I AM BACK YET AGAIN! *cough* anyway, last time, we left our brave hero and his friends looking at a shocked May through a portal, having just found out that Max and Kirlia were dating (Which, thanks to one of my reviewers, Swagnilla-ice-1985, is now called SmartGraceshipping.) What will the coordinator do? And what will Ash do to help his friends? If you want to know, then read on!
DISCLAIMER: I don't even know why I'm saying this; but still, don't want the GameFreak and Nintendo executives on my back. I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON, ITS CHARACTERS OR STORYLINE! EXCEPT FOR THIS SPECIFIC ONE!
Altomare, right were the last chapter ended.
An awkward silence spread through the garden. The two humans and the bunch of Pokémon in the garden were just staring at the shocked brunette through the portal, while she stared at Max and Kirlia. The silence went on for a minute, then two, then five… it was about to go to the 6th when a certain little Poke-morph broke through it, after appearing out of nowhere.
"Daddy, who is that lady and how is she floating up there?"
"Ritias, go to the house, I'll explain there." Ritias would've normally argued, being as stubborn as her father once was, but she knew that when her father used that deep tone, it was because of something serious. As soon as she left, Ash turned back to May. "So what are you going to do? Let them be happy or tear them apart?"
This got May out of her shock, and instead of just staring, she began to glare at Ash and Kirlia.
"Ash… you… you CORRUPTED MY LITTLE BROTHER! NOW HE THINKS THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE AN ABOMINATION, IT'S OK FOR HIM TO DO IT TO! AND ABOUT YOUR QUESTION? OF COURSE I'LL SEPARATE THEM! I'LL HAVE THAT BRAIN-WASHING KIRLIA SLUT KILLED! I WILL…" She didn't get any farther than that before a weak Aura Wave disrupted the connection to Pewter Woods.
"Max, I'd recommend that you and Kirlia stay here for a while, your sister looks like she will go ballistic the minute she sees you two again." Max was about to say something, but Ash interrupted him. "Don't worry about Gallade; I'll make sure he doesn't try anything. Now, how about we go have that cut checked? Gallade really outdid himself with that Psycho cut."
Max and Kirlia had forgotten about the wound, and Max nearly passed out when he saw that Kirlia's entire arm was covered in blood. Kirlia wasn't so lucky; she fainted at the sight of blood, luckily Max caught her gently before she could hit the floor.
"Where's the city's Pokémon Center?"
"Come with me, I'll take you there." They ran out of the Garden, Max carrying Kirlia bridal style, eliciting a couple of jokes from Ash, and went straight to the Pokémon center. Kirlia's wound wasn't anything life threatening at the moment, but they were told it was more than likely to leave a scar in its place, but since Kirlias have white skin, it wouldn't be very noticeable. "Tell me something Max, what do you plan to do about your sister? She will come here for you, and considering she doesn't have any Pokémon that can use fly, it should be a week before she gets here, assuming her Blaziken doesn't assist her getting to the Lilycove port, if he does, she'll be here the day after tomorrow."
"Blaziken won't help her."
"How do you know that? He's her starter Pokémon and one of her best friends, why wouldn't he?"
"Because May sent him to look for me and Kirlia once, and he walked in on one of our Picnics…"
Guess what? Another Flashback!
Max and Kirlia were both lying on their backs, watching the clouds pass, not a care in the world. Max had learned that there was a way for humans to understand Poke-speech, if a Psychic type enhanced the humans brain enough and after some trial and error (and a trip to the hospital for concussion) Max could now understand Pokémon perfectly (A/N hence he could understand Gallade in the last chapter), though he and Kirlia preferred Telepathy for its privacy.
"You know Kir? I'm really happy we got together."
"Me too, even though I hate having to keep our relationship hidden like this…"
"Max, Kirlia, if you're going to talk about something secret that nobody should ever know about, use telepathy will ya?" The two young ones jumped to their feet and looked over to where the voice had originated; stopping when they saw Blaziken leaning against a tree. "Don't worry, I ain't gonna rat you out, your sister would lose it if she found out."
"Thanks for understanding, Blaziken."
"Not a problem."
HUH… SHORT FLASHBACK THIS TIME…
"…And that's what happened."
"I see. I had my suspicions of you undergoing a Mental Activation when you kicked Gallade; I underwent one myself with Latias's help. But I am impressed that Blaziken wasn't even upset by finding you two together like that."
"The only reason he wasn't was because he had the best blackmail material of all…"
"Which, you realize, he can't use because May can't understand Poke-Speech, and he didn't have any evidence to show her." Max simply looked at Ash, mentally kicking himself for his own stupidity. He was about to ask Ash something else when the doors to the recuperation room opened, letting out Nurse Joy and her Chancey. "So, how did it go?"
"She's going to be fine, though I do not recommend strenuous activity for a couple of days, which includes battling and training. I don't want that wound to reopen. How did she get it anyway?"
"My Gallade went crazy when he saw her; apparently they used to be siblings, and decided to launch a Psycho-Cut as revenge for who knows what." Explained the Guardian in a calm voice.
"Oh, ok. Anyway, you can take her home now; would you give me her poke-ball?" Max began to rummage through his pockets and belt, trying to find the ball, when he suddenly paled. "You don't have it with you, right?" Max nodded. "Oh well, not a problem, you can just carry her to wherever you live."
"Thanks nurse Joy, how much do I owe you for the healing?"
"It's ok; emergencies are free-of-charge." (A/N Has anyone else noticed that Ash and company have never been seen paying in a Pokémon center?)
Pewter City Gym
"MAX IS WHAT!"
"You heard me Dad, I saw it myself. Ash and his freak-of-nature daughter made Max believe it was ok for him to date Pokémon, and now it turns out he's been dating his Kirlia!"
While the family went on with its ranting, May's Pokémon were all standing in the corner, sighing at their trainer's closed mind.
"Damn May, she can't see how Max and Kirlia are happy together." Commented Blaziken, clearly annoyed by his trainer.
"I don't get it; she seemed fine with Ash and Latias, what's different with Max and Kirlia?" Asked May's Glaceon, her own annoyance and a bit of confusion in her voice.
"Who knows, none of us are psychics so we can't get into her mind, or even get her to understand us…" Said Venusaur from her spot outside (She was too big to go inside) "The only Pokémon we've met capable of talking has been that Manaphy, and we barely got to meet him, or her, or whatever it was."
"I don't know, all I know is that May's inability to accept the change even took away my appetite…" Of course, hearing a Munchlax say that he lost his appetite shocked the others. Beautifly, who was resting on Blaziken's head, spoke next.
"Don't we know any Psychic type, aside from Kirlia of course, that could help us translate?" The other began thinking for a possibility, but sadly none of them had anything, except for Wartortle.
"Well, there is Ash's Noctowl. He ain't psychic type, but he can use psychic moves. Dunno if he can use telepathy or Mental Activation." Their thoughts were abruptly interrupted by their trainer.
"Ok you six! Tomorrow we're going to Altomare to save my brother from that Kirlia! Who's with me?" All of the Pokémon in the house took a step backwards, while Venusaur left. "W-What's wrong you guys? I need you to save my brother!" in response, Munchlax opened the window and helped the others through it. The last one in the house was Blaziken. "Blaze, you will stand by me, right?" Blaziken just shook his head before leaving through the window, disappearing in the night with the rest of his friends. "FINE! I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" She might have said that, but deep within, right in her heart, she knew…
She was screwed.
Back to Altomare, in Ash's house.
Max, Kirlia, and Ash were sitting on the dining room, the only sound being Ritias munching on the candy her father had promised to get her. The three were currently thinking on how to keep May at bay.
"A disguise?"
"It would take too long to make a decent one that won't pull itself apart."
"Perhaps we could hide here in the Garden; no one knows we're here…"
"And spend the rest of your lives running? Not a good way to live, I do have one idea, though, it would involve Kirlia training with Latias and you Max, training with me. There's an aura technique called the Aura Skin, it's a special way of using aura's malleability to create a nearly perfect disguise, with a few flaws. It can't change your voice, height, or width, but it can create an illusion to change to facial structure and other parts, like this." Ash stood up and flared his Aura to life, before focusing it around his skin. When the light was gone, there was a man of Ash's height, albeit with a completely different face, skin tone and hair color. The man had eyes like brock, blonde hair and mustache, and ghost white skin. "This is an example of what you can do with the Aura skin. And before you ask, Max, you can use Aura. Apparently there's someone in your family tree that was an Aura Master." Max looked down at his hands, possibly wondering what he could do with aura. "And you Kirlia, contrary to popular believe, it's not their feathers that allow Latias and Latios to change shape, instead, it's their Psychic powers that allow them to do so. Don't ask for specifications, I'm not really sure how it works, but you can train with Latias to create a Human disguise of your own. The training for the Aura Skin would take around three days, since it isn't precisely complicate, and the Psychic disguise should take around 4 days. We will begin immediately. Max, first things first, I need to awaken your Aura powers, come with me. Kirlia, you wait here for Latias to return from her part-timer job at the museum."
"She works at the Museum? How?"
"She sells tickets, posing as a mute Psychic girl. It has worked pretty well so far. She should be arriving soon, by the way." With that, he and Max walked out of the house, and walked towards the pool behind the Soul Dew fountain. "Ok Max, to awaken your Aura, you need to be in a life or death situation. This will cause your Aura to react and you will automatically learn an Aura Skill that will save you. This is known as a Prime Technique, and is usually more powerful than other learnt techniques. My Prime Technique was the Aura sword, which, as the name implies, is a sword made completely of Aura."
"I though your first skill with Aura was the Aura Sphere…"
"Nah, that's kind of the default skill for all Aura users. In case you're wondering, my life or death situation was when a decorative blade in Cameron Palace fell down, swinging by a thread, and it went straight at me. My Aura materialized as a Sword to help me parry the blade."
"Interesting, but how will we awaken my Aura and Prime Technique?"
"Close your eyes, Max, and let your mind go blank." The kid closed his eyes, and cleared his mind. He was about to ask what he had to do next when something grabbed him by his shirt and threw him upwards. "Aura Technique #23: Strength of the Guardian!" Max was sent flying upwards, at speeds that would make a sports car look like a snail, screaming all the way. Ash formed a Spear of Aura on his hand and threw it at Max, by now he had reached the apex of his rise. He saw the spear heading straight at him, and out of fear, crossed his arms in front of him. The spear was about to impact when he felt something flare inside him, and then the sound of metal against metal. He opened his eyes to see an amazing shield in his right arm. It was a bladed shield, its appearance similar to the pincers of a beetle, and it was completely green. He didn't have more time to examine it as he began to fall, but luckily Ash caught him with his Aura Board. "Good, you unlocked your aura and Prime Technique, in this case being the Aura Shield and it seems the Prime Boost came in the form of those blades on the shield; normal ones are plain round shields. And it also seems your Aura is green…" Max noticed that Ash's Aura was no longer teal, but instead it was a dark blue with hints of red. "I see you noticed the change. You see, to those who can't use Aura, all Auras look teal in color, but once you have unlocked the power, you can see the difference. You will never find two people with identical Auras, not even twins, though you may find similar ones."
Max nodded dumbly, still rattled from the fall, and awed by his Shield.
"Can we go back down to ground level?"
"What? Oh, sure little guy." They got back to the floor, and found a note in the door of the house. "It says: 'Went to teach Kirlia, be back in a few hours, Latias.' I guess they started already."
I'm cutting it here, next time we shall see Kirlias training and Max learning a few Aura techniques. Speaking of those two, I've been thinking of adding one more Poke-human relationship in this, though I'm not sure between who… any ideas you may have will be gladly accepted in reviews or PMs, or you can also tell me not to do it. On another note, I would like to recommend the Story 'Darkest before Dawn' by Swagnilla-Ice-1985, the story is a Dark Pearlshipping (AshxDawn). Anyway, BladeOfThePoet, logging out.