So as it turns out, I still don't have a job, meaning there's absolutely nothing in my way from writing this chapter. As you have probably noticed by now, these chapters are more connected than before. This is because I felt that Kalos was a bit too episodic, I'm going to try to connect these chapters more than they were in Volume 1. But anyway, I don't have anything else to say, let's get on with this chapter.
Chapter 18:
Dilemma of the Aura Guardians
Max ends up needing to stay in bed for another full day in order for the medicine to properly work, and for his wounds to begin healing. The shot to his leg leaves him with a slight limp, but no other damage was dealt to it, so he can walk just fine without support. Bonnie spends the day doing a bit of training for her match against Brawly. Now that she knows that Trixie has 2 badges, she really wants to catch up and surpass her. But at the same time, she can't help but feel frustrated. Seeing Max in that state yesterday was horrible, and she doesn't want to experience that again. But what frustrates her more is the fact that she has the power of Aura, and should be able to heal him. But because of Ash's fears, she doesn't know how. As she vents her frustrations and anger into her training, she swears that she'll pulverise Ash the next time she sees him.
Finally, 2 days after the attack, Max is able to leave the hut, and they're able to resume their journey. As they part ways with Mr. Swampy, Max can't help but limp slightly when he walks. So, he tries to hide it, lest Mr. Swampy make them stay another day. Fortunately, that doesn't happen, and they're allowed to go about their day. Relieved to be allowed to walk around again, Max tries to run on ahead, but is forced to slow down again when a slight pain shoots up his leg. So, he slows down to walk next to his sister. It doesn't take him too long to notice that she has something on her mind. She keeps glancing backwards at Bonnie, who's walking behind them all, angrily kicking a few stones on the path. "What's up?" Max asks her. May doesn't say anything at first, clearly trying to figure out how to word what she wants to say. At last, she says, "I was just thinking about how Bonnie leapt in front of the attacks back when Team Terra ambushed us."
Max doesn't say anything at first. His mind races, as he thinks about how to proceed with this. On one hand, May knows about Ash being an Aura Guardian, so it won't be going against Ash's wishes to keep them secret. But on the other hand, she isn't aware that there are other Aura Guardians. As far as she's aware, Ash is the only one. So, should he tell her or not? After about a minute, he decides he probably shouldn't, just in case. "She was pushing me out of the way," he lies. "You saw me stumble backwards a bit when she did." May nods at this, but she's clearly unsatisfied by this answer. "I figured you'd say that," she says. "But that doesn't explain why she was unscathed afterwards." Max begins to panic at this. "What do you mean?" he asks. "She was knocked out by it." "But she wasn't hurt," May counters. "She was hit by 4 pokémon moves at once. She shouldn't have been in perfect condition when we found you 2. Not to mention, I find it odd that none of us was hit." "Well, we were out of the way" says Max. May can't help but laugh at this. "Oh, so 4 attacks powerful enough to destroy the path we were walking on just so happened to miss us completely while still destroying the path, and also leave one of us knocked out but unhurt otherwise. Max you are an awful liar."
Max mouths a curse at this and waits for what May has to say next. She leans in to his ear and whispers, "Bonnie is an Aura Guardian like Ash, isn't she?" Max sighs, then nods, before explaining why he was trying to lie, along with telling her about Ash's refusal to teach Bonnie. When he's finished, May looks back at Bonnie, who's still clearly angry about something. "That explains her frustration" she comments. When Max looks at her with confusion, May elaborates. "Well, when we found you in that state, Drew and I left Bonnie alone with you while we got stuff to help you. When I got back, she was leaning over you, clearly having just tried to do something. Now that I know what she is, I think she was trying to heal you, but couldn't." Max looks back at Bonnie again. Now that May mentioned it, that does seem to be the reason for her anger.
Max stops for a few seconds so he can walk next to Bonnie. She looks up at him and smiles a bit, clearly trying to hide the fact that she was just silently fuming. "What's wrong?" he asks her. "You seem cross." Bonnie goes a bit pink. "What? Me? Cross? I've got no idea what you're talking about." Max doesn't buy this however. "I can tell that you're angry Bonnie," he says. "Not to mention, your hands are currently shaking, no doubt from said anger." Bonnie looks down to see that he's right. She clasps her hands together tightly to get them to stop. Max puts a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Hey, if there's something bothering you, you can tell me," he says. "I'm your best friend." Bonnie nods. "I'm just frustrated," she admits. "I have this incredible power, and I don't know how to use it. I know someone who can teach me how to control it, but he's too much of a coward to do that! If Ash had taught me Aura properly, then maybe we wouldn't have been in that mess! I wouldn't have fallen into the river if I could properly control my Aura! I would've been able to heal you properly!"
At this point, Bonnie's eyes begin to well with tears, which she wipes away angrily. She looks like she wants to continue angrily ranting about Ash and how he refused to teach her, but Max squeezes her shoulder a bit. "Hey, don't worry about it," he tells her. "Yes, it would've been nice to not have to go through all of that, but we can't change the past. And besides, you did save me. You brought me that medicine to help bring down the fever. That's just as good as healing those wounds in my book." Bonnie smiles at this and blushes a bit. "You're welcome" she replies, brightening up a bit. Max smiles as he sees this. "Now, come on," he says. "You've got a Gym Battle to win." Bonnie smiles at this, then runs on ahead. Max runs after her, laughing as he does. As he does so, he can't help but wonder how Ash is handling what he did.
There are many things that Ash loves about being the Monarch. He loves how much he inspires younger trainers, just like he was inspired when he was younger. He loves to see all of those young trainers competing for the chance to face him and take his title. But there are a few things he hates about it as well. For instance, he hates having to wear a disguise everytime he goes on a date with Serena, or so much as leaves his home. But there's one thing in particular that makes him want to throw the last match of the Masters Eight and lose his title, just so he doesn't have to deal with it anymore. That being the damn press. While Max and Bonnie are happily wandering around Dewford Island, Ash is stuck in a small press conference in Galar, both to discuss the upcoming Master's Eight, as well as the looming threat of Team Terra. As he stands there, discussing the events of The Second Kalos Crisis and why he believes Team Terra should be treated with caution, Ash resists the urge to massage his head, feeling a strong headache. He dearly wishes to be anywhere else but here, as all of these questions are frustrating him.
He gets through the explanation and discusses the threat Team Terra poses. Just as he's about to dismiss everyone so he can go home and sleep, he gets a question that causes him to freeze. "Mr. Ketchum, is it true that someone died by your hand during the crisis!?" He freezes at this, and tries to dodge the question. But now, it seems that more people are curious about this rumour. More and more of these questions piled on, and people even begun to ask if he deliberately killed that person. Ash begins to grow overwhelmed by these questions. "Stop," he mutters. "Stop, stop, stop. Stop asking me this!" No one heard him say that, and keep on asking. A few seconds later, all the cameras in the room explode, as their wiring becomes fried. Several screams are heard as this occurs, and people rush over to see what had happened. Using the confusion to his advantage, Ash slips away from the podium. He pulls out his sunglasses, pulls his hood up over his head, and slips out of the building, heading to his home in Galar.
When he gets there, he feels his anger get the better of him, and punches a wall. Some more of his Aura slips out into his fist, causing a hole to appear in it. This only makes him angrier, so he vents the rest of his frustration by destroying the sitting room. He throws things off of the shelves, upturns furniture, and throws cushions all over the room, smashing a few other items in the room. Once his anger has subsided, he stands in the middle of the room, panting heavily and looking down at his hands. Pikachu comes out of the spot he was hiding and looks at Ash cautiously. Ash sees this and Pikachu retreats slightly. "I'm alright buddy," he says. "Sorry for scaring you." Pikachu walks up to him and puts a comforting paw on Ash's leg. "You need to stop doing this," he tells him. "It's not healthy." Ash wants to reply that he's fine, but before he can, someone knocks on his door.
Bracing himself for a slew of curious vultures, Ash shouts, "Go away!" I'm not in the mood to deal with reporters right now!" "But what about a friend?" the voice of Brock calls back. Sighing with relief, Ash lets him into the building. Brock takes one look at the main room and his jaw drops. "Not one word," Ash warns. "I've had enough questions from those vultures." Brock shakes his head and turns to look at him. "That's why I'm here," he tells him. "I wanted to make sure you're ok." "I'm fine!" Ash snaps. "Just sick of questions from those people." Brock looks around the room at the destroyed décor. "Oh yeah, because this just screams 'fine'!" he says sarcastically. Ash sighs and turns to the couch, which is currently upside down, then lifts it upright. Then he sits on it and stares at his hands once more. "They're all fucking idiots," he says angrily. "Every last vulture in that room is a fucking idiot!" Brock can't help but nod in agreement, despite how weird it is to hear Ash swear.
"I know what you mean," he says. "How they didn't see that the question had clearly distressed you, I'll never know." Ash gives a very hollow laugh. "Oh, I'd say some of them noticed," he says bitterly. "They just didn't care. As long as people consume click on their articles, what's it to them how much they stress out the person they're questioning." "Now Ash, that's not fair," says Brock. "I'd say most of them genuinely didn't notice. Otherwise they would've stopped asking." Ash clearly doesn't agree, but he nods his head. Brock sits down next to him and puts an arm around his friend's shoulder. Despite how angry he still feels, seeing the wedding ring on Brock's finger brings a small grin to Ash's face. "Why are you here Brock?" he asks. "It wasn't just to check up on me after that disaster, was it?" Brock sighs. "It was partially," he admits. "And I am here to check up on you." "But it's not because of the interview" Ash says.
Brock thinks about what he wants to say. "We're concerned for you Ash," he manages. "You're not yourself. You haven't been since the Second Kalos Crisis." Ash gives another hollow laugh. "If anyone was themselves after something like that, you'd need to have them checked out," he says. "But I'm fine, really. Just a bit shaken." Brock looks at him sceptically, then looks down at Pikachu. Pikachu shakes his head so violently his whole body practically turned with him. "Look Ash," Brock says, "Serena is concerned. We all are. Whether you want to admit it or not, or whether or not you even noticed, you're different. You seem, I don't know, angrier than before." Ash turns on him. "I'm not angrier than before?" he exclaims. As if on cue, a shelf that had been knocked into the wall by Ash's outburst slid down to the floor with a loud, SLAM! Brock gives Ash a look that says, "Really?"
"Ok, so I may be a little bit angry," Ash admits. "But that's only because those vultures wouldn't move on!" "But this is the first time you've destroyed all of their cameras" Brock points out. Ash has nothing to say to that. "There's something else that Serena and I have noticed," Brock continues. "We've noticed that you haven't been using your Aura since the ordeal." Ash barks with laughter at this. "Oh, is that all!" he exclaims, his voice becoming gruffer, with a slight growl to it. "Well, it's not like I've been using it every chance I get before this is it?!" Brock holds his hands up defensively. "I never said you were," he argues. "But I remember you used to meditate every now and then, and you'd practice trying to use Bone Rush. I haven't seen you do that since. In fact, Serena pointed out that you seem to be actively avoiding using it."
Ash sighs. "Leave it to Serena to notice something like that!" he mutters bitterly. "She's concerned about you Ash!" Brock snaps. "We all are. Haven't you noticed that Pikachu has been more hesitant to stand with you lately!?" At this, Ash nods his head, tearing up a bit. "I know," he says sadly. "But I can't. I have a power that can take a life. I don't want to have that kind of power. The power to kill." The growl has now left his voice, which is now quavering. Brock puts his arm back around his friend's shoulder. "I know," he says. "But don't just stop using it. It seems to be affecting you." Ash nods, although Brock clearly doesn't believe him. He looks down at his friend, and notices something around Ash's neck. "What's that?" he asks. Ash shows the thing around his neck to Brock. It's a blue crystal with a piece of string tied around it so it can go around Ash's neck. "It's a pendant," he explains. "It was given to me by Sir Arron after my training on Mt. Silver was finished. He told me to wear it if I ever needed guidance with my Aura." "What does it do?" Brock asks. Ash shrugs. "I don't know," he admits. "It hasn't worked yet. I'm just waiting for it to do something honestly."
After that, the two fall into a comfortable silence, during which Brock analyses his friend. What Serena told him seems to be correct. He has a different feel to him. More angry, and wild. He brushes it off, deciding to worry about it later. Once Ash is feeling better, he and Brock fix up Ash's sitting room to the best of their ability. He will need to go out and buy some new furniture, and a few other accessories, but other than that it's back to the way it was before. Brock stays with Ash for a little longer, and the two chat. Brock is quite happy to talk about his married life, and how happy he is now. But eventually, he gets up to leave.
Once he's said goodbye to Ash and left the building, Brock pulls out his phone and calls Serena. "How is he?" she asks. "It's worse than we thought," he says. "He seems to be actively not using his Aura." "Do you think that's what's making him, angrier?" Serena asks. Brock notices the pause and knows that when she said angrier, she meant scarier. "I'm not sure," he admits. "But I think we should keep an eye on him. If this gets worse, I will find a way to test what's causing this. But I believe it has something to do with his Aura, and how he's not using it." Serena agrees with him. "Thank you Brock," she says. "I'll let you know if we should be concerned." Before she goes, Brock tells her about the pendant around Ash's neck. She tells him that she'll keep an eye on that too, then hey end the call. As Brock makes his way to where he and his new wife are staying while in Galar, he looks back at Ash's apartment. "You're changing Ash Ketchum," he says to no one in particular. "I can only hope that you notice before it's too late."
In case it wasn't clear, be prepared for a lot of Ash Ketchum angst in this arc, or as my brother Diamond682 so hilariously put it, Angst Ketchum (blame him for that horrible joke, not me). Chapters like these won't be too common, but they'll be dotted here and there throughout this part of Volume 2. As you can see, this story is starting to get quite serious. Trust me when I say, we're only at the tip of the iceberg. I do hope you'll stick around long enough to see what I mean. Anyway, with that, I'll see you all on Tuesday with the next chapter.