Chapter 25: the trials of Space.
Summary: facing her own trial Dusk must now find the answers that she seeks, with answers that will change her outlook on life.
Hilda landed with Hilbert following close behind, she looked around to see Paul and Greed opening a new path, Ï don't sense Ash, Salvia and Dusk at the summit," Hilda informed the rest of her allies, she looked up at the skies as the multiple colours lit up the sky, "I hope those three will be alright," Hilda whispered her concerns.
"Did you two get a look at what was going on at the summit?" Greed asked the Unova royals.
Hilbert and Hilda recalled their respective pokemon and turned their focus to their friends, "yeah, but it just seems like we were also falling into a trap," Hilbert replied with a worried expression, he looked up to the summit, 'man, I would have loved to have seen this region without this crap happening,' Hilbert thought to himself.
"So you two cannot provide air support?" Paul asked as he called out a brown pokemon with steel claws and hood, "I took the chance to visit your region a year ago, caught myself an Excadrill," Paul explained smirking at his powerful pokemon, "Excadrill, use Dig to create a tunnel for us," Paul instructed his pokemon, the powerful pokemon started spinning around and bored his way through the mountain.
"I will call the next pokemon Ampheros, use Flash," Hilda called for a large yellow pokemon with a red node at the end of her tail.
"We better hurry," Greed entered the newly forming cave, being followed by the electric pokemon as she radiated light from her tail, he pulled out a map and stared at it, "alright, judging from the map we still have a little while to go, Paul, tell your Excadril to increase the slant a little," Greed told his ally.
"Excadrill, increase the angle by about five degrees," Paul issued his command, he looked over to Greed who was nodding at the progress, "so how much further?" Paul asked the Shadow Lord.
"All we need is the time, the time only those three can give us, I also trust that Ash, Dusk and the Princess will make it out of this alive," Greed stated while walking through the cave.
"Why are you so sure of that?" Hilbert asked Greed.
"Simple, Dusk wants to prove everyone wrong, Salvia has to revive her kingdom and as for Ash….." Greed stopped at the trainer thinking back to the first time he met the trainer, the way he changed around the princess, "he wants to keep her safe, he will not die while Salvia remains in this world, something is driving him to live on and I think we all know who that person is," Greed explained the reasoning for Ash's fight against his fellow Shadow Lords.
"Yeah, I think we all know," Hilda replied with a smile, she looked over at Hilbert and nodded, "she is the reason for him to go forward, so I trust that he will forge his own road ahead with Slaiva," the brunette explained to the group, "plus he also has a rival to contend with," Hilda started laughing as the group looked back, "Dusk might not want to admit it, but she is also one of the best friends Ash has, almost like there is a sibling rivalry between them," Hilda told her friends as she remembered the time she read the mind of Dusk.
(In the space dimension)
Landing on one of the orbs Dusk scanned the area, "Shade, I know you're around, show yourself," Dusk called for the enemy, she spotted the man landing on another orb, "these orbs represent the planets of the galaxy right?" Dusk asked the Dark Aura Master.
"Correct, but this is where you will meet your end," Shade informed the young woman, he charged towards her confidently wanting to bring a quick end to their confrontation.
"Like hell that will happen so quickly," Dusk informed the Dark Aura Master, the two people rushed at one another with their fists glowing blue with Aura
Jumping from replica planets to replica planets, Dusk and Shade threw the first punches of the battle, causing powerful shockwaves to pulse out around them, as the explosive power emanated around them, a group of asteroids flew out towards the other planets in the surrounding area causing them to destroy the replica planets.
"Not bad Dusk," Shade landed on one of the asteroids, but before he could start he charge towards the Aura Master, he jumped in reaction to her next attack, landing on another rocky object he watched as the asteroid exploded sending debris towards the other objects in the space dimension, "wow, you aren't holding back," Shade started to tease his former ally.
"Oh I am holding back," Dusk admitted with a smirk, she stood up and glared at the Dark Aura Master, cracking her knuckles ready to start another attack, "how about you tell me the truth, or I will beat it out of you," Dusk threatened her former teammate.
"The truth? I don't think you will like it," Shade sneered at the bluenette.
Dusk jumped towards the remains of the asteroid and performed another smashing punch, "tell me now," Dusk growled at the young man.
"Are you sure?" Shade asked the Aura Master.
Not even wanting to wait for an answer, Dusk jumped up and surrounded her right leg with aura, she flew towards the asteroid and sent it plummeting towards the orb Shade was on, in shock Shade leapt out of the way as the object crashed through the replica planet he was on, "that is just a taste of what I am capable of," Dusk confessed with a confident smirk, she looked down at the Dark Aura Master who was gasping in fear.
"You see Dusk, you are nothing but a remnant of another person's aura," Shade informed the bluenette with a smirk, he started laughing while Dusk's rage started to build, "you are one half of Dawn, but I am guess you want to know where the other half come from, you are nothing but an aura being," Shade informed the Aura Master as he continued to taunt his former ally.
In shock at what she had heard Dusk's eyes widened, she clenched her fists and charged towards the Dark Aura Master, "you lie!" Dusk answered back, but was unable to control her anger enough before feeling her former ally tackled her towards one of the red orbs in the distance.
"Am I? It is really simple, everyone has an aura, even Dawn did," Shade started laughing at the Aura Master, "you see, you are able to control the nature of Aura, this is something weDark Aura Masters exploited from you," Shade informed the blue haired Aura Master, his smile broadened as he formed a ball of aura showing her an image, "you see, we were using you, we promised to tell you about your past, yet, you never had one," Shade explained to Dusk who was now visibly shaken in tears and angry at the same time
Before Shade could finish his explanation aura exploded from Dusk whose hair was waving around violently due to the power she was expelling, "shut up you bastard, I am me, a person, and I will rip you to shreds," Dusk snapped at the Dark Aura Master, seething with anger at the confession from her former ally, she used her aura to send out a powerful shockwave that sent planets and asteroids flying in every direction and crashing into one another.
"You were never meant to exist," Shade informed the young woman.
Her rage growing, she blindly charged at the Dark Aura Master, reckless in her approach, she formed a black ball of aura, "suffer in hell you bastard!" Dusk pushed the aura orb closer to her foe.
Shade leapt back easily evading the attack, "opps, you missed, want to try again?" Shade arrogantly asked the furious woman with a playful tone.
"Get back here you coward," Dusk screamed out her frustrations, she rushed at the Dark Aura Master, "I am not a remnant, but once I get my hands on you, I will snap that neck of yours," Dusk threatened her enemy, forming another black ball of aura, as she got closer a pink blade stopped her from charging, a powerful roar shock her to the core. Dusk looked around confused as to what was happening.
Shade turned around and noticed the stunned expression on his former ally's face, "I see, so it has arrived at long last, Palkia," Shade announced the arrival of a bipedal pokemon coloured mostly white with pink stripes and two pink spheres on the pokemon's shoulders, "or it seems like your rage was what called it in the first place," Shade informed the Aura Master, laughing at her as she looked up to see the legendary pokemon glaring at her.
Snapping out of her rage Dusk stepped back in shock, the pokemon glared down at her, the orbs glowing, 'oh man, I don't have the pokemon to fight against that…thing,' Dusk's eyes widened at the sight of the pokemon preparing a powerful attack.
"It seems like the courageous Dusk, is now scared of facing her demise, how odd for someone who isn't supposed to be alive," Shade started to taunt the young woman, laughing at her, "you experience anger, fear, too bad you don't even know what happiness is," Shade continued his mental games on the Aura Master.
"I am at my happiest when I physically destroy people, snapping their necks always makes me feel better," Dusk retorted with a bloodthirsty smile, she cracked her knuckles and started laughing at the Dark Aura Master, "breaking your neck will give me enough satisfaction that I might not ever need to do it again," Dusk stared at her enemy with a more than ready tone to make her next attack on the foe, not even caring about the intimidating pokemon standing in her way.
"Really? What about Palkia, it has been here for a moment, you brought it here and you still want to kill me? Good luck with that," Shade enquired as he looked up to the legendary pokemon and nodded at it to signal for an attack.
Palkia turned to Dusk and formed a powerful pink blade with its arm, the pokemon slashed at the bluenette, she jumped back but the shockwave caught her senind her flying back to one of the objects that remained in the area, "you see, even your friend isn't here to help you," Shade taunted the Aura Master as the pokemon readied itself for another attack on Dusk.
"I don't have any friends!" Dusk snapped back, leaping out of the way from the attack she landed on a sphere and stared at the powerful pokemon, she started panting, heeling herself at the same time, 'that pokemon is way too powerful,' Dusk cleared away some of the blood coming from the corner of her mouth.
"You will never get close to me, not with Palkia fighting for me," Shade jumped back as he looked up to the spatial pokemon, "use Hyper Beam," Shade instructed the large white and pink pokemon.
The powerful pokemon fired a powerful purple and black beam, Dusk spotted the attack and jumped out of the way, she watched as one of the planer replicas exploded, destroying surrounding spheres and asteroids
"Enough, you seriously think that this pokemon is enough to stop me from killing you?!" Dusk angrily asked her enemy, she rushed at him, not even caring about the presence of the spatial pokemon, gathering a certain amount of aura, she pushed it towards the Dark Aura Master, but as the sphere got closer, the enemy formed his own corrupted aura and pushed it into the incoming attack.
The two spheres exploded causing the two Aura Masters to slide back with Palkia watching, "not bad remnant, but still you are only using borrowed power," Shade informed the bluenette.
"Borrowed, fine, then I will use it the way it needs to be used, your death as well as the defeat of the Shadow Lords!" Dusk gritted her teeth, she clenched her hands tightly, focusing the aura into her fists, instead of the black aura she was using moments before a purple aura surrounded one fist while the standard blue aura, "your mind games end here, I have decided what I am going to do, I am going to live my own life!" Dusk declared her intentions to Shade, charging towards the enemy, with Palkia stopping her with a powerful attack, 'shit I forgot about Palkia,' Dusk thought to herself quickly evading the explosion from the landing attack from the space pokemon.
"What will you do remnant?" Shade continued to taunt the Dark Aura Master with a confident smirk.
"Call me remnant one more time, instead of snapping you neck, I will rip your head off your shoulders," Dusk angrily replied, moving her right thumb across her neck, "unlike Ash, I at least have a reason to kill you, all you bastards did was tell me it was my mission to kill him, so I adopted it as my only reason to exist," Dusk glared at the very confident enemy.
"Yes, you were an easy puppet, with no memories of your own, and only the memories of people you thought were a stranger to you as well as being an opposite of someone you look like, it was simple to bend your will," Shade informed the young Aura Master, who charged at the Dark Aura Master, punching him with all her might, "yes, let out all your rage, soon you will become exactly like me a Dark Aura Master, well, you have been on your way with that for the last month," Shade laughed at the woman's expense.
"No, I refuse to let you take advantage of me, I have told you, I am Dusk of the Sinnoh region, I will follow my own path, refusing to let destiny decide what I should do," Dusk rushed at her foe recklessly, she kicked the Dark Aura Master sending him flying towards the space pokemon.
"Gah, oh man, she kicks harder than she punches," Shade grabbed his side, "she even broke a few of my ribs with that, luckily I can recover quickly with my aura," Shade reminded himself of the power he possessed, placing his hand over the injury, heading to a safer location, but was dogged by a more powerful foe, not giving him the chance to recover, 'man, she is much stronger and persistent than I expectd," Shade tried his best to get away from Dusk.
"Like hell you will," Dusk snapped at the Dark Aura Master, she stormed at her foe without letting him have the chance to recover, "not even hiding behind Palkia will save you from my wrath," Dusk hollered at the enemy, she evaded a powerful attack from Palkia, knowing that it was defending the Dark Aura Master, "you coward Shade!" Dusk yelled out, she landed to the left then followed up with a charge surrounded by a bright blue aura.
Shade watched in fear as he felt a crushing finally land, breaking his right arm, screaming out in pain the Dark Aura Master fell to his knees grasping onto his broken arm.
Landing in front of her foe, she cracked her knuckles, she then turned her attention to Palkia and tilted her head, "is this the type of ally you really want?" Dusk asked the legendary pokemon, pointing at the injured foe, "this person you side with, he doesn't care about the Sinnoh Region, he only cares about destruction," Dusk explained to the legendary pokemon, she glared at the Dark Aura Master and waited for the powerful pokemon to attack her.
"Damn you Dusk, you will achieve nothing," Shade winced in pain, slowly getting to his feet, his right arm dangling down after the vicious kick from the former ally, "when it is all said and done, Arceus will be handed to the Shadow Lords," Shade laughed at the bluenette, informing her of the folly of her mission.
"Enough, you bastard, I am going to save Sinnoh, there is nothing even a god can do about it," Dusk leapt back after sensing the actions of the spatial pokemon, 'stupid Palkia getting in the way,' Dusk thought herself as she started to get ready to initiate another attack on the Dark Aura master.
The bipedal pokemon glared at the Aura Master and prepared to open up a portal, "hey, I am the one to tell you what to do!" Shade informed the powerful pokemon, Palkia, turned towards the Dark Aura Master and started to form a sphere around the enemy, "hey what the hell are you doing?" Shade asked the legendary pokemon, getting ready to break out of what would potentially be his new home.
'You are free to go, this Dark Aura Master will be imprisoned with his allies,' the legendary pokemon informed the Aura Master, allowing her to leave.
Dusk glanced at the Dark Aura Master and smiled at him, "I am better than you, I at least have…. Friends," Dusk turned away from the enemy as a bright white orb started to surround him, "being eternally imprisoned means you got lucky, I was about to use your head like a football," Dusk walked out of the dimension with a laugh, feeling like she missed out on her chance to kill her enemy.
"You said you had no friends, what is it Dusk?!" Shade questioned the Aura Master, Dusk continued towards the portal.
Dusk stopped and looked back at her former ally, with her new found happiness, "I choose not to admit it Dusk, but Ash is actually my best friend, not even he knows this," Dusk informed the person who was still yelling his taunts at the woman
After emerging from the dimension Dusk looked up to see Willow calling for the god pokemon, "I see you made it out alive, meaning Shade failed to live up to the standards I needed him to follow," Willow glanced over her right shoulder, "too bad the princess is nowhere near as strong as you or Ash, she will not make it out alive," the Dark Aura Master laughed at the foe, she returned her focus on the calling of the most powerful pokemon.
"Come down here," Dusk's demand fell on deaf ears as she looked up to see a hole in the sky forming, she felt the breath of a pokemon pushing her away, "no way, that was Arceus," Dusk noticed the cry of the pokemon, a shadow appeared as it crossed the hole causing her to gasp in fear, "that pokemon, it's massive," Dusk whispered but knew that there was no time to wait for Willow to finish the call of the pokemon.
"Alright, it seems like we are on time," a female voice celebrated, Dusk glanced over her right shoulder to see four people rushing up to the blue haired woman, "Dusk, it's good to see you again," Hilda called to her friend.
"Took your time," Dusk replied as she looked over to the prisoners, she rushed up to the people and used her aura to release them, "go, I don't need anything holding me back," she informed some of the people who were in the cages.
Hilda stared at the bluenette and smiled at her for a moment, 'she has changed, it is like she has become a different person,' the brunette thought to herself, almost proud of the Aura Master, 'she isn't some remnant, she is like everyone here,' Hilda told herself as she watched Paul and Greed leading the people away.
Greed glanced over his right shoulder and respectfully nodded at the Aura Master, 'she will not admit it, but she has someone she can consider her equal,' Greed noted the more confident expression on the woman, but also thought about her rivalry with Ash, 'those two are much stronger than anticipated,' Greed continued to think about his new friend's disposition.
"So Dusk, where is Shade?" Hilbert asked the bluentte calmly.
Dusk started laughing at the question, she looked at the sky and continued her laughter, "I broke his right arm, his ribs," Dusk explained her actions with clarity to her allies, "and now he has escaped my wrath by being imprisoned in the Space dimension for all eternity, seems like I need to injure someone," Dusk explained to Hilbert and Hilda with a hint of dissatisfaction at not hurting Shade anymore, she looked up to Willow with a bloodthirsty smile, "I think I will injure her, and since she had a part to play in using me, I am going to enjoy every second of it," Dusk openly admitted her intentions to her Unova friends.
"And if you cannot do what you want to do?" Hilda asked almost regretting her question.
"Then I will turn my fury on to Ash," Dusk retorted almost like she didn't care.
Hilda and Hilbert shook their heads in disbelief in the response, Hilda also spotted a cheeky smile coming from the Aura Master, "oh right, he is your rival and best friend," Hilda whispered to herself, but also knew that Dusk wasn't the person to mess with, she watched her friend, staring at the top of the building, "she is going to wait for Ash and Salvia to come back," Hilda continued to think aloud.
Paul was leading the people through the cave that his Excadrill made, he turned his attention to Greed who with a broad smile across his face, "what are you so happy about?" Paul asked his friend.
"My plan is a success, plus I can tell that our friend Dusk seems to have a slightly different outlook on life now," Greed replied with great joy.
"How so? It isn't like she respects her enemies or her friends," Paul enquired with a frown.
"No, she does have a friend, just one friend in this world," Greed educated his friend, looking at the ground he started laughing at what he knew would happen, "she would never admit to it, but like our friend from Unova said, Ash is really her best friend," Greed indicated the change to the Aura Master.
"So why doesn't she accept other people as her friends?" Paul asked the Shadow Lord.
"I have no idea, even Salvia isn't linked to Dusk on that level, just like how Ash and Salvia have their destinies intertwined," Greed explained to Paul as they continued to lead the people down towards the safety of the exit, "you know what I am talking about right? It is rather obvious to us all," Greed questioned the former rival of Ash.
"You mean, Ash and Salvia are in love, but those two are unaware of the feelings that they each have for eachother," Paul answered the Shadow Lord's question.
Greed nodded, but remained quiet from the purple haired rival, they continued to follow the path towards the town, "Paul we will be heading back, I think the people will be fine, the Shadow Lords will not be wasting their time," Greed stated calmly.
(In the time dimension)
Salvia was scanning the area, she started to feel the loneliness of time playing on her mind, she turned to one of the mysterious faces that appeared mere metres from her, "what is this?" Salvia asked herself as she gulped at seeing something that she had never seen before, she took a closer inspection and noticed a picture appearing on the clock face.
Hollow landed on the top of the clock, "this is the time dimension, what are you are seeing is different periods in time, I wonder, what does your past tell us?" Hollow asked the princess as she looked up at the powerful enemy.
"What are you asking me for, it isn't like it is important," Salvia asked the enemy with a determined expression.
Hollow leapt down as he landed behind the royal, "well, if that is the case, let's wind the clock forward a little bit," Hollow answered back, pushing the royal's face into the clock, "of course this place tells us everything, will you be alone for the rest of your life? Or will you find happiness?" Hollow continued to force Salvia into watching the time go forward, "either way, there is no chance of you making it of here alive," the Dark Aura Master informed the princess.
"That isn't for you to decide," Salvia whispered, trying to fight back against the strength of the Dark Aura Master, "the future isn't as easily predicted, that is something that I have learned from Ash," Salvia explained to Hollow, stepping on her enemy's toes forcing him to let go of her, she turned to face the foe, "you might be stronger than me, but that doesn't mean I will be giving up, not when I have decided my future," Salvia glared at te powerful man, informing him of her chosen path.
With her victory Dusk makes it back to her dimension with her own questions, but now the next part of the game continues for Ash and Salvia.
Next up Chapter 26: Trials of Time