Chapter 5!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Did you enjoy your presents? Here's my present, a new chapter! Enjoy!
A Whisper in the Wind
Chapter 5
Ash stormed on ahead, letting instinct take over, ignoring the looks from the golden Pikachu by his side. He was in a state of emotional turmoil, he couldn’t make heads or tails of where he was going, he just charged forward, trying to get away, he had to get away.
I have to keep going, just move on, it’s over, all over…keep treading my path of…eternal solitude, no friends, only my Pokemon, no one else will get close to me, no…never again…never again.
Suddenly his legs gave way, he couldn’t continue, his emotions were to heavy to bear. Staring around where he had collapsed to his knees, he cringed, this was Pallet Lake, where he had talked with Misty the night before. Looking up at the starry sky, he contemplated on all that had happened over the past two days, it was too much…just too much. Shifting his attention to the clear blue water, he stared down into its depths before he spied something white float in front of him.
It was a lotus, a perfectly round yellow center surrounded by pure white petals, soft and supple, its petals reaching up, as if trying to grab him.
Waterflower…
Suddenly a wave of despair seized him, and he plucked the flower out of the water before shredding it to bits, petal by petal, taking each one and ripping it in two, then shredding the stem as well. Incinerating the remains of what had used to be a lotus, he then reached into his pocket and pulled out something pink and soft. It was square shaped, with a decoration of a setting sun in a bright red. It was setting over an ocean represented by blue squiggly lines, as other decorations in yellow were embroidered on the soft pink silk. All this was surrounded by a border of red, the same color of the sun.
Holding it in his hands, he tried to rip it in two, but as much as he strained, he couldn’t break it. He pulled and pulled until tears began to sting his eyes, then gave up and began to sob into the handkerchief as Pikachu looked on.
Oh, Mew, what have I done?
*~*
“Misty, please open up!” May was knocking on the door heavily, trying to get a response from the depressed redhead. Nothing.
“Misty! Please, please come out!” Still nothing.
“Come on! Do you really think that Ash would want you to act like this.” Wrong words. Misty did come out, but she had an angry glare in her reddened eyes, and the facemask she held in her hands was dripping with tears.
“What does it matter? Ash is dead. He doesn’t exist anymore. There is no Ash left.” Her voice was empty, hollow, without her usual energy. The door then slammed into May’s face, who then resumed the knocking.
“Misty! Mist-”
“That’s enough, May.” It was Delia who had spoken. “Let her be. I think we all need some time to ourselves.” Delia’s eyes were dimmed with tears of her own, she was having a hard time believing what her son had become. They went into the living room, where everyone was sitting in an uncomfortable silence. Everybody either had their head in their hands or were staring up at the sky. They seemed to be okay, but their eyes said otherwise. Rudy seemed to be the worst off.
“You know, I can’t seem to shake off the feeling that this is all my fault,” he mumbled into his hands.
“In a way, it was, but I don’t think any of us could imagined what happened to…Ash…” replied Brock. He still couldn’t get over what had happened to him. What happened to that happy-go-lucky, always confident teen he had known? That image just seemed to shatter right before his eyes.
“Yes, but still-”
“Rudy, look. Ash would have probably left us sooner or later, it isn’t really your fault that he ran off,” Max interrupted, although on the inside he felt like cleaving Rudy’s head off.
Rudy was about to protest again, but was interrupted by golden sparks flying through the night sky, interlocked with blood red bursts of energy.
“What the-”
*~*
Misty had been sitting in the darkened confines of Ash’s room for what seemed like hours now. She was curled up in a ball on his bed, hugging her knees. Staring listlessly at the drenched facemask beside her, she felt her eyes sting, but no tears came. She had used them all up a long time ago. Reaching out a hand and touching the soft, wet fabric, she began to shake all over as dry sobs wracked her body.
Ash…what happened to you?
She was startled out of her thoughts as a streak of golden light, followed by blood red sparks crossed her vision.
*~*
Everybody was staring out of the window, shock coursing through their bodies as if they had been hit by those sparks as well. They then jumped as Misty practically flew into the room, fear magnified in her sea-green eyes.
“D-did you guys s-see that?” she stuttered. Everyone was shocked that Misty had come out of Ash’s room, but that was easily drowned out by the surprise of the dueling sparks. They nodded yes, and at that moment, they heard a faint scratching at the door. Wondering who it was, they all ran to the door, and opened it to reveal a golden-skinned Pikachu with crystal eyes and ruby-red cheeks.
“PIKACHU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”
*~*
Pikachu was pretty freaked about what was happening, it took them a while to calm it down. After they finally got it to stop shooting of multicolored sparks, they asked it about Ash, and what was happening. Pikachu responded in a scared and tired voice.
“Well, we were attacked just outside of Pallet Town…”
“What? By who?” asked Max.
Pikachu looked up at him, fear in his eyes. “By…by Giovanni and the remnants of Team Rocket. I saw Butch and Cassidy and Professor Nanba, and even Jessie and James, can you believe it?”
“And…what happened?” questioned Brock.
“They…they had this machine. When Ash got too close, it pulled him towards it and began draining him of his energy. If he tried to fight back, it would drain even more. He told me to teleport out of its range before I got to close as well, since I was smaller I could escape easily. As far as I know, he’s still fighting it. Because of what’s sealed inside him, he has limitless energy, but he can still be weakened. I came to you guys because I know that you can help.”
“And why should we?” came an angry cold voice. Everyone’s attention was diverted to Misty, who’s head was down, staring at her knees as her fists were embedded in the sofa she was sitting on. “Ash is gone, there’s nothing left of him to help. There’s nothing left of him.” Pikachu bounded over to her and got her to look up. His crystal eyes bore into her sea-green ones, she couldn’t look away if she tried.
“Because,” he said, mimicking her tone of voice, only his was so full of anger that everyone shrunk away. “Ash is still there. A small part of the Ash you once knew is still clinging on, but just barely. He needs you. He needs your help. He needs you to save him from Team Rocket…and from himself.” Just then something in Misty’s pocket glowed, she reached in and pulled out a black feather.
“M-Misty? Where did you get that?” questioned Pikachu in surprise.
“This feather blew into my room on the night Ash disappeared. There was another one on his bed when we saw it the next day.” replied Misty, who was fingering the feather.
“That’s one of Ash’s feathers. You can use it to track him down if I ever get separated from you. It can also tell you his physical state, depending how it glows. Since it’s glowing with a black light, he’s getting weaker, but not too weak.” Pikachu explained. “We have to get Ash, now! Is anybody coming?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Of course, dear.”
“Of course!”
Everybody had stood up except for Misty. She looked at them all, then at the feather.
“Alright. Let’s get him back.”
*~*
The group ran through the forest, being led by Misty with Pikachu on her shoulder. All of a sudden, Pikachu cringed.
“I can feel the machine, guys, its trying to suck me in as well. I’ll need to get inside your backpack , Misty.”
“Alright then.” Holding the feather in her outstretched palm, she watched it point to the northeast, then start glowing with a larger aura of black. “This isn’t good, it looks like he’s loosing more energy! We have to hurry!” she screamed to the others.”
*~*
Ash strained to keep his footing, but the machine kept pulling him closer and closer, feeding off his energy like the parasite that it was. He grimaced as his feet began to slide ever closer…
“Once we have you in our clutches, we can exact our revenge as we see fit,” said Giovanni as Ash met his glare with a snarling face.
“ASH!!!”
“M-Mist?” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the redhead and all the others run out of the woods, panting in exhaustion. Pikachu’s head was poking out of her backpack, looking at him with a look that clearly said
“Please forgive me.”
The group was appalled to see what machine Giovanni was using to draw Ash into his clutches. A large tank was its base, ebony black and emblazoned with that red “R”. It itself was a large satellite dish, striking Ash with a dark red ray, a musty color, the color of freshly shed blood. Ash was cringing, he had shielded himself with large black feathery wings that had somehow emerged from just underneath his shoulder blades, but he was still being pulled towards it against his will. His bandages were torn, they had fallen off to reveal an intricate pattern of golden light engraved on his tanned skin, glowing fiercely. The pattern had seemed to spread even farther and had now reached his neck, as he strained even more. His body was going under too much strain, it needed more energy, and out of reflex, his body tapped in for more of Ho-oh’s power, the pattern inched forward ever so slightly…and the machine struck, draining his energy at an even faster rate. Ash tried to fire a golden light at the machine, but it was futile, the dish absorbed it and converted it into that deadly blood-red energy.
Firing back at the struggling trainer, it hit him straight in the chest head on, and caused him to lose his footing for a split second.
That was all the machine needed. Ash rose off the ground and was dragged straight into the dish, which disappeared into the tank and was replaced with a spherical force field, colored in the shade of blood. Ash struggled to get out of the force field, but his attack was rebounded on him once more, leaving him tired and exhausted. Everybody cried out his name and rushed forward, only to be stopped by another spherical force field, effectively shutting them out. Ash then succumbed to despair, sinking down onto his knees and leaning his head against the force field. This is what he wanted to prevent, he didn’t want the others to get involved in this, he didn’t want them getting hurt…
He noticed the sun beginning to rise over the horizon, and freaked, if the sunlight hit him in this form, Team Rocket would have full knowledge of what they held in their clutches. He quickly tried to retract his wings, but the force field prevented him from doing so, it would only allow the energy to increase. He tried desperately to hide them in his cloak…
A beam of sunlight struck his left wing. Immediately, the blackness began to melt off his wings like ice cream on a sunny day, as the others watched in amazement. The same happened to the black feather in Misty’s hand, it receded until the feather’s true colors were revealed. No longer a deep jet black like the night sky, it was now a beautiful crimson color, decorated with gold. “No…way…” whispered Misty.
“Th-that’s a R-Rainbow Wing!” yelped Max in surprise, and as they looked at Ash’s wings, they gasped. His wings were Ho-oh wings.
Ash buried his face in his hands. They knew, they all knew, and now Team Rocket could use his powers as they saw fit…and it was all his fault, he put his friends in danger, they would get hurt, no, everyone in the world would get hurt if Team Rocket ever found out how to manipulate his endless and powerful energy…and it was all his fault… He couldn’t let this happen! He tried to fight the force field once more, but instead, it began draining him of his energy once more. This pain was even more intense than last time, even Ho-oh could feel it, and they did the only thing they could.
They screamed.
It was a horrible sound, it was so full of pain and suffering that it hurt just to feel the vibrations. It was a medley of anguish and torment, guilt and despair, distress and sorrow. Ash’s screams melded together with Ho-oh’s screeches, creating a strange mix, it was Ash’s voice, but it sounded horribly mutated, it seemed to be closer to an eagle or falcon’s cry than to one of a human. But it was still in pain, and it never seemed to end. Tears were streaming down his face, not only because the pain was so intense, but because he was trying to apologize to his friends for letting them get involved in this, for causing them unnecessary pain.
They understood, and they tried to break free of their own prison, banging on the shield, crying tears of their own.
And through all this, Giovanni smiled. It was an evil smirk, as if he lived off the pain and suffering the same way the machine lived off of Ash’s boundless energy. His grin grew even wider as the machine finished its feeding and Ash dropped to the bottom of the force field, his breath coming out in long, drawn-out gasps, trying to welcome air back into his lungs. But his lungs were becoming weak, and the incoming air cut them, causing his eyes to water as he tried to steady himself. Giovanni walked up to his helpless captive, smirking widely. “So, I capture the one who felled Team Rocket once more, only to discover he is the very same person that destroyed it the first time. Then I find out that he is the vessel of the creature that I have been hunting for so long. How much sweeter can this get? I shall gain the power I deserve, and exact my revenge on you, Mr. Pokemon Master.” He spat out the last two words in utter disgust, it was obvious that things were still bitter between the two. Ash glared at him, his void-black eyes were deeper than ever before, killer intent easily seen. Giovanni was hardly fazed however, and let loose a maniacal laugh before him and his grunts made their way into the tank.
Ash glanced back at his friends, his eyes suddenly becoming their previous shade of warm chocolate brown as they filled with tears, before he buried his head in his hands once more. As the tank disappeared out of sight, and the force field surrounding Misty and the others vanished with it, they realized what he was trying to say.
Please, please forgive me…
*~end of chapter 5~*
Yes, it's a little sad, isn't it? My eyes were stinging when I was writing the first part, I don't know if it was because I was crying or because I was sitting at the computer for too long, but yeah, this chapter was hard to write. I guess next chapter will be out by Wednsday or Thursday.