Midnightmoon6o2
"Tougher than you."
In The Unknown World
"In The Unknown World, Pokemon have become myths, gyms no longer exist and being a pokemon master is nothing but a fairytale. Ash has lost this plus the only woman he loved dearly. What hurts the most is that he was the blame of everything for the fall of that unknown world."
(Advanceshipping, chapter-fic, M, Slight AU)
Chapter One: Let the child be.
"Stay a child while you can be a child."
STEPHEN SONDHEIM, Into the Woods
"In The Unknown World, Pokemon have become myths, gyms no longer exist and being a pokemon master is nothing but a fairytale. Ash has lost this plus the only woman he loved dearly. What hurts the most is that he was the blame of everything for the fall of that unknown world."
(Advanceshipping, chapter-fic, M, Slight AU)
Chapter One: Let the child be.
"Stay a child while you can be a child."
STEPHEN SONDHEIM, Into the Woods
Every time he close my eyes, that scene runs wildly in his mind. The fire, the screams, the deaths. He opened his eyes and that scene seemed to fade from his sights so easily, so quickly. But that didn’t mean where he stood didn’t receive some destruction. The boy laid he head against the cemented wall. Thin rays beamed through the cracks located on the ceiling. The light, as he gazed just seemed to painful to gaze and decided to move. In the early cold mornings of the winder his breathe became into cold puffs of air.
He laid his on another steady wall and sighed. He opened his eyes when they saw the small companion he had travelled with for so many years.
“Is that real? Is that really a pokemon?” the man rubbed his eyes and yawned.
“And so what if it is?” The boy wanted to jump to joy after hearing the response.
“Then let’s have a battle then!” He laughed afterwards. The boy, his pose, his stance only reminded of his past.
He stood up with only a smirk on his face. A mocking type of smile, a smile people would give another when they doubt their abilities. He lifted his auburn eyes to his opponent.
“In these times, I rather not. What you have there is a myth. Something that doesn’t meant to exist.” He spoke, he dusted himself afterwards. The boy’s cheeks inflated, he pouted afterwards.
“Coward. In these times we should train our Pokemon to lift from the dump were in!” The man laughed once more. He couldn’t take his innocence seriously.
He turned his back, fixed his pop up collar and pointed his hand at old column, weak and was ready to collapse. He opened his palm and called out a move. “Thunderbolt.”
And with just one simple phrase thin beams of lightning escape from the cheeks of a small yellow mouse and aimed right a the weak beam.
“What you call saviours are nothing but tools for a never ending war.” He softly spoke. He looked at the boy with sadness. “I’m sad that you couldn’t experience how it feels to be a pokemon trainer. Now, your stuck here at home. Wasting life, under foolish rules.”
“That means, your one of those trainers back then, before the war started. You’re a Pokemon Master.”
“Back six years ago, any trainer would be dreamt to e called one of those.” The man had noticed the boy began to back away from him. As he turned to the boy and began to take soft, gentle steps towards the child he fell backwards and held his pokemon tightly in his arms. That pokemon was a Bagon. He gave the child a intimidating glare. A glare that struck a cord with the child. “We, Pokemon Master now have to live in worlds like this. We protected people like you. People who didn’t have a chance to live and now we are branded as monster, creatures from hell.”
He raised his fist and as the small boy covered his face he opened his eyes slowly and noticed had happened to him or his trusty Bagon. The Bagan leaped out of his trainers arms and discovered a orange and maroon spray. The little blue dragon inspected the item by smelling and poking it with his little blue arms. When it was safe he gave the item to his trainer.
“This is a hyper potion. You can hardly get them these days.” The boy looked up to the man.
“They weren’t really eight years ago.” He spoke. “Back when I was ten, life was good. Now, if I told anyone this would happen in eight years, they would all laugh at me.”
The man, who was much older than him, held his hand out to the boy. He giggled as the little child nervously accepted his help and the man pulled the child to his two feet. The child, even what he had seen kept his distance from the man by taking three huge steps backwards while holding his little dragon type in his arms.
“Do you know the story of the electric war?” The little child shook his head. The young child noticed the man, had become…gentle and soft to be with. “I knew it. Humans want to cover up their mistakes by little pretty pictures and lies.
The man sat down and patted the free space beside him on the ground a few times. The boy looked at his pokemon before accepting the man’s request.
“It only happened a few months. See all of this.” The man placed his hand on the child’s back and pointed at the new trains that still laid in their original spots, haven’t been touched. “They were the top in the range trains, the best in the world right now, and Kanto, we get to have them first but then, a month later from posh new in the range trains to piles of rubbish.”
“But what does that have to do with the war, sir?”
“You see little boy. There were many regions, they got into a horrible discussion which led up to things such as these being turned into rubbish but most of all, people lost their lives and their mothers, brother, fathers, sister. Anybody they cared for was grantee to be dead.”
“Why do these things happen?”
“Because people who can are bored and they think a war will be enough to entertain them.” the man rubbed his eyes once more. “I lost somebody dear to me, that day. In fact, a I lost so many, I’ve lost count.”
Noise began to brushed into his eardrums as footsteps; heavy footsteps echoed louder. Muttered voiced came afterwards, commands here and there were scattered like bird seeds and the endless march of men repeated themselves. The man covered the child’s mouth and took him under his wing as both rid behind a reception desk. The man’s hand still over the child’s lips.
“Sir, I can’t find and trace of the Pokemon Master the report have stated.” Soon a slap on a cheek followed afterwards. All the men were placed into their spot afterwards.
“Don’t give me any b******t!” A feminine voice replied in anger. “We haven’t been in this place for ten minutes are you said the Pokemon Master isn’t here? I will be the judge of if this self claimed ‘Pokemon Master’ was here or not.”
“Yes Maim!” The all repeated and scattered all into their own ways.
He continued to listen to the faint voices the echoed in the hallway before taking a look. There was no doubt, that woman, he knew her. But she looked so different. Her black and white mini dress was replaced fancy and expensive royal ruby long sleeve top, leather belt around her waist and knee length dress. Legs were wrapped in stockings with high black heel boots. A wipe laid in one of her hands as she readjusted her military cap. What remained the same was her long midnight coloured hair and her wonderful sapphire eyes.
Holding the child’s hand he stood up, and through his ruffed black raven hair he looked at her like a ten year old would. She took her pose and aimed her weapon at her but was quickly taken down when she looked through his eyes. It was not right for a commander to cry, to shed tears. Memories flooded back into her mind. Her men were no where to found. As the tears fell onto the subway floor the woman softly touched his cheeks.
It was really him. The young boy looked at the woman. She was known as Dawn Berlitz. A powerful woman in the military. In control of soldiers and dispatched them like toys she had no more interest in playing with no more. She was not the lady the young boy remember hearing stories from.
“Ash, you’re the Pokemon Master? But how? You’re the son of-” Ash placed one single finger over her lips.
“You know damn well that I’m not the only pokemon master around here. Don’t play dumb with me.” Dawn looked away and hear steps of her men coming back to report. Dawn began to push both boys out of the underground subway.
“I’ve no knowledge in what your talking about. Now leave before I get dragged into your mischief.” Ash smirked.
“Don’t use your fancy language on a son of a business man. I’ll see your around then.” he teased but the boy’s cheekiness was wiped away when gun bullets few into the air. Dawn continued to push both boys out.
“That depends if you make it out alive from here first, oh Pokemon Master.”
The boy wanted to laugh but knew that had to keep their pace up and delays were no longer a option. Moments later soldiers crowed their leader, asking what the trouble was. And like a great politician, the bluenette lied through her teeth. As Ash and the small boy only hid a few moments, a few layers above Dawn he and the child could hear their conversation well.
There was no time to stop, they both pressed on until the reached the busy streets of the main part of the city. It was a calm area despite the rubble they had been in moments ago. The child stood as Ash placed his bag onto the plush grass and removed his long black coat and placed it roughly into his backpack. The boy gasped after seeing who the Pokemon Master was.
“Your Ash Ketchum, son of the famous billionaire of the Kanto region.”
“Yup, that’s me alright.” He grinned. He noticed the young child had dust marks all over and patted them off for the child. “You better head home, your parents are going to worried sick for you.”
“I’ll just tell them that I hanged out with you and you used your Pikachu to save me from the bad soldiers.”
Ash patted and ruffled with the child’s wild spiky brown hair and smiled. “Nobody is going to believe you, I’m not the same Ash Ketchum that you just saw compared out here.”
“What do you mean?”
Ash rose to his feet and smiled. “You’ll see, later on tonight.” Ash waited to hear the call of the boy before hearing his voice fade from his ears before looking at a foreign object, a poke ball. Half red, half white with a strip of black dividing the two colours. What was different with this little machine was the simple thunderbolt symbol placed o the red half of it.
“How did things get this far buddy?” The trainer looked high into the sky. “Do I even want to remember how?”
Busy echoes of the cars didn’t seem to bother Ash. To the world he was another teenager. Another teenager, running late to school or a meeting place with one of their friends. He watched as each person, his age or not seeing if they had any knowledge that outside this wonderful ‘world’ was a landscape of the war that had ended only a few months ago. To build a giant city of this scale in that time scale mind boggled him, but what confused him the most is how, why did they live like nothing ever happened.
Yes, they had all know been living in a world without pokemon for eight years but wars continued behind their back, most of them never reached the front covers of the papers. There was a military presence, there was no denial for the boy but only eight years ago he was able to run freely, no strings attached with pokemon running freely. Battles were all around the place. There were no limits, as long you had a dream, you could always reach it. No matter what age.
He raised his hand high into the air and each one that passed his palm, he would act as if to catch it and release it. And another would come by and the same actions would be repeated.
“Hey!” another voice called. He ignored the call, not knowing if it was for him or for the other millions of people passing by his direction. Soon purple ivy hair covered his view. Ash tossed it away from his view, forcing the trainer to sit up. “Good, it’s nice to see your awake.” he glared at her as if he had just woken him up from a deep slumber.
Both soon got caught in the building over the hills. The buildings had been crumbled and Ash’s thoughts led to the subway where he hanged with himself and his trusted Pikachu most of the days where he was not required to head to ‘business school.’ the buildings afar use to have far surrounding them and thick black smoke flying high into the sky; looking like twisted black tall ghost seen in nightmares. And like his own name he could smell smoke everywhere. That day, eight years ago was a start of a new life nobody saw coming.
“Your still thinking about it?” Ash noticed the fair skinned girl had kneeled down beside him. “Are we the only ones that really want to remember what happen all those years ago? I mean it started a little early over here, but even Unova couldn’t escape the grasp of the new life revolution.”
“How can’t I?” He looked up at the girl. “I was part of that damn war, Iris.” He fell to his back and looked back at the lightly tinted sky. “I remember the muttering of the crowd and how they kept on saying who caused this? How did this happen? I wanted to say it was me, it was all my fault.”
“Back then, they would comfort pokemon trainers, but now, they are refused by the public. Look around us, our lives are turned upside down because of one rule, a law that will be hard to replace.” Iris looked down and Ash was losing into his thoughts once more. “If we told anyone about the past, the battles and everything. We are already stamped ‘Pokemon Master“, a treat to humankind. Avoid at all costs.”
“Careful, they might take you away like they did with the others.” Iris could feel her arms wrapped around her body, a self-conscience move to protect herself.
“How many have they taken now?” Iris shuddered at the idea of losing any of her friends.
“Cilan, Gary, Paul, Dawn…and...” the trainer turned to his side at the name he nearly spoke. “Dawn is alright now, she is a commander. She has control over most of the soldiers here in the Kanto region.”
“Your seeing her tonight? Wait, did you show you’re a Pokemon Master?” the girl knew what that silence meant. “you did, didn’t you?”
“You try hiding in a old wreaked subway without getting caught by twenty soldiers.” Iris moved out of her way as Ash stood onto his own two feet. “I’m going to see her tonight, I better get ready.”
“What, as in date?” Iris asked, still in her same spot.
“Bah, something business wise. To be honest, you and Dawn are the only people I have contact from the good old days.” Ash offered his hand to the girl. “So is it okay if you don’t get caught please?” Ash teased.
“I would like to see them catch this wild girl.” Iris pointed at herself proudly, one hand on her waist, chest out.
“So that’s a no then?” Iris kept on smiling. Ash just sighed.
“Hey,” Iris placed her hands on the boy’s shoulders. “You stay safe as well, Pokemon Master.”
Iris began to make her way out of the city parks as for Ash, he took the long way. Trams and buses were at their peak hour and walking home would have been the better option. But to Ash, the longer he took to get home the better it was. Others waited under the tram shelter with him. Two woman continued to giggle and waved at him. A simple glance at them nearly gave them a heart attack. Of course, most of the town knew him. He was the son of a famous owned company. A man that most girls his age would love to marry. Soon a tram parked beside them and he entered.
As Ash took his seat his phone began to ring. A simple touch at the green phone connected him to his caller on the other end. “Hello?”
“Hey there Ash.” Dawn greeted from the other end. “Now where the hell are you?!” The tone of the cheery girl soon dropped. “You know how important this dinner is?”
“Well, not really. It’s just like the other dinners I’ve been force to take.” Ash yawned. “Wait, how did you get my number.” Ash paused. “Wait, never mind. Like that matters.”
“Anyway this is the military and the most powerful company of Kanto we are talking here. If this go wrong here another war will break out!”
“That’s nothing new. Let there be another war, I don’t care.”
“Where has the positive happy-go-lucky Ash I knew eight years ago?” Ash was laid into silence.
“He died alongside the others we knew well.”
On the other line Dawn held her phone tight at the words Ash had just spoken. His face flashed into her mind as her hand tightened her grip. “Ash, please don’t go back to that day.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t help but mention it. They were all so important to us.”
“You are the only person that I even have contact from. I want to leave it like that.”
“I can’t continue talking about this over the phone with you Dawn. I know you still get hurt about it.”
She quickly dropped the call before her tears would touch her bedroom floor. Her phone slipped through her fingers. As strong her piercing glances may be to her soldiers her past broke her like glass. Her eyes fixed onto her body length mirror from across the room. It wasn’t projecting her red silk dress, her white fluffy scarf or her fancy hairstyle. It portrayed her ten year old self, the cheery girl who had such a positive view on the world. But seeing her friends lying in front of her; never to wake up again, shook a cord with her.
“Dawn.” a voice called from the other side of the door. It was her mother, Johanna. “Are you ready? Your father wants to go now. He can’t leave without you.” The mother of one was shocked when the door in front of her flew wide open.
“I’m ready. Tell Dad to get the car started. I’m going to be late with my dinner with Ash and the others.”
Johanna clapped her hands in excitement. “Ash is still alive? When did you meet him?”
“Today. Near one of the abandon train subways.”
“Is he okay? Is he able to eat three times a day?” Dawn placed her hands over her mother’s.
She smiled. “His fine. But he isn’t the same Ash we remember him to be.”
.XxX.
“Sir Ashton.” a cheery old maid greeted from the speaker. “Oh, you better hurry. Your father isn’t very pleased with you.”
“Let him be. Maybe it might convince him not to take me with him tonight.”
“Oh you know that can’t be possible. Since you know the military’s daughter you have to come. You’re the two most talked about couple!” Ash sighed.
“Were not a couple. We just met today.”
The gates began to open and in front showed a grand mansion. It was nothing compared to the little blue cottage house he remember growing up in. There stood his father and his mother beside him. Ash adjusted his bag straps and made way to his parents.
“Did you spread rumours that I’m ‘taken’?” Ash spoke straight forward. “With Dawn?”
“Ash please.” Ash looked at his mother. She simple looked away after locking eyes with her son.
“It’s good for the business. Maybe after a few weeks we’ll get you two married.”
The teenager slammed his bag into the pavement and bitterly looked back up to his father. He has his fists clenched.
“Forced marriage? You mean you knew Dawn was alive and was keeping to yourself?” He paused before adding. “You know I can’t! Not after…”
“Ash, move on. May isn’t coming back. You know that.”
“Shut up!” Ash yelled before running back into the house. His tears soon followed.
“Ash! You come back here!”
Ash’s father wanted to chase after his son. To tell him of and suck it up but when he felt the hands of his wife intertwined with his mind cleared up. His wife looked at him gently and held her husband’s hands tighter.
“Let him be. After all, it not easy losing your close friends like that.”
“But that was eight years ago.” Her hands graciously crossed his cheeks.
“It takes more than eight years for love to fade away. For Ash, it might take a little longer for him to see that she isn’t coming back.”
Silence, darkness and loneliness crept into his room. He could hear the steps of his parents come towards him but they couldn’t reach him. The only barrier; his door kept him safe from them. His oldest companion crept into his lap and rubbed his cheeks on his shirt. He smiled and patted him but that smile Pikachu gave him was wiped away when a old figurine came into view. It was scratched and had chips on its ear and on its paws. It had been damaged over the years.
Pikachu looked up to his master and knew what he was looking at. He jumped of and reached for the object and returned it back in his arms. “Chaa.” He held up the figurine as high as his little arms could go.
“I can’t Pikachu. I can’t.”
“Pikachu?”
“You know how I would react when I see that figurine. You know how I react every time I see anything from my trainer days.” Pikachu lowed the old doll and placed it in front of his trainer.
“Pi, pika chu.”
He couldn’t stop staring at it not matter how much he wanted to stop. Her voice came back to him, calling his name. Holding his tears Ash bit his bottom lip and knocked the figurine from his sights. Turning back Pikachu took two steps before looking over his shoulder.
“Cha…”
Patting his pokemon, Ash put on a half smile. Hearing his parents knocking on the door endlessly he stood up, fixed him self before turning the doorknob and puling it to him. There stood his parents. “Thank goodness your alright.” Delia greeted her son with a warm embrace.
“Now that’s all over.” Ash looked at his father. “We have that dinner to head to. Ready?”
“Rolling his eyes. “Like I have any other choice.”
.XxX.
Ash scrolled down the electronic list on his phone as he heard the background noise of another man speak. He glanced at the man speaking before returning to his phone. Dawn watched from across the room and saw the boy’s attention to the whole closed diner meeting.
“Just because your family has power over this meeting doesn’t mean he has to act like a prick!” Dawn pouted.
“Mr Ashton Ketchum!” The man called the boy’s name. Ash still didn’t react. The man slammed his hands down on the table, causing plates and cutlery jumping into the air. “If you have nothing to say, then why did you come.”
Pressing the off button on his phone and boy glared at the man. “I just had other business to take care of.” He slipped his phone into his chest pocket of his suit.
“What could be more important that this meeting? We need to discuss about how to reduce violence and the traffic in this city!”
“We need to remove that stupid bill you guys passed on eight years ago.” The boy muttered.
“Ash!” everyone blinked at the man who called the boy’s name. Standing up Ash slammed his hands on the table.
“But it’s true isn’t it?” The teenager scoped at everyone in the room. “We had the war and this is how you deal with the problem? You introduce a law that which was like asking everyone to pull their hearts out!”
“Leave your damn problems out of this! It was better to remove pokemon trainers off the face of the planet!”
Clenching his fists Ash replied. “That’s mass murder! Don’t you see? If you left the way it was then none of this s**t will be happening right now!” Ash pointed onto the table as he spoke. “This is b******t. Complete b******t!” He repeated. With a stare from his father Ash sat down. Crossing his arms and legs. “Whoever these Pokemon Master are, I hope they can take this world off the face off the planet.” Glaring at the man he spoken earlier. “Just like your team did? Right Mr. Norman Maple.”
Pointing at Ash, Norman gritted his teeth. “You keep May out of this.”
“You keep her out of this!” Toning his voice down. “Give me five minutes and then the Head of transportation can read out his speech on how to reduce city traffic.” Glaring at Norman. “Unless he has more idea for mass murder.”
“Ashton out!” The boy’s father commanded.
Standing up roughly he left the room without destroying anything in his path. Seconds later Dawn excused herself out of the meeting chasing after her childhood friend. Outside, Dawn discovered Ash right beside her, on the wall, resting the back of his head on it. Standing right in front of him he greeted her with a slap.
“Please explain what that was all about?!”
“That usual Dawn.” Looking at her. “Sorry to give your first meeting with such negative view.”
“Do you ever get anything done in there?”
Rubbing his cheek that collided with Dawn’s hand Ash added, “Nothing has ever escalated like that. Maybe because I acted like that because Norman is now head of the transportation here. He was also the dad of…” Sighing Ash fixed his hair.
“Father of May.” Dawn spoke in a disappointed manner. “That explains all the foul language back there.” Holding the cheek she injured. “What happened to you and him.”
Holding both of her hands Ash looked straight at her. “Not now, I can’t say. Not under these circumstances.”
“I understand.” Smiling, Dawn added. “Now let’s go back in there and finish what we started.”
.XxX.
“I suggest more buses in the town, to take routes that are not so covered in traffic and the trams, make the fees lower to encourage the community to ride them.”
Rotating the pen in his fingers Ash looked at Norman before looked at Dawn’s father, Cyrus. “Cyrus, what do you think of the proposal?” The teenager looked back and brought pen to paper and began to write.
“It’s interesting, but if we lower the fees for the trams what fees will we rise?” the man crossed his legs and leaned back. “Research projects?”
“We are not reviving that space and time proposal you gave us a few weeks back Mr Cyrus Berlitz.”
Holding his hands up in the air laughing, “You guys are too serious here. Maybe we should just call this off and resume on another day?”
“I’m not complaining with that.” Ash dropped his pen lazily. “Dad?” Ash looked to his left, where his father sat.
“It’s for the best. The tension here is too tight. We can’t focus on the issue of this city well enough. Be glad the Major wasn’t her to see what childish behaviour earlier.”
“Mr Giovanni.” Norman began. “I’m sorry, my emotions got the better of me.”
“Forget it, this meeting is over for today. We will resume it later on the week.”
Each member left the room accordingly before father and son was left in the room. Ash refused to turn to face his father. These talks, he had them too many times in the past. Giovanni placed his hand on his forehead and sighed. “Ash, what was that?” Punching his fist on the table. “Don’t convince me to send you to therapy!”
“I don’t need any therapy! I want things to return back to normal!”
Raising his fists he looked bitterly on his son before dropping it down. “Stop living in that world Ash. It’s dead, like your friends.”
“Don’t speak about my friends!” Ash pointed at his father. “You started this whole mess. I can’t believe I’m even your son. We are totally different!”
Grabbing his son’s arm roughly, Giovanni looked at his only child bitterly. “You like it or not, I am your father. Deal with it.” Releasing his grip on his child Giovanni walked out. Leaving the boy all alone.
Waiting for the sound of the closing door his eyes crossed to his father’s chair and kicked it off its feet and throwing all his notes off the desk. Falling to his knees Ash covered his face with his palms.
“How did things get this far out of hand.” Looking around. “Since when did I get this…low?”
Looking at the table Ash crawled and stayed. Closing his eyes with his arms wrapped around him tightly. Tears were still fresh and running down his cheeks.
“Just this once, let me be a child once more. Just this once.”
.XxX.
A/N: Hi guys! This is really new for me, i never wrote such a high rated AU fic based on war. I wanted to really challenge myself and i think i might of over done it. ^^; Also i never write adventure stories often so i thought i might as well start again, take a little road away from drama.
I hope you enjoyed it and i hope you all don't think it's too OOC! I will still work on Ringer mainly since that story is reaching its end, i'll focus on that mainly before focusing on this. So updates might be slow or really fast, depending on my mood.
I hope you enjoyed this and see you around!
~midnight
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