Sorry guys, this chapter is REALLY short, especially for the time it took to make it (a whole week...) and the fact that its the TENTH CHAPTER WOOT. I wanted a long chapter for the first double-digit but this'll have to do I guess. I kinda got obsessed to Fallout: New Vegas, but I'm going to continue writing, starting from now. I won't set a definite timeframe for the next chapter, but I promise it will be at least 5000 words, because I'm getting depressed at how short my chapters are. Anyways, enjoy this very short chapter!
Special mention to splitheart1120 and LegendsAlmighty who have pretty much stayed with me and reviewed through the whole thing so far :)
"Damn Shadow Pokémon…" Ash grumbled, as he walked through the town looking for trainers to fight to purify the Shadow Pokémon that Drew had. The TOA Committee had given the trainers a day off today, one day before the final preliminaries, which gave Ash the chance he needed to purify Drew's shadow Pokémon.
"I wonder who performed the Shadow Pokémon process on the fools Pokémon… as far as I know, it can only be done in Orre, and I already shut down Team Cipher with Wes. I'll have to look into this I guess, maybe even give Wes a call. If Shadow Pokémon are back, we're in for some trouble…" He continued thinking, as he battled random trainers with Drew's overpowered Shadow Pokémon.
"Hey! I thought you said you were going to battle! Send out your Pokémon then!"
The voice snapped Red out of his deep thoughts, and thus he looked up, to see a young boy, around the age of 13, walking up to him, waving in front of his face with an enraged look on his own face.
"Huh…? Oh… Right, Roserade, your turn!" Red said, somewhat annoyed at the fact that the boy was shouting in his face, as he threw a pokeball in the air.
'Why does this "Red" look, sound and seem so familiar… It just doesn't make sense! He kinda looks like Ash, he acts a little bit like Ash, and he seems to know us like Ash, but he just can't be Ash! Ash is… D-dead! Or is he...? Maybe he isn't! Maybe… but if this "Red" man is Ash, Ash really is dead…'
Brock, instead of spending his free time wandering around the town aimlessly, had sat down in his tent for some thinking and relaxation (Even if he wasn't even battling in the Tournament anymore).
Max and May had once again gone off into the forest to practice, and bit by bit they were improving. May could now actually fly WITHOUT crashing into trees every minute, and Max could actually form a blade now – powerful enough to… cut a twig in two.
Misty and Dawn had gone off wandering in the town, and Gary and Tracey had disappeared without a trace… again. Brock absentmindedly wondered where they kept wandering off to, but didn't give it much thought. Both of them were weird in their own ways.
'If it really is Ash, I wonder what changed him. Heh, I don't think I'll find out if it really is him though. Doesn't look like he'd tell us, and that's assuming he IS Ash. Would be kinda embarrassing if he wasn't. Guess there's nothing we can do for now.'
"Hey Max, look what I can do!"
May, who had gotten Max's attention, then proceeded to fly into the air, unleashing a sparkle of powder using a mix of silver wind and psychic, which exploded after a few seconds, May's small amount of experience not able to sustain the attack.
"Hah! Of course you'd start off with practicing flashy moves, just like a true co-ordinator! Let me show you what I can do!"
Max then ran at a thick tree, blades on his arms glowing, and swung his blades at it, which resulted in them hitting the tree and… bouncing off it, showing that they clearly didn't have enough cutting power to cut through.
Seeing this, Max sweatdropped and said, "Umm… Must be the tree! Haha! Yes, of course, the tree was too hard!"
May also sweatdropped upon hearing this, and said, "Err, riiight. Anyways, I think we should get back to the Pokémon centre now, it's almost time for lunch!"
Max stopped trying (And failing) to convince himself that the tree was the cause of all his failures the moment he heard these words.
"Lunch? What are we standing around here waiting for then, if there's lunch? LET'S GO!" Max shouted, running off into the distance.
May sighed and said, "His just like Ash… running off in the completely wrong direction the moment he hears it's time to eat…"
'Left, right, right, left, duck, left, right, right, duck, left…'
Ash, having long since purified Drew's shadow Pokémon, had been doing some training. He had set up a complex setup of ropes, which were tied to logs, and when he pushed a log they would start moving back and forth, forcing him to step aside to dodge them. Sir Aaron had taught him this method of training through a vision, not long after he had started walking the path of the aura.
Ash's mind drifted, as he let his bodies instincts take over, and he thought of all the things he had experienced, all the times he had cheated death, the few friends he had made – Wes, for example.
Wes… He and Wes had fought together to take down Team Cipher, the people responsible for the Shadow Process, the process where a Pokémon's heart is closed to increase its powers.
This process pretty much killed the very things that make a Pokémon and Team Cipher were planning to do evil things with it, so naturally a hero had to step in to stop them, in this case two heroes.
Ash and Wes had fought many battles together. They fought together smoothly, as if they were one. Their Pokémon's attacks would flow fluidly from one to another, and if they themselves were fighting, they were in perfect sync, performing acts that most would find impossible, like ducking to avoid a blow that you couldn't possible have seen from your companion, who's attack would then strike your opponent, who probably was about to strike a blow on you.
How was this possible? It wasn't too hard actually; Ash and Wes were both skilled in aura, so naturally the two would be able to work well together. When people first began using aura, the Aura Guardians, or Aura Users, would work together with each other to defeat their opponents, making them seem all but invincible.
"Welcome to the final battle of the preliminary rounds! It seems like this battle is going to be intense, judging by the serious looks on the two competitors faces! On this side, we have Red, a trainer from Pallet who has dominated all the battles his been through. On the other side, we have Takuto, the champion of the Sinnoh elite four! Takuto has once again revealed his two signature Pokémon – Darkrai and Latios, but Red had already defeated a Darkrai, so this should be a very exciting battle!
Like I said, no definite time for the next chapter, but it'll be at least 5000 words! If you're wondering why Takuto is the champion, well, I mean, did you expect him to NOT beat the elite four? He practically beat everyone else with only two Pokemon! Also, I use Takuto (His Japanese name) instead of Tobias (His "dub" name) because I haven't actually watched the episode with him in it, and the first time I heard about him I heard his Japanese name.