Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Shadow doth not own pokemon, Nintendo does. So does Satoshi Tajiri, Game FREAK, 4Kids, Shogakukan Comics… this fanwork and other things are mine though. This is non-profit fanwork unfortunately, I wish I got paid, and I’m not infringing on their copyright!

Kaori: *Beams* Lollipop?

Phantomness: Thanks, but I need to skim off the calories.

Lance: *Sighs*

Chapter 4: Carved in ice = melting

Ash wasn’t sure how much time had passed; he was so busy he really did not have time to count the hours. But luckily, he had managed to obtain high school credit for all four years.

And he was only sixteen and a half.

Of course, more than four years of training could be attributed to that.

Currently, he was watching Lance and Charlotte spar, no magic. Charlotte was losing, as she was barely avoiding the airborne senbon Lance insisted on throwing.

Gritting her teeth, she jumped above the strike and brought her tonfas* down on Lance’s staff.

Wood clashed on wood, before they broke apart.

“Good work.” Lance said. “But…” As Charlotte was distracted, a simple front kick sent the fire guardian sprawling.

Ash sighed slightly as Charlotte rolled, bringing herself back into a fighting stance, filling the air with shuriken at the same time.

This time, Lance was the one blocking the attacks as Charlotte jabbed four points on her right arm, temporarily disabling her long enough to place a tonfa at her throat.

“Yield.” Lance said with a smile.

Charlotte breathed heavily as she removed her weapons and they both collected a variety of fallen objects from the ground.

“You two should rest for a bit,” Delia said. “That was an intense workout.”

“Hai!”

“So…” Ash said. “Are we ever going back on the road again?”

“Not sure.” Lance said truthfully. “Charlotte?”

“I’ve got three more years of balancing.’ The trainer replied. “But Ash, what do you want to do? We’ve prepared you to accept and fulfill your duty. However, that is still years away, while you have already passed the test of Shadow Mastery.”

“Yes.” Ash said briefly, as he stroked the key, amulet, and locket that hung around his neck and glittered like bits and pieces of glass.

“So it is entirely up to you.”

A faint obscuring light flickered in Ash’s eyes, a strange combination of anxiety, passion, and frozen emotions.

“Aneki, aniki… I do not want to take revenge.”

Lance looked startled. “You are certain?”

“He’s really growing up.” Charlotte remarked, half to the others. “Killing brings no emotional satisfaction.”

“Yes, and it does not help the situation, unless evil possess the traitor.”

Lance shook her head. * So quickly… time is passing almost like autumn leaves. But perhaps, it is time this occurred. *

“You make the choice, Ash.” She said, not meekly, simply affirming an earlier statement.

“You see…” Ash paused for a second. “I need to learn to move past the past, to not always cling to faint dreams. Creating a future beyond pain and betrayal is the key to success, and ultimately, a truth.”

“When did you sound so wise?” Delia queried.

Ash smiled at his mom. “Mom, I know you know all about me. All I want to say in return is, thank you. You’ve been my support in lifetimes, there to take are of me as a kid. I know I probably have no way of repaying that-.”

Delia cut him off. “Your happiness is important to me, dear, you know that.”

“Yes.” Ash said, laying a hand above his heart over his red and white jacket. “I know. But what about you?”

The woman smiled simply. “If you’re thinking of love, I do miss Giovanni. But he does not, and will not, remember me.”

“So…”

“Don’t use any love potions or spells, I know you know how to perform them, although you’ve never actually used them on people. If he does meet me, and we do click, I want it to be natural and without interferences.”

“I see.” Ash said slowly.

“Remember, I have experience as a single mom too, should things not work out. They are pretty memories, but one should not live by the past alone, as you said. Strange how great minds think alike, ne?”

Ash faced his mom fondly.

“Yes.”

Charlotte and Lance crept off into another area in case any heart-to-heart talks popped up.

Might happen.

Ash and Delia sat together quietly as they thought over things.

Persistence was a virtue.

Faint breezes filled the air as the two sat in silence.

Sometimes, words just got in the way.

“Have you decided yet?” Lance solicited.

Ash wasn’t sure, but he nodded. There would be more time to reconsider the decision later, if he had made a hasty choice.

“So, to where?” Charlotte asked, as she buckled her weapons holders on her legs.

“Well…” Ash said. “I think Aqua, Emerald, or Ruby Islands.”

“Interesting. Any particular reason?”

“I don’t want to see Misty at all.”

“Ah…” Lance nodded. “Then maybe you should avoid Aqua.’

“True, but that’s the last place she’d expect to find me.”

“Point taken.”

Delia waved them off as they departed en route to the Emerald Islands. “Be careful, children!”

“We know!” Three voices chorused, as a new adventure began.

*Tonfa – short-handled wooden stick-like weapons

Senbon – needles…

End Chapter!

Started 1/22/04, completed 1/31/04