Part 13 – Dogs of War

"What the hell is that?"

"What is what?" The old waitress asked.

"This green stuff?"

"Its mashed potatoes…..or is it the creamed spinach…..I'll ask the chef."

Ash sighed as he stared at a plate of what he first perceived as food, but now was thinking otherwise. Misty sat across from him and poked her food cautiously with a fork as well. After they're amazing and strenuous…not to mention very mysterious adventure with Ho-oh they ended up on the other sides of the mountains and found themselves in Ecruteak City. For Ash and his friends it was as difficult to find a decent restaurant, as it was to properly pronounce the city's name.

Ho-oh was left in secrecy at the local pokemon center, again narrowly avoiding nurse joy fainting. The fifth legendary bird had been on the brink of death and was barley holding on when they brought it to the Pokemon Center. Almost of all its energy was sucked from its body over the thousands of years it was trapped in that odd rock. To think Ho-oh had really never seen the light of day.

After his capture Ash didn't feel that massive burst of energy he had felt when he captured the others. He still had his strength and healing abilities but he was expecting them to either increase or possibly get a new ability. At first he wasn't sure about this special powers and energy stuff, but now that he got used to it, he was looking forward to it and was excited to find out what the next one would be. But nothing really happened.

He thought about this further as he stared at this mass of slope in front of him. Ash sighed again only more louder. "I miss my mom's cooking…." He eyes suddenly went wide.

"OH NO! I haven't told my mother about any of this!"

Misty and Brock just continued to stare at their table; even Pikachu was hardly touching its ketchup. This was hardly the reaction he was expecting. "What's wrong with you guys? You usually freak out when stuff like this happens…"

Misty slowly raised her head. "After what has happened these past few weeks…..nothing surprises us anymore….."

Ash blankly stared at Misty then turned his attention to Brock. "hey, when I found the sword do you think it has some kinda…"

Brock just took a sip of his drink and stared off into space. "I don't care….."

Ash slumped back into his chair. "what is with you guys?" He looked over at Pikachu who just gave a very resounding 'chaaa'.

He knew what was wrong with them. They were all very tired. It wasn't that they were sleepy, they were exhausted. All this excitement had worn them out, he could see now. Ash himself was fine do to the 'energy' that was flowing through him. He found it hard at times to even fall asleep, but he had all this pip and vinegar even without coffee. Misty and Brock on the other hand were falling apart at the seams. They needed a vacation, a long one. It was if both of them, not even Pikachu could keep up with him.

He sat there for a while in silence. After capturing Ho-oh he had heard Lugia speak to him while they were flying to this city with the hard to pronounce name. He had said to Ash that he was halfway through his quest. He had another five legendary pokemon to capture. All of his life he knew about the three birds at Shimoutee, then he learned about Lugia and Ho-oh. Now there were five others that he had no idea existed. Finding them would be much harder now.

He felt himself getting tired, staring at his friends. Suddenly without warning he felt a very odd tingling sensation in his muscles. It felt like his leg was going to sleep but it was getting worse. He shifted in his seat as his limbs began to feel like cement bricks. Ash had a hard time breathing and was trying to figure out what the hell was happening. On the beach were he had captured Lugia, he felt something like this but it lasted just seconds.

"whoa…..something's happening……" Ash said as he stared at his hand. His vision was getting blurry as he reached out and knocked over his glass of water. But as soon as it had started, it had quickly stopped. A bit overwhelmed he grabbed his stomach as a wave of nausea washed over him, but that to quickly subsided. He took a couple quick breaths as the tension in his arms and legs disappeared. Ash was getting tired of experiencing all these different sensations, and without warning too.

"I'm alright, that was really weird, I wonder what that was?"

Misty took a sip of her drink. "What was what?"

"Forget it…"

And then something really astonishing happened. Ash got this sudden sensation deep within him. He looked around quickly and it felt like everything around him suddenly froze. Then in the corner of his eye he could see the waitress step on the water that had dripped onto the floor when he knocked over his glass. In an instant he could see the waitress slip and began to fly backwards into the air. And without thinking he jumped out of the booth and caught her before she hit the ground. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he saw the tray she was carrying fall as well. With a free hand he managed to save the tray of food and having it spill on the gentlemen beside him. And then the strange sensation in him was gone and then everything around him began to speed up and return to normal.

Everyone, including the wide-eyed waitress, stared at him as he had a waitress in one hand and a tray of food in the other that he had managed to catch both in mere seconds. The whole restaurant erupted as everyone clapped and cheered the amazing spectacle they had just seen.

The waitress was very grateful and offered to pick up their check for them as a way of saying thank you. Ash graciously declined and sat back down in the booth. He was met with the gaping-mouth wide-eyed stares of Misty, Brock and even Pikachu.

"What?" Ash said like nothing had happened.

Brock pointed at the waitress who was now across the restaurant. "How did you do that!?"

"What? I just caught her."

"Just caught her?! You were a friggin blur! We didn't even see you move! You went from there to here in under a second!"

"I did?" Ash said amazed.

Misty got up and sat down next to him. "We have never seen anybody move that fast….what happened?"

Ash thought a moment. "well, I got this real weird feeling in my gut and then I saw everything kinda slow down around me. And then I saw the water on the floor, then a saw the waitress slip and then I caught her…..the I saw the tray…"

"okay I get it….but how did you do that!" Misty was getting a little annoyed.

"I don't know!! I just saw everything happening and I reacted!"

The arguing couple looked over to see that Brock was thinking hard, they knew this because he had his hand on his chin and he was rubbing it slightly.

"hmmm….it seems to me that his reaction time and reflexes have increased….and maybe even his speed…..what happened before the waitress slipped…..you said you were also feeling odd….didn't you?"

Ash scratched his nose. "yeah I did, it was just moments before she slipped….what do you think that means…"

Just then his pokegear began to ring. He took out of his pocket and fumbled around with the buttons this time accidentally turning on the map option. "damn it, I'll never figure this thing out…" After much struggle he turned on the cell phone and saw the image of Nurse Joy flicker across the small screen.

"Oh hey…Nurs.errr….hey.." Ash knew if he said 'Nurse Joy', Brock would rip the pokegear right out of his hands.

~"Good morning Ash, You Ho-oh is doing beautifully and we have managed to get most of its strength back. It has taken a long time but Ho-oh is finally back to normal. In fact it woke up a few minutes ago, its still a bit groggy but that will go away soon."~

"Thank you so much, I know you have been working hard, I appreciate it"

~"I should be thanking you Ash, I have always wanted to treat a legendary pokemon, I never dreamed it would come true. But I haven't told anyone that Ho-oh is here and I will always keep your secret."~

"Thank you, and you welcome Nurse Joy…('aww crap')"

Brock leaped across the table and knocked Ash out view as he mashed lips against the screen. "Oh Nurse Joy! Please go out with me!"

Ash summoned his strength and managed to throw him onto the floor with great ease. "She hung up idiot….Listen I think I know what happened. Now that Ho-oh has regained his strength maybe that's why I have these new ability, it explains the delay."

Misty sighed. "this stuff is just getting to confusing….well, come on lets get back to the pokemon center….and Brock if you do that again, I'll rip your ear off, you hear me?"

Brock picked himself off the floor. "Yes Ma'am…"

*****

"Wreak havoc and let slip the dogs of war…."

"This should be The Chosen One's greatest challenge yet."

"Yes, Now that he has the sword of power he may advance in the his journey."

"He acquired the five birds without any real difficulty, now he must face the others."

"The Birds may have found him, but now he must find the others."

"Will he fail?"

"That I can not see……it is up to him…."

"no….it will be up to another to decide…."

"oh really, you can see this in the future?"

"…no……it has already begun"

*****

It was a very lovely day out in this fair city. The sun was shining and was unabbreviated by the presence of the clouds. It was cool out but warm enough to not need a sweater. The city was bustling with people dashing to get to work or pick up fresh fruit down at the market. It was a very beautiful city with many flowers and plants adorning the city streets were performers were trying to make a few bucks playing guitars and doing magic tricks for the gathering crowds. All in all it was a picture perfect day.

"It's so nice to feel the sun light at last." Misty said as she lifted Togepi into the air.

Brock and Ash couldn't agree more, but something was amiss. Ash knew he was forgetting something. But he just dismissed it knowing it would come to him sooner or later.

Finally the group arrived at the Ecruteak City Pokemon Center. Upon entering they once again had to restrain Brock from attacking Nurse Joy. As Misty held him by his reddening ears Ash walked up to the front desk to retrieve his pokemon. Pikachu hopped up and played with the bell that sat on the desk. Nurse Joy finally came out of the operating room with a few Chansey's and a Blissey walking behind her.

"Hello Ash, here's you pokemon, it took some time but Ho-oh is back to normal.

He reached out and took the pokeball in his hands. "Thanks Nurse Joy." He reached down and clipped it onto his Pokebelt. It now held all 5 legendary birds and Pikachu's pokeball. Ash missed his other pokemon, Squirtle, Baulbasuar and Charizard. He wondered it they were okay at Professor Oaks home.

"I wish they would let me keep more then six pokemon with me…..I need to keep all the legendary pokemon with me but I miss my other pokemon…." Ash sighed and looked at his Pokedex.

Nurse joy thought a moment, she had a solution for Ash, but it was experimental and never was meant to be used. And if she did do it, she could get in trouble and maybe even lose her license to be a pokemon Nurse. But she quickly dismissed the maybes and beckoned Ash to follow her around the desk and to her computer.

"I have something you can use….I shouldn't be doing this….but I will give you a crack."

Ash was shocked at first. "Nurse Joy! I certainly don't use drugs and I don't you should be doing it either!"

Nurse Joy fell over. "No, No, No….a crack is a hacker term….look, all my life I have always loved two things, pokemon and computers. I have studied both and when ever I'm not healing I like to program software and hack into mainframes. It's the dark side of me that few know about."

Ash was having a hard time believing what she was saying. "You? A hacker?"

"I know, but listen, I was the one that helped professor Oak program the software used in the Pokedex. I have developed a crack that will bypass the encryption that counts how many pokeballs you have on you at one time. Now the pokedex knows that you can only have six at a time, if you go over the limit, the pokeball is teleported to Prof. Oak. Now when I upload this crack, the Pokedex will think you will have six pokeballs on you when you could have fifty stashed in your backpack."

Ash gasped. "That's amazing….that's illegal ain't it?"

Nurse Joy nervously glanced about the room. "Yeah, but I made it when I was bored and I never thought I would use it, but his is a special case."

"So your saying I will be able to carry as many pokemon on me as I want?"

"That's what I'm saying."

"…….alright…."

Nurse Joy smiled and retrieved Ash's Pokedex. She ran a cable from her computer to the back of the Pokedex and began to rapidly type away on the keyboard. Her desktop hummed and clicked a bit as she uploaded the crack into Ash's Pokedex. With a loud 'ping!' they knew it was done.

Nurse Joy happily gave Ash his Pokedex and warned him to make sure nobody finds out about it. Ash swore that he would never tell where he got it. With that he went back into his guest room along with Misty and Brock.

"So what'd Nurse Joy want?" Brock tried to pry out of him. He was very suspicious.

"Hmm? I'll tell you later…." Ash fell onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"You and Nurse Joy weren't talking about me….were you?" Brock asked.

Ash sighed. "No Brock……."

Ash slowly got up and walked over to the dresser and opened the middle drawer. Inside were many clothes haphazardly strewn about. He reached in and pulled out an object wrapped in bathroom towels. As he shed the many layers the dull shine of the swords scabbard glinted in the light. And pretty soon a pile of towels lay on the floor and Ash stood holding the legendary sword of power. "….what a beautiful thing….."

He grabbed the handle and pulled the sword out a couple inches to look at the swerving blade. Ash admired the craftsmanship of the blade and ran his fingers on the ancient lettering that circled the bottom. He withdrew the rest of the blade from the scabbard and waved it back and forth so the light would catch the surface of the silver metal. "Nobody would let me carry this big thing around….."

Misty and Brock watched him swing it around him like he was in some farce battle. Ash brought it back up to his face and he looked at the hilt and stared at the many gems incrusted in it. And in the very center, much were his thumb was near, was a very large dark blue stone. Astonishingly when he touched it the blade seemed to retract into the hilt and almost completely disappear. Ash became astonished when he saw that this 3 foot long sword had shrunk to the size of a mere fifteen inches. It looked like a small dagger. And what was even more amazing was that the metal scabbard and shrunk in size as well.

Brock and Misty both ran over and looked at the shrunken sword.

Ash was completely puzzled. "What did I do?! I didn't break it did I?"

Brock took the scabbard into his hands and fumbled it around. "I don't think so…..hit that blue stone again…..see what happens…."

Ash held the dagger in front of him and pressed his thumb against the stone and in an instant the full length of the blade exploded outward and the sword went back to its original size.

The three of them sat there shocked and tried to explain what they had seen logically. But some things just cannot be explained, and they had to leave it at that. Ash retracted the blade like he had did before and placed it in the now smaller sheath. He was so happy because now he could conceal it under his clothes and no one would be the wiser. And when ever he needed it he could just whip it out and make it extend to full size with the touch of a button. This new discovery made things a lot easier on his part.

He strapped the dagger onto his lower back and had the hilt just sticking out of his jacket ever so slightly. Ash put his backpack on and looked in the mirror to make sure it was concealed.

"Not bad…..come on…..its time to visit the gym."

Misty sighed. "What's the point, just go over there and mop the floor with the gym leaders pokemon and come back. We'll wait here sweetie, I need a nap."

Ash slowly walked to the door. "umm okay…." He remembered when facing a gym leader would be a huge event in their journey. Perhaps the whole Chosen One thing has replaced it. He sadly exited the room with Pikachu and gave a quick goodbye to Misty and Brock.

He entered into the streets of Ecruteak City and began to wade through the many sidewalks and back roads in order to find the gym. It had to be around here somewhere. After twenty minutes of searching he managed to find it nestled in the far corner of the city. It was like any other gym he had seen and was not really nervous or excited about the upcoming battle. But he needed that badge and he would do anything to have it. He turned the door knob and found that it didn't open. Ash kicked the door a few times thinking it was stuck, but it was locked tight.

"Aww….come on!! Open up, I want to battle!"

He was starting to get frustrated. Just then he heard someone shout at him.

"hey buddy!"

Ash looked around and saw a man walking towards the gym holding a watering can. "Hey buddy, Morty's not here, he's over at the burned tower looking after the ghost pokemon."

"Where's that?"

The gardener pointed behind him. "Its twenty minutes that way."

Ash sighed and gathered up Pikachu as he made his way around the city again. And when he got there he was very surprised. It was actually a burned tower. He thought it was just a name like Ercuteak. But this tower had seen a huge fire. It had only three levels left and the whole thing was one big piece of charcoal.

"God, its amazing this thing is still standing…."

He carefully entered the rebuilt entrance and noticed that the entrance was the only thing rebuilt. The whole room was completely destroyed. There were bits of wood and nails scattered about and all the walls were black. It smelled like a barbeque that hadn't been cleaned in ages.

He also noticed that he was the only one here. "helllloooooooo…..anybody here?"

There was nothing, it was dead silent. He decided to look around for Morty and ventured up the rickety stairs to the second floor. And just like the first level there were just holes in the floors and black marks on the walls. Everything else was just barren. After combing the floor he found another pair of stairs and carefully scaled them. Now the third floor had almost no ceiling but there were a lot of walls on this floor. And as he navigated his way through them they appeared to be a labyrinth of sorts.

He jumped as his foot went through a few weakened boards, but luckily he was able to catch himself before plummeting through the tower. Ash's heart raced a bit but he soon calmed down and began to shout for Morty.

"Hey! Morty you in here?!!"

As he walked around the corner he came upon an amazing site. There in the middle of this tiny room were three huge statues made in stone. The amazing part of it was how the charcoal floor was able to hold such heavy objects up. He walked up to them and marveled at their size and wonderful craftsmanship. These statues must have been the only thing to survive the massive blaze that hit this tower.

The statues looked like some kinda weird pokemon. This one to his left a had a very unique head ornament thing in a diamond shape, and the one to his right had a really neat looking facial armor. He ran his hand against the rough stone of all the statues as he continued to admire them.

Just then he heard an odd cracking sound. He immediately looked down thinking the boards were breaking under his feet. But the floor remained unperturbed. And then he heard it again, quiet at first but then it became louder. Ash glanced to the floor and saw a gray dust begin to collect on the boards.

He reached down and rubbed the dust between his fingers. "What the?"

Ash jumped up startled when he heard a low grumbling coming from one of the statues. "WHAT THE?!"

Ash swear he wouldn't of believed it if he saw it with his own eyes. The statues eyes, began to glow. One had a piercing blue gaze, another had a frightful red glare and the other had a haunting yellow stare. And before his eyes the stone began to fly in the air as the statues began to shake and twitch and reveal splotches of color underneath the dull gray exterior. After the dust had settle, these three lumbering beasts stood before Ash.

He was shaking like a leaf as he quickly reached behind him and withdrew the dragger.

"Stay back!" Ash said with his voice quivering with fear. He had no idea what was going on and the fact they were once statues freaked him out. The three creatures slowly moved forward and bared their massive sharp teeth.

"Stay back!! I warn you!!"

The creatures still moved forward. Pikachu hid behind Ash's leg and cover its eyes with its ears. Ash quickly pressed the blue gem and the sword extended quickly revealing the steel blade to the creatures.

They instantly stopped and went wide-eyed as they stared at the sword. One by one they looked at each other and seemed to be communicating with each other. Ash slightly lowered the sword as he watched them step back and let out a small growl. And suddenly in a flash they were gone. He could see multicolored blurs fly out of the open ceiling and into different directions. Their speed was amazing as the gust of wind they created kicked up some of the dust that lay on the charred boards.

Ash stood there in the Burned Tower covered in gray stone particles holding the sword of power with a cowering Pikachu behind his leg.

"…………*cough*….*hack*….wreak havoc….and let slip the dogs of war….."

To be continued!!

Authors notes: Okay!! I'm officially half-way through the story, that's right, half-way through! This is going to take me forever. But I will try and get it done before summer, because I will have no time because of my job. But anywho, I am so happy with everyone that have read my story. And what really made my day is two e-mails I got fromm readers telling me how amazing my story is and asking me when I would get this part out. That really makes this a whole lot more gratifying. But anywho, thanks to all those who sent mails and especially to all who have reviewed thus far. Now, all I have to do is write another 12 parts…….oh boy. I'll get started right away!