When a life fades away

15. I was scared you had died

Welcome back again: this chapter is the longest one for now.

Akari was worried. No, she wasn't. Yes, she was. Absolutely not.

Okay, she was scared as hell.

Where was Ash? He had been out for nearly ten days at this point, and she was legitimately panicked.

It was now late night. She was on her bed, eyes open and red from little sleep and she was watching Ash's bed, empty again.

Pikachu was clearly worried about her trainer and was cuddled next to her to give the girl a bit of comfort.

"Pikachu, what should I do? Why I'm here while he is out in the wild, alone... It's been ten days..."

She got up and went out. She didn't want to sleep. Pikachu and Piplup followed her.

She was wandering around, not caring about anything around her.

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"Ash, we should stop. It's dark outside." Irida said to the boy. Her face was aching from the wind since it was a whole day of riding on Wyrdeer, even if Ash was shielding her.

"No, we must come back. Your wounds could get worse. Yesterday we had to stop, but now I won't until we are in Jubilife" he said, a bit harsh in his manners.

"They probably think I'm dead" thought Ash.

Meanwhile, Irida strengthened her grip on Ash for some extra shield from the wind and also as a reaction for Ash's care. It was hard to find someone as him in the Hisui region.

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"I guess the best thing we can do is to split and check on the three lakes simultaneously" proposed Goh as the group exited the Canalave library.

"Well, I think it's the fastest way even if it would be better to go there altogether" responded Dawn.

"I'm with Goh" said out of the blue Serena.

"Why Serena?" asked a stunned Dawn. "Well, it's the fastest way. If Ash is trapped in the past, he could use help as soon as possible." She answered. "And, in any case; going all around Sinnoh from lake to lake will take us at least a month. I'd say the sooner we complete these trials, the better."

Dawn thought for a bit: "Oh right, but then we will meet together back before doing anything else" She extended her hand. Serena put her hand over Dawn's and soon after Goh joined the group.

"I'm going to Lake Verity" proclaimed Dawn.

"I'm to Lake Valor," said Serena.

"This leaves me with Lake Acuity" finished Goh.

The trio shared a determined gaze. And then threw their hands in the air. Their mission was settled.

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Brock was resting in a Pokémon center. He had found out that he was in Alola but didn't try to contact Clemont for now.

Not because he didn't want to be seen but because he had more impending thoughts.

Celebi was still very weak and, even with all the technology a Pokémon center had, his conditions were still very critical.

But, if this wasn't enough, he had to think about what had happened in Ilex Forest. Somehow Celebi had teleported him forward in time to one week later in Alola. Maybe he was too weak to do more but, in any case, what preoccupied Brock the most was that man.