The Reawakening (Ash and Serena's PoV)

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Ash's PoV
I woke up in a dark room. There wasn't much in it besides a candle for a very dim source of light. I tried to move, but my wrists and ankles were chained to the wall. I try to break free, but the chains were too strong.
"Hey! What's going on?! Let me out!" I yelled. I heard footsteps and Darkrai came into view.
"What did you do to me? Where are we?" He laughed evilly.
"So many questions for such a young soul." He grabbed my face. "Your soul. It's broken, is it not? I can help you fix it. All you have to do is let me take possession of you."
"You actually think I'm going to fall for that dumb trick? You're crazy." I said. He bowed, like he was doing curtain call or something.
"Thank you. But, since you declined my offer..." his hand glowed a purple flame while a whip formed in his other hand. "... then I'll have to force you."

Serena's PoV *a few seconds before what just happened*
We split into two groups to search the castle top to bottom. It was me, Onikage, Kyle, and Manon, and the Alan, Calem, Bonnie, and Clemont. We came back together with no luck. There was one really dark room, and the candles wouldn't light, so we decided to check it again later.
"Where could Darkrai have taken Ash?" I asked. Kyle was the first to respond.
"I don't have the slightest. But I do know we's gots to find'm before-" suddenly Ash's agonizing scream was heard from a nearby hall. We all bolt down to where it was heard from, and we found ourselves at the dark room again. There was no light and no one else in there, so how could Ash's scream be from here? I then noticed a faint glow from the corner. It was a purple glow which I knew wasn't normal, so I head towards it to find a doorknob.
"Hey, guys! I found a hidden door!" I say. They all came over and we went into the old hallway that followed the door. It was like going into an old time dungeon or something. There were cobwebs all around the walls which were cracking. Another scream was heard, only a little softer than the first one. We follow the glow to a wooden door. I tried to open it, but it was no use. The door was locked from the inside. Onikage flicked his wrists and a pair of handcuffs appeared. He stuffed them into his pocket and looked at Kyle. He nodded and said, "Stand back. This's gonna get messy." He and Onikage charged for the door and broke it down without a sweat. I was impressed by how strong the two of them were. But I didn't have long to be impressed with them. I saw Ash chained to the wall by his wrists and ankles, his shirt off and his jacket still on. He was covered in scrapes and dirt. His body was hanging limply by his wrists, which were the only things keeping him up. Darkrai stood near him with a whip in one hand and his other hand ablaze in purple fire. He was torturing Ash. Darkrai turned.
"Well, well, Ash. Looks like your friends did come after all. Welcome to the Party!" He flung out his arms. He turned to Ash and threw a flame at him, causing a faint burn on Ash's chest, followed by another whip. Ash was almost unresponsive, but he flinched slightly. This guy was psychotic! He laughed maniacally and said,
"Well, what's the party... without the live entertainment?" He bolted towards Kyle with great speed, but missed him and ran into the wall, where Onikage placed the handcuffs. Darkrai tried to break free, but he was restrained, and whatever was in those cuffs were glowing and Darkrai could no longer use his powers.
"What is this trick?! Let me out! I am the King of all Evil De-mph!" Kyle had tied a towel around his mouth and took a second pair of cuffs and cuffed him to a pole.
"Put a sock in it." I find the keys and unchain Ash who fell to the ground after I unchained his ankles and wrists. He got up in pain and I helped him. Alan went to get some help along with Manon, and Kyle kept an eye on Darkrai.
"Ash, are you alright?" He nodded slightly, his head still hanging. I helped him sit up against the wall. He was breathing unevenly, and he was shaking.
"J-just a f-few c-cuts... n-no big d-dea-agh!" He gripped his side. I place my hand where his was and I noticed there was a dark red liquid dripping down his waist from where his hand was.
"Ash, you're bleeding!" He looked down with one eye open.
"Sh-shoot..." he muttered under his breath. I scanned the room for Ash's shirt and found it on the floor, slightly torn. I grabbed it and wrapped it around Ash's waist.
"There. The pressure should stop the bleeding for now." I heard a scoff from behind us. If he's gonna start this now-
"He's that hurt from a little bleeding? Tch. Weakling." I flung my head to Calem. Alan surprisingly beat me to the chase. He slammed his hand over Calem's mouth and shoved him against the wall.
"Mph?!" Calem muffled. Alan was full of rage and annoyance, I could tell by his face.
"That's it! You've got to quit this dumb act, Calem, before someone turns around one day and punches you square in the jaw!" Calem's eyes widened as he nodded. Alan let him go and he breathed out. He looked at Ash and turned his head. There's a saying that goes don't hate the player, hate the game. Well, I got a real good reason for hating the player, no reason to hate the game except the game he was playing. What Alan did was what that idiot deserved. Ash got up weakly and I offered my shoulder for him to support his balance better, but he refused.
" 'Little pain never - gh - bothered me." I could barely see the blood was staining through Ash's shirt because of how dark Ash's shirt was and how dark it was in the room. We got out of that dumb room and headed back to the Pokémon Center, where Ash still refused to get bandages.
"Ash, you know it'll never heal right if you don't get it checked out." He rolled his eyes and smirked.
"Serena, really, it's fine. It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Your face says otherwise." I responded. It was true, though; his face looked so pained, but he was trying to cover it.
"Really, Serena, I'm fine. I just feel a little weird." Huh? Weird?
"Weird how?" I asked. Ash rubbed his eyes.
"It just feels like I'm forgetting something, and also it feels like someone's punching my stomach." I felt Ash's forehead to make sure he didn't have another fever.
"No fever, that's good. Must've been from all that torture Darkrai gave you." I said quietly. We were in our room now. The others had gone to the pool, but Ash and I refused. I wanted to make sure he was ok. I got the medical kit from my bag and unwrapped the shirt from Ash's waist. The cut wasn't deep, but it was a decent size for a cut to bleed. It was definitely gonna scar, though. I got the bandages and a towel and cleaned around the cut and wrapped the bandages around Ash's waist, even though he wouldn't stop protesting that he was fine and didn't need the bandages, which he knew he did.
"Come on, Ash. If you don't want anybody to care do much about you, stop getting yourself hurt so often." He laughed and rolled his eyes. After I finished wrapping the bandages, he flipped backwards onto the bed. "Ash!" I said annoyed. He laughed and whispered something that sounded like,
"Serena, watakushi haanatani an i hai wo kaeshi sukotowo tsute erukotogadekirunaa..." or something like that. He must know Japanese, because I knew a lot of languages, but not Japanese. He sat up and I rubbed his shoulder. I always felt so warm around him, like he was protecting me from the coldness everywhere else. We finally went to bed after a long conversation about the dance.

I woke up to coughing and gagging coming from the other room. I got up and saw the bathroom light was on and Ash wasn't next to me. I wonder if he was there? I knocked on the door.
"Ash? You in there?" I asked. No answer, just a few more coughs. I open the door and what I saw broke my heart; it was Ash. He was leaning over the toilet, throwing up.
"Ash, you okay?" He looked up.
"S-Serena..." and he leaned over again. I went over to him and rubbed his back. Poor guy must've felt horrible. He finally said he felt a little better, so I went to get him some medicine to help. As I reach inside the bag, I hear a choking sound followed by a crash from the bathroom. I ran to the bathroom door and flung it open to find Ash pulling himself up from the counter.

"Ash, are you alright? What happened?" I asked urgently. No response. It was like he could't hear me. "Ash...?" He finally responded with a stuttered breath.

"I-I... I'm..." he turned to me, and my eyes welled with tears of fear. His glowing, blood red eyes stared psychotically into mine. "I'm back!"

Ash's Dark Past *DISCONTINUED*Where stories live. Discover now