TEAR


By: @vALoN

Chapter Three


The two armoured dinosaur-type Pokemon - one with a blue jewel embedded into its chest with blue decoratives on its plates, and the other with 2 pink jewels placed into its shoulders with similar decoratives in magenta and standing on its hind legs in the air - roared with anger as Time and Space - their homes - fluttered helplessly in the air, weakening slowly.

The shadow didn't back away from the two Pokemon gods. It didn't seem intimidated at all... if anything, Ash swore that he could hear it cackling, rumbling in its non-existent throat.

Ash turned to face the back of the blonde teen. "It's Jeremie, right?" Ash asked, hollering over the rumblings and roars of the creatures that hovered above him in the sky. "What the hell is that thing?!"

Jeremie's eyebrows furrowed as he faced the shadow as if he was facing his arch nemesis. "That is XANA..."

The name triggered something in Ash's mind... something that Jack said to him before he was transported to this new world.

"He wasn't after me, was he?" Ash wondered out loud.

Jeremie glanced over his shoulder at the young man with a neutral expression. "How did you guess?"

At that moment, rays of blue and magenta light shot at the large shadow in the sky as they flew through the sky, attempting to find a weak spot at the intruder.

"Ready, Odd?" Ulrich called to his partner, as the two of them kept their balance on the quivering hovercrafts that they stood on.

Odd replied with a nod as he activated glowing cat claws from his gloves. "Ready when you are!"

"NOW!"

Odd released a showe rof glowing claw bullets towards the shadow, as Ulrich continuously set off golden blades of energy with each slash of his two katanas. The two teens were hoping that their attacks released simultaneously, and at their strongest strength, would at least keep the monstrous being at bay long enough for it to give up and retreat.

Their efforts seemed void as the lights hit their target with small clouds of smoke, dispersing to show that little to no damage was done. The shadow had merely flinched, perhaps throwing its invisible head back with taunting laughter.

"No!" Odd growled.

"Dammit!" Ulrich cursed. He grabbed his walkie-talkie from his belt and radioed into Jeremie's channel. Simultaneously, both the Skid and the Undine began releasing Energy Cannons from the NavSkids that were nestled into its metal tentacles.

"Jeremie, the plan didn't work!" Ulrich hollered over the noise.

"We've got our own problems!" Jeremie replied as a shadow tentacle shot towards the trio on the roof. He turned to Ash and Pikachu. "Can you guys swim?"

Ash and Pikachu nodded simultaneously, with determined expressions plastered onto their faces.

"Then jump!" Jeremie called as he ran to the edg eof the roof at a breathtaking speed. Ash followed suit, PIkachu holding onto him tightly.

"Is he insane?!" Ash cried out as he made a jump for the ocean several meters below him. "We're not gonna make it!"

Ash spread out his limbs into a star shape to create more friction between him and gravity, slowing himself down. Just then, Pikachu cried out, "Pikapi!"

Ash looked over his shoulder and gasped when he saw the tentacle charging towards them.

"Shit!" Ash cursed. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

Pikachu's cheeks began sparking as he prepared to release a wave of energy at the arm. With a sustained battle cry, Pikachu released 100,000 volts of electricity from its body at the shadow. For a split moment, the shadow's tentacle dispersed when it came into contact with the lightning bolt.

At the same time below, Jeremie's fall was caught by a NavSkid driven by Jin.

Jeremie had landed on his back when a lightbulb suddenly went off in his mind. He scrambled for the walkie-talkie that he had attached to his clip, but realized that it was only beginning to drop down from the sky when he looked up, being met with a slowly growing black dot in murky sky. He flipped over to his hands and knees and faced Jin through the tinted glass. "Tell Aelita to activate a tower!"

Jin leaned in towards the window, straining to hear. "WHAT?!"

"I SAID, TELL AELITA TO ACTIVATE A TOWER!" Jeremie called even louder, as the walkie-talkie kept on falling, as Jeremie had just realized, a good distance away from the NavSkid. The gravitational force of the changed atmosphere seemed to have slowed down the walkie-talkie's fall, frustrating Jeremie even more. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Oh, okay!" Jin called from the NavSkid and radioed into Aelita's channel. "Aelita, activate a tower, please!"

"Huh?" Aelita wondered out loud. "What for?"

"Hold on." Jin replied and turned to face Jeremie again, who seemed to be staring awkwardly at the distance. He tapped the glass to get his attention. "WHY?!"

"JUST DO IT!" Jeremie replied, obviously irritated.

Jin radioed back to Aelita. "He said, 'just do it.'"

"Who?"

"Jeremie."

Aelita tried to radio into Jeremie's channel, but failed to do so as something was disturbing the channel. She sighed exhasperatly. "Well, alright. Since it's Jeremie."

Jeremie glanced up at the sky as a lightning bolt was released from the little yellow mouse-like creature on Ash's shoulder at the shadow tentacle, dispersing it into shadows. As amazing as it was, Jeremie knew that it wasn't going to last them long. He turned back to the NavSkid, slamming against the window. "HURRY!"

"He said to hurry." Jin relayed.

Aelita frowned as she prepared to eject her soul into the Lyoko Mainframe. "Just what does he plan to do?" - her body fell back limply as her soul travelled through Cyberspace, binary numbers rushing past her in a dark tunnel before being landed gently on a glowing circular pad. She felt her fingers and tongue go numb and no scent reached her nose as her digital, elfin form approached a transparent blue screen that had the word "CODE" in bold, white letters. She placed her hand on the screen - "He'd better not be doing anything reckless..."

Back on Earth, Jin radioed into his sister's system. "Sis, you're in charge!"

"Huh?" Yumi wondered out loud in shock. Her question was answered when the Skid began rumbling, losing control, causing a yelp to escape from her lips. She rapidly pressed a few buttons and pulled hard on the steering wheel, bringing the Skid to a balanced hover. "Okay, I got it." - she radioed back to her twin brother - "Control of Skid exchanged." she reported.

A window popped up on Yumi's computer screen, displaying a 3D animated figure of Aelita with elf ears and pink markings on her face. "How are you doing, Yumi?"

Before she could answer, Yumi steered the Skid and Undine sharply away from a red laser, the light crashing into the ocean instead, releasing a wave of salt water after the fleeing hovercrafts. The force seemed to continue until it hit a part of the ocean where Jeremie's walkie-talkie had just landed, half-submerged. It was tossed out of the water and into Jeremie's outstretched hand.

"Finally!" Jeremie exclaimed as he clipped the walkie-talkie onto his belt. "Good stuff is happening!" Just as he said that, the turbulance had reached the NavSkid, causing the hovercraft to wobble for a bit. "Whoa!" Jeremie cried.

"Um, could be better." Yumi replied, "How are things in Lyoko?"

"Almost done." Aelita replied, just before the window closed and Aelita's body snapped awake. She pressed a couple of buttons and took control of the Skid once again as she radioed to Jeremie, "Tower activated."

"Thank you!" Jeremie replied with his half-soaked walkie-talkie. He was thankful that Aelita had made them waterproof.

Meanwhile, in the sky, Ash and Pikachu gave each other a high-five. "Nice!" he grinned.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed.

A blink of an eye later, the shadow recovered with a vengance. It knocked Pikachu off of Ash's shoulder with one tentacle, taking them both by surprise, and began drowning Ash with its shadows with another.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried as his companion began free falling towards the ocean.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu called after his trainer as Ash was engulfed by the shadows as Pikachu continued falling.

Pikachu was just about to hit the ocean surface when Jin's NavSkid broke his fall, the force of the hovercraft forcing up a shower of foam and mist around the aircraft.

Pikachu had landed safely in Jeremie's arms, just as green, neon wings made of light emerged from the young teen's back.

As he drove the NavSkid up to a higher altitude, Jin asked Jeremie through the radio, "Think you can take it from here?"

Pikachu climbed up to Jeremie's head, his body nestled between the wings.

"Yeah. Thanks, Jin!" Jeremie replied as he prepared to jump off of the hovercraft.

"Be careful!" Jin called as Jeremie leaped off of the NavSkid and began flying through the air, Pikachu holding tightly onto Jeremie's head as the wind nearly pushed the air out of his lungs.

Just then, the shadows had dispersed around Ash's body, revealing his usual shimmering brown eyes to be dull and lifeless. His hand hovered over the main gold handle of the Egg.

Turn the handle... Turn it!

No, not after what happened!

Turn it!

No!

Ash's hand hovered helplessly over the large handle of the Egg that he held in his arms. The hovering hand shook spasmically as he fought with the shadow that intruded his mind just moments before over his actions.

TURN THE HANDLE!

"No!"

Through the murky darkness that clouded his vision, Ash saw a mechanical hand reach out and grab the hand hovering over the Egg's handle.

The shadow reacted too slowly, and ended up grabbing one of the smaller dials instead and turning it sharply, releasing a tsunami of golden light.

The shadow cried in agony as the light pushed it out of Ash's mind.

Blinded by the light, the Skid and the Undine slowed to a halt on the surface of the ocean. Dialga and Palkia braced themselves as the light engulfed them.

"The Universe... is falling apart. We must fix it... no matter what."

"...Agreed."

The shadow completely dispersed out of sight, and the two Pokemon gods were returned to their rightful places in the Universe, awaiting until they are called upon once again.

When the light cleared, three figures plunged out of the last remains of the light and into the Atlantic Ocean.

* * *

With Jin's NavSkid - with the hatch open and attached to the aquacraft - driving the Undine across the surface of the ocean, the two females sitting anxiously on the top of the craft, they arrived at the location where they last saw the boys drop moments before.

The sky was now a clear blue with a few wisps of clouds in the sky. The tear was still there, fluttering in the atmosphere, and the sun shone brightly next to it.

A few seconds after the Undine arrived at the spot, bubbles began forming on the ocean surface, before it was broken into shattering dew drops of salt water by three heads popping out of the water.

All three on the Undine rushed over to where the side ladder ended to help the three boys out of the water.

Pikachu was the first to hop out, shaking the water out of its fur. As Aelita and Jin helped jeremie off of the ladder, Yumi took the body that Jeremie had handed to her and placed it gently on the roof of the Undine.

Just then, two NavSkids - with their hatches open - landed back into their respective slots in the Skid as Ulrich and odd jumped out of them, returning from their rounds. As they rushed over, Ulrich announced, "Coast is clear. Everything's over... for now."

The two boys stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the body, just as it began coughing up salt water.

"I-is that...?" Odd stuttered.

"No way..." Ulrich blinked.

Ash coughed up the last of the salt water in his lungs and blinked away the salt in his eyes. When his blurry vision focused, he was surprised to see his companions with shocked expressions.

"Hey, guys." he croaked. "Is it over?"

Jeremie nodded. Out of the whole group, he seemed relatively the calmest. "Yeah, for now."

"But, you might wanna check yourself in the mirror..." Jin frowned.

"Huh?" Ash looked down at his hands and was jolted out of his haze by shock. They were smaller, less-caloused than his own. He took off his fingerless gloves to find that his palms were smoother than his own as well.

He stood up and found himself to be a fair amount shorter, too!

"Wh-what in the..." Ash rushed to the edge of the Undine and came face to face with the reflection of a 10-year-old boy with spiky black hair, big brown eyes, and some leftover baby fat in his cheeks, wearing a small, Pokemon Ranger uniform that made him look like he was wearing a Halloween costume.

Ash screamed, his scratchy, adolescent voice echoing in the afternoon sky.

"What in the world is going on here?!"