The Truth Revealed
"The two of you are Aura Guardians, individuals gifted with the ability to wield aura." Zinnia explained, showing off by forming an aura charged bone club not unlike Lucario's Bone Rush attack only hers was green instead of blue. She spun it around in her hands before deactivating it as the aura club disappeared. "It is our duty to protect the world from those that wish to destroy it and protect the various legendary and mythical Pokemon from those that wish to misuse them."
"T-That's just some cheap parlor trick, Aura Guardians are just a myth!"
"Actually..." Korrina started causing Zach to give her a look. "She's telling the truth."
"Huh?"
"Notice how our Lucario's are extremely close to us compared to most trainer's Pokemon? That's because their aura is infused with our own, every Guardian gets a partner at birth and forms a lifetime bond with their partner. Lucario will always stick by you and refuse to leave your side." Korrina explained while Zinnia gave a light nod.
"She's correct, and there's rare cases of pure blooded Aura Guardians such as yourself being able to form bonds quite quickly with specific types. Korrina you're Fighting just like your father and your grandfather before him but Zach... he's a special case, his typing appears to be Dragon which is quite rare. Exceptionally rare in fact, no Aura Guardian's had that before as far as our records could tell!" Zinnia gazed towards Goomy and Noibat who were still staring up at the green dragon.
"W-Well that would explain why Dragon Pokemon seem to like me but what's that got to do with me? I already defend Pokemon and fight bad guys just fine, I don't need to join your club-No offense Korrina."
"None taken, I'm not officially one either." Korrina laughed lightly before tilting her head. "Yeah, why are you interested in him? You're not into him too are you...?"
"Him? Great Helix no!" Zinnia made a disgusted face. "You three can have him, it's his destiny that we're talking about here!" Zinnia pointed up at the wall. "See that? That is Rayquaza, unlike the other two he'll only show himself to a worthy individual. A long long time ago it was prophesized that a Guardian gifted with the unique ability to bond with Dragon types would team up with Rayquaza to save the world from an extraterrestrial threat. Quite the coincidence that Zach would happen to be around while my master detected a massive asteroid headed towards the planet, no?"
"Like the one that wiped out the Fossil Pokemon?!" Korrina gasped out while Zach continued looking unsure about any of this.
"Precisely, Hoenn will be nothing but a crater if it hits!" Zinnia exclaimed before looking towards Zach. "I promised my master that I wouldn't reveal myself or take you on as my apprentice until you had three badges but it appears your girlfriend can't keep her mouth shut so I guess we'll start early. So what do you say, are you in or out?"
Zach looked towards Korrina as he wondered if they could trust Zinnia or not. Korrina closed her eyes for a brief moment as she read Zinnia's aura, the woman appeared to be telling the truth and wasn't deceiving them.
"How long do we got...?" Korrina asked
"About a year or so," Zinnia casually shrugged. "The satellites won't pick it up for quite some time but I hope we can deal with it before mass panic ensues."
Zach looked thoughtful for a moment, he wasn't entirely sure he could trust Zinnia or not seeing how he'd just met her. She did seem like she was being truthful but he still found her words ridiculous.
"How can we tell if I'm actually the one Rayquaza wants, what if you waste your time on training me and it turns out to be for nothing as he doesn't show?" Zach asked.
Zinnia tilted her head for a moment before a lightbulb went off. "Aha, there's a perfect way to test it out! We're going to catch you another Dragon! If it displays an interest in you then we'll know that my theory is correct!" She hadn't seen him capture Noibat and Goomy as they were already members of his team before Victor found him.
"And what if I don't want another Dragon? Goomy and Noibat are my friends, I don't want them to feel like I'm replacing them!" Zach let out a light growl.
"You would rather risk all life getting wiped out just to avoid hurting your Dragon Pokemon's feelings?"
"Yes-No... I don't know!" Zach growled out in a flustered state.
"Goomy!"
"Noi!" The two dragons came over before nodding their heads, giving him their consent on the matter. Zach formed a light smile before giving the two a pat on the head.
"Alright if they they're okay with it then I'll do it, h-how exactly do I find a Dragon though? It's not as if Dragons are just sitting around waiting to be caught!"
"That's easy!" Zinnia spoke with a smirk, dropping to her knees as she closed her eyes. Feeling the aura of every Pokemon within the cave system before one in particular stood out to her, a slightly strong and challenging Dragon Pokemon opponent. Her eyes shot open as she leaped to her feet before giving the two younger Aura Guardians a wave. "Come on, this way!" She quickly took off and led them through the cave with ease despite it practically being pitch black in darkness, soon arriving within a room that had more light however nothing appeared to be inside of it!
"Uh, where's the Dragon?" Zach spoke up as Zinnia came to a stop.
"Close your eyes, trust your instinct and you'll find it." Zinnia responded, leaving the work up to him.
Zach closed his eyes and focused on the area around him, he started picking up the faint aura of Zubat that were perched overhead along with the aura of Korrina, Zinnia and his Pokemon before finally picking up on a different aura as it burrowed through the ground below them. Zach opened up his eyes and noticed a shark fin burrowing through the ground before him, being a fan of Cynthia he was quick to process what it was!
"That has to be a Gible or a Gabite!" Zinnia gave a nod before beckoning for him to proceed.
"Combusken, let's go!" Seeing how Combusken didn't get to fight Brawly like he promised he thought it only fair that he got this one. Combusken burst out with an excited cry, pumping his arms up before looking at his trainer for a command.
"Double Kick that fin!" Zach ordered as he pointed out the shark fin. Combusken raced forward as his foot started to glow a bright white, he pulled back his leg and gave it a hard kick before letting out a cry as the resulting impact had scraped his foot!
"It has Rough Skin?!"
The ground burst open as the shark Pokemon revealed itself to be a Gabite, the land shark Pokemon let out a growl upon it being disturbed, stomping on the ground and causing a huge shockwave to blast towards Combusken as he used Bulldoze! Combusken let out a cry as he was thrown back, landing onto his back as Zach began reaching for his ball.
"Sorry Combusken it's too risky, all your moves involve physical contact!" He tried returning Combusken to avoid him getting hurt but Combusken sprang up and dived away from the beam.
"Busk!"
"Car!" Lucario translated that Combusken wanted to do this and prove himself to his trainer, he didn't care about how hurt he'd get he refused to back down and look like a chicken!
"Well if that's what you want then I suppose I can't stop you," Zach shrugged, knowing that if he tried again Combusken would likely get attacked while evading the beam. "Flame Charge!"
Combusken's body became cloaked in flame as he rushed forward and slammed his body up against Gabite's, though it wasn't as effective as his Fighting attacks it'd have to do as they boosted up his Speed stat!
Gabite opened up his mouth and blasted Combusken with a blue-green flame as he attacked with Dragon Breath! Combusken let out a grunt as he was pushed back by the flames.
"Double Kick!" Combusken's foot glowed as he began rapidly kicking Gabite, his movements much quicker than last time but it still hurt like heck after he was done! Combusken waved his foot as a red marking was shown.
"Combusk!"
Gabite burrowed back beneath the ground for a brief second Zach wondered if the Dragon type had retreated but he could see the shark fin quickly approaching Combusken!
"Combusken when that reaches I want you to leap back and perform a Sky Uppercut!" Combusken smirked, eyeing Gabite's movements before jumping back right as Gabite emerged from the ground. The Dragon was ready to strike but Combusken quickly raised up a glowing blue arm as he performed an uppercut on Gabite's stomach, his eyes widened out from the pain before he got launched upwards, crashing directly into the roof of the cave before coming crashing down and landing in a defeated heap in front of Combusken.
"Alright, you did it!" Korrina shouted out.
"Good, now catch it!" Zinnia commanded.
Zach approached the downed Gabite with an enlarged pokeball and was about to throw it before pausing mid throw. "I-I can't, this is Gabite's den! He didn't initiate the attack, we picked a fight with him. It wouldn't be right taking him from his home, we'd be no better than Team Rocket!" Zach reached into his pocket and withdrew a Sitrus berry before placing it in the land shark's mouth, Gabite swallowed it and began to stir before opening his eyes as he stared right up at him.
"Bite..?"
"Sorry about attacking you like that, my friend wanted to test a theory out and I wasn't thinking properly before picking a fight with you." Zach bowed his head as he apologized to the land shark. "We'll be going now." Gabite watched as Zach stood back up and walked away from him, the dragon's gaze lingered after him for a moment before he shot back beneath the ground and disappeared from sight.
"Unbelievable, I can't believe you just let it go!" Zinnia growled out from frustration. "I can get why you shot down a chance at fighting Tapu Koko but the fate of Hoenn is literally on your shoulders right now, you just can't-" Zinnia paused as Gabite burst out in front of them, holding a circular crystal in his mouth as the land shark approached Zach.
"I-Is that?" Zach spoke out as the stone was dropped into his hand, Gabite let out a happy cry of confirmation.
"A mega stone!" Korrina spoke excitedly before showing off her Mega Ring. "Now you just need a Mega Ring and you can start Mega Evolve whatever that stone belongs to!"
"I can't accept this, it's your treasure! You should keep it." Zach placed it back in Gabite's mouth only for the land shark to quickly shake his head as he spat it back out.
"Ga!"
"No, it's yours!"
"Ga!"
Combusken flicked his head back and forth as this went on before eventually toppling over backwards as the movement made him dizzy.
Zinnia had enough after awhile and pushed herself in between the two. "Alright, enough! You aren't taking away Gabite's treasure just... just scan it!"
"Gabite the Cave Pokemon, it loves sparkly things. It seeks treasures in caves and hoards the loot in its nest!"
"See? Gabite has plenty of treasure, you aren't taking his prized possession."
"Is that true?" Zach asked Gabite, the land shark responded with a nod causing Zach to finally accept the stone. "Well that's mighty kind of you, thank you!"
"Combusken, Lucario does that look familiar to you?" Lucario and Combusken walked forward and placed their hands on the stone before shaking their heads.
"Actually that's a Key Stone," Zinnia spoke up causing Korrina to blush from embarrassment, the light of the cave must have confused her. "You'll still need a Mega Ring and a Mega Stone."
"Ah." Zach gave Gabite one last look before giving him a wave. "Well I guess we'll be seeing you Gabite, good luck finding more treasure!"
Gabite's gaze lingered on him as they left before eventually burrowing beneath the ground and disappearing from sight.
"Well there's no doubt about it now, Gabite most certainly liked you enough to give you a Key Stone from it's stash." Zinnia spoke up.
"That's just a coincidence, I was nice to Gabite and he wanted to say thanks." Zach waved it off.
Zinnia rolled her eyes. "Then why are Goomy and Noibat as attached to you as Lucario, Raboot and Lycanroc despite not being out of their balls nearly as often? And why do you think your girlfriend's Swablu likes you? It's obvious that you're the one that Rayquaza is destined to team up with, you might not think you're worthy but you are! We've just got to get your training underway so you're qualified enough to do battle with him and unlock his full potential!"
"I believe she's right," Korrina spoke out. "Besides we don't have to stick with her once our training is complete, we can stay here or go to Alola, Galar, wherever and start a new branch together!"
Zach still looked unsure, he looked down at his feet for a moment before looking up. "These people we're supposed to protect legendary and mythical Pokemon from, exactly what happens to them?"
"Oh quite simple, we end them right then and there!" Zinnia smirked.
"What?!" Zach looked horrified as he shot Korrina a look, from her look he could tell that she knew but shared his feelings on that statement. "Yeah no, I'm not killing anyone! If you go around killing everyone with bad thoughts or intentions then you're no better than they are! Besides most people can see the error in their ways and reform, why should we deny them a chance at turning their life around?" He wasn't foolish, he knew that there were some people out there who were truly evil. But he always thought that the Rocket trio along with Blaze and Amber could actually be quite successful if they worked on the side of good.
"You know you're not the only Guardian to think that way," Zinnia spoke as she approached a box that sat in the corner of the cave, opening it up before producing a pink and blue crystalized flower. "This is a time flower, it captures events and can replay them at a later point in time. I think you'll find this one most interesting," She spoke, her hand glowed before a bright light engulfed the flower as the environment began changing around them.
They were high up in the mountains of some region, Korrina looked puzzled but Zach spoke up after noticing Braviary and Mandibuzz flying high above them.
"Must be Unova," He commented.
"Ghetsis!" A female's voice spoke out before a woman in her mid twenties appeared wearing robes that were quite similar to Zinnia's but of a different design. She pulled down her hood as she looked around for somebody causing Zach and Korrina to share a gasp.
"S-She looks just like you!"
"Shhh!" Zinnia hushed them.
"Coming my lady," Ghetsis appeared along with a man that looked exactly like Zach would if he were a few years older than he currently was.
"Colress' hideout is just ahead, come on we've got to save our friends!" The man shouted.
"Calm yourself Hilbert, it won't do any good if we just rush in." The girl spoke.
"Hilda's right," Ghetsis agreed. "We need a cool head or we'll likely join them."
Hilbert let out a frustrated growl as Hilda spoke up. "Alright then, we sneak in through the back and give Colress a surprise attack! Giving him all we've got and his men will be forced to retreat!"
"Right!" The time flower skipped through some scenes and soon Hilbert, Ghetsis, and Hilda could be seen clashing their aura bones up against a trio of ninja who were wielding aura bones of their own. The ninja's aura were a violent shade of red while Hilbert's was a bright blue and Hilda's was purple, Ghetsis' was currently green not unlike Zinnia's.
"Hahaha, you are too late Aura Guardians! I have brainwashed your friends into serving me, Unova will soon tremble at the mere mention of the name Colress!" A man in a lab coat laughed as he watched on. The three seemed evenly matched at first as the three fought without trying to cause the ninja harm.
"It's no use, the Aura Guardians are too far gone. Their minds belong to me now!"
"Much as I hate to admit it, he's probably right." Ghetsis spoke up before plunging his aura bone directly into the ninja's chest! The ninja let out a gurgle before being thrown across the room, his body going limp as Hilbert turned a bright shade of white right as Zach and Korrina did, both of them looked at each other with horrified expressions.
"Ghetsis, we could have saved them! We could have brought them to Kanto and asked a Psychic to-" Hilbert started to speak.
"After we ran them to near extinction? I don't think so, we've been enemies for thousands of years and nothing will ever change that!"
"Ghetsis is right dear brother, I wish there was another way..." Hilda spoke before plunging her aura bone into the ninja opposing her and getting similar results.
Hilbert got ready to plunge though his body shook from nerves.
"Please... don't kill me..." The ninja managed to groan out. Hilbert's eyes widened before he quickly backed off.
"Wait, he just-"
"You were saying?" Ghetsis asked as he plunged his club into the ninja, Hilbert's eyes widened even further before he growled out.
"He had free will for a second there, there was hope!" Ghetsis turned around, masking his response but Korrina and Zach could see a sinister smirk across the green haired man's face, making the two feel uneasy.
"Nowhere to run now Colress," Hilda lunged at him, prepared to end the mad scientist once and for all.
"No don't!" Hilbert dived in front of her. "We still don't know how he got ahold of our men in the first place, they were ambushed! If there's a traitor in our mist we need to know about it before it's too late!"
Hilda stared at her brother before pushing him out of the way. "No, he's going to pay for what he did! Your lover wasn't mind controlled, mine was!"
"No!" Hilbert attempted to grab at her as she charged at Colress before suddenly feeling a cold draft as he looked down, noticing a blood red aura club going right through his chest. He glanced back and noticed Ghetsis giving him a cold smile before he went limp.
"No!" Zach shouted out, shaking as tears began flowing down his face. "Dad..."
"Hilbert?!" Hilda suddenly turned around before seeing Ghetsis standing over his lifeless form. "You bastard, we trusted you!"
"Your trust was greatly misguided dear Hilda, I could never sway a foolish goodie goodie like him to our side but you? Oh you'd make a perfect queen for my rule!"
"You literally just killed my brother in front, that's not how this works!" Hilda aimed her bone club at him. "You've been working with Colress this whole time haven't you?"
"My dear he works for me!" Ghetsis revealed with a sinister laugh causing Hilda to gasp.
"I've been studying the legend of Unova for years and I'm close to unearthing it's secrets with Colress by my side we'll be unbeatable! You may have killed our soldiers but we'll get more, join us Hilda... you don't want to be on the losing side."
"I'd rather die than join you, you bastard!" Hilda spat.
"Then so be it!" Ghetsis and Hilda began clashing their aura clubs against one another as the moved throughout the hideout, Ghetsis kept forcing Hilda back and back but she refused to back down and fought aggressively as she hoped to overcome him. Eventually the fight moved back outside as Colress and his men watched from afar, watching as the fight brought the two close to a mountain edge, Hilda's feet were soon hanging over the edge as she flashed a glance downwards before looking back up at Ghetsis.
"Last chance Hilda, join me and live as my queen or you'll die by my hand! Either way you aren't getting out of this, I know you don't have Flying types!" Ghetsis cackled. Hilda gritted her teeth before looking up with tears in her ears.
"Gloria, I'm sorry I couldn't avenge him..." Hilda went limp and dove backwards off the top of the mountain, disappearing from sight and denying Ghetsis the kill as the man let out a frustrated shout.
"She's dead sir, ain't no way she's coming back from that." Colress spoke.
"You're right... this just means we'll have to accelerate our plans. Seeing how both the leaders are dead, that makes me the leader by default! It'll be easy leading the way to the destruction of these pathetic clowns! Unova and the whole world will soon be mine!"
"Yeah! All hail king Ghetsis, all hail king Ghetsis!"
Zach looked over the side of the cliff as if he expected to see Hilda staring back up at him but she was gone, he hung his head as Korrina placed her hand on his shoulder before kissing his cheek as she tried comforting him.
Zinnia felt a bit guilty but hoped to change his mind as some of the opponents they were likely to go up against like Pyro wouldn't go quietly and needed to be dealt with.
"Does that change your mind?"
"No!" Zach growled out as tears fell from his eyes while Korrina gave her a harsh glare for showing him that. "I-I could never kill, it's wrong! Justice needs to be given out but I'm not going to be an executioner and decide what's right for the universe!"
Zinnia narrowed her eyes before letting out a sigh. "Well I suppose I can't change that," She rolled her eyes. "But you'll be at a serious disadvantage. Shade, Pyro and Ghetsis have killed numerous numbers of our people and nothing will stop them from adding another number to their belt."
"I don't care, I'll find a way to even the field. Ghetsis and the others must answer for what they've done but I'm not going to go cut their heads off, they needs to stand trial! They won't get away with what they've done."
Zinnia let out a sigh as she accepted his decision before pointing out of the cave. "You should just get back to the others, training starts tomorrow. Don't tell anyone about what went down here!"
"Oh I'm telling May and Dawn, there's no secrets between us!" Zach replied.
Zinnia let out a light growl. "Fine, tell your precious mates but nobody else!"
More plot.
Next time Ash and Lillie meet Nebby and engage with another member of the Cabal!