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He had followed the young woman in blue for quite a distance. She had obviously been on the refreshments committee of the convention, and had traversed most of the fair, handing out assorted glass bottles of all shapes and sizes filled with clear, sparkling water. After having to push his way through a pack of fire-eaters, who had eyed the boy with the water-amulet with obvious distaste, and scorching his jacket in the process, Ash was almost entirely fed-up with the whole thing. He had hardly had a chance to enjoy himself since he had gotten here, and as if he hadn't been bone-weary before, after trailing after this girl for an hour, his legs were near ready to give out from under him. He had been forced to just plod along, pushing through the crowds, feeling sorrier and sorrier for himself, with his self-pity growing and growing until it was at the bursting point. He took a long, deep breath and prepared to deliver a good long rant to his amulet.
"Ah, good job, Ash. Looks like you found them!"
"Wha?"
His mouth hung open, his complaints forgotten, as he surveyed the activity around him. He had followed the young woman into a small open area. He hadn't noticed as he had walked (he had been far too busy feeling sorry for himself), but the huge, general crowd of the convention had thinned, leaving no more than a couple dozen people. The booths had become less and less prevalent, and he was distinctly aware that the color blue seemed to tinge everything, from benches to clothing to the few booths that were there.
What his eyes were immediately drawn to, however, was a large table set up no more than twenty feet before him. All around it were chairs of every shape and size, and sitting in the chairs were people.
They were all talking and joking and laughing, and they were all wearing an amulet each.
Every single amulet in the little cut-off section of the convention, every single amulet whose wearer sat around that large table, was blue.
His feet moved without his assent. Before he could react, his legs were carrying him, step by step, closer and closer, up to the table. The people didn't notice, and the conversation did not stop, until he stood mere feet away. And then a hush fell, and all eyes trained themselves on the boy. He forced himself to return every gaze. He wanted nothing more than to turn back and leave -- he felt vulnerable beyond imagination, standing here -- but something was holding him in his spot. His feet were disobeying him a second time, and rooted themselves in the ground. He couldn't move. The people continued to appraise him critically, faces as expressionless as stone.
He was just beginning to wonder when this nightmare-come-true was going to end when there was scuffling of a chair scooting back from the table, and a girl stood. She seemed to be his age, or around there. She watched him with serious, pale blue eyes, and then suddenly she smiled, and then she laughed, and then she pulled another chair out and looked at him.
He still didn't move.
The girl remained standing, and, as Ash's eyes wandered from person to person around the table, they all smiled in return. The young woman he had followed through the convention returned his gaze with a wry smile and a wink. Finally, he regained control of his feet. He stumbled to the empty chair and, pausing to lock eyes with the silent girl, sat down awkwardly. The girl climbed into her own seat more gracefully.
There was a momentary lull.
And then the conversation started up again as if nothing had ever happened, except this time, Ash Ketchum joined in, talking and joking and laughing with these people as if he had belonged with them his entire life.
Somehow they all knew where to gather. Some internal instinct, or else an outside force, led them all, every last one of them, to the center of the convention. There was a massively large cleared space there, and they silently filed in, standing or sitting, just basically waiting. A platform stood before them, dead in its inactivity. The people continued to pour in, and though a few whispered attempts at conversation could be heard in the otherwise desolately noiseless clearing, a general hush hung over the crowd. It was as if they all knew how important it was.
Anxiety and tension was thick in the air; it hummed in the silence. All throughout the crowd, even as they waited speechlessly, people clustered together, searching for comfort among those few that they knew. They were almost all strangers, and their eyes darted from face to unfamiliar face warily.
As she clutched the hands of her two new friend, who bit their lips and trembled with uneasiness, it struck the girl that, for the past several hours, she hadn't thought of the two boys, who had been her only friends before this all happened. The burning thought hit her with such force that her knees almost buckled: Will I ever see them again?
Her troubled thought was interrupted by a sudden movement at the front. Her eyes strained to make sense out of the commotion at the front. Could it be? Could it be time?
Was it ready to start?
The girl sitting next to him had turned after a few moments, and addressed him alone, rather than the entire table: "So, where are you from? What's your life story?"
It kind of shocked him, to tell the truth. Nobody at the table had spoken to him directly; he had just been included in the general conversation. So it took him a minute for the question to register. When it finally did, he spluttered out an answer: "Oh, it's a long, long story. You wouldn't be interested."
"On the contrary." She smiled timidly, and her eyes lit up when she did. She was a very charming girl, albeit a bit melancholy, and he couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from hers: her pale blue eyes seemed locked with his own. Tucking a strand of darker blue hair behind her ear, she continued: "If I wouldn't be interested, I wouldn't have asked."
He grinned shakily. "O-oh," he stuttered, "sorry. I guess you're right, and-"
"I'm Victory," she cut him off quietly, and stuck out a hand. He took it hesitantly, and she shook it firmly. "I'm from Sunny Town."
"Oh, I've been there before! The town with the bridge!" he burst out in recognition.
"Yeah, that's it!" She fingered her blue amulet idly as she continued talking. "I was out by the bridge yesterday, playing on the shore, when all of a sudden a Pokémon popped its head out of the water. In its mouth was this." She held the amulet out shyly. The pale powder blue of the stone caught the light and shone prettily.
Ash looked at the engravings critically, unable to decode the designs. "What kind of Pokémon was it that gave this to you?" he asked off-handedly, still studying the small stone disk.
She smiled. "A Dratini," and suddenly the etchings became clear, became obvious, and Ash found himself looking at a delicate engraving of a graceful Dratini, caught in a majestic pose.
"Wow."
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too." She slipped the amulet back into her shirt. "And so now here I am." Her eyes dimmed slightly. "I started out so quickly I didn't even have time to say good-bye to my family."
Ash blinked for a moment, innocent and pure, before the obviousness of the statement hit him. The thought 'No wonder she seems so melancholy' flitted across his mind before he realized what she had really said. And then he was shattered, his heart broken, as he realized he had never had the chance to mention anything to Professor Oak, or to his mom, and sooner or later, they would get worried, and they'd never know....
"D-do you know if we'll ever get to go home again?" he said loudly, both to Victory and to his amulet, to anybody who might have the answer. Victory only lowered her head sadly, a curtain of hair obscuring her pale blue eyes that glittered with unshed tears. 'Do we?!' he thought savagely, teeth clenched, willing his amulet to answer.
"I-I don't know, really," it answered back, startled. "You'll find out at the briefing, I guess."
The briefing. He was getting so sick of hearing about it. He was getting so sick of this whole thing. 'I don't think I want to do this anymore,' he thought, feeling his gut wrench, not caring if his amulet heard it or not, knowing that it would.
His amulet was silent, but he could feel that his words had hurt it immensely.
Regretting his rashness, he looked back up at Victory. She had sat back up straight, and though her eyes were flatter than they should have been, she looked unaffected by the sadness that she obviously held within her. "And as if that's not enough," she said quietly. "As if that's not bad enough..."
'Please don't say anything else,' Ash begged her in his mind. 'I don't want to know anything more. I don't want to feel any worse than this.'
He watched her lips move, paralyzed.
"I still don't know what to do about this."
Her hands moved, dipping to her belt, unclipping something there, holding it gently.
His mind screamed.
"What am I going to do about my-"
NONONONONO
His eyes sought out the shape of the object she held.
Round and red and white.
A Pokéball.
'A Pokéball...'
"-my Pokémon?"
'My Pokémon.'
And then, as his mind crumbled with a single thought, he remembered his Pokémon, and realized that he had absolutely no idea where Pikachu was.
His mind screamed.
His face crumpled and he began to sob.
She stood on her tiptoes to get a better look.
"See anything?" Faith whispered.
She could see the podium. And she could see that several other people in the crowd had noticed that something was happening up at the front; many of them were also on their tiptoes, murmuring to their friends. There was a slight movement at the front, as if something was about to happen, but hadn't yet. And that was all. "No..." Her neck hurt, but before she stopped her fruitless surveying, she scanned over the hundreds of faces in the crowd, searching for one of two familiar faces. She couldn't find them. Sighing and rubbing her neck, she turned to her other friend. "Claire, you're taller than me. What d'you see?"
"Oh, please. I ain't that much taller," her green-haired friend muttered, but craned her neck over the crowd obediently and studied the front. "I see just as much as you did, darlin'. There ain't no way of makin' sense out of it. It's just a general... commotion." She shrugged. "I guess we got a bit of waitin' to do."
And so they continued to wait.
He'd never thought he could feel so empty. He'd never even thought such a feeling to be possible.
It was like a gaping wound. It was like something had punched through his chest with extended claws, grabbed a hold of something vital, something he couldn't live without, and pulled it free with one horrible wrenching yank, severing all and every possible ties it might once have had with his body. No, wait, it was worse than that. The something that was missing, the something whose absence had broken his heart so savagely that he kept touching his fingers to his chest, expecting to find raw, torn, bleeding tissue... it wasn't vital to him. He could live without it, technically. But without it, he was almost a zombie, a vegetable. He could live without it. But he'd kill himself rather than continue the way he was.
It was a raw aching, and he relished it, because he knew he deserved it. How could he destroy a lifetime's amount of dreams, just because one stupid amulet promised a life he knew was impossible? How could he, Ash Ketchum, think of himself before his Pokémon? How could he forget about his Pokémon for even an instant?
How could he forget about Pikachu?
His amulet had been talking to him for what seemed like forever, desperately trying to console him, but he hadn't bothered to listen. He couldn't feel it anymore. If he could've, he would have known how distressed it was. He couldn't, though, and even if he could, he wouldn't have cared.
As Ketchum just wanted to hurt.
Withdrawn within himself, he couldn't see the concerned people all around him, he couldn't hear their comforting words, couldn't feel them as they hugged him and put sympathetic hands on his shoulders. But he could sense them, somehow, and the effort with which they attempted to solace him both embarrassed and infuriated him. How could they take this pain away from him?! He was Ash Ketchum! He was going to be a Pokémon Master! Even Team Rocket, even after countless attempts, hadn't been able to separate he and Pikachu, and yet he'd managed to lose it in an idiotic heartbeat! He needed the suffering. It was his just punishment.
He needed to get away. He needed the pain to eat away at him without distraction.
Pushing away from the table, he began to run.
. . . . . . .
His feet pounded against the grassy floor of the convention and he plowed heedlessly through masses of surprised people. Tears streamed down his cheeks and left a glittering trail that sparkled momentarily in the air before falling back to the ground as he ran. His eyes were screwed shut, and his body shuddered with sobs as he continued his desperate way. Ash was running from something he could never escape, despite how much he needed to.
He ran, face buried in his arm, blindly picking out a random course of flight. He couldn't take much more; his heart thumped wildly and his breath burned in his throat, but he couldn't feel anything other than the pain that flared deep, deep within. If he eventually died from his fatal flight, it would be all right, he decided, because--
A strong pair of arms grabbed him, the hands clutching his arms so hard and desperately that they left deep, dark bruises. A choked yell escaped his lips and he jerked his eyes open. His vision blurred, then focused.
She frowned down at him fiercely. Her nails bit into his arms, and though he whimpered pitifully, she did not relax her hold. It was the young woman he had followed earlier, the one who had ultimately led him to the water-types' table. Her eyes burned with rage.
"What are you doing?" she asked him, her voice dangerously quiet with fury. Her gaze held his, and he began to squirm uncomfortably. Her eyes flashed and she shook him once, hard, jarringly. The blue amulet that hung around her neck flared furiously. "Answer me! What do you think you're doing?!"
He choked back a sob and was wishing frantically that this nightmare would go away soon and he'd wake up, when a cool hand slid onto his arm. Surprised, he looked behind him to see Victory, breathing hard and sweating, looking at him lifelessly.
"What are you doing, Ash?" she asked him, and she sounded as if she were ready to burst into tears herself. "What is running away going to help?"
"B-but my..."
His head snapped back and forward as the woman redirected his attention to herself with one, firm shake. "You aren't going anywhere. Quit acting like such a baby and come back with us. We can help you, but not," she shook him again in emphasis, "if you're going to be so stupid."
A crumb of his old courage, his old strength, the strength he'd built himself a Master on, suddenly sparked in his mind, and he snuffled back the rest of his tears. He still ached horribly for Pikachu, but he managed to look the woman in the eye steadily. "I'm sorry," he tried to say, though all he could manage was a husky whisper.
Her eyes softened considerably, but her face remained grave. "Okay. Now let's go back. Everybody's real worried about you." She walked back towards the blue area of the convention, and as she did, murmured something so discreetly that Ash could barely hear her: "Whether you like it or not, you're a part of the family now, and we've got to watch out for each other."
He blinked fiercely, standing there, and suddenly Victory was behind him, hugging him comfortingly. "It'll be okay, Ash. We've all lost something, and we can help each other regain what we've lost." She smiled, and was so stunningly charming that for a split second, Ash forgot all about Pikachu. Only for a second, though. "And don't let Calamity bother you. It's not her fault."
Ash stared at the back of the angry young woman, disappearing into the crowd. "Calamity? Who is she? What kind of amulet does she wear?" he asked in awe as he shakily trailed after her obediently.
"The Seadra," Victory answered, her hand planted firmly on his shoulder as if making sure he didn't run off again. "She's from a small town near the Indigo Plateau." Victory lowered her gaze. "When you ran off, Ash, it really scared her. I think she's the only one of us who really knows what a big deal this all is." The girl looked back up at Ash. "She was really scared you were going to hurt yourself, Ash. You are really important now, and if you got hurt... well, it'd be a big deal."
"Sure didn't seem like she was worried about me," the boy muttered sulkily.
"But she was. It's not her fault, like I said. It's just her amulet's personality merging with her's." Victory smiled wryly. "Seadras are known for their horrendous tempers."
Ash blinked. "Really? It was just her amulet?" Then he remembered the angry light with which the blue stone had burned earlier. "I guess you're right." He rubbed his bruised arms idly. The two trudged after the still-irate woman silently.
'I hope Pikachu's okay,' he suddenly thought, and tears instantly reappeared in his eyes. He ignored them. 'But Calamity and Victory are right. I'm sure I can find Pikachu. Nothing can keep us apart.' He smiled. They had re-entered the blue area, and already the people there were relaxing at the sight of the three of them, relieved he was okay. Victory slowly removed her hand from his shoulder and when he looked at her, she smiled reassuringly. Calamity's amulet had lost its glow, and she watched him approvingly, all traces of her previous anger gone. He felt confident. He felt at home.
'I'll find Pikachu,' he repeated in his mind. 'And then I've a good life to look forward to.'
He smiled to himself.
"Ash? Ar-are you okay?"
His smile widened. The first of the blue people approached him. He held his amulet to his heart as he slowly walked back to the table.
. . . . . . .
He hadn't been there for more than an hour before the alarm had gone off in his head. They had all just been sitting around the table, chatting and laughing as they had before, Ash still nursing the hollow aching inside of him, when the pain had struck them. They'd all kicked back from their chairs and shouted in surprise. When the pain had suddenly vanished, Calamity had giggled in embarrassment, and Victory next to him had elbowed him in the side and winked at him. Rubbing his forehead with a mock expression of pain, Ash had laughed himself.
'What was that for?' he asked his amulet silently.
"Sorry," it replied sheepishly. "That was an alarm, so to speak. You know, like on an alarm clock. Everybody here at the convention felt it. It's time for the briefing."
Ash felt an involuntary shiver run up and down his spine. "F-finally?" he murmured uneasily, surprised that his voice was shaky.
"Yep. It's at the center at the convention. Start walking."
"But I'll never find it!" he said, as people all around him began to leave their seats and walk back into the thick of the convention. He grew frantic. "What if they all leave me? I'll never find it!" he repeated, horrified.
'Come on, Ash. You found the convention itself, didn't you?"
Ash blinked. "Oh yeah..."
"Right. Now, get a move on."
"Fine, fine." He began walking, merging immediately with the rest of the blue people. As he continued with the crowd, he noticed how the color blue slowly began less and less common until he realized he had completely left the water-type area and had re-entered the general convention. All around him, too, walking in the exact same direction he and his fellow blue-amulet-wearers, were all sorts of people, who represented all sorts of types of Pokémon. Although he didn't stop in his walking, he was surprised to find that he missed the blue area with its large table. It had a comforting, homey sort of feeling to it, and he really regretted leaving it.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the person in front of him had stopped walking until he had smacked into him.
"Hey! Watch it!" the tall, red-haired boy said irritably, glaring down at him.
"S-sorry," Ash stuttered. "But why'd you stop?"
"Take a look around, genius." The boy thrust a peevish hand out and waved it around. "This is where we're supposed to wait." Shaking his head crankily, the boy muttered, "Moron," and turned back around.
"Oh." Feeling not a little stupid, Ash stood on his tiptoes and got a good look around. He and several hundreds of other people were standing in a huge clearing. At the front seemed to be some sort of set-up stage, upon which was a small podium. There, however, was nobody anywhere near it; there was nobody even on the stage. Everybody in the crowd was tense and whispering with uneasiness. Ash surveyed the faces in the crowd. Nobody familiar, anywhere, no Victory, no Calamity, no Misty--
It suddenly hit him that he'd left more of his past than Pikachu behind. His two friends... he'd traveled the world with them. And they hadn't crossed his mind once in the hours he'd spent here, at the convention. Tears would've sprang to his eyes if he hadn't used them all up, crying for Pikachu.
'How could I forget them?' he thought agonizingly, peering once again out over the crowd, desperately searching for his friends. His eyes darted from red-head to red-head. For a moment, they lingered on one... he'd spent a year with her, he recognized her, he would anywhere... but no, the color of the girl's hair was much too deep a red. And orange shirts and green vests, he looked for them, too... but the incredible mass of people was a veritable rainbow of colors, and he couldn't distinct between the attire of anyone.
"Ash? Is everything okay?"
He turned panic-bright eyes in the direction of the voice, breathing heavily, face wrought with torture. Victory stepped back at his expression, scared. Then she took his hand.
"Remember what you promised Calamity?" she whispered, eyes glistening. "Don't give in, Ash. Everything will turn out right, remember?"
And then he did remember the promises he had made before, to Calamity, to Victory, to the water people, to his amulet, to himself. The tension drained from his face, and suddenly he became aware just how much he appreciated what Victory had done for him, what she'd been doing for him since he first met her. He squeezed her hand gratifyingly and was about to thank her, when, suddenly, a hush fell over the before-buzzing crowd. Both Ash and Victory instantly turned to the front to see what was going on. They were near the back of the clearing, so Ash squinted to be able to make out the finer details of the stage. There was a movement up there, someone was preparing to do something... but what was it?
"See anything?" he hissed to Victory, eyes still trained on the stage.
"N-no... wait! Yes! I do! It's-" The words died in her mouth.
A short, round girl slowly walked across the stage, step by careful step, and took her place behind the podium. There, she spent a moment arranging herself, intentionally ignoring the crowd before her. Finally, she looked up. The silence was suffocating. All eyes watched the girl. No one breathed. The girl stared back, face unreadable.
And then a bright smile appeared on her face, and she opened her mouth to speak.
"Hi, everybody. If you don't know already, we're-"
Immediately, the very second the words left her mouth, a back-breaking weariness crushed against Ash's senses, and he staggered against Victory, who seemed to have fallen asleep on her feet. The tall, red-haired boy next to Ash fell to his knees, eyes already closed. If they hadn't fallen into such a stupor, they would have noticed that all around them, people were doing the same. The girl at the podium paused, confused and a bit miffed.
Suddenly, just as Ash decided keeping his eyes open was too hard and submitted to the fatigue, a soft piping sound could be heard from the very far back. After a moment, it increased in volume. It was a flute or a pipe or something, and as it continued to play, Ash suddenly found himself slumped on the ground, completely and utterly wide awake.
He climbed to her feet, as people all around him did, too, rubbing the back of his head and wondering just what had just happened. The girl at the front looked a little aggravated, but waited patiently for everyone to get reoriented.
"Oh, I remember now. That must be the girl who represents the Jigglypuff. Whoever holds the Puff amulet is a great public speaker, which is why she must have been chosen to deliver the Briefing. But they can't really launch into a speech without putting everyone to sleep."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "But why are we all awake, then?" he murmured under his breath. "And what's that noise?"
"PokéFlute."
Ash turned and peered toward the back, eyes searching through dozens of people. Finally he spotted a single young man, piping furiously away on a PokéFlute.
"He's in for an unpleasant hour or two. He's going to have to keep that up for the entirety of the briefing."
Up at the head of the clearing, the Jigglypuff girl had recollected her thoughts. "Sorry about that," she said loudly and clearly, her offended frown wiped away. Her amulet flashed with a light that was either mortified or furious. The flute continued to play in the background.
"Well," she continued, and as she spoke, she seemed to gain confidence, "like I was saying, you all know why we're all here, right?"
There was an overwhelming chorus of 'yes', and the girl opened her mouth to go on when a loud, "No, actually, I don't know," sounded from Ash's left. Heads turned, and Ash finally picked out the person who spoke: a tall, black-haired young man who smiled slightly at the attention he was getting. He swung his white amulet idly as he spoke again: "Could you go over it for me?"
The Puff girl, looking quite a bit flustered, and having lost her train of thought, cleared her throat. "Uh, sure," she said uneasily. "Basically, we've all been selected as representatives for every single Pokémon breed in existence." She launched into what sounded like a familiar speech for her. "We each have gained quite a bit of power with that honor. What you do with that newfound power is up to you. You now have a connection with every Pokémon you coincide with in the world. Soon you will begin developing characteristics of theirs. You'll learn their attacks and techniques. No one really knows the extent of your power, but like I said, it's a formidable one, and your existence is now vital to a certain breed of Pokémon on this earth."
"Your job now is to care after every Pokémon that is in your breed. You are to help all of them that are in need. You are to study them. You are to fight for their protection. You are to help develop your breed, hone it, perfect it. You must train to the utmost of your ability, if your breed should need you to battle for it. You are now guardians, protectors, warriors. There is no failing in this mission, there is only your death. You must place your breed's safety before your own. They're depending on you."
The girl paused for either a breath or for emphasis, neither was clear. Nobody in the crowd spoke a word. After a moment, the girl continued.
"Over the next few years, you will be living in an environment unique to your type. Water, fire, electricity... each type has its own 'world', so to speak. You will be contained to this environment, with only your fellow types for company, until you have trained for a sufficient amount of time. Then you will begin to integrate with other types, battling to boost your skills. At this time, if you are ready, you will start defending your breed.
"All of you have had to leave lives behind. You've left your families, your home, your dreams, to come to this convention." The girl stopped again, abruptly, and turned away, murmuring something to her amulet. There was a considerable moment of silence as her amulet presumably responded, and then the girl, wiping a tear away from her eye, said softly, "You'll never see those lives again."
There was an incredible reaction from the audience as almost every single person there shouted out in outrage and concern. The flute, which had been playing obediently and diligently, stopped suddenly as the flutist cried out in surprise. The Puff girl, realizing the protection of the flute had ceased, clapped a hand over her mouth.
"But my family!" a woman near Ash wailed above the noise. "I have two little girls! Who's going to take care of them?"
"And my little sister? I never get to see her again?" the red-haired boy cried, his previous attitude replaced with wild grief.
"What about my mom and dad?!"
"My family! I've never been apart from them before! I can't just forget them!"
It was too much for Ash. "Yeah, I'm all my mother has! She'll be so worried about me!"
The second the words left his mouth, the harried girl up on the stage locked eyes with him, and the pitiful hurt in her gaze made him regret immediately saying anything. But people all around him continued to express their concerns, and there seemed to be no end to them.
Deep in the middle of the crowd, a young man with shoulder length purple hair reflected that, while he wouldn't miss his old life one bit, he desperately needed to find the girl he had spent his entire life with.
The Puff girl, who had been growing more and more stressed as she had patiently waited, had finally had enough. She brought her hand down to her side and screamed, "QUIET!"
The drowsiness that descended on them all effectively shut them up. As people slowly swayed on their feet, a faint stream of warbling flute music, wafting from the back, slowly permeated the thick silence. The flute player, obviously having taken a hint at the Puff girl's rage, had managed to seize his Pokéflute before falling completely asleep. Ash wearily wiped his eyes. On the stage, the girl had gained control of her anger.
"We'll have a chance to say good-bye, but that's all," she said, and though her voice remained professional, it was twinged with a hint of misery. "Technically, when your training is over, you'll have the freedom to visit, but you'll find that it's best if you just try to forget. You'll change too much, even if you don't realize it, and you just won't have the time for a normal life anymore. Let time heal the wounds, and don't reopen them."
A discontented murmuring still hovered above the crowd, but the girl pressed on, refused to hear anymore. "Your amulets should have explained this to you. Didn't they tell you, when you accepted them, that your life would change forever?"
Ash blinked. He had been so caught up in the moment on the previous night (while it seemed like it had occurred years ago), that he hadn't really realized what he had agreed to. "I did," he murmured in reluctant reflection to himself. "I can't ever go back now."
The girl waited quietly for a moment, respectfully. "I'm sorry," she said simply, then continued.
"There is another problem needing to be addressed. It is of great importance that you remain silent, and merely raise your hand.
"How many of you are Pokémon trainers?"
There was a second of silence. Nobody spoke. And then, with the sound of a hundred hearts breaking, almost everybody there slowly raised their arms, eyes wide and staring as they, like Ash had earlier, realized they had forgotten their Pokémon. Ash, already having faced this, raised his hand without such a reaction, but all around him... it was astounding. They were like a horde of zombies, devout of all feeling.
Victory, who too had raised her hand impassively, noticed his astonishment at the sudden lifelessness of the convention. She nudged him in his ribs. "That's what you were like," she whispered to him. After a second, she added, "Only much, much worse."
He blinked.
"I understand," the Puff girl said sympathetically while still solemn, but her hand strayed to her belt and Ash, straining through half-closed eyes, managed to make out the red blur of a minimized Pokéball before she cupped it under her hand protectively.
"So she's feeling just as lost as we are," he said in a sudden flash of realization. "Why isn't she showing it?"
"She's under her amulet's influence. Like I said, Jigglypuffs are naturally great public speakers, and so her amulet's in control of that aspect of her now. To falter or show any great emotions would be against her nature."
"So what kind of characteristics of Squirtle are you going to force onto me?" he replied under his breath, a faint smile, though a smile nonetheless, hinting at his lips..
"You'll just have to wait and see."
"Some of you have received amulets that correspond with your Pokémon," the Puff girl continued, and though she projected and spoke quite clearly, Ash had the feeling that, if she'd any control over the volume of her voice, she'd be quite a bit quieter and softer. "You're the lucky ones. Many of you, though, may have amulets of a breed that conflicts with your Pokémon. The unluckiest of you are either extremely weak or much too powerful in relation to your Pokémon now. If you really care about your Pokémon, though, you will find ways to overcome these handicaps." She paused and lowered her head. "Many of you may well find that your best course of action is to free your Pokémon, let them loose in the wild, before they get hurt or hurt you.
"I know many of you have neglected your Pokémon in these past few days. When the briefing is completed, you will have ample time to let your Pokémon out of their balls and decide how you want to deal with this dilemma."
Ash's hand went to the three Pokéballs on one side of his belt. He didn't want to think about how he would deal with this. 'Later,' he finally thought. 'I'll decide later.' His eyes strayed to his right, where Victory held two Pokéballs cupped in her hands and sprinkled them with her sorrowful tears. His heart ached, both for his own misery and for hers, and for everybody else's here.
"The briefing is drawing to a close," the girl up on stage interrupted his thoughts. "Afterwards, you will all have an hour to yourselves in the convention. At this time, you will tend to your Pokémon, say good-bye to all if any old or new acquaintances you have here, and get the supplies you are going to need in the next few years. This included very little. Most of what you will need will be provided for you at your type training areas, and you will always have the chance, though not in the near future, to go out and purchase items you may need, from very particular distributors. One thing that will be very important, however, is an outfit of clothes, obtained here in the convention. The clothes you were now will not last a week in your new life. You are going to be dabbling in the elements, extending reality, and fighting deadly forces. The clothes you will find here will not burn, tear, or shrink, in almost any circumstance. They will offer you protection against otherwise deadly attacks, but I will warn you now: don't get cocky. They won't keep you alive unless you defend your live as well.
"It is very important that you find the right set of clothes. They are separated by type, and you must select corresponding to your type. Water types have different needs and characteristics than fire types, and your clothes must be able to react accordingly. No matter how unrealistic it seems, the right outfit is going to play a heavy role in how you live, and survive, for years to come
"You will find these clothes not far into the convention. Your amulets should be able to guide you."
In the middle area of the crowd, a red-haired girl wearing a plush red jacket exchanged a grin with her green-haired friend. The green-haired girl adjusted the collar of her brown shirt and responded back with a thumb's up. Their pink-haired friend mocked sulking, and made a note to her amulet that they would have to stop by the clothes rack later.
Very close to the three girls, a brown-haired young man smoothed his brown aviator jacket smugly, while his purple-haired friend eyed the tatters of his once-white uniform and laughed sheepishly.
Ash and Victory glanced at each other. "You wanna go together after she's done?" he whispered.
"Sounds good," she replied.
"Okay, I think that pretty much wraps it up. Your amulets should be ready to direct you from here.
"Good luck." The girl stepped back, nodded once at the flutist in thanks, who stopped his playing immediately, and walked briskly off the stage.
There was absolute noiselessness for a moment, and then a shiver ran through the crowd, touching everyone's spine, sending everyone trembling with the impact of what had just happened.
"Your new life begins from here," Ash's amulet told him softly, and the excitement contained in its voice was hardly disregardable.
"Good luck indeed," Victory whispered hoarsely, and to whether the comment was directed to him or to everyone or to no one at all, Ash was not sure.
"C'mon, let's roll," Misty said to Faith and Claire, all three of them bright with excitement. "We've gotta hustle."
"Yeah, I've got to get some clothes," Faith agreed, her soft voice vibrating with energy.
"What're we waitin' for, then?" Claire grabbed her two friends and pulled them along. "Let's go!"
At the far right of the clearing, a dark-skinned girl wearing purple overalls tugged on her friend's green vest. "You need some new duds. Let's go to that table."
"Okay, but we've got to get back to the food court soon," Brock warned as the girl pulled him back into the convention.
"Um, excuse me, everybody! Could I have your attention, please?"
The noise that had rebuilt in the clearing slowly died away as all eyes redirected themselves on the stage. A slender girl there with bright yellow hair and a bright yellow amulet stood there, waiting for their attention. "Sorry to hold you here longer, but... did anybody lose a Pikachu?" She held the Pokémon aloft and its unhappy 'Pikapi?' echoed throughout the clearing.
If Misty and Brock had still been there, they would have been overjoyed to see the familiar Pokémon. As it was, there were only four there who could have recognized it. One had crouched in the very far back of the clearing, hiding in the shadows, the entire time, and only narrowed her malice-filled eyes at the sight of the electric mouse. One's eyes widened with conflicting emotions, but merely sighed with nostalgia and, stripping off the tattered remains of his Rocket uniform's shirt, headed for the clothes rack. One didn't even see the Pikachu; he was too busy purring lovingly to his new friend.
For Ash, there was never any doubt about it. His broken heart sprang into his throat, and he smiled so happily that new tears, refreshing tears, slid down his cheeks. Victory, beside him, smiled herself, and not too far away from those two, Calamity grinned wryly.
His dreams renewed, he uttered one simple word and stepped forward to reclaim his best friend.
"Pikachu."