Summary:

After Ash's loss, against Bianca's father, the young trainer returns to Pallet town. Afterwards he disappeared for three years without a trace, yet a mysterious Aura-Guardian appears and takes down Tema Rocket by himself. After this, he comes to Unova, trying to enter the league. What adventures will Kanto's Guardian face until he can take on the league-battles.

Pokémon doesn't belong to me.

R&R please.

Everyone stared in utter surprise at the Pokémon that had just burst through the door. "Mienfoo!", exclaimed every human in the room who knew the small fighting-type. Froslass, Pikachu and Axew face-palmed/pawed while Gardevoir smiled but rolled her red eyes. Lenora, Cheren, their Pokémon and Bianca simply stared at the small fighting type confused. Suddenly they heard gasping and then Lucario rushed through the door, stopping his run and leaning against the doorframe.

Some exclamations in Pokémon-Speech came from the fighting steel type, which Ash understood as: "Arceus help us. That small thing has endurance beyond belief!"

"Lucario why are you two here?", asked Cilan confused.

"Yeah, I thought Ash left you at the Pokémon-Centre to keep an eye on her", continued Iris.

Lucario growled shortly, before turning to Ash and lowering his head. "I'm sorry for failing in my task Master. Mienfoo wished to see the battle after seeing your training. I tried to hold her back, but she rushed out of the Centre by using Agility. I barely kept up." Ash frowned in thought. There were barely Pokémon who could outrun Lucario's speed. It was both impressive and frightening.

"It's alright Lucario. You did keep an eye on her after all…just not in the Pokémon Centre."

"Ash are those two your Pokémon?", asked Lenora and Cheren added: "And can that Lucario actually use telepathy?"

The teen resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the last statement, but caught a glance at Gardevoir, who did exactly that. "Well, Lucario is my Pokémon, but Mienfoo isn't. We found her in the forest, badly injured, and took her to the Pokémon Centre. And yes, Lucario is using telepathy. You heard him after all."

The gym leader and her apprentice nodded in understanding, then the referee asked: "Shall we continue this gym-battle or postpone it?" Lenora looked at Ash and Paul for answer. Both shared a glance, then nodded.

Directing his gaze to Lucario, Ash ordered: "Lucario, make sure Mienfoo stays out of this battle. She is still injured after all." The Aura-Pokémon nodded and walked up to Mienfoo, who stared up at him confused. Sighing he picked her up, much to her obvious dismay, and walked to Iris and Cilan. Ash suddenly saw something and muttered to Pikachu: "Buddy, see that bag Lucario carries?"

Pikachu tilted his head, then looked at Lucario, seeing that Ash was ride. A brown bag was slung over Lucario's shoulder.

"Pi!"

"Ask him what it is please. I doubt I can fully concentrate on the battle with not knowing that at least you know."

"Cha!"

With that the rodent leaped from Ash's shoulder and ran up to Lucario. "Alright, the battle continues!", shouted the referee.

"Gardevoir use Psybeam!"

"Since when can Gardevoir learn this?", asked Lenora surprised.

"They can't", answered Ash with a smug grin while Psybeam shot Tranquill from the air and right into Froslass Blizzard. "But mine is special."

"Aura?", muttered Paul before he shouted: "Froslass Double-Team and Blizzard!"

"Gardevoir power it up with Future-Sight!", shouted Ash before muttering back: "Just like my fighting-types learning Aura-Sphere, yeah." Gardevoir eyes shortly glowed red, that was it. A little after, Blizzard stopped and Froslass allowed her duplicates to disappear.

"How exactly did Future-Sight power up Blizzard now?", asked Bianca.

"Not at all actually, but it will help", answered Ash.

"Herdier Shadow-Ball!" "Tranquill Gust!" Gust sped up Shadow-Ball and it headed straight for Froslass before Paul even had time to take in what would happen. Ash sent out an order with his Aura swiftly. The attacks hit and Iris and Bianca shouted: "Froslass."

Everyone stared at the smoke-covered field and Ash found Lucario looking nervous as well. Then the smoke faded away and everyone but Ash and Lucario gasped. Gardevoir stood in front of Froslass, her back turned to the opponents.

"Gardevoir took Froslass' hit?!", exclaimed Iris in shock.

The Psychic-Type gasped heavily. She was well-trained, but taking this double-hit, and a ghost-type attack no less, had taken its toll on the brave Pokémon. Before anyone could shout out an attack, Ash called: "Gardevoir return for now." She nodded and walked over to her trainer, tumbling shortly when she reached Ash. The teen caught his Pokémon's arm and steadied her. "Are you sure you are alright? That you won't…", muttered the teen, making sure no one heard him. Gardevoir flashed him a weak smile and whispered back that she was alright. The teen nodded and let go of her arm. She walked on and took place little behind him.

Fiddling with his remaining two balls shortly, Ash chose one of his Pokémon and threw the ball. "Zorua let's do this!" The small Dark-Type appeared and took a battle-stance next to Froslass.

"Froslass use Blizzard once more!" "Zorua Faint-Attack into the Blizzard!"

While Blizzard once again forced against both opponent Pokémon, Zorua raced on and flickered out of sight the moment it reached Blizzard. Then Froslass let up on Blizzard, having Tranquill fall to the ground, beaten. Before the referee had time to react, Zorua appeared directly in front of Herdier and rammed into the dog-like Pokémon. It broke down too and the referee called: "Herdier and Tranquill are both unable to battle! The gym leader and her apprentice shall send out their next choices!"

Both recalled the beaten Pokémon and sent out new ones. Lenora had her Watchog and Cheren sent out Cinccino.

"Begin!"

"Watchog use Confuse Ray!" "Cinccino you use Focus Blast!" Both Pokémon got ready for their attacks, when Watchog suddenly grabbed his head and cried out in pain.

"Now Zorua use Faint-Attack again as long as Future-Sight affects it!" Zorua blurred out of sight and Paul shouted: "Froslass use Ice-Beam on Cinccino before it gets the chance to Power up Focus Blast!" Cinccino snapped back from staring at its battling partner in shock, to be hit with Ice-Beam. The small grey-furred Pokémon got thrown back by the force of the attack. Suddenly Watchog leaped up, having recovered from Future-Sight, to be met with Zorua's evil smirk.

"Pep it up with Fury Swipes!", ordered Ash. Zorua rammed against Watchog, just to dig its claws in the Pokémon's side. Then it pulled back and started to scratch Watchog like no tomorrow.

"Thunder!" Watchog got enough concentration for this attack and it hit both, Zorua and Froslass.

"Froslass return!", ordered Paul the moment the attack was over and his Ice-Ghost-Type got sucked out of the way of Cinccino's Hidden Power. "Now, Rufflet, go!" The small bird appeared and cried out in excitement.

"Cinccino use Hidden Power Once more!" "Watchog use Confuse Ray!"

"Zorua use Faint-Attack to dodge!" Rufflet ascend!"

Both Pokémon managed to dodge, just to have to continue doing exactly that. "With that fire Zorua can't get close enough for Faint-Attack." "Rufflet has nothing to get close either", growled Paul back. "RU!" Everyone looked up at Rufflet, who dived down suddenly. "Rufflet stop you…"

"Don't!", shouted Ash at Paul.

"Huh?"

"That's Aerial Ace", exclaimed Cilan from the side-lines.

"When did Rufflet learn that?", asked Iris.

"Probably while training with Swellow", answered Lucario.

Rufflet gathered speed at an alarming rate, then suddenly stopped his dive and shot straight forward, hitting Cinccino directly. The blasts of Hidden Power disappeared and Ash shouted: "Zorua Faint-Attack at Watchog!" Once again Zorua blurred out of sight, but this time Watchog seemed to be ready. The only thing it didn't think of, was that Zorua sometimes made its attacks more tricky by itself, so this time it reappeared behind Watchog before ramming it.

"Great! Now Zorua, Gardevoir switch!" In less than a second Zorua had returned to Ash's side and Gardevoir was back on the field. She still looked beaten up, but had a knowing smirk on her face. The Pokémon knew what her trainer was up to. "Keep them busy Paul", muttered Ash to the Sinnoh-Native.

"Oh with pleasure", answered Paul and shouted: "Rufflet continue with Aerial Ace. Hit them, but don't let them hit you!" Rufflet nodded and attacked once more.

"Alright, that buys us some time Gardevoir. Use Future-Sight two times. You know why." She nodded and her eyes flashed a brighter shade of red two times. "Switch again", ordered Ash, not being eager to see his loyal friend taking any more damage. Gardevoir and Zorua switched once more and Ash shouted: "Alright Zorua, time to call out the big guns. Use Dark-Pulse!"

"Rufflet ascend!", shouted Paul. Rufflet shot in the air, yet one Hidden Power sphere managed to hit his wing. "FLET!", cried the Pokémon out and swiftly returned to his trainers side of the battle field. He landed, giving his wing some time to recover. Dark-Pulse shot forward and hit Watchog, who got thrown against Cinccino.

"Zorua stop! Too much!", shouted Ash suddenly. The small Pokémon had shot the attack more powerful than he'd expected and collapsed together with their opponents.

"Well, that came unexpected", stated Iris.

"Actually it didn't", argued Lucario. He shook his head. "Zorua has always been quite a hothead."

"Zorua, Watchog and Cinccino are unable to battle! Call out your next Pokémon!"

"Rufflet take a rest…and good work." "Ru!", cheered Rufflet while he disappeared in his ball. Then everyone sent out their last Pokémon.

"Blastoise let's do this", shouted Ash. Paul followed swiftly and released Joltik.

"Stoutland I need you!", shouted Lenora and Cheren followed with a Bouffalant.

"Begin!", shouted the referee.

"Stoutland use Hyper-Beam!" "Bouffalant you use Giga-Impact!"

"Blastoise use Hydro Pump against that Hyper Beam!" "Joltik stop Bouffalant with Electro Web!"

Hydro Pump and Hyper-Beam met in the middle of the Arena, trying to overpower each other. Electro Web hit Bouffalant ran on. "Joltik run, you know where", shouted Paul. Joltik rushed off to Blastoise. Bouffalant ran after Joltik, when Cheren shouted: "Stop! It's a trap!" But too late. The bull-like Pokémon ran into Blastoise Hydro-Pump, which strengthened the electricity of Electro Web, and got pushed into Stoutland's Hyper Beam. The four colliding attacks exploded soundly and Cheren shouted for his Pokémon, which had gotten caught up in the middle. When the smoke disappeared, they found Bouffalant bruised and burned, but still standing.

"Stoutland attack with Superpower!", shouted Lenora. "Bouffalant you too!" Both got ready, just to suddenly wince back and cry out.

"Finally!", exclaimed Ash. He'd gotten impatient already. "Future-Sight, perfect. Blastoise use Rain Dance, let's go!" His faithful Kanto-Starter nodded and shot two big spheres of water from his canons. While the two normal-types finally shook Future-Sight off, it had started to rain in the arena. Ash nodded to Paul, who answered with a look that asked: "Are you sure?"

"Trust me", muttered Ash.

Paul nodded and shouted: "Alright Joltik use Thunderbolt!"

"But that will hurt Blastoise too", exclaimed Bianca, when Ash ordered: "Blastoise withdraw and then use Rapid Spin!" Blastoise nodded once more and disappeared in his shell, just when the electrical shock got released. The turtle started to spin around himself, effectively reflecting the dangerous attack. "Clever", commented Paul. "Thanks", answered Ash with a grin.

But the opponents weren't as lucky as Blastoise. Drenched from the rain, the two normal-types were hit even harder. The attack died down and everyone saw that Bouffalant had fainted, but Stoutland still stood. "Bouffalant is unable to battle!"

"You can have the honour of ending this", offered Ash.

Paul smirked and ordered: "Joltik Electro-Ball!" "JOLTIK!", shouted Joltik and suddenly burst out in white glowing. "It's evolving", exclaimed Bianca.

"Galvantula!", cried the Pokémon out once the evolution was finished. Ash pulled out his Pokédex. He barely needed it anymore, but there were still quite some Pokémon in Unova he didn't know. The Pokémon of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh he knew perfectly already. "Galvantula, the EleSpider Pokémon and the evolved form of Joltik. Galvantula attacks its prey by shooting electrically charged threads and its front mandibles can hold down opponents."

"GA!" Now Galvantula fired the Electro-Ball. Only it was four times bigger than the one it could fire as Joltik. The attack hit Stoutland and the Pokémon cried out in pain before it collapsed. "Stoutland is unable to battle. Both, Lenora and Cheren have no Pokémon left. The winners are Ash and Paul!"

Ash grinned widely and hugged Blastoise and Zorua, who was awake again. Gardevoir simply smiled at him. The teen would've hugged her too, but she barely allowed personal contact with anyone but her brother. It appeared wrong to her and Ash wasn't going to try to change that. Glancing left, Ash found that Paul had called Froslass and Rufflet out again as well. Smiling he watched how the Sinnoh-Native congratulated his team.

Then Lenora walked up to them, Cheren by her side. Both smiled widely.

"It's been so long since I actually had to use Stoutland in a battle", said the Gym-Leader with a sigh.

"Thank you for such an intense battle. It was a great challenge for me as well", said Cheren.

"It wasn't that easy for us either", argued Ash. "It's been long since Gardevoir took that many hits. Even in double battles." Gardevoir nodded. She was the only one of Ash's three telepaths who didn't reveal herself to everyone she met.

"Well, I am very happy to give these Basic Badges to you."