Welcome to the next chapter of The Empire! Didn't get that many reviews on the last chapter, broke my heart lol. Naw y'all probably just ill of me begging for them lmao. That's fine. Well school starts next week so we can only hope that I update as much as I have this summer!
Thats all I have to say for now so you know enjoy!
Chapter 14
"Wow, Lance you really match the rumors. I highly doubt my brother would have sent any weaklings after us..." May said as they all stood in a large circle.
"It was just General Paul, he proved that he wasn't all that." The fake Lance replied in an cocky tone not noticing Barry and Kenny's eyes narrow.
"Wow? You beat Paul? That quickly?!" May shouted in an surprised tone. Paul may not have had powerful aura like her and Drew, but May knew all to well what the general's capabilities in battle were.
"Paul..That's the guy with the purple hair right?" Ash questioned in an unsure tone.
"Yeah, he was known as Drew's right hand...Well now it seems like Drew has taken a liking to Brendan so that probably no longer applies..." May started. "Did you kill him Lance?" May questioned with a bit of hope that the general had made a correct decision.
The fake Lance thought for a few seconds. When he first saw May he almost bowed out of instinct, so he had to make sure he thought about every single thing he did unless he wanted to run the risk of being figured out.
"He was heavily injured when I left him...He should survive though.." The fraud replied hoping that he made the right judgement in that May didn't want to hear that Paul had died.
May nodded. "Thanks..for not killing him." May thanked which earned a smile of approval from Ash and Dawn.
"Seems like we're rubbing off on you huh?!" Ash laughed as he wrapped an arm around Lance's neck. "After all I've never picked you as the type to believe in mercy." Ash finished.
"He doesn't."
Everybody's attention suddenly went to Kenny who had spoken.
"Who are you?" Kenny questioned looking directly at Lance.
Dawn was the first to speak.
"What do you mean? He's Lance obviously?" Dawn stated as if it were obvious.
"No...He's already made two mistakes that make me believe that he isn't...I don't know how, but this isn't the real Lance." Barry replied before Kenny had a chance to speak.
"Great...Now what.." Lance thought in his head although he wasn't showing his inner turmoil.
"Stop joking around...It's me?" Lance said trying to give the most innocent look he could pull off.
"Quit with the bullshit. " Kenny replied bluntly as he unsheathed his sword.
"Kenny! What are you doing?" Ash questioned a bit worried that this was about to get out of hand.
"What makes you think that he isn't Lance?" May questioned.
"Simple...First he said it was only General Paul...Me and Kenny both sensed 10 enemies so why would this 'Lance' only reveal one to us." Barry explained.
"The second mistake was him saying that he didn't kill Paul...No offense May, but if the real Lance ran into Paul in battle there is no way he would have sparred his life. I'd bet my life on that." Kenny said as he stepped closer to the now visible nervous Lance.
"Is this true?" Ash spoke as he also turned a hard glare to the fake Lance.
The fake bit his lip..He was exposed before he could even start Paul's plan. He had to come up with something quick.
"He asked is it true?!" Dawn shouted as she also gave Lance a glare fully aware now that their was a strong possibility that they were in danger.
" ..."
The group watched with no expression as the fake Lance began to chuckle.
"Damn..You guys are good, you managed to figure me out in record time." Lance spoke as he put his hand over his face so that it was covering his eye.
Everybody backed up a bit fully prepared in case the man who was clearly not Lance attacked.
"Who are you?" Kenny asked in a threatening tone.
May could tell that the normally calm boy was livid now that the possibility had arisen that Lance was defeated.
The man didn't reply as he quickly ran towards May who was too occupied with her thoughts to defend herself. He put his arm around her neck and pulled out a knife pressing it lightly into the brown haired girl's smooth skin.
"Nobody move or this traitor dies..." The man spoke. "And you 'Princess May' If I even feel your aura pressure go up a bit like your preparing for an attack your dead.. Don't try anything stupid." He finished sarcastically referring to May as princess as he continued pressing the knife into the girl's neck.
Ash gritted his teeth, but Dawn put a hand in front of him signaling for him not to do anything that might put May's life in jeopardy.
The boy checked his anger as he calmed himself down. He could try to teleport to attack the man before he had a chance to stab May, but on the slightest chance that the man detects his aura as he prepared to do it he would lose May. It wasn't worth the risk.
May clenched one of her eyes as the man tightened his grip around her neck. She was ashamed that she had allowed herself to be put in such a situation. She was trained better than this.
The man smiled as he realized he had control over the situation since nobody wanted to risk moving.
"Where is Lance?" Kenny questioned his gaze not softening at all despite the situation.
"Dead. I wonder if any wild Pokemon have started feasting on his body yet." The man replied in an dark tone.
Dawn and Barry couldn't hide their shock as it briefly showed on their faces.
"No..way...That Lance couldn't have been defeated..." Dawn muttered.
"Damn it..." Barry clenched his teeth as he tried to hold a few tears that made their way to his eyes.
"Stop lying." Ash and Kenny both replied at the same time surprising the man.
Ash was the first to continue speaking. "Lance isn't the type to just kill over. You guys must have played some dirty trick on him."
Kenny nodded his head in agreement. "He definitely wouldn't be killed by friends of a man who is so weak he has to take a female as an hostage." Kenny added in.
The fake Lance didn't let Kenny's words effect him however as he pushed the knife further into May's neck this time drawing blood.
May closed her eyes showing that she was in pain, but she refused to scream or show weakness in front of somebody she knew she was stronger than.
Ash noticed this.
"You!" The fake Lance suddenly screamed as he directed his gaze towards Ash. "I felt a twitch in your aura! Don't do anything stupid boy!" The man shouted although he was visibly worried that one of them would try something.
"Ash don't worry..It'll take more than this to hurt me." May managed to get out before the man tightened his grip on her neck causing her eyes to clench in pain.
The ebony haired boy glared angrily at the man, but knew he couldn't move.
"So what do you plan to do now?" Dawn questioned. She knew that the man's plan had failed although she wasn't sure what his objective was. Since it had come to holding May captive what did he hope to achieve? Did he just want to escape or did he want something else?
The man who still looked like Lance closed his eyes to think for a few seconds.
Ash saw the opening.
The fake Lance quickly noticing his mistake moved his knife away from May and pointed it to Ash.
Well were Ash WAS.
May seeing that the man was distracted quickly bit the man's arm forcing him to release her. As she became free May jumped up on the man's shoulders holding herself upside down above his head.
The man who hadn't processed everything that had happened in a few seconds quickly turned his attention up as he saw the smiling face of May.
"I hope touching my body was worth it.." May muttered with a soft smile which confused the man before he felt a powerful punch in his gut.
The fake Lance's body shook as he looked down only to cough up blood as Ash came into his vision. His eyes were cold as he continued to add more pressure to the punch.
The man finally unable to hold his ground any longer flew back into a tree causing May to fall gently into Ash's arms.
"You ok?" Ash questioned as he helped the girl stand on her own two feet.
"Yeah. It's just a scratch." May replied referring to the small cut the man had managed to do to her neck.
Dawn was the first to reach Ash. "You dumbass! What if your reckless plan hadn't worked?!" Dawn scolded the boy causing May to laugh a bit.
"Well I had to try!" Ash gave his weak argument before barely dodging one of Dawn's fist.
"You never think!" Dawn continued.
"It's fine, Dawn after all it all worked out in the end right." May tried to calm the girl down although a small smile was still on her face.
Dawn looked at May with disbelief. "Your just as bad as him May, jeez you guys are so reckless! You're going to give me a heart attack far before Drew has anytime to kill me." Dawn moaned as she fell to the ground. She had clearly been stressed out about the situation.
Ash could only laugh now.
Kenny and Barry didn't pay the three any attention as the quickly ran towards the fake Lance who had turned back to his original form.
The man was still conscious, but anybody could tell that the punch had did a lot of damage it was obvious that Ash had infused some of his aura into it. A normal punch couldn't have done this much damage.
"Where is Lance?" Kenny asked again as he got closer to the man. This gained everybody's attention.
The man just laughed.
Barry didn't give the man much time to enjoy his laughter as he quickly stabbed his sword into one of the man's legs.
"Barry what the fuck?!" Ash screamed as he ran towards the boys. "We don't want to kill him!" Ash tried to convince them not wanting to break his promise to May.
"We won't kill him. We're just getting information." Kenny replied in an dark tone his eyes never leaving the man who was now grabbing his leg screaming.
Barry moved the sword a bit causing the man's screams to get louder.
Dawn and May looked away from the scene not wanting to witness it.
"He's in the forest! After falling for Paul's trap, we just left him there! He's still alive I swear!" The man finally cracked as he screamed once again as Barry pulled the sword out of his flesh.
Kenny looked at the man a few seconds before speaking again. "How did you guys win? There is no way that Paul could have beat our leader so easily..." Kenny questioned.
The man who was struggling to keep his eyes open just looked at the man not answering.
"He asked you a question. I promise you the next wound will be in your chest and I'll be sure not to hit a vital so you'll live, but go through all of the pain." Barry threatened. This was no joke. They had hurt their leader and they were going to do whatever it took in order to keep him alive.
The guard clearly showed fear at Barry's threat.
"Please don't! I don't know the details, but during the battle there was an point when there was a lot of steam, Paul used the opportunity to poison Lance with a special type of poison in order to make him hallucinate. He said it would only last for a day. I promise that's all I know!" The man cried. He didn't want to die.
Kenny seemed to be contemplating his next move.
"Leave him Kenny, he's told us everything he knows. Let's go get Lance." Ash broke Kenny away from his thoughts.
Barry just nodded as he sheathed his sword.
Kenny looked at the man who had tears in his eyes at this point. "Are you afraid of dying?" Kenny asked the man which surprised everybody.
The guard nodded his head quickly.
"How do you think all of the people you've killed have felt. Why shouldn't I kill you right now? What makes your life more important then all of the people you have slaughtered?" Kenny questioned as he pointed his sword to the man's neck.
Ash, May and Dawn were all about to voice their opinion on the matter, but Barry quickly raised a hand up signaling that it was fine. Kenny had no intentions of killing the man he just wanted to hear his answer.
The man hesitated for a few seconds. "I was just following o-orders..It wasn't anything personal I swear!" The man stuttered out still fearing for his life.
May watched the scene intensely.
"What are your personal feelings about it? When you kill an innocent person, do you feel guilty?" Kenny continued.
"Yes of course! I feel extremely guilty! I promise if you let me go I'll never kill again." The man quickly replied a smiled coming to his face despite the tears that were still streaming down it.
"Don't lie.."
Everybody's attention went to May now.
"W-w-What?" The guard questioned as May spoke.
"I said don't lie...The guards...You guys personally enjoy killing the innocent...Drew and Paul have never cared and just allowed you guys to do what you wanted in order to calm you down...I've heard all of the stories...You guys rape, kill, kidnap...For no reason, no orders are ever given to do some of the horrible things you guards do..." May muttered..
"Your no saint either!" The man screamed towards May in a loud tone. His fear seemed to be effecting his sanity at this point.
"Yes..Your right..We of the royal family are no better..We never spoke about your actions, we just continued to let it happen...But that was wrong..." May finished.
Ash and Dawn stood with their eyes clothes. It was obvious that May had a lot of regrets about what had taken place while she was apart of The Empire.
The man was silent for a few seconds. "Who are you to say it's wrong now? You didn't give a fuck before, but now that you've betrayed us you want to sit and act better than me?!" The guard screamed towards May in an angry tone.
"She isn't acting better then you, unlike you she accepts her mistakes. Those mistakes will never disappear, but as long as shes a live she can repent for them. There may be people who never forgive her, but that's how life is." Ash interrupted not allowing May to reply to the man.
Ash walked up towards the man. All eyes where on him.
"Unlike you. May actually wants to save the people of this world now. Regardless of anything she did in the past. So as long as your like that and she is with me.." Ash started as he bent down to eye level with the man.
"In my eyes she'll always be better than you." Ash stated as he looked the man directly in his eyes.
May couldn't help, but let a few tears fall.
Dawn just smiled. This is why Ash was different from most people. If he believed in you he would stand up for you no matter what, he would never judge somebody on their past, and he would always look for the good in every single person.
The man just glared at Ash before he looked at the ground. "Kill me then. Because If you expect me to change now. I promise it won't happen. I'll never betray my country.." The man suddenly spoke in a determined tone. It seemed that all of the fear that was previously in his voice had disappeared it was like the boy who was scared to die had suddenly became a man who was willing to look death right in the face.
"No I won't kill you. Instead you're going to live with your sins..I hope one day you'll realize the evil of your country." Ash replied as he stood up.
"Let's go guys... If we go back to where we were before it shouldn't be to hard to find Lance." Ash suddenly said.
"Yeah." Everybody else replied as they all began to backtrack through the woods in order to find their general leaving the beaten guard behind.
The man seemed a bit shocked that they had all just left him. So easily. He could help, but let all of the words that had just been spoken to him sink in.
Thoughts of his family came into his mind.
Thoughts of Paul's words at the grave earlier in the forest also came to his mind
"During times of war people on both sides feel the same pain.."
The guard struggled to get up. He hadn't ever thought about the people he was hurting..Could he have been wrong?
With Paul's Group
"I sense Lance's friends turning around...It seems like their headed towards the area we left Lance at." One of the guards spoke as the ran through the forest.
Misty sighed. "I guess that means your plan failed..I knew we shouldn't have trusted that guard to handle everything alone."
Paul grunted. "Fuck...Well in any case they probably won't move until Lance is fully healed which gives Drew a full day. It isn't as much time as he probably wanted, but that's the best we can do now in this situation. I'm not in any condition to fight.." Paul admitted disappointed that his plan hadn't worked. It was rare that things didn't go his way.
"I can go handle them." Misty offered. "I might be able to cause some damage to prolong their journey even more?"
Paul nodded. "No...Don't bother, you'll be completely out numbered I don't doubt your ability, but not even you can handle all of them by yourself...There is no point in wasting your life when the percentage of victory is 0%." Paul replied.
Misty clenched her teeth she didn't like hearing that her chance of even holding them off was 0%, but she knew that if Paul had assessed the situation like that then it was definitely correct.
"We can only hope that we did enough..." Misty muttered.
Back With Ash
It took the group about 30 minutes to locate Lance's body.
"He's still breathing." Barry told everybody as he let a sigh of relief escape his lips.
Kenny seemed to have been doing the same.
"That guard said he would be out for about a day, so we have no choice, but to set up camp here and wait.." Dawn informed the group.
"We have to be on guard though..We don't know if Paul or anybody else is still in this area.." Kenny added in which the others nodded their heads to.
"Kenny, you and Barry can go to sleep. We'll stay up and keep guard after all we got all the sleep we need earlier. I'm sure you guys are worn out." Ash offered as he began setting up their camping materials.
Barry and Kenny agreed as they were extremely tired. Their will to make sure Lance was alright was the only thing that had kept them awake.
~xxxxxx~
The Next Morning
Ash gave a yawn as he looked towards Dawn and May who were snoring happily in the grass.
"Jerks..Going to sleep and leaving me to guard by myself. I swear you would think we were never attacked last night.." Ash muttered before he smiled at the two girls.
"Lucky you two are cute otherwise I would have never just let you go to sleep." Ash said to himself as he turned his head and frowned as Lance came into his sight.
He still hadn't woken up.
Hopefully if what the guard said was true he would wake up at some point today, but they could only hope for the best until then.
Ash's head snapped back towards Dawn as he notice her begin to stir in her sleep.
"You up?" Ash questioned the fake blonde haired girl.
"No…" The girl muttered turning her head so Ash couldn't see her face.
"Oh really?" Ash questioned a smirk appearing on his face.
Dawn didn't reply, but she felt a chill go down her spine. Her fears came true a few seconds later as she felt her body lift off the ground.
"Ash! Stop it!" Dawn whispered harshly as she held on to the boy who had just picked her up.
"Better not be loud! You might wake everybody up!" Ash laughed as he looked at the beautiful girl in his arms. Even though she had just woken up she was still stunning.
"Stop joking around Ash." Dawn told the boy although the blush on her face made it hard for her to be taken seriously.
"Come on, let's go for a walk." Ash stated as he began walking away from the camp.
"We can't just leave everybody!" Dawn argued although the idea of going for a walk didn't sound horrible.
Ash stopped for a few seconds as he looked back towards the camp before sighing. "Damn I guess your right about that." Ash muttered a bit disappointed.
Dawn heard the disappointment in the boy's voice. "Maybe after everything settles down.. You know when we get back to the base and handle everything we can spend some time alone…" Dawn muttered although she couldn't believe the words were coming out of her mouth. Didn't they just say the previous night that falling for each other would cause problems yet here they were trying to strengthen their bond.
"You know..as friends obviously." Dawn added in order to make herself feel better.
Ash just smiled. "Of course." He stated satisfied with Dawn's answer.
"So…" Dawn started her blush getting worse.
"So?" Ash asked confused.
"Do you ever plan to set me down or what?" Dawn questioned her hair covering her eyes.
Ash who had forgotten that he was holding her quickly apologized. "My bad."
"It's no problem.." Dawn muttered as she stood up on her own two feet for the first time since she had woken up.
It wasn't long after that May also woke up.
"Hey guys…" May groggily greeted as she rubbed her eyes.
"Sleep good May?" Ash questioned as he watched Dawn prepare the food that they would be eating when everybody else woke up.
"Not really.." May said in a sad tone as her eyes immediately went towards Lance.
"Don't worry, Lance is strong I'm sure he'll wake up today." Dawn comforted the girl automatically catching on to why she wasn't able to sleep.
May just nodded. While trying to sleep she couldn't help, but feel that Lance's injury was her fault in a way since it was her family who had sent the group who attack them.
"It isn't your fault May. So don't blame yourself." Ash stated bluntly seemingly reading the brown haired girl's mind.
May gave Ash a surprised look.
"Don't forget we're connected I can read your mind." Ash replied with a smirk as he knew he had probably guessed what she had been thinking once again.
"What?! Are you serious?" May questioned not liking how that sounded.
This caused Dawn to laugh. "Don't be silly May of course he can't. It's just completely obvious that your blaming yourself." Dawn informed the girl.
Ash was laughing as well, but soon calmed himself. "Yeah, but seriously May I doubt even Kenny, Barry, or Lance blame you for what happened. If anything Lance will probably blame himself for allowing himself to fall for Paul's trap." Ash comforted the girl causing her to smile.
"I guess." May replied the conversation having made her feel much better about everything.
With Drew and Brendan
"So who would have thought…The revolutionary base being so close to our castle…I'd say this is about a 3 day hike from Pallet… On my Flygon it's much faster however." Drew spoke mostly to himself as he looked down at the massive area that housed the revolutionaries.
Brendan looked down as well. "So how should we go about handling this?" the white haired boy questioned.
Drew seemed to think for a few seconds before reaching into a small satchel he had attached to his side. He pulled out a few seeds.
"What are those?" Brendan questioned in a confused tone.
"Watch.." Drew replied as he began to drop the seeds from the sky onto the base with an evil smirk.
"Flygon I want you to fly around the area. I need to get as much of an area as I can…Be sure to stay high, after all we don't want to attract any attention to ourselves." Drew commanded his dragon type. The Pokemon just nodded as it did as it was told.
After 10 minutes Drew had dropped all of the seeds that he needed to. "This will be beautiful." Drew muttered to himself as he pictured the scene that would soon be reality.
"It's a shame…My father's spy did a great job giving us the necessary information in order to get here. I hope he survives this." Drew continued although he was chuckling a bit to himself showing that he really didn't care.
Brendan just quietly watched and listen he had long since figured it was better to just ignore Drew when he began talking to himself. Figured it was a royal family thing.
"Now…Bloom my beautiful forest!" Drew suddenly shouted surprising Brendan as the green haired boy stood up and held his arms into the sky.
Brendan tore his attention away from Drew as he suddenly heard screams from the ground. His eyes immediately turned into saucers as he saw the scene below him.
Trees where sprouting everywhere in the revolutionary base. Drew must have dropped thousands of seeds to produce so many trees, and what made it even worse was the fact that the trees were tall they were almost reaching the height of Flygon.
Drew began to laugh loudly as he listened to the screams of the revolutionaries. They had been completely caught off guard. He suddenly stopped laughing as he felt a powerful aura.
"Flygon move quickly!" Drew shouted urgently surprising the Pokemon, but the dragon still managed to do as he was told.
As soon as Flygon moved a powerful dragon rage tore through the area they were just a few seconds ago.
"Damn I missed.." A voice stated.
Brendan and Drew's eyes went to the highest tree. Drew clenched his teeth as he saw the long blonde haired beauty who was standing at the peak.
"Cynthia.." Drew spoke wiping away his shock as he jumped down onto a tree as well. "Do you like my instantaneous forest?" The prince cockily questioned with a laugh.
Cynthia just looked back down to the area that she, Lance, and Steven had created. "How dare you!" The beautiful woman screamed her eyes showing pure anger as she looked back at the prince.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU'VE KILLED! HOW MANY LIVES YOU'VE DESTROYED?!" Cynthia continued her aura flaring up even more.
Drew just continued to smile. "They should be happy..They get to be a part of my artistic creation."
"I think they would have been fine without this…" A new voice stated causing Drew's eyes to look toward a new tree. His smile didn't leave his face as he saw who the voice belonged to.
"Steven.." Brendan muttered from atop of the Dragon type Pokemon. Even Drew would have a problem dealing with both of them.
The silver haired general was also visibly angry as he stood a top of his tree keeping an eye on Drew and keenly aware of the white haired boy who was still flying on the Flygon.
"Why did you do this?" Steven questioned although deep down he knew he wasn't going to get any reason that would justify Drew's actions.
Drew didn't acknowledge Steven's question. "So which do you value more? Fighting me or helping save the survivors of your base?" Drew asked with a smirk.
Both Cynthia and Steven didn't even look down at their base as they answered. "Don't underestimate our men. They will definitely rescue anybody they can."
The smirk finally left Drew's face.
"So it seems I won't be able to get out of here without a fight." Drew muttered as he prepared his aura.
"You won't get out of here at all." Steven corrected the man his eyes showing pure fury.
"Don't think you can just attack the revolutionary base and not face the consequences." Cynthia added.
It was at this moment that Brendan decided to drop down to a tree as well, he couldn't just let Drew try to fight everybody by himself that would be suicide.
"Meteor Mash!" Steven declared suddenly as he attacked Drew the second his attention went to Brendan.
"Shit!" Drew screamed as he barely managed to get his guard up in time before he was knocked to the ground with a large thud.
"Fuck! Flamethrower!" Brendan shouted as he released the powerful flames from his mouth to attack Steven.
"Psychic." Steven replied in a calm voice as the flames stopped moving and then disappeared as Steven closed his hands causing Brendan's eyes to get serious realizing that this man was nobody to take lightly.
"Dragon claw!" A feminine voice suddenly spoke from behind Brendan.
"Impossible! I didn't sense her move at all..." Brendan thought as he also got thrown to the ground with Drew. This was about to be a hard fight.
2 Generals of the revolutionary army Vs The Prince and his 'Right Hand.'
Steven and Cynthia just looked down both with cold expressions. It was obvious that they had earned their rank you could almost taste their anger resonating from their body.
"Synthesis." Drew calmly said as he stood up feeling new energy wash over him. "Get up Brendan." Drew commanded as he felt the few cuts disappear from his body.
"Yeah." Brendan replied although if you looked closely you could see that a smirk was playing at his lips. He felt that he would enjoy this fight.
"Cynthia has moved again. Her aura is impossible to detect...You have to be extremely cautious. Make sure to dodge any fatal hits..." Drew informed the white haired boy as he noticed that Cynthia was no longer standing with Steven.
"Magical Leaf!" Drew shouted as he controlled the leafs on his planted trees and used them to surround his body. "With this not even Cynthia can get close to me without me knowing."
Brendan looked at his leader and smirked. "Fire Spin!" Brendan declared copying Drew's idea of defending with an offensive attack.
Steven just wiped his hand through his hair. "Fool.." Steven muttered.
Suddenly Brendan felt all of his breath leave his body as a blue blur slammed into him.
"What..." Brendan muttered as he was sent flying through the air.
"Psychic!" Steven yelled as he caught the injured Brendan and kept him levitated in the sky.
Drew clenched his teeth. Cynthia was obviously a dragon type user, he and Brendan had not thought about that fact when using their defense in reality Cynthia could have hit either one of them just now and probably wouldn't have felt it.
The reality of the situation finally came down on Drew. He had underestimated the generals of the revolutionary army to much.
This was a fight he could easily lose his life in.
"Brendan, no more games! Get serious!" Drew shouted towards his friend who was captured.
"Right!" Brendan replied as he broke out of Steven's psychic attack by strengthening his aura.
If Steven was surprised that Brendan had broken out of his psychic attack so easily he had hidden it well as his face showed no emotions.
"Steven, it's about to get rough. I hope your ready." Cynthia stated as she jumped back to the top of a tree.
"Yeah…Let's show them the consequences of picking a fight with us.." Steven muttered.
With Ash and Company
"Should we really just assume that Lance is alright?" Barry questioned. The rest of the group had already woken up and they had gotten all of their camping materials together.
"Well what else can we do?" Ash questioned as he leaned against a tree, they weren't going to move until Lance woke up.
"You can try that aura sharing thing that you did with me back in the cave?" Dawn suggested.
Ash felt a chill go down his spine. "Praise god that I can only do that with you…" Ash informed the girl not liking the idea of kissing Lance regardless if it could save his life.
Ash's comment made Dawn look towards May.
"I wonder if your abilities as a chosen one are only focused on me?" Dawn questioned it wasn't directed towards anybody, meaning Ash or May were welcome to give their input.
Ash seemed to think for a few seconds. "Are you asking if I can use them with May?"
"Yeah." Dawn replied looking at the brown haired princess now.
"I don't think so.." May replied.
Everybody now looked towards May. "What makes you say that?" Ash questioned as even he wasn't sure about that. From what he knew it seemed like May held just as much importance as Dawn.
"Well…from the research I did on Sir Aaron back in the royal library it only spoke about his powers coming out when Hikari was in danger.. It never mentioned it happening around Haruka…" May explained.
Dawn shook her head. "We can't assume that it never did though…That just means it was never recorded."
"Why not test it then." Kenny suddenly spoke surprising everyone.
"What do you mean 'test it?" May questioned in an confused tone.
At that Kenny withdrew his sword.
"Like this!" Kenny screamed as he suddenly attacked May only for her not to budge as he stopped his sword in front of her face.
"Why didn't any of you get nervous…?" Kenny nervously asked.
Ash was the first to start laughing. "Come on Kenny, you're going to have to at least show some killing intent if you want us to believe you were going to attack May."
Kenny just chuckled. "I suppose you're right about that. It was pretty obvious. Sorry I thought it would work."
"So let me get this straight Ash your true chosen one abilities come out when Dawn is in danger so what Kenny just tried to do was put May in danger to see if you would react?" Barry tried to confirm he wasn't as familiar with the legend as Kenny so there were details of it he didn't know about.
Ash nodded. "Well now I can sort of draw out that strength without Dawn…But when Dawn is in trouble a whole new me comes out…Who only has protecting Dawn in his head…" Ash explained.
May couldn't help a little pang of jealousy that hit her, but she ignored it as she began to speak. "Well Ash didn't react when that guard had me at knife point…" May brought up.
"But that wasn't really that large of a threat after all he was weak he just happened to get lucky to get us in that situation." Dawn spoke having also thought about that.
"Well I guess it's impossible for us to know until you're in real danger Princess May." Kenny informed her.
"Ugh…" A weak voice suddenly spoke.
Everybody's attention snapped towards the red haired man who had made the noise.
"GENERAL!" Kenny and Barry shouted as they quickly ran to their leader's side.
Ash, Dawn, and May smiled as the man sat up rubbing his head. They walked over to him.
"What happened…" Lance muttered as he finally took notice of everybody around him.
Ash was the first to speak. "You lost to General Paul, your lucky to be alive right now." Ash explained
Lance just continued rubbing his head. "Yeah.. It was crazy, I kept hitting Paul with my best moves, but he just wouldn't die…" Lance muttered obviously still confused about everything.
"Apparently Paul infected you with a type of poison…so you've just be hallucinating everything." Barry began to explain what the guard had told them.
Lance nodded his head as he absorbed all of the information. As Barry finished Lance was staring at the ground his eyes filled with rage.
"Damn it! I can't believe I let my guard down like that!" Lance shouted surprising everybody as he slammed his fist in the ground leaving a large impression.
"It's ok..You can't win every fight.." May offered only for Ash to stop her from talking.
"General I know that your disappointed that you lost, but we have to get going. We've already wasted a lot of time waiting for you to recover..It's very likely that this was their plan all along..They might have discovered our base." Kenny spoke in a serious voice.
Lance gritted his teeth. "Your right…Let's go."
The group picked up their bags and began to head towards their base running as fast as they could to try and make up for the lost time.
Revolutionary Base
"Anybody who can walk, help the women and children!" Brock screamed as another tree appeared out of the ground.
Brock's eyes widened as he saw a little girl's leg pierced by a large branch. He quickly ran towards the girl and held her. "Ok I need you to be brave for me." Brock muttered before he quickly yanked the branch out of her leg, a loud piercing scream could be heard.
"What the fuck is going on!" Brock yelled as he rested the girl on the ground. She had fainted from the pain.
"Lt. Brock whats happening?!" Skyla screamed as she found her trainer.
Brock looked at the red haired girl. "We're being attacked! I believe The Empire has discovered our location!" he screamed towards the girl. "Take this girl to the medical ward quickly! Where is Pride he will be extremely useful with helping save the injured?" Brock questioned.
"I don't know..When all of this started he just ran off. He's somewhere on base." Skyla replied as she lifted the girl onto her back.
Brock clenched his teeth.
"Well get this girl to safety! I'm sure we'll run into him eventually I'm sure he's already helping." Brock told the girl as he ran off. The primary mission was to get everybody who wasn't dead to safety.
Brock jumped back barely managing to dodge a tree that rose from the ground. "What are the generals doing?!" Brock shouted.
~xxxxxx~
Drew took a deep breath as he jumped into the air. " Leaf storm!"
Cynthia dodged the attack easily as she jumped from tree to tree. "Steven, how is it going?!" She shouted towards her partner who was fighting Brendan.
Steven didn't reply as he continued a close combat encounter with the boy.
"Meteor Mash!" Steven shouted as his punch glowed blow as he swung it toward Brendan's face.
"Fire Punch!" Brendan countered as he matched Steven blow for blow.
"Earthquake!" Brendan suddenly shouted as he jumped back surprising Steven and slamming his fist into the ground.
"Fuck!" Steven shouted as he jumped onto a nearby tree only for it to begin falling as Brendan's earthquake attack did it's damaged.
Drew just smiled. "It seems like Steven is having a hard time." He teased Cynthia with an evil smirk on his features.
"He'll be fine." Cynthia stated with confidence. "You should be more worried about yourself, after all you haven't hit me at all since this fight started." She finished.
Cynthia suddenly launched herself towards Drew. "Dragon Rush!" She shouted.
"Cotton Guard." Drew countered as his shield of cotton appeared protecting him once more from Cynthia's powerful attack.
"Vine Whip!" Drew shouted as vines from the trees around him began to attack the blonde haired general.
Cynthia nimbly avoided all of the vines as she backed away from Drew.
"It doesn't seem like you can hit me either." Drew spoke.
"So it seems…" Cynthia replied her eyes showing no fear.
Drew suddenly dug into his bag once more and pulled out a few more seeds. "Leech Seed!" Drew shouted as he threw the seeds at Cynthia.
Cynthia who hadn't been expecting the random act simple used her arms to block the attack. "Getting desperate?" Cynthia questioned a bit confused why Drew would throw a few seeds at her.
Drew just smirked. Not many people knew about Leech Seed so they usually underestimated its strength in battle.
"Rock smash!" Brendan declared as he swung a powerful punch toward Steven.
"Harden." Steven said as his body became as hard as steal as he took Brendan's punch head on.
The punch hit Steven directly in his face, but the silver haired general didn't flinch. Brendan however grunted as felt how hard the general's face had become
"Hammer arm!" Steven shouted as he delivered a powerful punch to the white haired boy's face.
Brendan screamed in pain as he was sent flying. Stephen suddenly began to levitate into the sky. "Magnet Rise."
"Psychic!" Stephen continued as he stopped Brendan from slamming into a tree with his attack and lifted him high into the air and slammed him into the earth.
Brendan could feel bones in his body crack as he hit the ground with a thud.
Drew's head snapped towards Brendan as he heard the crash. "Damn it! Brendan stop playing around! Kill that man!" Drew shouted as he defended against Cynthia's attacks. She was quick and it was hard to find an opening.
Brendan struggled to get up as he coughed up blood.
"Hyper beam.." Steven muttered as he levitated over Brendan and held a hand towards him. His eyes showed no hesitation as he prepared to deliver the final blow.
Brendan hearing Steven's attack quickly ignored all of the pain he was in. "Dig." Brendan managed as he burrowed underground barely avoiding his death.
"Damn…" Steven muttered as he watched Brendan avoid his attack.
"Your partner definitely has endurance Prince. I'll give him that!" Steven shouted towards the green haired warrior who was fighting equally with Cynthia.
Cynthia smirked as she saw Steven was completely dominating the fight.
"BLAST BURN!"
Steven's eyes widened as the ground under him began to erupt. The powerful volcanic eruption caused Steven to lose control of his aura and drop to the ground.
"Shit! Iron Defense!" Steven shouted knowing he couldn't dodge the attack he would just have to try to withstand it.
"Flame Charge!" Brendan suddenly yelled as he arose from the ground with one of the eruptions and hit an unsuspecting Steven directly in his chest.
"GAH!" Steven screamed in pain as he was thrown against a tree.
Steven who was still processing everything that had happened slowly opened his eyes and felt the burn on his chest. His eyes quickly shut as pain washed over him. His eyes then managed to find Brendan.
The boy looked completely different as he looked at Stephen. Brendan's tunic had completely burned off showing the amount of heat he was emitting and a smile that matched Drew's was sketched on his face.
"Don't tell me your done already!" Brendan shouted in a loud tone his personality seemed to have completely changed.
It was obvious that one of the boy's arms were broken, but he seemed to have been ignoring it as he walked closer and closer to Stephen.
Steven gave a nervous chuckle. "I guess I should have expected this much…" he spoke disappointed in himself that he aloud himself to get over confident thus dulling his senses to notice Brendan's strength.
"Steven?! Are you alright?!" Cynthia screamed although she couldn't go help him as Drew began to pressure her even more.
Steven gave Cynthia a thumbs up although he didn't look towards her. He couldn't afford to give Brendan another opening. His flames were some of the strongest he had felt in a long time.
"Who are you..Why haven't I heard of you before?" Steven questioned hoping he could divulge a bit of information.
Brendan didn't reply however he just stood there as he let fire radiate from his body.
Steven just chuckled. "You look like the reincarnation of the devil boy…" Steven muttered causing Brendan to laugh.
"I guess you'll know for sure when you get to visit Hell yourself." Brendan countered as he watched Stephen struggle to his feet.
The silver haired general still couldn't comprehend how he had sustained so much damage from one attack. It was obvious he had to avoid any more direct hits.
Cynthia on the other hand was starting to realize that Drew matched all of the rumors about him. Even though he was so young he was showing he was fully capable in battle.
The blonde woman grunted as Drew delivered another powerful kick to her side. They had long since stopped using aura attacks since it was obvious they weren't working. Cynthia had believed that Drew wouldn't be as well versed as she was, but she was mistaken if anything Drew was even better at hand to hand combat than she.
Suddenly Cynthia felt her heart skip a beat. Drew seeing the opening quickly delivered a knee to her gut and grabbed her hair.
"Needle arm!" Drew suddenly shouted as spikes appeared on his fist and he slammed it into Cynthia's beautiful face.
Drew smirked as the girl flew off of the tree they had been fighting on. "I guess you felt the effects of my leech seed huh?! It can be pretty painful!" Drew taunted as he jumped down towards Cynthia.
The general was holding her face trying to calm herself down the pain was excruciating, but she would have to deal with it.
"Dragon pulse!" Cynthia screamed surprising Drew as he backed up barely managing to avoid the attack.
Cynthia quickly followed her attack as she stood up and ran towards the fleeing Drew. "Dragon rage!" She screamed as she released the powerful flames from her mouth.
"Shit! Energy Bomb!" Drew shouted as he summoned a green ball of energy and shot it to counter the powerful dragon type move.
Drew smirked happy that he had managed to par the attack, but his eyes widened as the blonde haired general came through the smoke.
"Dragon Rush!" Cynthia screamed as she slammed into Drew who had been unable to protect himself not expecting her to use three attacks in quick succession like she had.
Drew slammed into a tree causing it to fall causing even more damage to the revolutionary base, although it didn't really matter considering Brendan's earlier earthquake had pretty much destroyed the area that they were in.
"Draco Meteor!" Cynthia continued as she threw a ball into the sky which caused meteors to fly down from the sky attacking Drew.
Steven and Brendan both watched in amazement to use so many aura attacks in quick succession like that were only things a master of their element could pull off. Brendan's smirking face was long gone as he was worried about Drew's safety. Not only where those attacks thrown at him in such a short amount of time, but they were all powerful moves that could kill most people.
Cynthia breathed hard as closed her eyes. They were extremely heavy, but there was no way that Drew could have survived that. Her eyes snapped open as the smoke began to clear and she felt a familiar aura.
"How…Dare you.."
Drew struggled to stand up. His light armor was battered, his once handsome face was covered in blood, the smile that had graced his face many times during the fight was no longer there.
His eyes were dark. The eyes of a man who had faced death thousands of times.
His eyes showed that he wouldn't hesitate taking her life.
Cynthia didn't have the energy to be surprised as she just glared at the man.
"I'll kill you." Drew muttered his aura becoming visible.
"Cynthia!" Steven screamed as he knew she had to be extremely tired after attacking Drew like that. Brendan was quick to stop Steven from making any moves as he closed the distance between them forcing Steven to direct his attention to his opponent.
Drew began to walk slowly towards Cynthia. She didn't step back however, despite the fact that she was running low on aura she wasn't going to allow herself to show fear.
"Forest Curse…" Drew muttered.
Cynthia's eyes widened as the tree limbs suddenly grabbed her and held her up in the air by her arms.
"Wood hammer!" Drew shouted as he slammed his fist into Cynthia's gut he planned to kill her. Slowly.
Steven didn't have time to worry about his now weakened partner as he was now fighting a close battle with the fire/earth user.
"Agility!" Steven shouted as he suddenly split into 5.
Brendan calmly assessed the situation as he backed up.
"Hammer arm!" Steven shouted as all five of him ran towards Brendan.
Brendan waited until the absolute last moment until he saw which was the real one as he dodged the general.
"Flame Lance!" Brendan declared as he created his own attack as a spear made of fire appeared in his hand.
Steven who was now defenseless since his attack missed could only clench his teeth as the lance pierced his right shoulder.
Steven grabbed his shoulder in pain as the lance disappeared. "Fuck!" Steven screamed, it was becoming painfully obvious that they would not be able to win this fight. Cynthia was out of aura and he was badly burned and his shoulder had sustained a large wound.
"I guess I better end this.."
Steven's attention flew towards Drew as he had unsheathed his sword.
"I have to admit Cynthia! You have given me the best fight I've hand in a long time. You should feel proud." Drew muttered in a serious tone as he prepared to strike.
"Cynthia!" Steven screamed as he forced himself to get up and run towards the fight surprising Brendan.
Drew didn't notice as he swung his sword.
"Please make it!" Steven thought.
…
…
…
Cynthia's eyes widened.
Drew glared at the silver haired general standing in front of him.
"You.." Drew muttered as he looked at his sword that Steven was now holding inside his body not letting Drew pull it out.
Steven coughed up blood.
"Steven!" Cynthia shouted tears coming to her eyes.
"Cynthia! GET AWAY NOW!" Steven shouted his aura radiated causing the trees that were binding her to let go.
"YOU CAN NOT DIE HERE!" Steven continued.
Cynthia shook her head. "NO! I refuse I'm not abandoning you and everybody else!"
"Like I'd let you!" Brendan shouted as he ran towards the three.
Steven placed his hands on Drew's sword and lifted his body and kicked Drew's chest forcing him to pull the sword out.
"Psychic!" Steven shouted as he directed the attack towards Brendan in the same motion. He threw the boy's body as far as he could using the rest of his strength.
"Get out of here now!" Steven screamed now that he created an opening.
Cynthia knew she couldn't argue anymore since she knew if they both died here it would only be in vain.
"FUCK!" Cynthia screamed as she began to retreat as fast as she could.
"LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!" Steven screamed as his body fell to floor his life fading.
Cynthia clenched her eyes as she ran tears streaming down her face. She didn't want to run, but at this point there was nothing else she could do. "I promise your death won't be for nothing.." Cynthia muttered as she began to jump from tree to tree quickly opening a large gap between Drew and her.
"She's escaping…" Brendan muttered as he limped towards Drew. The last psychic attack doing a lot of damage.
"That's fine...I'm sure she understands.." Drew muttered he wasn't in any better condition. Fighting two generals proved to be extremely difficult.
Drew looked at the dead General laying in front of him. He couldn't help, but frown as he noticed the man was smiling.
"Let's go.." Drew muttered as he whistled for his Flygon to come down.
"You taking me?" A voice suddenly said.
Drew's eyes turned to see another white haired boy who had piercing red eyes. "And who are you?"
"I'm your spy.. My name is Pride.." The boy introduced as he bowed his eyes were cold.
Flashback during the General's fight
"Pride there you are!" Skyla screamed as she found her partner. "Come on we have to get this girl and anybody else to safety." Skyla continued not noticing the blank expression on Pride's face.
Skyla soon noticed that Pride hadn't moved. "What are you doing Pride?! Where being attacked by The Empire anybody who can protect themselves should be saving the residents of the base!" Skyla screamed getting a bit annoyed.
"Skyla…"
The red haired girl silenced as she heard Pride's voice. It was dark. She wasn't use to hearing it like that.
"Skyla…Join us." Pride spoke as he looked at the girl with a serious expression.
"What do you mean join us..?" Skyla questioned her heart beating rapidly as she backed up a bit not liking Pride's tone.
"The Empire obviously…" Pride stated. "Join us..I informed them where this base was…now let's get out of here. We'll be heroes." Pride tried to convince the girl as he went to put her hands on her shoulders
Skyla quickly slapped the boys hands away. "HAVE YOU GONE CRAZY?! THIS HAS TO BE SOME KIND OF JOKE! YOU CALLED THEM HERE?!" Skyla screamed her eyes showing rage. There was no way the Pride she had gotten so close to during the last few months would do something like this.
Pride stood still his expression not changing.
"Skyla.. I was never on the revolutionaries' side. Join me…I don't want to have to hurt you." Pride spoke.
Skyla gently put the girl down who had been unconscious on her back. "I can't believe you would do something like this…" Skyla muttered her body shaking. "I thought you wanted to stop The Empire! What about Ash?! What about Dawn?! What about our friends Pride you would just sell them out! LOOK AROUND YOU?!" Skyla shouted as she motioned for Pride to examine his surroundings.
Pride's eyes began to scan the area. The once beautiful base was pretty much a forest. Buildings had been destroyed and dead bodies were scattered everywhere.
"Your actions have killed so many! How can you be ok with this?!" Skyla questioned a few tears coming to her eyes as she thought about their training back at the rookie camp.
"Pride…How could you…" Skyla cried unable to keep her emotions in check.
The red eyed boy didn't answer her question.
"Skyla…You're the one person I want to save here…So come with me." Pride whispered.
"No."
"Excuse me?" Pride questioned a bit surprised at the girl's fast response.
Pride looked at the girl's arms they were still shaking, but small tornadoes now surrounded them.
"I'm going to kill you Pride…For all of the damage you've done here…For all of the people who have lost their lives because of you.." Skyla muttered her face stained with tears.
Pride looked at the girl. "You know you can't beat me Skyla…" he stated in a confident tone.
Skyla didn't reply. She instead opted to look at the girl she was carrying to safety with a sad smile. "I'm sorry..I don't think I'll be able to follow your order's Lt Brock." She muttered to herself.
"Skyla..You don't have to die here. Please—"Pride started.
The girl didn't let him finished as she suddenly rushed him.
Pride sighed as he easily dodged her attacks.
Skyla suddenly felt a sword pierce her chest. She knew there was a difference between her skill and Pride's, but she had never imagined it was this much.
Her eyes went up to meet Pride's as he withdrew his sword.
"To think I loved you…" Skyla muttered causing Pride to close his eyes not wanting to look at her dying expression. "Your pathetic..." Skyla said harshly.
"I wish I could live to see the moment when Ash ends The Empire's reign…But I'll be watching from wherever I go when I die…..I'll be waiting for the moment when Ash kills you with his sword… From the moment I saw him I knew he would be the one to change this world…You're going to die by his hand.." Skyla used her last breath giving Pride a mouthful.
Her body soon fell to the ground with a loud thud. Pride didn't say anything he just walked away.
Present Time
"Ah so you did survive. Good." Drew stated. "Look around. This is all thanks to you. I want to applaud you." Drew congratulated the boy.
"Thank you my Prince…" Pride replied not bothering to ask why he was so beat up as his eyes saw the dead silver haired man who had visited him at the rookie base.
Pride couldn't stop the memories of him and Pride listening to his and Brock's conversation and then getting in trouble about it. He and Skyla shared a few laughs about the situation later.
"Why are you crying?" Brendan suddenly questioned as he looked at the other white haired boy with a curious expression.
Pride slowly lifted his hands towards his face as he felt the tears. He quickly wiped them away. "It's nothing…"
Drew and Brendan just nodded not caring enough to keep asking. "Well let's go." Drew commanded as the three men got on Flygon and began the flight back to Pallet.
~xxxxx~
Brock had just finished getting the last few people out of harm's way. His eyes suddenly came to a red haired girl laying on the floor.
His heart pounded as he ran towards the girl. "Please don't tell me…" Brock thought as he got closer to the body.
"SKYLA!" Brock cried as he quickly got on his knees and felt for a pulse.
It was faint, but it was there.
"Skyla who did this?!" Brock asked in a frantic tone.
The girl talked softly. She didn't have the energy to even speak.
"P-Pp-Pride…" Skyla finally managed to get out as she coughed up blood. Brock didn't mind that blood had gotten on his hands as his eyes widened.
"Skyla, what about Pride? Is he hurt as well?" Brock questioned as he started scanning the area for Pride.
"No…He did this…He caused all of this…" Skyla managed tears coming to her eyes once again.
Brock was frozen at those words. "Skyla you must be mistaken….Pride would never…" Brock started.
Skyla weakly nodded. "I wish you were right…"
Brock clenched his eyes how could Pride kill his partner...How could he cause so much destruction to the revolution he had so much potential…
"Skyla…" Brock muttered
"Lt..Tell Dawn and Ash…..I'm sorry…I really wish I got to live to hang out with them again." Skyla started crying uncontrollably as it fully hit her that she was about to die. "I really wanted to change everything by their side..I'm so sorry…" Skyla cried causing Brock to hold her to his chest as he shed tears as well knowing there was nothing he could do to save the girl she had lost far to much blood.
As Brock took the girl away from his chest he closed his eyes as he noticed the girl had died. He gently laid her body down.
"Pride…How could you.." Brock muttered as he starred at the girl.
A Few days later With Ash and Company
"We should be reaching the base soon.. We should be able to start the evacuation services as soon as I talk with Steven and Cynthia.." Lance spoke completely oblivious to the destruction of their base.
"Yeah.." Ash replied he had gotten a bad feeling a day ago and felt like it somehow involved the base.
"What's wrong Ash?" May questioned noticing Ash's voice lacked his normal excited tone.
"I don't know…" Ash replied. "I just feel that something bad has happened.." He admitted.
Dawn nodded. "I know what you mean..."
Lance listened to the conversation. "Then let's hurry. If something has happened then we need to get their as quick as possible!" he shouted as the group began to run towards the base.
It only took a few more hours before the group arrived at the gate of the revolutionary base.
"…What is this?" Kenny muttered as he saw the huge amount of trees towering over the gate surrounding the base.
"Drew…" May muttered which everybody heard.
"God damn it! They already attacked!" Lance screamed as he ran into the base with Kenny and Barry following closely behind. The first person he spotted was Cynthia who was laid against a tree unconscious.
"Cynthia! Are you alive?!" Lance screamed in a frantic tone as he grabbed the woman's shoulders gently shaking her.
Cynthia slowly opened her eyes. "Lance.." The girl muttered. Her injuries from her fight with Drew were still fresh and were causing her an incredible amount of pain.
"What happened here?!" Lance asked already fearing the worse. It was rare that Cynthia was so injured.
"Oh my god.." Dawn muttered as May, her and Ash looked around the area.
"It was Drew…He and a white haired boy..They attacked.." Cynthia explained.
"It was just those two?!" Kenny questioned unable to believe it.
Cynthia nodded. "Yeah..They did all of this by themselves…Me and Steven went to stop them, but…" she explained before biting her lip as the memories crept up on her.
"Steven died in order to save my life…" Cynthia finally got out causing Lance's eyes to widen.
"Oi…Oi..Are you serious?! Steven was brought down?!" Lance screamed.
"No way…" Barry and Kenny muttered.
Ash and Dawn also heard the statement.
"What?" Ash questioned as he slowly approached Cynthia.
"What did you say happened to Steven?" Ash questioned his eyes trying to hide the pain, but failing miserably.
Cynthia just looked away.
Ash fell to his knees.
Dawn covered her mouth as a few tears came to her eyes.
Steven had made them into the people they were today if it wasn't for him Ash and Dawn would still be weak little children who were unable to defend themselves.
"There's no way…" Dawn muttered as she thought about their training in the forest Steven seemed so powerful how could he have been taken down.
"The death toll is pretty bad, but even more are injured...All of our fighters saved as many as they could… It's thanks to them that we avoided the worse possible outcome." Cynthia explained.
Suddenly a thought came to Ash's head. "Oi, Where is Lt Brock, Skyla and Pride?" Ash asked as he stood up.
Cynthia seemed to think for a few seconds.. "Well currently everybody who was injured are in the medical ward which somehow managed to avoid complete destruction… I remember Brock carrying a red haired girl there after the battle.." Cynthia explained as she pointed in the direction that the ward was located
Dawn and Ash immediately began running toward the direction Cynthia had pointed.
May was about to follow before Lance grabbed her arm. "Wait use this to hide your face..Now that The Empire has attacked we can't cause further confusion, by letting everybody see you." Lance told the girl as he took a hoodie out of his bag and handed it to May.
May nodded agreeing with Lance as she put the hoodie on and quickly ran after Ash and Dawn.
"Do I even want to know why the Princess is here?" Cynthia asked in a weak tone. Lance just nodded.
"It's a long story I'll explain eventually…"
~xxxxxx~
May soon came to the medical ward it was surrounded by trees, but amazingly it really had not been touched during the attack. The hooded girl ran through the ward until she saw Ash talking to a dark skinned man she slowly approached, but stopped as she listened to their conversation.
"Ash, Dawn is that's you?" Brock questioned
"Yeah…" They both answered.
Brock seemed to let out a sigh of relief. "Good…I was worried about you two…No information was revealed about your mission.."
Ash just nodded. "Brock…Where is Pride and Skyla."
Dawn noticed Brock's expression darken.
"Pride…He killed Skyla…"
May's eyes widened she didn't know who Skyla was, but she was obviously somebody important to both Ash and Dawn.
Ash suddenly punched the wall. "Damn it! How could he!" Ash yelled his aura becoming visible as his anger grew. "He didn't get enough by getting Gary killed, he had to go and get Steven, Skyla, and so many other people from the revolution killed!" Ash screamed punching the wall again.
Dawn had to sit down. "Skyla's dead…" She muttered as the memories of the sweet girl came to her head. "Why did she have to die…She did nothing wrong…" Dawn muttered as she used her hands to cover her eyes.
May could only watch her heart was turning.
Was she asking to much by asking for peace?
Was it impossible to achieve peace without fighting.
"May." Ash suddenly said bringing May out of her thoughts.
"I won't be able to keep my promise to you. I'm sorry…But I promise I'm going to kill them… Every single one of them." Ash stated in a dark tone his body shaking.
May couldn't even deny him. What right did she have to tell him not to. Drew and Pride had gotten everybody he loved killed.. May couldn't even begin to know what Ash was feeling right now.
Dawn rose her head and looked at Ash as she felt his anger.
"Ash." Dawn started.
"Don't try and stop me Dawn…I'll end all of this…I'll kill every single person in The Empire." Ash muttered causing May to clench her eyes.
She couldn't say anything. As much as she wanted peace it was becoming obvious they were going to have to kill in order to get it. Nothing was going to change until her brother was dead.
"Ash..I just want you to know…I will be right by your side to help you…" May finally muttered accepting that they were going to have do what she hated.
Dawn wiped the tears from her face. Now wasn't the time to cry..
Ash looked at May. "May…Are you sure we're going to be fighting you—" Ash started.
"No…" May interrupted. "Ash…My brother isn't going to stop…I understand that now..It was naive of me to believe we could stop him without killing…" May continued.
Ash looked at the girl before closing his eyes.
"Ash…We'll get him..We won't let Steven, Skyla, or Gary's death be in vain…" Dawn finally spoke as she finished drying her tears.
Ash just nodded.
Brock watched the situation. He didn't know who the hooded girl was, he heard her say one of the attackers where her brother, but that didn't tell him much.
"Skyla's last words were that she wanted to change the world with you two… The best way to avenge her will be fulfilling that dream." Brock informed the group.
"Yeah. We plan to." Ash stated in a serious tone having calmed his aura down.
Wow a very serious chapter. So many deaths. I really didn't want to kill off Skyla, because I enjoyed writing her character in the earlier chapters, but alas it was meant to be. I found myself tearing up as I wrote her death scene lol hahaha. Wild I be to caught up in my own imagination!
I hope I did a good job writing the fight scenes in this chapter and I hope that everything makes sense... I feel like I wrote this fast and it may seem rushed I don't know tell me if you think so.
Now that the revolutionary base is destroyed what will Ash's next move be?
It's obvious that they all need more strength, but where can they go to get it?
Find out in the next chapter!
Remember to Review! The more reviews the quicker the update!
I'll be updating this story after Chapter 3 of Pokemon Adventures comes out so you should all expect that!
VerifiedBreeze Signing out.