I know this a week late. Explanation will come in the extensive A/N down below. But for now, here's the surprise fight scene!


"Salamence," Ash said in a hushed whisper as he looked up at the creature that towered over him.

The Salamence was the largest of its kind that Ash had ever seen, easily standing at three times his height, and almost triple that in length. The Pokemon's entire body was littered in various scars, burns, and abrasions, but the worst injury was clearly the charcoaled hole in its left shoulder. Just below the crater of burnt flesh was a black band that was wrapped around the Salamence's leg, almost unnoticeable among the darkened patches on its scales. A matching band was worn as a collar at the base of the Salamence's neck.

Another roar, just as furious as the last, erupted from the Salamence's mouth. As it was inevitable, the Salamence's eyes scanned its surroundings. It glanced downwards, finally noticing the presence of Ash and his trapped companions.

Ash knew that Salamence were infamous for their temper. With how furious this one looked, and with the injuries it had, he knew there was little hope of calming it down as it was. He also couldn't afford to risk it attacking the people behind him, so he did the best thing he could think off.

He charged towards the enraged Pokemon.

"No! Ash!" Louise cried out after him.

The Salamence roared in challenge and bent down its serpentine neck. The fangs in its mouth gleamed white as the Pokemon snapped at Ash.

The boy dove into a slide, taking advantage of the dragon's immense size to slip under its legs. "Come and get me!" he shouted as he ran out from underneath the Salamence's body.

The Pokemon roared, turning around flapping its wings furiously. Its left wing was slower to respond than its right, but after a few flaps it was able to get itself into the air and chase after Ash.

By coincidence, the direction Ash bolted in was where Fouquet was currently rising from her knees. The thief's eyes widened in terror as she scrambled to run away.

Ash glanced over his shoulder and saw a ball of fire building in the Salamence's mouth. "Incoming!" he screamed as he ran even faster.

The Salamence let loose a stream of fire and swept it across the clearing. Ash managed to dodge it with ease, but Fouquet wasn't so lucky. While she was very fit for a mage, she had yet to recover from being sucker punched in the gut. The flames licked at her cloak and the hem of her robes. Fortunately for her, she retained the sense to ditch her cloak before the flames could take hold of the rest of her outfit.

Unfortunately, her temper outweighed whatever sense she had remaining. "What about this thing is harmless?" she shouted at Ash.

Ash made a chopping X with his arms in the universal sign of, "No. Stop. Cancel." But it was too late. The yell had already drawn the Salamance's attention to the green haired woman.

Fouquet quickly realized this as well. She ran for her life as another Flamethrower was sent her way, scorching the grass in a blazing trail.

While Ash's first instincts was to help her, he had higher priorities. With the angry Pokemon temporarily distracted, Ash raced back to the students. He swung Derflinger once, twice, and then a third time. Guiche paled at the swift movements, but sure enough, the earth that had encased his hand crumbled and slid off. "I need a wand," Guiche said.

"Use mine," Tabitha offered.

Ash picked up Tabitha's staff from where it had fallen to the ground and placed it in Guiche's hand.

"Transmute!" Guiche chanted, tapping the end of the staff on the Earth Prison.

The ground around him softened immediately. It still clung to Guiche's clothes, but at least it was now the consistency of mud, which allowed him to wade through it and point the staff at his three fellow students. "Transmute! Transmute! Transmute!"

With everyone now free—though grimy—Tabitha reclaimed her staff as the other mages drew their wands. "We should leave while it's still distracted by Fouquet," said Louise.

"You want to leave her with the dragon?" Ash asked.

Louise gave him a cross look. "Obviously," she stated. "She tried to kill you. Twice! She'll be getting what she deserves."

Despite the coldness of Louise's words, Ash could see her body trembling. "An angry Salamence won't stop unless its exhausted or beaten," Ash informed her. "Fouquet doesn't have a wand, and she can't run forever. We have to stop it."

"I don't want to stomach the thought of leaving a woman to the mercy of an angry dragon, but how are we going to stop something like that?" Guiche asked. "What did you call it, a Salamence? It's huge!"

"That dragon is bigger than the ones I usual see in the military," said Kirche, watching the Salamence chase Fouquet around the clearing. "While I take pride in my fire magic, I'm not sure it would be enough here. We're better off retreating as Louise said."

"We're not leaving Miss Longueville, Fouquet, or whatever her name is with a rampaging Pokemon!" Ash insisted. "I want her to be punished for her crimes too, but that doesn't mean I want her mauled!"

"Look out!" Guiche cried as he pointed towards Fouquet.

The thief had not been having an easy time avoid the Salamence's attacks. While she was in great physical shape, there was only so far that she could run around in circles. The forest was more likely to cause her to trip than to provide proper cover and she lacked he wand for self-defense, so she was forced to weave around the blasts of flames the enraged dragon-type was firing at her.

Eventually, her stamina—or luck, take your pick—had run out. While avoiding another Flamethrower, her foot had skidded off a charred lump of earth, debris from her golem's previous fight with the students. Fouquet fell to the ground in controlled roll, but when she tried to stand, she gave a pained cry and dropped to her knees. She could see the dragon's eyes glare at her as its toothy jaw opened wide.

A sphere of flames of formed in the Salamence's mouth, then fired towards her.

Fouquet couldn't block it without her wand. She couldn't run, at least, not for much longer. If this dragon didn't catch her, the academy students definitely would. There was no point prolonging it. Fouquet stared at her approaching death, only hoping that her sister would never have to hear about the crimes she had committed.

The students had their wands already in hand, but there was not a single water, wind, fire, or earth spell that would be able to reach Fouquet in time. Ash knew that despite his speed, he also couldn't cover that distance in time. Even so, he bolted towards Fouquet.

As the flames streamed towards Fouquet's defenseless body, an explosion detonated, erasing the Flamethrower from existence. Fouquet turned, and through the smoke, saw Louise with her wand drawn. The thief was even more surprised to see Ash run up and scoop her into his arms.

"Wh-what, what are you doing?!" the woman stuttered.

"Saving you," Ash replied as he raced back to where the other students were waiting.

Fouquet looked over Ash's shoulder as the Salamence roared and dived towards them. "It's coming!" she yelled.

The Pokemon's approach was stopped by a barrage of icicles that needled its prior injuries. It tried using Flamethrower again, but the flames were diverted off to the side. Frustrated, it made a second attempt to dive Ash, but the combination of another explosion and an earth spike—both poorly aimed—forced it to disengage.

Ash set the thief down among the other mages as they pelted the rogue Pokemon with their spells. "You're all on board?" he asked them.

"Rogue dragon is a threat to everyone," Tabitha stated.

"Thief or not, it would be poor taste to leave a damsel in distress," Guiche declared.

Louise paused her casting to cross her arms. "I'm only doing this so I can have the distinction of defeating a dragon and a world-renown thief at the same time," she said with a huff.

"Oh ho ho," Kirche laughed. "Well, I can't have a Valliere outperform a Zerbst, now can I?"

Ash shook his head in amusement before looking down at the seated Fouquet. "So, are you going to help us, or do we have to restrain you while we deal with the Salamence?"

Fouquet was still in disbelief about the situation, but the angry dragon in the sky helped her remain focused on the task on hand. "Do you have my wand?" she asked.

"Nope. But you can borrow Guiche's in the meantime."

"Hey!" the blond protested.

"It's a flying dragon, and you're an earth mage," Kirche said pointedly. "Besides, your accuracy is worse than Louise's."

Guiche grumbled but handed his wand over to Fouquet.

Tabitha also glared at the woman and warned, "If you betray us, I will take care of you."

The message was clear. While Fouquet was confident that she was a better mage than Tabitha, the petite mage also had reinforcements. "I'd prefer to make it out of here alive," Fouquet noted drily.

"It's coming in again!" Ash warned. The Salamence's eyes had a feral glint as the Pokemon dove forward. It twisted out of the way of the spells that were hurled at it, but continued approaching instead of banking away. "I'll get its attention. Kirche, keep the flames diverted. Fouquet, try using one of those Earth Prisons on it. Tabitha and Louise, hold back for now so it doesn't attack you instead. But if it gets close, scare it off."

After everyone nodded in response, Ash ran to meet the diving Salamence, Derflinger once again in his hand. "You have a plan, partner?" the sword asked.

"Bait it to the ground so we can trap it."

"…Partner, that's an idea, not a plan. Still, it's ballsy! I like it!"

Ash couldn't help but smile even as he watched the Salamence stretched out a set of glowing green claws. He wasn't entirely sure if this would work, but he figured there was no better time than the present to find out. He brought up Derflinger in a slash to meet the Salamence's Dragon Claw.

Steel resisted Dragon, that was how type advantages worked with Pokemon. Fortunately, it seemed that held true for Derflinger as well. In fact, the green energy of the Dragon Claw was fading into Derflinger as the two clashed. However, the difference in strength was too great between the two combatants. The dragon-type attack forced Ash to slide back several yards. Immediate follow up came in the form of a Flamethrower, which Ash didn't hesitate to charge into.

Kirche did her part, making sure the flames flew off to Ash's sides as he pressed the Salamence into melee range.

Louise looked at Fouquet, who had her wand pointed out, but had yet to cast a spell. "What are you waiting for?" Louise asked her accusingly. "It's flying near the ground."

"It's a large dragon, and a very powerful one despite being injured," Fouquet responded. "If I tried to grab it in mid-air with an Earth-Prison, I know it wouldn't hold. It's still moving too much and there's too much mass, especially muscle."

"But Ash is managing to hold it off without any spells," said Guiche, pointing out Ash who was still trading blows with the Salamence and struggling to remain on his feet. "He's losing ground, but he's still standing."

"That boy can be barely considered human," Fouquet deadpanned. "Don't expect miracles from me."

Truthfully, Fouquet did stand a chance of holding the Salamence with a well-timed Earth Prison, and if she failed, there was always the option to try again as long as she didn't attract its attention. However, she wanted to see the power Ash had. Who was he? What was he? She wouldn't let him die, of course, since she knew that his naïve nature was the most likely reason that she wasn't being left for dead. However, she wasn't one to let opportunities pass her by.

Ash let out a hiss of pain as he was knocked back once again. Whatever Derflinger was doing helped lower the Salamence's power, but Ash couldn't keep this up. His arms and legs were slowly growing numb from the vibrations of the clashes. While he wasn't at his limit yet, it was only a matter of time before his combat ability would start to drop.

"I think you might want to change your plan, partner," Derflinger advised. "I'm a tough nut to crack, but you're still a meatbag."

"I need to tire it out so it lands on the ground," Ash responded. He braced himself as the Salamence's Dragon Claw struck again. Ash summersaulted in the air—his cap miraculously not falling off in the process—and slid across the ruined grass.

"You think you're going to last that long?"

Ash shook his head. He knew he needed a new plan, but he couldn't think of anything. Louise and Tabitha's spells would be effective, but if they attacked now, the Salamence would target them, and they didn't have Ash's durability. If they went all out, they might be able to kill it, but that wasn't Ash's goal. He only wanted it weakened enough to stop its rampage.

Ash's arms shook as he deflected a Crunch by slashing Derflinger into the Salamence's mouth fins. The Pokemon was low to the ground, but it was still always moving. From what he saw of Fouquet's casting, the Earth Prison spell wouldn't be useful against an airborne opponent. This wouldn't work unless the Salamence was fully grounded. Ash's eyes shifted towards the Salmance's injured left wing.

"Finally got a real plan, partner?"

"Sure do," Ash replied with a grin. He turned the brim of his cap backwards and looked the Salamence in the eye, challenging it to attack again. "All we have to do is injure its wing when it comes for us."

Surprisingly, after meeting his eyes, the Salamence flew into the air. Instead of preparing its usual flamethrower, it raised its head towards the sky. A flame-colored orb formed in its mouth; Ash could tell that there was no fire in this attack.

"Louise!" Ash shouted urgently. "Destroy that orb! Don't let it finish that attack!"

Louise, to her credit, quickly followed the distantly called order. However, her aim was off. As the orange orb grew to its zenith, her Explosion erupted next to the Salamance's open mouth. It jerked its head as two of its mouth fins were violently eviscerated into little more than charcoaled nubs. The orange orb misfired, breaking into a shower of meteors that wasted an entire side of the clearing in a series of thunderous booms.

The Salamence's shriek of pain combined the sound of meteors exploding across the clearing assaulted the ears of the humans. Guiche, Kirche, and Louise couldn't resist covering their ears as it howled. The Salemence's eyes became rimmed red with rage. It caught sight of the bigger group and dove towards them.

"Tabitha, freeze its left wing with ice!" Ash called out as he raced towards them. "Fouquet, get everyone out of there!"

"Freeze!"

"Earth Wave!"

Ice crept across the Salamence's injured wing. The ground rippled and split, sending the mages to either side of the dragon-type as it passed through with its glowing fangs outstretched. Unable to correct its course or regain altitude, it crashed into the ground, rolling and tumbling with painful cries. As it came to a stop, Fouquet finally cast her spell. The ground rose up around the Salamence's body and hardened.

"Finally," Ash said with a sigh of relief as he planted Derflinger into the ground and leaned against the sword. "Now we can find its pokeball—"

The Salamence roared again, its eyes and body glowing with a menacing red aura. The rock around it started to crack as the Pokemon strained against its confines.

"What in the Foudner's name is it doing?" Guiche wondered.

"Ash…" Louise said hesitantly.

"This is bad," Ash said with gritted teeth as he pulled out Derflinger back out of the ground. Louder, he called out, "Get away! It's going to use Outrage and attack everything in sight!"

"Not if I can help it," Fouquet declared.

She cast a spell to sink the Salamence into the ground, but in a feat of monstrous strength, the Pokemon smashed through its prison. What little reason and self-preservation it previously had was now gone as it speedily charged into the group. Its left wing was hanging at a disjointed angle, clearly broken, but the dragon-type proved to be surprisingly fast even while grounded.

"It looks really mad," Kirche commented. While she tried to sound nonchalant, her voice was laced with fear.

"I'm too young to die," Guiche whimpered.

"No one's going to die," Ash said resolutely as he held up Derflinger. "I'll keep it busy; you guys try to injure it. But most importantly, keep your distance. You can't take hits like I can."

"You don't have to tell me twice," said Fouquet. She created a golem which carried her in its hand. With reluctance, she let the other mages climb onto its shoulders, except for Tabitha, who took to the skies with her Flight spell.

Ash had struggled to keep his ground earlier while fighting a normal enraged Salamence. While it was using Outrage, its hits felt twice as hard. The attacks were predictable, but fast, strong, and brutal. Red whisps from the aura surrounding the dragon-type's body would be sucked into Derflinger every time they clashed, but not to the same effect as it had been when the Salamence was only using Dragon Claw.

"What's the new plan, partner?" Derflinger asked.

Ash grunted he skidded across the grass. "Outrage doesn't last forever, and the Salamence will be confused afterwards," he replied. "As long as we outlast it, we win."

The Salamence tried slamming down its claws on Ash's body, but he dodged to the side. A swing of its tail was also avoided, but then the Salamence slammed its head into Ash's body. The lone remaining fin on the side of its face drove into Ash's lower ribs, knocking the breath out of him.

The mages, now safely away from the Salamence's effective range, began lobbing their spells. Kirche's Fireballs washed over the Salamence's scales, painfully cauterizing its new wounds, but otherwise doing little damage. Louise's Explosions never actually hit the Salamence's body thanks to its erratic movement. Tabitha's ice spells were the only source of meaningful damage, but she couldn't afford to use her most potent spells while maintaining her altitude. In fact, none of the mages could use their strongest spells with Ash being so close to their target.

"I'm going to get Ash," Tabitha informed her fellow mages. She looked at Fouquet in particular. "Make a wall encircling the dragon once we're out."

"Understood." Fouquet found no issues following a plan that didn't require any personal risks from her.

"Be careful," Kirche said to Tabitha.

Tabitha nodded, and flew towards the fight.

Ash was starting to lose track how many times the Salamence had attacked him, or how many times he had been knocked away. The Outrage was going longer than he had expected. He knew that Salamence's were naturally prone to raging, but he didn't expect that to translate into a longer, empowered Outrage.

"I don't think we're going to outlast it at this rate," Derflinger said frankly. "Honestly, partner, it's been eons since I've seen someone last this long against a dragon without magic. How are you not dead?"

"I'm tougher than I look," Ash grunted. A wild swipe from the Salamence's back leg caught him off guard. He managed to block the brunt of the attack with Derflinger, but he was still sent flying away and landed on the ground with an oomph. "Ow…"

"Up and at 'em, partner! This dragon isn't taking breaks just because you are!"

Ash shakily rose to his feet as he watched the Salamence approach. He didn't have the energy to dodge anymore. Ash's Aura was going haywire inside his body. Somehow, his physical enhancement was still in effect, but he didn't feel like he could do much else at the moment. There was little he could do but hope that eventually the Salamence would succumb to its own move or the spells of the students.

Unexpected salvation came in the form of Tabitha, swooping down and lifting Ash off the ground away from the Salamence's charge.

"What are you doing?" Ash asked in surprise. While Tabitha was flying slowly due to the extra weight, she was able to keep herself and Ash out of the Salamence's reach. "You could have been killed!"

"New plan," Tabitha replied.

Ash watched as a wall of stone rose up around the Salamence, Tabitha circled it from above, keeping its attention on the prey just within rich instead of the barriers rising around it.

"Can you cast while flying?" he asked.

"Tricky," said Tabitha. "Hold on."

Ash, being carried by Tabitha's free arm, didn't have much to cling onto. With one arm latched onto Tabitha's and the other holding Derflinger, he made sure to keep his grip tight without accidently crushing the mage's arm. Tabitha flew up as high as she dared, then released her Flight spell.

Instead of screaming, Ash immediately positioned himself to hold Tabtiha in his arms as they fell. He had a good guess what she was planning, but if it didn't work, he'd have to hope that his Aura enhanced body would survive the fall.

"Blizzard!" Tabitha chanted.

While the spell wasn't Tabitha's preferred choice in combat, it fit this situation perfectly. There were no allies to be worried about hitting, and her target was large enough that the wide ranged spell would be more effective than her usually precision spells. Winds blew, water droplets condensed, and a barrage of biting winds and stinging hail pelted the Salamence. The Pokemon raged against the attack, but the extremely effective spell proved too much for it. The Salamence's body lost its red glow as it faltered, and fell to the ground.

Ash and Tabitha were nearing the ground as well. In the nick of time, Tabitha managed to cast Levitate. While it didn't kill all of their momentum, it did remove enough to allow them to hit the ground with a harmless thud.

Fouquet's golem strode over to them, the onboard students wasting no time sliding off the construct's body and rushing towards the two.

"Excellent work, Tabitha!"

"Are you hurt, Ash?"

"Is it finally over?"

"Not yet it's not." Fouquet grumble went unheard as she looked the Salamence. Its body was half frozen over, and its eyes were glazed and unfocused, the combination of confusion and injuries preventing it from doing any more than twitching sporadically.

"Job done," Tabitha said. She tried to stand, but instead fell back onto Ash's body as a bout of dizziness caught her.

"Ow…"

"Sorry."

"S'all right." Ash waited for Kirche to help Tabitha to her feet before reaching out and grabbing Louise and Guiche's outstretched hands. "We won, and no one got seriously hurt, that's what matters."

"Are you serious?!" Guiche exclaimed. "We saw you get thrown around like toddler's toy! How are you still standing?"

"Guiche is right, you probably shouldn't be moving until we get a healer," said Louise.

"Nothing's broken," Ash muttered as he twisted his body experimentally. Louise and Guiche grimaced, but were relieved to see that Ash could still move freely. "Yup, I'm sore all over, but otherwise, I'm fine. Now, let's find that ultra ball so I can return the Salamence—" A familiar rumbling of the ground interrupted him. Ash and the others immediately turned to Fouquet, but her wand wasn't pointed at them.

Crack

Splat

Ash's headed whipped in the direction of the sound. The Salamence's body was encased in an Earth Prison, and its body was being crushed as the hardened earth began to press into its body from all sides. It roared in pain as its bones snapped, but the sound was quickly muffled as the Earth Prison spread to encase its entire head.

"Stop it!" Ash shouted as he ran towards the Salamence.

Tabitha immediately summoned a shard of icicles and held them around Fouquet, who quickly dropped her wand in surrender. "It tried to kill us, I'm just returning the favor," Fouquet said in her defense.

"You tried to kill Ash!" Louise accused her. "Are you saying we should have killed you too?"

"It's a dragon, not a person!"

"A dragon can be tamed, you're only going to rot in a cell for the rest of your pitiful life," Kirche sniped.

"This is what I can't stand about you nobles!" Fouquet shouted. "You live in your own fantasy! A dragon like that can't be tamed and is danger to everyone. It could have woken up and killed us the moment we turned our backs on it!"

"Ash is the expert, not you!" Louise countered. "He knew the dragon's species, he knew what it could do, he knew how to handle it. Not you! Don't act like you have any say in what happens, you criminal scum!"

Louise turned to Ash for his input, but found he was gone from her side. Instead, the trainer and Guiche were by the dragon. Guiche had recovered his wand and used it to remove the rocks crushing the Salamence's vital areas, and Ash was by the Salamence's head. The dragon-type was trying to bite him, but in its weakened state, Ash was able hold its jaws away from his body. He spoke to the Salamence softly, and eventually, it settled down. Ash stroked its neck, continuing to whisper to the gravely injured Pokemon.

Fouquet had the decency to look ashamed. "I didn't know…"

"That's a terrible excuse and you know it," Louise said hotly.

A shrill coo cut through the clearing. The mages looked up to see Sylphid flying towards them, with Colbert and two other mages trailing behind the wind dragon.

"What's Sylphid doing here?" Kirche asked.

"I called her when I realized Longueville was probably Fouquet," said Tabitha. "Told her to get teachers. They must have made her late."

Colbert flew down and took stock of the situation. Miss Longueville, without her glasses, was surrounded by suspended icicles courtesy. The clearing looked like it had just been a warzone. Ash was stroking the neck of massive, unmoving dragon, with tears running down the boy's cheeks. Every single person was covered from head to toe in grime.

"What in the Founder's name happened here?"


After a brief explanation, Colbert had the students return to the Academy while he and the other teachers secured Fouquet and dealt with the aftermath. The group was assaulted with questions upon their return, and after giving their report of the mission, they immediately split up to get cleaned up and take some time to recuperate. In the case of Ash, it also meant a trip to the Water Tower for some healing. To Ash's non-surprise, he was fine aside from excessive muscle tearing, bruises, and general exhaustion. No broken bones or other serious injuries one would expect from facing down a dragon several times their size.

Fouquet was taken into custody and was put under the careful watch of the princess's musketeers in one of the academy towers. The teachers hadn't said anything about the Salamence, but given its injuries, none of the teens felt like they had to ask.

While the victorious party would have been content to spend the day resting after that grueling experience, the school faculty had other plans.

"And now we welcome our heroes, who successfully captured Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth and defeated a deadly dragon!"

Colbert's announcement was met with a round of applause as Ash, Louise, Kirche, Tabitha, and Guiche stood presented to the crowd. The celebration for their accomplishment was taking place in the cafeteria, which had quickly been decorated in the brief time since their return.

Henrietta stepped forward and announced, "I, Princess Henritta de Tristan, thank you for your assistance in subjugating the threats to my kingdom." She bowed her head towards them.

"Th-there's no need for you to lower your head, your highness!" Louise insisted. "We were merely doing our duties as citizens of Tristan."

"Aren't we the only native Tristans though?" Guiche whispered to Louise. "Kirche is from Germania, Tabitha is from Gallia, and Ash is… where do people like him come from anyway?" Louise discreetly elbowed Guiche's ribs as she continued politely smiling to the audience.

More praises were offered before the celebration transitioned into causal mingling. Louise and Ash were immediately pulled aside by the princess.

"I want to thank you two personally," said Henrietta. "Louise, you were integral to destroying Fouquet's signature golem, and Ash, you lead the attack and placed yourself in grave danger to protect the others. You two have done a great service to this country."

"You are too kind, your highness," Louise said with a blush. "As I said before, we need no praise for doing our duty."

"I disagree," Henrietta countered. "It takes courage to volunteer to capture a notorious thief when your teachers would not."

"How did you know about that?" Louise asked. She doubted that the faculty would admit to the country's princess that they were too scared to face Fouquet and let their students take care of the problem instead.

"It was pretty obvious, given the circumstances," Henrietta replied with an uncharacteristically cunning smile. "After all, there's no other reason the teachers would let you go on your own. And not only did you capture Fouquet, but you also faced and brought down an unexpected dragon. That is the quite the accomplishment."

"Yes, I suppose it was." The words were said with little enthusiasm as Louise glanced at Ash, who was silently staring off into nothingness.

"Is there something wrong?" Henrietta asked. "Ash?" she tried again.

That brought Ash out of his stupor. "What? Yes?" he asked distractedly. "Sorry, princess, I guess I was a bit lost in my thoughts," he said with a nervous chuckle.

"No, it's fine," said Henrietta as she shook her head. "You've had an eventful day."

"I'll say!" A new voice joined in as the Headmaster slipped into their group. "Such an impressive feat isn't something I've seen in all my years as Headmaster of this Academy! And believe me, I've seen a lot in my years."

Something clicked in Ash's mind. "That reminds me," he suddenly said. "Headmaster Osmond, where did the Staff of Destruction and Vanishing Eye come from?"

"Ah… yes," said Osmond as he stroked his beard. "Well, I suppose you of all people deserve to know the true story." He quickly cast a privacy spell around the group before beginning his tale.

"Many years ago, when I was but a young mage freshly graduated from the academy, I saw a most peculiar sight. There was a strange distortion in the sky. I flew over to investigate, but the distortion was gone just as quickly as it came. I was about to believe it to be a trick of the light, but then I heard the unmistakable roar of a furious dragon."

"I flew towards the sound, and what I saw terrified me. There was a man, both of his legs clearly broken, lying not far from a heavily injured dragon. As the dragon tried to run up to the man, I cast a lightning spell. To my surprise, it shrugged the spell off easily and flew towards me. I cast spell after spell trying to weaken it, but it pressed on. I, being only barely a triangle class mage, knew that my death was near as the dragon approached me.

"To my surprise, however, an explosion erupted from the dragon's shoulder. The man on the ground had crawled towards his way to an odd black rod that had been lying nearby. I had no clue what spell he had cast, but it proved effective as the dragon then turned to chase after him. I tried to intercept, but the dragon was too strong for any of my spells to distract it from its target. The man's final act was to throw a black and white orb, right before the dragon incinerated his body.

Osmond's eyes grew heavy. "I didn't understand what happened, but suddenly the dragon's body glowed red and disappeared. The ball fell to the ground, rocked from side to side, and then lay still. I rushed over to the man, but I could see that it was too late for him. It was a miracle he hadn't immediately perished in the dragon's final attack. He said something in a foreign language, and then died with a smile on his face."

Osmond sighed. "I buried the man with the staff he used. I felt it was a fitting for a warrior. I found a similar staff lying not too far away, and took it with the magical orb that had been used to slay the dragon. While I told the King and Queen the true story, the story of the Staff of Destruction being used to destroy the dragon was the cover. The Vanishing Eye is smaller and more inconspicuous than the Staff of Destruction. It was better that people did not know that a weapon as unassuming as the Vanishing Eye could eradicate an entire dragon in the blink of an eye."

"But an ultra ball doesn't destroy anything," Ash pointed out. "It only holds Pokemon—ah, magical creatures."

Osmond nodded. "While that's still an incredible function, it's not as dangerous as we first perceived. However, with the Vanishing Eye now missing, I suppose it matters little."

"It wasn't recovered?" Louise asked in surprise.

Osmond shook his head. "Given the destruction in that clearing, I wouldn't be surprised if it was destroyed in the chaos," he said. "What a pity."

"Are there other items like that in the vault?" Princess Henrietta asked curiously.

"Hm…" Osmond ran a hand through his beard as he pondered. "There are many powerful and unique items in the vault. Unfortunately, we never got around to cataloging all of them, and some of those items predate even my predecessors. I suppose we'd have to take a tour to know for sure."

"That would be great," said Louise excitedly. Then she sagged with disappointment. "Oh, but we were supposed to leave with the Princess tomorrow morning…"

"Yes, her highness did mention that," Osmond said thoughtfully. "Perhaps I can arrange a tour for all three of you when you return from your trip in the capital?"

"That would be highly appreciated, Headmaster Osmond," Henrietta replied. Louise and Ash nodded as well.

"In that case, I will bid you to enjoy the evening, and take pride in your victory," said Osmond. He dismissed the privacy spell and practically swam through the crowds towards the nearest group Musketeers.

"Now I feel terrible having you leave after you had to endure this ordeal," Henrietta confessed.

"We made a promise which we intend to keep," said Louise. "You can leave it to us."

"That's right," said Ash. "You don't have to worry about a thing."

"I thank you both, from the bottom of my heart I do," said Henrietta sincerely.

"Princess!"

"Coming, Agnes!" Henrietta gave a final nod to both of them before rejoining her captain of the guard.

Louise and Ash walked to the edge of the cafeteria's center, where various people were dancing. Ash could spy Guiche dancing with Montmorency, and then he swapped and started dancing with Katie. The trainer shook his head. It was a step up from trying to cheat behind the girls' backs, but now he was literally dancing between the two of them.

Kirche was wearing a tight-fitted red dress that was somehow less revealing but more seductive than her usual school uniform. She was flirting with literally every male she could find.

Tabitha was dressed in a light blue dress. It was formal, but simple in design, suiting Tabitha well. The girl was standing off to the side, reading a book, as per usual.

"Are you okay?"

Ash turned to Louise, who was looking at him with genuine concern. For the first time that evening, he took a moment to take in her appearance. Louise wore a white dress with pink frills, and her hair was tied up in a high ponytail. She looked every bit like a young noble lady.

"Of course," Ash said with a smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're obviously not," Louise said accusingly. Ash averted his eyes. "See, you can't even look me in the eye." Her voice grew softer as she said, "Tell me what's wrong."

"Sorry, it's just…" Ash sighed, finally letting the weariness show on his face. "There was no reason for anyone to die today."

"You're still worried about the dragon?" Louise asked, even though his words were only confirming her suspicions. "While I disagreed with Miss Long—Fouquet's actions, she did have a point. It wouldn't have been much use as a mount if it wanted to eat you or one of us."

"The Salamence was hurt and scared," said Ash. "That's why it was fighting us. There was no need to kill it. I tried to avoid anyone dying, but I still couldn't save it."

"Did you lose someone close to you before?"

Ash opened his mouth, then closed it, frowning. "I feel like I have, but I can't remember their name, face, or anything about them," he said. "Sorry, Louise, I'm just out of it right now. But I'll be fine tomorrow, so don't sorry about the mission."

"Ash."

"Yes."

"Shut up."

"…"

Louise turned to face Ash, took his hands in her own and squeezed them. "You are my familiar, and I am your master," she said. "That does not mean you should deal with everything on your own. I realize that I don't have your… experiences, but I'd like you to rely on me more. Okay?"

Ash stared at her in wonder, then smiled. "Yeah, I'll try to remember that," he said. "You're a good friend, Louise. Thank you." Without warning, he wrapped her in a hug.

"I-I…" Louise blushed and started fidgeting. "Don't do this in public," she muttered under her breath.

"Sorry," Ash apologized as he released her. He turned his gaze to the dance floor. "Hey, Louise?"

"What?"

Ash took a step back, held a hand out, and bowed at the waist. "May I have this dance?"

Louise's gaze went from Ash's hand to his face. "Do you know how to dance?" she asked skeptically.

"More or less."

"Hmph. I suppose I'll have to teach you then."

Louise accepted Ash's hand, and they stepped onto the dance floor just as the song switched to a slow waltz.

No words were exchanged, but in their hearts, both agreed that that moment was the highlight of their day.


Unfortunately, Ash and Louise won't be able to grab stuff from the Vault before heading out to Albion. They'll appreciate the upgrade on their return though.

I've got a lot of announcements so let's make it quick.

1: The poll results. This votes come from not just on this site, but also on Spacebattles and a few from elsewhere. Here are the final results:

1st. Louise Summons the Dragon of the West (Iroh) – 262 Votes

2nd. Louise Summons the King of Heroes (Gilgamesh) – 188 Votes

3rd. Louise Summons a Cute, Fluffy, Alien Experiment (Stitch) NEW – 175 Votes

4th. Louise Summons the Last Airbender (Aang) – 174 Votes

5th. Louise Summons a Pokemon Trainer (Ash Ketchum) – 93 Votes

6th. Louise Summons the American Dragon (Jake Long) NEW – 84 Votes

7th. Louise Summons an Omnitrix Wielder (Ben) NEW – 75 Votes

Last. Louise Summons a Half Andalite (Tobias) – 66 Votes

I knew Iroh was going to be popular, but he clearly dominated the competition. Gilgamesh's placement surprised me. I didn't explain the royal arse-pain to be so popular. The two hardest characters I'm writing right now got the top spots... I guess suffering is a part of an author's life. Stitch seizing third place over Aang was a surprising upset. Ash got a little higher than I expected. I'm surprised Jake beat out Ben in this poll (given how thrashed he was in the previous one). Tobias coming in last places comes as no surprise, since Animorphs is less well known compared to everyone else.

As per the results, I'm going to be focusing on Iroh, Gil, and Aang. Since Iroh and Aang already have bi-monthly rotations, I'm not sure what I can do to make them more consistent. I might be able to get Aang on a monthly rotation, but I'm not sure. Iroh's chapters are too difficult for me to attempt that. Gilgamesh is now going to be on bi-monthly rotation, but I haven't decided which week of the month he'll take.

Also, Louise Summons a Cute, Fluffy, Alien Experiment is coming up next, here on Disney Channel! I mean Fanfiction, totally Fanfiction! My aim is to get it out on October 31st, but since I'm already a week behind on this month's scheduled uploads, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

2: This story is going on Hiatus.

I've been consistently giving this story at least a chapter a month for 10 months now. That's a pretty good record, especially since my writing style for this series has been letting the characters flow naturally with minimal planning. Unfortunately, that way of writing isn't very sustainable. Not planning things in advance means I end up doing more rewrites per chapter in an attempt to make everything natural and interesting, so it's more time consuming. This chapter had only barebone notes by the time i published last month's chapter (which is why it came a week late), and I have no backlog available for the next chapter.

To make matters worse, I've got 2 important arcs coming up. The Albion Arc is going to have huge implications for the Reconquista, and after that I was debating whether or not I still wanted the Lake Spirit Arc to happen. Even while letting the characters act freely, I need time to find the butterfly effects and integrate them. So this story will be on Hiatus until January. Chapter 13 will be uploaded on this story's anniversary.

3: Donate to my Ko-Fi and vote on my poll over there to decide what my next one-shot will be! My tag is "RainEStar"

4: Is this a romance story?

Idk. Check the tags.

More seriously though, this story can go either way, and I've done enough teasing in the A/Ns to make this a harem (not that I actually would do that). While I'm not writing it with the intention of shipping Louise and Ash, they have good chemistry together. Louise is a lot like Misty, except in the canon she was so desperate for companionship that she fell in love with Saito. Saito has differences in his LN, Manga, and Anime appearance, but overall, he was pretty useless pervert who caused more problems than he fixed. Ash is a much better friend and potential boyfriend/fiancé/husbando. However, Ash is also dense to romance, even by anime standards.

Currently, they're friends. Louise is "secretly" crushing on Ash right now. Ash wants to protect and support Louise, partially because runes, but mostly because that's just his nature. If their relationship grows beyond that point due to character interaction, who knows, Ash may come home with bride like his mom wants. Until then, the only confirmed shipping is friendshipping. Totally. Nothing in that last scene was romantic in the slightest. At all. Most definitely.

5: I don't have anything else to say at this point. Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!