Yes, in this chapter there is a lot of babbling. This was only because of the lack of words in this chapter. With Paul's battle so close to the start of this chapter I couldn't afford to make a lengthy pre battle chapter. So here you go.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

Pikachu looked worriedly at his trainer, thinking that maybe they should just leave it alone. He was angry too, but the badges were replaceable, it wasn't worth the inevitable cost.

Ash however had different things on his mind. Those badges were indispensible, and the medical equipment had cost a fortune. There was no way even Arceus was getting away with this.

Ash was beyond angry now, and Pikachu began to realize something. This was worth the cost. Ash had lost everything for those badges, and now he was willing to lose everything to get them back.

Ash suddenly cried in pain and put his hands on his head. He was brought to his knees has the pain worsened. Pikachu was worried, but stayed back. He knew what was happening, it was one of the drawbacks of using aura.

Eventually Ash stopped screaming, and stood up with much less malice in his eyes.

"Come on Pi, I know where to look."

Pikachu took note of the tone of his trainer's voice. It was not angry, so he must have seen what had happened to their supplies and badges.

Pikachu hopped up on his trainers shoulder, and Ash checked to make sure he was comfortable, and after receiving a nod Ash pulled out a pokeball.

"Rise, Ruby!"

His orange lizard appeared in front of him. Ash gave him quick rundown of what had happened. Charizard growled, but complied as he let Ash onto his back.

"Now head due north!" Ash ordered, pointing his finger in said direction.

Charizard roared and with a mighty flap of his massive wings, was in the air.

The flight was quiet and as they approached their destination, the base of Mount Silver, Ash felt multiple Aura signatures flaring inside of the mountain.

Pikachu noticed where Ash was observing, 'In there?'

Ash nodded, and he ordered his mighty Pokémon to land. After a brief thanks his Charizard was back in his ball, and Ash looked at the mountain with a calculative gaze. Without warning, his body became coated with a brilliant silver light. The silver energy that was rapidly seeping out of his body began collection into a sphere between his hands.

Pikachu, seeing what his trainer was about to do quickly got behind him.

Ash didn't even flinch as a massive beam of silver power shot at the mountain. A loud explosion shook the ground, and the entire mountain was hidden from view by the massive mushroom cloud.

'Looks like the mountain has gotten a new cave.' Pikachu mused.

"So it seems," Ash growled, "Let's go."

Pikachu hopped up on Ash's shoulder just before he took off with in human speed. They sped through he mountain,the speeds at which Ash was traveling could not be followed by the human eye, so Ash and Pikachu were relying on Ash's aura vision.

As they dodged another stalagmite Pikachu cried out a warning, which Ash took as Pikachu losing his hold on his pack. So he slowed his pace to an average sprint, but seeing as it was still dark Ash had to continue to use his aura vision.

Eventually he came upon the spot where the aura signatures had been. So in a true testament to Ash's aura prowess, he launched a ball of silver aura towards the roof of the cave. Once Ash's eyes stopped glowing, the sphere topped moving. Suddenly it pulsed a massive silver light, and illuminated the whole cave.

It was only after this event did Ash open his eyes. And once he did he saw something that he didn't expect. Cowering in one of the cave corners were a whole colony of Sableye

He was surprised again as he heard a low moan from a different corner of the cavern. When he looked in said corner he saw at least a dozen that seemed to be in great pain.

Ash gave the scared Sableye a look and said mentally, 'I can help'

The Sableye instantly calmed after hearing a voice in their mind, a human with the ability to use aura was no foe.

Ash gave the group a nod, then walked over to the converted medical area. The Pokémon seemed to be suffering from symptoms that he recognized from somewhere, but he couldn't remember where. After a moment of searching diligently through his memory he finally figured out where he had seen it before, he then grimaced this was bad,

"Poison, and I have no antidotes."

Pikachu cringed, but understood why his trainer had no antidotes; it was rare for poison types to be on Mount Silver or in the deserts of Orre. There was simply no need for them. Regardless of why his trainer didn't have them, Toxic was a very strong, very condensed version of smog. It was very dangerous, and without proper supplies, it could be fatal. Then he took notice items tossed haphazardly into a corner, which he identified as every different type of potion available potions. As well as some Oran berries, a lot of Oran berries. There were some Sitrus berries as well, then it donned on him, these were their supplies!

'Ash, these Sableye ransacked this camp for medical supplies. There are a lot of empty potions and half eaten berries in that far corner.'

"So you were looking for medical supplies?" Ash said, even though most of the malice had disappeared from his voice. What was left was gone with that statement.

As far as he knew, Sableye didn't have an addiction to shiny objects, so his invitational tournaments and interregional badges would be some place else. However, he had a much more pressing issue on his hands.

With that thought he turned back to the poisoned Pokémon, and he knew their situation was dire. So he tried something that was dangerous to his life energy, if done incorrectly his aura spirit would break out of his body, and there would be two Ash's now this is fatal because after a while the body, without a soul would wither away. And the soul, now with nothing to restrain it, would float into the Ethereal Fields. It was a heaven-like developed by the first aura knight that would preserve the aura soul so the aura could be properly disposed of.

Ash however, knew that if he didn't help these Pokémon, the disease would spread throughout the whole mountain. So he closed his eyes and began to glow red, signaling his healing aura was being released. But instead of forming into the sphere like before, it floated like a cloud over the whole cavern. As soon as the red mist had filled up the upper part of the cavern Ash, who was still in a trance, uttered two words,

"Cleansing rain."

Then the red clouds began to shower the cavern in red rain. It was a truly beautiful display of elegance and power. Pikachu flinched slightly as the rain should have completely soaked him, but nothing happened. There was no water, and it was simply incredible. Pikachu let out a pleased cry as he became completely relaxed, and all the years of wear and tear faded out of reality. All of those months of solitude just melted out of his head. It was like they had never happened.

Ash's eyes began to shine a bright white, and a red aura began to seep from his body, the red aura infused itself with the mist making the mist thicker, and the rain stronger. Ash started to float a few inches off the ground and as a chorus of deafening happy cries bounced around the cave Ash heard none of it, for he was in another place.

Ash's POV

At first I was in shock as my vision just sorta blanked out. At first I thought I had died, but then I quickly terminated the mere thought of death. Yet as sight found it's way back to me, I found myself pondering the same thoughts that I had tried to rid my mind of, Death.

It seemed so real. It was so cliché it looked like it was straight out of a movie. A place of almost nothingness, there was nothing but red mist below me as well as above. Around me it looked like I was surrounded by an infinite amount of stars in an infinite amount of directions. Suddenly everything around me started to blend together. I couldn't tell if everything around me was moving, or if I was gong crazy. I'm gonna go with the latter. Then, the big white blotch that everything had now become burst like an explosion in a brilliant shower of sparkles and stardust. I was too busy being awed by the brilliant display in front of me that I failed to notice a hauntingly familiar figure making her way towards me. And as soon as I caught sight of her I nearly died of happiness… again.

'Sapphire'

I had rehearsed this moment a million times in my head, but for some reason I couldn't say anything. My tongue felt paralyzed, and my throat as dry as Death Valley.

"Don't speak Ash. There is no need." Sapphire said in her beautiful tantalizing voice.

I nodded, unable to do anything else.

"I have watched you, and in your quest for vengeance you nearly destroyed who and what you represent. I have taken this moment of pure peace to contact you. Of course, this wouldn't have been possible unless Arceus owed you." She ended in her heart-melting laugh. Arceus I could listen to that laugh for all eternity.

"Back to my self assigned mission. I knew that you were too stubborn to do this on your own so I waited for a moment to tell you myself. You have to move on Ash, I can't let you live like this. If you truly want you and I to be happy you must move on, because you know what they say. If you truly love something then you have to let it go." She finished with a sad smile.

"Why?" I croaked. Oh, look who finally showed up.

"Because, I truly deeply love you Ash, but as much as I love you I also want what best for you. And moving on is the best thing for you."

I was shocked. This whole time I had been so focused on vengeance that I failed to notice what was holding me back. I was so deep in thought that if not for my great senses I would not have seen her slowly disappearing. I had to do something.

"No! Stay, please stay!" I cried, tears flowing freely down my face.

She shook her head, but she became fully visible, no longer opaque. She glided gracefully over to where I was standing, err hovering, and wiped the tears from cheek.

"Do not fear Ash, you will love again as will I but we will see each other again. Now heed what I say." She said, then she pressed her moist lips to Ash's dry ones, perhaps for the last time.

"I love you Ash." She said and began to disappear again.

Ash, knowing what he had to do, was not going to waste this moment on desperate pleas.

"I love you too." He said, his voice no longer cold and heartless like the last time he had been around her, but it was full of warmth, sincerity and most of all, happiness.

Normal POV

Suddenly, the rain slowed to a stop and the red mist began to descend downward. Before it ultimately disappeared into the stone floor. Pikachu, like the rest of the Pokémon cried out gleefully. The ill Sableye began standing up and jumping for joy, but Ash didn't move.

Pikachu became worried, as Ash hadn't moved for several minutes. He went over to his friends and gave him alight tap on the shoulder. This seemed to startle the trainer out of his trance, and he floated down to the ground. He turned slowly to look at his starter Pokémon when his sunglasses suddenly shattered revealing his eyes, but they weren't the color that he had changed them to. Now they were a set of shining, brilliant silver. Ash smiled as if a curse had been lifted, but his eyes told the whole truth, a curse had been lifted. Suddenly he hugged Pikachu and the pair rolled on the floor, laughing as if they had just saved the world. But maybe they had, for they had just saved Ash's.

Ash laughed even harder having just realized that he had just completed his final medical advancement, now he had unlocked the final stage in his training.

Ash began to cry tears of utter joy,

'Even death she still finds her own unique way to inspire me'

This meant he could now perform the 'Cleansing Rain' ability with much less chance of injury.

He finally composed himself and stood up, setting Pikachu gently on the ground,

"Let's go Pi, we need to get back, our battles in 45 minutes." Ash said looking at his watch.

His starter nodded, and the two exited the mountain the same way they came in. Including the ride on Charizard back to their campsite. But suddenly he remembered something worrying.

"We never found our badges!"

'Shit!'

"I guess there are drawbacks to every aura based move." Ash chuckled, still feeling the relaxing and healing effects of the red rain.

'Yeah, I guess, but we have a battle to get to. The badges can wait!'

Suddenly the air in front of the pair shimmered, revealing something they thought that they would never see again.

"Ash, I… I need you assistance!"

"Latias!" Cried Pikachu and Ash in unison.

"No, its Arceus!" Said Latias in annoyance, " Yes of course its me, now once again, I need your help!" Latias pleaded

"Umm I can help in two hours, but I have a match in 30 minutes. If I'm late I'm disqualified. And I can't have that happen." Ash said, notifying the dragon of his predicament.

"That's unimportant compared to what is happening, I can have Dialga stop time for you—"

Latias was interrupted by Ash, "What is so important that you need my help so urgently."

Latias sighed, she hadn't wanted to reveal this to her friend, but it seemed that it would be mandatory for her to,

"Alright Ash, you really want to know?" Asked the Legendary Pokémon, trying to avoid using this information. She knew there were dark waters ahead, and she had planned to use the information as motivation for Ash to stay, but not everything always goes as planned

"Yeah, I haven't got all the time in the world." Ash said impatiently.

"Its about Latios."

AN:

As you can see, I came up with a rather short, but hopefully reasonable filler that would take the place of what I originally had in mind. However, I found a little loophole in my own error. I can use the legendary Pokémon Dialga to aid Ash in helping Latias with Latios. This way I can put the winner of the legendary poll in the chapter that I promised. :) So if you hate it fine. But just remember, don't hate the player, hate the game.