… and now, both were going to get their chance to lash out.
Jade and Cole had scrambled away from the arena, and she could see Noctowl and Murkrow hastily flapping away in the distance. Every sensible thing in the surrounding area was fleeing as fast as it possibly could to escape the wrath of the dark god of destruction before them.
Everything but Ash.
He stood tall on his side of the arena, staring down Hydreigon with a furrowed brow, much like she'd seen her grandmother Delia do when she discovered one of the plants in her garden wasn't growing quite right. Without a word, his Pikachu leaped down off his shoulders and squared off against the dragon, whose temperament was steadily growing more and more enraged.
The image of her Pichu crushed upon the ground suddenly flashed through her head, but she cast it aside. Ash would need to take his own advice. Her Hydreigon didn't wait for an order; terrified and confused, the dragon raised its three heads and readied three powerful beams in each gaping mouth. It was Tri-Attack. Pikachu was doomed.
Or so she thought.
It was gone in a blur. One moment, Pikachu was standing on all-fours, facing down Hydreigon like it was some common Spearow, and the next it was gone. There was no indication that the pokemon had even been there at all had it not been for the line that had been drawn in the ground and the puffs of powdery snow in the air that followed it, heading towards the rock formation where Pichu and Aegislash had met their fates.
Agility. She'd never seen a pokemon move so fast. But it didn't matter how fast it was; a Pikachu couldn't hope to fight a Hydreigon, it wasn't possible!
The Tri-Attack exploded harmlessly on the arena floor, spraying AJ with bits of snow and dirt, leaving a gaping crater smoking behind, felling several nearby trees and setting their limbs ablaze. Well, Pikachu had dodged the hit, but it couldn't dodge forever. Hydreigon was simply too strong…
"Pika!" came a defiant cry from somewhere overhead.
Turning her attention upward, AJ spotted the yellow mouse perched atop the rock formation looking down at Hydreigon's three heads. She wasn't the only one who noticed him; Hydreigon bellowed back as if Pikachu's cry had been a challenge and fired off a Dragon Pulse.
Once again, Pikachu was quicker. Leaping off of the rock formation just as it exploded from the force of Hydreigon's blast, Pikachu twirled a few times in the air, its tail glowing silver, and just as one of the dragon's gaping mouths reared close enough to swallow the electric rodent whole, it spun and struck the monster in the temple with its tail.
It was Iron Tail, and it was apparently powerful enough not only to launch Pikachu higher into the air, but it sent Hydreigon's first head crashing into the rock face where it lay, stunned.
The second mouth struck, and was once again slapped aside by Pikachu's Iron Tail.
As the main head, understanding that her plan wasn't working and switching tactics, readied a Dark Pulse to blow Pikachu out of the air, the rodent suddenly switched its strategy as well. The glowing of the tail ceased, and the tiny mouse began to rotate as it free-fell towards Hydreigon, its body beginning to glow and crackle with charged energy.
AJ recognized the move, having had her Pichu use it dozens of times before. It was Volt Tackle, and it was never going to work. Hydreigon would hit it first.
It struck her then that her father was issuing no orders to Pikachu. Did he not see what was happening? Did he not care if it got hurt? What had happened to all of that preaching from earlier? She shot him a brief look, but he was merely watching with rapt attention, as though he were the one fighting the Hydreigon instead of his Pikachu.
Just as she predicted, Hydreigon's Dark Pulse struck before Pikachu did. Free falling from the air as it was, it had no way to maneuver and avoid the oncoming blow.
Moments before the tiny rodent was enveloped by a beam of black energy so dark it seemed to absorb the surrounding light, the gathered electricity from Volt Tackle encompassed the pokemon and he became a small, yellow ball of energy for a split-second before he was consumed.
For the span of a heartbeat, she thought Hydreigon had won.
And then the yellow ball of lightning exploded out of the dark energy ray and collided with the force of a thunderclap onto the dragon's scaly chest. There was a crack like a cannon and a blinding effusion of light, and AJ found herself blasted off of her feet. Moments later, the ground trembled with an almighty crash and all was still.
Finding herself on her back, AJ sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes to get her vision back, wondering what had happened.
What she found was her last pokemon collapsed on its back, unconscious, triple heads lolling silently on the floor, one wing slightly bent, a nasty black burn wound on its chest where Pikachu had struck it. Pikachu itself was calmly jogging back to its master, who helped it onto his shoulder without comment.
All anger fled from AJ's body at that moment as she took in her final pokemon's defeated body and let the significance of this humiliating defeat wash over her.
Her entire life had been building up to this moment… the moment where she became the Pokemon Master. Sure, as far as the rest of Kanto knew, AJ was the Champion… But knowing that Ash was alive and being unable to defeat him, AJ knew for herself that it wasn't true.
All of her doubts and insecurities from the past couple of weeks seemed to crash down on top of her with a heavy sort of finality.
She wasn't worthy to be the Champion.
A sort of numbness stole over her then. Exhaustion tinged with despondency; the maelstrom of emotions that had been roaring through her during their battle had finally dissipated, leaving her raw inside. She no longer felt anything anymore.
This exhaustion carried over to her body; she barely registered clicking the button and returning Hydreigon to its ball. She found herself kneeling on the edge of the battlefield, staring down at her gloved hands. They were trembling.
Did it even mean anything anymore? Her life's goal had been to prove that she was better than her father; better at pokemon, a better person, a better friend, and to become a Champion before he ever did… Her whole life had built her up to this one moment, and… she'd failed.
She wasn't a better friend. Her recklessness had put Jade and her pokemon in danger - not to mention Sammy, still lost and possibly hurt or dead because she'd wanted to come on this stupid adventure. She wasn't a better person. A better person wouldn't have lost their cool like that, or been so obsessed with hatred and vengeance that they threw all common sense out the window. And she wasn't better at pokemon. Not at raising them or at battling.
She couldn't control her Hydreigon. Her clumsiness had cost her the match and caused all of her pokemon undue pain and humiliation. She'd even almost lost Pichu…
And the battle. How could she ever dream of being Pokemon Master when her father was able to sweep her entire team without taking a single loss? He hadn't even needed to shout a command at Pikachu! It basically took out Hydreigon, her strongest pokemon, on its own!
Her eyes widened as a realization came to her. It wasn't just Pikachu… Ash hadn't issued a single verbal command the entire battle. His pokemon had been acting on instinct alone. How was that possible?! Was he really that close to his pokemon? Had they been together so long, their trust and dependency so great, that they didn't even need to speak?!
The crunch of snow and gravel told her he was approaching.
"The battle is over now, for real," he intoned darkly, and she shrank back at his tone though she did not look up at him. She couldn't bear to see his face right now.
"I don't know who you are, and I don't care to know. I spent most of my life trying to stop people from abusing and mistreating their pokemon, but it's been a long time since I've seen someone like you. Your arrogance and need to win drove you to put your pokemon in needless danger, and when you realized you couldn't win, you threw the both of us in harm's way as well in some childish tantrum.
"Do you realize what would have happened if we couldn't have gotten that Hydreigon under control? It could have caused landslides or forest fires! Thousands of pokemon might have been killed! But no, all you saw was victory and what you'd need to do to seize it. Disgusted isn't strong enough of a word to describe how you make me feel, but it's a good start."
The realization of her crimes was terrible enough, but having Ash Ketchum of all people be the one to throw them in her face was the icing on the cake. She didn't think she had it in her to cry anymore; she was wrong. Her hands tightened painfully on her legs as she squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to cry out or shake too violently, fighting off the sobs that threatened to come. He'd seen her cry once, she wouldn't let him see it again… But Arceus, he was right…
She'd never even considered the implication of sending Hydreigon out into battle. There was a reason why she never used her. Hydreigon was a threat to everything around her, herself included. Pokemon could have died. People could have died. This went beyond being a bad trainer; was she so obsessed with destroying her father that she'd sacrifice her own humanity to get there?
She heard the sound of people approaching from behind the cabin, and when the two emerged once more, Jade called out her name and began sprinting over towards her.
"AJ! Oh, AJ, are you ok? What were you thinking?! Have you lost your mind?!"
Jade had fallen to her knees beside AJ on the snow, but she couldn't bring herself to answer her friend's questions. The guilt and shame of all that had just transpired, her humiliating loss at the hands of her father, what she'd done with Hydreigon, how she didn't deserve the concern and love her best friend was showing her… Everything was piling on top of her too quickly. The tears were leaking out faster now, and she had to use every ounce of her failing strength to keep herself together.
"AJ… What…?" Jade whispered, but she didn't finish. A second set of footsteps finally caught up, accompanied by a bit of wheezing.
"Ash…" Cole gasped softly, standing somewhere behind her, "Ash, wait-"
"A deal is a deal," Ash cut in, still directing his words at AJ. "You got your battle. You lost. Now get off my mountain and never come back."
He started to walk away.
Finally, however, Cole had had enough.
"Boy, stop!"
"What?!" Ash snapped. AJ could see from the shadows cast by the setting sun that the two men were facing each other.
"You can't send them away!"
"And why shouldn't I?!" he snarled viciously.
There was a beat, and she could see the shadow of Cole's arm reach up and touch Ash's shoulder.
"Because she's your daughter."
There was silence in the clearing, deafeningly loud, and before AJ could stop herself, she turned back to look.
He was staring down at her, and the torrent of misery and anguish she currently felt churning through her body she could see clearly reflected in his eyes.
In case this needs to be said, Ash's team is based off the team he had originally in G/S/C. In HG/SS, the Espeon is replaced with a Lapras - but I'll be honest, that always kinda irked me. Having a Lapras and a Blastoise seems redundant. Plus I just like Espeon, and it works better for the story, so sue me.
In other news, there's a chance I might be missing one of the weekly updates this month. I don't know when, exactly - could even be next week, I'm not sure yet - but tl;dr, I'll be away from my computer and the internet for a bit both one weekend this month, and one weekend in April. I know I could post on a weekday, but I still haven't finished all of the chapters for this story just yet, and since I can only write on weekends, I don't want to risk getting ahead of myself. So apologies in advance.
Keep it Zesty!