When a life fades away

40. When a life fades away

"Arceus?" escaped from Ash's lips.

Ash and Pikachu were looking around, in search for the voice of the Creator of everything.

"Why is the vortex still here?" shouted Ash, his voice hoarse. His throat was parched, the dust he breathed in, and the damage he sustained made breathing and speaking extremely painful.

"My child. Let me appear before you! Collect the plates all together and pick your Celestica Flute, the one you use to summon your mounts."

"What?" Ash gasped. He was unsure as he felt pain upon moving and he wasn't also sure he could handle the power of the vortex.

Pikachu saw his partner like that and did what needed to be done. He jumped from Ash's shoulder and headed to Volo's ravaged body. There, the last plate was. It was the Spooky plate. He took it in his mouth and, sticking his tail into the ground so as not to lose contact with the ground, he reached Ash again.

"Pikachu..." Ash whispered, moved by his Pokémon stoicism. The boy turned around, approaching his sack, finding the 17 plates he had gathered.

He then picked up the flute and waited. Nothing happened.

"Why is that?" Ash asked no one in particular. He was getting angry as the vortex was increasing in size and he felt with his back against the wall.

"One plate still misses" commented the voice of Arceus. Ash was horrified by this but Pikachu knew what was missing.

"PIKAPI!" the mouse Pokémon called; Ash turned to face his best buddy: "Check your Pokéball?" he asked.

"PIKAPIKAPIPIKA!" shouted the mouse, clear impatience in his voice.

"What? You had it all along only to keep it a secret from whoever wanted to summon Arceus!?"

"Yes, my child. I entrusted Pikachu with it to keep it from the menace coming. Now, do what your friend suggested..." the calming voice of Arceus told him.

Ash tore off the string holding the Pokéball around his neck. He snipped it open, and a small slab appeared in front of him, which once he held it in his hand, increased in size, becoming the size of the other slabs.

"Those plates are part of the original creature" commented Arceus while Ash placed the last plate together with the others; "that's why I can be summoned by them."

Ash read the inscription, which said: "From all creations, over all creations, does the Original One watch over all."

He then put the plate with its sisters. They finally started to glow. Their light transferred to the Celestica Flute whose glow now shined even more. It started to float, its shape transforming.

Ash and Pikachu were mouth agape. In the present, Brock and the others were watching with awe. They knew they were facing a historic moment.

The atmosphere was, however, more relaxed. Ash had won, Arceus was coming and would end the threat that was the portal to the Distortion World. They were waiting for his friend to come back.

Despite all this, Serena couldn't shake off a tremendous sense of emptiness and insecurity.

The flute finished its transformation. It was now of an azure color, its shape. It had a strange form, seemed like an ocarina, and to the touch, it didn't feel like a known material.

Ash was about to play it but a gust of wind from the Distortion World took out of his grip.

"NOOOO!!" shouted Ash. He and Pikachu couldn't do anything.

Serena didn't know what took control of her body, but she jumped and took the flute. She touched it, she didn't know why but she could touch it.

Ash saw the object stopping and then descending to the ground. He and Pikachu thought they saw the shadow of someone holding the flute. Then the boy smelled the fragrance of someone he knew well, of a certain girl with honey-blonde hair that kept flashing in his head.