Perish Song || A Pokémon Fanfiction

Chapter 6

"Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer."
- Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather

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Ash wandered through the forest, keeping his eyes on a bipedal figure standing some kilometers away. It was powerful, as Ash could tell because he could sense it from so far away. It was vaguely familiar, which was troubling, but Ash continued on. Pokémon peeked out of their hiding places as Ash passed, looking up at him innocently. Ash smiled at them; no matter what they had ever done, they were Pokémon and what they did had the only goal of surviving. They had no greater purpose, unlike humans, some of whom wanted power, wanted money, wanted fame. Pokémon had no such purpose. They were innocent; they were pure.

He arrived at a clearing, where golden rays of sunlight penetrated the dense canopy above. Ash looked around, eyes flitting up and down, around and about, as he searched for the presence he so strongly felt. He sighed, realizing that the Pokémon had excellent hiding skills, and closed his eyes, willing to see more than the regular eye could usually see and opened his eyes again. He saw it perched in a branch some ten feet above him, watching, apprehensive.

"You can come down," Ash said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you." There was a rustle from above him but nothing came down. Ash sighed, sitting down on a nearby rotting log where several Bug Pokémon took refuge. They slowly came out and crawled over Ash, who looked at them kindly before looking up again. "I know you're there. While I could climb up there to see you, I'd rather have you come down on your own free will. But I'll eventually have to come up. I can't sit here forever."

Ash slowly felt the figure's apprehension turn into curiosity as it lowered itself to the ground. First came blue webbed feet, then frog legs with various shades of blue, a tan and dark blue torso, before the face of a Pokémon Ash hadn't seen in a long time.

"Greninja..." Ash muttered, standing up to face his former Pokémon.

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"So we just sit here and wait?" Dawn said angrily. "At least he could have given us something to do." She ran a hand through her hair, pulling out a mirror as she looked at herself from every angle.

"We could practice battling," Gary offered, fingering the Pokéballs sitting on his belt.

"Satoshi said not to attract attention," Serena replied. "So unless we keep these battles quiet, we probably shouldn't try." Gary shook his head as if to say that Pokémon battles were never interesting if they were quiet.

Above them, an invisible aircraft floated above them. Three people look down over the clearing while hundreds more bustle underneath. One was a well-built man with obsidian black hair and onyx eyes that glisten maliciously. The other was a woman with chocolate brown skin and charcoal hair that hung loosely around her chiseled face. The final was a young girl with skin so white it looked like she had never seen the sun. Steel grey eyes stood out in her other features, which included wavy brown hair and pearly white teeth that could be seen in her smirk.

"They look distracted, though they will notice a net falling onto them," the young girl said, looking down at them. "I will send Gardevior down your Hypno. Is that alright, Moranna?"

"Do as you wish," the woman said. "The grunts are reporting that the heat sensors are not detecting anything nearby. The coast should be clear. Finally, I—I mean, we, will get a promotion."

Sephtis merely glared at Moranna, who did not seem at all embarrassed by her mistake. Closing his eyes, he started taping rapidly at the keyboard, not once checking to make sure he was correct. When he finished, he did a quick scan before nodding, hitting enter as he stood up. "The net will be dropped soon. But the grunts are reporting that there is some movement within the trees."