Waking up, still with a feeling of nothingness, Ares saw a Mew that was on the verge of crying, as well as Lucario who seemed relieved to see him calmed down again. Clefairy was nowhere to be found, as she had already returned to her pokeball. Ares was calm in a sense, but he just felt empty inside.
He had no one around him that could truly understand what he was going through. The only one who could feel what he felt was Lucario, as they had shared a bond even before Lucario had hatched from his egg, even beyond time, as they had both come from the distant past.
But even Lucario could hardly imagine what he had gone through. Mew knew, but she didn't truly understand humans. Celebi did, but she wasn't here. He hardly ever saw her at all, as she only occasionally popped up.
It was hard. Everything that had happened to him had begun to fade away, but recently everything seemed to come back to him, like a flood that had broked through a dam. It hit even harder as he was unprepared to feel it once more. Even the dreams that Gengar had created, once forgotten, were resurfacing making it even harder to cope with.
Sensing the darkening emotions again, Lucario gave a slightly firmer pat on his head, drawing him back out of his thoughts.
"Thanks Lucario. I needed that."
Slapping himself in the face, Ares stopped thinking about the past, pushing it away once more to think about it some other time. Right now he needed to calm down a crying Mew who was bawling all over him, snot already soaking his shirt. It was a bit heartbreaking to see the pink little menace crying her eyes out so desperately.
[I'm shoo shorryyy! Forgibb meee!]
Mew continued to cry, her soft mewling echooing quietly through the silent forest.
Patting Mew gently on her back, drawing soft circles, Ares hugged her tightly as she cried even harder.
"I know you didn't mean it. You never, ever hurt me. How could you, as one of my best and oldest friend? You don't have it in you. Nor do I have it in me to ever do that to you."
Ares muttered, letting Mew firmly grasp his shirt.
It continued like this for a while up to the point where Mew fell asleep in exhaustion. Seeing no point in returning her to her pokeball or put her in a bag, Ares let her sleep in his arms, just closing his jacket as she was bundled up close to him, her tiny paws clenching at his shirt tight, afraid he might disappear. He was sure that even if he tried to return her to her pokeball, it wouldn't work in the state Mew was in now. Don't even mention putting her in the bag, as he would need to cut his clothes with how tightly she held him.
Chuckling at the little cry baby he was carrying, he and Lucario went back to the road. Saffron City shouldn't be too far away, mostly a week walking if they took it easy, five days if they traveled with his skates. Which would pass by in no time, as they had plenty to do in the free time they had.
Making his way slowly through the forest, he could once again feel that everything didn't matter at all. His past. It didn't matter. His worries didn't matter. His own life didn't matter much. In this forest alone, he was but one life of many. It made all his problems seem like leaves in the wind. Breathing in, he slowly exhaled as he finally, finally regained his joy of the few days before. While the somber mood had disappeared, deep down, he knew it would take more than this to make is truly disappear.
Increasing his pace, he couldn't help but enjoy the sights around him, no matter how mundane. He was alive. Enjoying every moment of it. Smiling widely, he continued with a spring in his step, picking fruit when hungry and looking at the pokemon in the forests around him to see what they were doing.
Every pokemon he met was recorded in the Pokédex as he listened to every explanation the pokedex gave, no matter if he knew it or not.
[Spearow, the tiny bird pokemon. Spearow has a very loud cry that can be heard over half a mile away. If its high, keening cry is heard echoing all around, it is a sign that they are warning each other of danger.]
[Nidoran♂, the poison pin pokemon. It scans its surroundings by raising its ears out of the grass. Its toxic horn is for protection.]
[Nidoran ♀, the poison pin pokemon. Small and very docile, it protects itself with its small, poisonous horn when attacked.]
Listening to over a dozen explanations which were interesting in their of right, he was interupted by the sound of distant battle. The pokemon he was observing ran away in fright as the fighting seemed to come closer. The Spearow soon began to cry, their cries echooing through the forest, as flocks of them fled from the canopy they had been resting in, leaving only a few drifting feathers in their wake.
Out of nowhere, Lucario ran forward as he formed an aura shield in front of them. Quickly doing the same, layering their shields, an explosion sounded as an attack was halted, having only made it trembled from the force behind the attack. Just inside their aura barrier was a severely injured Alakazam, carrying in its arms more than three eggs. Two had already been broken, blood, a half shaped embryo, egg yolk and shells oozing out of it. It was a gruesome sight, as the half formed abra babies were damaged from the attack. Only one egg remained whole, which was a miracle, considering the state Alakazam and the eggs were in.
The Alakazam collapsed in front of them, as a group of Beedrill closed in. Even then, calling it a group was an understatement. There were about fourty to fifty Beedrill, maybe more. At the front was a Beedrill of an abnormal size, its needles dripping with poison as just the contact it made on the ground burned a hole in it. A Beedrill queen no doubt.
"Oh wow. There goes the pleasant scenery."
Ares joked in tension as he called out Umbreon and Pikachu. These two seemed like the obvious choice, as Clefairy was too bad a match for a poison type. Pidgeot was called out as well, just as insurrance. Even a small swarm of Beedrill were unnerving, let alone a swarm this big. He did have faith in the strenght of his pokemon however, letting them take care of the danger in front of him as he took a look at the Alakazam, though not before giving them their orders.
"Pikachu, thunderbolt."
"Umbreon, Psychic."
Umbreon was bad against bug types, but he had the very useful Psychic attack, that would deal a great amount of damage. He was just glad he had taken the effort to shop for TM's when he had the time. Having his pokemon learn usefull moves, such as Protect and in this case Psychic, was perfect for sudden encounters such as this. From the corner of his eyes, Ares could see Pidgeot getting excited as well, his battle intent already peaking.
"Pidgeot, only intervene if it get's too bad. Use Aerial Ace only when you need to."
Shrugging a bit, Pidgeot's eyes followed the battled closely.
"Lucario, same for you. Only attack when they can't handle it. Use Blaze kick and Dragon pulse to finish it quickly."
Letting his pokemon gain more experience with this, Ares focussed on the Alakazam, who was already on deaths doorstep.
Pikachu glared at the Beedrill, launching thunderbolt after thunderbolt at all the weaker Beedrill. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle the Beedrill queen, so she left that one for Umbreon. She already had enough on her plate dealing with the other Beedrill.
Nodding in appreciation at Pikachu, Umbreon focussed on his battle as well. The Beedrill queen looked at the downed Alakazam with hunger, wanting to eat it as soon as it could. She would surely become even stronger if she could eat the corpse of a powerful pokemon, especially when it was still alive when she consumed it. Her poison would surely do the job of immobilizing it. The only problem being the strong pokemon before her blocking her way. She could see a strong Lucario, ready to intervene, as well as a rather big Pidgeot. The Pidgeot looked at her as if she were food, his eyes focussing on her every movement.
Having no other choice but to battle the Umbreon, the Beedrill queen screeched in annoyance. She pointed her needles at Umbreon as she prepared to use X-scissor, a strong bug type move that would work very well on Umbreon if it hit.
Seeing the danger the queen posed to him, Umbreon immediately increased his speed with Agility, as well as increasing his attack and special attack with Work Up.
When Umbreon had finished, Beedrill moved as well, dashing towards Umbreon as both of the queens needles glowed in a mossy green energy.
Forming a barrier in front of him using Protect, Umbreon gave himself enough time to dodge and prepare his own move, Psychic.
Sending a blast of psychic energy at the Beedrill queen, the latter screeched in pain, gaining the attention of the other Beedrill. Seeing the queen in pain, all the beedrill present began to charge up the attack Pin missile.
Not wanting to let that happen, Pikachu bombarded the beedrill with thunderbolts, but she just couldn't take out enough. Neither could Umbreon, as he blasted Psychic after Psychic at the Beedrill queen in the hope of scattering the Beedrill if the queen fainted. Umbreon did manage to make the queen faint, but only a few left with the queen, the others continuing their attack.
"Lucario, Pidgeot, finish it."
Hearing Ares speak, Pikachu and Umbreon didn't stop, as they still wanted to help end the battle. With a single attack from Umbreon, Pikachu, Pidgeot and Lucario, only then were all the remaining Beedrill knocked out.
As the Beedrill were defeated, only then did the Alakazam relax, only for it to be its last breath. In that last moment, it looked hopefully at Ares as the Alakazam pushed his egg in Ares's arms in the hope the egg could be protected. At least that is what it looked like to Ares, as the Alakazam died with a peaceful smile on his face.
With an egg in one hand and a dead pokemon in his lap, Ares didn't know what he should do. Tucking the egg closer to him, placing it next to the sleeping Mew in his jacket, Ares closed the Alakazam's eyes.
"I'll take good care of it."
Ares promised it, as he patted the dead Alakazam's shoulder.
*
*
*
Having burried the Alakazam, adding a few word to indicate what had happened and whose grave it was, Ares put the last drop of earth on top.
Looking at it for a little longer, he and his pokemon soon left, with the addition of a pokemon egg, one he had no clue how long it would take before it hatched.
Thinking back on how long it took for Lucario to hatch, Ares assumed it would be a long time. Even more so if the egg had still been damaged from the attack. He would have to let nurse joy take a look at it later, just to be sure it was healthy.
Putting the egg in his bag, heating it with hand warmers and blankets, he continued on his way to Saffron City.