For the second time that night, Aurian Copland crouched behind a bush to avoid the International Police. Flashlight beams bounced wildly across runways and airport buildings, cargo planes and semi-trucks caught in their crosshairs. Countless officers, both uniformed and in black, searched the premises.

"You'd think a search at a tiny regional airport wouldn't call for this many agents," Ash squinted, gaze focused on something moving past the chain-link fence.

Aurian shook her head. "So I know you got walloped by a Darkrai, but what else did you do to warrant this kind of investment from the League?"

"I beat Tobias Langley's Darkrai and Latios during the Lily of the Valley Conference. On record."

"No one in Sinnoh's been able to beat Darkrai, let alone a second Pokemon!"

"Then he tried to kill me. Now we're here. I'm just as confused as you are."

Aurian frowned, fingers tapping an erratic beat at her side. "Wait, Tobias or his Darkrai?"

Ash shrugged, then thought better of the motion. "Um, it wasn't exactly clear. Tobias didn't stop Darkrai from assassinating my team, so my guess is both. Everything I did was self-defense and to keep my team safe."

"Okay. Wow. That's a lot. The most important thing now is to get to Kanto without getting caught. I think we'll be able to get in as soon as the International Police clear out, but who knows when that will be?" Aurian pulled her Pokegear from her pocket.

Ash peeked over her shoulder. "If you look up departure times, that might look suspicious."

"Not to worry," Aurian brandished the device. "I bought a new Pokegear when I got to Sunyshore. I didn't want anyone to find me."

"Smart," Ash frowned. "Let's turn the tables. You said something about family drama, one awful stepmother-"

"Despicable."

"-right. And you've just been… here? Killing time to get away from what, exactly?"

Aurian pushed his head down as another flashlight beam swung in their direction. "I'll tell you once we're airborne."

Squad cars backfired in the dark, imitation gunshots destroying the relative peace as the International Police drove away. The officers traded their flashlights for headlights, cars splitting up once they left the entry gate.

Ash and Aurian waited ten minutes more before slipping in the service entrance, hopping the turnstiles before working their way to the largest building up front.

"Okay, I have no idea what to do from here," Aurian crossed her arms. "The airport website said there are night flights to Kanto, but I couldn't find much else. Do we talk to someone inside or just ask the pilots directly if we can hitchhike?"

Ash peered in through the window blinds, a departure board visible on the other side of the room. "There's a flight to Viridian that leaves in twenty minutes. That's going to be our best bet."

"And you know this how?"

"I know the pilot," Ash grinned, exchanging a high-five with Pikachu. "We're gonna be okay."

He led her across the tarmac, coming face to face with an olive-green plane covered with spray-painted flags and thunderbolts. Workers in neon vests loaded boxes and barrels into the belly of the machine, too distracted by their radio to notice the pair sneaking across the far side of the loading dock.

"How are you with ladders?" Ash asked.

Aurian looked up at the fifteen-foot ladder that connected to the boarding ramp. "I can do heights with Pokemon. Heights on my own…"

"I'll be right behind you," Ash put a hand on her shoulder.

"You really shouldn't be climbing a ladder in your condition, you might pop your stitches."

Ash gave her a dirty look. "I don't like our other options."

"Great, let's climb."

Aurian cracked her knuckles and set her hands on the fourth rung. Her eyes closed upon inhale, memories flashing back to recklessly scaling the clock tower in Lacunosa Town to avoid Team Plasma's Seven Sages on her journey through Unova.

If she slipped this time, she wouldn't be as lucky.

"Go!" Ash hissed, pointing up. "We have five minutes!"

She climbed, rusted ladder rungs cold against her clammy palms. Aurian's hand slipped on the last rung, prompting a yelp and a panicked scramble to the top.

Ash completed the climb to find a pale-faced Aurian gripping the railing.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Aurian shook her head. "Not important. Come on!"

A loud laugh cut through the relative silence as the duo entered the plane. A tall man stood with his back to the cockpit, carrying on a spirited conversation with the workers loading his plane.

"Bart, make sure you tie those boxes down, Volkner said they're fragile…" he trailed off, turning around to find two stowaways.

"Lieutenant Surge?" Ash asked. "We need a favor."

He gave Ash and Aurian an impressive Arbok-eye. "Aren't you supposed to be in League custody?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in Vermillion?" Ash countered.

Surge laughed. "Touche. How'd you manage to get past all those IP agents?"

"Half of it was luck, half of it was having Aurian watch my back," Ash motioned to his new friend. "Lieutenant Surge, this is-"

"Oh, we've met before," Surge shook Aurian's hand. "You're the girl with the Empoleon who knows Earthquake. That was a damn fun surprise."

She beamed. "It's good to see you again, sir."

Surge turned towards Ash. "I'm assuming you need to get back to Kanto."

"Can we come with you to Viridian?" Ash asked. "We can pay if we need to-"

Surge smirked. "It'll be a lot easier for me to say I never saw you if there's no money involved."

Ash and Aurian exchanged a grin.

"Come on, I have two spare seats in the hold. Perfect timing, this was about to be one lonely solo flight. We need to leave now if we're going to beat the thunderstorm that's about to roll in. Are you good to go?"

Aurian nodded. "Let's blow this CasteliaCone stand!"

"Y'all are lucky, all the rain will wash away any footprints you left," Surge said. "Strap in, things will get bumpy."

The two trainers took their seats, buckling in as Surge pulled out of the dock and onto the runway.

"Before we get too far into this," Ash said, "can I ask you something?"

Aurian nodded. "What's on your mind?"

"It's not really a question, but more of a thank you. You saved me back there, even though you didn't have to get involved. Whatever happens moving forward, I trust you. Completely. Is that weird for someone I just met?" he blurted.

"No, it's not weird. I feel more comfortable around you than most of my gym-circuit friends. We won't make it much farther if trust isn't a priority. Speaking of which…"

She sighed, hands clenched together. "I promised I'd tell you why I ended up out here. I like to keep my promises. When I got home from the Silver Conference, I was expecting a belated birthday cake and a quiet family dinner. Instead, I walked in as my mom walked out. Turns out she's my stepmom, and she left my dad for a businessman in Almia she met online."

"Yikes," Ash put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

"It gets worse. They fought a nasty custody case over my brother. Ben's five, he doesn't understand what's happening," she wiped angry tears away. "In the middle of the digging and the slander, my birth certificate came up. Turns out that Atticus adopted me right after I was born and never told me."

"I left as soon as Atticus won full custody of Ben. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing… there aren't any answers to search for, I don't know what to do or if I even want to know who my real family is. Now I'm here," Aurian blurted, face red.

Ash frowned. "And Atticus wasn't planning on telling you?"

"Not until I turned fifteen," she shrugged. "He's a year off."

He handed her a tissue from his bag. "That's rough. It's probably not much to hear, but your team's your family, too. They're not going anywhere."

"Thanks," she sniffled, then honked her nose. "Okay, your turn. What happened at Spear Pillar?"

Ash told her as much as he could remember about the Spear Pillar incident, starting with his, Brock, and Dawn's strange mental connection with the Lake Trio and ending with Cyrus vanishing into the void of his own creation.

"-and that's why Mars was mad at me back in the forest. I was technically the last person to see Cyrus before he vanished."

"No one's heard from him since?" Aurian leaned in, eyes wide.

Ash shook his head.

"Wild. It's so strange how the entire region went back to normal in an instant, right after the swirling vortex of doom evaporated. Almost as strange as the coup against the Unova League that Plasma tried!"

"Hold on, what?" Ash asked, jaw slack. "You're kidding."

"I can tell you how it all went down- I was there!"

Ash and Pikachu exchanged a dumbfounded glance.

Aurian laughed. "You're not the only one who happens to be where the world is ending."

The rest of the flight consisted of the two trainers swapping stories from their journeys, the cabin filling with laughter during the five-hour trip to Kanto.

Some time later, the plane descended below the clouds, splotches of light bathing the dark hills as the first rays of dawn broke over Kanto.

"Hold tight, this landing's gonna be rough!" Surge yelled, plane diving as he spoke.

The plane bounced three times on the runway before coming to a screeching halt, Surge cursing as he pulled into the loading dock.

"Last-minute turbulence can go die in the Distortion World," he muttered. "Well, y'all have everything you got on with?"

Ash nodded. "Thank you so much for the help."

"We'd be in a really bad spot if you hadn't agreed to take us," Aurian added.

Surge placed Pikachu on Aurian's shoulders. "Least I could do for two of my most memorable challengers. Stay safe out there."

The gym leader offered a salute before opening the back hatch of the hold, passing boxes out to waiting airport loaders.

"Hoods up?" Ash asked, stuffing his hat in his backpack.

Aurian frowned, pulling a pair of sunglasses from her own bag and poking the lenses out. "Too suspicious. Try these instead."

Pikachu gave his trainer a thumbs-up once Ash put the glasses on.

The duo ducked out of the cockpit and walked down the ramp into the Viridian airport, already abuzz with the flow of early-morning travel. Businessmen clutched travel mugs of coffee like their lives depended on it, families with young children passed snacks around, a gaggle of elderly couples sat together at a gate in matching t-shirts.

"Next problem," Ash led the way forward, "how will we make it home?"

Aurian pulled out her PokeGear. "If you still have Oak's number, use this to text him. We'll destroy it after we get where we're going."

"Sounds good," Ash plugged the number in and gave the professor as detailed of an update as he could without giving too much away.

"Guess we should head for baggage claim," Aurian pulled a distracted Ash away from an incoming pillar. "Do we taxi or do we walk?"

Ash bit his lip, handing Aurian's PokeGear back. "It's a two-day walk from here. I'll definitely need more medical help today since we don't have supplies. If we can taxi without anything weird happening, I'm down."

"We'll figure it out," she muttered, stepping on the massive escalator first.

While the two trainers descended to ground level, Ash spotted a familiar face.

He tapped her shoulder. "Pst! Hey, look over there-"

Gary Oak leaned against a pillar next to the south exit, holding a whiteboard with 'rival' scrawled on it in near-illegible handwriting.

"Should I know who that is?"

Ash facepalmed. "Right, forgot you have no reason to know him. That's Gary Oak! Longtime friend, former rival, current research assistant."

"You think he's waiting for us?" Aurian whispered.

Ash couldn't help the smile that came to his face. "Our luck's been pretty good so far. Let's hope that streak keeps going."

The escalator bottomed out, dumping the trainers into a baggage claim filled with blank stares and tired faces. Ash approached Gary, the latter's eyes widening in recognition.

"Am I glad to see you," Ash pulled Gary into a bro-hug. "Please tell me you have room for two passengers."

Gary clapped Ash on the back. "Yep, Gramps brought the Jeep. You have any bags to wait for?"

"This is all we have," Aurian motioned to their backpacks.

Pikachu curled into her shoulder with a long yawn and a fiery glare.

"Little guy seems upset, what happened in Sinnoh?" Gary asked.

Ash sighed. "Not here. The Professor needs to hear it, too. Things got really messy."

"Also," Aurian protested, "We haven't slept. Not a fun all-nighter, if you ask me."

"Noted. Never did catch your name, by the way," Gary extended a hand towards Aurian.

Aurian checked over her shoulder, eyes locking on unfriendly figures in dark suits occupying the escalator. "Sorry, we need to move. Now."

Ash led the way out, Aurian and Gary right on his heels.

Gary's PokeGear rang, the researcher answering in an instant. "Hey, we're in trouble. Come quick!"

An unintelligible voice crackled on the other end of the line.

"Hey, what'd you see in there?" Gary held the PokeGear in front of Aurian's face.

"Three guys who I'd bet good money are with the International Police."

The voice chattered faster as a maroon Jeep hurtled around a curve, screeching to a halt just in front of the trio.

Professor Oak threw the passenger door open. "Get in!"

Ash and Aurian dove into the back, sliding back and forth across the leather seats as Oak drove away.

"That was too close for comfort," he muttered, adjusting his sunglasses before exiting onto the highway connecting Viridian and Pallet.

"Ash, it's great to see you in one piece. Aurian, it's nice to meet you in person. How was your flight?"

"Bumpy," Ash shuddered, thinking back to the intense turbulence they encountered somewhere over Johto.

"Lieutenant Surge took good care of us," Aurian nodded. "I'm glad we're here and in one piece."

"Good. Now, I'd like to know… Ash, what the hell happened on Lily of the Valley Island?"

Aurian kept a close eye on Ash as he fought to find the words he needed, lip quivering.

"I… I didn't know what was coming," he blurted, eyes watering. "If I could change it, I would. It all went down right after the Championship battle. Tobias won. Obviously."

Before she could process the action, Aurian placed a hand on top of his, the tremors in his fingers calming as he held her hand in a death grip.

"We'd texted a bit after our battle and he invited me to get coffee before the big awards ceremony. I was practically fangirling. No idea what he saw in me, but I hoped to make a friend. Maybe even a mentor, if I played my cards right."

Oak nodded. "Go on."

Ash gulped. "We took a shortcut through the woods. Halfway to the coffee shop, he stopped. Asked me how the hell a fifteen-year-old took down two of his team members when no one else in Sinnoh… wait, no one else in the Big Four Regions had. I told him I wasn't sure, but it was an honor to battle him."

"If it's too much," Aurian murmured, "you don't have to-"

"Then things got weird."

Gary raised an eyebrow. "Things are always weird when you're around, you gotta give us more to work with here."

"No," Ash shook his head, "I get that, I promise. This was, like, weird weird. Darkrai popped out and absolutely lost control."

"A rampage?" Oak asked.

Ash sighed. "Darkrai kept going after my team fainted. Pika was trying to pull Sceptile out of the way when Darkrai closed in with an Ice Claw. It would have been a killing blow, I'm glad I was able to stop it-"

Oak slammed on the brakes. "Ash, how did you stop that Ice Claw?"

"Um, with my chest? I took the attack instead."

"You idiot," Gary put his head in his hands.

Aurian raised a hand. "Neither of you find this unusual in any way?"

"Ash, how have you not bled out? This had to have been… what, at least seven hours ago?" Oak turned around, a look of grave concern crossing his face. "Do I need to take you to an emergency room?"

Ash and Aurian locked eyes.

"Does he know?" Aurian asked.

Ash flushed an angry red. "I haven't told them yet."

"Do you want to?" she leaned her head back against the seat. "Would it be easier to-"

"What are you two yapping on about?" Oak leaned in.

Ash and Aurian released blue sparks from their fingers in tandem, aura bathing the inside of the Jeep in indigo light.

Gary rubbed his eyes. "You're kidding me!"

"My goodness. How did you discover this?" Oak's temperament shifted, the anger gone from his eyes.

"Remember when May, Brock, Max, and I went to the Tree of Beginning?" Ash asked, receiving nods from the other Kanto natives. "I think that much contact with Lucario and just being in Rota kinda shocked my system into realizing I could work with aura."

Aurian paused. "Three years ago? I was in Unova. Met a colony of Mienshao on the road who freaked out when I got close enough to them. All of what I learned after that came from books in Kanto and Johto."

"I need you two to be totally honest with me," Oak leaned in. "Who else knows that you can use aura like this?"

"Only my team. None of my adoptive family knows," Aurian said.

"May, Max, Brock, Dawn, Kidd," Ash counted off on his fingers. "There was an incident near Soleceon Town back in Sinnoh that I had to use aura to resolve. Hunter J's in prison and probably doesn't remember. There's a Riolu who figured it out, but he's safe and out of harm's way."

Oak nodded. "All right, we can work with this. Ash, keep going- what happened next?"

"Um, it's a blur, mostly. Made it to shore, patched myself up, and almost passed out. Pikachu and I started towards the Center you told us to go to and walked straight into a Galactic ambush. That's where Aurian comes in," Ash motioned to the girl on his right.

"I couldn't have timed it better if I tried. Mars tried to kill Ash, we stopped whatever her team was up to, we dodged the IP at the Center, hitchhiked with Surge, now we're here."

Gary sighed. "Spoiler alert, Mars broke out of prison."

"Here's hoping she's back in there by now," Ash shivered.

"You've had quite the night," Oak said. "When we get back to Pallet Town, I want both of you to go to Ash's house and sleep. Rest will serve you well. I'll make some phone calls to a few of my contacts and see what I can do."

Aurian leaned in. "Who?"

"Let me guess," Gary jumped in. "Lorelai, Lance, Agatha, Caitlin, more of the same."

"Bingo."

Ash nodded. "Okay. Based on what you know right now, what do you think our best option is?"

"Hmm…" Oak sat in silence for a solid minute before responding. "Anywhere we can get you out of the public eye and away from anyone who wants to find you would be best. I'm not sure if witness protection is an option. Perhaps isolation training with someone in the Elite Four, I bet a Gym Leader or two in a non-League territory wouldn't mind sheltering you until this all blows over."

"Worst-case scenario?" Ash asked.

Oak looked back at the two exhausted trainers in his back seat. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"It's better than constantly worrying for the next few hours," Ash said. "Tell us."

"We ship you to Orre, potentially indefinitely. From what I've heard from their research center, that might be worse than what the League will do to you."

Ash and Aurian exchanged a panicked look.

"How close are we?" Aurian asked.

Oak chuckled. "We have another hour or so. You can sleep here, it's okay-"

His statement was interrupted by a sleeping Ash emitting a snore rivaling a chainsaw's roar.

Aurian motioned to her new friend. "Is that normal?"

"There's nothing normal about Ash Ketchum," Gary stretched, arms filling the Jeep's cabin. "The longer you hang out with him, the more that statement proves itself true."

The Jeep rolled through a small gate two hours after sunrise, the trail leading to a modest home surrounded by Pokemon and a white picket fence.

"Welcome to Pallet Town!" Gary said, hopping out of the Jeep before Professor Oak put it in park.

Ash jolted awake. "Do you need us to come in, or do you want us to go straight to my mom's house?"

"Come in first, I need to inspect that claw wound of yours," Oak held the door as the trainers filed in. "It's not much, but it's home."

Aurian collapsed on the first couch she saw, a Bulbasaur crawling into her lap. "Thank you."

"First order of business, before we get too comfy- we need to let your family know that you're safe, Aurian," Oak raised an eyebrow.

"They're better off not knowing where I am."

Ash nudged her shoulder. "What about your brother?"

"Well…"

Oak put a hand on her shoulder. "It's for the best. Once we figure out where you're going from here, that should be the last call you make for a while."

Aurian sat in stony silence, arms crossed.

"I think Atticus would feel at least a little better knowing you're not dead," Ash said. "How long has it been since you talked to him?"

"Since I left."

Ash gave her an exasperated look.

"Two weeks, maybe three?"

Silence from the boy sitting across from her.

"Okay," she sighed, setting Bulbasaur on the floor. "I'll call him. Is there a videophone I could use?"

"The one in the corner is on a secure line. I'd recommend you start there. I'll start calling my contacts and see what I can come up with," Oak motioned to a stool and a computer screen.

She stood, cracked her knuckles, and took a seat, hesitating before pressing the 'call' button.

Ash pulled up a chair. "Hey, I'm not going anywhere. I'll be your emotional support friend."

"Thank you," she squeezed his hand.

Aurian exhaled and slammed the 'dial' button, the line ringing three times before a man with shaggy sand-colored hair and brown eyes answered, dark circles under his eyes and glasses askew.

"Aurian."

"Hey," she waved.

Atticus gave a sigh of relief, the tension never leaving his shoulders. "Where the hell are you?"

"Kanto. I'm safe at Professor Oak's lab and I'm traveling with a friend."

"We met nine hours ago!" Ash protested.

Atticus squinted at the screen. "Aurian, who are you traveling with?"

"This is Ash," she tilted the camera. "We met in Sinnoh."

"Did you happen to meet him while he fled from the League on charges of reckless endangerment of Pokemon and evasion of capture?"

All the color left Ash's face. "What?!"

"The League issued a warrant for Ash Ketchum two hours ago. His photos are all over the news. This might just be me, but I'd prefer that you don't galivant around Kanto with a fugitive!" his eyes narrowed.

Ash put his hands up. "It's all a big misunderstanding, I promise!"

"From what the League said about you in their press conference, I highly doubt that."

Before he could say another word, Ash's palms erupted, blue sparks highlighting the panic on his face.

"Atticus, Ash is like me," Aurian copied the motion. "I trust him far more than I trust you."

The older man fell silent, jaw working but no words emerging.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Atticus asked, voice cracking on the last word.

Aurian's sparks died away. "Three years? You know what this is?!"

"I'd be a fool if I didn't. Aurian, I…" he trailed off, shaking his head, "We need to talk about this. Is there any chance you'll come home?"

She crossed her arms, glare defiant. "I said I needed space."

"Not a continent and an ocean's worth!"

"You do things your way, I do things mine. Look, that custody fight told me all I needed to know. I'm a magnet for trouble. I make things more complicated whenever I'm around, I get it. I just wish you had the courage to tell me in the first place instead of leaving the pieces for me to pick up on my own."

Aurian hesitated at the heartbreak on her father's face. "Atticus, I'm not coming back to Sandgem. Tell Ben I'm sorry."

The call ended, Aurian's tear-streaked face reflected back at her in the dead monitor.

(A/N): Hello! Thank you so much for reading Chapter 2 of Light in the Aftermath! This was so much fun to revisit and improve after such a long time. Special thanks, as always, to thechinskyguy for his second-to-none beta-reading skills. I hope all is well with y'all as the holiday season approaches. Please review and share with your friends! I hope you enjoy reading this project as much as I enjoy writing it.

See you on the flip side!