Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, Piplup and Brock had just entered the Viridian Forest, when Ash suddenly shuddered and his vision went blue and black, he stopped in his tracks and faced the sky, he could sense that something or someone was close by, that something or someone had a dark aura about them, it felt similar to the girls aura from that morning, Pikachu looked at his trainer curiously and tipped his hat, so it went on the floor, bringing Ash out of his vision,
"Pikachu? What did you do that for?" the brown eyed boy asked, scooping his signature piece of clothing up and putting it back on his head, Pikachu began to explain and then asked him about that morning and why he had taken so long to put some sleeping bags away, "Its nothing, really," still Pikachu didn't believe him, he wanted to find out what had his best friend so spooked but he never got the chance because at that moment, a twig snapped from behind them, "Whose there? Hello?" Ash called, quickly catching up with his friends. Suddenly his head began to ache, he clutched it, causing his friends to look at him in worry, but as quickly as it came, it had gone.
"Yoohoo! Hey, up here!" hollered a voice, the three trainers heads looked up to see a young girl, standing on a thick branch, she sounded like the girl from his dreams, but her appearance was different; the girl from his dreams had her bright blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, whereas this girl, had short, scruffy red hair, that hung over her eyes, suddenly, the branch began to creak, even though it was a thick branch. "Oh brother, that can't be good," she said, looking down at the branch that was now bouncing, then it snapped and the girl fell... Straight into Brock's arms! She had her eyes squeezed shut and was expecting the impact on the ground to hurt, but when she didn't make contact, she opened them, "Huh? What the... You. You saved me," she said, with a girlish giggle, Brock was going all lovey dovey too. Ash was waiting for Crogunk's Poison Jab to come, but it never did, Crogunk hadn't even let himself out of his pokeball. Now that was strange, Ash thought to himself, he then turned to talk to Dawn, who looked reasonably normal, but was cut off, "Uh, thanks," the girl said, planting her feet on the soft grass, she walked up to Ash and put her hand out to shake his, "I'm Gabby," Ash reluctantly took her hand, but regretted it immediately and pulled away from her, staring intently at her. As his fingers made contact with the strange girls, he had felt a sharp shooting pain, begin to emanate from them, she retracted her hand and walked past him, purposefully bumping into his right shoulder and then, his mind became clouded with a dark aura. He snapped his head around to glare at her, she smiled at him wickedly and Pikachu saw the evil smile that flashed across her face, causing his cheeks to spark,
"Cool it Pikachu," Ash whispered quickly, noticing his Pokémon's attitude, Pikachu calmed itself down, before switching shoulders, Dawn smiled and greeted the girl, she glanced over her shoulder at where as Ash was standing and shot him a look of disapproval, he ignored her and set his backpack down by the tree. Brock walked over to where the two girls were and introduced himself as well, he asked Gabby where she was heading, when Ash heard his home town was her destination, he covered his face with his hands, why, of all places did she have to be going the same way as them? He sighed loudly and pushed himself back onto the tree, collapsing at its base, then Gabby asked if any of them were Pokémon trainers, of course, Dawn pointed out that she and Ash both were, Gabby then challenged Ash to a battle, "Hey, what about lunch first, then a battle?" he said, wanting to avoid all contact with this character, she agreed with the lunch idea and soon the four of them were setting up a picnic spot which was right by a familiar tree, a tree that Ash had caught his first ever Pokémon off, "I'm going to go for a walk," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, Pikachu jumped onto his left shoulder and together, they left the other three to set up the area, Dawn looked at Brock worriedly, that wasn't like Ash to turn down a battle, but then Brock reminded her that if it was a choice between food and battling, food would always win. Meanwhile, Ash and Pikachu hadn't walked far, but Ash needed to clear his head, he sat down on one of the rocks and sighed, Pikachu was determined to find out what was bothering his trainer, he spoke to him, catching his attention, "I suppose I better tell you. Its just that yesterday, when Team Rocket grabbed you, I felt something strange, like Aura and then last night, I had the craziest dream..." Ash explained, trailing off. Suddenly, he heard someone running towards him, he jumped off the rock and then felt his Aura reenact with someone else's, without warning, he sprinted off and SMACK! Ash bashed head first into a girl that fitted his dream description. "Sorry about that," he apologised, pulling himself to his feet and then, offering his hand to the girl, she gratefully excepted it, "Haven't we met some place before?" Ash asked, dusting himself down and straightening his hat. Before she could answer, there was an explosion,
"AAAAHHHHH!" the two kids turned in the direction of the scream and the explosion to see smoke billowing from the thick trees, Ash dashed off, knowing that that had been near where his friends had been setting lunch up. Pikachu and the girl, followed close behind. Ash skidded to a halt and came face to face with Gabby and a Trevenant, who had tied Dawn and Brock up with Vine Whip, "Ash! Pikachu! Be careful!" Dawn shouted, wiggling in the mass of vines that she was tangled up in,
"Now, now, we can't be having any of that, can we Trevenant?" the elder tree Pokémon shook its head and began to form multiple brown-gold balls round itself, once they were formed, the Pokémon fired them at the two trainers, the balls surrounded them and then exploded, causing them both to fall asleep, Ash remembered that happening to him, back in Kalos, "Now, I'll also be taking the boy," Gabby said, advancing towards the girl and Ash, Ash prepared himself for a fight, but was held back by the girl who shook her head, "Oh well, aren't we being thoughtful? I don't think I've ever seen this side to you Jade," Gabby sneered, wickedly, "Now Trevenant, Willow-O-Whisp!" she shouted, the Pokémon used its attack and it gave Gabby a chance to escape, blinding Ash, Jade and Pikachu. Jade walked through the after mass and growled, she had done it again! Ash was checking on Pikachu, when he noticed the girl hit the side of a tree with a clenched fist. Ash walked over to her and asked if she was okay, in retrospect, he had a handful of questions but the "Are you okay?" seemed the best for the moment,
"I'll be okay, I'm Jade by the way," she said, offering her hand to the boy, he looked at it, unnervingly, worried that it would be the same as the handshake with Gabby, but he couldn't be rude, so he took it and it turned out like a normal handshake, "Its okay, I'm nothing like my twin," she said, turning from the two males and walking away, Pikachu sprinted after her and spoke, catching Jade's attention, "Hey Pikachu, why are you..." Jade trailed off as she saw Ash had followed her, he introduced himself to her but she told him that she already knew a lot about him, from the dream. They reached the old, abandoned shack from Ash's dream sequence, but the shack was heavily guarded with what looked to be Aura Guardian's, they held their staffs in a cross formation in front of the shack, but slowly lowered them when they realised it was Jade, she ushered Ash and Pikachu inside the tiny, wooden, damp hut and told them to stay in the doorway, "Master, I have found him, the one who has the same Aura as the Great Sir Aaron," she said, kneeling on the floor, the man appeared from the darkness, his face was old and fragile and he looked breakable, he pointed at Ash and told Jade to bring him forward, "Come on Ash, Master Johnathan wants to see you," Jade said, taking his arm and leading him forward to where the old, wise man was sat, "His name is Ash, Master," she introduced, before kneeling before him again. Ash looked behind him at Pikachu, before feeling wrinkled fingers touch his skin, they made their way up to his temples and Ash felt them press harder, but before he could react, Ash's eyes rolled and he fell backwards, thankfully Jade was there to catch him and lay him down on the rug that he had originally been standing on, Pikachu saw his trainer go limp and darted over to him,
"Pikapi?" the yellow rodent Pokémon asked, concerned, he then turned and stared up at Jade, who placed her hand on his head, she told him that Ash would be fine and that Master Johnathan just had to check his memory and that had caused him to fall unconscious, "Pi, Pikachu," the Pokémon said with a small smile, he then joined his trainer, snuggling up to him, making Jade smile warmly as she watched over them, whilst her Master was concentrating.
Meanwhile, Brock was beginning to stir from the Confuse Ray, he realised he was upside down, he also noticed Gabby, standing next to her Trevenant, but it was when he saw her with a Sableye that his mind began to race, suddenly he heard a soft moan and saw Dawn also tied upside down, she spotted Brock and mouthed "What's wrong?" at him, he in return, mouthed back, "Can you reach your pokedex? Scan that Pokémon," so Dawn, with much difficulty and without trying to make too much noise, fumbled around until she came across her pink pokedex, Sableye, the Darkness Pokémon. Sableye normally live within caves and eat rocks. They use their sharp claws to dig through the earth. Dawn was confused, what was so bad about a Pokémon that lived in caves?
Ash was wandering through Viridian Forest. He had taken in his current state... He was a ghost! He had no idea how he had got there, but it didn't really matter as he spotted who he was looking for, he was about to pounce when he saw his friends as well, the Confuse Ray had clearly worn off, he observed the three from behind a large tree.
"Ah, at last, your awake," Gabby chuckled, hearing the sound of the pokedex behind her, she turned and walked towards them, grabbing hold of Dawn's chin, when Dawn spat at her, the blue haired coordinator received a slap across her right cheek, causing her to cry out in pain.
Ash's blood began to boil, that was no way to treat a lady, or female as Dawn wasn't a lady yet, he fingers dug into the tree bark, when he released his grip, he found that some of the bark had disintagrated, his Aura was clearly the same strength as Sir Aaron's, he turned his attention back to Gabby, who was wiping her face from the spit.
Brock was livid with anger too and began to struggle widely in the Vine Whip, but he couldn't move and as he struggled, the vines began to get tighter, he was gasping for breath.
"Trevenant, be a darling and put them back to their old state, until I'm ready to deal with them,"
Ash knew it was now or never, he emerged from behind the tree and shouted at Gabby, catching her, Brock and Dawn's attention, causing them to smile and gasp at the same time,
"Ash! What happened to you? I can see right through you!" Dawn exclaimed, her eyes flicking between her ghostly friend and Brock who was beginning fall under the power of a second Confuse Ray, Ash began to run towards his friends when suddenly, he was knocked back into the tree, "Ash, no! Leave him... Leave him... Leave..." Dawn words became slurred and slow, it wasn't long until she was unconscious too. Ash stood up and glared at Gabby, who in return shot an Aura Sphere at him...
"Wah!" Ash screamed, scaring both Jade and Pikachu, "What the... What am I doing here?" Ash asked, confusingly, Jade told him to relax and calm down, she placed a soothing hand on his shoulder, making his warm chocolate eyes meet her bright, cheerful blue ones. He could feel a strong aura, emanating from her body, it was almost as strong as his, "Jade? Pikachu?" he said, the two nodded at their respective names, "Can someone tell me what just happened?" he asked, before rising to his feet, wobbling a bit. Jade jumped to hers and placed one hand on his upper torso and one at the top of his back to help him regain his strength,
"Incredible," Master Johnathan replied, rather loudly, drawing their attention, Jade asked the elderly man if there was something wrong, "Nothing's wrong, my dear, I'm just astounded at the power this young man controls, he is quite the exceptional Guardian, isn't he Lucario?" he said, turning to his faithful companion, Jade reached into her pocket and pulled out her pokedex, Lucario, the Aura Pokémon and the evolved form of Riolu. Lucario reads the thoughts of others and anticipates their movements by sensing their aura's. This was clearly the first time Jade had ever seen a Lucario, Ash guessed, "Jade, you will have to train this young man how to use and control the power of Aura," Johnathan said, turning away and returning to the darkness.
"Sorry Master, but this is no time to train, my friends are in danger and I've got to save them," Ash said, dashing out of the shack only to be stopped by Jade, "I haven't got time for this Jade, Dawn and Brock are in a lot of trouble, that Gabby had a -" but Jade already knew and beat him to it, "Yeah, Sableye has the power to steal peoples souls if they stare into its eyes," again Jade already knew this and calmly nodded her head, "Well what are we waiting for?" Ash questioned, trying to get past the sunshine haired girl, she simply pointed towards the path which led straight to Viridian City and onward to his home town, "Come on then," but he got pushed back for the fourth time,
"You need to train first, even if its only for an hour," she said, throwing a sparring stick at him, he grumbled and moaned, but eventually followed her towards a clearing, close to his home town. Pikachu smiled at his trainer and jumped off of his shoulder and onto the floor. "Stand over there," she instructed, pointing over to an Oran berry bush, Ash flopped down on the grass, miserably and put his head in his left hand, "Now I want you to watch me and then repeat my movements," she said, blindfolding herself, it was then Ash realised that they were on a steep hill and forced his brain to concentrate. Jade released her partner which turned out to be a Riolu, Ash flipped his pokedex out, scanning the canine Pokémon, Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. Riolu has the power to see and understand emotions like happiness and anger in aura waves. "Ready Rio?" she asked, turning her face towards her partners, he grunted in agreement. The blue canine Pokémon ran over to where Ash and Pikachu were and waited, "Okay, now use Aura Sphere!" Jade shouted, turning her back on the others. Ash was shocked, why was she doing that, surely it made more sense to face the attacker? Riolu placed its paws together to form a small blue ball, he then fired it at his trainer, Ash shouted and jumped up from the grass, "Excellent, your Aura Sphere is coming along great, Rio!" Ash looked up to see Jade, standing tall and proud on a branch,
"How did you get up there?!" Ash exclaimed in pure disbelief, it wasn't a low branch, it was in midair. Jade smiled and explained that she had been training since she was five years old and had therefore, learnt how to jump really high in seconds, she then front flipped out of the tree, landing on the balls of her feet. Ash watched in awe as she dodged a few Bone Rushes and then fought against Close Combat and she was still blindfolded, Ash assumed she was using the power of Aura to detect and deflect the oncoming attacks. Riolu then pushed another Aura Sphere in Jade's direction but this time, she wasn't quick enough to dogde it and it flung her back into the tree she had recently been standing in, "Jade!" Ash shouted, running over to the young trainer, Pikachu close behind, he echoed his trainers words in his own language, Jade pulled herself to her feet and then, abruptly pushed Ash down to the floor, "What are you doing?" he shouted, taken aback, Pikachu's cheeks sparked with anger, but when he felt a paw touch his head, his sparks disappeared. Jade grabbed a nearby sparring pole and pointed it at Ash, who pushed it away forcefully, but Jade swung it round so one end was pressed against his chest, he looked at it in shock and then turned his attention back to Jade who was grinning, "Is this some kind of test?" he asked, grabbing hold of the pole and pushing it back, Ash jumped to his feet and grabbed hold of his pole and the two trainers started sparring. Pikachu and Riolu were both cheering on their respective trainers, whilst in the bushes, they were being spied on, by none other than Team Rocket.
"Isn't that the Riolu that that girl wanted?" Jessie asked, peaking through the bushes,
"Yes, I believe so," James replied, looking through his cards that told them which Pokémon was which,
"Then let's grab that bucket of bolts and the masked Aura controller!" Meowth declared, pushing a lever down, causing the giant machine to emerge from the ground and swallow both Pikachu and Riolu up into a tube which put them both in a cage, "Haha, that was easier than I thought it would be!" but Meowth's cackling had drawn the attention of Jade and Ash. Ash wanted to run and tackle the machine but Jade told him to stay calm and they could pursue them without being noticed.
Meanwhile, Gabby had made her way to the outskirts of Pallet Town, along with a sleeping Brock and Dawn, the evil guardian decided to absorb their souls with the help of Sableye, right on the river back,
"Sableye, its time," she said with an evil grin glued on her face, tossing her pokeball up in the air, the Darkness Pokémon emerged and had an evil smirk on its face.
Elsewhere, Ash and Jade, thanks to Master Johnathan owning a Skarmory, had flown past Viridian city and were now on their way to Pallet Town, suddenly Jade felt Riolu's Aura and told Skarmory to fly down, he landed by the river and then, flew back to inform Officer Jenny in Viridian City,
"I defiantly felt it, he's around here somewhere and I'm going to find him! Don't worry Rio!" Jade said, Ash looked at her and reassured her that they would find Pikachu and Riolu, but apparently, they weren't the only ones who were after them, as further down the river back, Gabby was waiting for Team Rocket to arrive. Thankfully, Ash and Jade saw this and hid in the bushes, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Suddenly the machine came into view and Jessie, James and Meowth appeared with the cage that contained the two stolen Pokémon,
"Uh, what... Where am I?" moaned Dawn, she looked around and spotted Ash's hat poking out from the bushes, "Hey, As..." she trailed off as she saw him raise his fingers to his lips, a sign to keep quiet, he then indicated over to to where Team Rocket's machine was, "Team Rocket? What are those guys doing here?" she asked to no one in particular,
"Beats me," yawned a second voice, Dawn shot her head round to see Brock, "The two of us have been asleep for the last few hours," they were still tied in vines and began their struggle,
"Mistress Gabby, why do you have the tall twerp and the twerpette tied up?" Jessie questioned, handing the cage over to the red head, she didn't answer and simply clicked her fingers. Suddenly, vines entwined around the trios wrists and they were hoisted in the air, "What are you doing? We're on your side!" she screamed. Gabby simply cackled evily,
"You three? I only asked for your help so I could then steal your souls as well and now I have eight souls to consume," Dawn looked around, why eight? There was only seven of them by the river bank.
In the bushes, Jade had equipped Ash with a Soul Blocker, an Invisibility Cloak and a pair of Aura Gloves so he could free his friends and not get caught, Jade emerged from the bushes, confidently and walked towards her twin,
"So now you have us all here, what are you going to do?" she asked, with a small smile on her face, whilst Gabby was distracted, Ash made his way round to his friends and untied their bonds, Trevenant had hold of Team Rocket, so it was easy not to get spotted, Ash told Brock and Dawn to create another diversion so he could free the others, they nodded their heads and crept round the side of a tree. Ash watched as Gabby advanced towards Jade, but Ash saw something that made him change his course, something was glinting in the sunlight and Ash aimed his hands at her, firing an Aura Sphere at Gabby, knocking her back into the river, "Ash? I told you to get everyone out of here!" she shouted, turning her back on the river and catching Dawn out of the corner of her eye, she then saw Riolu and Pikachu still in the cage, "Rio, Aura Sphere!" the sunshine haired girl commanded, her partner used its command and the cage flew open, the two Pokémon jumped into their respective trainers arms, "Are you okay Rio?" Jade asked,snuggling him.
"That's it! I've had enough of this pitiful wine! Sableye, do it now!" Sableye looked at its trainer, waiting for her to say its target, "I don't care, any of them!" Gabby screeched, pulling herself from the river bank, her once bright red hair now looked like a wet dogs coat, Sableye locked its eyes on Pikachu but Riolu was there to use Bone Rush to deflect the attack, the darkness Pokémon then locked onto Meowth who along with James and Jessie, were still tangled in the vines, its eyes began to glow a crimson red and so did Meowth's, then he collapsed, "Excellent, now come to me, Sableye!" but the Pokémon never made it back to its trainer as he was caught in a net of its own, "What!" Gabby shouted, angrily, standing up, it was Officer Jenny and Skarmory!
"Your under a rest!" she cried, running towards Gabby with handcuffs, Gabby dodged and the two began to brawl by the river bank, whilst Ash, Dawn, Brock and Jade helped Team Rocket down. James and Jessie were distraught, Jade took Meowth into her arms, cradling his body. "This is Officer Jenny, requesting backup, near Viridian City and Pallet Town," Jenny said, radioing in, with Gabby in handcuffs. She still had a smug grin on her face, but that quickly disappeared when her twin punched her in the face, Jenny looked at her questioningly and then shrugged, dragging her over to her police car.
"But what about Meowth?" Dawn asked, tearfully, Brock put his hand on her shoulder and she buried her face into his chest, Brock put his arms around her, comfortingly. Jade asked Ash to sit on the floor opposite her and the two placed their hands on Meowth's chest. Blue balls of energy appeared in their palms and Meowth's colour began to come back, Dawn watched, starstruck, how was this happening?
"Since Meowth is such a small Pokémon, we can grant him some of our Aura, without it being fatal for us," Jade explained, almost reading Dawn's thoughts. She pulled her hand away with Ash's and stood up, handing the scratch cat Pokémon back to Jessie, who smiled gratefully and walked away, accompanied by James, "I never asked you before, who were they?" Jade asked, Ash was wobbly on his feet and Jade steadied him, along with Brock, Pikachu, Riolu and Dawn. He smiled at them sheepishly and they all burst into laughter.
Jade and Riolu walked Ash and his friends to Pallet Town, Ash asked if she wanted to go with them, she refused his offer, saying that she wanted to stay in Viridian Forest and train to become an official Aura Guardian,
"Your Aura is shining down brightly on us, I will accompany you back to Viridian Forest as your bodyguard," Brock swooned, taking her hands, Jade looked at him strangely, but he quickly let go, as his Crogunk popped out of its pokeball and Poison Jabbed him in the ribs, causing him to collapse to the grass in agony, "After Crogunk takes me to Saffron City," he groaned. Crogunk dragged him towards Pallet Town, with Dawn and Ash close behind, she was about to turn and head back when a Xatu popped out of its pokeball and that's when she remembered,
"Ash!" she shouted, she caught his attention and he, along with Pikachu walked back to where she was standing, "Xatu wanted to show you something," she said, stepping back into the trees, Xatu closed its left eye and widened its right one.
There was a girl, sitting at a desk, Ash thought he had seen her before, but he couldn't be sure, then the vision changed and he saw the notorious Hunter J!
"What the -" Ash exclaimed, rubbing his eyes, Pikachu had done the same, "What was that? Jade?" he looked around for the female guardian, but couldn't see her anywhere. He suddenly heard Dawn shout his name and he turned his back on the path and headed off to catch his friends up. In the trees, the young female guardian smiled and set off back toward Viridian Forest.