Another chapter cometh!
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic belongs to me.
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
TIME JUMP!
Chapter 12
It was time.
Blaine and Carlos stood at one end of the arena, Ash and his six masters at the other.
“I won’t lose.” Ash promised.
“We know you won’t.” Agatha replied gravely.
The battle began.
Carlos was only ten, but he had a good eye for skills. Still… Ash had him down in about a minute. His attacks were too forceful, wasting energy, and Ash slipped inside his wave of attacks and knocked him down with a simple tap on the chest.
He hadn’t even used his weapons.
Blaine looked taken back, but frowned. “Do you have proof he is Giovanni’s son?”
“He can use the Golden eyes.” Agatha shot back.
This sparked the old fighter’s interest. “Really?”
Ash looked down shyly, while Lance smirked at Blaine.
“Hai.”
They had returned Karen’s Secret book to her a month or so after meeting Jessie and James. She had been pleased, so she had promised to train Ash in spirit sorcery after the bet.
The bet they had just won.
Carlos looked shattered. From Blaine’s look, he hadn’t even known the existence of the golden eyes.
Well, Blaine might not be gifted in the teaching field… but to each their own. Indeed.
Ash looked at the scrap of cloth he was holding in interest. “Gambling tips?” He had palmed it out of Carlos’s jacket.
Blaine’s jaw dropped.
“You taught him…”
“Why not?” Lance queried. “It’s a skill like any other.”
“Well, I admit that I have lost.” Blaine said. “By the way, your student’s turned out to be a fine young man.”
“Thank you.’ Agatha said formally. That concluded, they split up, and after a hearty dinner, took off for Blackthorn. There, they left Ash in Karen’s care and returned to their former home in Johto.
Ash was devastatingly shocked when he found that Misty was also Karen’s student.
“It wasn’t my choice.” Karen sighed. “She’s my great-niece on her mother’s side. Great, isn’t it?”
“How is she?”
“Horrible. I can’t believe I’m taking her on. At least you have potential…”
Ash nodded, and his lessons began.
Summoning was relatively easy, and Misty stayed out of his way, at least for the first seven months.
Maybe she was scared enough.
The sixteen-year old smiled as he looked at the creature towering above him. “Sugoi…”
The Gyarados yawned.
Dragons were hard, almost the hardest types, Karen said approvingly. She herself only used the best – dark types.
Ash smiled. He looked tired, awfully. But spirit summoning took a lot of the caster’s energy with it.
That was why you usually had to be good with martial arts and inner strength before attempting it.
A few minutes later, Gyarados had faded away.
“You’re doing well, Ash. Soon, you’ll be certificated.”
“Already? But I thought…”
“It takes years if you start as a child without any skills, but you’ve already learned various weapons and techniques from the Seven Stars, haven’t you?”
Ash nodded.
“Now Misty, she’s a raw beginner… I daresay it could take me fifteen years to train her. I do wish we weren’t blood relations.”
“Um… Teacher Karen…”
“I know, you’re asking me about the engagement.”
“How did you know?”
“She told me as soon as she arrived. Is it true?”
“I had no choice! I was ten! They forced me into it! She hates me and picks on me and yet…”
Karen laughed. “It’s a tactic. I think she likes you.”
“But I don’t like her!”
“Indeed, it’s a very stupid skill to use… however, do you think you could learn to love her?”
Ash choked. “Not right now.”
“Give it some thought.”
“Teacher Karen, you aren’t making a play for her just because she is your niece, are you?”
Karen did not reply.
“Ash! Ash!”
“What is it, Misty?”
“Haven’t you heard?” She said mock-pityingly. “The Seven Stars of Johto are dead!”
“What?!”
Karen came out quickly. “Ash, your training isn’t complete yet-.” She stopped at his grief-stricken look.
“I…I…”
Before Karen could say anything else, he had summoned Pidgeot and fled.
He had to
see if it was true!
The bird hurtled through the
air as they headed for Mahogany. They couldn’t be dead! Couldn’t…
He landed and quickly pushed open the doors of the house. “Teacher Agatha?”
Sightless eyes met his vision as he stepped in.
Agatha, dead, an expression of shock on her aged face… There were no visible wounds though. However, as he walked in farther, he saw that Koga was still clutching his sword in death, the blade through another figure’s heart.
“Jessie!”
So she hadn’t been dead after
all, hadn’t been… and now she had claimed his teachers lives as revenge, when
he had been the one who killed James, not them! Why? It wasn’t their fault…
His fault…
He screamed, golden beams of light flying through the air in a vivid display of gold, the golden eyes reacting to his anger.
Surge… Bruno… where were Lance and Aya?
No blood trails were visible, but… maybe… maybe they were alive somewhere… as impossible as it was…
First, though, he had a task to complete.
End Chapter
Completed 8/26/04
I should probably write a Carlos vignette sometime… later… right. I don’t really care about him though.