Chapter 36: Pride Fall.
The second to last chapter of this story it was meant to go to 38, but decided against it.
Salvia entered the room, it didn't seem empty, but she wasn't going to take too many chances, she looked around the corner to discover that one of the guards were coming back from their breaks, "you, what are you doing here?" the guard asked the bluenette. As he was approaching the princess he was frozen in place by a shadowy blob, "what happened?"
Salvia walked up to the console and started to hum, "oh that is my love's pokemon, he doesn't want any harm to come to me," Salvia answered, she peered back with a cheeky grin. With fear etched in his face, it was impossible to move, the guard looked down to see two massive red eyes staring at him, he felt the heat being drained from his body, "Gengar, let him go," Salvia ordered the ghostly pokemon.
Salvia approached the guard, she stared down at the guard, "now tell me, what button do I press to allow for my knight to come in?" Salvia demanded for an answer.
The guard struggled to get back to his feet, but he felt that the energy that was sapped seemed to have still be missing, "I am not betraying my king," the guard replied tiredly.
"I am the previous king's daughter," Salvia quickly snapped back, she turned to the console again. Salvia started to press some buttons, this action brought the alarms into action which caught the attention of the rest of the guards, "no, well how about I lock down every room in the palace so the other guards cannot get between Ash and our objective?" Salvia enquired as the guards on the screen started to panic.
"Stop," the security member raised his hand to reach out for the princess, Gengar got between Salvia and the guard, laughing at the man. The air around the security guard got even colder causing the guard to shiver until he was unconscious.
"Just like Ash, you overdid it," Salvia commented as she pressed the last button in sight.
Meanwhile, outside the palace gates, Ash ran up to the gates, his fists clenched and only one thing on his mind, his face seemed determined to get to Salvia as soon as he could, he watched in surprise as the gates seem to spring open, "what happened?" Ash asked with surprise, his started to chuckle at the surprising occurrence.
Picking up one of the pokeballs, he called out a blue and black fox like pokemon to prepare for battle, but before he got closer to the door he was surrounded by guards, they didn't appreciate his intrusion on palace grounds. Their presence didn't faze Ash, "you're in my way."
Ash started to glow blue, surrounded by a powerful aura that began to flare out, the guards stepped back in surprise, they couldn't understand what was happening, it defied their view of logic, "who are you?" the guards started to questioned the Aura Master.
"My name is Ash Ketchum," Ash introduced himself to the guards, but his focus remained on the door behind a group of guards, "I don't want to hurt you guys, just let me pass so I can get to Princess Salvia," Ash remarked in a cocky tone. Taking his first step in the battle a smile ran across his face.
"Why is he happy?" A commotion between the guards arose, they noticed the confidence in the raven haired man continued to rise.
Ash charged in and hit a few of the guards with lightning fast attacks, "because, I have chosen where I want to be!" Ash yelled out, loud enough for everyone in the palace to hear.
Salvia examined the area while Gengar prepared his ambush, Salvia pulled out the pokeball and threw it to the ground, "Gengar, you can go back to Ash now, I will make sure the rest of the Sinnoh Navy returns to the base," Salvia told the ghostly pokemon. She witnessed the powerful pokemon grabbing the pokeball then hovered out the open window.
Salvia exited the room and rushed down the hallway, 'there is only one part of the palace that can let me contact the military,' she thought to herself, before making it to the staircase a powerful explosion ripped through the building, rattling the building with such force, the princess lost her balance spraining her ankle at the same time. Salvia grasped her ankle in pain, her face winced as she tried to get back up, she fell to the ground with the pain shooting up her body.
"There she is, the prisoner!" a guard pointed towards the young royal. They stopped and called out two more fighting type pokemon, "surrender now,"
Salvia balanced herself on the wall and glared at the guards, a smile ran across her face, the bluenette held out a pokeball ready to face the foes in battle, "I am here to make sure Sinnoh isn't dragged into a war, Unova helped save this region, now it is my turn to return the favour," Salvia allowed her pokemon to re-enter the battle against the royal guards, "it won't be only Gardevoir, but also Togekiss!"
Salvia noticed the hesitation in the actions of the guards, feeling like something was wrong, she nodded at her two pokemon to signify for an attack on the opposing pokemon, 'something is amiss here,' the princess thought to herself, trying to figure out why the guards were betraying the last remaining royal family member of Sinnoh. "How about telling me where the people of the town are?" she suggested sternly.
Caught off guard by the suggestion, watching the princess limping towards them with a determined expression and hiding the pain that she was in, "we don't know," the guards retorted in fear.
"Oh, I think you do know, it's just that you are afraid of what might happen if you divulge the secret of the missing people," Salvia immediately saw through the hesitation of the guards, the royal noticed the shocked expression of the guards and shook her head, "I already know what has happened, Pride…" Salvia started the explanation but was soon interrupted by a sudden shaking of the building, she lost her balance and fell towards the wall.
The guards tried to maintain their balance but to little avail, the violent shaking brought the guards to their knees, "what happened?" They both asked in astonishment, trying to figure out where the violent shaking had originated from.
Salvia chuckled as the palace started to crumble around her, "it seems like Ash is over doing it," the princess picked herself up, reminding the royal guards what was really happening outside, she turned to her pokemon and nodded confidently, "push them back with Psychic," Salvia ordered her powerful Gardevoir, recommencing the battle before it was interrupted by Ash's rampage outside the palace.
A dominating wave of energy expelled outwards from Gardevoir, the shockwave pushed the walls of the hallway outwards as the opposing pokemon remained in the path of Salvia's attack, "no, use Protect," one of the guards commanded his fighting type pokemon.
Before the two enemy pokemon could form the barrier, they were slammed against the wall with incredible force, before the combatants could demand for another attack parts of the palace crumbled and the princess was forced to evade the falling rubble, knocking herself out in the process after hitting the wall just feet away after landing on her injured foot.
(Salvia's subconscious)
"You're getting as reckless as he is," a familiar voice echoed in the mind of the princess.
Salvia looked around until she eventually discovered a person that looked exactly like her, "am I?"
The blue haired female shook her head and smiled, "nope, just knocked out," the bluenette replied to the unfinished question.
"Where am I?" Salvia asked in confusion, looking up to see someone's hand reaching down towards her, she looked up again, this time seeing the familiar face, "L-lady Dawn?"
"Took your time," Dawn replied with a playful smirk. Dawn helped up her friend and stepped back slightly, "so where were you heading?" she asked her friend calmly.
"To the communications room to stop the rest of the Sinnoh Navy from starting all-out war," Salvia explained her intentions to Dawn. Her best friend shook her head as if to say it was an impossible task, "what is it?"
Dawn took a deep breath and showed a saddened expression, "I am afraid Ash is not the type to hold back," Dawn responded with a hint of pride.
"Oh I see, so he is being reckless," Salvia whispered to herself with contempt in Ash's actions, "he destroyed part of the palace, didn't he?" Salvia enquired, this prompted Dawn's spirit to nod.
"No need to worry, you can rebuild this palace right?" Dawn asked her best friend with an air of confidence, she started to fade away as Salvia started to wake up, "please make sure Ash doesn't dwell in the past, I don't want him beating himself up," Dawn made her request.
Salvia unsure of what her best friend was saying tilted her head, "does that mean you want me to…"
Dawn's face lit up as a large smile stretched out, "stay by his side and promise to love him for the rest of his life," Dawn finished her friend's sentence. Upon hearing the completion of the sentence Salvia's face started to heat up, a rather obvious blush appeared catching Dawn's attention, she giggled at her friend's obvious feelings for Ash, "I knew it," Dawn remarked with a teasing tone, she turned away to leave her friend to ponder about their meeting, "oh and before I go, you might want to find another way."
"Another way?" Salvia sounded puzzled by the finishing comment of her best friend, she witnesses her vanishing as she pondered the meaning of Dawn's comment.
after waking up Salvia sat up and spotted her concerned pokemon, they were helping her up, she looked around to see parts of the palace had fallen away. Salvia limped towards the edge of the remains of the palace, looking down to discover Ash being surrounded by what remained of the guards, him fighting to keep the region safe, she looked further down the path to find Pride was almost at the fight, she could barely make the smirk running across his face, but she had something else on her mind.
"Ash! I need to go somewhere!" Salvia called out.
With his attention directed at the princess he grabbed a pokeball and called out a large bird like pokemon, "Staraptor, give the princess all the help she needs!"
Upon calling the predator pokemon he flew up towards the princess. Salvia recalled her pokemon and waited for Ash's pokemon to be close enough, she looked back at the guards who were unconscious and defenceless, she stared at her pokeball and called out her Gardevoir, "teleport them to safety, all the guards," Salvia issued her command. The young royal braved the pain and leapt onto the mighty pokemon, flying away from the battle that was taking place.
"Flying away are we?" Pride asked with a malicious grin, he prepared to give chase but his path was quickly barred by Ash, "so you want to be the first to fall Aura Master?"
"You won't be hurting my princess," Ash confidently reminded the final enemy. He rushed in with his right fist raised.
Pride stood ready and calm, but before he could raise his own defences he felt a bone shattering punch slamming into his face, the heat of the aura burning parts of his skin, falling back and clutching his face the last remaining shadow lord glared at the Aura Master in anger, "how dare you!" Pride barked out furiously.
"I am going to shatter your pride," Ash declared, running towards the enemy, preparing to unleash another powerful punch.
Pride was quick to defend himself, but his cloak was burned away by the mass of aura that surrounded Ash, the skin of pride turned red from the vortex that was being created by the aura, Pride fell to the ground in pain, but before he could get back to his feet a forceful impact was pushed into the shadow lord's chest, he was sent rolling and reeling from the agony which felt much worse than it was when he fought Greed.
"Get back up, I am going to tear your pride to shreds, I want to enjoy this," Ash waited for Pride to get back to his feet. The instant Pride got back up he was trying to regain his balance from the debilitating attacks from the young Aura Master, he attacked once again without letting Pride have the chance to counter his vicious assault.
The guards watched in horror as their leader was rendered helpless by Ash's fury, "you fools destroy this guy!" Pride coughed out his commands as blood started to trickle down his arms.
"Do if you dare, I know you all don't want to, this bastard held everyone in town hostage, my rival will be saving those people soon," Ash declared with his focus still glued on the enemy, Ash rushed in again, this time kneeing Pride in the stomach, Ash clutched his hands together and slammed Pride as hard as he could, Ash leapt back after Pride swung at him with a knife that seemed to be hidden in his belt.
"How do you like it?" Pride enquired with a smug tone.
Ash grabbed his left arm as blood started to trickle down his arm, 'I was lucky I leapt back in time,' Ash breathed a sigh of relief, his attention was soon returning to Pride who was holding the razor sharp object in front of him, "coward, you knew you were being out matched and you are this desperate to bring a weapon into the fight," Ash growled at the powerful foe, he released his arm and prepared to continue the fight against him, he was soon surrounded by a blue aura as the guards watched on in fear.
"Who is this monster?" the guards asked in unison, their fear becoming more apparent.
"Fools, kill him already!" Pride yelled out his command in desperation.
"Don't throw away the lives of your men in a fight you started!" Ash berated the desperate enemy, he charged in again, he evaded Prides knife and grabbed the arm holding the blade, he looked up at Pride and smirked at him, "I hope you enjoy the pain," Ash whispered in Prides ear, he smashed the arm with a vicious chop.
"Ahhhhhhhh! my arm! you broke my arm!" Pride screamed out, a sharp pain shot through his body at the same time his weapon hit the ground.
"Your arm won't be the only this that becomes broken, I intend to break everything," Ash declared kicking Pride hard, seeing his teeth flying with the shadow lord still writhing in pain, Ash started to laugh as he was enjoying the punishing attacks on his enemy.
'Ash stop this!' A female voice echoed in his mind.
Stunned Ash looked around to find out where the voice came from, it sounded familiar but he showed confusion as the voice originated from nowhere, "who is this?" Ash whispered to himself.
'I knew you were hurting, but this is just sadistic, not like the person I loved,' the voice soon became apparent to Ash, reminding him that the way he was attacking Pride and his attitude towards the fight was not called for.
Ash closed his eyes and spotted Dawn standing there in the middle of a bright light, "D-Dawn, what are you doing here?" Ash enquired.
"I am disappointed in you Ash," Dawn confessed her disdain towards the young man's attitude, "first you beat yourself up, then you pick yourself up then fall back down, then you do this," Dawn informed Ash with tears rolling down her face, "that's totally out of character for you, you're better than this, revenge will not bring me back!" Dawn reminded the trainer as she walked up to Ash, raising her left hand slapping him as hard as possible.
Ash placed covered the point where he was slapped by Dawn's spirit, "why did you do that? What was that for?" Ash tried to figure out why the spirit of the person he loved had hit him.
"To bring some sense into you," Dawn snapped at the trainer, her eyes showing a sense of anger which was directed at the trainer, "I want you to go forward, don't make yourself out to be a monster," Dawn demanded she vanished leaving Ash to ponder his own fate. Waking up Ash was quick to see Pride charging with his knife in his right hand, he lowered his aura and elbowed Pride in the stomach.
"You little shit," Pride fell back, Ash stood up but was quick to leap back as Pride slashed at him, but was stopped in mid-air by some mysterious force, "what happened?" Pride felt the knife slipping from his grip, it hit the ground in front of Ash, as if to say it was his chance to end this conflict.
'Now Ash, there is no saving this monster,' Dawn reinforced Ash to attack.
Ash looked at the knife and hesitated, "I am not as strong as people think I am," Ash lamented his weakness to himself.
'That's fine Ash, I love you for who you are, not based on your strength,' Dawn informed Ash, she watched Ash charge in with the knife, plunging it into his chest, the Shadow Lord coughed out a load of blood as he fell to the ground, 'you did it,' the spirit watched the Shadow Lord dying in front of her.
Ash noticed the body of Pride vanishing, he fell back and looked up at the sky, a smile running across his face as he closed his eyes, he was soon met by Dawn in his mind, 'so Ash, when are you going to tell her?' she enquired gently.
"Why?" Ash asked softly, he raised his right hand to cusp Dawn's face, but it just phased through.
Dawn sat next to Ash and smiled, "you know something Ash, I don't regret saving you," Dawn reminded Ash of her sacrifice to save him.
"Why is that?" Ash questioned the spirit of the blunette.
Dawn looked down at Ash and smiled at him, she started fading from his subconscious, "I will love you always," Dawn replied, leaning down to come face to face with Ash. Dawn's spirit closed the distance with her hand caressing his face, "I don't want you living on something that was taken away from us," she informed Ash as the light in Ash's eyes started to brighten up, "live your life, share it with someone, don't close yourself off to the possibility of having someone you can love," Dawn continued to give Ash the confidence he needed to press on with his life.
"Dawn, I am sorry for everything, I should have been better, no more, I promise you Dawn I will live my life to the fullest, no more regrets," Ash apologized to his vanishing love, making a new promise to her. Before disappearing, Dawn leaned down further having her lips come in contact with Ash, 'Dawn this is goodbye,' Ash thought to himself with tears rolling down his face.
Dawn vanished for the last time, "don't be in such a hurry my love," Dawn's voice echoed filling Ash with more confidence.
Ash's eyes shot open, he felt a heavy weight lift off from him, he moved his right hand over his mouth, still thinking about Dawn's final kiss goodbye, "goodbye Dawn, and don't worry, I will not be in a hurry," Ash jumped up and started running to where Salvia was heading.
Meanwhile at the communication tower an exhausted Salvia was struggling to get to the radio, 'I will not give up,' Salvia thought to herself, she was panting her injuries were taking its toll on her, but she still braved on and eventually making it to the communication device, "this…..is Princess Salvia calling all ships!" Salvia called out to the navy that was out at sea.
"Princess Salvia, we thought you were dead," the commander replied.
Salvia cleared up the blood from her lip, "all ships are to turn back," Salvia ordered the naval commander.
"We are almost ready to attack," the commander replied, arguing with the young royal.
Salvia hit the desk with all her remaining strength, "that is an order, all forces are to turn back! This conflict is over!" Salvia yelled out in anger, trying her best to hold back the full extent of her anger, she tightened her grip on the radio, but was still getting tired, "please, by my right of succession, I order all ships to turn back, Unova is our ally, we are not to attack them," Salvia pleaded with the commander.
"Very well I will give the order for a full retreat," The commander agreed finally with the princess.
Salvia collapsed from the exhaustion, a smile on her face, 'finally it's over,' she thought to herself as she was succumbing to the exhaustion of the battle at the palace.
After about an hour Ash had arrived with the help of Staraptor, he entered the communication room, spotting the princess resting on the desk, "Salvia you did well," Ash approached her, an air of serenity filled the air, he kneeled down next to her and picked up the sleeping princess, carrying her out of the room.
"I did it, I stopped the remaining ships," Salvia started sleep talking.
Ash looked down and smiled at the royal, her face twitched as a blast of cool air blew passed the duo, 'man, she is so damn cute like this,' Ash thought to himself as he carried the young royal away from the base.
"Ash, please don't go anywhere, stay with me," Salvia's sleep talking continued much to the amazement of the young man carrying her.
"Sleep talking ha?" Ash started to chuckle at the princess who was just starting to confess even in her sleep, 'not even Dawn was sleep talking when she was around,' Ash thought to himself as Salvia continued to mutter random things in her sleep, such as her hunger and thirst, even going as far as commanding her pokemon in a contest battle and even mentioning Dawn. Ash was snickering knowing that he had something to embarrass Salvia with, 'oh the rest of our lives are going to be fun Salvia, I think I will get my chance to make fun of you about this,' Ash thought to himself with a cheeky grin.
(3 Days later)
Ash entered the room, Salvia was spending time in the room without anyone disturbing her, "oh Ash, it's great to see you, how have things been the last few days?" Salvia asked the aura master.
"So you're a sleep talker?" Ash chuckled at the princess.
Going red faced at the mere mention of sleep talking, Salvia turned away from the raven haired trainer, "I don't sleep talk," Salvia vehemently denied the claim.
"What's the matter?" Ash asked as he approached the bed, "I think it's kind of cute," Ash teased the princess, flicking her head with a hint of affection.
"Stop teasing me!" Salvia demanded, but even that demand fell on deaf ears.
"Oh look the sleep talker is awake at last," another female voice rang in the room, "Ash was talking about how you were sleep talking all the way to the hospital," Hilda started joking with her best friend, commenting on her adopted brother's conversations with her.
"Ash! That's not fair!" Salvia yelled at the trainer.
"Enough of the sleep talking non-sense, there are more important things to discuss, like…." Paul entered the room after listening to the discussion, "did I beat Ash in a battle in your sleep talking?" Paul asked the princess in hopes that he would get a favourable reply.
"In your dreams Paul, there is no way you can beat me in battle," Ash snarled at his friend, before Salvia could get a word in.
"Who's the one the dreaming now? I challenge you to face me at the Kalos League," Paul threw down the gauntlet for the new challenge against Ash.
"You're on," Ash answered the challenge.
"Hey guys can I please have some time alone, I need to rest still," Salvia requested her friends to leave, the group was just leaving, Ash made it to the door, "Ash can you stay for a moment, there is something I need to tell you," Salvia gulped nervously as she grasped the sheets, feeling her heart racing for a moment, "I am glad the real you has finally surfaced, I was afraid he was gone forever," Salvia professed her delight at the return of the genuine Ash's personality making a return, "I guess Dawn had something to do with it, didn't she?"
"Yeah, but we parted ways, I am going forward with my life, no point in looking backwards ever again," Ash explained his and Dawn's final farewell, "it was like a giant weight being lifted off of me," Ash stated calmly.
Salvia lowered her gaze at the blankets and started to weep feeling like Ash might still love Dawn, "that's great to hear."
"No matter how much I want to think about it, it will not bring back my family, going forward is my only choice," Ash informed the royal, she looked up at Ash and nodded in agreement, "and um….I would…..ahhhhh, ummmmmmm…..I would like it if you were there, because I-I….." Ash tried to say something, now his confidence was completely gone, even looking at the face of Salvia who was wondering what he was going to say.
Salvia slowly got out of the bed and immediately fell on Ash, her arms wrapped around the young man, catching him off guard, "I love you Ash," Salvia confessed to the young man.
Ash returned the hug, a smile crept across his face, "I love you too," Ash returned the confession, not realising that there were people watching from the doorway.
"Oh isn't that cute, my brother finally confesses his love to a princess," Hilda started to tease the Kanto native.
"You guys couldn't help it," Ash growled at his friends, but he didn't seem to be at all concerned, he was able to hold the princess in his arms without being worried about anything going wrong, "Salvia, I promise I will not be in a rush, I want to make you happy," Ash helped the princess back into her bed.
Salvia looked up at the trainer and smiled, she turned to the window and looked out, 'thank you Dawn, you helped Ash out again,' she silently thanked her best friend before falling asleep.
Next up the final epilogue chapter, hope you guys like it, since I have some big plans for the year, if I don't become a busy person that is, which has been happening a lot as of late.
Next up the epilogue chapter.
I have also got some other chapters of other stories done as well, but since I have been a little busy I haven't had much chances to work on them.