Episode 64: Clash in Petalburg.
Let's get into the swing of thing, the last chapter felt a little slow, but now it's time to really pick up the pace.
Dawn: 18
May: 18
Drew: 19
Max: 15
After a couple of days resting Ash, Salvia and Madeline prepared to leave the small town towards the next city. Spending a couple of days giving Madeline some pointers in battling and capturing pokemon, even though Madeline didn't capture a pokemon she was still feeling proud of her advancements in pokemon training, her Tepig feeling like it could take on any pokemon after the training Ash and Salvia gave it, "so where are we heading?" Madeline asked with a confident grin.
Ash pulled out a map and started to look towards the western parts of the region, "we will be heading towards my friends home town," Ash retorted with a smirk, he knew it had been a few months since he saw May, he had hoped that she and her brother had gotten stronger since he last saw them, he flashed back to the days of him and May traveling through the Hoenn region and the Kanto region, "it has been a few years since we travelled together," Ash reminisced with a smile.
"So you travelled with another girl and Sir Brock?" Salvia questioned curiously.
Ash nodded and then smirked, "then there was her know it all brother, right now he should be finishing his first journey," Ash replied, he placed his right hand on his chin and started to remember the fights May and Max got into.
"So Ash, how many people have you travelled with?" Madeline asked.
Ash looked up and started to count the people he had travelled with, "let's see, there is Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, Max, Iris, Cilan and then there is Tracey," Ash counted on his hands while thinking about the other people that tagged along for the journey, "oh how could I forget, there is you, the princess….." Ash stated before being hit on the back of the head, "I mean Salvia," Ash replied to the smack across the back of the head, he looked back to a satisfied bluenette.
"Much better, I never want you to refer to me by my title," Salvia commented cheekily.
Ash grinned broadly as he started to think about what the next title in line was, "well rightfully, you're no longer a princess, isn't that right Queen Salvia?" Ash teased the Sinnoh Royal before having his right foot stomped on by her, "okay I take it you don't like that either," Ash submitted while hopping on his foot trying to supress the pain that was coursing through his body.
"Call me that one more time, I will divorce you," Salvia threatened Ash who looked over to her with a playful grin.
Ash crossed his arms and continued to smugly smile at her, "I don't think you would go through with it, since really you are pregnant with my child after all," Ash returned his young wife's ultimatum. "Can you think a little Ash Ketchum," Ash started to laugh while picturing Salvia and him holding the child in their arms.
Salvia scoffed at the idea and wondered what it would be like to have a little girl, "well I have already picked a name for a girl," Salvia replied while noticing Ash's expression, "I was thinking of choosing my friend's name Dawn, I think she would like that," Salvia replied to Ash's thought.
"But I get to choose the boy's name right?" Ash asked hopefully as he crossed his fingers in hope.
"I might," Salvia replied with a cheeky grin, "but I know that your imagination isn't all that great," Salvia replied blissfully as the trainer dropped his head in disbelief.
"Can we continue, I am getting a little tired of some of the stuff you two are talking about," Madeline stated while Tepig jumped out of the girls arms, the fire type sent a sudden burst of flames towards the arguing couple, "thank you Tepig," Madeline thankfully told her pokemon.
"Alright we will settle this later," Ash remarked quickly while his Raichu breathed a sigh of relief.
Salvia crossed her arms knowing that Ash was still not too happy about something. The trio continued quietly towards the first major city of the region not saying a word to each other, it was then that Salvia broke her silence, "Ash, I will let you name the boy, just please don't stay angry at me," Salvia told the prince with a hopeful smile.
Ash looked back and smirked at his wife, "I am not angry at you, just concerned about something," Ash retorted with a worried expression.
"What do you mean Ash?" Salvia asked in a puzzled manner.
Ash looked towards the east and thought about Brendan, "it's your friend, he was acting weird when we met, and his departure was just as weird," Ash explained to the bluenette.
Salvia walked ahead feeling like Ash still didn't know what he was talking about, she kept thinking that Brendan wasn't a bad person, she continued to cling to her memories of her and her friend, "Ash, I know you don't trust him, but he and I are friends," Salvia continued to defend the Hoenn prince much to Ash and Madeline's disappointment.
"I know you and him are friends, even Reshiram knows that there is something not right," Ash replied seriously.
The trio walked into the city to find a green haired man with his brunette girlfriend, "so May, what are we going to do tonight?" Drew asked before looking up to see Ash and Salvia walking into the city, he watched the red clad brown hair girl running over to Ash with great excitement, 'geez I wish she was that excited when she goes on a date with me,' Drew thought with a slight amount of disappointment.
'Who the hell is this girl?' Madeline wondered while seeing the woman hugging Ash, 'why that little bitch,' Madeline angrily clenched her fists. But was relieved that Ash didn't return the embrace from the brunette, 'good, I don't want Ash to be with anyone other than Salvia.'
"It has been a while Ash, how are things going?" May asked with a smile as she stepped back, from Ash.
Drew walked over to Ash and extended his hand, "sorry about that Ash, May seems to be happy to see her friend for the first time in nearly a year," Drew commented while May walked towards Salvia, Ash shook the coordinators hand , "so what has been happening lately, May and I have been really busy planning our next journey to the Kalos region," Drew commented with a proud smile while pulling out a brochure from his pocket.
"Really? Wow Salvia, Madeline and me will be heading there after I finish the Master's challenge," Ash returned with a smile.
"Really, so I get a new rival?" May asked in hope as she turned her attention to Salvia.
Salvia stepped back with a nervous smile from the excited girl. "Not quite May, I will in fact be rival with Ash," Salvia replied with a grin.
May looked to the ground with disappointment knowing that Salvia was going to challenge Ash and not her, "oh man, now feel jealous that Ash will be rivalling with a coordinator and not me instead," May retorted with a frown.
"Oh come on May, we will watch the contests, you have our word, right Madelie and Salvia?" Ash asked the girls with a confident smile, the girls nodded making May happier, she jumped up for joy and yelled out after hearing the promise from Ash and confirmation from Ash's wife and foster-daughter, "plus, it would teach Madeline some new things as well," Ash remarked with a smile.
"I have an idea, how about you take on my brother Salvia, he has just recently taken over the gym," May suggested with a confident smile.
"Really Max is now the gym leader? I remember when he tried to trick me," Ash replied with enthusiasm. The rest of the group remained silent while Ash looked away to cover his embarrassment, "right now Salvia has an appointment with a doctor, so we will need to head their first," Ash remarked while Drew and May looked at the royal couple with curiosity.
"Why? She seems perfectly healthy to me," May enquired with a puzzled look.
Salvia gulped for a moment, she knew that the news would be difficult for them to take, she took Ash's hand and smiled at the trainer, "because I am expecting a baby later in the year," Salvia confessed with immense pride, much to the astonishment of the couple standing in front of her she continued to show joy at what was happening.
"No way, dude that's crazy," Drew and May replied in shock as they tried to gather the words but were far too excited to say anymore, the Hoenn couple looked at one another still trying to say something.
"I bet Dawn would be amazed to hear this news, she still hasn't taken the loss of Paul so well," May remarked with a sigh, "Drew and I have been trying everything to cheer her up, at the moment she is stuck at my place still figuring out what to do next," May explained with sadness.
"Well before we head to the doctors, we should visit," Salvia stated with certainty.
After walking towards the Maple residence Ash and Salvia entered the house with Madeline walking in front of them, "wow, this house is big, but it wasn't nearly as big as my family Mansion in Mossdeep City," Madeline boasted while looking around to see the lounge room and then the stairway towards the rooms of the house, she walked around some more to find the kitchen, "hey Ash I found your favourite part of the house!" Madeline called over to Ash with a playful smile.
"Is it the Kitchen Madeline?" Salvia asked equally as playful as Madeline.
Ash turned his attention to May and Drew, "so where is Dawn?" Ash asked quietly.
May pointed towards the stairs with a solemn expression, "she is in my old room, but be sure to knock alright," May instructed Ash before he walked towards the stairway.
Ash walked up the stairway while remembering the people who had lost their lives in the war, his friends, family and even strangers, even the pokemon were in his thoughts, he didn't even wish his friends the best of luck, he wanted one more battle against Paul, but sadly he will never get that chance. Ash continued down the hall and towards his friend's old room, approaching the door hearing Dawn talking to herself about her regrets, Ash slowly moved his right hand towards the door and knocked on it.
Dawn walked towards the door while wondering who it was, "I don't want to talk to anyone!" Dawn yelled out.
"Come on Dawn, even to a person you consider your brother?" Ash questioned her calmly.
"Ash?" Dawn asked before opening the door.
Ash walked into the room where Dawn was staying, Ash looked at the bluenette whose hair was a mess and was wearing a pink dress, "you have really let yourself go Dawn, you had pride in your appearance," Ash commented honestly while Dawn walked up to Ash and started to cry, "Dawn, I know I lost my rival as well," Ash told the young woman with a frown before hugging her, 'I hope Salvia doesn't misunderstand this time around,' Ash thought while hearing footsteps outside the room, 'oh shit, Madeline,' Ash thought as he looked up to see the girl peering into the room.
"Thanks for being like a brother Ash, I will do what I can to tidy myself up a bit," Dawn commented silently.
Ash walked out of the room only to be greeted by the black haired girl, "so Dawn is like your sister?" Madeline enquired while Ash nodded, he closed the door to allow for Dawn to have some privacy, Ash walked towards the stairs and down to meet up with the rest of the group.
Ash walked into the kitchen where May, Drew and Salvia were sitting at the table, "So did you get a word from Dawn?" Salvia asked with concern.
"Not until she tidies up a bit," Ash replied before taking a seat next to Salvia. Ash sipped the cup of tea while his two friends looked at him strangely, "what is it May and Drew?" Ash asked, his face blushing slightly.
"That is the first time I have seen you wear something fashionable," May retorted while staring at Ash's suit.
"Um this, Salvia forced me to wear it," Ash joked before feeling Salvia's elbow crashing into his ribs, "alright, she didn't force me to wear it," Ash replied to Salvia's reply.
The group continued to have their converstation while waiting for Dawn to come from room, it was then Ash sensed the aura of Brendan from outside but this time he had three powerful pokemon by his side. The prince got to his feet and rushed to the door, "Ash what are you doing?" May asked before watching Salvia running behind, 'he must be using his aura abilities,' May thought as she remembered the time Ash tried to rescue Pikachu with the help of Lucario.
Ash opened the door to see Brendan standing on the front lawn of the Maple residence, he smirked at Ash, as three pokemon stood around him, one brown golem made of rocks with six red dots in the form of an 'H', the next one was a rounded steel type pokemon with seven dots in the shape of a hexagon and the last was a pokemon made of pure ice, cones for legs and seven dots in the shape of a '+.' Brendan continued to stare at Ash with a menacing smile, "so Ash, it is time to eliminate you, Regirock attack with Stone Edge," Brendan instructed the rock peak pokemon with confidence.
Ash quickly pulled out his pokemon and called for his blue and black pokemon, "Lucario attack with Aura Spere," Ash quickly instructed his pokemon. The aura pokemon quickly formed a ball of aura and threw it towards the incoming attack, the remaining stones slammed into May's home destroying the patio, 'his attack was meant to be fatal,' Ash noted to himself, he kept his eyes on the other two pokemon and pulled out another two pokeballs ready to face off against the three legendries, "Darkrai, Reshiram, I choose you," Ash called for his mostly white dragon pokemon and a black hourglass shaped pokemon with a piercing blue eye.
'Amazing, he has two powerful legendary pokemon,' Brendan thought with amazement.
"How did you know we were here?" Ash asked while his three pokemon prepared to attack the three golems.
Brendan started laughing at the Sinnoh prince, he clicked his fingers allowing the three pokemon to attack simultaneously, Ash nodded at his pokemon and attacked to defend themselves, 'he can also order his pokemon to attack without saying a command,' Brendan thought to himself before seeing Salvia witnessing the battle, "about time," Brendan stated with a smirk.
"What's the meaning of this Brendan?" Salvia asked with shock, she couldn't quite express the scene she was looking at the power of the attacks destroying the building around the battle.
"From now on, we are no longer friends," Brendan decreed while Salvia gasped at the revelation, Brendan started laughing at the older teen, "we are enemies."
Ash scoffed at the younger royal as his three pokemon pushed the three Regis back, "so you followed us to Petalburg, also you have hurt Salvia, now I will not back," Ash angrily declared while his legendary pokemon got ready to attack again.
"In fact I am here to tell you something, Ash surrender Salvia now or you might not see your child's birth," Brendan ordered with supreme confidence.
Ash glared at the Hoenn prince and shook his head, "I would rather die than let a worm like you take my wife," Ash replied with his fists clenched in rage, "Lucario attack with Aura Sphere, Darkrai attack with Dark Pulse and Reshiram attack with Dragon Pulse," Ash instructed the three pokemon with vigour. The trainer's three pokemon powered up their attacks while Brendan called for his pokemon to use Super Power.
Meanwhile in the distance a Hoenn guard was watching the battle between the six pokemon, "excellent, Master Chris's plan is going well, with those two battling and the weakening of Princess Salvias resolve, everything will fall into place," the man stated while some rocks flew towards the buildings
"You want to know something Salvia is too soft to lead her kingdom, even the death of her father still affects her," Brendan taunted the woman with a smirk.
"Shut up, Salvia is strong, she trusted you because she thought you were her friend!" Ash yelled out in a furious rage, he tightened his fists, he scowled at his new enemy while Salvia fell to her knees after hearing that some that she thought was her friend was now her enemy, "Salvia, focus I refuse to let this guy get to you," Ash tried to assure the princess.
At that time Dawn walked out to see five legendary pokemon and Ash's Lucario battling it out, Brendan looked over in shock, "no way there are two princess's?" Brendan asked, he rubbed his eyes to see Dawn kneeling next to Salvia.
"Wrong, one of them is the princess the other is one that I would consider my sister," Ash replied with determination, he closed his eyes to refocus his aura abilities, "now Brendan, where is Chris?" Ash asked causing the teen to step back in shock.
"Wait how did you know my family aligned themselves with Chris?" Brendan asked while beginning to falter, "no I refuse to let this get to me, Zap Cannon all of you," the Hoenn prince demanded for an attack from each of his legendary pokemon, the three pokemon formed balls of electricity and sent them towards the three pokemon of Ash.
"You know that Zap Cannon isn't that accurate," Ash proclaimed at the panicking prince, but noticed a smirk on the royal's face, "no you wouldn't, bad question," Ash hissed in frustration, "alright attack with the previous attacks," Ash told his pokemon, they formed the previous attacks, the tree attacks intercepted the three Zap Cannons causing powerful explosions that pushed trees to the ground and windows to shatter, Ash rushed to his wife to protect her from the falling debris, "are you alright?" Ash smiled.
"I am fine Ash, thanks to you and Dawn," Salvia replied with sadness.
Ash looked over his shoulder to see that the three legendries and Brendan were gone, he recalled his pokemon and turned his focus back to the Sinnoh princess, "he was only playing mind games, if he wanted to, he could have easily captured Salvia," Ash reminded himself while looking over to see his friends and foster-daughter standing at what was the entrance to the house.
"What happened here?" a male voice asked in anger, a young teen with short blue hair, a green shirt, brown shorts and large frame glasses, he pushed up his glasses slightly and looked around to see the devastation of his family home, he looked around to see the surrounding area in a state of disrepair, "this is just great, my dad will be really upset after he returns from his holiday with mom in the Kalos region," Max stated with a frown.
Salvia sat on the ground trying to figure out what was going on, mixed emotions ran through her mind, but most of all she was hurting and feeling angry at the betrayal of her friend, "why is this all happening to me? Am I losing everything I hold dear?" Salvia asked herself while getting to her feet, she started to walk towards the Pokemon Center on her own.
Ash and Madeline quickly followed Salvia who was starting to feel more depressed, "tell us everything later alright Dawn!" Ash yelled out to his friend, waving to her. The Sinnoh Prince quickly returned his attention to Salvia, "Salvia wait," Ash called over to the young woman; he continued to run towards her, he grabbed her arm, Salvia turned around with tears in her eyes, "Salvia," Ash called her name as she leapt into his embrace.
Salvia cried feeling like the world was falling on top of her, "what am I to do Ash? I lost my father and the person I thought was my friend is now my enemy," Salvia cried as her husband placed his right hand in her long blue hair.
"Salvia, you have friends, you have people here for you," Ash assured the royal while embracing her.
Madeline watch from a distance with her Tepig sitting next to her, knowing that not everything was going to be fine, "Tepig, you know I feel like Brendan is trying to destroy her," Madeline told her pokemon while trying to keep from getting angry, the girl in the pink dress continued to wait for Ash to finish comforting Salvia.
"Come on Salvia, we need to make sure everything is alright," Ash told his wife with an assured grin.
Outside the city Brendan was walking towards Chris, "What are you planning on doing?" Brendan asked the Chris with an angered expression.
"Well, I plan on having Salvia broken down mentally," Chris laughed at the as he turned around to walk towards the major port city of Slateport, "well, I guess I must be off, to set things up, I will take this attack to the next level, knowing Ash, he would have his mind set on how to deal with his own mother," Chris stated with pride in his actions, "you just be sure to continue spreading some amount of dissent between them."
'Damn you Chris, you really think this is some sort of game,' Brendan thought while clenching his fists angrily, 'my mother has even ordered me to break Salvia mentally, she is my cousin, if she finds this out, she would be completely broken,' Brendan said while punching the air in front of him, he watched as the guards left with Chris, "now I can see what he is doing, he will be trying to eliminate all threats, he sees me as a threat," Brendan told himself while turning around to watch Salvia getting escorted to the hospital, 'how long must I keep this up for?' Brendan asked himself while looking away in shame.
Chris looked back to see Brendan getting angry, "excellent, when I get him out of the way, my path to domination will be that much closer," Chris whispered to himself, not noticing the four ominous pokemon in the distance, "very soon I will reveal my full plans to everyone, I will destroy every kingdom in the world and become the king of kings," Chris stated while laughing manically.
'So that's his plan,' a large blue pokemon questioned the man while watching him walking towards the next city, 'Virizion, Terrakion and Keldeo, time to keep him from achieving this goal.
'But if he achieves that goal, no one will be able to oppose him, we might need some other allies,' Virizion stated while looking over to the distance to find Brendan kicking a tree, 'it seems like Chris is manipulating this young man,' Virizion claimed while getting ready to move on to find more allies in the fight against Chris.
'So, we will need to separate again,' Terrakion said upset that it would have to take on a new mission, 'Keldeo, you will need to head to Sinnoh, find the pokemon of time and space, the one way we can stop Chris is if we imprison him,' Terrakion stated much to the chagrin of the colt pokemon.
'But I want to fight,' Keldeo demanded but the three pokemon shook their heads.
'You have a task you need to accomplish, even the smallest task will yield results, consider this part of your training,' Cobalion reaffirmed the smaller legendry's training, the three larger pokemon went off in separate direction.
Meanwhile back in Petalburg City Ash was waiting for Salvia to come out of the doctors room, 'I can't believe this, if any more things go wrong Salvia, will have a complete mental break down,' Ash thought to himself while watching his foster-daughter playing with Raichu and Tepig, he started to think about what he could do to protect Salvia but even he was at a loss, 'What should I do, I can't even save my own mother from Chris,' Ash kept reminding himself while grasping the chair he was sitting on, "I must find a way to keep Salvia from breaking down," Ash told himself while trying to keep calm.
Ash and Madeline continued to wait for Salvia who was almost finished with her appointment. Ash started to nod off before hearing the door open, he jolted his attention to the door, "how are things going?" another bluenette asked while walking towards her friend.
"Dawn, I have been here for a while, Salvia is still getting checked up to see how things are going," Ash replied with a nervous smile.
"I am here to talk to you Ash," Dawn stated while sitting next to Ash, Dawn took a deep breath and started to get ready to tell Ash what has been on her mind, "when I was about to stop Paul from heading out into battle he knocked me out to keep me safe," Dawn stated while holding onto Paul's pokeballs, "I wanted to watch another battle between you and him," Dawn said while picking up the pokeballs and putting them on Ash's lap, "please take care of them, Paul would want you to train them, I am going to do some soul searching, so this is where we say goodbye for now," Dawn declared while getting up to walk back to the entrance of the doctors, "one more thing Ash, even though I was going out with Paul, I never truly got over you," Dawn professed before leaving the shocked trainer in his seat.
After Dawn had exited the building another door had opened this time Salvia walked out with a more positive expression, "so far everything seems to be going well, the Doctor in Verdantuf Town will want to see me in five weeks," Salvia commented with a ecstatic grin.
"Alright I guess we will be heading to Rustboro City, but first we will need to go through Petalburg Forest," Ash said while handing Salvia's second Eevee egg to her.
This one was written quickly because there is a reasonably good explanation for it, I already have the story line in my head, all I have to do is type it in. in fact I also have the Sinnoh Saga pretty much all thought out.
Next time episode 65: Return of the Swords.