Chapter Text
April 6th, 2012
…
Striaton City, Unova
Daytime
…
On the horizon, with new Pokemon Pidove and Tepig under his belt, Ash ran to see the horizon of Striaton City. It was a large city surrounded by a forest of trees, yet its modern towers rose the highest. Excitement rose in his heart as he made his way to the entrance of the city from atop of the hill.
…
Aimlessly bounding down the streets, in search of the Striaton City Gym, Ash looks around, stopped to express his excitement out loud. However…
“So tell me… Where’s the gym?”
Iris popped out from behind him, catching him off guard. She had been traveling with him on and off, once explaining her rage of him ‘following’ her, but her she was, following him.
“Um…” He tried to defend himself, attempting to claim that he knew where it was.
“All ready to go but you don’t know where you’re going, just like the kid you are,” She spoke in a teasing manner, giving a smug shrug. Axew popped out of her hair and she handed it the apple in her hand. The tusked Pokemon happily grabbed the apple while Iris still held onto it and started to gnaw at it.
“Say! An Axew!”
Looking up, the two saw a rather fancy-dressed man with light green hair approach Iris. He leaned forward and gazed intently at Axew, looking at it up and down, smiling with wonder. He then leaned back and put his hand on his chin, closing his eyes.
“Soft skin fresh as new grass, tusks like newly-sprouted, young shoots, and a future as bright and limitless as the early morning sun…” The formal young man reciprocated on what his senses gave him. “The perfect partner for a young lady who seems one with nature!” He seemed to have been very intrigued over Axew, taking his poetry-like sentences into great account.
“Thanks so much!” Iris replied, smiling, the young man seeming to have come in peace.
He seems to have nothing more to say, but upon laying his eyes on Ash’s Pikachu…
“A Pikachu?” He stared in disbelief before smiling wide and his eyes starting to glimmer. “It’s a Pikachu!” Without further ado, he stepped forward towards Ash and picked it up off of his shoulders and into his gentle grasp.
“First time I’ve seen one up-close!” His voice reflected an overjoyed sensation the sight of a Kanto Pokemon was giving him, his gaze looking at every inch of it in amazement. “Hello there!” he smiled wide at it, causing it to feel awkward, presented in its expression.
Giving Pikachu back to Ash, he stood up straight. “Say, you’ve really got yourself a rare Pokemon, you know,” His voice was only just starting to return to normal composure.
Yet again, Ash had to explain the situation, introducing himself in the process.
“Well, how do you do?” He cheerfully accepted him and placed a hand over his chest. “My name’s Cilan… A Pokemon Connoisseur,”
Ash couldn’t help but question what a ‘Pokemon Connoisseur’ was, so he questioned Cilan.
“Of course!” Iris sneered, getting into his personal space. “What a kid…” Axew retorted and Ash slumped and pouted.
Cilan gave a soft, apologetic laugh. “Not surprising at all!” He continued to speak. “It’s a job that isn’t well-known outside of the Unova region,” He then proudly goes to talk about his profession, seeming quite pleased to call himself a Pokemon Connoisseur,”
Upon hearing this, Ash immediately was fascinated and requested that he evaluate his relationship with his beloved Pikachu, however, Iris was first to jump in with bugging him about why he really was in Striaton City, causing Cilan to jump in and offer them assistance to the Striaton Gym.
…
“Here we are!”
Ash’s excitement boiled over and caused him to run to the double doors, and push them wide open. Without taking any notice to the place, he announced his request for a gym battle. Instead, before his was what seemed to being a fully running restaurant.
“This is the Striaton Gym?” Iris question in the about the same disbelief as she gave Ash when he explained his thunderstorm experience.
Out of nowhere, a just as formally dressed man as Cilan was, in fact, the same getup, just with crazy red hair and a white apron, slid beside him on his left in a swift motion.
“Welcome!” The awfully cheeky man grinned, towel draped over his right arm.
Then another identically dressed man came over, this time with blue, bowl-cut, shoulder length hair that covered his right eye joined in on Ash’s right side.
“Welcome friends…” The smooth man spoke, a towel also on his forearm.
Before Ash could respond, Cilan placed his hand on his shoulder. “Please, make yourself at home!” And pushed him right on in.
In response, Ash stopped in his tracks and questioned this new friend and his friends about all this. The three of them just closed their eyes and smiled, heads tilted down. Then the lights went off.
“Ash! What did you do?!” Iris hissed in his ear, looking around the restaurant. Suddenly, from a still position, the three men of great likeness put their hands on their hips. In synchronized motions, they walked in a V formation to the fireplace in the middle of the restaurant floor. Their backs still turned, a spotlight flashed on to Cilan.
“Alright then, Ash…” His voice was suddenly amplified. Then he spun around and pointed one finger out into nobody in particular. “I’ll grant your request!” Following that were squeals of girls. What-
A spotlight then turned on to the flame boy to Cilan’s right. “So, you’re a challenger…” He spoke in a snarky voice, then turned around, leaned forward with a finger pointing out, just like Cilan had. “Then you’ll receive a welcome as pleasant and hot as the new day’s sun!” More female customers squealed.
And finally, a third spotlight turned on to the cool blue guy. “No, I think we should be cool,” He blantly mocked the fire boy before spinning around, his hands up and spread open to the air. “Like a refreshing glass of water, chilled of course…” And the whole restaurant broke into squeals. It was too hard to tell if the water boy was a fan favorite or he wasn’t and the girls were still cooing over the previous boys.
However…
“O-KAY!”
The whole restaurant went silent and everyone looked towards the fire head, where the shout presumed to have come from. He placed his hand gently on Cilan’s chest, but pushed him aside and made a b-line for the water boy.
“What the hell was that, Cress?!” The boy began to shout at the boy who could be presumed to be the Cress he spoke of, who was taken a little back by the shout. “The whole get-up like you said it to be is supposed to be balanced unity not dissing me! I thought we all agreed on this!”
Cress blinked once at the heated boy before crossing his arms and facing away from him, eyes closed.
“Chili…” He sighed heavily, his cheeks seeming flushed. “Why must you put this childish act up nearly every time? I thought you agreed on keeping your comments to yourself and waiting till later to go off on us, no?”
“Of course no!” Chili hissed back, fit clenched and looking as if about to punch Cress in mere moments. “Stop trying to avoid the point! You’re using this to take advantage and become better than me and you know it!”
“Chili, don’t be silly,” Cress replied, dramatically placing a spread out hand over his brow, his other arm crossed at his midriff. “I don’t have to,”
“SAY WHAT?!”
“You two, please…”
Still caught up in the emotions of the fight, they turn around to Cilan with little expression change.
“We’re in the middle of something here, right?” Cilan gave an awkward smile and nodded to them.
“T-That’s right!” Cress recomposed himself and stood up, straight and tall, yet Chili remained disorientated.
“This is the Striaton Gym!” Cilan proudly said.
“And the three of us…” Cress joined in.
“…We’re triplet brothers!” Chili arrived late with his words, delayed by emotions.
“And we’re the gym leaders!”
“Some gym leaders…”
…
Afternoon
…
After his successful gym battle, Ash relieved his Pokemon at the Pokemon Center. Before he could even start to wait, a familiar voice sounded behind him.
“Ash,”
He turned around to see no other than Cilan himself.
“I’d like to chat with you… If you don’t mind, that is,”
…
The two of them sat down in a booth seating in the Pokemon Center, across from one another. Cilan’s hands laid on the table, his arms to himself.
“My apologizes if my brothers were a bit of a bother,” He began to talk. “They’re always like this, so it’s nothing you did wrong…”
Ash insisted it was nothing and Cilan went on to compliment the battle they had not long ago in the day. When Ash’s Pokemon were fully healed and ready to be returned to him, they went back to the counter together and Ash retrieved them. Suddenly…
“There you are, Ash!”
Turning, the two of them saw Iris bound towards them, stopping when she reached them.
“Cilan!”
Then Cress and Chili came rushing into the Pokemon Center, showing the same expression as Iris was: fear and confusion.
“Hurry! Outside!” Was all Iris could get out.
“You’ve got to see this!” Chili insured Cilan, even the reckless one showing concern.
Everyone rushed outside…
…
Upon stepping out, the most noticeable thing was the pink sparkles of light appearing from the sky. It wouldn’t have been much of a worry if it were to have come from a Pokemon, but…
“Nobody knows what’s going on or where this came from!” Iris exclaimed, holding herself in a tight hug.
“This has never happened in Striaton City before…!” Cress added. “I don’t recall it ever happening anywhere else either!”
Cilan looked around in both directions before suddenly honing in on one thing in particular.
“Over there!”
He pointed and everyone turned to see a large mass of the pink light coming from an abandoned structure in the middle of the forest around the city.
“The Dreamyard…?!” Chili pronounced his confusion out loud.
“What do we do?!” Iris asked out to the group.
“Let’s go,”
Everyone turned towards Ash, silence taking over them.
“He’s right,” Cress sternly announced. “We can’t do anything standing here. We might as well investigate with caution. The group took their moment looking at Cress before nodding.
“Follow us!” Chili told Ash and Iris as Cilan and Cress bounded in the direction of the Dreamyard before them.
…
They rushed to the Dreamyard at top speed, but when they arrived there, it was as they saw it from the entrance of the Pokemon Center. Everyone was silent, looking around for clues.
“Now this doesn’t make any sense at all!” Iris spoke out in furious confusion. “This appears to be the source of the light, but there’s nothing here!”
Everyone else continued to look around more. Within minutes, something caught Ash’s eye. In a small area where a destroyed room stood was a resonating light. Curiosity drew him to the light.
From the corner of her eye, Iris noticed Ash and turned her head to him. “Ash? Did you find something?” Without waiting for an answer, she went after him. Her calling to Ash brought the curiosity of Cilan and his brothers and they followed after her.
Ash stopped at the source of the light and gazed deeply at it. When Iris turned the corner and saw what he saw standing before, she gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.
“You… weren’t kidding…” She murmured as the triplets came up behind her and gasped as well.
Before them was the portal. The portal that Ash first encountered in the thunderstorm with the voice and the dark shadow. Last time, he was almost sucked in, making this second meeting a little tense, but…
Ash put his hand forward and push it through the portal.
“W-W-Wait, wait, WAIT!” Chili exclaimed, waving his arms. “You’re not going in there, are you?!”
“You have no idea what’s in there!” Iris added.
“You could not make it out if you go in!” Cilan chimed in as well, the most panicked out of everyone.
Ash didn’t intend to, but he ignored their helpless calls. The voice… It was faint but he could hear it. He could hear it calling him in.
He pushed himself further in, his shoulders now inside the portal now. He then felt a sense of relaxation and then release. His body started to sink in on its own.
“Ash, no!” Iris exclaimed while the other remained in shock. She reached forward and just barely caught his foot. He stopped going further in, but her body shook with the might it took to keep him down. Chili stepped forward, wrapped his arms around Iris’ stomach, and started pulling as well. Then Cilan and Cress followed, starting a chain of people trying to pull one out. Then suddenly, everyone’s feet rose from the ground, being pulled by the force of the portal. And one by one, they were pulled in, screaming.
…
Once the light surrounded them, everything was white, but they didn’t feel a fall or a landing. They could be dead and not know it they were so desolate inside what the portal led them to. All seemed helpless until.
“Ash! Everyone! Wake up!”
His vision was hazing, but his eyes opened and looked around. Above him, it seemed like a normal sky, yet it was hazy and dark. He could hardly remember what happened, but then…
“Everyone!”
He sat up in a hurry and looked around. “Hey, is everyone okay?! Where are-?!” His eyes stopped when he found them beside them, scatter on the ground, but Pikachu…
“…Why is everyone looking at me funny?”
Everyone stared at the yellow Pokemon in shock.
“Did Pikachu just…?” Cress began to inquire out loud.
“IT TAAAAALKED!!” Chili exclaimed in panic, his voice echoing with his arms flailing.
Pikachu turned to Chili, looking just as confused as everyone else. “I… already talked before…?” it continued.
“Yeah, but in… human language,” Cilan spoke, his gaze glued to the Pokemon.
Pikachu blinked a few times. “Wait, what are you…? WHAAAAAAT?!” It exclaimed in shock, realizing what the problem was.
“Ash, what is the meaning of this?!” Iris yelled at Ash, her large hair almost knocking someone over with that kind of speed as she whipped her head to him. “Why did you bring us to this… place?! Who are you, Ash Ketchum?!”
The thing is… He knew who he was, but this place…
He told them he didn’t know and was just as clueless as they were.
“How can we trust you when you pulled us in here and your Pikachu can suddenly talk?!” She motioned to Pikachu, who ears were twitching at something and looking around. “For all we know this could have been your plan all along! To bring us here and…!”
“Something’s coming…”
Iris went silent. Everyone turned to Pikachu, who was looking in a fixed direction.
“W-What?!”
“I can sense it… Something’s coming for us…”
“What the hell are you talking about?! I don’t…!” Chili was about to go off like Iris had, but then he looked in the direction and his eyes widened. Everyone’s eyes widened. Everyone froze.
A group of dark figures started coming from down the way from the haze, approaching them. The bore blue masks with a shocked expression and a roman numeral of the number one on the forehead. They made ghostly, haunting sounds and the human-like figures approached them.
Chili fell backwards in panic, falling onto the ground in a thud. The creatures kept on creeping forward, showing no signs of stopping now.
“Oh no! What do we do?!” Iris exclaimed, scared and shaking, her hands up clasped together. “They don’t look like they are going to give one bit!” One of them pointed at the group and she huddled into the sleeves of her tunic.
Everything seemed to slow around them. Ash’s focus was on the creatures bounded for them. Their sight caused a quite familiar occurrence to take place.
A sharp headache snapped inside of him, causing him to hunch forward and clench his pounding head at the brow. Then… the voice…
“I am thou… And thou art I… The time has come… Use your courage… And call forth the one within…”
“Ash…? W-What’s that in your hand?”
Cilan’s voice snapped his headache away and his word turned his focus to his hand.
In it laid a knife, made of a substance like Sterling Silver with a zero embossed into the blade. He took hold of the handle with his right hand and a bright light began to resonate from it. Gazing into the light, a small, unconscious smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
Everyone turned to Ash, their attention drawn away from the on-coming monsters. Everyone watched as Ash lifted the blade. Everyone watched as he put it to his throat. Shock settled in for everyone, but for Ash…
A word slowly escaped his mouth...
“Per… so… na…!”
A swift movement of his right hand caused the blade to meet the skin of his neck and slide across it. A bright shade of red splattered onto the ground before him, but that was the least of his concerns. He felt his whole body releasing something. Something was leaving him, separating from him inside. His whole body trembled, hunched over, but then he lifted his head in the air and gave a loud, powerful roar.
A burst of light surrounded him from behind, causing everyone to shield their eyes. When Cilan looked back, his face went white as a sheet and his green eyes nearly turned into nothing. Everyone else was the same way.
A bright figure loomed behind Ash. It looked like a wise-man, the hair on its head and face wild and free. Its large, muscled body held its arms up in rage, its wrists changed together but still bore a mighty sword.
Nobody but Ash stood, the looming figure behind him causing a strong gust of power to blow within the area. The figures, draw to it, started dashing towards Ash and the figure. But Ash stood still.
“Hercules…!”
The figure jumped forward and towards the crowd of dark figures charging at them. It held out its sword and lighting struck them down one by one as the figure from Ash swooped through them. As once he had paced them, they morphed into nothingness.
The figure easily vanished them all, stopping in the distance where the last shadow finally disappeared. And with Ash’s gaze, the figure returned to his side.
The dust created from the figures swift motions finally faded and everyone looked up. Ash stood and the figure stood behind him.
“Ash, your neck!”
Confused, he touched his hand to his neck and felt an oozing liquid. He lifted his hand to see blood. It dripped from his fingers and onto the ground where more blood was.
“You kid, w-why did you do that?!” Iris exclaimed, looking in shock at the bright blood on her friend.
“N-N-Now’s not the time for questions!” Chili proclaimed in a panic. “We really should find an exit and get the hell out of here before we do anything!”
The figure by the name of Hercules faded into a soft light.
…
Ash has gained the power of the Persona, Hercules, the Greek hero.
…