Pokémon: Ash's Dark Destiny (A Pokémon Fan Fiction)

Chapter 17: False Reality

Ash walked into the kitchen and saw Serena over at the stove cooking. The smell of the food being cooked was overwhelmingly enticing, Ash realized  as the delectable aroma lured him closer to Serena.

"Good to see you're awake." Serena said as she turned off the stove and turned around to face Ash.

"Yeah," Ash said, "I guess."

"Well," Serena said with a smile, "why don't you go visit Professor Oak in his lab while you're waiting for the food to finish cooking?"

"Yeah, okay," Ash said, "I guess I might as well since I haven't been over there recently."

"You go on ahead, I'll just be here waiting for you to return."

***

As Ash made his way towards the Pokémon lab, he suddenly heard something rustling in the bushes. After looking around him to make sure nobody was watching, Ash stopped to inspect the bushes.

As he leaned in towards the bush to get a closer look, a pair of hands suddenly burst out of the leaves and grabbed Ash. The hands pulled him into the bushes with shocking strength and speed, concealing both Ash, as well as whoever the hands belonged to, behind the leafy veil that the slightly overgrown shrubs provided.

Ash felt a hand covering his mouth as a voice he had thought he'd never hear again started talking to him. "Don't be afraid Ash," the voice said, "I'm not here to hurt you."

Ash tried to make a retort but his words were muffled by the hand over his mouth. "If I move my hand away from your mouth, you have to promise me you won't scream." the voice continued by saying, "Do we have a deal?"

Ash nodded and the hand moved away from his mouth. As it did, Ash was able to see the face of his captor. Ash grew pale as he recognized the face. "Lysander?!" Ash gasped, "But how? I saw you die! We all did!"

"I know you saw Lysander die." Lysander said, "But I'm not Lysander, I'm merely a physical manifestation of the part of your mind that knows and accepts that this reality is artificial."

"Wait, so you're saying that none of this is real? That this is all in my head?"

"Yes" Lysander said, "that's exactly what I'm saying."

"Okay, so how do I get out of this fake reality?" Ash asked.

"Well, if I had to guess," Lysander said, "I'd say that you'd have to find the object or person that this reality uses as its anchor... and destroy it."

"What do mean 'if I had to guess'?" Ash whispered, starting to get frustrated, "Are you saying that you don't know?"

"Well," Lysander said, "since I'm merely a manifestation of part of your subconscious and therefore an extension of your knowledge, I only know as much as you do."

"Great. " Ash said, slumping in defeat, "just great."