A/N:
So, I started the next chapter a few days after posting chapter 25, so let's see how long it takes me to finish it. I don't have any reviews that I feel I need to answer this time, so I'll just get right into the chapter.
I do want to point out that I am halfway going with the layout of Sinnoh in the games, though I guess not fully. Just wanted to let you know that, in case someone wondered about that.
On to the chapter!
Glacial Prehistoric Preservation?
The trio of Pokémon shocked the five Trainers beyond belief, one Dragon-type was rare enough but two of them along with a prehistoric Pokémon? What exactly was going on, and how come they looked so injured? Several options raced through Ash's head, most of which were either bad or catastrophic. Before any of them had much time to react the trio of Pokémon sprang out from the hole just as a large spray of icy water sprayed out like a geyser of ice.
-Whatever is hunting them clearly isn't a poacher, a poacher wouldn't risk hurting them tat much. At the same time, it is clearly an Ice-type and a powerful one at that, Ash considered, his mind racing.
From the icy spire reaching for the sky, shone a pair of gleaming cyan eyes. Nearly imperceptible to the eyes of humans due to them being nearly the same color as the ice itself, the only one who managed to catch a glimpse of them was Ash. His eyes widened and he immediately sprang into action, not having the time to even issue a command. The spear-like projection of an Ice Beam shot toward the Dragon-types at immense speed, only stopping as it slammed into Ash.
The Dragon-types watched in shock as he took the super effective attack for them, screaming as the burning sensation of biting cold spread over his back. Seconds later the Ice-type fled at high speed, as a furious Pikachu attacked with all its might. The immense electrical streams shrieked across the ear, creating an ear-splitting cacophony that drowned almost everything else. Almost.
"Enough, Pikachu!" Ash roared, his voice brokering no question and the unmistakable authority of command immediately halted Pikachu in his tracks. Turning around and showing his frosted back to the Dragon-types, Ash caught a slight glimpse of the Ice-type glaring at him before it melted into the ice and disappeared the same way it had come. Ash gritted his teeth, his back straining against the frost.
"Are you alright?" he asked, smiling gently at the wounded and scared Pokémon. The Pokémon stared at him, disbelief clear in their eyes at the human caring more for them than himself. The Tyrunt stepped closer to Ash, its fang suddenly ablaze with Fire Fang. Believing the prehistoric Pokémon to be attacking, Pikachu almost attacked but stopped at the last moment. The small prehistoric Pokémon had apparently dealt with similar Ice attacks before because it didn't bite Ash but simply held the fiery jaws close to Ash's back. Slowly the frost receded from his back, leaving the now exposed skin a bright red almost as if it had been burnt.
"Are you alright Ash? That seems to be a rather serious injury," Brock asked, slowly making his way over trying not to spook the new arrivals.
"I've been better, but it's alright since these guys are good," Ash answered, though he had to grit his teeth as fabric brushed against his badly injured back. Dawn had calmly made her way over to the Dratini and was currently holding the serpent in her lap stroking it as it shook in relief. After all these humans were friends of the one that had just taken an Ice Beam for them, they had to be safe as well. The Gible was still somewhat distrusting, standing protectively in front of the egg.
"No need to worry so much little one," Ash spoke quietly, holding his hand forward in a non-threatening position. The Gible looked warily at him, before picking up the egg and carefully sniffing his hand. Rubbing against Ash's hand the Gible's rough skin almost opened a string of rough incisions in his palm. Even so, Ash kept a smile on his face and gently continued to rub the Pokémon's head. Behind Ash's back, Brock signaled Tyrunt to stop the Fire Fang and got his backpack out.
"Honestly, Ash. Could you be any more reckless?" he stated, as he withdrew a flask of cream from his bag with a homemade sticker simply reading 'Burns'. He carefully applied the burn cream to Ash's back, trying to get every part of the burn while not causing Ash more pain than necessary.
"Are you sure that you can use that cream on ice burns, Brock?" Dawn asked, looking up from Dratini with a concerned expression on her face. Even as she watched her boyfriend be treated by their friend, she kept absentmindedly petting the Dratini who had curled up in her lap contently.
"This cream is meant to be multipurpose, for both regular burns and frost burns," Brock answered, rummaging around in his bag for bandages to keep Ash's back protected. Upon finding what he was looking for he gently wrapped Ash's upper body in bandages, even going over the shoulders as the burn had gotten all the way up to his neck.
The wind blew gently across the plateau, slightly chilling as the icy pillar lowered the air temperature noticeably. -They were being hunted by that Ice-type, but what for?, Ash thought. Deciding that he would simply ask, he patted the Gible consoling on the head as he opened his mouth.
"Hey little guy, why would that Ice-type be hunting you?" he asked, pulling the Gible and the egg into his lap as he did. While he was trying to understand what the Gible was trying to tell him, Brock was checking the Tyrunt for any injuries he could help with. The two Dragon Wardens who had till this point been completely forgotten finally interacted with the trio of companions.
"My apologies but we seemed to have been slightly forgotten," the black-streaked blonde stated with a slightly cautious smile on her lips. Her eyes were gentle, and she didn't seem tense, almost as if she were certain no harm would befall her at the moment. She was seated by the green and grey colored lizard with what looked like blades coming out of its mouth, one of the Pokémon Ash hadn't recognized earlier. The raven-haired woman with scarlet streaks giggled, holding a hand daintily over her mouth.
"We can't exactly fault them for that, Guinevere. We weren't exactly introduced properly, and one of us was just arrested," the raven-haired woman spoke to her blonde friend. She flipped her hair over her ear, and smirked slightly before she continued, "So we should probably fix that first, right?"
Her companion laughed lightly, nodding along. "I suppose we should at that," she answered audibly. Turning to the trio again, she cocked her head to the side looking rather cute. "I'm Guinevere, though you probably heard. I'm the youngest of the Mt. Coronet Dragon Wardens," she continued sweetly.
The raven-haired woman smiled, as a slight gust of wind ruffled her hair. "And I'm Morgana, I was the second-in-command of the Wardens. I guess we have to return to the settlement and report though since Merlin betrayed us and got arrested."
"Shouldn't we help with this first?" Guinevere asked, clearly confused. She had an eyebrow raised and looked at Morgana with her head cocked to the side and a pout on her lips. Her Pokémon nodded along in support of its trainer, clearly it had no intention of leaving this unresolved. The question, and actions, of the younger pair, brought a genuine smile to Morgana's face, her Flygon chittering in amused laughter beside her.
"Yes, Guinevere, we're helping them first," Morgana answered her easily, stroking her younger companion's long hair. "Why don't you start by translating? You were entered into the Wardens early because you can speak to Dragon-types after all," she continued, shocking Ash and the others.
"You can speak to Dragon-types? Like fully understand them?" Ash asked, his shock showing clearly on his face. He knew that there were people around that were full in tune with their chosen type, but he had never met one. He knew how they could translate Pokéspeech too, though he never understood how to learn the specific skill needed. Quite frankly he was lucky that Professor Oak had any books on the subject at all, as the skill was supposedly a fiercely guarded secret by the organization that employed it. "You're a Dragon Aura Reader, aren't you?" he asked, as his mind caught up with the situation. Learning Aura outside the Aura Guardians was almost impossible, but one could be born as an Aura Reader. Capable of fully understanding one type of Pokémon instinctively, but not capable of learning broader Aura abilities because of it.
"Yup, been one since birth. Obviously," Guinevere answered, blowing him a raspberry with a smile on her face. Apparently, the young woman had quite the childish streak when she wasn't in a serious situation. Even though Guinevere was joking with them, Morgana had an expression of disbelief flash over her face before it turned to vexation.
"How exactly do you know of Aura Readers?" she asked a fierce gleam in her eyes, and a hand reaching for another Pokéball. "That knowledge, and the knowledge of Aura in general, is…" she started accusing, only for Ash to cut her off.
"I'm fully aware that Aura is a closely guarded secret, shared only between the Aura Guardians. I guess the Dragon Wardens are a specialized form of Aura Guardians? Whatever, I know because I read about it, it's not as if I know a lot about it. Hell, the information I got to read wasn't even confirmed, before I just got confirmation now," Ash spoke, his voice harsh and his eyes glaring at the woman. "I'm not in the mood to be accused, or yelled at." His voice was firm, and the expression on his face was stern.
The harsh rebuttal, coupled with Ash's choice of words, completely caught Morgana off guard and put her on the defensive. She hadn't expected Ash to counter her like that, though she had to know who had reading material on Aura as even the Elite Trainers of the world weren't told unless they had shown the ability to use Aura themselves.
"Alright, I apologize," she put her hands up trying to placate the irate trainer. "But I do want to know where you read about Aura, that knowledge isn't supposed to be floating around." Morgana was a lot more careful with how she spoke, not wanting to annoy the young trainer further.
"It was an old book in Professor Oak's library, I found by accident. It seemed forgotten at the far back of his library," Ash answered, more at ease but still somewhat annoyed. That seemed to ease Morgana's worries quite a bit, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"If it's with one of the regional professors who have it, the information should be rather safe," she spoke, relief evident in her voice. Her smile returned to her face, while the wind picked up slightly around them. "Then should we get the full story from our little friends? We might need the information if we are to help them after all," her voice was gentle, even if her facial expression was rather stoic as she said it.
Ash nodded, rubbing one hand over Gible's back and the other over the egg that he had in his lap. The trees covering the edges of the plateau creaked with a renewed gale of wind, a soft smell of growing wildflowers flowing into the area. The frosty and clear air at the plateau stung as the humans breathed in the cold, though it also made the scents even stronger.
A groaning noise suddenly reverberated throughout the plateau, causing all of the gathered humans to turn towards the pillar of ice. Cracks were shooting up the length of the pillar, before a large cracking sound burst out and the pillar cracked into pieces falling towards the gathered group. The three females shrieked in fear, and Brock tried shielding Tyrunt with his own body. The trio of wild Pokémon was wide-eyed in fear, cowering along with the humans that they were closest to.
"Pikachu use Thunderbolt, full power," Ash stated simply, not concerned in the least. The enormous amount of energy that was discharged from the small Pokémon blinded anyone that looked at it, but the primary effect it brought was an immense heat. Within moments the ice shards that had fallen towards the group had turned to water, and then mostly evaporated. A few sparse droplets of water fell at the gathered group, almost as if it was the last few drops of a rain shower that had already passed.
The trio of girls stared wide-eyed at the Mouse Pokémon in awe, as none of them, not even Dawn, had seen such power from the little Pokémon before. The static electricity in the air transfixed Dawn, as it glinted in the remaining ice and water. Ash finally became able to move fully again, without feeling extreme pain from his back. Moving carefully, not wanting to jostle the Pokémon and egg in his lap, Ash withdrew his jacket from his bag and managed to slip it on. Aside from the leather jacket Ash only had the bandages covering his upper body, making quite the sight as he didn't zip the jacket.
"Should we get started?" he asked, not even slightly caught off guard by Pikachu's power output. He moved carefully, testing whether the jacket would cause him discomfort before he settled down upon finding it wouldn't. The girls managed to shake out of it and nodded carefully, now a bit wary of the young man. Well, the two Dragon Wardens were, while Dawn only smiled cutely at her boyfriend.
"Let's see then," Guinevere stated, as she squatted down in front of the Dragons. "Could you tell me what happened to you?" As the little Dragons spoke, Guinevere nodded along sometimes gesturing to the rest of them to be quiet so she didn't miss anything. When the Gible and Dratini finished, Guinevere was about to start translating for the rest of them. Before she could, however, Tyrunt suddenly started to speak, and to her surprise she actually understood it. After a few moments of listening to and making sure she got everything, Guinevere nodded and turned to the other humans.
"Alright, so as far as I understand the Gible and the egg belong to the same family, even though I am very certain that is not a Gible-egg. No matter, the Gible fled with the egg when their nest was attacked. He burrowed underground and ended up hitting a cavern spring. That's were the Gible made friends with the Dratini, who had been abandoned for some reason." She stopped to take a deep breath, having spoken far too much on a single breath.
"From that cavern spring, they ended up digging into a cavernous trench, which was filled with ice. I suspect a remnant glacier from the last ice age, deep in Mt. Coronet. While digging down they inadvertently dislodged the part of the glacier this Tyrunt, which is also a Dragon-type by the way, was frozen in. Tyrunt gradually defrosted since it was no longer part of the glacier, and the three of them made friends. That Ice-type made its home in the glacier and had a grudge against Dragon-types in general. They've been trying to flee for the past week, and ended up here as a result," Guinevere was panting by the time she had managed to say everything.
The wind blew across the plateau, as Ash's head was lowered and his eyes shadowed by the fringe of his hair. Tyrunt was smiling and grinning as Brock was brushing a hand over its back, while Dratini shivered in fright in Dawn's lap. Ash took a deep breath before he let it all out, a deep sigh of aggravation leaving his mouth.
"We're going to have to go down there, aren't we?" he questioned, sighing again. "After all there might be more frozen Pokémon in that glacier, and we have to ready the caves before Roark and his people can get them out," Ash explained when he saw the disbelieving eyes of the girls, though Brock seemed to already have realized.
The Dragon-types almost panicked upon hearing that their new friends were planning on going into the glacial cave, trying their hardest to dissuade the group from going. To no apparent avail, as even Dawn seemed completely set on taking care of the Ice-type that hurt her boyfriend. As Ash got up and was about to dial a number with his X-Transceiver, Gible got a stubborn set about its mouth and yanked on his pant leg.
"What's up, Gible?" Ash asked before his eyes widened as he realized exactly what Gible wanted. "You want to come with me, huh? What about your friends and your little sibling?" he continued, gesturing to the egg and the remaining two Dragon-type.
Gible gazed around, locking eyes with Dratini and Tyrunt before looking at the egg for a good long while. Dratini had coiled around Dawn's shoulder and seemed to have entered a half-sleep, but managed a tired nod when Gible locked eyes with it. Tyrunt was eagerly rubbing against Brock's legs and seemed to growl in agreement with something akin to glee in its eyes. Being a rather intelligent Pokémon, Gible had realized that the only one that could completely translate for him was Guinevere. So, he calmly went over to her and looked up at her before starting a series of low growls and chirps.
Guinevere nodded along as long as Gible was communicating before turning towards the trio of traveling companions, smiling widely. "He's saying they want to come with you, all of them. Personally, he wants you, Ash, to take care of him and his little sibling, and I think it's obvious that the others have also chosen their partners," she translated for the ones who couldn't understand perfectly. At the last part, Dawn smiled as she reached up to pat Dratini's head, and Brock reached down to scratch Tyrunt's back.
"Alright, if you want to come with us, we'll let you. However, you will need to stay in your Pokéballs for this, alright? You're already injured, and you're at a significant disadvantage," Ash spoke with quiet authority, though he was smiling gently down at Gible as he did. Even as he spoke his mind was trying to figure out which of his old Pokémon, he was bringing back to deal with this, a Fire-type would be ideal but he had used all of them lately.
-Well is a glacial cave, maybe Glalie would like a shot? And just to have the Fire-type advantage I can bring Muk, Ash thought to himself, absentmindedly rubbing his chin in thought. Shaking out of his thoughts, Ash squatted down and smiled at Gible, before lightly tapping a Pokéball to the diminutive Dragon-type's head. As he turned to the other people present, he saw that Brock had already caught Tyrunt and Dawn was rubbing Dratini's head with one hand while the other held the Pokéball. In short order, Dawn had caught her second Dragon-type, as a complete rookie.
"I'll go make a call down to Roark and his men down at the preserve, let them know about the situation so they can get ready to bring their men up here," Ash stated casually after a few moments, walking off to the side. The X-Transceiver let off a few quiet rings as Ash waited for either Roark or one of his gym representatives to pick up the phone.
"Good afternoon, you´ve reached the Oreburgh Preservation Centre this is Doctor Nureha, can I help you?" a female answered, her lilac hair looked tousled and she had stress lines all over her face. Despite this she seemed kind and energetic, smiling widely at Ash from the other end of the phone.
"Good afternoon, Doctor. I was wondering if you have Roark or another leader of the APEO present? I believe we have discovered something of interest for them," Ash answered, his smile easily matching the doctor's. She looked a bit surprised, but then she quickly rallied and gestured to someone off-screen. The assistant, for clearly that was the case, didn't enter the frame, but Ash still heard him ask what he could be of service with.
"I have a young man on the line here that seems to believe he and his friends have found something of interest to the APEO leadership. Would you be a dear and find either young Mr. Roark or Doctor Fowler? I believe the two of them are the highest-ranking members currently on duty," Doctor Nureha asked quickly, still with a kind, almost grandmotherly, tone yet this was unmistakably an order. "They should be with us shortly, dearie, Newton always was a fast one," the older doctor joked, with a soft chuckle. Ash and the old woman joked and interacted while they waited for the ones who had just been summoned, Ash finding that the old lady had an impeccable sense of humor.
A few moments later, just as another burst of laughter between the two had settled, Roark entered the room with a tall, gangly older gentleman at his side. The new man had crazy looking white hair, almost as if someone had blown a small explosive in his hair only without the soot. The two spent a few moments trading courtesies with Doctor Nureha before they both turned to the screen when she excused herself.
"Ash, what can we help you with?" Roark asked, smiling as he stood behind the aging doctor of paleontology. The old man also smiled, a few of the wrinkles on his face transforming his once stern face to a smiling grandfather.
"I assume you know about the ancient Pokémon known as Tyrunt?" Ash asked, curiously. He wanted to know whether or not they would believe the tale of the glacial cave at all. A sharp whistle of wind managed to distract Ash from the start of their reply, but he quickly focused again.
"… know about it. It's said to primarily have lived in ancient Kalos, and though we've found evidence that they might have existed outside Kalos we never managed conclusive proof, unfortunately. Why do you ask exactly?" Doctor Fowler answered, a curious expression settling on his face. He leaned toward the camera, excited for the answer to his question.
"We might have found conclusive evidence for you," Ash stated, waving Brock over with his other hand. "I'll show you in just a bit, but before that, I wanted to inform you of something else. If we are correct there is a glacier or glacial cave not far from our current location on Mt. Coronet. There might be other ancient Pokémon frozen within it," he continued to explain, as he patiently waited for Brock to make his way over.
"How did you find this information?" Doctor Fowler asked, curious but not accusing nor suspicious. He seemed inclined to believe, even if he wasn't fully convinced yet. Roark on the other hand had his jaw dropped, total disbelief upon his face and clearly fully believing that Ash had indeed found evidence of prehistoric Pokémon.
"We'll show you rather than tell you, as we're rather aware that the tale is unbelievable," Ash answered, his voice calm and even as he spoke. "Brock would you release your newest companion? I need proof, and that's the easiest one to provide," he continued gesturing to his oldest companion. He took a glance over at the three females, who had begun speaking about proper grooming techniques for Dawn's Dragon-types. Both Altaria and Dratini were free from their Pokéballs, and Dawn was carefully following Morgana's instruction in how to care for Altaria's rather unique wings and physique. Dratini had circled Dawn's neck like a scarf, resting her head on Dawn's shoulder and quietly conversing with her new teammate.
"Alright, I have no qualms about letting him be seen as proof, but I'm not hearing anything about them keeping him," Brock spoke with an authority Ash had rarely heard from him, and Brock's strength that he usually hid under an easy-going exterior shone through in his voice. Having said that he released Tyrunt from his Pokéball, and allowed Ash to show the Pokémon to the two APEO heads through the video-feed. The two paleontologists blinked several times before they both started speaking at the same time making it impossible to understand either of them.
Ash let them continue, hoping they would figure out for themselves that they couldn't speak over each other. When they didn't stop he finally cut in, a bit of annoyance seeping into his voice at the two. "Quiet!" he had barely raised his voice, but the tone and annoyance of the one word was enough to stop the two researchers dead. "We can't understand you when you speak at the same time, so you will have to speak one at a time, alright? Good, now how about Roark starts and then you Doctor Fowler afterward?" he continued, though phrased as a question both of the researchers understood that it was an order and nothing else.
Roark let out a deep breath before he started asking his questions, "Where did you come across a living Tyrunt, and how did you end up catching it?" Doctor Fowler nodded along, obviously interested in the answers himself. While Ash and Brock tried to find the best way to answer the only thing that was heard was a soft ticking sound from the lab, probably some sort of time-keeping device.
"That is a bit of a story, so just be patient," Ash answered before he launched into the full tale carefully detailing what the researchers asked for. It took a good half hour to tell the entirety of events up to the capture of Tyrunt, but neither Roark nor Doctor Fowler seemed to mind. When he finally finished the two APEO members had all the information they needed to make a decision, and the two discussed it under their breath for a few short moments before agreeing.
"You said that you would go into the cave and check whether there are more prehistoric Pokémon preserved in the assumed glacier, correct?" Doctor Fowler asked, and quickly received a few nods as an answer. "Roark will be readying a few excavation teams, but we won't be sending them upwards until you have checked the caves. We have no fear of whether or not you can clear out whatever Pokémon lurk down there, but we'd rather not spend the funds we have available without being sure about the veracity of the report. We believe your theory is correct, but we would appreciate it if you could find out for sure and then send us word?" Doctor Fowler's inquiry was long and thought out, giving Ash very few ways of declining since he had planned to go into the glacial cave either way.
"Alright, I'll give you a call after we've found out for certain whether or not there are other prehistoric Pokémon trapped in the ice," Ash agreed, Brock nodding along beside him. "Dawn? Are you ready to go?" he asked as he turned around and shut down the call to prepare for their journey into the caves. His sudden turn did cause him to wince slightly as he strained the back muscles that were still somewhat injured.
"Yeah, I'm all ready to go," Dawn answered, smiling as she returned her two Dragon-types knowing well that she shouldn't use them where they were headed. Ash smiled and nodded to her before he turned to the two Dragon Wardens.
"It's been a pleasure getting to know the two of you, it was always Merlin that rubbed me the wrong way. That said, I believe this is where we'll be parting ways?" he spoke aloud, perfectly polite and friendly. He was after all speaking the truth, he had not had anything against the two female Wardens. They simply smiled and nodded, waving as they made their way towards wherever the Mt. Coronet Dragon Valley lay. Ash took a deep breath, and then the three companions set about preparing for their journey into a glacial cave.
A/N:
Okay, that went rather well. Of course, it did take a week, but this time it was somewhat because of school and not mostly due to a writer's block. I forgot to apologize for the quality of the last chapter, I was rather sleep deprived when I wrote it as my sleep schedule is totally and utterly ruined at the moment.
I have two things I want to say before I finish off for this time:
Number one; I will be starting up a One Piece fanfiction because I believe part of my writer's blocks stems from my muse wanting to write about a different subject. This one in particular, so if you'd like to check that out as well that will be out soon (probably). I will be writing on the two fanfictions simultaneously, simply writing on the one my muse wishes to focus on.
Number two; I will say again that I will always want to try to finish this fanfiction, I won't abandon it. But I am honored that you enjoy the story enough to review to make sure that I have the motivation to write. Thank you very much for your time, and appreciation of my work.
That was all I wished to say, so I will be signing off for now.
Till next time!