Warming Hearts

Finding Peace

Warming Hearts

A/N: Now, let's get on with Chapter 17. Roll it!

Chapter 17

Finding Peace

When Pikachu came back inside after a fun match of snowball fighting with the servants and some of the other wild Pokémon around the area, including Piplup and Buneary with whom he had gotten pretty close with, he didn't expect to sense a sadness within the grand building. Something must have happened.

He first peeked into the library and saw Dawn there, quietly crying on a chair, but there was no sign of Ash. He then scampered up the stairs to Ash's room and there, he found his Trainer lying on his bed, crying his eyes out, the sound muffled by the pillow. This was not something that Ash would do often, so Pikachu knew that something serious must have happened.

He carefully jumped onto the bed and licked his friend's hand. "Pika-pi?" He asked him in his own language.

Ash managed to calm down his sobs a little bit and wipe away some tears before turning to his partner. "Hey, buddy." He said.

"Pika, Pika?" Pikachu asked, tilting his head, wondering what got his Trainer so upset.

Ash sniffed and slowly sat up. "I learned something, Pikachu." He said. "About my dad."

Pikachu's eyes widened. Ash had practically never mentioned his father in the whole time that he had known him, and it was obvious that it was a really sensitive topic.

"He..." Ash swallowed a lump in his throat that was building up again. "He sacrificed himself, just to make sure that Mom and I were safe." He then looked down, a tear slipping down his face. "But he never came back."

Pikachu now felt like he might start crying, too. He slowly came over to his best friend and hugged his leg in an attempt to try and comfort him. Ash buried his face in his arms, feeling his body trembling.

"But why?" He asked himself. "How could he choose to let me grow up without him? Leave Mom alone? What's so special about me that he gave himself up for?"

Pikachu knew that Ash was letting his grief go to his head, blocking out all sense of reason, because they both knew that they had faced impossible challenges and saved the world many times together. But he decided to just let him cry.

Ash continued crying until he felt his tear ducts were completely dried up. If his pride would catch up to him right then, he would punch himself for acting so childish. He was eighteen years old, for crying out loud! He shouldn't be crying in bed like he was a little five-year-old! But then he thought that if anyone had learned why they had grown up with a single parent and why the other parent was never around, they would also be wallowing in their sorrows as well.

Eventually, Ash fell asleep, still curled up in a tight ball. Pikachu slowly released his comforting hold on his Trainer's leg and looked outside. It was sunset and the moon would be rising soon. He curled up next to his sleeping friend and started snoozing.

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For some reason, Ash suddenly found himself in a thick, dark forest that was cloaked with mist and not inside Dawn's castle. He looked around, not recognizing anything familiar. "Where am I?" He asked himself. "How did I get here?"

The mist slowly started to clear up and Ash quickly realized where he was. He was back in the very same forest where he and Dawn had learned of his father's fate not even a few hours ago. The same tree with the gnarled roots stood there in the monochrome background and Ash felt a burning rage starting to build up inside of him.