Ash's Eon Journey!

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Chapter 22

I almost fell again as the portal activated, sucking in bits of loose rock from the pillars. Ash leaned on my neck slightly as he got up, shielding his face from the flying debris.

Latias, Latios, Mesprit, and Uxie flew up to us.

"Sorry we couldn't stop the plates in time," said Latios.

"They were just too strong for us," said Mesprit, "we only got three of them down before it was too late,"

"That's okay, you did your best," said Ash. He looked around. "Latios, can you go make sure Pikachu and Azelf are safe?"

"Of course," said Latos, "I'll be right back,"

"Thanks," said Ash, "Uxie, Mesprit, what's the danger right now?"

"I'd say we have about ten minutes before the portal reaches its full power," said Uxie, "after that... both of the worlds may be destroyed,"

"The only way to stop it would be to..." Mesprit sighed. "have someone from both worlds stop it,"

I gulped. "You mean me?"

Uxie nodded. "You are the only one who has the power of both worlds inside you, we can stall the portal but only you can stop it,"

I sighed. Why did it have to be me? I never wanted these powers, I just wanted to be normal. But just as I was about to say I couldn't, that it was too hard. I looked around.

It was like a veil was lifted from my eyes as I saw everything in a new light. For the first time in my life, I had friends who didn't care who I really was, friends who I could bond with and trust, friends who trusted me back, friends who... believed in me.

I took a deep breath. "What do I have to do?"

Mesprit and Uxie glanced at each other for a moment.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to... fly through the portal," said Mesprit.

I had to fly through there? "But where will it take me?" I asked.

"We don't know," said Uxie, "but it's the only way,"

It looked like I had no choice. Either I flew through the portal to who knows where or both worlds got destroyed. I sighed, knowing there was a pretty good chance I would die either way.

"Come on, you got this Michael!"

I turned to see Pikachu by my side, smiling with a determined gleam in his eyes although he still was a bit bruised from fighting Cryus.

"We defeated Cyrus and his grunts," said Latios, "they shouldn't cause us any more trouble,"

"Thanks you guys," said Ash. He turned to me. "Michael, I'm not going to force you to do anything, but I think you should,"

"But what if I.. you know..."

"Die?" Ash finished my sentence.

I nodded.

"I don't think you'll die, Michael," said Uxie, "we just don't know where the portal will take you,"

"Yeah, don't worry about it!" said Pikachu, "Ash has died plenty of times before and he's still fine,"

That surprised me enough to make me stop thinking about the portal for a second. "Wait, then how is he alive?"

Ash rolled his eyes at Pikachu. "I've only died twice Pikachu,"

"Three times, if you count the alternate timeline," said Pikachu,

Ash sighed. "Anyway, to answer your question, Michael, I don't know how I'm still alive, but I do know that I'm alive because I need to keep helping people and Pokemon. No one dies until it is their time to die and it just wasn't my time yet,"