Broken Souls

Forgive and Forge Onwards

"We found you curled up whispering to yourself in the woods." Reginae states glumly. "You're really lucky your Pokeballs fell out of your bag. I was able to release myself, although I admit it took a while to figure out how to force the mechanism open from the inside. Huh. Guess I can bother you whenever I want."

I clench up a bit but say nothing. We're out to the far west of town, sitting in this nice scenic area overlooking the Sprout Tower. Serene as it is, no one ever seems to come here. In fact, I doubt anyone knows the little alcove behind the trees exists.

"Well?" D'spinas offers.

"Well what?" Ten asks. "What kind of response are you trying to evoke here, exactly?"

"A response. She hasn't said a word this whole time." D'spinas snaps back.

"You need to be a little more sympathetic." Ten tells her, drawing up towards her face. Unfortunately she towers over him. I watch with a detached amusement, my own limbs too numb from what I've seen to interfere.

"I don't take orders from the ball owl."

"Overgrown wasp!"

The screaming hurts my ears. I clench up a bit again, withdrawing into my sleeves like a child.

"Both of you are being extremely obnoxious." Chiaroscuro says, buckteeth bared. "We're not going to solve anything like this."

"We aren't solving anything, period! We're just sitting here with a traumatized child in the woods who we're expected to take orders from. Do you really consider her a leader of any kind? Our safety, our liberties, our lives... all in the hands of someone who has been hot and cold, cruel and silent, this entire time. She is not fit to possess us."

Ten's wing glows a bright white and before D'spinas can react, there's a long, hot gash down her side. She barely winces at the pain as an ugly discolored soup that must be blood oozes from it. "Never say that about Ashley."

"She's just watching." she breathes. "I could kill you right now and she wouldn't blink."

I can't move.

All of my muscles are numb from the emotional stress. I can't even cry, my tears dried after who knows how long. All I remember doing is numbly getting up earlier, saying nothing, and sitting back here.

All of them.

You already killed all of them.

Morty is dead.

He's dead.

The entire universe is dead and it's your fault.

I stagger upwards. "Ten."

Ten's eyes flash with righteous fury as he looks up towards me. "I told her. I told her you weren't going to-"

"Ten, she's-"

No.

Ashley, no, you're not allowed to give up now!

There's another voice in my head, a familiar one, although I can't place it. A sensation flows through me like summertime and sweet wind over New Bark. Is this what it feels like to my Pokemon when I flash?

The new presence gives me the courage to speak. "I'm sorry. Truth be told, this team... it was not our first."

Sunny and Chiaroscuro look surprised, but the others are still staring intently. Ten looks ecstatic. "Ashley, your eyes... they're bright gold!"

I continue, ignoring him, although a smile plays at my lips. "I've already experienced so many things. I have been in love. I have won countless battles. I have sewn together a family of foxes, I have taken down those who would seek to destroy us, I have found the few on this earth I am proud to call my people, my team. I have powered through most of Johto... but all of that was taken from me."