Categories > Anime/Manga > Pokemon > Return to Grace
Chapter One: Fishing Blues
1 reviewAsh Struggles to escape Mt. Silver while being pursued by Abominations.
0Unrated
Return to Grace
AN- This chapter took a little longer than I anticipated, but it's out and I have big plans for the rest of the story. This chapter is a little shorter than the last one, but the next one will probably be longer. I really want to thank everyone who reviewed, it really helps my motivation. Once again I hope that everyone who reads enjoys and any feedback is really appreciated.
Warnings- this fiction will most likely become very violent and gory, if that bothers you than please don't read. It is also AU.
Disclaimer- Pokémon and all of its characters and worlds belong to Game Freak and Nintendo. Anything original in this fiction belongs to me, but feel free to use it.
Return to Grace
Chapter One: Fishing Blues
Fishing, as it had been of late, was terrible. It didn't matter if she had the best lures, bait and all of the time in the world; nothing was biting. Not even the Abominations. It was a bad sign. It generally meant that there weren't enough Pokémon left in the lake to supply the Abominations with food. Of course there were regular fish, non-Pokémon fish, but the Abominations didn't eat those. They only ate humans and Pokémon. Just the thought of that sent chills up her spine.
She lived a dangerous life, one that few chose. She was a Pokémon Hunter, a small breed of a foolish few who hunted the few remaining Pokémon in hopes of protecting them. Today she had caught five; they were stored at one of the few remaining Pokécentres, via her Pokédex. During the golden age of training she had gotten Bill to rig her Pokédex so that it was directly linked with his storage system, so she could switch her Pokémon at a touch of the LCD screen on her Pokédex. Now she used it to hopefully save Pokémon lives. There was an outpost, not far from the lake; it used to be an aquarium. When she got there she would deposit all of the water Pokémon that she had caught and release them. It wasn't perfect, but at least they had a chance there. The lights were particularly bright there, but she knew just how unreliable those lights could be.
They called her Red. It wasn't her real name, but at the time she had embraced it as a new take on life. At the time she had been twenty, she was twenty-eight now...sometimes it was hard to believe that eight years had passed since then. Sometimes it was hard to believe a lot of things.
Strapped to her arm was a large hunting blade; it wasn't the only one. She had one strapped to each one of her calves, concealed under her faded and ripped jeans. There was another one at her belt accompanied by two very large tranquilizer pistols. As much as the Abominations had taken from her, she couldn't bear the thought of killing one of them. Each one of the tranquilizers was strong enough to knock out a full-grown Rhydon for three hours, strong enough to stun an Abomination for sixty seconds. In her fanny pack she had ten magazines with twelve rounds each. Of she ever ran out of darts, the pistols were large enough so that she could at least club one of them in the head.
She looked at the sky it was getting close to dark, best to get back to the outpost soon. Going anywhere at night was suicide and she wasn't going to risk camping when it wasn't necessary. Yet something inside wanted to stay. It was almost as though; if she stayed that she could be achieving her destiny. She sighed and cast off once more, half an hour wouldn't hurt...she hoped.
~~~*~
The freefall tore all of the air from his lungs. Ash tried to think of anything that could cause him to fall a little slower, nothing came to mind. He wondered if he would survive the impact of hitting the water below. As the glossy water approached Ash slowly exhaled, making sure that he would land feet first. As soon as he felt his feet hit the water he took a deep breath.
The water was ice cold, painful like pins and needles. He struggled under the sheer pressure of the waterfall, trying to get away from its force. It seemed determined to push him to into the black depths of the seemingly bottomless lake. Ash thrashed his free arm, pushing forward instead of up. He kicked his legs franticly, his lungs felt like they were going to burst from the pressure. He needed to exhale, but he knew that he wasn't close enough to the surface to do that yet. His vision was starting to blur, small bubbles escaping his lips.
With one last frantic kick he was out of the waterfalls suction and able to get to the surface. Air had never tasted so sweet or felt so good as he breached the surface. That first breath was divine, but short lived.
"Pika," Pikachu murmured, bringing his attention to the several Abominations surrounding them. Ash could feel his chest seize up; he was getting too old for this.
All around them were several Remamen, large fish men that had spears and acid secreting tentacles. He had faced one once and found that they were incredibly vulnerable to electricity. Of course at the time he had been on dry land and the Remaman had been in the water. If Pikachu attacked now he would get fried too, unless...
Ash remembered the last time he had battled Misty, the one time that she had beaten him. It was right before he had claimed his title from Gary, maybe a few weeks before. They were battling at the Cerulean City Gym, in the pool. Whenever Pikachu had attacked, she had gotten her Starmie to go underwater. Pikachu's attacks would travel over the surface of the water; electricity may have been able to travel quickly through water, but it could not penetrate it. When he questioned her tactics, she made a remark about lightening hitting lakes and oceans and not frying the fish.
"In three seconds, I'm going to go underwater. I'm going to toss you into the air and I want you to use Thunder," he whispered, Pikachu looked at him quizzically, but did not question his actions. Ash took a deep breath and counted to three.
He tossed Pikachu in the air and ducked under the water as fast as he could. The electricity from the attack look terrifying through his water obstructed eyes, but it was working. One by one the Remamen were electrocuted, loosing consciousness and floating in the water. The light show above slowly faded and Ash swam to the surface. He hardly had time to catch his breath before something coiled around his leg and pulled him under.
It took all of his effort not to scream, lest he waste that last precious breath. He kicked his free leg hysterically, he clawed frantically at the water, all in a hopeless attempt to break free. He could see Pikachu trying to swim down to him, but he was moving too fast. He looked down at the Abomination that was dragging him to his death. He was too deep in the water for the light to penetrate enough to make out the whole monster, but he could make out the glowing red eyes and the rows of shiny metal teeth. Ripped to shreds or swallowed whole, with this particular Abomination it looked like he would suffer both.
A flash of red caught his eyes and he wondered if he was bleeding. Then he saw it again and again, there was a large school of Magikarp was circling him. They started to swim into the dark surface of the Abomination. It started to swipe at them with its tentacles, but there had to be at least forty of the fish like Pokémon.
'They're sacrificing themselves,' he thought darkly as they continued their assault upon the monster. He must have been going delusional from the lack of oxygen.
The tentacle that had been holding him in place slipped from around his ankle and started to attack the Magikarp. He was free, but at what cost. Ash couldn't bear to look at them getting ripped to shreds, so he didn't look down before swimming up. He kicked his legs a little faster, exhaling as slow as he could. He was amazed that he hadn't run out of breath so far, but he wasn't about to question his luck.
As he made it to the surface for the second time he was met by a very ecstatic Pikachu. The small Pokémon swam over to him, talking quickly and disjointedly. As much as he had been able to understand Pikachu over the years, this particular babble was unintelligible.
"Slow down," he said, spiting out a mouthful of water as he talked. "We should get out of here, those guys are bound to wake up anytime soon." Pikachu nodded, swimming onto his shoulder. He swam to the closest ledge, pulling them both out. They appeared to be in a tunnel of sorts, Ash doubted that anyone had bee this far into Mt. Silver. There were a few large cracks in the roof of the tunnel, but they were too high up for them climb out. It looked like they had a long walk ahead of them, but Ash was just grateful to be out of the water.
They walked for hours, but he didn't mind because from the small shafts of light that made there way into the tunnel he knew that it was still daytime. If there were any Scythebats in this cave, they would be sleeping. He just had to be sure that they were absolutely silent. Ash had even taken his shoes off and was carrying them under one arm, just in case their bottoms were louder than his feet. He knew that if he followed the river that the lake had thinned into that he would eventually find his way out. He wished that he had his backpack, but he hadn't had time to grab it. His old Pokédex was in it, although it had broken eight years ago. There was still something sentimental though; it was an artefact from a brighter time. He also had an extra change of clothes; he had forgotten how uncomfortable wet clothes could be. There was no use in lamenting over it, the backpack was gone. Everything that had been in that cave was gone...
Ayden...
Ash stopped in his tracks at the thought of the boy. For the first time the enormity of what had happened hit him. Instantaneous guild flooded him. How could he have let that happen? How could he have let that child perish in such a painful and gruesome way? There were so many people that he had to apologise to, everyone he knew, but he felt that he owed Ayden the biggest apology.
It had been so different when he had won his title; it was a dream come true. He was going to be the very best like no one ever was, and then he was, but it wasn't quite as great as he thought it would be. At first he thought that it was the shock, but that would have gone away after a few days. A few months past and he knew that there had to be more about being a Pokémon master than just randomly battling hopeful kids. The journey had been so meaningful, but the end was so...lame. After one year of pointless battles and public relations garbage, he decided that he didn't care about Pokémon. Or at least that he wanted a break from it. He released all of his Pokémon, wishing them the best in their freedom.
After a year of solitude he felt that he was older and wiser, ready to face the world again. On his first night home...he didn't want to think about that night, never again. He wondered what he would have said to Ayden if the Scythebats hadn't interrupted them. "Sorry kid, but sometimes you're dreams aren't what they seem. Same goes for heroes, sorry to disappoint you." Ayden had actually seemed different than all of the other trainers he had seen after his victory. Ayden was like the part of himself that had died with his mother, reincarnated in an against-the-odds type trainer. He shook his head, wondering if he was crying of if it was water dripping from his hair. His hair had been dry for hours.
"I'm sorry kid," he whispered. A shiver ran down his spine as he realised that he had spoken aloud. With the way that his luck had been going there wasn't a chance that an Abomination hadn't heard it. Ash quickly picked up his pace.
He walked as fast as he could, hesitating to break out into a run. The tunnel floor was far too jagged to be running without shoes, but he'd have to make due. There was no way that he was going to risk the chance that they hadn't heard him by putting on his shoes. It wasn't exactly day anymore, but he could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel. Just a little bit longer and he would be free...at least for a moment.
When he got to the edge of the tunnel his heart sunk, the river lead out of the tunnel, but down the side of the mountain. It wasn't nearly as steep as the other one he had faced today, but Ash wasn't sure if he could survive another waterfall. His feet were killing him and he was bruised all over, he had bruises where he wasn't aware that he had flesh. He was tired; if it weren't for the threat of Abominations he would just lie down and sleep on the floor. It also didn't help that he was starving. Ash had always had a large appetite, but he hadn't eaten in more than twenty-four hours. He didn't know if he would have the energy to swim out from this waterfall.
He could feel his chest constricting as the deadly fluttering of Scythebat, or perhaps something even deadlier, wings echoed through his head.
"This is freaking hilarious," he muttered, trying to get his shoes on as fast as he could. He managed to get one of them on before a Scythebat swooped at his head, narrowly missing him. "You ready for another swim?"
"Chuu..." Pikachu groaned, crawling into his jacket. Ash slipped on the other shoe, not bothering to tie it before taking another leap of faith.
~~~*~
The sun was setting and she knew that she should be getting back to the outpost, but something inside refused to let her get up. Just ten more minutes, just ten more minutes, her mind kept on reeling. She knew that she was pushing it, but she also knew that there had to be a reason for the feeling. It was nagging and a little irritating, but she knew that she would continue to sit there...at least until something really bad happened. Although all things considered really bad happenings were a daily occurrence.
"I must be going insane," she muttered to nothing in particular. She sighed deeply and turned her hat around so she could see better.
A rustling noise caught her attention; instinctively she dropped the fishing rod and grabbed one of her guns, pointing it at the nearby bushes. It looked like her risk wasn't going to pay off. She steadied the gun, lining the sight up at the slight disturbance in the bush. The leaves parted, she cocked the gun, a small bead of sweat trickled down her forehead. She took a shaky breath, ready for the amazing speed and terror of an Abomination.
She was met by a pair of big blue eyes, surrounded by a round pink body.
"Oh it's just you," she said, slowly releasing the pin, successfully un-cocking the gun. It had amazed her that this little Pokémon was still alive. This particular Jigglypuff had to be at least seventeen years old. She had never been caught, probably never would. This Jigglypuff liked to follow her around, but was always quick to hide from the Abominations. Jigglypuff sat next to her, playing with a marker that remarkably still had ink in it. She smiled at Jigglypuff and picked up her discarded fishing rod.
One week before the Abominations had been unleashed on the world, the Jigglypuffs stopped singing. Even the ones that fought for their trainers had stopped using the Sing attack; it was a sign of bad things to come. Jigglypuff started to draw on her hand, a small flower with really big leaves. She once again smiled at round Pokémon, although she couldn't help but notice that the flower looked sad.
"Thanks," she said quietly, patting the Pokémon on the head.
A loud howling broke the silence of the area, Jigglypuff darted into the bushes. She hoped that it was able to make it through the night. She didn't have much doubt; Jigglypuff had been avoiding the Abominations for nine years. What was one day more? Another howl echoed through the night sky. Now she knew that she had to get out of there, Doomwolves hunted in packs. They were incredibly fast, so by the time that she shot one of them, the rest of them would be ingesting her alive. Just as she was gathering her things together her fishing rod jerked forwards. She was able to grab it before it fell into the lake, gone forever.
Whatever had grabbed onto her rod wasn't too heavy, at least by water Pokémon standards. She couldn't count the number of Gyarados that she had pulled from the water and they weighed over five hundred pounds. The creature that snagged her line was probably close to one-ninety, she knew that she had been doing this for too long when she could tell the weight just by a tug. Hopefully it was a Swampert or a Sealeo; she hadn't seen those in years. Of course there were a lot of other things it could be, Pokémon was just the best-case scenario. She quickly propped the fishing rod between two large rocks, pulling out the gun again. She reeled it in with her left hand and clutched the gun with her right, by far the steadier of the two.
Slowly the mass at the end of her line started to take shape. Once again she cocked the gun, it seemed like the click echoed through the night. This was no Pokémon.
~~~*~
The second time that Ash hit the water he didn't have the energy to swim. It took a tremendous amount of effort just to keep his grip on Pikachu, to keep his eyes open. This waterfall wasn't as powerful as the other one, but the river bellow wasn't nearly as deep as the lake had been either. When he hit the bottom of the riverbed his feet sunk into the deep slimy mud that the Shellder used to nest in, they were probably extinct by now. He managed to get his feet out of the mud, but he lost his loose shoe. It was okay though; he could always get new shoes.
His mind was racing faster than his body could manage. In his exhaustion he could only allow himself to float to the surface, while his mind screamed to move faster. His fatigue was lethal, even breathing, once he hit the surface, was laboured. Pikachu seemed in much better shape that he was, although Pikachu had always been the stronger of the two.
"I think we're going to die," he whispered, looking into the now dark sky. The sound of flapping wings wasn't upon them yet, but he could hear their screeching sonar. How long was it before they found him? At that moment all he wanted to do was just float in the water and wait for death.
"Ayden..." he whispered, once again flooded with guilt. He made a promise and he was going to keep it, even if it killed him, which it most likely would. He still had to try though, he owed Ayden that much.
He sunk under water as a Scythebat dived at him. As long as he bobbed in and out of the water before they could hit him, he might just make it. He continued this plan of action until the river widened into a basin. A loud howl reverberated through the air and the Scythebats scattered, giving him a few moments of peace. By this point he could feel his consciousness waning, his vision was already starting to fade. He sunk under the water and this time he didn't know if he was going to make it back up.
Then he saw it, or he thought he did, a fishing line shinning in the moonlight. Who the hell would be fishing at this time? Why did he care? He never realised how lonely he was until he saw that line. Sure he hadn't been too content on seeing Ayden for the first time, but spending nearly twenty-four hours running and swimming for his life was enough to change his mind about solitude. He wrapped the line around his hands, then pulled on it hard. At first the line was too slack for him to believe that there was anyone there, just an abandoned fishing pole. But then it slowly started to pull him up. Once he was out of the water the line started to cut into his hands, but he wouldn't let go. What was a little blood compared to getting out of the water?
Ground had never felt so good as he was pulled onto the ledge of a small cliff. Pikachu and him both took several deep breaths, his lungs felt starved. Once he felt that he had the capability to talk he looked at the fisher, his savoir. Ash could have sworn that there was a ghost in front of him.
Eight years ago he had been listening to the news on his Pokégear radio when he heard about her death. A million things passed through his mind at that moment. Apologies that he would never get to say, things that he should have said, things he should have done. In his anger he had smashed his Pokégear, Pokédex included. It almost felt like he was getting a second chance. He took in her appearance. Same red hair, same green-blue eyes, only they were filled with shock. She was wearing a yellow tank top; similar to the one she wore when they were kids. Her shoes were the same that they had always been, the jeans were new so was the gun. Ash felt touched that she was wearing the hat that he had given her all those years ago, a memento of him. He wondered if he had passed out in the water and this was a pleasant dream before he drowned. The pain from his bruises and his cut up hands told him that this was very real. He looked deep into her eyes, his mouth hesitating to find her name. He smiled weakly at her, taking another deep breath before he spoke.
"Misty."
To be continued...
AN- This chapter took a little longer than I anticipated, but it's out and I have big plans for the rest of the story. This chapter is a little shorter than the last one, but the next one will probably be longer. I really want to thank everyone who reviewed, it really helps my motivation. Once again I hope that everyone who reads enjoys and any feedback is really appreciated.
Warnings- this fiction will most likely become very violent and gory, if that bothers you than please don't read. It is also AU.
Disclaimer- Pokémon and all of its characters and worlds belong to Game Freak and Nintendo. Anything original in this fiction belongs to me, but feel free to use it.
Return to Grace
Chapter One: Fishing Blues
Fishing, as it had been of late, was terrible. It didn't matter if she had the best lures, bait and all of the time in the world; nothing was biting. Not even the Abominations. It was a bad sign. It generally meant that there weren't enough Pokémon left in the lake to supply the Abominations with food. Of course there were regular fish, non-Pokémon fish, but the Abominations didn't eat those. They only ate humans and Pokémon. Just the thought of that sent chills up her spine.
She lived a dangerous life, one that few chose. She was a Pokémon Hunter, a small breed of a foolish few who hunted the few remaining Pokémon in hopes of protecting them. Today she had caught five; they were stored at one of the few remaining Pokécentres, via her Pokédex. During the golden age of training she had gotten Bill to rig her Pokédex so that it was directly linked with his storage system, so she could switch her Pokémon at a touch of the LCD screen on her Pokédex. Now she used it to hopefully save Pokémon lives. There was an outpost, not far from the lake; it used to be an aquarium. When she got there she would deposit all of the water Pokémon that she had caught and release them. It wasn't perfect, but at least they had a chance there. The lights were particularly bright there, but she knew just how unreliable those lights could be.
They called her Red. It wasn't her real name, but at the time she had embraced it as a new take on life. At the time she had been twenty, she was twenty-eight now...sometimes it was hard to believe that eight years had passed since then. Sometimes it was hard to believe a lot of things.
Strapped to her arm was a large hunting blade; it wasn't the only one. She had one strapped to each one of her calves, concealed under her faded and ripped jeans. There was another one at her belt accompanied by two very large tranquilizer pistols. As much as the Abominations had taken from her, she couldn't bear the thought of killing one of them. Each one of the tranquilizers was strong enough to knock out a full-grown Rhydon for three hours, strong enough to stun an Abomination for sixty seconds. In her fanny pack she had ten magazines with twelve rounds each. Of she ever ran out of darts, the pistols were large enough so that she could at least club one of them in the head.
She looked at the sky it was getting close to dark, best to get back to the outpost soon. Going anywhere at night was suicide and she wasn't going to risk camping when it wasn't necessary. Yet something inside wanted to stay. It was almost as though; if she stayed that she could be achieving her destiny. She sighed and cast off once more, half an hour wouldn't hurt...she hoped.
~~~*~
The freefall tore all of the air from his lungs. Ash tried to think of anything that could cause him to fall a little slower, nothing came to mind. He wondered if he would survive the impact of hitting the water below. As the glossy water approached Ash slowly exhaled, making sure that he would land feet first. As soon as he felt his feet hit the water he took a deep breath.
The water was ice cold, painful like pins and needles. He struggled under the sheer pressure of the waterfall, trying to get away from its force. It seemed determined to push him to into the black depths of the seemingly bottomless lake. Ash thrashed his free arm, pushing forward instead of up. He kicked his legs franticly, his lungs felt like they were going to burst from the pressure. He needed to exhale, but he knew that he wasn't close enough to the surface to do that yet. His vision was starting to blur, small bubbles escaping his lips.
With one last frantic kick he was out of the waterfalls suction and able to get to the surface. Air had never tasted so sweet or felt so good as he breached the surface. That first breath was divine, but short lived.
"Pika," Pikachu murmured, bringing his attention to the several Abominations surrounding them. Ash could feel his chest seize up; he was getting too old for this.
All around them were several Remamen, large fish men that had spears and acid secreting tentacles. He had faced one once and found that they were incredibly vulnerable to electricity. Of course at the time he had been on dry land and the Remaman had been in the water. If Pikachu attacked now he would get fried too, unless...
Ash remembered the last time he had battled Misty, the one time that she had beaten him. It was right before he had claimed his title from Gary, maybe a few weeks before. They were battling at the Cerulean City Gym, in the pool. Whenever Pikachu had attacked, she had gotten her Starmie to go underwater. Pikachu's attacks would travel over the surface of the water; electricity may have been able to travel quickly through water, but it could not penetrate it. When he questioned her tactics, she made a remark about lightening hitting lakes and oceans and not frying the fish.
"In three seconds, I'm going to go underwater. I'm going to toss you into the air and I want you to use Thunder," he whispered, Pikachu looked at him quizzically, but did not question his actions. Ash took a deep breath and counted to three.
He tossed Pikachu in the air and ducked under the water as fast as he could. The electricity from the attack look terrifying through his water obstructed eyes, but it was working. One by one the Remamen were electrocuted, loosing consciousness and floating in the water. The light show above slowly faded and Ash swam to the surface. He hardly had time to catch his breath before something coiled around his leg and pulled him under.
It took all of his effort not to scream, lest he waste that last precious breath. He kicked his free leg hysterically, he clawed frantically at the water, all in a hopeless attempt to break free. He could see Pikachu trying to swim down to him, but he was moving too fast. He looked down at the Abomination that was dragging him to his death. He was too deep in the water for the light to penetrate enough to make out the whole monster, but he could make out the glowing red eyes and the rows of shiny metal teeth. Ripped to shreds or swallowed whole, with this particular Abomination it looked like he would suffer both.
A flash of red caught his eyes and he wondered if he was bleeding. Then he saw it again and again, there was a large school of Magikarp was circling him. They started to swim into the dark surface of the Abomination. It started to swipe at them with its tentacles, but there had to be at least forty of the fish like Pokémon.
'They're sacrificing themselves,' he thought darkly as they continued their assault upon the monster. He must have been going delusional from the lack of oxygen.
The tentacle that had been holding him in place slipped from around his ankle and started to attack the Magikarp. He was free, but at what cost. Ash couldn't bear to look at them getting ripped to shreds, so he didn't look down before swimming up. He kicked his legs a little faster, exhaling as slow as he could. He was amazed that he hadn't run out of breath so far, but he wasn't about to question his luck.
As he made it to the surface for the second time he was met by a very ecstatic Pikachu. The small Pokémon swam over to him, talking quickly and disjointedly. As much as he had been able to understand Pikachu over the years, this particular babble was unintelligible.
"Slow down," he said, spiting out a mouthful of water as he talked. "We should get out of here, those guys are bound to wake up anytime soon." Pikachu nodded, swimming onto his shoulder. He swam to the closest ledge, pulling them both out. They appeared to be in a tunnel of sorts, Ash doubted that anyone had bee this far into Mt. Silver. There were a few large cracks in the roof of the tunnel, but they were too high up for them climb out. It looked like they had a long walk ahead of them, but Ash was just grateful to be out of the water.
They walked for hours, but he didn't mind because from the small shafts of light that made there way into the tunnel he knew that it was still daytime. If there were any Scythebats in this cave, they would be sleeping. He just had to be sure that they were absolutely silent. Ash had even taken his shoes off and was carrying them under one arm, just in case their bottoms were louder than his feet. He knew that if he followed the river that the lake had thinned into that he would eventually find his way out. He wished that he had his backpack, but he hadn't had time to grab it. His old Pokédex was in it, although it had broken eight years ago. There was still something sentimental though; it was an artefact from a brighter time. He also had an extra change of clothes; he had forgotten how uncomfortable wet clothes could be. There was no use in lamenting over it, the backpack was gone. Everything that had been in that cave was gone...
Ayden...
Ash stopped in his tracks at the thought of the boy. For the first time the enormity of what had happened hit him. Instantaneous guild flooded him. How could he have let that happen? How could he have let that child perish in such a painful and gruesome way? There were so many people that he had to apologise to, everyone he knew, but he felt that he owed Ayden the biggest apology.
It had been so different when he had won his title; it was a dream come true. He was going to be the very best like no one ever was, and then he was, but it wasn't quite as great as he thought it would be. At first he thought that it was the shock, but that would have gone away after a few days. A few months past and he knew that there had to be more about being a Pokémon master than just randomly battling hopeful kids. The journey had been so meaningful, but the end was so...lame. After one year of pointless battles and public relations garbage, he decided that he didn't care about Pokémon. Or at least that he wanted a break from it. He released all of his Pokémon, wishing them the best in their freedom.
After a year of solitude he felt that he was older and wiser, ready to face the world again. On his first night home...he didn't want to think about that night, never again. He wondered what he would have said to Ayden if the Scythebats hadn't interrupted them. "Sorry kid, but sometimes you're dreams aren't what they seem. Same goes for heroes, sorry to disappoint you." Ayden had actually seemed different than all of the other trainers he had seen after his victory. Ayden was like the part of himself that had died with his mother, reincarnated in an against-the-odds type trainer. He shook his head, wondering if he was crying of if it was water dripping from his hair. His hair had been dry for hours.
"I'm sorry kid," he whispered. A shiver ran down his spine as he realised that he had spoken aloud. With the way that his luck had been going there wasn't a chance that an Abomination hadn't heard it. Ash quickly picked up his pace.
He walked as fast as he could, hesitating to break out into a run. The tunnel floor was far too jagged to be running without shoes, but he'd have to make due. There was no way that he was going to risk the chance that they hadn't heard him by putting on his shoes. It wasn't exactly day anymore, but he could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel. Just a little bit longer and he would be free...at least for a moment.
When he got to the edge of the tunnel his heart sunk, the river lead out of the tunnel, but down the side of the mountain. It wasn't nearly as steep as the other one he had faced today, but Ash wasn't sure if he could survive another waterfall. His feet were killing him and he was bruised all over, he had bruises where he wasn't aware that he had flesh. He was tired; if it weren't for the threat of Abominations he would just lie down and sleep on the floor. It also didn't help that he was starving. Ash had always had a large appetite, but he hadn't eaten in more than twenty-four hours. He didn't know if he would have the energy to swim out from this waterfall.
He could feel his chest constricting as the deadly fluttering of Scythebat, or perhaps something even deadlier, wings echoed through his head.
"This is freaking hilarious," he muttered, trying to get his shoes on as fast as he could. He managed to get one of them on before a Scythebat swooped at his head, narrowly missing him. "You ready for another swim?"
"Chuu..." Pikachu groaned, crawling into his jacket. Ash slipped on the other shoe, not bothering to tie it before taking another leap of faith.
~~~*~
The sun was setting and she knew that she should be getting back to the outpost, but something inside refused to let her get up. Just ten more minutes, just ten more minutes, her mind kept on reeling. She knew that she was pushing it, but she also knew that there had to be a reason for the feeling. It was nagging and a little irritating, but she knew that she would continue to sit there...at least until something really bad happened. Although all things considered really bad happenings were a daily occurrence.
"I must be going insane," she muttered to nothing in particular. She sighed deeply and turned her hat around so she could see better.
A rustling noise caught her attention; instinctively she dropped the fishing rod and grabbed one of her guns, pointing it at the nearby bushes. It looked like her risk wasn't going to pay off. She steadied the gun, lining the sight up at the slight disturbance in the bush. The leaves parted, she cocked the gun, a small bead of sweat trickled down her forehead. She took a shaky breath, ready for the amazing speed and terror of an Abomination.
She was met by a pair of big blue eyes, surrounded by a round pink body.
"Oh it's just you," she said, slowly releasing the pin, successfully un-cocking the gun. It had amazed her that this little Pokémon was still alive. This particular Jigglypuff had to be at least seventeen years old. She had never been caught, probably never would. This Jigglypuff liked to follow her around, but was always quick to hide from the Abominations. Jigglypuff sat next to her, playing with a marker that remarkably still had ink in it. She smiled at Jigglypuff and picked up her discarded fishing rod.
One week before the Abominations had been unleashed on the world, the Jigglypuffs stopped singing. Even the ones that fought for their trainers had stopped using the Sing attack; it was a sign of bad things to come. Jigglypuff started to draw on her hand, a small flower with really big leaves. She once again smiled at round Pokémon, although she couldn't help but notice that the flower looked sad.
"Thanks," she said quietly, patting the Pokémon on the head.
A loud howling broke the silence of the area, Jigglypuff darted into the bushes. She hoped that it was able to make it through the night. She didn't have much doubt; Jigglypuff had been avoiding the Abominations for nine years. What was one day more? Another howl echoed through the night sky. Now she knew that she had to get out of there, Doomwolves hunted in packs. They were incredibly fast, so by the time that she shot one of them, the rest of them would be ingesting her alive. Just as she was gathering her things together her fishing rod jerked forwards. She was able to grab it before it fell into the lake, gone forever.
Whatever had grabbed onto her rod wasn't too heavy, at least by water Pokémon standards. She couldn't count the number of Gyarados that she had pulled from the water and they weighed over five hundred pounds. The creature that snagged her line was probably close to one-ninety, she knew that she had been doing this for too long when she could tell the weight just by a tug. Hopefully it was a Swampert or a Sealeo; she hadn't seen those in years. Of course there were a lot of other things it could be, Pokémon was just the best-case scenario. She quickly propped the fishing rod between two large rocks, pulling out the gun again. She reeled it in with her left hand and clutched the gun with her right, by far the steadier of the two.
Slowly the mass at the end of her line started to take shape. Once again she cocked the gun, it seemed like the click echoed through the night. This was no Pokémon.
~~~*~
The second time that Ash hit the water he didn't have the energy to swim. It took a tremendous amount of effort just to keep his grip on Pikachu, to keep his eyes open. This waterfall wasn't as powerful as the other one, but the river bellow wasn't nearly as deep as the lake had been either. When he hit the bottom of the riverbed his feet sunk into the deep slimy mud that the Shellder used to nest in, they were probably extinct by now. He managed to get his feet out of the mud, but he lost his loose shoe. It was okay though; he could always get new shoes.
His mind was racing faster than his body could manage. In his exhaustion he could only allow himself to float to the surface, while his mind screamed to move faster. His fatigue was lethal, even breathing, once he hit the surface, was laboured. Pikachu seemed in much better shape that he was, although Pikachu had always been the stronger of the two.
"I think we're going to die," he whispered, looking into the now dark sky. The sound of flapping wings wasn't upon them yet, but he could hear their screeching sonar. How long was it before they found him? At that moment all he wanted to do was just float in the water and wait for death.
"Ayden..." he whispered, once again flooded with guilt. He made a promise and he was going to keep it, even if it killed him, which it most likely would. He still had to try though, he owed Ayden that much.
He sunk under water as a Scythebat dived at him. As long as he bobbed in and out of the water before they could hit him, he might just make it. He continued this plan of action until the river widened into a basin. A loud howl reverberated through the air and the Scythebats scattered, giving him a few moments of peace. By this point he could feel his consciousness waning, his vision was already starting to fade. He sunk under the water and this time he didn't know if he was going to make it back up.
Then he saw it, or he thought he did, a fishing line shinning in the moonlight. Who the hell would be fishing at this time? Why did he care? He never realised how lonely he was until he saw that line. Sure he hadn't been too content on seeing Ayden for the first time, but spending nearly twenty-four hours running and swimming for his life was enough to change his mind about solitude. He wrapped the line around his hands, then pulled on it hard. At first the line was too slack for him to believe that there was anyone there, just an abandoned fishing pole. But then it slowly started to pull him up. Once he was out of the water the line started to cut into his hands, but he wouldn't let go. What was a little blood compared to getting out of the water?
Ground had never felt so good as he was pulled onto the ledge of a small cliff. Pikachu and him both took several deep breaths, his lungs felt starved. Once he felt that he had the capability to talk he looked at the fisher, his savoir. Ash could have sworn that there was a ghost in front of him.
Eight years ago he had been listening to the news on his Pokégear radio when he heard about her death. A million things passed through his mind at that moment. Apologies that he would never get to say, things that he should have said, things he should have done. In his anger he had smashed his Pokégear, Pokédex included. It almost felt like he was getting a second chance. He took in her appearance. Same red hair, same green-blue eyes, only they were filled with shock. She was wearing a yellow tank top; similar to the one she wore when they were kids. Her shoes were the same that they had always been, the jeans were new so was the gun. Ash felt touched that she was wearing the hat that he had given her all those years ago, a memento of him. He wondered if he had passed out in the water and this was a pleasant dream before he drowned. The pain from his bruises and his cut up hands told him that this was very real. He looked deep into her eyes, his mouth hesitating to find her name. He smiled weakly at her, taking another deep breath before he spoke.
"Misty."
To be continued...
Sign up to rate and review this story