Pokemon Legacy: I Can't

Chapter Fourteen

The next night found them at the Pokémon Center. Gary had barely scraped a win against Steele, the Battle Master was strong, and he worked with his Pokémon rather than making them do something. He and Ash were similar in that way.

Ash scratched Pikachu idly as he thought about the battles. He hadn't seen the smoke like the others, but those Pokémon really didn't need it, they were strong enough as it is.

"Anyone else notice there were no shadows today or yesterday?" Naomi asked. Ash looked up and nodded.

"I was just thinking about that. If he was already that strong, he may not need them. I'm still concerned about the Giovanni of it all though. Why leave him out? Everyone else got shadows."

"He's only the third Battle Master we've seen, you don't know for certain that they all have shadows. Bane and Aliyah could've been a coincidence." Clemont reminded them.

"I don't think so," Ash murmured.

"Why not?" Naomi asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.

"Because Giovanni funded the tournament. There's no way he would've allowed those trainers to have the strength they do unless he was the one that controlled it." Serena said.

"That's true I guess," Naomi started. "I was powerful as a trainer to begin with, so he kept me under his thumb and honed me into the trainer and battler I am today so he could use me as a weapon. Ash is the same way, a particularly gifted trainer with a natural knack for handling Pokémon and battling. He wants to destroy him because Ash presents a threat."

"Damn right I do. There's no way in hell Giovanni is getting his way, the things he wants.." Ash trailed off. "He wants total control over people and Pokémon."

"Which is precisely why he started this tournament," Gary said. "To get you out in the open, learn how you've grown over the past few years, learn what kind of a man you are."

"And then he'll strike where it hurts, and strike hard. He's running an experiment. This is all an experiment to him, with the shadows and the trainers and the tournament." Clemont finished.

"We're playing his game," Ash muttered, scratching Pikachu's ears.

"Well okay, do we stop?" Serena asked, looking at her friends.

"No," both Naomi and Ash answered.

"Because if we do," Naomi started, voice shaking slightly.

"We lose." Ash finished.

In the corner a man spoke into his Poketch. "It seems like they might've figured something out." He listened for a moment. "Understood." The man clicked the off button and glanced back over to the group of young adults.

Ash, the one with messy black hair, was spooning soup into his mouth, a thoughtful expression in his face, as if he was contemplating the taste, but he knew what Ash was actually thinking about. He was running through every scenario in his head, trying to figure a way out of this. He would've done the same were he in their shoes.

The inventor was tinkering with some parts while the brown haired one - Gary - watched. The reigning Kalos queen was casually talking and giggling with the girl that looked like Ash, though the same blue eyes he saw in his mirror every morning were wary.

These were the ones who were supposed to save them. They're too young to have all of this burden on their shoulders. He hoped to Arceus they could do it.

~~

"That was a cheery topic for dinner," Serena replied a few hours later, laying next to Ash in their bed.