The All Mighty Earth - Pokemon SI Chapter 12

Asher's Team:

Lago - Rhydon
Crust - Golem
Sebastian - Nidoking
Selena - Nidoqueen
Seraph - Clefable
Barret - Dugtrio
Sonic - Sandslash
Death - Marowak
Colossus - Steelix

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Watching Clair's Dragonite make such short work of Lukas's Lapras definitely only confirmed my predictions for how this tournament was gonna go down. I had no doubts that if I used the team all of my strongest pokemon then I could beat Clair's face in. She was good, really good. Definitely Gym Leader material if canon has anything to say about it, but it wouldn't be enough to stop me. If I faced off against her then I knew I'd be walking away the victor.

I wasn't even being arrogant when I said that. So far Clair has used four pokemon in this tournament. A Gyarados, a Charizard, another Dragonair and her Dragonite. I've also seen what they can do and how I could possibly counter their battle styles. Clair seems to heavily favour the brute force approach to things, maybe it's her being proud of her pokemons strength or something like that, for example when she cleared that Hail her Dragonite didn't need to overexert itself like that with Hurricane. She could have just had them use Rain Dance to stop the Hail and dropped a Thunder or two on top of that Lapras for massive damage, instead she decided to flex on her opponent and waste valuable energy when her pokemon had already taken a good amount of damage before evolving. There's also her Dragonite just breaking through that Protect with a Dragon Claw. I'll admit that was super badass and flashy, but also highly inefficient. She should have just had her Dragonite use Dragon Dance and waited out that Protect and then gone in for the kill, instead she chose the brutish method of just breaking through that barrier.

Clair is obviously a very arrogant girl with a fragile ego. Maybe I could use that against her, throw a few insult her way and wound her pride, she'll be more likely to slip up and make a bad move if I manage to piss her off enough. A dick move? Yes. Do I care? Not really honestly. This is a competition where magical animals are pitted against each other for the entertainment of others. why the hell should I care about manners?

Then there's the matter of what other two pokemon she could put up against me, with there being so few regions available her options are very limited. Lets see, what could she have? Altaria, Flygon, Kingdra, Salamence. Maybe Aerodactyl or a third Dragonair but unlikely. I should really get a Mamoswine at some point, one of those big lads would absolutely destroy Clair's team.

"Asher, your spacing out again."

The words of a certain psychic girl snapped me out of my own thoughts as we walked under the night sky. It was a beautiful night really, a full moon was out and you didn't need a light to see what was around you. A flock of Zubat were flying through the night, the lake we were walking by almost seemed to glow under the moons rays, and Sabrina's purple hair also seemed a few shades shinier than usual.

It was cold though. Really freaking cold to the point where my teeth would be chattering if I was a regular chap. But I've never been one to show discomfort over such trivial thing and I'm not gonna start now. I was getting goosebumps though, you just can't control your body's natural reactions.

Sabrina's words registered and I just grunted and said." I'm not spacing out, I was just a little lost in my own thoughts."

Sabrina's monotone voice seemed to gain a small tint of amusement as she just said." That is the definition of spacing out. Also you're definitely cold, I suggest that you warm up a little."

She then inched a little closer than me and didn't surprise me at all when she started to basically hug me as we walked towards the hotel. Sabrina has gotten really clingy towards me since I got my eighth badge. She's constantly looking for excuses to get into my personal space, sometimes she won't even bother to come up with an excuse and will just randomly latch onto me. I don't actually mind it though, it's nice to know that I've made my way into the heart of a young girl like this. Plus I don't really have anyone else to hug, everyone needs a healthy dose of physical contact and I'm no different.

Now before you ask why me and Sabrina aren't a thing yet, no it isn't because I'm too dense to see that she is clearly infatuated with me. I'm not like Ash Ketchum, we just have similar names. The reason that I haven't returned her feeling is well... she's just too young for me. Even if I'm just fourteen biologically I'm twenty-six mentally. Sabrina is thirteen. I'm not going to start a relationship with someone who's half my age and is, quite frankly, still just a girl. I'd feel like a creep. A predator even.

That's not to say that I wouldn't jump at the chance if Sabrina was older, because even now she's a really cute girl. I just need like a couple more years and my conscience will be satisfied.

I feel really guilty about essentially putting Sabrina on the hook like this though. It helps that she still hasn't really figured out her own feelings though. If she actually did find out she likes me then I couldn't really politely reject her, being rejected sucks. There's no nice way to put 'I don't want to return your feelings'. I've rejected and been rejected by enough girls to know that the awkwardness in the air tends to linger around after a rejection. It's ruined a number of friendships that I had with some very nice girls, well as many as you can in high school, so I selfishly hope that she remains ignorant to her own feeling until she isn't just a girl anymore.

I hugged Sabrina back as we walked through the bitter winter night, October will always be a freezing month. In England it would always get cold to the point where you'd be freezing your balls off at this time of year, and Kanto isn't any better. The only reason that I have for going outside without a jacket is that the cold is kind of something I'm used to, I'll still complain about it and shit, but at the end of the day it really isn't that much of a factor for me. I'd even go as far as to say that I like the cold. It's familiar and one of the few constants between my two worlds.

But... I'm not there anymore. My feelings about my old world are... complicated to me. I'm certainly much more of a winner here than I was back as some nobody street thug from Leeds, I honestly don't know how I ever got involved with that sort of crowd. I was a smart kid, I had talent in art, I was athletic, good grades on my main subjects, and I was just a far nicer guy before I ended up as a street rat. But... somewhere along the line I threw that all away. I got involved with some bad guys and started to become like them, before I knew it I was just a washed-up loser that let the world pass him by.

Ever since I came to this world I made a vow: That I'd never fall back into my old ways, that I'd work hard, and instead of throwing away my future I'd nurture it with everything that I have. Even if I'll always be a crude thug in my heart that isn't afraid to just speak his mind and does things his way, I won't let that evolve into me being some asshole who thinks that he's hot shit just because he got first place.

The world is an ocean, and remember. There's always a bigger fish in the ocean.  I won't let my weakness control my life, but at the same time I'm content with being a little bit weak. Because if it weren't for my weakness... then I wouldn't even be here to begin with.

I felt a large shiver run through me as I thought back to my own death.

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Cold. It was so freezing that my body felt numb, I couldn't feel my feet due to snow being everywhere in this fucking place. My fingers were beginning to turn blue and it didn't take a genius to know that I had frostbite. I was caught outside in the middle of a blizzard, nowhere was safe from the cold in Leeds, I didn't have anywhere to go and nowhere nearby was open, I was honestly scared. My landlord had thrown me out for not being able to pay his rent and if I stayed outside then I wouldn't live long.

Snot leaked out of my nose as I found a single alleyway that seemed to be spared from the snow. I was officially homeless, what a loser I was. Even if I never had a family, even if I made some bad choices, what did I do for things to come to-

For things to come to this?

I felt exhaustion suddenly hit me from my severe lack of food and me being on my feet all day. Never in my whole life have I felt so painfully weak, I was a bum, a washed up loser, actually no, calling me a loser was a compliment, I was a failure. I was an idiot. I was too much of a coward to climb out of the hole I'd dug for myself. And I was always just too fake to simply be myself.

I fell to the snowy ground and had to be smacked in the head with the painful and numbing sensation of snow covering my face and entering the gaps between my hair.

I contemplated moving from my position as the blizzard going on seemed to increase power and snow began to slowly envelop my form, but I actually decided against it. It didn't really hurt anymore now that I thought about it, it was actually kind of nice to be numb like this. I can ignore all of the mistakes I've made, I can block out all of the pain, I can ignore all the pain the outside world brings me. I can just let go.

My muscles all locked up and I realised how tired I was. I deserve a rest don't I? I've been hurting and struggling for a while and I haven't slept in a few days. Someone will probably walk by and save me before I die, and even if they don't... well I guess that's fine as well.

I actually found the strength to smile as a strange cold sensation swept over my form and suddenly my life didn't feel so heavy, I felt like I could do anything I wanted. Like some sort of weights shackled to me had been shattered and I was free to fly through the air. It was dark but the comfortable kind, the kind you see when your asleep.

Oh, was I dead?

Huh... weird. I think I prefer this.

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"-sher. Asher."

I gazed around as my ears rung like a damn bell was being shaken. Right in my ear. At an annoyingly fast pace. Ah, I tuned my surroundings out again didn't I? That's a bad habit, I should really do something to shake that.

My face was then grabbed by Sabrina's incredibly soft hands- seriously did this girl just never use her hands for anything? Does she just use her telekinesis to substitute for her hands? That's just how unblemished and perfect her hands were in that moment- her face was actually betraying some concern as she took a tissue and placed it against my nose. I watched as red spread throughout the white tissue as a clear sign that I was having a nosebleed.

Was just the thought of what happened to me enough to give me a nosebleed? Huh, that was weird. Whilst my death itself should have been traumatising for me... I actually wasn't as disturbed by it as I probably should have been. I think... that me dying was a good thing. I like my new life a whole lot better than my new one, plus I have more than just a few friends here. I have people who I care about and who care about me. I just had to freeze to death for all of this to happen, hahahahah!

…okay maybe I wasn't as unaffected by all of this as I want to pretend. I mean I literally fucking died. It's a little difficult for me not to have strong feelings on the fact that my soul literally left my body, and I ended up coming back inside of a body that was half my mental age. I should really get therapy at some point. Oh wait I can't because I sound like a fucking schizo going on a little rant about parallel worlds and the multiverse theory and some other bullshit.

I suddenly felt a massive urge to sit down and go to sleep. I hate thinking about this shit. I hated feeling this way. I hated that I couldn't just forget the past. And I hated that I couldn't just move on and stop being that loser who absolutely no one would miss when he died.

Apparently I sucked at keeping my thoughts off my face since Sabrina picked right up on what I was thinking and with a concerned expression on her face." What's wrong Asher? You've been spacing out a lot and something is clearly weighing down heavily on your mind. please, talk to me."

I looked into her crimson eyes and felt like the truth was being sucked out of me under her watchful gaze, or at least she was trying to. She isn't able to read my mind for whatever reason, in fact she can't use any of her abilities on me, not even her telekinesis. I'm like a blind spot to her. Part of me is grateful that she doesn't know what I know, I can't imagine that knowing what death is like and learning that you were a videogame character is good for your sense of self, but a selfish part of me really wants to let her know. I'd have an easier time if I let someone know this, that's for sure, but I didn't want this to weigh down on her mind. She's a great girl, she doesn't need my horrible fate weighing down on her mind.

I just responded to her vaguely." I don't think that you want to know the truth, if I told you what I was thinking then you would never look at me the same again."

My answer only seemed to harden her determined gaze." I would never think of you as lesser for whatever it is that you went through or did in the past. Please, tell me." She pushed her head onto my chest and started to force me to make eye contact with her. She wasn't just gonna let this go was she?

I bit my lip as her beautiful red eyes seemed to beg me for answers as to why I was suddenly acting this way. I've never been that good at all this touchy feely bullshit, but right now... maybe that's actually what I need. Maybe I just need to be open with her, I can't tell her everything but... maybe I can tell her something about what I'm feeling.

I let out a long and tired sign. This is gonna be a pain to explain." Alright, I'll tell you what's bugging me. We're gonna need somewhere to sit though." And by her I mean me, death isn't exactly an easy subject to touch on. Just thinking about the hollowness that not having a body can make you feel... well it makes me sick to my stomach.

Conveniently there was a single bench on the side of the path we were walking on. I sat down and she soon followed with the two of us both being freezing, but that didn't matter to me. What really matters is that I open up to her a little.

I haven't told Sabrina all that much about myself to be honest. Whilst she's most certainly learned a lot about me, and we talk everyday, none of that is really personal shit. She doesn't know where I'm actually from, who my family was or if I even had one, and why I have so much knowledge about pokemon despite me claiming to be an uneducated street thug. She didn't really know me.

After a few moments of silence I finally opened my mouth and swallowed my nervousness. This is hard for me, I never intended to let anyone know about my past, be it that I was a washed up loser or that I was from an entirely different world all together. How could Sabrina look at me the same when she knows that I died? How could I call myself a man if I let all of my weakness shine through? I just... didn't want to talk about any of it.

But sometimes what you want isn't what is best, you need to be honest with the people you care about.

So, for the first time in a while, I'll just be me. I'll be that weakling who died because of his own mistakes.

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Asher has always been someone who Sabrina found incredibly odd. Everything about him was foreign and exciting to her. For a starter none of her psychic powers seem to be able to work on him, when they first met it was something that bugged her, but now that she's gotten to know him she'd go as far as to say that she liked the mystery he brings into her life. He's the one book she'll never simply be able to read, if she wants to know him then she must go through standard social protocol and learn things about him instead of merely reading his mind. This is unfamiliar territory for her, but she wants to be adaptable and learn to be better at these things so she endured her own social awkwardness.

Of course thing like that never mattered with Asher, if she said something strange then he'd simply move the conversation along, or politely correct her on her mistake. No judgement and no hard feelings. She finds it easy to talk to him about anything, the complete opposite of the other kids she tried to befriend as a child.

However, one thing that bugs her is that she never learned a thing about his past. She's asked before but he always dodged the question or gave a very vague answer. As a result she has little idea of what his life was like before he became a trainer. She literally knew nothing about his origins other than the fact he was from Viridian City.

And earlier in the night he was acting extremely strange. He looked pale and troubled, plus he was constantly trapped in a web of his own thoughts. He was showing signs of disturbance and illness that made feelings of worry swelter in her chest. When she asked what was wrong with him she really expected him to simply brush her off, it was a surprise to see that he actually agreed to tell her. But that only made her worry more, if what was on his mind was actually enough to make him feel the need to confide in her then whatever he's thinking must be quite troubling.

They were sat down on a bench during the freezing night and he started to tell her what was on his mind. She sat by his side and patiently gestured for him to open up.

His usually light-hearted tone and demeanour were suddenly replaced with something far more heavy, as though there were actual weight behind his actions and he was going to tell her something deeply personal." I don't really know where to start honestly, so I guess I'll just tell you about where I'm from. I'm not really from Viridian City. I'm from a city called Leeds."

Sabrina could only send him a confused look at that. What is 'Leeds' exactly? He said that like it was a city but... nowhere she knows of has that name. No city or town in any of the three regions that's for sure. So... where exactly is this 'Leeds'?

He seemed to guess her question as he suddenly spoke." It's not anywhere near here if your wondering. I can guarantee that you've never heard of where I'm from, this is because where I'm from doesn't exist in this world." He put emphasis on that word for some reason.

Sabrina thought on his words for a moment, her mind ran his sentence over and over again in her mind. This world? What on earth could he mean by that? unless-

The psychic girl felt a genuine and considerate amount of shock as the implications of his words finally settled in. Is he trying to tell her that-

"I'm not from this world Sabrina." His face was the picture of seriousness as he uttered those words. Asher was someone that liked to joke around, but he always did so with this sort of energy around him. You could always tell when he was joking, when he didn't really mean his words. In that moment he was being completely honest with her.

Sabrina reeled back slightly at that and felt a huge cloud of disbelief at the logic defying words that he just spoke. Part of her wants to deny him, to say that he's full of it, but what reason could he have to lie to Sabrina? As much as she wants to dismiss his words she cannot deny that they don't hold at least a grain of truth. He was being truthful towards her.

So instead of throwing a barrage of questions her way, she settled for asking." How would you even know that this isn't where you're from? How do you know that you aren't from some far away region and got sent here through a Teleport?" Frankly she found that much more believable than him being from another world, a Psychic-type would have to be incredibly powerful to accomplish such a feat, but Sabrina doesn't doubt that teleporting between regions is within the realm of possibility for what happened to him.

Asher just smiled sadly at her in a way that she's never seen him do before." I'm not from a different region, Sabrina. Because where I'm from... pokemon don't exist." He drops the bomb on her and gives her a moment to let the revelation he just gave her sink in.

Wait what?!

Sabrina's mind instantly blanched at her friends words as her mind recoiled at the idea of a world without the magical creatures she's known her whole life. In the face of such a preposterous idea she couldn't stop herself from screaming out loud. Completely shattering her usually stoic image.

"WHAT?!!"

A flock of Pidgey that were nearby scattered at her shout and Asher held his hands to his ears as a sign of how loud she actually was. After a few seconds her brown haired friend commented." You sure do have some powerful lungs for such a quiet girl."

She blushed furiously in a rare show of embarrassment at the realisation of how she just acted. She tried to move past it though, and didn't forget what they were actually talking about, so she asked again more quietly this time." What do you mean pokemon don't exist in your world?"

Asher shrugged at her question as he elaborated on his previous words." I mean exactly what that sounds like. Our two world are different because you have pokemon and we don't, we also don't have psychics or anything like that. I'd even go as far as to say that this world is better just because you guys have some way cooler shit over here. Whilst we don't have pokemon we do have animals, but they're mostly dumb as spit and way more violent. Also they don't have magical powers."

Whilst Asher spoke so casually about the fact he was from a world without pokemon, Sabrina was just having her mind blown. A world without pokemon? The idea was so foreign to Sabrina that she'd never even considered such a thing as a possibility. What would that even look like? If she were in such a world would she still be a psychic? He said that people like her weren't a thing in his world either so... his world really was just ordinary wasn't it?

Sabrina wasn't even sure what to make of this information. That did explain a few things to her, like why he'd be acting so strangely if he's thinking about where he used to be. It only makes sense for him to be a touch disheartened at the thought of being away from home- and possibly never returning- but even with that information she still has many unanswered questions. Such as-

"How do you know so much about pokemon? If what you're saying is true then you shouldn't know a thing about pokemon. How are you so knowledgeable of the subject when you've been in Kanto for... less than a year?"

Asher seems to pause at that, but answers anyway." I don't really know honestly, I just kind of have this knowledge about pokemon. It's not really something that I can explain, I know what I know, ya know?"

Sabrina can only shake her head at his horrible puns. She smiles a little though, it's nice to see that he can still joke around at a time like this." Well... do you want to go back, to your world I mean?"

"No." He answers immediately without so much as a trace of doubt much to her surprise.

She once again feels some surprise at his action. Part of her is relieved in all honesty, he's her only friend and if he did somehow leave her for good then she doesn't know how she'd cope. but, it still confused her never-the-less." What, why?"

Asher looks up at the night sky. It was a beautiful night, a full moon was out and a large amount of shiny stars illuminated the blackness of midnight. He seemed to take in a deep breath before he answered." I prefer it here. I didn't have anything left in my old world, it was a shithole. Our governments were corrupt, war was a constant problem, racism was a widespread in certain places, idiots were being put in charge of millions of people, the environment was having tons of waste dumped inside of it that harmed wildlife. And then there's Climate Change, which is a whole other bag of shit that you don't even want me to open. My original world sucked, this place is perfect for me. I can be someone that matters here, I can reach for the top. I'm a talented trainer and I have people like you with me. I don't care if I can go back. I don't want to go back. This is my new life now. And it's a million times better than my old one."

His words left Sabrina... well she didn't know what to say to that. If his old world was really so horrible that he'd rather be here than there then she supposed that she couldn't really fault him for liking this place better. It made her heart skip a beat when he said that she was one of the reasons that he preferred this world better.

She was glad that he was here.

He met her eyes and smiled as he simply said." It's getting late, can you teleport us back. it's freezing out here."

Only once those words left his mouth did she realise that he was indeed right, she was extremely cold. She just wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, being too enraptured in his words and about Asher's past, that how cold a night it was simply slipped her mind. Teleporting just the two of them to their hotel room was a relatively simple task overall, in fact the only reason that she had for not doing so sooner was that she simply wanted to walk with him under the moon. But, teleporting back right now was actually looking like a very appealing idea.

Sabrina let herself feel some happiness at knowing her friends past. They were closer now, she could feel it. He was actually willing to tell her about his origins and more about who he really was. It felt good to get just that little bit closer to the best person in her life.

As selfish as it is, she's glad that he has no intention of ever returning to his home. She hopes that he can be with her for many years to come, she also hopes that he's happy with where he is now. Because he is a good person, he deserves to be happy.

She pulled him close as she focused on her psychic powers that would enable her and her friend to return to their hotel room where they could get some well deserved rest.

A faint pink hue surrounded them both and in just a moment they were transported away from their current location.

She hopes that he can stay by her side.