Episode 74: the Winds of Change.
Summary: With the Ground Pin Master battle coming up, Ash does everything to prepare himself for saving Salvia, the battle for the destiny of Hoenn and Sinnoh begins now.
The Queen of Hoenn walked towards the entrance of her palace, she turned to her guards and stared at them with a dark glare, "tell me what's going on?" The Hoenn queen two of her advisors.
"Well her Majesty, it seems like your sister has arrived, she is heading to Slateport City," the guards replied advisors replied. The guards watched as the queen walked up to the gates, not hesitating for a moment, "well it seems like the queen is getting ready to make her move," the guard pointed out with a smirk.
The queen turned to her guards, smiling with dark intent, "alright we move towards Slateport City," the Hoenn queen informed her guardsmen, confidently as she signalled for the gates to open.
Outside the gates three people watched with intent, seeing the queen rushing out of the palace confines and towards the final battle, "ah Chris will be pleased," a man commented with a calm disposition.
"Indeed, this will push his plans forward, much faster than expected," the other spy commented with equal calmness.
"Master Chris, the Queen is leaving the palace," the third member remarked quietly.
"Excellent, wait where you are until I give the orders," Chris ordered the three spies, the hologram disappeared leaving the men to their devises.
The men watched the queen riding her Rapidash towards Lilycove City, to get the royal ship towards the final battle against her sister, "now our sibling rivalry will come to an end," the royal remarked as she and her guards continued towards the city with amazing speed, not wanting to miss out on the upcoming battle, 'this fight between sisters will come to an end,' the queen kept telling herself as the wind whipped her hair around.
"Yes, go to Slateport City, this where we change the landscape of the world," one of the members of the Shadow Triad laughed at the queen.
"Chris thinks this world is his play thing, well, do I have surprise for him," the queen decreed with a confident smirk.
"Ah the plan, I guess that is why you summoned Princess Serena and Calem as well," one of the guards enquired, trying to keep his voice as low as he possibly could, the queen nodded while staring intently on the city ahead of her, "but what about Prince Brendan?" the guard asked the queen, but she ignored the question, "Queen Saphira, your son?" the guard tried to force the issue but the queen continued to ignore her advisor.
"Sir, don't push the queen, she will get things sorted out, she and her sister have been planning to help deal with Chris for the last twenty years," one of the elite guards informed his subordinate, "Chris thought that the two queens never knew about one another, but the two acted like they didn't and communicated in secret, they were even informed over the years of Chris' plans by Alex and Colin," the guard informed his lesser companion with a smirk.
"So even I didn't know about it?" the soldier asked with a look of shock.
(South of Mauvile City)
"Who are you?" Salvia asked a young man with a serious expression, she glared at a man dressed similar to how Ash would dress, "you dress similar to Ash," the princess scowled at the young man.
"What no hello, well at least you know who Ash is, I am here to prevent you from getting in the way of your mother's plans," the young man informed the Sinnoh princess calmly, he turned around to see Slateport City getting ready for a battle, "I take it you're confused Salvia," the young man remarked with a tentative expression, "my name is Calem, you also met my future wife Serena," the young man known as Calem introduced himself to Salvia, 'oh man, why am I the one that needs to talk to Ash's wife?' Calem complained about his mission.
"Spit it out, how do you two know Ash?" Salvia demanded the other trainer to tell her.
"Well, I barely know Ash, but maybe you should ask Serena about how she knows Ash, I am not good at history lessons," Calem complained while taking a deep sigh, "but Serena, she insisted that she met her childhood friend again," the black haired trainer stated with a hint of displeasure, "you see Salvia, there are things you don't know about, for instance the truth," Calem stated while Salvia's eyes widened at the other trainer's comment.
"Tell me now, what was being hidden from me?" Salvia asked the young man.
"It isn't just you that information was hidden from, it was also Ash who didn't know of a special plan to stop Chris," Calem replied with his explanation.
Salvia tilted her head, completely puzzled by the other trainer's riddles, "what are you talking about? What was hidden from Ash and me?" Salvia snapped at the trainer.
"First I am from the Kalos region, I was asked to come here to help you and Ash out," the Kalos native replied, he pulled out a pokeball and showed it to the bluenette, "I am also meant to give you a pokemon, an Amoura," Calem threw the pokeball at Salvia.
"To put me at ease, before you say some nonsense," Salvia stated with growing anger, she held the pokeball and looked at it.
"You know the truth is, everything was being set up for Ash and someone else, you weren't meant to be in the picture," Calem informed the Sinnoh Princess with a heavy amount of regret, he looked at the ground and clenched his fists, "in fact, you and Ash weren't meant to get married," Calem stated with a frown, he moved his head to the side as the guilt continued to build.
"That…..that's not true, that can't be true!" Salvia tried to come to grips with the truth about her and Ash.
"The ones that knew about it were your parents, Ash's mother and the now deceased king and queen of Kalos," Calem struggled to keep going, but he fell to his knees and punched the ground, "but in reality, it was Ash and I that changed things up," the trainer from Kalos informed the princess of Sinnoh with a proud smile.
"So Ash was kept in the dark about everything?" Salvia replied furiously. The princess glared at the Kalos native, her fist clenched in uncontrollable anger, she ran up the man and grabbed the collar of his shirt, "when was he meant to know?" Salvia asked, glaring at the trainer from Kalos, "tell me!" the princess demanded.
"When he turned twenty one, but those plans changed really quickly, they changed when Serena fell in love with me and you ended up marrying Ash," Calem stated with a sigh, Salvia started to loosen her grip on the young man's collar, "Ash and Serena were being set to get married," Calem explained the cold hard truth to Salvia, she stepped back shaking her head, in disbelief, she wanted to cry but couldn't bring herself to do, "like I said the plans had changed and fast, they changed before you turned seventeen," Calem stated, the princess feel to the ground.
"Why was it hidden?" Salvia questioned the trainer.
"I don't know everything; I was only informed of that after the Kalos royal guard approached Serena," Calem admitted sadly, he turned away towards the port city, "what I do know, is that I am glad that the plans changed when they did," Calem confessed with a grin.
"Why?" Salvia asked repeatedly, grabbing the grass in the surrounding area, still unable to shed any tears.
"You were kept in the Palace right? Well the truth is, I don't know everything, even the arrangement," Calem explained with a shake of the head, he was just as confused as Salvia was, "I am only telling you what I know, but if you want to find out everything, you would need to head to Slateport City."
Salvia stood up and walked towards the city on her own, 'I don't believe this, I wasn't meant to meet Ash,' Salvia thought to herself, her eyes darkened yet again angered by the small information that was given to her, "I will make them all suffer, even you very soon Calem," Salvia hissed under her breath, sending a threatening stare towards the young man.
Calem looked at the water, regretting what he had heard in the past, "why was it me that had to say something? All I wanted was a peaceful journey with my pokemon," Calem stared at the water, looking at the water surface; he spotted Serena walking up behind him, "Serena, I couldn't stop her from seeking revenge."
Serena placed her left hand on his shoulder, "Salvia had to find out eventually, but I fear we have caused more damage than good," Serena lamented, she looked towards the northern city, wondering what Ash was up to, "I wonder if Ash is alright, last I heard, he was in hospital, getting his knee reconstructed, when I was there to see if he was alright, the nurses said he checked out, walking, even running, two days after his surgery," Serena stated, unable to believe the rate of recovery, Calem speechless about the situation, decided to walk towards the port city to partake in the battle, "Calem this battle has nothing to do with us, we were only assigned to help Ash and Salvia."
"Yeah, but you didn't see the eyes of Ash's wife, darkness, they lacked soul," Calem informed Serena of what he had seen, "this is nothing compared to what we had faced before."
"Well I am heading to Mauville City to see if Ash is still walking, we both know how reckless he can be," Serena informed her boyfriend with a sigh, the honey haired woman turned towards the major city and took a deep breath, "plus it isn't like we had a choice, the Hoenn Queen had a plan, plus with Chris still running around causing trouble, I think we need to make sure Kalos is going to be fine as well as the other regions," Serena explained to Calem as they started taking their respective roads to help the Sinnoh Leaders out, 'Queen Saphira and Queen Platina, have both told me, that when this is all over, it will be up to Saliva, Ash, myself, Calem and Brandon to lead the way,' Salvia reminded herself of the meeting she had with the queens of Hoenn and Sinnoh.
(Mauvile City)
Ash waited for his opponent to call out his second pokemon after he had easily knocked out his foe's first pokemon, "not bad young man, but I am not a Pin Master for nothing, go Krookodile," the man called for a red bipedal pokemon, with a large snout.
"Another ground type pokemon," Ash said with a frown, he looked to the benches, his hopes that Salvia would walk through the door to cheer him on in the battle, the trainer shut his eyes for a moment and started to think about his past battles with the pin masters, 'I have been so dependent on Salvia's support, not being able to achieve anything in these battles, in fact she even fought my battles for me when I was down and out,' Ash thought to himself with a frown, clenching his fists he opened his eyes, stared at the Pin Master and with a determined expression, "the real battle begins now Stan."
Stan stood stunned at the determination that the opposing trainer exuded, he gulped for a moment, overwhelmed at the confidence that was being displayed, "just a moment ago he was hesitating, but this is different, it seems like he is going to take this battle to the next level," Stan whispered to himself, staring into the eyes of a determined prince.
"Emboar, you ready to continue the battle?" Ash asked his powerful fire type pokemon, Madeline remained quiet as the battle continued, the injured electric type pokemon on her lap, "build up you speed with Flame Charge," Ash commanded his fire type pokemon.
"Earthquake now," Stan instructed his intimidation pokemon, glowing red, a violent shudder caused the fire type to trip face first onto the ground, "now you are face down, Krookodile attack with Aerial Ace," Stan commanded his powerful pokemon with a confident smirk.
"Wait for it," Ash issued his instructions to his fighting type pokemon, he watched the large red pokemon leaping into the air, watching it get closer, "now roll over, then use Flamethrower," Ash barked out the next attack command for his pokemon to follow. the mega pig pokemon rolled over and unleashed a devastating burst of flames at the incoming attack.
"Fly through it!" Stan issued his command.
"No more holding back, Emboar, knock this pokemon in one hit, full power Flamethrower!" Ash yelled out while punching the air in front of him, without a moments hesitation the fire type breathed out a more intense flurry of flames towards the ceiling of the building, sending the opposing pokemon towards the ceiling at the same time.
"Krookodile!" Stan yelled out in horror, quickly turning to Ash, who had an unflinching determination etched on his face, 'amazing, if this is his best, there is no way I can win this battle,' Stan thought to himself, shaking in fear at what he was seeing.
'Salvia, just hold on a little longer, whatever happened to you, I will find out, I will follow the same dark road you seem to be taking, just to be with you,' the trainer watched the ground type fall to the ground taking a severe hit from the fire attack. Ash recalled his fire type pokemon as parts of the roof started to rain down on the battlefield, "you did well Emboar, you should take a rest," Ash told his pokemon calmly.
Stan recalled his Krookodile and pulled out his next pokeball, his hand shaking at the confidence exuding from the challenger, "I cannot let this guy intimidate me, Hippowdon, time to shake things up," the pin master called for his next choice of pokemon.
"Sceptile I choose you," Ash called out his third pokemon for the battle.
The pin master gulped for a second looking at the large green pokemon, who was ready to battle, "he isn't holding back against me, this could be very bad for me," the man admitted to himself, "start things of with Take Down," the man with black hair issued his command.
Ash smirked at the pin master knowing that he was panicking in the battle, "you know most of the Pin Masters never panicked against me," Ash informed the opponent with a sigh, "jump into the air to dodge the attack," Ash quickly instructed his grass type pokemon, 'this is just too easy,' Ash shook his head, watching his partner leaping into the air easily dodging the charging ground type pokemon, "now cut it down with Leaf Blade."
The forest pokemon rushed towards the opposing pokemon, his arm blades glowing green, "Hippowdon, defend now with Protect," Stan demanded of his powerful pokemon. The ground type pokemon formed a powerful barrier to save it from the opposing attacker, Sceptile slashed down on the barrier forcing it back towards Ash.
Landing on his two feet, Ash's pokemon readied himself for yet another attack, "that's right, keep going!" Madeline cheered for Ash.
Ash nodded at his pokemon, it charged again at the foe, "Sceptile, end this round with Leaf Blade," Ash demanded with a confident expression, his pokemon started running towards the pin master's pokemon, "combine it with Quick Attack," Ash called for the combination attack.
"No way," Stan gasped in shock, the grass type rushed towards his pokemon with blinding speed, he looked around wondering where the attack was going to come from.
"Now finish it!" Ash demanded of his pokemon.
Before Stan could make a command, his pokemon was hit by the powerful slashing attack, knocking it out of the battle, "unbelievable, his pokemon are better trained than expected, earlier, he was hesitating, but there is a fire, I can see it," Stan whispered to himself, "if I don't defeat his Sceptile, I will be brushed aside with ease," Stan reminded himself, trying to keep himself calm.
"Hurry up, I am not going to wait any more, I have somewhere I need to be," Ash gave his ultimatum to the pin master.
Stan stepped back, trying to figure out the challenger, "where do you need to be?" the pin master enquired.
"I need to get to Salvia's side and fast, this battle is to get me ready to help her," Ash replied with a determined expression, "choose your fourth pokemon!" the crown prince ordered the pin master.
"He is more focused than ever," Madeline whispered, watching the pin master call for a red camel like pokemon with two volcanoes on its back, "a Camerupt," Madeline gulped as the pokemon let out a powerful roar.
"A fire type pokemon," Ash gritted his teeth, he took a deep breath as the opponent and his pokemon.
"Camerupt, attack with Lava Plume," Pin Master Stan issued his attack order. The Eruption Pokemon, unleashed a powerful burst of smoke and lava towards Ash's pokemon.
Ash waited for a moment as the temperature inside the building started to rise to unbelievable heights, Ash pushed away some sweat with his left hand, "Sceptile, jump into the air," Ash quickly ordered his pokemon. Quickly leaping intot he air, the grass type pokemon easily avoided the incoming attack, an attack that scorched the ground surrounding the opposing pokemon, "was I too focused on winning this battle as fast as possible?" Ash hissed in frustration as ports of the battlefield caught ablaze from the intense heat.
Ash looked around to find that the trees were ablaze, the area around the battlefield now a crimson red, "opps I think I overdid it a little," Stan remarked while scratching the back of his head with his right hand.
"Doesn't matter, I will still win," Ash replied calmly. "Sceptile counter with Bullet Seed," Ash demanded for the next attack, lowering his head the powerful grass type fired a volley of seeds at the much slower pokemon.
"Camerupt, counter with Flamethrower," Stan replied to Ash's counter with his own.
Moving its head towards the direction of the forest pokemon, the Eruption Pokemon exhaled a red hot stream of flames towards the incoming attack, "Sceptile!" Ash yelled out in shock, with no time to react the stream of fire smashed into Ash's powerful pokemon, sending the grass type pokemon crashing towards the wall at the back of the gym, "Sceptile are you alright?" Ash asked his pokemon, but no reply came from the injured pokemon.
"No way, this guy's pokemon is way more powerful than expected," Madeline gasped in horror, she watched her adopted father recall his knocked out pokemon.
Ash looked at his fourth pokeball and wondered what to do next, "this was given to me by Serena, I didn't even swap this one for another," Ash lamented while thinking back to the time that Salvia went crazy, "no time to lament the past, Tyrunt, I choose you," Ash called for his new pokemon.
Stan looked at the pokemon, something he had never seen before, a smaller pokemon, brown in colour with a white frill around his neck, "what is that pokemon?" Stan asked the trainer.
"Tyrunt, a pokemon from the Kalos Region an old friend gave me this pokemon," Ash replied with a smile.
"Flamethrower," Stan quickly called for the attack.
A burst of flames rushed towards the Royal Heir Pokemon, "quickly dodge it now," Ash demanded of the new pokemon, Tyrunt moved as fast as possible but was soon caught in the flames of the opposing pokemon, "no," Ash yelled out in disbelief.
"Too Easy," Stan confidently remarked, the flames cleared up and much to his surprise the opponent was still standing like nothing had happened, "what is this? Not even a mark," Stan enquired in amazement.
"I don't even know much about this pokemon, even my pokedex is useless," Ash admitted to himself, while looking at the new pokemon.
Meanwhile outside the building Serena was looking around the city with a smile, "Hoenn is a beautiful region, too bad that building is on…. That building is on fire!" Serena yelled out, she quickly rushed towards the building to see what was happening, she heard the crackle of flames from the outside, she ran inside, and spotted Ash with the recently given Tyrunt, 'wait I thought he was badly injured,' Serena pondered to herself, she watched as she waited for Ash to give the command, 'oh right, I forgot to give Ash his new Pokedex as well,' Serena smacked her forehead.
"Great, what the heck should I do?" Ash asked himself, feeling annoyed at the lack of information on the pokemon standing in front of him.
"Ash, that pokemon, is part rock and part dragon!" Serena yelled out information to Ash's direction.
"Thanks Serena," Ash thanked his childhood friend.
"You better hurry up, your wife is heading to a warzone on her own," Serena admitted to the trainer.
Ash froze after hearing the revelation, he dropped to his knees with his fists slowly clenching, "how? Why?" Ash punched the ground, furious that he couldn't be there when Salvia needed him the most.
'It is like he is blaming himself for what is going on,' Serena thought to herself.
"Get up, this isn't over, you cannot give up!" Madeline hollered words of encouragement at her adoptive father.
"I feel like I am failing my duties," Ash hit the ground repeatedly.
"She is right Ash, right now, we both have two pokemon left, complete this battle and heal your pokemon, I can give you the pin when you return to Mauvile," Stan informed Ash, while pulling out six items from his bag, "these are full restores and revives, they will help speed things up for you," Stan started while lightly throwing a couple towards the black haired girl sitting on the benches, "use them to revive Raichu and heal him," Stan instructed the little girl, "now let's bring an end to our battle, Camerupt attack with Eruption," Stan instructed his powerful poekmon.
"Use Earthquake for defence!" Ash barked out his command, the small rock type. The ground started to shake violently, a slab of earth was raised blocking the sweeping fire attack, intensifying the flames inside the building, "Tyrunt wait for the chance to counter attack," Ash whispered his instructions to the royal heir pokemon.
"Use Take Down now," the pin master ordered his pokemon to attack. Camerupt charged towards the slab of earth, showing no signs of flinching.
"Dragon Claw now," Ash countered the pin master as calmly as possible, with the flames intensifying with each passing moment.
"This is insane, he is as reckless as ever," Serena gulped as she watched the pokemon she gave Ash charging towards the opposing pokemon. Before the attacks slammed into one another part of the building collapsed in the stands raising dust around the battlefield.
Ash turned towards the little girl who was frozen in fear, "Madeline!" Ash rushed off the challengers podium to save the little girl, Ash pulled Madeline out of the way just in time, the necklace on Madeline with the locket flew off her neck and towards the raging inferno.
Madeline tried to reach for it, but was unsuccessful, "no, the last picture I had of my real mom and dad," Madeline gasped in horror as the locket vanished inside the flames.
"No, this is my fault, we should have stopped the battle," Ash lamented the choice to continue the battle, Ash looked back to see his new pokemon defeating the opposing fire type pokemon.
Stan smiled knowing that the battle was over, "I forfeit this battle, it seems like, I cannot defeat your legendary pokemon Reshiram as well as your new pokemon," Stan informed Ash while recalling his fallen pokemon from the battle, he turned away from the battlefield and walked towards the exit, "go to where ever you are required, I will be waiting for you to return after you save your woman."
"When I come back, we will have a one on one battle, our final pokemon to face off against one another," Ash decreed with his fists clenched.
The three left the burning building, Madeline with tears flowing from her eyes, the last memento of her parents now gone, "that was the last thing my parents gave me," Madeline cried even more.
"Madeline, I am sorry," Ash apologised, upset at the way things turned out.
Feeling guilty at how things have turned out, Serena walked up to her friend, she watched the building crumble as the flames finally took its toll on the building, "I was never strong enough in tha past," Serena reminded herself of the past, she noticed Ash grabbing his knee, 'he must still be hurting, he isn't even fully recovered and yet…..' Serena watched her friend and Madeline turning away from the building to find Salvia, "where are you going?" Serena asked the trainer.
"To save Salvia," Ash replied, limping towards the southern exit of the town.
"Even though he is injured, he isn't giving up," Serena proudly told herself as she remembered the past that changed her views, 'just like the old days,' Serena reminisced with a fond expression. She walked up to Ash and stopped him from getting lost, "where is Salvia?" Serena asked the trainer quietly.
"Slateport City, I can sense her aura heading in that direction," Ash replied with a sigh, the young woman moved aside with a smirk, "I need your help Serena," Ash admitted as he limped passed his friend.
"I am not a really strong trainer," Serena professed.
Ash smirked, "that's fine, on the way there is the Trick house, you are to make sure that Madeline is safe, in other words you are to baby sit her, I don't think she has it in her to witness the last battle against Chris," Ash told his old friend with a frown point towards the visibly distraught girl, Ash kneeled down in front of Madeline, "hey kiddo, everything will be alright," Ash promised the girl, assuring her with a calm smile.
"Yeah, but what if I forget my mom and dad? I don't have a picture of them anymore," Madeline replied, still crying at the loss of her locket.
"It was shaped like a heart right? Then maybe you should keep those memories in your heart, one of my friends always keeps her memories there," Serena nodded at the little girl. "Opps sorry about that, I was out of sorts, that is something Ash should have said," Serena whispered, she walked ahead leaving Ash to help Madeline towards the next destination, Serena looked back with a pleased expression, 'we will still be following the same path it seems, even though the setup will not be occurring, we will change the world for the better, but maybe the change in plans will make it even better, because Sinnoh and Kalos will soon be eternal allies with Hoenn,' turned towards the sunset, 'Salvia, soon you will be reunited with Ash, as it should be, then I will be going back to Kalos with Calem, to get stronger,' Serena resolved, determined to change the world with Ash as her friend.
With the Pin Master defeated and a plan that was going to occur being revealed, Ash and Salvia are about to be reunited, in the final battle against Chris
The three part finale of Chris' plans starts in the next chapter.
Next time Episode 75: Storm's End PT1
Now that my batteries are recharged time to take the final hit on the next lot of chapters. Separate Roads will be coming up in just under two weeks from now, just haven't had much chance in doing the stories as of late.