ID: 12
Username: [Redacted]
Title: Ever Onward

Ash woke up early on his last day in the past, his heart heavy.

It was time to go back. Ash knew it was time to go back. Seeker needed her checkup. Ash missed his Mom. And Lance. And Flannery. And-

But as he stretched his hand out to Agatha’s tent, letter in hand, he found himself hesitating.

Disaster and Legends loomed in his present, Sam and Aggie’s future. They would corrupt everything from the ground they’d walk on to the air they would breathe. Mewtwo would once again take up residence in his mind, watching his every move.

He knew he had to go back.

But… not yet.

He had been given all the time in the world, after all. This would be the last time he’d ever see Agatha and Professor Oak unburdened by the world. Ash was so rarely selfish, taking on mantles and burdens that most people would never understand. Surely, for all his service, one more day wouldn’t hurt?

Ash tucked the letter back in his pocket, nodded to himself, then turned to make breakfast.

He’d leave tomorrow.

xXxXx

Ash, Sammy, and Aggie spent the day training. Charizard had to be put down twice by Infernus, the Magmortar ever happy to oblige the fire type’s bloodlust. Sammy observed carefully as Tangrowth worked with Ancient Power, bombarding Ash with questions. Agatha harassed him and Gloam for every last secret they had. All around them their teams honed their skill, Aggie and Sam’s teams progressing rapidly under Ash and his team’s instruction. It was a good day. A wonderful day. It was just the kind of day Ash had needed before he went home. So it was with a lighter heart that he walked besides his two friends as they returned to their campsite, tucked away on the outskirts of Ilex forest.

A man awaited them at their campsite. He didn’t look exceptional, with receding dirty blonde hair and stubble surrounding a face that had just begun to show signs of weathering. He had commandeered Aggie’s log, and was grooming a Furret who was snuggled up in his lap with a pale blue comb. The pokemon was relaxed, chittering in delight at the attention. He looked innocuous. Just a veteran trainer on the road.

But Ash froze, his hand instinctively going to Nidoking’s pokeball. The man glanced up and raised an eyebrow, looking almost amused at the motion, and fire surged through Ash’s veins.

Ash had met the man in the future, briefly. He was an old man then, both in spirit and in body. He had fought a world-spanning conflict, buried friends and teammates, and left a legacy of pragmatism and practicality in his wake. He had been a faded thing in Ash’s time, far removed from his glory days.

But the clock had wound back, and in this time his star shone above all others.

“Champion Uther!” Sammy perked up, brushing dirt off his clothes. “What an honor, sir! I’m-”

“Samuel Oak. Agatha Hashimoto.” Uther gave a small nod to the pair, a small smile on his face. “A pleasure to meet both of you.”

Ash’s mind scrambled, his hands clenched to avoid releasing his team and causing an incident. The nagging guilt in the back of his mind surrounding his extended stay compounded and plummeted, forging a pit deep in his stomach.

Ash didn’t believe in coincidences.

Ash sorted through his options. His team were all put away with the sole exception of Lotus, hanging on his belt. The ghost had sensed the change in Ash and was alert, the faintest cloud of purple trickling from its keystone. That was good. They could buy Ash the moment necessary to release Plume and fly out of here, if they needed to.

Ash’s eyes trailed down from Uther’s face to the Furret on his lap. The normal type was relaxed, nose in the air, inspecting the new arrivals. Ash didn’t miss the darting eyes lingering on him for a long moment. But was it curiosity or caution? The Furret was ready for a conflict, despite her friendly demeanor. She was a Champion after all. And Ash was willing to bet that if this was an intentional meeting, she was only the visible threat. Not a chance the Champion had only a single card on the field.

“What brings you here, Champion?” Agatha’s voice was high pitched and perky, so unlike her that Sammy couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. But Ash didn’t miss that she glanced at him as she talked, sliding closer to Sammy as if to drag him out of the way.

“Oh, I was just passing through.” Uther’s smile was thin and polite. His voice was remarkable only in its normalcy, a quiet and steady cadence that projected assured competence. The Furret chittered, brushing her tail against Uther’s stubble. “It's not often I find a reason to go stretch my legs, and I’d heard some powerful young trainers were in the area. It’s always good to meet the young faces we hope might one day join the league.”

“Very polite of you!” Sammy beamed. “Please, join us! We were just about to have dinner!”

“I would be honored!” Uther said heartily. At long last, his gaze returned to Ash, and he felt the feather in his chest surge at the challenge of meeting the Champion’s gaze. “And who might you be, my friend?”

Ash considered lying, for a long moment. Lightning surged through his thoughts as he organized his response.

This was going to end poorly. Ash was certain of it. There was only one choice, and that was to remove himself from the situation as quickly as possible and get to the shrine.

Ash just needed to find the cleanest path to that choice.

Ash needed to stall, for now. There was always the chance that this genuinely was a coincidence, and that his fears were more paranoid than real.

“I’m Ash.”

“Ash.” Uther paused for a moment, waiting for a last name that Ash wouldn’t give.

“Ash is amazing!” Sammy laughed, “You should see his Ma-” Agatha squeezed his arm hard, and the Oak twisted his head to glare at her.

“We need to go start dinner, Sammy.” Agatha muttered.

“I- oh of course. Where are my manners?” Sammy chuckled, walking towards his tent with Agatha clenched to his arm. “Is -quit squeezing my arm Aggie- vegetable stew alright, Champion Uther?”

“Stew sounds wonderful.” Uther said magnanimously, though his attention remained on Ash. “So, you are a trainer, yes, Ash?”

“Yes.” Ash responded simply.

“Forgive me, I’m afraid I don’t recognize you. Are you from another region?”

“No.” Ash could feel his heart racing, his every motion being monitored by the titan before him. And yet it wasn’t the dread that Ash had originally felt that stirred his soul, but the rising thrill of a potential challenge.

“Johto then?”

“Kanto.”

“Hmm.” Uther stroked the stubble on his chin, eyes thoughtful. “With the company you keep, you must be quite the trainer.”

Ash couldn’t bring himself to deny the statement outright. “I’m decent.”

“Decent.” Uther chuckled. “It's rare to meet a humble trainer these days, or one of such few words. Some of these young ones… Well, our future is fiery in Indigo, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Lots of talent.” Ash agreed blandly, slouching onto the log across from the champion. Agatha had Sammy loudly complaining as he prepped vegetables, her eyes darting between Ash and Uther. “I think Indigo will be in good hands.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Uther nodded along. “Our foundation is strong, despite the recent stirrings.”

“Oh! Are you talking about the phenomena with wild psychic populations?” Sammy poked his head up from chopping carrots, voice raised over Agatha’s hissed protest.

“It's the oddest thing.” Uther said, scratching at Furret’s ears. “Mass migrations. Evolutions. Seizures. It's becoming a greater and greater concern. Even some league psychics have been affected.”

“Seizures? I hadn’t read that! How terrible!” Sammy gasped. Agatha finally gave up, letting their friend run his mouth as she started haphazardly chucking the ingredients into the pot. “I don’t know if I’ve heard of such a thing before! Has there been an increase in predatorial dark type activity?”

“There has been an influx of a dark type species.” Uther grimaced. “Absol, which is quite ominous. But we believe it is a symptom, not a cause.”

“Then the cause?” Agatha bit out, despite herself. Her eyes flashed to Ash once, though she masked it by dragging the soup pot onto the fire.

“A presence, we think.” Uther hummed absently.

Ash felt fire surge from the feather, and despite himself his fingers twitched down towards his belt. The embers of the campfire sparked to life for a brief moment, though the Champion didn’t seem to notice. The Furret’s expression locked onto the motion of Ash’s fingers, gaze challenging, and Ash forced himself to settle. Though it was difficult with Moltres’ blessing flowing through him and demanding he fight.

“What kind of presence?” Ash said casually. Experimentally, he twitched a hand down again, and the Furret’s eyes flashed in warning.

“One we barely understand.” Uther admitted. “Though I’d like to think we’ve gotten closer.”

The statement lingered, and Ash had to restrain himself from leaping out of his seat.

That statement was too loaded. It was a threat. Definitely not a coincidence then. Or was it? Ash grimaced. He was a trainer, not a politician.

After a long moment of silence, the Champion turned to Sammy, asking after his team. The conversation and Champion retreated into small talk, seemingly unwilling to unburden himself to a trio of young trainers, though Furret remained on alert. The fire roared under Charizard’s care, the soup set to bubbling. Ash kept his eyes on the flames and his hands high, his mind spinning through contingencies as Sammy and Agatha spoke. Sammy was his normal self, though Aggie was looking more and more unsettled. She at least shared Ash’s doubts about the Champion’s visit.

Sweat dripped down the back of Ash’s neck. This couldn’t be a coincidence. He refused to believe so.

Sammy poured a generous helping of soup for each of them, and the conversation lulled as they all focused on their meals. Ash ate mechanically, more for appearances than from hunger. If only they hadn’t fed their teams before they came back! He’d have a perfect excuse to free Plume. A single moment of inattention, and he’d be gone, and Uther would never catch them.

Lotus’ keystone remained frozen, affixed to his side, not daring to make the slightest movement. But Ash could sense their attention all the same. He wasn’t alone.

Still, Ash dragged his feet, waiting for a window of opportunity.

He had three major problems. One was Aggie and Sammy. They were talented trainers, but if Ash and Uther were to cut loose they would be vulnerable. Ash couldn’t risk them. The second problem was that by the time he released any of his partners, that Furret and whatever else the Champion had hidden would be at his throat.

Could Lotus hold multiple Champion level normal types back? Ash would have to risk everything on the answer to that question.

The final problem was more grandiose. Even if Ash got away, he hadn’t told Sammy how to close the loop. Without a hint, there was no way Professor Oak would know to send Ash back. And despite the danger of this encounter, Ash and his team had needed this time. But if he said too much to Sammy in front of Uther…

Dazed was the obvious solution, but that circled back around to problem number two.

He took over cleaning the dishes, just to have something to do with his hands. Sammy took the opportunity to further bombard Uther with questions, which the Champion answered without complaint. Ash was careful to not let his gaze linger for too long, not willing to draw more attention to himself than necessary.

Maybe Ash was overthinking this. He hadn’t done anything wrong! Well, not much at least. This may not need to turn hostile. Uther could just be assessing a threat. If Ash gave assurances…

Aggie dropped beside him, snagging the drying cloth from his hands, and muttered under her breath. “So, how much trouble are you in?”

Ash flinched, glancing back up to Uther to see if he was occupied. Sammy, bless him, was a wonderful distraction. “I don’t know.”

Aggie squinted at him, then shrugged. “So what’s the plan?”

“Let me talk to him for a bit.”

“You sure?” Aggie raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Ash pursed his lips, glancing back up to Uther again. The Champion’s eyes flitted to Ash’s briefly before returning to the young Oak. Feeling bold, Ash took the leap. “If… I happen to disappear, after this, do you mind passing a message to Sammy?”

“I…” Aggie swallowed. “Yes.”

“Tell him…” Ash paused, he had to be careful. “Tell him when the time comes, when I need it the most, to send me to the shrine where we met in Ilex.”

Aggie’s face knitted, for a flash a shadow of the old crone she’d one day become. “How…”

Sammy had torn open one of his notebooks and was gesticulating wildly at a page. Uther seemed drawn in, eyebrows raised at whatever discovery the young Oak was discussing.

“He’ll understand, one day.” Ash glanced at her, gauging how much he should say. “You will too.”

There was so much Ash still wanted to say, needed to say. And hopefully, he’d get the chance to say it.

But just in case…

A flash of realization came across Aggie’s face and she let out a cackle. Uther and Sammy glanced back at the pair of them, but Ash waved them off. After a few more moments, Aggie’s expression grew somber, and she squeezed Ash’s arm with shocking intensity. “I’ll get Sammy out, if needed.”

Ash nodded in thanks, his throat tight with words unspoken. Agatha’s fate was already written, the adamant stream unbending. There was so much he wished he could say, and yet he couldn’t say anything at all.

Agatha nodded, then leapt to her feet. “Sammy! Quit hogging the champion!”

“Eh?” Sammy glanced away from Uther. Agatha ripped him from his seat and dragged him back towards the remaining dishes, insisting he help her clean the campsite. It wasn’t much distance, but much better than having the pair in between Ash and Uther as they spoke.

“Quite the pair of trainers.” Uther chuckled, turning to Ash as he sat back down across from the legend.

“You have no idea.” Ash rasped. The One Ring Oak loomed large in both their futures.

Uther hummed. “Hardly subtle, that Agatha.”

“I thought you’d appreciate a moment to breathe. Sammy can be a lot.”

“I heard that!” Sammy barked.

“Hardly a problem. I’ve dedicated my life to training, it's no hardship to speak with another who is following the same road.” Uther’s voice was directed towards Sammy, and his smile was pleasant. But his eyes traced Ash’s form, lingering for a moment on the cover he’d haphazardly assembled for the pokeballs on his belt. His fingers drummed on his knee, and Furret leapt onto his shoulder, draping themselves across the back of his neck. “So, my mysterious friend, any questions for a Champion?”

Ash considered for a moment, then decided to trust his gut.

“You’d mentioned… stirrings.”

Uther paused for a moment, then answered slowly, his words measured. “Yes, and not just isolated to Indigo. I’ve received some interesting reports from Hoenn, lately.”

“The same… presence?” Ash repeated, trying to sound only curious.

“Well, that is one of the questions that drew me out of the Plateau.” Uther’s tone was equally light.

“Have you found your answer?”

Uther barked out a laugh. The noise was sharp, clipped, as if even his laughter must be carefully kept controlled. He gestured at Ash absently. “You tell me.”

Ash exhaled slowly, letting lightning guide his thoughts and tempering the fire rushing through his veins. Uther was here for him. Agatha and Sammy grew silent, both growing wide eyed at the change in tone.

Ash’s mouth twitched into a small grin, despite himself. “Chinatsu?”

Uther raised an eyebrow. “Now isn’t that interesting. How do you know that name, young man?”

“I enjoy history.” Ash shrugged.

Uther’s expression twisted into a thoughtful frown, the drumming on his knee increasing in pace. “You’ve caused quite a mess, you know.”

Aggie and Sammy had given up on any pretense of doing chores, their faces pale, eyes darting back and forth.

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“Nevertheless.” Uther let the word hang. Ash’s fingers twitched towards his belt, only for Furret to glare at the offending appendage. “Dare I ask why?”

“Vacation.”

Uther’s expression soured. “Vacation…” He let out a weary breath. “Unova encroaching, movement in Kalos, and you spend months causing headaches for the sake of vacation.”

Well when it was put like that…

“I didn’t have a choice in the location.” Ash shrugged. “Still, I apologize. I never wanted to cause trouble.”

“A noble sentiment at least.” Uther said, leaning forward. “But I’m not sure it lines up with your actions.”

Ash tilted his head. “I’ve just been traveling.”

“Traveling, you say.” Uther’s voice hardened. “And the mental erasure you performed on one of my people?”

“I-” Ash reeled back.

“Don’t bother to deny it.” Uther’s expression was firm. “We subjected our entire organization to psychic scans with all the interference you’ve caused. It was a subtle working, but not one that held up to our scrutiny.”

Sammy let out a little gasp, and Aggie’s grip on his arm tightened, as if to stop the Oak from jumping in the middle of the two trainers.

That… that changed things. Ash felt fire stir once more, and the campfire flared up between them. Uther and Ash’s eyes traced each other from across the surging campfire, unmoving.

“I didn’t want to do it.” Ash rasped, his mouth dry. “And it didn’t leave any lasting harm.”

“And that,” Uther said gravely, “is the only reason I am still talking to you.”

Lotus’ keystone twitched, the movement covered by the roaring fire. Ash risked placing a finger on the ghost, attempting to keep them calm.

“Message received.” Ash said quietly. “Believe it or not, I am sorry.”

Uther nodded slowly. “I could believe that. You appear young. I’d like to think malice is not something a twelve year old would know, if the face you’re showing me is in fact who you are.”

Ash frowned. “Who else would I be?”

“I do not know.” Uther shrugged. “But Chinatsu claims you are a conduit for long dormant powers. Powers that should stay dormant. I can only assume what you can and cannot do.”

The fire settled down, dusk encroaching from all sides as the light faded.

“So what happens now?”

Uther spread his hands wide, placating, Furret following the motion. “I don’t suppose you’d agree to return to the Plateau with me?”

That… wasn’t possible. For a number of reasons. He couldn’t risk running into Chinatsu. And he couldn’t risk his team getting confiscated.

“I would prefer another solution.” Ash said calmly.

“And normally, I would be happy to find a compromise.” Uther said magnanimously, but his gaze sharpened. “But compromise can only come when there is a bare modicum of trust that both parties desire the same outcome. And any trust I had in your character was lost the day you assaulted a man under my protection.”

The evening was still. The last thread of sunlight slipping under the horizon. Aggie and Sammy were backing away slowly. The Furret on Uther’s shoulder was ready to lunge. Ash was trapped, out of time, and out of luck.

He had never, ever, felt this alive.

Ash couldn’t help but giggle. It was an ugly thing, raspy and worn. But Ash couldn’t bring himself to care. Fire was in his veins, the feather on his chest flaring with light. An irresistible challenge was before him, where victory meant freedom and defeat spelled disaster. It was a rush of adrenaline that he hadn’t felt since Zinnia attacked him at the Sky Pillar.

“Something amusing?”

“Give me your best, old man.” And Ash’s hand darted for his belt.

Everything happened at once.

Furret lunged.

Uther’s own hands tapped the release on his own partners.

Agatha flared with sickly power, and she and Sammy were gone in a sickening flash.

The dirt behind Ash erupted as something lunged with deadly intent.

And all these moments were forgotten as Lotus’ aura surged, casting an unholy weight of overwhelming exhaustion across the campsite that froze Furret and left Uther stumbling. His half-released partners, hamstrung by the antiquated capture devices they inhabited, writhed and collapsed. Lotus’ form emerged with a haunted wail and a swirl of purple smoke and green cinders, trembling as they held back the might of at least two champions.

Plume and Gloam emerged in a flash. Ash didn’t waste a moment to leap onto his Pidgeot’s back, risking a glance behind him as he called out a single command.

“Mind Breaker!”

Frozen inches from where Ash had stood was a furious Raticate, the normal type’s expression murderous. Another quarter second delay, and Ash would have been skewered.

Gloam didn’t hesitate, and Lotus’ apathy was joined by a wave of dark power that knocked Uther and the entirety of his team into the dirt.

Gloam cackled as Ash returned him, Plume carrying him into the sky with a cry of challenge.

“To the shrine!” Ash barked.

Plume swerved south, Ash’s desperation driving her to abandon caution for speed, when a cage of lightning erupted around them.

“Gah!” Electric power slashed across Ash and Plume before she called upon her own understanding of lightning, using her wings as a shield. Plume flew for the southern wall of the cage, flashing a Protect as she passed through the worst of the electricity to escape the trap.

That hadn’t been an ACE trainer’s electric type. There was another Master on the field. Raia, Ash’s mind supplied. The electric type master who had been slain in Unova, years in the future. Plume blasted forward, but her speed wasn’t what it was. The electric technique had succeeded in crippling her, making her merely fast, rather than uncatchable.

Attacks surged from behind them, a Kilowattrel, half Plume’s size but with the heart of a master, fired wave after wave of electricity. Plume danced across the sky, dodging Discharges by inches, her maneuvering crippled by Ash on her back and the damage she had taken. Lotus was occupied, a purple cloak that ate away at any incoming lightning. But the spirit was weary, drained. Lotus was at their limit.

Time to take the gloves off.

The stone on Ash’s cap sparked, and Ash and Plume became one.

“Face us, if you dare!” Their human body roared, throwing the smaller flying type back with a Hurricane that unearthed trees far below. “Let us show you what a Master is!”

A Hyper Beam tore towards them, and they swerved past it at the last possible moment, nearly unseating their human form. The lack of a saddle was going to cost them!

A Pidgeot approached, perhaps slightly smaller than their avian body when merely a Pidgeot. Their expression was furious, and on their back rode a champion, Furret still wrapped around his neck.

Their human half paled. “Go!”

They soared south, layering on a Super Speed as they went. The Champion and Uther fell behind. There was no shame in running before such a foe. Survival was victory.

Their human half swore quietly. They didn’t have the distance to have more than a few seconds at the shrine alone. And Ash doubted he could come back with Chinatsu and the league on red alert.

It was now or never.

Their avian half slashed their way through the tops of the ancient forest, slowing just enough for their human half to roll off their back as they swept by the shrine. It was as overgrown and silent as it had been in Ash’s day.

“Celebi!” Ash roared, the bond with Plume weakening now with the small distance between them. “Take me back!” The Pidgeot hovered above him, waiting to buy him another spare moment.

The shrine was silent.

“C’mon, c’mon!” Ash begged.

And a flash of understanding passed through him.

The adamant stream flowing ever onward.

A set path to be followed.

And the watchful eyes of its guardian, pruning the branches of fate that grow beyond their purpose.

As if a spectator in an arena, Ash watches.

Ash watches himself place the letter in Aggie’s tent and fly to the shrine, Sammy in tow.

He watches Celebi pose for the man who’d grow into the One Ring Oak, and his own body flash forward to a dangerous future.

Events move quickly after that, more sensations and images than complete scenes. A quiet moment with Mamoru and Chinatsu. Flashes of battles with Legends and Masters. His own hand outstretched, pouring ash. Cynthia, digging out a pint of ice cream from a freezer. A flying Aggron descending towards a battlefield, Ash standing upon his back before a roaring Indigo Stadium, with Lance awaiting him. A trophy raised above his head. An argument with Gary, his old rival sporting a sharp goatee. Eight champions upon a stage, arms raised in a show of unity.

Ash sees a child’s smile and feels a woman’s lips upon his own. He sees himself applauding, hanging a heavy mantle across the shoulders of a worthy challenger. He sees himself and his team withering, dying, a victim at last of the adamant stream’s embrace.

And then the power retracted with a sigh.

“This is the cost of our world. You are the untraveled path. The variant.”

Ash collapses. He touches his hand to his lips, still warm with the taste of a kiss he’d never experience.

His limbs feel tingly, cloaked in the phantom sensation of steps on a road he’d never travel and a region he’d never guide. Papers he’d never sign and trainers he’d never nurture.

His eyes water, plagued by the sight of the successor he’d never meet and the son he’d never behold.

Ash feels the connection to Plume dissolve, his partner slammed into the earth by Kilowattrel and the rival Pidgeot.

“I’m sorry, little one.”

Ash closes his eyes in acceptance, Lotus wrapped around him in a soothing cloak.

He never feels the strike that ends them.

Ensuring the adamant stream flows ever onward.