Disclaimer: All rights for the Pokemon franchise go to Nintendo. This story is a fan ficition in this franchise universe, categorized under fan fiction.
This story is obviously fiction. It's also PG-13, so... yeah. Probably won't offend anybody, but err, I guess you never know? Huh.
Analia
Part Four
The sun was shining high in the noon sky as Steelix, Sceptile, and Gallade were spread out under its light. Kai went back and forth between them, feeding them different pellets and rubbing them with different tonics. Reece, Ash, Brock, and Dawn sat on the sidelines still, drinking some lemonade that Reece had in the refrigerator. Dawn leaned over to talk to Reece. "It's really nice of you guys to heal the pokemon here. They seem to be better already!"
Reece nodded, still watching Kai. Brock addressed him as well. "Why do you do this anyway? Your medicines work fantastic, but wouldn't it just be easier to go to a pokemon center?"
He turned his head and smiled. "We're kind of used to taking care of ourselves, so we might as well. " Reece turned his gaze away again, trailing Kai, who was amusedly engaged in conversation with Sceptile, whose responses to speech mostly entailed wild movements of his blade-like arms and taciturn grunts of his name. "Besides. We don't really trust the center much."
Brock and Dawn exchanged sceptical glances, but Ash pursed his lips knowing the real story. Kai walked over to them then crouched down to meet their gazes. "You'll all be happy to hear that Steelix and Sceptile are in tip-top shape." he said. Brock looked behind him, and laughed when he saw Steelix bouncing Sceptile and Gallade on his tail.
Dawn sighed and put her arms behind her head. "That battle was just too much... You're such amazing trainers."
Ash followed up. "Yeah, I'll say! It seems like forever since I've lost a battle. Goes to show that I still have a lot to learn. I've never seen pokemon like yours!" Reece and Kai blushed, and Reece let slip a quiet "thanks." "Kai, how does your Gardevoir know Petal Dance?" Ash continued.
Kai seemed to freeze, but recovered from his fumble. "I thought you would ask me that, Ash. She was born with it, really. Ever since she was a little Ralts, she knew."
Reece interjected. "But you guys are pretty good yourselves. I haven't had a battle like that in a long time." he said.
"Yeah... but that didn't keep us from losing." Brock said, scratching his head.
Kai waved his hand at him, brushing off Brock's humility in a friendly motion. He stood up, now walking towards the house. "I guess I should start making dinner... I hear it'll be cold, so how does udon sound? I mean, you ARE staying for another night, right?"
They all nodded in affirmation, and Kai walked back into the house, sliding the screen door behind him. Brock remembered how worried he was when they first arrived here; now he was content to stay as long as they needed. Brock and Ash went over to see their pokemon, and it was only Reece and Dawn sitting on the side. "Hey Dawn." Reece said. She looked over at him. "I haven't seen any of your pokemon. Why didn't you try your hand at battling?"
He said it with a smile, but Dawn was still a bit nervous. "Er, uh... well, you see. I'm kinda bad at... battling. And training. And catching. And even contests, which is what I'm supposed to be good at."
Reece frowned. "Well, that's no way to talk. Besides.... everyone starts somewhere." He motioned her closer, and she leaned over so he could talk quieter. "In fact. Your friend Ash, when he first started... he probably won't tell you this, but he woke up so late on his first day that he couldn't get Bulbasaur, Charmandar, or Squirtle." Dawn giggled. "So he had to get Pikachu. But Pikachu never listened at first! He just kept shocking him every time he tried to touch him!" That made Dawn really laugh.
"Haha!! Reece, how do you know?"
Reece looked around, as if to check that no one was looking. "Kai told me. And Kai knows a lot of things." Dawn gave a puzzled look. "But don't tell Ash." Reece winked and gave a thumbs up, and Dawn smiled. He walked back into the house.
ÔWell that was nice of him... Although it was kinda creepy.' Dawn thought to herself. She observed Ash with Pikachu on one shoulder and Sceptile by his leg, both engaged with Gallade in some sort of physical training. Brock was polishing Steelix. She sighed. ÔI wish... I could be as powerful as them.' "In fact." Dawn started talking out loud to herself. "You know what, I don't care. I think I will be."
It was a delightful dinner, and another beautiful night out in the field of rainbow flowers. Ash was alone again, sitting in the same spot that Kai was sitting in last night. Tiny flecks of stars were obviously trying to break through the darkness, and the sky was just a little bit brighter than it was before. He felt someone sit down next to him: it was Reece.
Unlike Kai, he looked perfectly natural under this moonlight. He looked over at Ash with a friendly smile. "Hey there, Ash. What are you doing out here this late?"
"Erhm, well, uh..." Ash scratched behind his head, but Reece was perfectly accomodating. "...I saw Kai out here last night. And I talked to him here. I thought maybe I would see him again."
Reece suddenly looked serious and his eyes widend a little bit. "So. You saw Kai in the moonlight." Ash nodded. Reece sighed and rubbed his face. "Ash, can I trust you?"
Ash paused for several seconds, a bit aghast at the sudden remark. "...Yeah. Reece, you can trust me."
He nodded as well. "Well then get comfortable, Ash. Here comes another story." Ash laughed out loud, and Reece grinned. It faded as he delved into the story. "I never told you the third big thing that happened in this garden. For a lot of nights, Kai would refuse to go outside at night. I always invited him to spend an evening in the garden, but he would always say Ôno' and run off somewhere. So one night, about three years ago, I grabbed his hand and dragged him outside. It was the first time I ever saw the symptoms of his Analia- his hair was shiny blue, his eyes bright red: the entire shebang. He just held his face in his hands and started sobbing. I had never felt worse. I realized that I never told him that I knew about it."
"He asked me if I thought he was a freak. He asked me if I would kick him out and humiliate him like all the others did. Our Kirlia came outside at this point, and huddled with each other in the flowers. I hugged Kai. He seemed really surprised when I did. I hugged him, and I told him Ôno.' I told him that I knew. And that I was perfectly okay with it."
"And then... this was the most beautiful part. Kai was crying. But when he looked up, I saw the night reflected in his bright red eyes. And I saw a shooting star. I looked up, and he did too, and sure enough, there was a meteor shower. It was gorgeous... streaks of light lit up the entire sky. We were all spellbound: me, Kai, and our Kirlia. We heard a bang and a flash of light burned for a couple of seconds. Kai and I looked at each other and ran to where it came from in the middle of the garden. A meteor had fallen in our flowers."
"Kai reached down into the rubble. I tried to pull his hand back since the rock felt hot, but he didn't listen. He dug around in the rocks, somehow unhurt...and he pulled out this stone. It was bright and it...shone. It shone like eyes. He held out my hand and placed it in my palms. The meteor shower was still in the sky, but we were just looking at each other. He gave the stone to me: as thanks for saving him. I just laughed. But as we walked towards our Kirlia, the stone began to light up. It sparkled like it was on fire, and soon my Kirlia was too. He was holding hands with Kai's Kirlia, and with smiles on both of their faces, they looked into each others eyes and began glowing. They grew and they changed. The light disappeared. There was Gallade, staring straight into the eyes of Gardevoir. Their evolution was complete."
"Kai and I were joyous. And as I stared at Kai that night, with his hair and eyes and...and everything. I realized that-that- you know, I'll just say it. That I... love him." Ash looked solemn, and Reece was deathly serious. "You might think it's weird, Ash, and Kai would too, but-"
"I don't think it's weird." Ash said. Reece looked over. "It's not weird at all. You two were like, made for each other."
Reece gave a hopeless laugh. "But Kai-"
"Hey, now I don't know much about this stuff..." Ash said. "...but I'm pretty sure that Kai feels the same way." Reece gave Ash a curious look. Ash clarified. "He told me that he was waiting for something."
"..." Reece pouted. He raised his palms up to his mouth and blew into them, so as to warm them. "...You know, ever since we were little. Ever since I nursed him back to health, I've wanted to protect him. I just want to protect him from this world that wants to hurt him, because I love him so much. I wanna save him."
"From what?"
"From everything. From the people in town, from his family, from Analia-" He stopped at "Analia." Reece put his head down between his legs. Ash couldn't see his face in that position, but the sudden mention of Analia brought a very noticeable damper to the atmosphere.
Ash stood up. He clenched his fists. "You have to tell him."
Reece nodded, not lifting his head until a very long pause. "I know." His face now exposed, Reece angled his neck gently upwards, gazing at the night sky. Ash paralleled his gaze. "...Ash."
"Yes?"
The tiny sky diamonds tried to break through the darkness, tender beams of light twinkling away like half-hearted candles. Yet it had a strange, delicate beauty to it, like a glass figurine or a ice sculpture, and it was as if tiny dewdrops adorned a large night petal as they did the millions of petals in the garden. Ash heard Reece's voice, gentle yet clinical.
"Analia is a blessing in Pokemon. It causes the creation of abnormal proteins in the Pokemon's body that allow abilities beyond those normal. But in the rare case that a human contracts it, these abnormal proteins created are toxic to the human body. When enough time passes, it inevitably causes the afflicted person to die."
Something shiny fell to the ground. Was it a star? Was it a dewdrop? Something shiny, something small, tasting like salt water. Ash saw it splash into the ground, and when he saw it, he didn't realize it fell from his own cheek. He looked to Reece. But Reece continued to gaze at the stars.
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"Fun" Fact for Fans!: I have seen like, one episode of Hoenn pokemon anime total (I ran away in fear upon hearing everyone's new voices :( so sad). As a result, writing Dawn's character has been fairly difficult, so I decided to just make her incompetent as a character trait. God, I barely know what pokemon she even owns. Doesn't she have a Piplup or something? I dunno. Anyway, at this point she's gonna be completely different from the anime, so I guess it doesn't really matter anymore :P.
Hey all,
Yes yes yes, it's part four of Analia! If I'm prognosticating correctly, I think there will be either one or two more parts after this. Then the other stories start: I consider Analia to be the sort of "prelude" for Pokemon Amethyst, but it's still very important nonetheless.
Poor Kai! Or perhaps, poor Reece! What is their fate? Find out in the next issue :O.
Thanks for reading!
Questions? Comments? Recommendations? Fan Mail? Hate Mail, maybe? Wanna just chat? Email me at ThePleiadesCall@gmail.com . Love to hear from you!
If you like Pokemon: Amethyst, maybe there's the very vague possibility you'll like other stories I've submitted:
Charmed Reborn (Celebrity), Final Fantasy Rosa (Celebrity), Teth (Fantasy), Diana Celes (High School), and Hallow (Fantasy/SciFi).