Episode 36: Not over yet.
I bet you all thought the story was over in the last episode, yeah right as If I would let that happen.
Salvia sat at the lake front drowning out the noises of the people behind her and clamoring as something was occurring in the middle of the camp, the princess was ignoring every moment while continuing to shed tears for the loss of the one she loved, "Ash, you said you had a plan," Salvia repeated over and over against while placing her hands over her face as the sadness started to overwhelm her not moving an inch from the water's edge, she even ignored the words of her friend Colin who was showing even more concern knowing that it was starting to get cold.
Colin walked back to the camp before being pushed back by a sudden force in the middle of the camp, a group of children jumped out of the, "oh man I never thought we were going to get out of there," one of the kids complained before another group jumped out.
Colin looked down the hole with great surprise to see Ash looking up at him with a smile, "hi Colin," Ash said positively.
"Hmph, reckless as always," Colin said with a smile before extending his hand out to help the trainer out of the hole, "you know the princess is crying because she thinks she has lost you," Colin reminded the trainer of the state of mind the royal was in.
"Where is she?" Ash asked with a hint of guilt, "oh here take this, this might be of use to us later on," Ash pointed out while handing over a box to Colin, "we took a little longer because this box contains something important," Ash explained with a confident smirk.
"She is over by the water front," Colin replied to Ash's question while looking at the box.
Ash quietly walked over to the princess with a cheeky smile, he turned around and signaled for everyone to keep quiet, Ash listened to the princess sobbing loudly over what she thought had happened, suddenly she felt a tap on her left shoulder, "not now Colin," Salvia said while still crying when she felt a tap on her right shoulder, "Colin, I said not now," Salvia demanded with her frustration starting to show, but soon afterwards she felt another tap on her left shoulder. The girl got in anger, "Colin what did I say?" as she started to turn around, "I said leave….." Salvia started as she gawked at the person standing in front of her.
"I told you I had a plan," Ash said smugly before being embraced by the princess.
"Ash, I thought I lost you," Salvia pouted before her tears of sadness became tears of joy, she buried her head in the trainers chest, "you have no idea how worried I was."
"Well princess, I had something I needed to sort out," Ash said while placing his left hand in the bluenette's hair, she pulled back from the embrace and stomped her foot on the trainers causing him to hop around in pain, "what was that for?" Ash asked while hopping around in pain.
"What have I told you about calling me Princess? You made me worry so much about you," Salvia stated while hugging the trainer with a smile, "don't ever leave my side Ash," Salvia requested as the trainer nodded while petting royal's long blue hair, "how did you escape?" Salvia asked the trainer while the people in the background watch the two embrace with the full moon in the background.
Flashback:
"Come on kids we need to get out of here, the explosions will cause this place to cave in," Ash told the children while pining over to a part of the cave but some of the children were at one end of the cave looking at a box, "hey I said we need to move out," Ash declared with frustration, he spotted the box and walked over to it, he opened it with some assistance to find two feathers inside one with multiple colors and the with a silver color, "alright we are taking this with us," Ash dictated as he picked up the small box with his left hand.
A mostly brown pokemon stood ready to get the people out of the cave, "alright Excadrill start digging us out of here," one of the girls commanded quickly as the pokemon did as it was commanded. The pokemon easily plough through the ground leading the group through the ground not stopping for a moment.
"Alright kids, we need to follow Excadrill," Ash stated as they began to followed the powerful ground type pokemon, Ash walked behind them to make sure no one was going to get lost, "children you will also need to stay close," Ash instructed while trying to stay calm for the kids, "I hope you're doing fine Salvia," Ash said as the group continued on with the tunnel the subterrene pokemon continued to move through the ground easily, "hey little girl do you still have the torch?" Ash asked the kid in front of him, she nodded quietly and grabbed the item, "good, can you use it to light the way for the rest of us?" Ash requested with confidence in the little girl.
The group walked through the tunnel until the ground started to shake, "not good, if this continues we will be buried alive," Ash said with concern as an idea popped into his head, "Lucario, use Protect," Ash called out his pokemon, the aura pokemon immediately set up a barrier and surround the children with it preventing them from getting buried under the city.
"Ash I have a couple of questions for you, what is the name of the story?" another little girl asked with a smile while trying to keep from being scared.
"Name of the story, well I never thought of a name for it, how about Trainer and the Princess?" Ash replied as he smiled with pride in the name, "what about your next question?" Ash asked as he saw the barrier starting to break, "before we do that, does anyone here have a pokemon that knows protect?" Ash asked the group with concern as the dirt started to break through.
"Electabuzz, use protect," the little boy called out his pokemon while immediately calling for another barrier. The thunder pokemon set up the barrier protecting the people inside.
The little girl looked over to the trainer breathing a sigh of relief, "that's a nice name for your story," the girl remarked as the trainer chuckled a little in reply, "do you promise to come back to Goldenrod City to tell us more of the story?" the girl asked with a hopeful smile.
"I am sure the princess wouldn't mind," Ash said with a slight laugh, "plus I am sure you want to hear more from me later on," Ash remarked as the kids cheered a little bit, "I promise I will tell you more of the story," Ash promised them as they continued to walk through the tunnel with protect looking after them. 'I now know what I want after we settle down, Salvia are you thinking the same as me?' Ash wondered as he looked down at the children with confidence while a picture of Salvia passed through his mind.
Ash looked up to see the barrier was breaking, he nodded to his aura pokemon and continued to walk through the tunnel as the children continued to talk amongst themselves, Ash closed his eyes and sensed where they were, "alright tell Excadrill to dig up," Ash told the little boy at the front of the.
The little boy nodded in approval and ordered his parents pokemon to dig up, "so we're near the rest of the city folk?" one of the children asked with a smile.
"Yeah we don't need protect anymore," Ash replied with a little more confidence.
"Will we get to meet your princess?" one of the little boys asked with a cheeky grin.
Ash chuckled a little and nodded, "yeah, you will," Ash retorted with a smile.
Return to the real world:
"So you escaped from the cave in and took away Team Rocket's chance of victory in the city?" Salvia questioned the trainer as she sat closer to the trainer near the water front, "not only that you told the children a story, who were the main characters?" Salvia asked the trainer about his story causing the trainer to burst out in to laughter.
The raven haired trainer stopped laughing for a moment and stared at the princess with a proud grin, "that's easy, the main characters of that story is non-other than us," Ash replied while Salvia rested her head on the trainers shoulder, "so what happened to your other clothes? I see you're wearing Dawn's outfit," Ash enquired quietly.
Salvia looked towards the trainers sleeping Raichu, "your Raichu fried them during my defense of Ilex Forest, I was attacked by Jessie's Seviper and I had Raichu attack Seviper with Thunderbolt," Salvia explained what happened during her fight against Team Rocket.
Ash chuckled slightly, "I see, now you are starting to get a reckless as me," Ash remarked before looking up to the night sky, "well at least everyone is safe," Ash remarked as he closed his eyes, not long afterwards he opened them up to see Salvia staring at him.
"Ash, were you really thinking about the future?" Salvia asked as she continued to stare at Ash with a smile.
"Yeah I was, I was thinking about what it would be like for us to….. Um," Ash started while getting a little nervous at the question the princess was giving him.
"Come on Ash, you can tell me, not like it isn't bad or anything," Salvia remarked sweetly.
"You're right Salvia," Ash replied with a grin, "I was thinking about the day where we settle down and start our own little family," Ash said with embarrassment before laughing at himself about the declaration he made.
Salvia fell on to the ground laughing with Ash about what he had said, "you know when I was saving a bunch of children before the city was destroyed, I was thinking the same thing as you were," Salvia professed with a smile. Salvia moved in and looked into the trainers eyes again, "please Ash, don't do anymore reckless things," Salvia requested while moving a little closer.
"Can't be helped, I have always been like this," Ash said with a smile, "but what I do promise is I will always be there for you no matter what, when I get this stupid cast off, we will fight Team Rocket and your uncle," Ash promised as the royal giggled a little from her loves words.
"Ash, thanks for letting me into your future plans, I have decided I want to have both ways, save my kingdom along with my dad," Salvia explained her choice to Ash before pressing her lips against the trainers, the two kissed under the stars for a little while the crowd in the background were watching the two without them noticing.
Ash and Salvia pulled back for a moment and looked into one another's eyes lovingly, "so what about the second choice?" Ash asked his girlfriend with a smirk.
"To spend the rest of my life with you," Salvia declared her plans to the trainer with a sweet smile, "because I love you more than anything," Salvia expressed her love to the trainer before hearing the crowd clapping for them.
The two turned around with their faces now a bright red, as the crowd was clapping a woman with shoulder length pink hair approached the two, "that was beautiful," the woman said with tears rolling down her face.
"Whitney, why are you here?" Ash asked with a smile.
"Simple, I heard you want to face the pin masters, it just so happens to be a good thing because I am a pin master," Whitney pointed out with a clumsy smile as she looked up to the night sky, "so how about you and me have a battle tomorrow, entertain the people with a tough battle," Whitney challenged the trainer with supreme confidence.
"Sure thing, I will be more than happy to battle you tomorrow," Ash replied while standing up.
"But Ash your arm," Salvia showed concern for Ash, "your right arm is still hurt," Salvia pointed out with worry.
"Oh well, I still have my left arm," Ash said stubbornly as he looked over to his Raichu, "hey Whitney, my Raichu still needs some time to recover, I know it's against the rules but can we make it a five on five battle instead?" Ash asked Whitney with a hopeful smile.
Whitney nodded in approval as she walked back to the tent, "sure the people in charge don't need to know about the arranged five on five battle," Whitney explained confident that she was going to be in for a great battle, "does best three out of five sound good to you?" Whitney asked the trainer, he nodded his head approving of the stipulations of the match against the gym leader.
"Are you sure about this?" Salvia asked the trainer with a concerned look in her eyes.
"Yeah I want to battle, my right arm will be just fine," Ash said with confidence while walking off towards the camp leaving the princess to watch him walking off, "oh and Salvia, I love you too," Ash returned her love with an assured tone.
Ten hours later.
The lines were set the people walked to the side of the battle field set up by the gym leader and pin master, Ash got ready to face off against Whitney confident he would win the battle, "Ash, are you ready to battle?" Whitney asked as the people's anticipation began to build, they knew the gym leader was strong but weren't certain of what kind of trainer Ash was, "let's give these people a great show," Whitney promised with a smile while holding out one of her pokeballs, Salvia walked up to the side of the battlefield, "Salvia, will you do the honors of being the referee?" Whitney asked the bluenette happily.
"This battle will be fun," Ash said with a smirk while picking a pokeball from his belt with his left hand.
"Girafarig, time to battle," Whitney called out a a brown and yellow pokemon to the battle, "show me your first pokemon," Whitney chided Ash with a smile.
"Right you asked for it, Staraptor I choose you," Ash called out a large bird like pokemon with confidence.
The two pokemon glared at each other ready to battle each other for their trainers, Salvia signaled for the battle to begin, the fans anticipated a tough battle and waited for the two trainers to start things off, "alright Girafarig, start things off with Psybeam," Whitney commanded with confidence.
"Staraptor dodge the attack then use Aerial Ace," Ash instructed his pokemon quickly. The flying type pokemon flew up dodging the attack with his superior agility; he quickly eyed the long neck pokemon and charged towards the opposing pokemon.
"Use Crunch now," Whitney ordered in panic, her pokemon turned around but before the attack could land Staraptor slammed into the normal type with incredible force knocking it back a little, "he has gotten better since the last battle," Whitney said under her breath, her pokemon got up from the powerful attack and nodded ready to fight the more powerful pokemon, "Alright Girafarig attack with stomp," Whitney instructed her pokemon while the crowd was cheering loudly in the background and Salvia was keeping an eye on the battle as an umpire.
"Staraptor, finish this with Brave Bird," Ash called out for the next attack.
Girafarig jumped up into the air while Staraptor flew up before surrounding his body with bright blue flames, the powerful pokemon charged towards each other before smashing into one another with their devastating attacks, Staraptor flew towards his trainer with red sparks surrounding the flying type pokemon while Girafarig crashed to the ground due to the impact of the two attacks, "No Girafarig," Whitney called out to her pokemon. It tried to get back up but collapsed again, Salvia signified the defeat of Girafarig giving Ash the first round of the battle.
Ash and Whitney both recalled their pokemon and got ready to call out their next pokemon of their respective teams, "Tauros, time to battle," Whitney called out a mostly brown bull like pokemon.
"I remember the fact that I caught thirty Tauros in the Kanto Safari Zone," Ash said with a chuckle, "Bayleef I choose you," Ash called out his grass type pokemon.
Salvia began the battle while the crowd began to cheer for the two trainers again, the bull pokemon whipped his three tails around glaring at the grass type pokemon, "let's start this battle, Tauros attack with Zen Headbutt," Whitney instructed her pokemon to attack in the second round. The normal type charged towards Ash's pokemon with his head lowered.
"Alright Beyleef, attack with Vine Whip," Ash told his pokemon, the grass type unleashed an unforgiving two vines which grabbed a hold of the charging bull in place, "well done Bayleef, now attack with Razor Leaf," Ash ordered with more confidence, in that moment a jolt of pain shot up Ash's right arm causing him to grab ahold of it with his left hand.
The grass type unleashed a powerful barrage of leaves at the normal type before letting go of Tauros, "Dodge it hurry," Whitney commanded with panic. The powerful bull like pokemon dodged the attack and charged towards the leaf pokemon, "Giga Impact now!" Whitney yelled out while punching the air in front of her with supreme confidence, Tauros charged towards grass type now surround with orange streaks.
Ash looked up to give his command to the grass type but it was too late the attack landed dealing significant damage to Bayleef, "oh no Bayleef!" Ash yelled out in horror as his pokemon collapsed in front of him, the leaf pokemon slowly before falling again from the force of the attack, Salvia lifted her arm up knowing that Ash had lost the round, "great, my arm is still in bad shape," Ash told himself while recalling his fallen pokemon from the battle.
"Ash if your arm is bothering you, then forfeit this battle and wait to heal up," Whitney instructed Ash with a smile, "there is nothing wrong with that," Whitney said while recalling her pokemon.
"Choose your next pokemon," Ash replied while picking his next pokeball still reeling from the pain in his arm.
Whitney let out a sigh before shrugging her shoulders, "alright then, Clefable, time to battle," Whitney called out her third pokemon to battle.
"Metagross, I choose you," Ash called forth his next pokemon in the battle. The monstrous steel type looked over to the smaller pokemon and got ready for the command, "start things off with Meteor Mash," Ash called out for the first attack of the round, the turquoise pokemon charged towards the normal type with a glowing leg.
"Flamethrower," Whitney called out calmly as the iron leg pokemon got much closer, the fairy pokemon sent out a flurry of flames towards the steel type pokemon, the fire type move made impact dealing great damage to Metagross, "you're too hurt to focus on this battle," Whitney said with concern for the trainers safety, "even your Metagross is showing concern," Whitney pointed out as the red eyes of the pokemon scanned towards Ash.
"Metagross I will be fine," Ash said with a broad smile, "Metagross attack with Zen Headbutt," Ash told his pokemon while enduring the pain.
The large psychic pokemon charged towards the normal type pokemon with a glowing along the way.
"Alright dodge the attack then use Flamethrower again," Whitney ordered with a confident smirk, the fairy pokemon barely dodged the attack and unleashed a powerful blast of flames at the steel type dealing even more damage, "alright, one more round and I win this battle," Whitney said while cheering her pokemon on, but as the smoke cleared she noticed that the powerful steel type was still standing and ready to battle, "what no way," Whitney gasped in shock as the iron leg pokemon got ready to attack again.
"Metagross attack with Meteor Mash," Ash ordered with a smile.
"End this round with Thunder," Whitney told her pokemon.
While Metagross charged towards the opposing pokemon with a glowing leg the Clefable unleashed a mighty blast of electricity against the psychic pokemon, Ash watched in shock as his pokemon took a powerful blast of electricity before even landing a hit on the fairy pokemon, Clefable fellback after the hit, "wow knocked out in one hit," Whitney said but also noticed that Metagross was also taken out of the battle with a powerful electric attack.
The crowd began to cheer for Ash as he recalled his mighty pokemon from the battle, "time to continue, Dragonite, I choose you," Ash called out a powerful green dragon type pokemon with a smile much to the surprise of the crowd, "yes a Dragonite of a different color," Ash said while the crowd began to clap at the sight of a rare pokemon.
"Alright then Ash, go Stoutland," Whitney called out her fourth pokemon to the battle.
Salvia looked at the trainer with concern as he grasped his right arm, "Ash there is no need for you to battle now," Salvia told the trainer as she started to walk up to the trainer with a worried look in her eyes.
"No Salvia, I want to battle, my arm is fine, it only hurts a little," Ash dictated preventing Salvia from getting any closer, "Dragonite attack with Dragon Claw," Ash told his pokemon while enduring the pain in his right arm.
"Use Ice Fang now," Whitney called for the counter attack against the massive pokemon. The two pokemon charged towards each other connecting with their respective attack, Stoutland was quickly overpowered by the dragon pokemon, falling towards the gym leader, 'wow he has gotten stronger,' Whitney thought while trying to concentrate over the noise that was being made by the fans, "Stoutland, are you alright," Whitney asked the big heart pokemon, the normal type stood up and let out a roar to signify the dog like pokemon was able to continue the fight, "good, now Stoutland use Hyper Beam," Whitney called for the next attack of the battle.
"Dragonite wait for the chance to strike," Ash said while maintaining his cool in the battle, the dog like pokemon unleashed a powerful yellow and red beam at the trainer's dragon type. Dragonite stood there waiting for the command, "dodge it now," Ash instructed with a smile. The large dragon flapped its powerful wings and took off barely missing the devastating attack, "I have been waiting to use this move," Ash said with a smirk as his dragon type nodded happily, "Draco Meteor," Ash called out for the attack.
The dragon type built up the energy as the crowd watched stunned that they were about to witness a powerful attack, a large ball of orange energy appeared above Dragonite's mouth before being unleashed into the sky, the ball of energy split up and came crashing down onto the recharging opponent, "Stoutland no!" Whitney screamed out in horror as he pokemon took the powerful attack and with dust rising preventing anyone from seeing the result, the mighty dragon let out a roar of celebration while the crowd waited to see the dust clearing.
Ash, Whitney and Salvia waited for the dust to settle until they noticed that Stoutland was no longer able to battle, "the winner of this round is Dragonite," Salvia declared while raising her hand for Ash's end.
Ash recalled his dragon type while Whitney recalled her fallen pokemon, "not bad Ash, but I wonder if you remember this pokemon, Go Miltank," Whitney called out a cow like pokemon colored mostly pin pokemon with black spots, "remember when you first faced this pokemon? She took out three of your pokemon with one move," Whitney reminisced with happily.
"Yeah I remember the same three were the ones that defeated that same Miltank," Ash replied while holding his final pokeball, "but this time, I only need one to defeat your Miltank," Ash remarked while throwing out his final pokeball, "Lucario, I choose you."
"This will be good," Whitney grinned at the trainer and his pokemon, "start things off with Defense Curl," Whitney ordered quickly. Her pokemon rolled into a ball increasing the defense.
"Don't think for a second that I don't know about Roll Out," Ash said while he nodded at his pokemon, "use Aura Sphere," Ash knowingly commanded, as the opposing Miltank increased her defense the aura pokemon push it's palms together and created a ball of aura, the ball of aura was thrown at the normal type sending her rolling towards her trainer.
"What no way, this pokemon is more powerful than expected," Whitney said while looking on in shock, "Roll Out now Milty," Whitney ordered her pokemon in panic.
"Protect now," Ash called out for the defensive move hurriedly, as the normal type rolled towards the fighting type it placed a powerful barrier to prevent any damage from occurring, "now hit it with Aura Sphere again," Ash called for the next attack, the cow like pokemon fell back and was hit but a mighty sphere of fighting energy, the normal type fell to the ground knocked out after just two attacks leaving Whitney in shock.
"Wow, you have become one tough battler Ash," Whitney pointed out with a little sadness creeping in, "the people had a great time watching our battle and I learnt I need to get stronger," Whitney explained while walking up to the trainer.
Salvia walked up to the trainer with a proud smile, "you know that battle was great," Salvia stated proudly.
"Here Ash, take the Normal Pin, okay I don't have a good name for it but you have earned it," Whitney said happily while the crowd applauded the trainer.
The kids walked up to the trainer happy to see that he won the battle, "that was awesome!" the children yelled in unison, they looked over to the princess happily and walked up to her.
"Wow, Ash was right, you're really pretty," one of the little girls said while the princess looked over to Ash with a nervous look on her face, "one day I hope to be a pretty as you are," she said with boundless energy.
"Oh come on, Ash is only saying that to make a good story," Salvia pointed out modestly.
Ash watched in laughter as the children surrounded the royal, "Ash, can I have a word with you?" Cilan asked the trainer quietly. "I have decided to stay here and help with the rebuilding," Cilan explained his plans to the trainer while remaining quiet, "I think it would be best that you continue your journey with Salvia, just the two of you," Cilan remarked calmly while the two watched Salvia talking to the little children, "here Ash, the photo album, Misty and I have added a fair few pictures on our journey with you," Cilan confessed with a proud smile before walking off towards the rest of the group.
"I will be sure to share this with Salvia when the time is right," Ash told himself while watching the young royal sitting down chatting to the children, 'it is so good to see her relaxed, so good to see that beautiful smile," Ash said with happiness.
Two Days later
"Now remember you two, please look out for each other," Cilan said while letting Ash and the princess know of his concerns.
"And please remember your promise Ash, come back to finish your story," the children instructed Ash at the same time.
"It's a promise," Ash replied before walking away from the city with the princess leaving behind Cilan and the people of the city, "you know Salvia I feel really guilty leaving the people to rebuild their city and not help them," Ash professed sadly while taking two feather shaped items out of his left jeans pocket.
"Yes I know, but Colin and Cilan said we need to continue our journey, they will help with the restoration of the city," Salvia explained while walking on a head, "where to next?" Salvia asked the trainer.
"To rescue my mom and your dad," Ash said while catching up to the princess, with Raichu running alongside his trainer, towards the next destination through the tree lined route and grassy fields.
The final pin battle of the region is out of the way, now the focus leads to the rescue of their loved ones.
Next episode will be a little fluffy because of a special event.
Next time episode 37: Ash's special day