Book 2: Doors of Fate
A month has passed since the ending of Bonds of Amour, and Ash is finally ready to continue his journey through the Kalos Region, with Serena by his side to support him.Y has disappeared (or so they thought). As Ash and Serena travel Kalos, they learn the true ways to become a type-master, while also working their way to becoming a Pokémon Master and Kalos Queen respectively. However, they aren't quite done with school yet, and they'll have to see how things progress with an upcoming regional tournament that could change everything. How will Ash and Serena's relationship change as an affect of all of this?
Serena / January 3rd
Despite all the chaos going on in front of me, I was surprisingly relaxed. Gary, Clemont, Bonnie, and I were sat down on a picnic blanket, watching Ash trained his Frogadier - Froakie had evolved during a battle with Calem - against Anna's Zeraora, who had to have been holding back a lot.
"Don't you think you're working too hard?" I asked my boyfriend. "You should take a break"
"I can only seem to use Hidden Arts when I'm in a pitch" Ash sat down disappointingly and wiped sweat off of his forehead with a rag
"That's usually how they start" Anna nodded. "But it takes a lot of training to use them at will. You'll get there eventually though, I know it"
By now, the idea of a type-master had become worldwide news after Zack, who turned out to be the bug-type master, exposed everything. All type-masters in Kalos were then required to come forward and identity themselves, and we had a good idea of who was who:
Water: Ash
Steel: Calem
Electric: Anna
Bug: Zack
Dragon: Alain
Grass: Sawyer
Fairy: Me
In addition, it didn't take long for the dissapearences of X and Y to become worldwide news as well. After all, the two best trainers in the world had mysteriously vanished into thin air. Even we didn't know what happened - Anna and I were the only ones who remembered the events with Arceus, so my friends didn't either.
And because there was no one else around to train Ash and I, Anna took up the job, considering that she had been trained by the same person as X and Y, and was around the same skill level. None of us really missed X, but Y, who we now all knew was Jason, was a mystery that was unsolved in our friend group. Anna and I thought that Arceus had taken both the alternate Calem and Jason away, and that's why they vanished.
What we did have though, were Jason's Pokeballs, which Anna kept, along with the remains of the shattered staffs. There had been one Pokemon that none of us knew that he had, including Anna, and that was a Pokemon that Professor Sycamore identified as Coalossal, a fire-and-rock-type from Galar.
"You know, ever since Professor Sycamore announced that tournament, I think you've been working a little bit too hard Ash" Gary said. "You should be more like me, taking it chill and relaxing more often"
"Well my goal is to be able to use Hidden Arts by then" Ash replied. "That is, if we stand a chance"
"I think we should be fine. After all, we have three type-masters on my team, four if you include me" I said
"Speaking of having four type-masters, I wonder how Sawyer is doing with his grass-type training" Clemont said
"No clue" Ash shook his head. "I'll just have to test him out the next time we see him"
"Sawyer's a fast learner," Gary pointed out, "I wouldn't be surprised if he could already use Secret Arts as well"
A Pidgeot flew overheard, catching our attentions. It dropped a scroll of paper at my feet, and I quickly picked it up before the breeze could blow it away.
"Looks like we got some kind of message" I held it up
"I hope it's not more problems with the government" Anna sighed - it had taken a lot of explaining for people to understand that type-masters were not dangerous; at least not most of them
Opening up the scroll, it was some kind of emergency message. "It says:
Help need; requesting powerful trainers and type-masters. Meet me at the recently rebuilt cathedral, and more details will be given from there"
"Well, what's in it for us?" Gary questioned
"It's not about the reward, Gary" Ash stood up. "Someone needs our help"
"Never mind that, check it out" I pointed to the bottom of the paper and presented it to Gary
His eyes instantly lit up. "We have to go! Now!"
.
"You're awfully excited for someone who just wants the reward" Ash told Gary
"Please" He dismissed. "I want to help too, reward or not"
"Well you didn't really care until you saw one of the rewards was a Keystone" Ash pointed out
"What can I say? I really need one if I want to keep up with you" Gary said
After about twenty minutes of walking, we made it to the cathedral, which had been built to look exactly like it did before X and his Deoxys had destroyed it. On the steps sat a distressed old man, who had his head in his hands.
"Um, hello" I said
The old man looked up, and I told him that we had gotten his message, to which he visibly relaxed. We told him that Ash and I were the water and fairy-type masters respectively, but still in training, while Anna was the electric-type master.
"I'm so glad you came! It's terrible!" He explained. "My crops and fields have become overrun by wild Charizard who won't leave!"
"A horde of wild Charizard... sounds like a big problem" Anna said
"It is" the man nodded
"Then leave it to us" Ash assured. "Plus, this will be good training for Frogadier"
.
"Hey Anna," Ash said, "what are Secret God Arts anyways?"
The old man, named Mr. Olson, was currently leading us to his fields, where we would be in charge of getting rid of all of the wild Charizard that were running rampant. He had given us each fire-proof robes just in case, and I thought that the electric-yellow one Anna had been given matched well with her green hair and forest-green eyes.
Ash's was blue, and I thought it looked good on him too. I complimented him on it, and I thought it had been cute how he blushed at it.
"It's the most powerful kinds of moves that you can use" Anna answered. "They take a massive amount of energy though, and can cause fainting to both trainer and Pokemon if not used correctly"
"I've actually been keeping a list of all Hidden, Secret, and Secret God Arts, and what they do, but the one that always perplexed me the most was the Tower of Babel" Clemont said. "I still don't understand what that move does"
"Oh, you mean the one where the dragon opens up the sky?" Gary replied. "I don't get it either, but it's super cool"
"That's one of the most ancient moves known to man" Anna said. "Jason came up with the name of the move, because the original one isn't actually in English"
"The Tower of Babel... I feel like I've heard that somewhere before" I tried to remember
"I know what it is!" Bonnie exclaimed suddenly. "I learned about it in school. The Tower of Babel is the story that explains why we have so many different Pokemon types, instead of them all being just the normal-type"
"Along with God Sleeper, it's probably in the top five most powerful moves of all time" Anna added. "Though it only has a fifty percent chance of landing. Basically, you choose wether or not the dragon is real, and if the opponent guesses correctly, then the attack won't do any damage"
"I see" Clemont nodded understandingly. "That would explain a lot"
A couple of moments later, we finally made it to the field, and we were horrified to see all of what had been green grass turned into burnt, black, smoking grass. Charizard roared and flew rampantly in the sky, some even challenging each other to a duel. It looked more like the surrounding area of a volcano if anything.
"Totally underestimated how bad it was" I exhaled
"Stay back Bonnie" Clemont said. "We should take this on in pairs"
"Serena, you're with me" Ash decided, and I nodded
"That leaves you two" Anna told Gary and Clemont. "I should be fine on my own"
"Brains and brawn, this'll be an interesting combination" Gary grinned and pulled out a Pokeball
"Be safe. These Charizard know nothing but to rampage" Mr. Olson advised
We nodded and broke off into different directions, with Anna taking the middle, Gary and Clemont taking the right-side, and Ash and I going off to the left.
"I know this must be bothering you" I said
"It is" Ash admitted. "Why would wild Pokemon suddenly attack like this? It doesn't make any sense"
"Pika" Pikachu shook his head
"At any rate, we have to get rid of them" I reminded
"I know" Ash stopped and released Frogadier
Pulling out a Pokeball, I decided on using the Mawile I had caught a couple of weeks ago. The second I brought her out, a trio of Charizard turned their attention towards us.
"Frogadier, use Water Pulse!" Ash commanded
"Mawile, Hyper Beam!" I added
Frogadier put its hands together and its side and then launched a Water Pulse, while Mawile turned and shot a Hyper Beam from the big jaw on its back. The combined attacks hit the center Charizard, effectively hitting all of them and setting off an explosion.
"Do you think that was enough?" I asked
"I doubt it"
A strong gust of wind cleared all of the smoke, and the group of three Charizard erupted out. They all spewed a blast of fire, and Frogadier quickly reacted, stopping the attack with another Water Pulse.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt! Frogadier, use Cut!" Ash instructed
"Mawile, help them out with Shadow Ball!" I said
Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and into the air, shooting Thunderbolt and electrocuting one of the Charizard. Frogadier got a running start and jumped, slashing through the second Charizard while Mawile hit the third with Shadow Ball.
One of the Charizard's quickly retaliated, shaking off the damage and swooping down to smash its fist into the ground, sending Blast Burn right at us. Frogadier attempted to get out of the way, but was hit by the attack, which exploded against him.
"Mawile, use Fairy Wind!" I commanded
Turning back around, Mawile used Fairy Wind from its large back jaw, and the strong, pink gust of wind began to violently repel the three Charizard, who flapped their wings to try and stay put.
"Now Pikachu! Use Electro Ball!" Ash said
Pikachu jumped up and flipped, firing Electro Ball from its tail and hitting all three Charizard simultaneously. The smoke from Blast Burn cleared, and Frogadier fired two Water Pulse, one from each hand, that conjoined into a spiral of water that added on more damage.
"What was that?" Ash asked
"I'm pretty sure that was a Hidden Art!" I guessed enthusiastically
"In that case, good job Frogadier" Ash smiled and held a thumbs up
The three Charizard dropped to the ground, having fainted from all of the attacks. I noticed Ash's smile drop into a frown - he didn't like to hurt Pokemon, even if he absolutely had to.
"Are you alright?" I took his hand
"I wish there was another way we could do this" Ash said, staring off into the distance where electrical attacks were wildly dropping Charizard out of the air like flies
"They don't seem to be under any kind of mind control"
"I know that's what it looks like, but I just don't see any other reason for them to be out of control like this" Ash insisted
"It could be because of the Tower of Babel" Mr. Olson said from behind, walking up to us with a frightened looking Bonnie
"You mean that's real?" I asked
He nodded affirmatively. "Yes. In fact, by flying, it's not too far from here. After hearing what this young girl had to say, it's possible that these Charizard were simply trying to protect the tower, in their own twisted sense of justice"
"If that's the case, then heading over there might give us an idea at what's really going on here" Ash said
"It appears the others have finished subduing all of the Charizard" Mr. Olson pointed out. "This may give us the chance to check out the tower"
"It's our best bet" Ash agreed
