Austin, a die-hard Pokémon fan, is disenchanted with the series' direction post-Sinnoh. After a typical late-night binge-watch, he drifts off to sleep, only to wake up in an unimaginable reality: he is Ash Ketchum, and today is the morning his legen...
Read advance chapters of all my works or want to support me. https://www.p.a.t.r.e.on.com/Adamo_Amet .... Join us on discord: https://discord.gg/DXv2nkTB •••••••••••••••••
The darkness of the Mt. Moon tunnels was suffocating, each ranger post a lonely outpost in the labyrinth of rock and shadows. In one such post, Arianna had finally found a moment of restless sleep on a battered old sofa. Her body ached, exhaustion seeping into her bones after days of orchestrating Team Rocket's operations in this godforsaken place. But even in sleep, she was never free.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The nightmare struck without warning, like it always did. His screams echoed through her mind, piercing and desperate. Her son's voice—raw with terror—ripped through the darkness, and her world shattered all over again. Her heart pounded wildly, each beat echoing the sound of his cries, his pleas for help that she had never been able to answer.
She jolted awake, her eyes snapping open as she sat up, gasping for breath. The room around her blurred for a moment, the ticking of the clock the only thing tethering her to reality. Her ears rang with the phantom echoes of his voice, the cries that haunted her even now, two years after that day.
God, how long had it been since she'd heard him? Since she'd seen his smile, held him close? And yet, his voice was still so clear, so vivid in her mind, like he was right here, trapped in this never-ending nightmare with her.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
She pressed her palms against her ears, as if she could block out the memory, as if she could silence the screams that had carved themselves into her soul. But it was futile. The sound of his fear, his pain—it was etched into every fiber of her being, an unending punishment for her failure.
Why did she keep doing this to herself? Why did she keep replaying that moment over and over again, knowing it would tear her apart each time? But she couldn't stop. She didn't want to. Because it was all she had left of him—the fear, the pain, the guilt. It was her penance, her reminder of the price she'd paid for her helplessness, for her not being strong enough.
She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to ground herself. The room came back into focus—the maps still pinned haphazardly on the walls, the old ranger equipment scattered around. The ticking of the clock was a steady, monotonous beat, a stark contrast to the loud bangs of her heart.
