Whee….

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Chapter 7

One year, two years, three years… and that was when the façade was peeled away. They were dumped unceremoniously out of the Realm. It had apparently decided their time was up.

Ash brought with him a seven-stranded belt of glittering glass beads, a different pokemon in each globe.

Such power…

Little wonder it could change the world!

Now, though, they were heading to find the other two blades, for a dream had come and gone, and Lance was quite certain that the Dragon Blade was only part of a greater set of Items.

He had heard rumors… but they spoke of Fire, Ice, and Lightning. How powerful such elements might be when used in conjunction…!

He had no doubt Charlotte held Fire. He had no idea who held Ice or Lightning, but now, they were off to search.

They materialized on the glass floor of the Moltres shrine. There were two men and a woman waiting for them.

Both the man and woman wore dark clothing over hand-woven silver chain mail, and carried short blades of various types. If he recalled correctly, they were ninja, and from one of the distant islands. Fascinating.

The other man wore a violet tunic and pants, and upon his hand was imprinted a white feather-shaped scar, designating him as a Priest of Honou. Interesting.

They all bowed low when they caught sight of Ash, who blinked sleepily.

He turned to the Priestess. This must be her doing. Her voice echoed in his mind, tinged with laughter.

< The Chosen One cannot stand by himself, no matter how powerful he is. I simply found him three loyal retainers. >

It made sense, and her meddling was kind-hearted. He nodded.

< What gifts do they carry? >

< Koga carries the gift of Blade Dancing. Aya carries the gift of Silent Shadow. Morty carries the gift of Sight, as I do. >

< Quite an interesting combination. >

< Isn’t it? It makes life ever so much more interesting… >

Ash was a bit surprised at the reverence they paid him, but he was polite, and in his simple tunic and pants of silver-grey, he did look rather attractive. His hair had a streak of gold in it. Lance had no idea where it had come from, but he had passed it off as another of the Dream Realm’s oddities. What with the pokemon appearing all over the place every few days, things were never constant.

He hadn’t minded it though. The organized state of chaos had kept him on guard and his skills had sharpened.

Ash accepted their vows of loyalty, and Charlotte turned to him, carefully picking her way across the polished floor. He grinned at her.

“What is it you would ask of me, Ash? I can feel the question.”

“I believe the waterfall I saw in my dream-vision was a clue. I also need to know if you have the Fire Blade.”

“I hold it in my possession, yes.” The Priestess stated. “However, until you bring back the Blade of Ice and the Blade of Lightning, I cannot allow you to wield it. The power would consume you. Your soul has not yet been tested and judged worthy.”

“I understand.” Ash said seriously.

“Do you? I sense fear within you.”

Ash clenched his teeth. So perhaps he was a bit leery. But the dreams had been coming more frequently as he aged, and now, it mattered little.

“Denying your fear will do you no good, Chosen One. Confronting your fear will. The flames shall guide you to the waterfall, but the rest is your own path.”

“I wish you Seers wouldn’t talk in riddles.”

Charlotte shook her head as she held her hands out in front of her. There was a sharp crack as a piece of the glassy floor lifted off of the ground in front of her. It was a large piece, as tall and wide as two men. Upon its surface, flames began to crawl, leaving black marks behind them. A river formed, leading away from a village – he squinted his eyes – was that Pallet Town?

It was!

“So that is where the Waterfall is?”

Charlotte nodded in response to Koga’s query, but did not speak until the last tree and rock was added. The frame glittered, once, twice, before sinking back into the floor.

It seemed that they could not take the map with them.

Aya dug a scroll of parchment and a quill out of her pack, and began copying the main geographical features.

Morty sighed. Well, things certainly started out difficult. He wondered idly where he could get the equipment for this foray into the wilderness. Honou would guide him.

Within moments, the group was packed and ready to set off on their adventure.

“So, any last prayers?” Ash asked.

Charlotte gave him a withering glare. Considering that she couldn’t even see him, it was quite impressive.

Lance shook his head. Although Ash might be slightly more mature now, his big mouth could still get him into trouble. But that was just the way things were…

“Are you mocking me, Chosen One?”

Ash colored, seemingly to realize his position and said no more save a mumbled apology. That deed done, the group headed out for Pallet town, riding on the back of one of Lance’s twin Dragonair.

Ash was not particularly looking forwards to him, but if they bypassed the town completely, no one would see them, right?

Then again, flying on a twenty-foot dragon did have some disadvantages to staying unseen, but Aya called up her Shadow powers to hide them, both from sight and also from sound.

Thus, potential disaster was averted.

Koga smiled approvingly at his sister. She was doing well, it seemed. Together, they would make their family proud.

That they vowed.

Soon, they had flown past Pallet and reached a great river, but that was easily avoided as well. The river flowed into a dark cave, and that was when Lance recalled his pokemon and the group readied themselves to ford the water, changing into suitable clothing and waterproofing their packs with oiled cloth.

Morty carefully tucked his Seven-League boots into his pack – they might come in handy later – and with Ash into the lead, they plunged into the icy water.

Brr!

End Chapter

Completed 5/23/06

Summer school, here I come. Ay!

I feel so uninspired. I think the reason is that there truly isn’t much new good! Fic in pokemon… thus I have no one to aid me in my quest. *Sighs* I mean, in YGO, there are a ton of bad fics but also some gems. Alas for pokemon, I’ve found few gems and a ton of broken cut glass.