When a life fades away

"Look, I see Jubilife!" exclaimed Ash, looking in the distance.

"Look there Piplup. We live there" commented Akari to her new catch.

Entering in the village, people looked at the duo with mixed gazes. Someone was only glad, some others looked scared and someone else also angry.

Ash didn't care in any case. He was walking, speaking with Pikachu and Greninja and was completely relaxed.

Not the same was Akari. She was hesitant and also scared. After all, she had now a new Pokémon and this could be seen bad from the villagers.

She felt Pikachu's grip tightening on her shoulder as if trying to comfort her. She was glad.

She didn't notice that ash stopped his walk and was approaching her.

"Hey Akari, I know you are feeling pressure right now but, as a friend of mine says: no need to worry!"

Akari felt red coming on her cheeks at the closure with Ash, then she realized that one of Ash's friends had her same catchphrase.

Even now, she didn't have time to focus because Ash made a move again, startling her.

He took her hand and dragged her in the heart of the village. She was a red tomato by this point.

"Oh my. What in the Mighty Sinnoh could the villagers think of this?"

After some more running, she felt Ash's hand release hers, leaving her relieved and disappointed at the same time.

She looked up and see the reason why Ash had let his grip on hand: Director Kamado was there, in front of him.

Even if she knew that the man didn't have bad thoughts about Ash, she couldn't resist the urge to gulp.

...........................

The Alola region was known for a lot of good things: from beaches to the climate to the food. But was also known for the strange phenomenon of Ultra-Wormholes.

And those ones aren't exactly funny.

It was probably what was thinking right now Clemont while facing with the Alolans a big shiny Guzzlord.

They were in the Aether foundation laboratories, working on the strange distortion Clemont had found when a loud rumble spooked them.

Now they were fighting against the beast who was devastating houses and streets. Mallow and Lana had gone rescuing the civilians while Clemont and Kiawe were trying to distract the rampaging Pokémon.

"Damn, that thing is sure strong" commented Clemont while holding his glasses.

"Yes, and the worst part of it is that we are three men down" added Kiawe.

"What do you mean?" "Usually, we have Lillie, Sophocles and Ash with us"

Clement nodded, focusing again on the fierce battle unfolding. Luxray was boosted by electric terrain and was easily the MVP until now. Bunnelby was in trouble because he didn't have so many long ranged moves and closing the gap with the beast was easier to say than to accomplish. Even Turtonator and Charizard, two hardened battlers were in clear difficulty. Clemont gritted his teeth. Lana and Mallow had more pressuring thoughts with all the people that had been surprised by the creature and it was hard to localize injured people under the rubble, protect them from the deflected attacks and take them away.

The Pokémon's energy was slowly but surely going down as fatigue and damage came into account.

The situation was now rapidly going out of control and even Turtonator Z- move hadn't been enough to stop the fury of that Guzzlord and instead, had only consumed every remaining energy from the duo.

Clemont was doing his best but now that he was alone, he couldn't resist much more at the pure strength showed by his opponent.

It was when everything was lost that a hard metal fist smashed the beast on the ground, raising a huge amount of dust. Kiawe and Clemont turned around to see Professor Kukui and a group of Pokémon gathered.

"Melmetal!" shouted Kiawe, relieved to have some backups.

"Come on, Incineroar, Lycanrock, go give a hand to Mallow and Lana!" Kukui shouted, having seen what Clemont and Kiawe hadn't.

Guzzlord was now rampaging against Lana and Mallow. While Primarina and Tsareena were doing their best to face the beast, their trainers were shielding a poor baby and her old grandma.

Clemont's and Kiawe's eyes widened.

Incineroar shot a Fire Blast interrupting the assault while Lycanrock ran to the girls and took the baby and the old woman. Lana and Mallow stood up, clearly angered.

"It's our chance!" they shouted, their Z- ring glowing with energy.

The girls were summoning the finisher blow but they had to be defended.

"Luxray, full power Discharge!" "Turtonator, Flamethrower!" " Rowlet, Brave Bird! Lycanrock, Stone Edge! Melmetal, Double Iron Bash! Incineroar, Fire Fang!"

"Hydro Vortex!"

"Bloom doom!"

The two girls and their Pokémon were surrounded by a glowing aura and finally unleashed the Z power.

Guzzlord was sent back in the Ultra Wormhole which closed after this.

It was over.

While everyone was chilling, Clemont went and patted Luxray and Bunnelby before turning his gaze to Kukui who had probably understood who he was and what he wanted. The man smiled, prompting Clemont to do the same. Now it was time to and discover something more about that rift.

Or it should have been if it wasn't for Ash's Incineroar stomach rumbling. They fell on the ground and Clemont let out a small chuckle "Like trainer, like Pokémon!" he thought.

Mallow came close and smiled at him, warming his heart: "You know? After an adventure like this, it is better to eat something and rest a bit or else, in your next task, you won't be able to do your best!" she winked.

Then, she grabbed his hand and dragged him away to the restaurant shouting to the rest of the group with a happy and enthusiastic tone: "Come on, let's go get some food and some rest! We've been amazing!"

Poor Clemont was dragged, and his only option was to contemplate what the hell had just happened and the fact that he was still holding hand with this girl.

Obviously, as soon as he thought that, he became red. Bunnelby, from his shoulder let out a sigh and stroke his trainer's head with his ears to comfort him. His trainer would never change.

...........................…

A man travelling with such competence was difficult to be seen near Azalea Town since it was home of the second Gym Leader of the Johto region and because of this, it was way easier to find some rookies.

Brock looked like the cool guy who knew what he was doing. It was the true, but sometimes even the bests have their low moment.

Right now, the aspiring Pokémon doctor was being dragged by Croagunk out of a Pokémon center where he had tried another time to conquer a Nurse Joy, only to be poison jabbed on the kidneys.

Outside, Blissey had proceeded to double slap him to regain consciousness and then he was obliged to get back inside the center to apologize to the Nurse for his bad manners.

After all was settled, Brock was ready for his search.

The Ilex Forest was a giant forest with lo of unexplored paths. He remembered when he first came there with Ash and Misty. Going through a so deep forest was difficult but finally, after some time, he was able to reach a little clearing. Here it was Celebi's sanctuary. But it wasn't like he remembered. He saw a hooded man coming close and then darkness surrounded the temple. He felt Celebi's voice from inside crying in pain. He had to move fast: inform someone to come and help him while distracting the man before he could do whatever he wanted with the Pokémon. He called for Gary, but no one came to answer.

Brock sighed. He was alone.

...............…..

Ash and Kamado stared at each others for quite some time. Akari felt very nervous. Ash's and Kamado's looks were very serious and challenging.

"So Akari made you come back?"

"She said I can" "Pika"

"And you made her catch another Pokémon?" the man raised an eyebrow.

"Piplup wanted to come along"

"Are you sure you can help us discover the truth about the rift?"

"I will do my best"

"So, it's settled. Go with Akari and tell her how would you prefer to wear as uniform? She will help you"

Ash nodded and the two shook hands.

Akari sighed in relief.

That night, Ash and Akari were working on Ash's uniform, lanterns to light up the room: "I want the thunder kanji on my back for Pikachu, and a Shuriken for Greninja!" Ash was ecstatic at the thought to have his own uniform

Akari was smiling all the time.

They had made a quick bed for Ash, basically a leaves mattress but within the next days the Mareeps would be shorn and the new cotton plants would be ready for harvesting and Ash would have a real bed.

The Pokémon were all enjoying their company and chatting with their trainers.

Akari thought for a while about how it was her life before this boy came into picture. She smiled wider, feeling so lucky and happy. Ash noticed it and asked: "Is something bothering you?"

She turned to him and sat up from her chair, coming closer to him and kissed his cheek.

She rapidly turned around, hands behind the back and exclaimed: "Nothing. I'm only happy!" and with that went to the fireplace to control the dinner, leaving Ash confused.

....................

Brock had to give a try. He wasn't sure what that man wanted but he had the feeling it was nothing good. It was like he could sense Celebi's pain through the sanctuary.

He made quick job, jumping out and tossing two Poké balls to the man: "Croagunk! Poison Jab, Steelix! Flash cannon to that dark hole!"

The man quickly let out an Honchcrow, surrounded himself by a dark aura.

The bird was quick to stop Croagunk, but not enough to block also Steelix who had fired his attack.

The darkness around the sanctuary faded for a moment and Celebi was able to escape it. Brock ran to him, catching him in his hand. The poor Pokémon was badly injured.

"What do you want from Celebi?!"

"Uhm, I see…" the man commented. "Strike him down!" exclaimed the hooded figure.

"GYAAAAAAHHH!" a scary shout came from the hole and a hyper Beam was fired toward Brock directly.

In that moment, Celebi glowed yellow and when the beam was about to make contact, Brock, his Pokémon and Celebi vanished, letting out a ray of yellow into the sky. The boy instantly collapsed, blacking out at the weird feeling.

The man grunted: "You useless idiot… We must follow that bastard!" and he jumped into the dark hole.

When the hole faded, all the turmoil ceased, and silence came back as the king of the forest.