Episode 56: By the Sword 4
The final stage of the By the Sword saga, after the saga is done we will get into the really serious shit, the final stages of the battle for Unova and then back to the Master's Challenge.
Ash, Salvia and Madeline leapt onto a large white pokemon ready to leave for their next destination, the day after the powerful storm had passed and the battle had finished against three of the legendary swords, Ash looked back with a heavy weight still on his shoulder, he couldn't shrug this bad feeling, he knew something was up, but simply couldn't put it into words, he looked around the small town atop the vast white pokemon's back and thought about how he could have changed things, he didn't notice Salvia looking at him with a concerned expression, "come on guys we need to go," Ash quietly admitted before sitting down on the dragon's back.
'Reshiram, what do you think is wrong with Ash?' Salvia asked the mighty dragon.
'I am not sure, he hasn't even told me why he is feeling down,' Reshiram replied with equal concern.
Salvia and Madeline looked into one another's eyes with concern, "Salvia, Ash has been quiet, do you know what's going on?" Madeline asked the princess while flying through the bright blue sky. She looked over to her friend still unsure of what to think next.
"I am not sure Madeline, I am as concerned as you are," Salvia whispered, she looked up to Ash with the wind whipping her long blue hair around, she placed her right hand on her face to hold her hair back, it was then she remembered that Ash said someone's aura had vanished, 'someone's aura has vanished,' Salvia wondered before thinking about the possibility of someone having died in the battle, as the wind whipped her hair around, a cold chill ran down her spine, she began to shudder with the prospect of what might have been reality.
While flying through the air on the back of the large white legendary pokemon, Ash took the chance to look down to see the fighting continuing, he winced at the fact that he couldn't be there to help them, 'soon my friends I will be able to help you out,' the trainer thought with a grimace. Suddenly a powerful explosion rattled the area sending a shockwave in every direction, "no, I need to do something," Ash stated, he looked down to see part of the city decimated by powerful explosions, the Ferris Wheel had fallen to the ground.
Salvia noticed that her husband couldn't wait anymore, she knew that he wanted to get involved in the war, but she couldn't stop him from getting involved in the battle. "We need to get to Pledge Grove," Salvia reminded Ash.
The sound of the explosions continued to destroy parts of the city, it was then he noticed Dawn fighting two enemies at one, "Dawn, we need to help them, Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion can wait," Ash said before pointing over to the battle, "Reshiram, take us to the battle," Ash gave the command out to his legendary pokemon, the vast white pokemon nodded in approval and turned it's steely blue gaze to the battle, "give the enemy a Fusion Flare," the prince ordered his pokemon.
The large white pokemon lifted its head up and formed a ball of flames, the dragon shot the large sphere at the troops defending his allies, the dragon made it next to Dawn and roared at the enemies that were charging at them, Dawn looked up to see the dragon with great surprise, she then turned her attention to another two dragons that she was battling, "you will pay for what you did at the bridge!" Dawn decreed in a rage.
Ash looked down to see the angered bluenette, he knew something was up but couldn't ask what it was, he had no time to ask because there was a battle that needed to be won, in that moment Ash looked around to see if Paul was around, but he couldn't find him, he began to get worried, but also knew that Paul was severely injured from the last battle, 'I don't see Paul anywhere, it isn't like him to be hiding,' Ash wondered before returning his focus to the battle. Ash turned his gaze to the princess and then to the black haired girl, "Salvia, you take Madeline somewhere Safe, I will help Dawn out in this battle," Ash instructed the royal.
Salvia pushed Madeline to move her somewhere safe as the battle for Nimbasa City continued to rage on around them, "Ash, don't you dare lose!" Madeline yelled out with her fists clenched, Ash looked back and nodded, he turned his attention back to the two enemies in his way, "Reshiram are you ready?" Ash asked his legendary pokemon.
Dawn walked up to Ash's side more confident in working as a team with him, "it's been a while since we teamed up, time to show them the power of our team," Dawn remarked with a smirk, she grabbed one of her pokeballs and stood at the ready to face her foes.
"Did you forget what we did to your love on the bridge?" the red haired man asked the blue haired girl with a smirk.
"Yeah, maybe you should tell your friend before we destroy you in battle," the woman with blonde hair told the coordinator while sneering at her.
"Dawn? What happened?" Ash asked but Dawn wasn't interested in answering the question, she continued to glare at the foes that were standing in front of her, 'I have never seen her this focused before,' Ash thought with a concerned look in his eyes.
"I will tell you later Ash, but now it's time to crush these monsters, Mamoswine Spot light," Dawn called out a large brown quadruped pokemon with large tusks, "MamoSwine start this battle off with Blizzard," Dawn instructed with anger. The powerful pokemon roared out causing a cold blast of wind to head towards the two opposing dragons.
The air around Ash suddenly turned cold while he watched as the icy attack move quickly towards the dragons in the way, "Reshiram, use Dragon Pulse," Ash called out for the next attack.
The two attacks quickly moved towards the foes, but the enemies remained calm, "Fire Blast Hydreigon," the man called for the counter attack.
"Use Dragon Rage Haxorus," Amanda gave out her order.
The two attacks combined into one colliding with the attacks from Mamoswine and Reshiram, the four powerful attacks pushed back and forth while parts of the buildings started to crumble from the force of the attacks, the windows started shattering causing the shards to rain down on the street, eventually the attacks dissipated leaving a large crater in the middle of the street, the four pokemon got ready to attack again.
"Not bad, but still you two cannot beat us, even if you do have a legendary to help you," Trevor told the team of Ash and Dawn with a grin.
"Don't be so certain of that, Ash and I have only been beaten in team battles a couple of times," Dawn replied, gritting her teeth and glaring at her foes, her ice type pokemon started to push the dust away with its feet, lowering its tusks ready to charge towards the two dragons opposing the twin tusk pokemon, "I will not be denied of my revenge, Mamoswine attack with Ice Fang," Dawn instructed her pokemon in a rage.
The large brown pokemon's two tusks started to glow a bright blue before ice started to form on both tusks, the ice type charged towards two opposing pokemon, the charging rattled the buildings causing more cracks to appear, "Reshiram, back Mamoswine up with another Dragon Pulse," Ash gave out another of his instructions.
The dragon type lowered its head and unleased a powerful blast of energy, the powerful attack moved passed his team mate's pokemon and slammed into Hydreigon, the dark type fell back while Haxorus was hit by a mighty Ice Fang causing it to cry out in pain, the two pokemon crashed into a building knocking it down leaving the two opponents in shock at the sight of their pokemon taking the immense damage from the two attacks, "you two are to blame, now I will end you!" Dawn yelled out before being stopped by Ash, "Ash what are you doing?! These two are responsible for the death of Paul!"
Ash froze on the spot with his mouth agape, unable to believe what was just said, he couldn't move, "no, it can't be not my rival," Ash struggled to say, visibly shaken up from the revelation, ignoring the surrounding battle he started to shake with sadness, his body became numb from the words of Dawn, "we promised to battle in the Master's League," Ash said with a heavy feeling.
"You want to know something, his last words were sorry Ash and Dawn," Trevor told the trainer with a malicious smile, "so I take it you are the two people he was referring to," the red haired elite tormented the duo further.
Ash clenched his fists angrily and looked to the ground in a fury, his body started to glow a bright blue leaving Dawn in awe at what she was witnessing, "you murdered my rival and friend," Ash hissed angrily, he glared at the res haired man, his fury was starting to slip and his rage building.
"Trevor, I know you want to have fun, but this isn't the time and place, tormenting Paul's friends isn't our mission," Amanda stated with a frown before recalling her pokemon from the battle, she pulled out her next pokeball and called out a mostly brown pokemon with green wings, "we need our forces to pull back to Castelia City," Amanda stated while leaping onto her flying type pokemon.
"Wait what is your mission?!" Ash yelled out in hopes for an answer.
"You know the princess, well our mission is to make sure she doesn't leave Unova alive, the rest of you are just a bonus," Trevor told the prince with a dark grin.
Ash froze again after hearing the intentions of Chris, "no he means to dispose of Salvia," Ash whispered to himself while Dawn stood behind him with her mouth agape, "I will not allow it, you may have killed my friend, but I will not allow you to even lay a finger on my precious Salvia!" Ash declared while getting ready to run up to them, in that moment a hand grasped his left arm preventing him from chasing after them, Ash looked back to see Dawn crying, "Dawn, those bastards killed Paul, they want to murder Salvia, we can't allow that," Ash told the crying bluenette.
"I don't want to lose another loved one Ash, don't do anything reckless," Dawn cried while struggling to keep the prince from doing anything stupid, Ash looked away from Dawn slowly removing his arm from Dawn's grasp, "I know you're angry, but we know what they are intending and we can't allow it, you as her husband and me as your adopted sister," Dawn continued to cry, she looked up to see the deadly foes leaving the while Ash sadly watched the enemy forces leave, Dawn collapsed to the ground and breathed a sigh of relief, she looked up to Ash who still had his fist clenched, "I am sorry Ash, I just wish that there was something I could have done," Dawn lamented quietly.
Ash turned around with the blue aura disappearing around him, "I just don't know myself either," Ash commented sadly.
Salvia and Madeline ran up to Ash with pride seeing that the prince was safe and sound, Salvia looked into the trainer auburn eyes to see him seething with anger. It was then she noticed that something was wrong; she spotted Dawn getting back to her feet and approaching them, "what happened?" Salvia asked the duo with concern.
"We had a battle against two of your uncle's elites, a red haired male trainer and a blonde haired female trainer, both wearing a green royal suit and blue pants," Dawn replied much to Salvia surprise, "you know them?" Dawn asked quietly.
"Those two are the strongest in my uncle's forces, they…" Salvia trailed off and gulped for a moment. "Are the reason why my dad is so over protective of me," Salvia explained, she walked up to Ash and turned around to see her father approaching with Colin.
"But Salvia, I thought it was Alex that was the problem," Ash pointed out, the princess shook her head and glanced over her shoulder, "what Alex isn't the problem?" Ash questioned the princess.
"No Ash, he isn't, there is something you need to know about Alex," Salvia told the trainer guiltily.
Ash couldn't believe what was being told to him, for the first time it was Salvia hiding something from him, Ash turned Salvia around and placed his hands on her shoulders, he glared into her eyes, "what are you hiding Salvia?" Ash asked while feeling portrayed by his wife. Salvia looked away not wanting to face the angry trainer feeling ashamed of her deceit, "come Salvia you can tell me," Ash stated but Salvia didn't reply.
"Ash stop this, if Salvia doesn't want to tell you, then you cannot force her," Dawn reminded Ash while trying to calm him down, Madeline watched the situation unfold in front of her with fear, "plus you both are scaring Madeline," Dawn told the royal couple while pointing the black haired girl.
Colin finally took his time to approach them with equal guilt, "Ash, the thing about Alex, is that he is working for King Brian, he has been spying on Chris for the last four years gathering information for us," Colin professed with a frown while Ash turned around upset with what was being told of him, "we couldn't tell you everything in case it jeopardised Alex's mission," Colin stated while watching Ash call out his white dragon.
"Where is he now?" Ash asked while trying to remain calm.
"He is in Hoenn, trying to simmer the relations between Sinnoh and Hoenn, since he also knows of your marriage to Lady Salvia," Colin replied to his friend.
"This is just great I thought that after we deal with Chris," Ash started while walking towards his legendary pokemon, "Salvia, Madeline and me were going to travel through the next lot of regions peacefully, but I guess that is nothing but a pipe dream," Ash stated while jumping onto his legendary partner with Raichu watching him from Madeline's side.
"Ash, please settle down, I know you're upset but Colin and dad only did this to protect not only us but Alex as well," Salvia pleaded with Ash, she ran up to the legendary pokemon who refused to take off, even with Ash telling it to fly away, "Ash, I know you're angry, but there is no need to run away, I am sorry for hiding the truth from you, but it was necessary that Alex's mission was kept top secret," Salvia explained while more people gathered around to see Salvia trying to calm Ash down. Salvia grabbed a photo of her and Ash fishing for a pokemon near Lavender Town, "Alex wanted to make sure that the royal family understood the situation," Salvia tried explaining to Ash while placing her hand in her pocket.
"Salvia is right Ash, my brother had to make it believable or you two would face even more peril," Colin stated with a frown.
Ash looked down in shock, "what do you mean brother?" Ash asked Colin in disbelief.
"Alex is actually my twin brother Ash," Colin replied quietly, "you think you understand everything that is going on now, but in truth you only know parts of it," Colin explained while turning away from his friend to tend to the wounded soldiers, the royal guard looked towards the ground and clenched his fists, the wind started to pick up as parts of the city started to crumble around him, "Ash, I know it's hard to take in, even after you find out you lost your rival," Colin started while turning his gaze to the prince, "you're the crown prince of Sinnoh, I will do whatever it takes to make sure you and Salvia take the throne," Colin promised while walking through the rubble of the city.
Ash averted his gaze to the ruins of the city; the smouldering buildings appeared in every direction, the smoke billowing from the war ravaged city. "Come on Salvia and Madeline we still have stuff to do," Ash called over to his wife and Madeline, he watched the two climb on before looking over to Dawn. "Dawn, there is something I would like to ask you, but only after this war is over," Ash told his bluenette friend, he nodded to the dragon and took off to head to his next mission.
Dawn watched the mighty dragon leave the city with amazing speed, leaving her to wonder what Ash was going to ask her, 'what could it be?' Dawn wondered while looking back towards her friends who were getting ready to restart their campaign against the enemy forces, "come on guy's we need to make sure this city is rebuilt," Dawn told the soldiers as she took the lead. Dawn gazed over to the horizon where Ash was heading, 'come back safely Ash,' Dawn thoughtfully requested while trying to smile even after the loss of Paul.
Meanwhile after flying over the sea and into enemy territory Ash, Salvia and Madeline landed in the outskirts of a small farming town. The powerful dragon continued to fly around until they spotted a large green pokemon standing next to a proud blue pokemon and a grey pokemon with a much smaller cream and blue pokemon with an orange mane and a large blue horn. The three companions walked silently towards the four pokemon. The married couple ignored each other not saying a word which was worrying the little girl.
Madeline looked around to see the trees covering the field behind it and the four pokemon standing in front of the entrance, 'those two aren't talking,' Madeline thought with concern. The silence between them was starting to get unbearable, the black haired girl started to get frustrated after they reached the entrance to their destination.
Ash looked back to see his friend standing, "Madeline, are you alright?" Ash asked the little girl before she collapsed to the ground, after witnessing the little girl fall to the ground Ash ran up to her and placed his hand on her forehead, "oh man she has a fever," Ash said with concern picking up the little girl.
"Will she be alright?" Salvia asked her husband gently.
The two trainer's turned their gaze to the pokemon who had turned around, 'follow us, you will be able to make her the medicine she needs to make a full recovery,' Cobalion told the trainers.
Ash while carrying Madeline walked into the area with Salvia walking in behind him, "Salvia, I am sorry for doubting you and Colin," Ash apologised to his wife.
Salvia walked next to Ash and smiled at him, "you don't need to apologise my love, if anything it is me that needs to say sorry, I should have trusted you more and told you about Alex," Salvia replied. The princess turned her gaze to the little girl and nodded, "don't worry Ash, I will make her the medicine she needs, I learnt a fair bit while you were gone," Salvia explained again this time telling him about her ability to make medicine.
The duo stopped to see the legendary pokemon standing in front of them, 'alright you two, now we need to talk about something,' Cobalion told the trainers cooly.
Virizion walked around to stand just left of Ash while Terrakion stood to Salvia's right, 'you passed our tests in five weeks, but we each have a question for you,' Virizion explained while Ash placed Madeline on the ground.
"Before we do that," Ash started before watching his wife walking ahead of him.
Salvia looked back and nodded, "we need to get Madeline some medicine, would it be alright if I go ahead?" Salvia questioned the swords of justice.
'Fine, but you must go alone,' Cobalion told the princess calmly. Ash looked on in concern as the royal walked away, 'there is nothing to worry about, there is a special barrier that protects this place, no one enters unless we give them our permission,' Cobalion stated with a smile.
"So you knew that this place was protected all along," Ash enquired coldly. The three legendary pokemon nodded in unison while the colt pokemon walked over to the little girl to see if she was alright, "Keldeo, the colt pokemon," Ash recited the information from his pokedex, he watched the smaller pokemon switching its gaze to Ash.
Ash looked around for a moment to see the evergreen trees and the sweeping fields which looked unchanged for many years, 'this place has been protected by us for hundreds of years, we allow pokemon abused by humans in this place where we protect them,' Terrakion explained while the gentle breeze swept through the fields.
"So why have you allowed Salvia, Madeline and me in this place?" Ash asked the leader of the legendary pokemon.
Cobalion looked over to Ash and smiled at the trainer, 'because we sensed that you three had no intentions to exploit this place, we battled you to see what kind of trainers you were,' Cobalion retorted with pride. The pokemon walked to the left to show Ash a large rock. 'this rock was forged by us, when the time was right we would show it to the humans we trust,' Cobalion pointed out while the princess ran towards him with the medicinal herbs.
Salvia sat down and started to grind the herbs with the berries to make the medicine for Madeline, "sorry I took so long," Salvia apologised to the legendries and Ash.
'It's fine princess, we were just telling Ash about this place and we were about to tell you and him what you need to do next,' Virizion told the princess while turning its gaze to the rock.
"So you will help us?" Ash and Salvia asked the four pokemon with hope.
'I wanted to battle you but, I felt that my energy would be best put to use in helping you rid this region of your evil uncle, we have watched the war from afar and we fear what would happen if your friend's lose,' Keldeo explained with sorrow while walking away from the little girl. The colt pokemon walked towards Cobalion as the other two swords pokemon walked up to their partners, 'the truth is, we really don't like helping humans in their wars,' Keldeo remarked while the three larger pokemon glared at the duo.
"We understand, we have no intentions in letting the war continue, we want peace for everyone, people and pokemon," Ash replied with confidence.
"That's right, we really love this world, so my uncle taking over would be a travesty," Salvia acknowledged, she started walking over to Madeline and gave her the medicine, 'here Madeline, take this it will relieve you of the fever,' Salvia thought as she gave the girl her medicine.
"You only need to fight, just in this battle, we want Unova saved, people should travel with their pokemon and not worry about what horrors will befall them," Ash explained while standing his ground with the legendary pokemon, "I lost a friend and a rival because of this war, at first I thought revenge was the right way to go, but if I got revenge what would that make me?" Ash asked while staring at the ground with his fists clenched.
The four pokemon turned their gaze to one another and nodded, Cobalion walked up to Ash and smiled at him, 'congratulations, you have passed our test, we wanted to see what your resolve was like,' Cobalion replied to the trainer's declaration, the legendary pokemon looked back towards the other three pokemon and silently acknowledged the two trainers that had beaten them in battle.
"So what about Madeline?" Ash and Salvia asked at the same time, the two looked back with concern to see the young girl sleeping peacefully.
'Stay here until she is better, you can leave at any time, but we will help liberate Castelia City,' Terrakion instructed the duo with a smile, 'we protected this area on our own while you were battling us,' Terrakion stated while leaving the area with its partner pokemon.
Ash sat down and viewed the surrounding grove, the winds sweeping though the grassy area swaying the trees, "why can't the world be like this?" Ash asked serenely while moving aside to let Salvia sit next to him, he looked up to see the clouds peacefully moving across the bright blue canvas, he placed his hands on the ground next to him so he could keep balance and feeling the gentle blades of grass between his fingers.
Salvia leant back and allowed her hair to whip around freely in the gentle breeze, "I agree, this place is so peaceful, but the world outside is such a mess," Salvia replied to Ash while moving her right hand towards Ash's left hand. After a few anxious seconds her hand was overlapping his and her fingers between his, the two looked towards one another with a smile, "we haven't had a moment's peace, our journey has been put on hold, but I would love to continue our journey once we defeat my uncle," Salvia requested with a smile.
Ash nodded and thought about Paul who had fallen in the war, "I will not let my rival down," Ash declared while grasping the princess's hand, 'but then there is my mother, how do I battle her when I am supposed to save her?' Ash wondered while thinking about the upcoming battle. Ash looked over to the princess with a worried expression and started to think about the two people he faced in Nimbasa City, they were ruthless and had no interest in the safety of their own soldier, "who were those two?" Ash asked out loud.
"Trevor and Amanda, they are both powerful trainers, more powerful than Alex," Salvia replied silently, "they were trained to seek their target and I have been their target for a few years now," Salvia explained with fear. "Alex told Colin that, if Chris failed to become king, he would force it on my father by pulling two trump cards they are one of them and forced marriage being the other," Salvia stated with a sigh.
"So he has brought the big guns," Ash openly stated with concern. Salvia nodded sadly knowing that things were about to get worse for the both of them, Ash looked back as Madeline continued to rest peacefully, Ash pulled out his sleeping bag from his bag and placed it on the sleeping girl, "if things are as bad as you say they are, it would be best to keep her here," Ash submissively stated concerned for the little girl.
"I don't think that would be a good idea, she wouldn't forgive us if we left her alone," Salvia retorted to Ash's decree. "By the way Ash, what are you going to ask Dawn?" Salvia questioned Ash with a perplexed expression.
"I was thinking if she would want to be your bridesmaid when we retake our vows with our friends as witnesses," Ash replied calmly.
"There is more to it Ash I know there is, you and Dawn are like siblings," Salvia commented on her husband's bond with Dawn, Ash nodded not denying the fact that there was something he was hiding.
Ash looked up and smiled for a moment, "it's nothing Salvia, I was just thinking about employing her to work for the royal family, to teach Madeline about Pokemon Contests since Madeline does want to follow our paths at the same time," Ash commented while scratching the back of his head.
"Ash, I am sure she would want to continue her journey, so holding her back wouldn't be fair," Salvia wisely told Ash.
"See I told you it was stupid," Ash commented passively, "you're right, but I just feel like that when my master's challenge is over, I have nothing strive for," Ash explained with sadness. "I promised that your next journey will be in another region," Ash told his wife quietly but was still feeling like he was missing out.
Salvia noticed his sadness and leaned in, she pressed her gentle lips against Ash before pulling away, a smile appeared on his face while Salvia placed her hand on his face, "where is your confidence Ash? Don't tell me you left in Lucanosa Town," Salvia teased Ash with a cheeky grin.
Ash chuckled knowing that Salvia was starting to become bolder about her actions, "hey wait for your eighteenth," Ash joked before he was pushed to the ground by the royal.
"With that sense of humour, you can wait forever now," Salvia replied before falling to the ground to watch the clouds roll by.
The final stages of the conflict for Unova is about to begin, new revelations revealed that will change the landscape of the conflict.
The next one will be after a week has passed and leaving only a few weeks before Ash's next Birthday as well. At the end of this saga there will be something massive happening. What it will be, well I think you will find that it will be the worst kept secret.
Next time: episode 57 The battle of legends
No one has guess who will make a return yet, well the return will be Mewtwo in a battle against Darkrai