True love is but a woman’s game, they never know the lover’s pain, and I who loved as loves a boy, must love in vain, must love in vain…! (Taken from the Importance of Being Ernest video)

Disclaimer: Look at all those lawyers representing Nintendo, and Shogakukan Comics, and 4KIDS (Curse them!)… And all the other companies! No, I don’t own pokémon no matter how much I would like to. *Sigh* this non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic is mine though; so don’t take it!

Chapter 11

She dropped incense into the fire, and watched it glint blue. Well, no, she could not actually see the color, but she felt the tinge of ice, and the crackling flames sounded more brittle than usual.

< So they have it now. >

< Yes, they do. >

< Lugia will be pleased? >

< Who can tell the future now? It is moving too swiftly for mere mortals to comprehend. >

< And what of Morty? >

< It seems that his path will lead him elsewhere… >

< Perhaps tis better this way… >

< Indeed. I do not believe that the Ice Master will lead him astray. >

Suddenly, without warning, alarms sounded. The Priestess swore as she felt Moltres tense. < What is it? >

< An ill wind comes towards this place. Seal the Temple. From now on, we cannot aid them in their Quest. >

< I understand, Moltres-sama. >

The doors clanged shut with a resolute sound, and a moment later, the fires winked out. Everything was still.

Koga and Aya found Ash and Lance already awake and heating breakfast over a fire when they awoke. Nothing seemed out of place, but Koga still felt a touch of unease. Perhaps he was being paranoid.

Aya tried to contact the Temple of Moltres, but nothing happened. The messenger-bird she sent returned, with a mournful look on its face.

“What’s wrong, Pidgey?”

The Temple is sealed… it is empty and quiet…. There is no fire within now…

“That can’t be!”

There were whispers of a great calamity that would arise when the sacred flames went out in the Temple of Moltres.

Koga shivered.

Ash and Lance looked startled, though that was for a different reason. Without Charlotte there… what would happen to the Blade of Fire?

Had it been destroyed?

The Temple was still standing, though that was small comfort. If a Pidgey could not pass through the wards, what chance had they?

Pidgey were inconspicuous. Their party was not.

The wards must have gone up for a reason, but they could not parse the intent of the world now. There was nothing to do but to continue the search for the Blade of Lightning and hope for the best.

Lance did not put much trust in hope. Ash did. They decided to search from city to city. There was naught else to do.

I wish…

Wishing is for fools, Master Ash. To defeat this evil, we must be swift. We must be strong. And we must not fail!

“I understand, Entei…”

Do you, Master Ash? Do you truly?

Ash felt a bit irked. “What do you mean by that accusation?”

Master Ash, you must be willing to give up everything. Can you truly say you would be willing to?

Everything?

“Why?”

Entei huffed smoke out of his nostrils as he shook himself. Because sometimes, one must give up everything for the world, Master Ash.

Wait a minute! Since when was he fighting for the world? He was only after the blades to – to what?

He wracked his mind for the answer.

Why had he set out on this quest in the first place? Was it because of the vision he had seen? The mystery had something to do with the three great Blades of power – Fire, Ice, and Lightning, he knew that much. As for the rest… he could only hope.

Who was that woman he had seen? And who was…

He was abruptly cut out of his train of thought as something whizzed overhead. He gasped and quickly hit the ground, as Entei roared and shot off a stream of flames in the direction of the attack.

Lance had the blades of Ice and Dragon crossed together, and Wild Magic was whirling around him in a screaming gale, anger sparking in his golden eyes.

Die! He screeched, as the winds tore at the advancing men.

There were several dozen of them, Ash noted idly, as Aya and Koga picked off the edges of rank and file.

Why were they here?

What were they guarding?

Was there the black castle just around the corner? They were wearing skull masks over their heads, and in their hands, those were… sharpened bones!

He had seen this!

Lance gave a cry as he swept into the fray – Ash wondered how he had learned to wield the swords separately, but decided that he could worry about it later, and released his monsters to do battle.

It was quick. Between Koga and Aya’s combination of their powers and the sheer elemental fury arising from Lance and Ash, a full hundred men lay dead. They looted the bodies and burned them.

Ash shivered.

It wasn’t really the first time he had killed, but he hadn’t expected to actually enjoy it! Those were living, breathing humans!

But why should he care about people? Why should he?

The people of his village had called him a demon and cast him out!

Then again, some people were nice, or at least tolerable, like Lance, and Aya and Koga and maybe even Charlotte (in very small doses).

The blades were made of sharpened bone, and he shuddered. What would have happened if he had gotten hit?

He truly did not wish to know.

They marched onwards, ever southward. Should he hope? Should he cry? What should he do?

Ash was very confused.

End Chapter

Completed 5/27/06

Stupid split personalities. Sometimes they really are a pain in the neck! *Sigh*