Hey all! DarkSlash9 here with another chapter. If I were you, I'd re-read this story before reading this chapter. That's what I did in preparation to write this. Goodness, there are some annoying ass typos / extremely minor inconsistencies in some of the previous chapters. Whoopsies. I'll try to be better from here on out with my proofreading. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon. Honestly, this disclaimer does nothing, why do I even put these?
XII
[Dark Order: Sinnoh Base...]
A silent hall; long, tiled, and uninhabited. Not a single noise could be heard...
Until a black portal suddenly opened, spitting out Wade, May, Serena, and Pikachu. The unlikely quartet tumbled onto the unforgiving granite tiles, the latter 3 dazed and confused by their abrupt transport. Wade, however, held no such cluelessness. He quickly shuffled to his feet, looking around. As if on cue, multiple Dark Order grunts, dressed in the standard black trenchcoats, came rushing to the scene. By the time May and Serena's senses returned to them, they found themselves handcuffs. Meanwhile, another grunt grabbed Pikachu with rubber gloves and stuffed the Mouse Pokemon into a small cage. Wade watched as his men apprehended the heroes and confiscated their pokeballs, a smug smirk on his face.
"Not so tough now, are we?" he taunted, chortling. "It was a truly idiotic move to follow me here, Ms. Maple. Now look at you: bound and bruised. Do you have any words for me?"
"Where is Rosa?!" growled May, struggling with her newly acquired constraints. "Where are we?!"
"I'd worry less about your friend and more about yourself." advised Wade, taking his leave. As he walked away, he nodded at the grunts. "Take 'em to the prison hold."
"WHERE IS SHE?! I KNOW SHE'S HERE!" roared May as the men took her, Serena, and Pikachu away. "WADE!"
While May continued to release her inner fury, Serena simply looked around, deciding not to struggle. She was still left in a rather somber mood after the vision Wade's black magic had given her, but that wasn't the cause of her silence. In situations such as these, maintaining a cool head and trying to gather information was key. But alas, nothing about their surroundings gave her any clue as to where they were. She glanced at Pikachu. He was staring straight ahead, the rodent seeming to be concentrating very diligently on something.
"Ash?" he thought, ears twitching. "Ash my mans, can you hear me?"
...Nothing.
"Lucario?"
...Nothing.
"Shit."
His connection to Ash and Lucario seemed to be undergoing some sort of disruption. In fact, the more he tried to call out to their auras, the more he realized that he couldn't sense anyone or anything outside whatever massive building he currently found himself in. This was an entirely new breed of bad news; one could only assume that this block worked both ways. Wherever they were, Ash would most likely not be able to pinpoint their locations. They were truly separated.
The grunts ushered the trio to a set of cells, classic square rooms divided by thick, steel bars. Serena was thrown in one, May in another, and Pikachu as well as the girls' pokeballs in a third. By the time May had been forced into her prison, the brunette's rage had subsided. She had traded it in for a spell of complete and utter silence, a forlorn look on her face.
"Where are we...?" she murmured, eyes on the floor.
"I don't know..." replied Serena from her own cell. It was across the hall from May's, giving the two young women a clear view of each other. "I don't even know why I jumped into the portal that took us here..."
"This is bad... How will Ash find us?" sighed May, head in her hands. "Pikachu, can you contact him?"
"Pi..." replied the rodent, shaking his head.
Neither girl was able to understand his words like Ash could, but they still were aware that his answer meant "no". Both of their already sad expressions only saddened at the news. May in particular looked extremely distraught; she was well aware that she had been the first to follow Wade into the portal, which, in turn, led to everyone else following her in. Pikachu could hear her muttering various curses and words of self-depreciation, her whispers steeped in a mixture of guilt and downright misery.
Seeing his favorite human second only to Ash looking so down, Pikachu decided to give it one last shot. He closed his eyes and tapped into his aura once more, his ears standing on end. Once again, he found himself only able to sense the people already within the large building they were in, a vast selection of dark aura users popping up on his radar. But, while he did not make any contact with Ash, he did sense something of interest.
"Holy shit... he's here."
In a sea of dark auras, a single normal, positive aura stood out among the rest, a rather powerful one at that. It wasn't coming from a human... but from a Lucario. It was then that Pikachu realized that somehow, he'd have to contact Ash. He simply could not afford to give up; Not when the very Lucario they were looking for, the one Sir Aaron's Lucario needed to gain a physical body... was nearby. Putting two and two together, this gave Pikachu at least some idea of where they were: the Sinnoh Region.
"Pi pi pika pi pikachu pi!" hollered Pikachu, eager to spread the word to May and Serena.
Both girls looked at him, still unable to understand. Frustrated by the language barrier, Pikachu threw all logic out of the window and continued to talk. He even incorporated various gestures with his paws, desperate to get his message across. But his efforts bore no fruit. Serena and May continued to stare at him, completely lost on what he was trying to say. Refusing to give up, Pikachu continued talking. For several more minutes.
Pikachu's rambling persisted until a new stimulus garnered his immediate attention. Mid sentence, he went silent. He looked down the hall, his senses picking up on a powerful dark aura user approaching. The sheer weight of the behemoth's aura sent chills down his spine, and suddenly, breathing became far more difficult of a task. Their power was suffocating, their presence alone dwarfing the strength Giovanni had displayed in their battle just half an hour earlier. Unsettled by this newcomer's strength, Pikachu glanced at May, who, sure enough, was also looking down the hall.
A true monster was approaching.
Unable to sense Aura, Serena looked back and forth between the two, deciding to follow their gazes. At the end of the hallway, a man of relatively short stature was walking, with four people behind him: two grunts and two teenagers, one a boy and one a girl. The small party made their way down the hall, in complete silence. As they got closer, the group's facial features became far more apparent. The small man was smiling, revealing a pair of canines far sharper than that of a normal human's. The two teens behind him both had brown hair and blue eyes, and they seemed to be around the same age. The boy seemed to be quite curious, looking into each and every cell as he walked by. The girl, however, kept her gaze forward and only forward... until a certain brunette noticed her presence.
"Rosa!" cried May, grabbing the bars of her cell.
At the sound of the girl's name, Serena paid close attention. Whoever this Rosa character was, she'd seemed extremely important to May. But she would have never guessed such a relationship if she'd only been going off of Rosa's reaction to May's voice. As the group walked by, Rosa simply glanced at May, face straight. As quickly as the two made the eye contact, it found itself ended, without a single hint of emotion from Rosa's side.
"Rosa...?" repeated May, feeling a nauseating mixture of hurt and confusion. "It's me, May- or, uh, Rachel, if that's what you prefer. Rosa? Rosa!"
Rosa continued to follow the man down the hall, not looking back.
"Oooh, a fabulous friend of yours?" purred the man, the undeniable source of the powerful dark aura plaguing May and Pikachu's senses. "Another brown-haired blue-eyed beauty at that! Fabulous, just fabulous."
"No, Lord Kamerion." answered Rosa, hands at her sides. Her voice was monotone, a stark contrast to the energetic cadence May knew her voice to have. "I'm not sure who she is... or how she knows my name."
"I see. A fabulous mystery it is, then." chuckled Lord Kamerion. "Oh well. Let us continue to your new living quarters Rosalina, Nathaniel. They're fabulously average, but if you two behave your fabulous selves, I may just have my men install sheets for your beds. Sheets!"
And just like that, the hall returned to silence, Lord Kamerion leading Nate and Rosa around a corner. Both Pikachu and Serena glanced at May, who was staring at the spot Rosa had just been, completely speechless. Seeing that May was clearly distraught by the cold shoulder Rosa had just served her, Pikachu decided not to make a single sound for the next few minutes. But Serena had no such social tact. She had a question, and the current silence was as good a time as ever to ask it, in her opinion.
"May...?"
May's head slowly turned to Serena, a rather depressed look in her eyes.
"...Yes?"
"I've wanted to ask you some things." stated Serena. "I figured now's a good time, since we're probably going to be stuck here for a while."
"What do you want to know?" asked May, sitting on the floor of her cell.
"Everything."
May's face went from somber to uncomfortable as she noticed Serena's intense gaze, well aware of what the honey blonde meant by "everything". Even 5 years prior, right before Ash had been taken away by Sir Tobias, Serena had seen her taking her anti-depressants. The more May thought about it, the more she realized Serena had seen a lot of things having to do with her troubled past, with none of them being concrete enough to actually explain anything. Her question was understandable. However... it was ill-timed.
"I... I really don't feel like going into it right now." answered May, hugging her knees. "I hope you understand."
Serena quietly nodded her head, having just realized that May would probably need a little time to recover from Rosa's lack of a response. That was okay. She had another question, and it wasn't one for May in particular. In fact, it was probably on everyone's minds, so once again, she felt no hesitation when the words came out of her mouth.
"Alright then... how are we getting out of here?"
[Oak Laboratory...]
Ash let out a frustrated sigh, tapping his foot repeatedly. Ever since he'd sent Pikachu into the portal to follow May and Serena, he'd been trying to contact his yellow companion. Unfortunately, it seemed their connection was blocked by some outside force, it was if he were trying to puncture a brick wall with a bendy straw. Of course Ash had ordered Lucario to try as well, but once again they were met with failure. Our hero now found himself standing in the middle of the Oak family's lab, keeping his breaths steady. He was not okay.
"No dice?" asked Max, approaching.
"No."
"Yeah, I haven't been able to sense May's aura anywhere... and I'd like to think sensory is one of my specialties." muttered Max, folding his arms. "Wherever they are, there's something masking their auras and cutting off connections. This isn't good. If we can't sense them, we have no idea where to start looking."
"They're in the Sinnoh Region." stated Gary from across the lab. He was standing near the wall Giovanni and company had destroyed, assessing the damages. "I heard that Wade guy talk into his walkie-talkie. He wanted immediate transport to Sinnoh Base, whatever that is."
Max snorted. "Well, it's obviously a base in Sinnoh then..."
"Thanks for the analysis, Smarty McWiseass." retorted Gary, looking over his shoulder.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" asked Ash, looking back and forth at Gary and Max. "Let's go to Sinnoh. Now."
"I'm gonna have to stop you right there." declared Gary, walking towards Ash. "Look Ashy-boy, I have a life. I've got a wife, Leaf, that I have to answer to. I've got a job that I need to take care of. I've got bills to pay. If you honestly expect me to suddenly uproot my life to help you out on your quest to save the world, you've got another thing coming."
"Gary, I understand, but-"
"No buts." interrupted Gary, putting a hand up. In said hand was a cell phone. "I'm gonna step out for a second and call my wife. Then I'll uproot my life and help you on your quest to save the world. Gotta give the lady a heads up, y'know."
Ash closed his mouth, his lips forming a smirk. For a second, he really thought he'd have to convince Gary to join the Fellowship. It was a problem he hadn't faced yet; May, Max, and Serena had all joined with no problems. Gary would have been the first to have an objection, and truth be told, Ash didn't have much of a case to present in the event that a member needed to be convinced. Well, there was always the very real threat of eternal darkness and global suffering, but that point was only to be used as a last resort.
"I was gonna say," started Ash, folding his arms. "Since when does Gary Motherfucking Oak back down?"
"Pfffffffft, never have, and certainly won't today." replied Gary, proudly. "You see these damages? Those sons a'bitches blew up like, half my lab. You'd best believe I'm going with you to bitch slap their sorry asses. I'd have gone after them even if you weren't. So yeah, I'm joining the party. Now excuse me, gotta let Leaf know."
Gary then exited the lab, leaving just Ash and Max. Mere seconds after Gary stepped out, Ash began walking around the lab, his eyes scanning the room for something. Max watched with a raised eyebrow, completely lost on what the Chosen Guardian could have been searching for. Whatever it was, it seemed to be extremely important. Every time Ash opened a drawer, cabinet, or box and didn't see what he wanted to see, he let out a frustrated growl.
Deciding he'd spent enough time being confused, Max spoke up.
"What exactly are you looking for?"
"My pokemon." answered Ash, not bothering to look at Max as he spoke. "When we got here, they weren't in the field. Gary probably returned them all to their balls for weekly maintenance. If we're going to be storming some Dark Order base, I want to build a team of my strongest pokemon to take with me. We'll need all the firepower we can get. Alongside Pikachu and Lucario, I'm thinking of bringing Sceptile, Noivern, and Greninja... and then I'll stop at the Charicific Valley for Charizard too. That's the team I'd like to have on hand."
"That's actually a great idea." complimented Max, joining the search. "I'll help too."
And so, Max aided Ash in perusing through the contents of the Oak lab. But still, even with their combined efforts, they did not locate the batch of pokeballs they were searching for. They were running out of places to look. However, mere moments before the pair had planned on calling it quits, Gary returned from his phone call, looking rather exhausted.
"Blah blah blah 'It's dangerous!' blah blah 'You can't just leave like this, Gary!' blah blah blah 'I think I'm pregnant...' blah blah..." grumbled Gary under his breath, rolling his eyes. As soon as Ash and Max looked at him, his face lit up to its usual cocky demeanor. "Alright fellas, Leaf is totally down with me joining. The conversation went smooth, like butter. So, is there a reason you two were looking through all my shit?"
"How did you..."
"I was watching through the windows." explained Gary. "So, what are you guys looking for? If you're looking for something of... substance, I'm sorry to disappoint. I'm proud to say it's been about 3 years since I stopped snorting lines of-"
"We're looking for my pokemon." droned Ash, preferring not to hear the end of Gary's sentence. "I want to take some with me for the journey."
"Oh, yes, your pokemon... of course." replied Gary, nodding his head. "They're in their balls, over by... uh oh."
"Uh oh?" repeated Ash, frowning.
"The balls were on a shelf... on the wall..." answered Gary, speaking slowly. "The wall Giovanni and Wade destroyed."
The trio all looked at the rubble and debris that littered the area that the wall had once stood. For the first time that day, they all noticed the countless tiny pieces of red and black metals littered amongst the decimated bricks and plaster. At this, Ash shoved Max and Gary out of the way and made his way towards the rubble, using his aura to blast away the piles of concrete. With each blast, he'd desperately hoped to find at least one ball that was in tact. But no such fortune came his way. Every single pokeball had been destroyed when Giovanni and Wade had destroyed the wall.
"No... no no no no..." whimpered Ash, falling to his knees. Aura began to swirl around him, giving his anger physical form. "No... you've got to be fucking KIDDING me! My pokemon... My fucking pokemon?! Why them?! Those fucking bastards! When I find them... When I find those motherfucking pieces of Dark Guardian shit...! I will fucking KILL-"
"Ashy-boy, calm down..."
"You must keep your rage and turmoil under control." warned Lucario's voice, echoing in Ash's mind. "If left unchecked, emotions fueled by such malice can taint one's aura. Calm yourself."
"How can I be calm in this situation?!" bellowed Ash, answering both Gary and Lucario. "They killed my fucking pokemon!"
"They're not dead." chimed Max, breaking his silence. "They're just lost in the inter-regional datascape. Pokeballs containing pokemon break more often than you think. When it happens, they're sent to a large, virtual lost and found. You'll just have to file a report and gain access to the lost and found. The only issue is that there's hundreds of thousands of lost pokemon in the datascape, so it won't be easy to locate them all. But it's possible."
"Exactly." concurred Gary, putting a hand on Ash's shoulder. "It'll take a couple weeks to fish them all out of it, but they're still alive. Once we do what we have to do and save the world or whatever, I'll get them out for you. You'll see them all again."
"Besides, we can at least still get your Charizard." added Max. "Like you said, he's in the Charicific Valley."
"...And you're absolutely sure there's no way to get them out before we leave?" questioned Ash, calming down. "Not even one?"
"It'd take too long. We don't have the time." replied Gary, shaking his head. "Look, why don't you and Max head to your house? You haven't reunited with your Mom yet, have you? Spend the night at home, relax in your bed, and get some sleep. We'll set out for Sinnoh first thing in the morning."
Ash sighed, standing up. Without a word, he put his hand forward, his staff vanishing from the holder on his back. A split second later, it rematerialized in his hand. He then twirled it around and touched the tip to Gary's forehead, causing the standard royal blue Fellowship cloak to manifest on the brown-haired Researcher's body.
When the cloak had finished forming, Gary examined his new threads, an eyebrow raised.
"What is this, polyester?" he asked, not impressed.
"A denim-velvet hybrid, actually." corrected Lucario, fully aware Gary could not hear him. "Cotton embroidery on the edges."
"What does it matter?" asked Ash, returning his staff to his back. He then walked out of the lab, setting his sights on his house. "It's denim and velvet."
"Yeah, because that's so practical..." muttered Gary, rolling his eyes. "Whatever, just go to your house and meet back up here at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I want you guys to leave your cloaks with me, though. I've got work to do overnight."
"Is saying goodbye to your wife part of that 'work'?" asked Max, following Ash out of the lab.
"Something like that." replied Gary, watching the pair of Aura Guardians depart.
As Ash and Max walked off into the distance, their cloaks vanished from their bodies, reappearing in Gary's hands in a flash of azure light. Straight-faced, Gary placed the cloaks on a nearby table, removing his own as well. Finally alone, he took a seat at his desk, staring at the ceiling. It was crazy how life just threw things at people, he mused. One minute he was doing his day to day business, the next he was part of some world-saving Fellowship led by his "dead" best friend. He had half meant it when he said he had an established life he didn't want to uproot. But he knew Ash. The raven-haired goofball had a knack for being involved in matters regarding the fate of the world. And somehow, he and his various companions made it through every single legendary pokemon encounter they found themselves in, unscathed at that. What would make this quest any different?
"I guess I'll actually have a part to play, this time around..." he thought, smiling. "It's about damn time."
"And here are your fabulous rooms!"
The grunts opened the doors, giving Nate and Rosa access to the dark room ahead. Once they were inside, the lights automatically turned on, revealing an extremely minimalist setup. The room was square, with the only furniture being a small mattress laying in the center. Nate and Rosa both looked around and then at each other, silent. They then turned to Kamerion, who was sporting a massive grin.
"You love it, don't you?" he questioned, placing an unwelcome hand on Rosa's back. "It's got all the essentials, courtesy of me! Aren't I fabulous? Anywho, Nathaniel, this is your room. Rosalina, yours is just next door. Follow me, my fabulous little super soldier."
Before departing, Kamerion sent both of the grunts a quick look, prompting them to place their hands on Nate. Confused, Nate attempted to wriggle free from their unnecessarily firm grips. Unfortunately, he found no success in his struggles. He could only watch as Kamerion ushered Rosa out of the room, his hand still on her back. Visibly uncomfortable, Rosa turned her head, establishing one last moment of eye contact with Nate before exiting the room.
Once the door was shut, Kamerion led Rosa to her own room, which was identical to Nate's. Once they were in, he closed the door behind them. Before Rosa's heavily blurred vision could even discern where the mattress was, she felt herself being thrust into the nearest wall. Barely able to contain his predatory excitement, Kamerion placed his hands on Rosa's shoulders, pinning her.
"You're going to love it here." he whispered, his voice low. "You are so beautiful... so fabulous. Can you see my smile? I hope you can. You'll be seeing it oh so often!"
Rosa remained speechless as Kamerion's left hand snaked its way down the side of her body, tracing her curves. High-pitched giggles emanated from his unsettling grin, further petrifying Rosa as he continued to feel her hips and torso. In all the torture and mistreatment she had endured during her two years of experimentation and captivity, never had she experienced such a thing. A deep nausea began to fester in her core, and it only got worse the more he touched her frame.
"I am the most powerful - and fabulous - man in the Sinnoh Region!" declared Kamerion, removing his hand from Rosa. "Dr. Feinberg sent you here with two fabulous jobs in mind: 1, you and Nathaniel are going to be trained for combat. Once your fabulous orientations are completed, you will be some of the highest ranking operatives in the entire base. But I couldn't care less about any of that! The second reason is what gets me oh so fabulously giddy. You, Rosalina, are going to be my special friend. Unfortunately I have important matters to attend to right now, matters that are getting in the way of me showing you what our friendship will entail. But you'll love it! I know you will! I'm a fabulous man... every part of me is. You'll enjoy our time together, I'm certain. But as for now... enjoy your room! If you've managed to fabulously notice, I got you a queen-sized bed; comfy and roomy for one person... but ample space for two. Ta ta!"
And just like that, Kamerion removed his hands from Rosa and walked out of the room, but not before giving her a dramatic wink, as well as letting out a cat-like purring noise.
As soon as he shut the door, Rosa fell to her knees, unable to hold it in. What little contents her stomach held purged themselves, spilling onto the tiled floor beneath her. Even after she had finished, she spent the next few minutes dry heaving, a testament to the pure disgust she'd felt during the entire encounter. Once she had gained enough stability to stand back up, her next action was to walk towards the wall opposite to the one she had been pinned to, placing a hand on it. She then closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"Nate... if you can hear me, knock on the wall. Twice."
Rosa opened her eyes, waiting. A few seconds later, two light knocks were heard from the other side of the wall. Feeling Nate's response, Rosa closed her eyes again. Her face relaxed itself for a few seconds. She then let out a light sigh.
"No, not yet." she thought. "Trust me, as much as I want to do it now, it's just too soon... Yes, I know there's no cameras in the rooms... Yes, I know they didn't even lock our doors. They think they broke our wills to escape months ago, of course they're much more relaxed with the security. But still, we can't do it now. Believe me, I want nothing more than to get out of here as soon as possible. But this is the best chance we've had in years, we can't afford to mess it up... We'll do it tomorrow morning, when there's less guards around. Our rooms aren't too far from the cells either."
Rosa's eyes remained closed as she continued to stand by the wall. Her lips then curved into a smile; something they hadn't done in a very long time.
"Don't worry, we can trust her. She's an old friend of mine. I'm not leaving this place without her."
[The Ketchum Residence...[7:00AM]]
"Ash, wake up."
...
"Hey Ash. Ash. Ash, wake up."
...
"Ash, wake up. Ash. Ash? Ash. Ashhhh. Ash. Ash. Ash Ketchum. Ash. As-"
Realizing Max was not going to stop any time soon, Ash opened his eyes and sat up, glaring at the blue-haired teen with all the vexation the world could offer. Despite the stress of losing May, Serena, Pikachu, and all his pokemon, our hero had slept quite well; such were the merits of sleeping in one's own bed after 5 years away from it. But unfortunately, he now found himself awake, back in reality.
"Good morning, Max." he growled, eyes narrow. "Thanks for waking me up."
"No prob, champ." responded Max, unfazed by Ash's glare. "C'mon, it's already 7 o'clock. Gary's expecting us at the lab."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." grumbled Ash, dragging himself out of the bed.
As soon as he did, his Aura Guardian attire manifested on his body, cloak included. He immediately looked down at his gear, raising an eyebrow. It was ever so slightly heavier than before. Not enough to hamper his movement, but enough to notice. It was then that he remembered he and Max had left their cloaks with Gary overnight. Shrugging the confusion off as some superfluous modification Gary made, Ash exited his room, Max in tow.
After brushing their teeth, they made their way down the stairs. As the duo walked down the steps, Ash's mother came into view, seeming to be waiting for them. She was smiling, an action gladly returned by her son.
Their reunion the day before had been rather heartwarming... but at the same time, rather quick. Delia had hugged Ash, crying tears of joy from finally seeing him again after many years. But it had only taken her about half an hour to calm down, and when Ash had explained his disappearance (as well as his mission) to her, she took it all rather well. Almost too well.
While Ash had chalked it up to her being used to him getting involved in various world-saving affairs, Max had other hypotheses. If his own father, Norman, had known about their own family's ties to the Aura, what made Mrs. Ketchum any different? Ash was a cross between two of the 5 Clans, he thought. With both of Ash's parents having Aura usage in their blood, it seemed highly improbable that neither of them knew about it. And if one of them did, they'd surely tell the other. Delia must have known something beforehand. However, to Max, it was not his place to speak up about such suspicions. And so, the teen did as Ash did when they reached the ground floor: he smiled back.
"You boys look like you slept well." observed Delia, hugging Ash.
"Like a rock." confirmed Ash, returning his mother's embrace. "What's for breakfast?"
"Well you see, Max here told me you guys were heading out early today. He said it was very important you leave on time." recalled Delia, walking into the kitchen. Seconds later, she came back out with two lunchboxes in her hands. "So, I packed your breakfasts into these! Now you guys can eat while you're on the go!"
Ash turned to Max, delivering the younger Maple sibling his second venomous glare of the day. He was looking forward to being able to sit at the kitchen table and eat his breakfast, just like he did every morning of his early childhood. But clearly such sentimental values were lost on Max, for the blue-haired teen was once again unfazed by Ash's evil-eye.
Masking his disappointment, Ash turned back to his mother and grinned.
"Thanks Mom!" he beamed, grabbing the lunchboxes. "I guess we'll be heading out, then."
"Alright..." sighed Delia, pulling Ash in for another hug. "You be careful out there, okay? Remember to change your underwea-"
"Mom."
"Right, right, right..." she chuckled, letting go. She then turned to Max. "Make sure he changes his underwear."
"I will, Mrs. Ketchum." answered Max with a smug smirk. "Come on Ash, we're late. We'll change your underwear on the way."
"Hahaha! Shut the fuck up, Max." replied Ash, earning a shocked gasp from his mother. "Bye, Mom!"
The Chosen Guardian of the Aura then bolted out the front door, right before Delia could overload his ears with an intense lecture about the illegality of cursing in their own home. Max followed him out, the two of them making their way to the Oak lab via light jogs. Of course, the lab wasn't very far, and within minutes they had reached their destination. While Max entered through the destroyed half of the building, Ash chose to enter through the main entrance. He was still quite upset about the fate of his pokemon, so much that he made the conscious decision to avoid going anywhere near the remains of the shattered wall.
When they entered the lab, the first thing they saw was Max's cloak hanging on a rack. Max grabbed the garment and put it on, instantly noticing the difference in mass.
"What did Gary do to this thing?" he thought aloud, looking downward. "It's like, half a pound heavier."
"I wove kevlar into the cloaks so we don't get fucking shot."
Ash and Max both turned to their right, spotting none other than Gary Oak entering the room. He was sporting his own Fellowship cloak with his white lab coat visible underneath it. His eyes had bags under them, and his hair was a tad bit messier than usual. His face was lacking its usual energy, but his trademark cocky grin was still present.
"Kevlar?" asked Ash, unfamiliar with the word.
"I've made them bulletproof." explained Gary. "For some all-powerful Aura users tasked with saving the world, it was pretty comical how real the threat of a simple handgun was to you all in the fight yesterday. So I eliminated the issue."
"Must've taken a while. Is that why you look so dead inside?" inquired Max.
"Among other things, yes." replied Gary, walking past Ash and Max. Yawning, he made his way to his desk and opened a drawer, discreetly pulling a gun out of it. He then shoved the pistol into the confines of his cloak, before anyone could see. "I also bought us tickets for the next flight to the Sinnoh Region."
"Flight?" asked Ash, familiar with the word this time around. "Why can't Max's gardevoir just teleport us there?"
"I have my reasons..." answered Gary, cryptically. "She can teleport us to the airport, though. Our plane takes off in about 30 minutes."
Ash and Max looked at each other and shrugged, the latter releasing Gardevoir from her ball. Gary had paid for their plane tickets, there was no use in wasting his money by teleporting to Sinnoh. Besides, none of them knew where they'd be going once they arrived in the region. Plus, it was clear Gary had a motive for choosing a plane ride over an easy teleport. It couldn't have been a random choice; if there was one truth to the world, they thought, it was that Gary Motherfucking Oak always had a reason.
"Everyone ready?" asked Max, looking around. Ash and Gary both nodded. In response, Max turned to Gardevoir. "Take us to the airport."
Gardevoir nodded, doing as she was told. Lavender psychic light shone throughout the lab as Gardevoir whisked the trio away, leaving behind an empty lab.
Serena's eyes slowly opened, her body clock waking her up early, as it did every morning. She'd slept pretty well despite the fact that her cell had no bed in it. In her 4 years of worldwide travel, she'd spent many nights sleeping on uncomfortable surfaces, the tiled floor of her prison was no different. With a light yawn, she sat up.
She was instantly met with the sight of May sitting in her own cell across the hall, staring at her.
"Um... good morning." greeted Serena, finding herself uncomfortable only 10 seconds into her day. "Is there a reason... you're...?"
"I couldn't sleep." stated May, hugging her knees.
As Serena calmed down, she took note of a sight that triggered a memory from 5 years prior. May's eyes held no light in them. They were dull and void of emotion, just like they were on the morning Ash had been taken away... before she'd taken those mysterious pills. Deciding it was high time she asked the brunette about her past again, Serena opened her mouth to speak. But May beat her to it.
"I want to answer your question from yesterday." murmured the brunette, maintaining eye contact. "I'll try to be as thorough as possible with it."
Serena closed her mouth and scooted forward, giving May her full and undivided attention.
"As you know, I was one of Ash's travel companions when he was in the Hoenn Region." started May. "I didn't like pokemon at first, but he taught me to love them. Eventually I picked up Pokemon Coordinating. I got pretty good at it pretty fast, I made a name for myself as the Princess of Hoenn. One of my first pokemon was my Torchic, which eventually ended up being a Blaziken. After Ash and I parted ways, I continued to coordinate on my own. But it wasn't really the same without his support. I hit a rough patch. My results started to decline, for years. After a particularly heavy loss, I walked out of the stadium. I was too frustrated and embarrassed to pay attention when I was crossing the street. A car was coming. Blaziken pushed me out of the way and got hit instead. It was a bad hit... he died instantly... gruesomely."
Serena's eyes widened, her mind unable to fathom being in such a situation. Even trying to imagine such a fate befalling Braixen made the honey blonde sick to her stomach. But it seemed the story wasn't over; May was still talking.
"I wasn't the same after that day." continued May, still looking into Serena's eyes. "I took a year-long hiatus from coordinating afterwards, but even after I finished mourning, my mind wasn't right. Some weeks I felt unreasonably happy to the point of delirium, others I didn't get out of bed until 4:00 in the afternoon. On one of my high weeks, I returned to the coordinating scene. The season ended up being my worst one yet. Near the end of it, I decided to get help. The doctors diagnosed me with Manic Depression and prescribed me some medication. I also went to therapy. My therapist and I came to the conclusion that one of the things that could help me get back to my old self was reconnecting with Ash. That was the real reason Max and I were at his house 5 years ago. But then... Ash was taken away. After that, I lost what little control over myself that I had. I stopped taking my medication, started doing dumb things, and started associating with even dumber people. Eventually I ran away from home and changed my appearance. A couple years later, I met Rosa and started traveling with her. And then Wade attacked us one day. Max came to save us, but Wade got away with Rosa. After that I went home, cleaned myself up, and regained control of my life. One thing led to another, and now here I am: Locked in a cell in Arceus knows where."
May continued to stare at Serena, watching as the honey blonde struggled to absorb all the information that had just been dumped on her lap. It seemed to be taking her a while to come up with a response to the story, so May decided to pass the time by reaching into her cloak and pulling out her medication. The sound of the pills rattling within the container seemed to snap Serena out of her trance, however.
"I, um... I'm so sorry you had to go through all that." she stammered, watching as May took her daily dose. "I had no idea... You're really strong to have made it through all that pain, May."
"I don't feel very strong." replied May, putting the bottle away. "The vision Wade gave me yesterday... It reminded me of everything I hate about what I did. What I was. I'm still carrying all the pain and anger; It's just pushed to the background."
"Those visions were tailored to hurt us." said Serena, eyebrows furrowing. "Don't let that stuff get to you."
"You had one too?" asked May, tilting her head.
"Yeah..." confirmed Serena, looking at the floor. It was her turn to open up. "After Ash was taken, I fell into my own brand of depression. I stopped caring about a lot of things. I got a job at a library, and one day, about a year after Ash left, I came across a book about Aura Guardians. The same one Max found. After doing research I realized Ash could've still been alive... so I also ran away from home. I went looking for him, for 4 years. Eventually I found him in the Tree of Beginning. There were a lot of times in the years I spent traveling the world that I thought of my mom, and how I left without telling her. In my vision I saw her crying in my room. For days on end. It... it really tore me up inside."
"Wow... you went looking for him? All over the world?" inquired May, life returning to her eyes. "That's amazing, Serena."
"I just... I wanted to see him again. I couldn't just stay at home knowing he was probably out there somewhere. I almost felt like I didn't have a choice but to leave my mom behind. She wouldn't have understoo-"
"You're in love with him, aren't you?"
Serena froze; May clearly wasn't one to beat around the bush, it seemed. But that was alright; neither was she.
"Yes, I am." confessed Serena, re-establishing eye contact with May. "And so are you."
"That I am, Serena..." sighed May, leaning back. She didn't stop leaning until she was laying down, staring at the ceiling. "That I am."
"So... what are we going to do about this?" asked Serena, not handling the moment with the same nonchalance as May. "You don't think this could be somewhat problematic?"
"Well, for starters," began May, still laying down. "I'm-"
May's mouth immediately shut, the brunette abruptly sitting back up. Her head immediately whipped to her left, her eyes peering down the hall. Confused, Serena wondered what in the world had just happened. But suddenly, she found herself gazing down the hall as well. In the distance, shouts and cries could be heard, along with light tremors and smashing noises. They seemed to get louder and louder, the source of the commotion seeming to be on its way to their current location.
Hoping it was Ash coming to rescue them, Serena stood up in anticipation, elated at the prospect of being freed from her cell. But fate would have other plans. As the parade of chaos drew near, the girls could make out the sight of orange lights flashing in tandem with the tremors and yelps they heard. It was a color not associated with Ash. However, the shade of orange they saw wasn't akin to dark aura either. It was a vibrant vermillion... the hues of fire.
"We need back up near the prison hold, immediately!" hollered two Dark Order grunts, running past May, Serena, and Pikachu's cells.
The sound of the grunts' yells woke Pikachu, but it was the blast of fire that sent them tumbling back in the direction they came that eliminated all grogginess from the yellow mouse. He immediately stood on his hind legs and held the bars of his cage, eyes wide.
"Pi ka pi!/Hot damn!" he shouted, completely confused as to what was going on, but a fan of it nonetheless.
The fire blast created a plume of smoke that obscured the vision of our heroes. But May and Pikachu didn't need sight to tell them what was going on. Two strange auras were quickly approaching their cells, auras belonging to neither Dark Guardians nor Aura Guardians. One of them was heading towards May's cell, while the other went to Serena's.
As the one approaching her own cell became visible, May's heart almost skipped a beat.
"Rosa?" she questioned, somewhat shocked to see the fellow brunette.
"Less talking, more escaping." rapped Rosa, her fingers quickly tapping multiple buttons on the keypad by the door. Within seconds, May heard her own, as well as Serena and Pikachu's, cell doors unlock. Rosa then pulled open the door, offering May a hand. "Come on, we're busting out of this place."
Still in awe, May slowly grabbed Rosa's hand, the two of them exiting the cell and entering the hallway. By then, the smoke had cleared up, revealing a freed Serena and Pikachu... as well as the brown-haired young man May had seen Rosa with the day before. May opened her mouth to speak again, but found herself closing it promptly after. There was no time for introductions, more Dark Order grunts could be heard making their way over.
Serena and Pikachu braced themselves for combat, the former releasing all three of her pokemon from their balls. The Kalos trio emerged in flashes of white light, materializing next to Pikachu, who was already summoning sparks from his cheeks. In turn, May took a deep breath and called upon her aura. She was still a novice at using it, but she prided herself in at least being able to summon it at will.
The first wave of grunts appeared at the end of the hall, various weapons in hand. Before any of the pokemon could launch an attack their way, Nate sprinted forward, growling. Once he'd reached the halfway point, he thrust his right hand forward. What happened next brought nothing short of astonishment to everyone present, save for Rosa. Out of Nate's hand spawned a blast of flames, enveloping many of the grunts in its lethal inferno. Unfortunately, there was no time to marvel at Nate's actions. About half the grunts survived the blast, some of them engaging Nate, some of them heading for everyone else.
They all sprung into action.
Drawing inspiration from Nate's go-getter attitude, Pikachu rushed forward, nailing a grunt with a Volt Tackle. Serena's Pangoro followed close behind, grabbing two grunts by the neck and slamming their heads together, knocking them out. Working with Nate, the two pokemon did battle with the group of grunts further away, while Serena, Braixen, Sylveon, May, and Rosa dealt with the closer ones.
One grunt sent an Dark Aura Sphere headed their way, only for the attack to be cancelled out by a Moonblast from Sylveon. Serena then rushed the grunt, knife and in hand. Rather skilled, the grunt held his own against the honey blonde warrior, meeting her stabs and slashes with swings of his sword. But eventually, Serena proved to be too swift for him, the grunt hunching over after an unexpected slash to the abdomen. Serena then kicked him in the same spot, knocking him over.
Meanwhile, May and Rosa dealt with their own pair of foes. Unable to perform anything other than aura-fueled punches and kicks, May tangoed with one of the Dark Guardians, meeting him blow for blow. Her attention was divided, however. She could not seem to take her eyes off Rosa, who was effortlessly dodging every attack her own opponent threw her way. Each attack meant to harm the younger brunette was gracefully dodged without any apparent sense of fear or hesitation, almost as if her body knew each and every one of the grunt's attacks before he executed them.
Noticing May's constant glances, Rosa dodged another attack and locked eyes with her.
"Behind you."
May turned around, and much to her shock, another grunt was right her, ready to drive a spear into her torso. But before he could, a knife whizzed through the air and drove itself into his lower back, courtesy of Serena. The grunt fell and burst into flames, Serena's Braixen having ignited his body a split second after her master had injured him.
May then turned to the grunt she had been battling, finding him also fried to crisp. Static electricity crackled over his corpse, Pikachu standing nearby. Deciding she needed at least one victory to call her own, May turned to the final grunt left, the one still failing to hit Rosa. Channeling as much aura as she could into her fist, she stepped forward and punched the Dark Order operative in the jaw, the force of her blow so great that his neck snapped. Impressed, Rosa watched the grunt sink to the floor, motionless. She then turned to May and smiled.
"Nice." she complimented, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Everyone, regroup."
With the grunts taken care of, everyone followed Rosa's order and met up in the middle of the hallway. They formed a circle of capable warriors, humans and pokemon alike. It seemed somewhat funny that they were taking orders from the most petite and cutesy member of the group, but there was no time for laughter at such realities.
"We have to find a way out of this place. Fast." stated Rosa. "There's going to be more soldiers coming any second, we have to keep moving. Our best bet would be to get to the control room of this place and find whatever is blocking Aura users from sensing where this place is. The control room is on the 5th floor. We're in the basement right now. Once we get to the control room, we destroy the machine. Once that's taken care of, Pikachu will be able to contact Ash. Then he, Max, and Gary will be able to find us all and teleport here with Max's gardevoir."
Everyone but Nate stared at Rosa, slack-jawed.
"How could you possibly know all of that?" questioned Serena, eyes wide. "There's literally no way you could've known-"
"I know a lot of things." snapped Rosa, not willing to engage in Q&A at the moment. "I swear, I'll explain everything when we're out of this place. There's more enemies coming. We'll all have to work together to beat them, like we did just now."
Everyone looked down the hall, and sure enough another horde of Dark Order grunts could be heard approaching. In response, Nate once again bolted down the hall, planning on being the group's first line of offense yet again.
"Everyone, follow Nate." ordered Rosa.
Pushing their confusion regarding Rosa's impossible knowledge aside, the party followed her orders and continued down the hall. She was right; if they were to fight their way through 5 floors of foe after foe, teamwork would be essential to getting the job done. Their questions would indeed have to be answered later, as the 17-year old brunette had promised they would. Realizing she hadn't released Glaceon yet, May tossed her pokeball forward, releasing the ice-type within. Glaceon materialized beside Sylveon, running just as fast her fellow eeveelution.
All hands were truly on deck.
[Flight to Sinnoh...]
"Good morning sir, anything I can get for you? Water? Peanuts? Coffee? Why not crack a cold one with the boys?"
Max shot an irritated glare at the flight attendant.
"You already asked me earlier. No thanks, I'm good." he replied, eating a piece of bacon. "Please stop asking."
"Alright then. Enjoy your flight!" chirped the flight attendant, walking away.
There they were, on the flight to the Sinnoh Region. Despite their unusual attire, Ash, Max, and Gary had made it through the airport's security rather easily, the trio now finding themselves a mile high in the skies. Gary had the window seat, Ash sat in the middle, and Max sat by the aisle. Once the plane had taken off, Ash and Max had begun to eat the breakfasts Delia packed for them: eggs, bacon, and hash browns. They offered Gary some, but the brown-haired Researcher declined, claiming he wasn't hungry. He seemed to be much more interested in getting some sleep.
All in all, the flight was rather uneventful save for the constant encounters with the flight attendants. They seemed to be making their rounds every 10 minutes or so; far too often for the trio's liking.
"I really don't remember flight attendants being this persistent." muttered Ash, munching on a hash brown. He then nudged Gary, waking him up. "Gary, wake up. You still haven't told us why you wanted to take a plane. If we'd just teleported to Sinnoh, we wouldn't have had to deal with this crap."
"Ashy-boy... I have my reasons." yawned Gary, attempting to go back to sleep.
"I know you have your reasons. I want to know these reasons."
Gary groaned and reached into his cloak, pulling out his scanner. It was the same one he'd used to scan everyone's powers in the battle the day before. He held the device out, allowing Ash and Max to get a good look at it.
"We're on a plane because we need a bird's eye view of the Sinnoh Region if we're going to find the base we're looking for." explained Gary, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. "Another reason I didn't sleep last night is because I spent a couple hours amplifying the specs of this thing. It's strong enough to scan the entire region, and the only way to fit the entire region into its camera is to be this high up. That's why I got myself the window seat. When we're close, I'll scan the region and map out where each and every Dark Guardian in it is located. Wherever they're all converging or diverging from is where the base will likely be."
"I see... that's actually pretty smart." noted Max, nodding his head.
"What can I say? I'm a big-brained individual." replied Gary, returning the scanner to his cloak. He then put his hood up and leaned back into his seat. "Now please let me go back to sleep. Wake me up when the flight's almost over."
"Okay, will do." confirmed Max.
Just then, the plane's PA system chimed, signalling a message from the pilot.
"GOOD MORNING PASSENGERS, THIS IS YOUR PILOT. THE FLIGHT'S ALMOST OVER. WE'LL BE ARRIVING IN THE SINNOH REGION IN ABOUT 15 MINUTES. PLEASE REMEMBER TO KEEP YOUR SEAT-BELTS FASTENED WHEN OUR DESCENT BEGINS. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING AIR SINNOH, AND ENJOY THE SINNOH REGION."
"Gary, wake up." said Max, innocently. "The flight's almost over."
"Of fucking course..." grumbled Gary, opening his eyes again.
The trio looked out of the window, and sure enough, the Sinnoh region was slowly becoming visible in the distance. Muttering indecipherable complaints having to do with lack of sleep, Gary pulled the scanner out of his cloak again. He tapped the screen a few times, activating the scanner. A buffering icon began to circle around in the center of the screen, the device needing load-time to activate its vastly improved capabilities.
While Gary waited for the scanner to boot up, Ash and Max focused on finishing their food. But unfortunately, they'd be met with a distraction they were all too familiar with.
"Good morning gentlemen." greeted another flight attendant. "Is there anything you'd like me to get for you? Maybe some orange juice to go with those eggs?"
"You people really don't take no for an answer, huh?" snapped Ash, fed up. "We don't want anything."
"You sure?" asked the flight attendant, grinning. "Our iced tea is legendary, I strongly recommend you try some!"
"No, we don't want any." growled Max. "Look ma'am, you and your coworkers have made this flight very annoying if you want me to be honest. If you guys ask us again, I will not hesitate to write an angry Yelp review and give Air Sinnoh 0 out of 5 stars. Don't test me, I will do it if I have to."
There was a pause. Max's eyes narrowed. The attendant's smile widened.
"...How about some sausages?" she continued. "If you're a vegetarian, we also have sausages made of soy bea-"
Before Max could let loose on the attendant, she went silent, a single gunshot echoing throughout the cabin. Ash and Max looked up in horror, spotting a bullet-sized hole in her forehead. She then collapsed onto the floor of the aisle, dead. Speechless, Ash and Max - as well as every other passenger on board - turned to the source of the gunshot. The gunman was none other than Gary Oak, who was still looking out the window, smoking gun in one hand and scanner in the other.
A man of solid priorities, Max looked down at his food. Droplets of blood had landed on it.
"My eggs..." he muttered, devastated.
Various screams and cries of panic rang throughout the cabin, many of the passengers fearing the worst. Ash, however, had an entirely different reaction.
"Gary, what the hell?" he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. He then raised his voice, eyes wide. "How did you even get a motherfucking gun past security?! AND WHY DID YOU SHOOT HER?!"
"You know I had to do it to 'em. And how I got the gun on here isn't important." retorted Gary, unbuckling his seat-belt. "You know what is important though?"
"WHAT?!"
"Hahahahahaaa... Oh Ashy-boy, so aggressively clueless. It never gets old." chuckled Gary, tossing Ash the scanner. "Here, see for yourself."
Gary then stopped laughing, stood up, and pointed his gun at various people around them, silently daring anyone to make a move. Meanwhile, Ash caught the scanner and took a look at the screen. It hadn't finished scanning the Sinnoh region yet, but it already scanned the energies in their immediate area. Sure enough, about 75% of the bodies on the plane were red dots, as opposed to the gray dots of normal humans and the blue dots that represented his own and Max's readings. The pair of aura users then looked down at the flight attendant Gary had shot, spotting crimson wisps of dark aura steaming from her pierced forehead.
"Oh." uttered Ash, raising his eyebrows. "Well... shit."
Their cover blown, 3/4ths of the plane's passengers leaped out of their seats and rushed towards Ash, Max, and Gary, murderous intent in their eyes.
Four enemies leaped towards Nate and Serena, murderous intent in their eyes. The honey blonde survivor evaded their grasp by jumping over them, while the brown-haired pyro crouched under, both of them already knowing how to deal with the situation. As she came to a landing, Serena grabbed two knives from her holster and turned around, chucking the blades at two of the grunts. Each knife lodged itself in the leg of a grunt, causing both of them to lose balance and knock over the two grunts Serena had spared. Before the quartet of enemies could regain their footing, they were deluged in a pillar of flame spawned by Nate. Once Nate had calmed the flames down, Serena retrieved her knives from their toasted adversaries.
"Keep it up you two." called Rosa, lackadaisically dodging her own enemy's attacks. He was a Dark Guardian wielding a pair of nunchaku. He was performing some of his quickest moves, but could not land a single blow on the dainty brunette. Despite his high-pitched battle cries, Rosa was barely paying attention. "We're all doing great, we're almost there."
Rosa's words held truth; they had already reached the 4th floor, a testament to the speed in which their small makeshift army had plowed through foe after foe. Each and every wave of grunts and Dark Guardians they encountered had met violent ends. Under Rosa's leadership, the group had been functioning as a well-oiled machine, with all of their bases covered. May could barely comprehend it. This was not the same rash, immature, and impulsive Rosa she had traveled with. This Rosa was calm, collected, and coordinated.
After defeating her own enemy, May rushed to Rosa's aid, dispatching the Dark Guardian attacking her via an aura-charged kick to the ribs.
"Thanks." said a smiling Rosa, running off to go occupy another foe.
"NO, LIU KANG!" cried a nearby grunt, having seen May take down his comrade. "You'll pay!"
Enraged, the grunt reached for his hat. Strange enough, he was the only one wearing a hat. Even stranger was the fact that the hat had a wide brim, with a round, razor sharp blade at the end of it. May had been so confused by the grunt's unique headwear that she barely reacted in time when he threw it at her. It spun through the air perfectly level, the most lethal of frisbee throws.
May ducked, narrowly dodging what would've been a nasty cut, to say the least. She looked behind her; the hat was so sharp it had lodged itself in the wall. May then turned back around, just in time to see the grunt glow with the luminescence of pure electrocution. When the voltage had run its course through his body, he fell forward and landed face down on the floor, revealing none other than Pikachu standing behind him.
Relieved, May stood up, looking around. That seemed to be the last one for the time being.
"Great work, everyone." complimented Rosa, giving the team an encouraging double thumbs up. "The stairs to the control room are straight ahead. We're in the home stretch."
"Then let's keep moving." concluded Serena, hearing another horde of enemies already on their way.
"We have to... keep *gasp* moving." panted Ash, shoving another horde of enemies off his body.
The initial chaos had been the worst. The number of Dark Guardians throwing themselves at Ash, Max, and Gary had been nothing short of overwhelming. As soon as the initial mob of foes had been pushed away by a powerful burst of aura, courtesy of Ash, they started approaching the trio in smaller groups. It was a sticky situation. In any other setting, Ash would have easily decimated the entire army of enemies with a massive blast or spell. But that wasn't an option when on an airplane, especially one that still had a few normal, terrified passengers on it. The best plan our heroes could put together was to slowly fight their way to the front of the plane, while shouting for the civilians to hide in the back.
"What exactly will we accomplish by getting to the front anyway?" questioned Max, dodging various attacks. He kicked a nearby Dark Guardian in the chest before he continued speaking. "I'd normally just teleport us out of here, but we can't just leave the actual passengers behind, can we? Also, Gary, is that thing done scanning the region yet or not?!"
"These things take time, Max. You can't rush perfection." answered Gary, firing two shots at a nearby Dark Guardian. Another one tried to attack him right after, only to get pistol-whipped upside the head. Gary then turned to Ash, shooting an enemy poised to pounce on the raven-haired Guardian. "Ash, cover me. I'm going to the cockpit. I've got a plan."
"Max, head to the back of the plane and use Gardevoir to teleport the passengers away." ordered Ash, turning to the teen. "I'm going to cover Gary. He's got a plan."
Max nodded and channeled his Aura around his body. Once he'd gathered enough, he ran straight into the mob of Dark Guardians, plowing a path through the sea of red like a modern day Moses. Meanwhile, Gary climbed up over the seat in front of him, with Ash providing him the closest thing to cover he could hope for. The Chosen Guardian was firing a multitude of Aura Spheres in quick succession, mowing down multiple targets. Once Gary had reached the other side of the chair, he pressed a button on his gun. He then pointed the firearm at the foes ahead, pulling the trigger. No gunshot sounded, and instead of a bullet coming out, an extremely thin, consecutive beam of white energy did. Following Gary's direction, the beam came into contact with multiple targets. As soon as it hit them, chunks of ice crept into existence, encasing the Dark Guardians in sub-zero temperatures.
Most of his opponents frozen solid, Gary nonchalantly strolled to the front of the plane, whistling a catchy tune.
May, Serena, Nate, Rosa, and their pokemon entered the control room, their latest set of opponents frozen solid by Glaceon's Ice Beam. As soon as they'd stepped over the patches of ice and opened the door, the grunts within the control room charged towards them. Their offensive was a complete failure, since, this late in the game, the party of escapees was beyond ready to knock some heads. Within minutes, over a dozen Dark Order operatives lay unconscious (or worse) on the floor.
Wasting no time, Rosa made her way to a specific computer out of the dozens that littered the large room. It looked identical to all the others, but somehow, she knew that was the exact one they were looking for. However, as soon as she sat down and looked at the screen, she face-palmed. Her vision was permanently blurred to the point of near-blindness, a side-effect from the hundreds of experiments she'd undergone in her 2 years with Dr. Feinberg. She'd need someone else to operate the computer for her, someone who could actually see.
"Rach- uh, I mean, May, can you come here for a second?" she called, turning around. "I need some help shutting this thing down."
May stepped forward to aid Rosa, but before she could reach her destination, Serena's Pangoro jumped forward and crushed the machine with a Hammer Arm. Rosa, as calm as ever, stepped out of the way right before the attack connected.
"That works too." she noted, shrugging her shoulders.
As the last sparks of electricity fizzled out of the remains of the computer, an unlocking sound could be heard from the corner of the room. Rosa jogged over to said corner and pushed aside a small set of office drawers, revealing a small door that only went up to her knees. She then bent down and opened it, pulling out the hidden compartment's contents. In her hands was a small, baseball-sized glass sphere, with a pitch black flame swirling in its center.
Recognizing the black plasma from the previous day's battle, Serena's eyes widened. It looked far too similar to the obsidian essence Wade had used on her, May, and Max.
"Rosa, be careful with that thing." called the honey blonde, her concern evident. "Let's just destroy it and get this over with."
"Nay!" sang a new voice. "I fabulously object on the grounds that such an action would literally be the least fabulous thing to happen this morning. Reconsider, Rosalina."
Everyone looked around, all of them recognizing the voice that had just spoken. Out of nowhere, a colossal shift in the room's pressure occurred, rendering aura-sensitives like May and Pikachu nearly immobile due to its unfathomable density. Just being in the same room as a dark aura so colossal felt like a combination of suffocation and drowning. In the center of the room, a black portal festered into existence, none other than Lord Kamerion stepping out of it. His presence alone cast a red hue over the entire room, his dark energies intermingling with the air itself.
Unaffected by the weight of Kamerion's power, Nate ran straight for the Dark Guardian, fists ablaze. Unfortunately, his bravery would be rewarded with pain. In response to Nate's approach, Kamerion conjured up a Dark Aura Sphere the size of an exercise ball, launching it at the fire-throwing teen. The attack hit its mark, sending Nate crashing into a wall. He lost consciousness on contact.
"I'm one of the 7 Grand Disciples of Master Brecht, it'll take more than a fire-type fuckboy to bring me down." giggled Kamerion, turning to Rosa. "As I was saying, I'll need you to hand me that fabulously delicate piece of glasswork, my sweet Rosalina. Things will only get worse for your friends here if you don't."
Rosa simply stared at Kamerion, not moving a single muscle. Kamerion stared right back at her, his unsettling smile being met with a stoic, straight-faced stare. In an attempt to take advantage of the high-stakes staring contest unfolding before them, everyone besides Rosa launched whatever attacks they could at Kamerion's back. Serena threw a knife, all of the pokemon shot ranged attacks, and May, concentrating more than she ever had in her entire life, fired her very first Aura Sphere. Or, at least, something similar. The projectile barely kept form as it miserably dragged itself across the room, being more of an Aura Blob.
Unfortunately, all their efforts were in vain. Without turning around, Kamerion waved his hand, a wall of dark aura subsequently arising behind him. Not only did the construct protect him from the attacks, it also bounced them back twice as fast, in various unpredictable angles. Braixen, Pangoro, Glaceon, and Sylveon all found themselves in the paths of each other's own reflected moves, the beams and projectiles moving too quickly for any of them to dodge. The unexpected reversal of fortune - combined with the exhaustion from their previous battles - left the four pokemon unconscious.
"Well, that didn't go as planned, did it?!" questioned Kamerion, still smiling at Rosa. "Give me the orb, Rosalina. I'm far too fabulous to take no for an answer! If you don't hand it over, I'll kill everyone! I'm also far too fabulous to tell lies, so rest assured, I'm not bluffing! Gimme!"
Rosa continued to stare at Kamerion. Her facial expression did not change, and her body did not move. Both of her hands were still wrapped around the glass ball, holding it tightly. From the other side of the room, May, Serena, and Pikachu continued to watch the stare-down, the trio lost on what to do next. Despite his small size, it was all too clear Kamerion was not to be trifled with. They needed the big guns; they needed Ash. But they wouldn't be able to contact him unless Rosa destroyed the ball. But if Rosa were to go through with such an action, Kamerion would surely kill them all in mere seconds. Heck, Kamerion was probably planning on killing them all anyway, regardless of what happened next.
The stress of the situation was almost too much for May to bear. She could feel her heart beating in her chest. She was feeling many different things at the moment: fear, anxiety, concern... and frustration. For what felt like the thousandth time, she once again found herself powerless, unable to help a friend in danger. However, before she could fall into a state of bitter self-pity, a certain sight caused a new emotion to be thrown into the mix: confusion.
Rosa closed her eyes and took an extremely deep, slow, and dragged out breath. The inhale was so long that her voice cracked a bit in the final seconds of it.
"What is she doing?" thought May, tilting her head.
"What is he doing?" thought Ash as he tilted his head, dodging a punch.
It had been a few minutes since Gary had made his way to the front of the plane. Neither Ash nor Max had heard anything from him since. But of course, it wasn't like there was nothing for the pair of Aura Guardians to do in the meantime. Max and Gardevoir had safely teleported all the civilians off the plane, while Ash continued to do battle with enemy after enemy. Most of the Dark Guardians had fallen, their numbers significantly reduced by Ash's might. There were only a few left, and with the end of the battle near, our hero's mind couldn't help but ponder the whereabouts of his old rival.
"Typical Gary..." he mused, tilting his head again.
The Dark Guardian in front of him let out a deep growl, angry that Ash had dodged his punches. Before they could pull their arm back to try again, Ash retaliated with punch of his own. It was critical hit, in every possible definition of the term. Ash's fist smashed their face so hard that their nose flattened, crinkling like a crushed soda can.
As the Dark Guardian fell, Ash cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Hey Max!" he called. "You can handle the rest of these guys, right?! I'm going to the cockpit!"
Max shot Ash an incredulous look, clearly not too thrilled with the idea of defeating the remaining 8 enemies by himself. His self-taught skill set was tailored for sensory and healing, not combat. He'd been winging the entire battle so far, using his aura to augment extremely basic attacks. After teleporting all the civilians away, he'd only taken down about 10 Dark Guardians; the thought of almost doubling that number seemed quite daunting in his eyes.
"Please don't leave me." he droned, leaping into a nearby seat to evade a Dark Aura Sphere. "Ash, please. I'm begging you. Let's just finish them off first, there's only a couple lef-"
"Nonsense, you got this!" replied Ash, jogging away. "Eye of the Tiger!"
Ignoring Max's subsequent complaints, Ash reached the front of the cabin. Before entering the cockpit, he pressed his ear to the door, listening for anything worth hearing. All he could hear was someone on the other side, muttering some sort of inaudible mumbo jumbo. Deciding to just see what was inside for himself, Ash kicked the door open, staff in hand.
The first things he saw were both the plain's pilots, either dead or unconscious. The second thing he saw was Gary, sitting in one of the pilots' chairs. As soon as Ash had entered, Gary turned around, an uncharacteristically pleasant grin on his face.
"Oh, Ash, perfect. I've got good news and bad news." he said, gesturing for Ash to come closer. "The good news is the scanner is almost done, we should be able to pinpoint the base's location in about 30 seconds."
"And the bad news is...?"
"I killed both the pilots and have no idea how to fly or land an airplane. If we don't do something, this plane will probably crash into some town or city, killing thousands upon thousands of innocents." finished Gary, nonchalantly tossing some honey roasted peanuts into his mouth. "Ain't that somethin'?"
Ash stared at Gary, hoping the brown-haired Researcher was joking. Gary simply stared back, putting another handful of peanuts into his mouth. It was then that Max entered the cockpit also, having managed to beat the 8 Dark Guardians he'd been tasked with defeating. He stared at Ash, who was staring at Gary, who was staring back at Ash. Max then stared at Gary. Gary stared back, munching on yet another handful of nuts. In turn, Max looked at the peanuts, and then he looked at the pilots. They were dead. He then looked at Gary, who was not flying the plane. No one was flying the plane. Max's gaze traveled back to Ash, who was already staring back. Both of them then stared at the floor, speechless. Their disbelief at Gary's actions was far too great, their minds in desperate need of time to reboot.
However, their short moment of silence would be broken by the sound of a device vibrating.
"Oh great, the scanner's done!" chirped Gary. "See? Things are going great for us."
Ash and Max did not share Gary's enthusiasm. Their faces bore nothing but frustration, boatloads of it. Gary rolled his eyes.
"Oh come on, guys," he sighed, turning back towards the plane's dashboard. "It could be worse."
"Oh come on, Rosa..." cooed Kamerion, taking a step closer to the brunette. "It could be worse! I'm giving you the fabulous choice to hand the orb over. I could just kill everyone in the blink of an eye if I wanted to! As fabulous as that would be, I'm not doing that! I'm a man of compromise! Fabulous, fair compromise. Give me the ball, and I won't kill everyone."
Rosa's eyes remained closed as she continued to take deep breaths. As she did, her body began to emit an extremely faint and barely visible lavender glow. Far too focused on the glass sphere Rosa was holding, Kamerion didn't notice the light. His obliviousness was made all too evident by his reaction to Rosa's persisting silence.
"Alright you little bitch," he growled, his patience depleted. "Give me the fucking gla-"
What happened next was perhaps the most bizarre thing May, Serena, and Pikachu had seen in recent memory. Rosa leaned forward, opened her eyes, and looked right into Kamerion's, the latter falling silent as soon as the eye contact was established. His eyes widened and stayed wide, his body completely still. Just to make sure her technique had worked, Rosa waved her hand a few inches away from Kamerion's face. He did not move, flinch, or show any sort of indication that his mind was still present. It was as if he'd been petrified, frozen in time.
"Rosa..." uttered May, puzzled as to what she'd just seen. "What in the world did you...?"
"No time to talk about it." said Rosa, running towards Nate. She quickly shook him awake, throwing in a couple light slaps to the face for good measure. Once Nate was awake, she turned back to May, continuing. "It's not going to last very long on someone like him. You guys should return your pokemon to their balls. Now. We have to run."
"What about the orb?" questioned Serena, reaching for Pangoro, Braixen, and Sylveon's pokeballs.
In response to Serena's question, Rosa looked down at the glass ball. Without hesitation, she threw it across the room with all her strength, the sphere shattering into countless pieces once it reached the wall. The black flame within was extinguished once the ball broke, the ominous energy evaporating into nothingness. Rosa then looked at Pikachu, smiling.
"You should be able to contact Ash now." she stated. "Now let's get a move on."
Once May and Serena had returned their pokemon, they headed for the room's exit, with Pikachu, Nate, and Rosa following close behind. They weren't entirely sure where to go, but given the fact that Rosa truly seemed to know everything, nobody was too concerned about which directions to run in. However, before they could reach the doorway, a wall of dark aura erected itself, trapping everyone in the control room.
"Darn." muttered Rosa, frowning. "I really hoped that would've lasted a little longer."
"None of you fabulous little shits are going anywhere!" roared Kamerion, having returned from his 30 seconds of silence. "I don't know what the hell you just did, but it's made fabulous ol' Kamerion here realize something: you're all fuckin' dead!"
Enraged, Kamerion put both his hands forward, charging up what had to have been the largest Dark Aura Sphere anyone had ever seen. The attack refused to stop growing, the red energy constantly multiplying into more. It only stopped when it had reached max capacity; if Kamerion had made it any bigger, it would destroy the room's ceiling. Being so large, the sphere moved slowly when he launched it.
Everyone turned around. The construct sealing the exit was still there. Everyone then turned to Rosa, eyes wide.
"Okay, so here's the plan." she started, trying her best to stay calm. It was hard to do, considering a massive orb of death was slowly making its way towards them. "Pikachu, contact Ash. Now. Nate, I want you to shoot as much fire as you can at that thing. Slow it down. May, Serena... the three of us are just going to hope for the best. Sound good? Great, glad we're all on the same page."
"Okay, so here's the plan." started Gary, doing a wonderful job at staying calm. It was impressive that he could, considering certain death was making its way towards them if they didn't do something, fast. "When you look at the scanner, it seems like a lot of Dark Guardians enter and exit these woods right here, just a mile or so away. If I were a betting man, which I am, then I'd say that's where the base is. So here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna crash this baby into that forest, hoping I nail the base! Sound good? Awesome, glad we all see eye to eye."
"Crash the fucking plane?!" cried Ash, beside himself. "Are you trying to kill A: us, B: May and Serena, or C: all of the above?!"
"Loooooooook," sang Gary, abruptly steering the plane downward. "Obviously Max is gonna teleport us off the plane right before we crash. And c'mon, what are the odds of the girls getting caught up in the ensuing explosions?"
"High!" answered Max, nearly falling over. "Gary, stop!"
"...Y'all are bitches." concluded Gary, continuing the plane's bumpy descent. "Why not trust in the Aura? It knows I'm a crazy motherfucker, I'm sure I was destined to fuck shit up like this. You think me killing our own team members like this is part of your big 'ol prophecy? I doubt it. May and Serena will be fine, you've got my word!"
"He may have a point..." noted Lucario. "The Aura dictates all. I find it hard to believe one member of the Fellowship being responsible for the deaths of two others is in the cards. Perhaps we should let him do it? Logically speaking, the plane will crash no matter what. None of you can properly land it. This could very well be the best course of action."
"Gary if you don't cut this shit out," seethed Ash, not seeing much value in neither Lucario nor Gary's words. "I swear I'll-"
"ASH!"
"What the-... Pikachu?! Finally! Where have you been?!" thought Ash, eyes wide. "What's happening?! Are you guys oka-"
"GET THE FUCK OVER HERE NOW!"
"I don't know where-"
"LOCK ON TO MY AURA, FOOL! HURRY!"
"Uh, right!" thought Ash, closing his eyes.
"Gary, please," begged Max, hyperventilating. Gary's rough handling of the plane's steering system was giving him motion sickness. "You've gotta stop. Oh God, I can't breathe. Ughhhhh, I think I'm gonna throw up. Oh no. Gary, c'mon, you're gonna kill them. Please, reconsider. You have to realize this is fucking insane, right?"
"Damn right it is!" cackled Gary, not denying it. "This is freakin' WILD! Better stop begging and get that Gardevoir ready, this piñata's 'boutta burst! Haha! Wow! I've never felt so alive! Here we go!"
"Oh wow, I've never felt so fabulously alive!" cackled Kamerion, ecstatic. "There's nothing like the fabulously euphoric rush I get from cold-blooded murder! Nothing! Try as you might, your fabulous deaths are imminent!"
As per Rosa's orders, Nate had fired a concentrated beam of flame to combat Kamerion's massive sphere. Of course, it was nowhere near powerful enough to destroy the attack, but it was certainly slowing it down. However, there was never that great of a distance for the attack to cover in the first place. Even with Nate slowing it down, the Dark Aura Sphere would swallow the group within the next minute or so.
Meanwhile, Pikachu had been concentrating on contacting Ash, the yellow mouse's eyes closed and ears perked. May and Serena looked back and forth between Nate and Pikachu, both young women experiencing the worst anxiety of their lives. Even Rosa, who had notably kept her cool for all of their escape operation, was displaying signs of concern. Her hands were clasped together, her attention solely on Nate. Taking note of how close the dark aura was getting to Nate's body, Rosa turned around, hoping Pikachu had found success in calling for help.
Right on time, Pikachu opened his eyes.
"Pika pika pi, pikachu!" he announced, flailing his arms around.
Unable to understand, May and Serena stared at Pikachu, hoping his words held good news. A split second after Pikachu spoke, the entire building rumbled, the tremor so powerful that nearly everyone in the room lost balance and fell. The only one still standing was Kamerion, who immediately looked to the ceiling in confusion. Dismissing it as a problem for later, he continued to push his Dark Aura Sphere forward.
Recovering from her fall, May raised her head. What she saw made her blood run cold. Nate had fallen too, leaving Kamerion's sphere to approach everyone at full speed. Aware there was no chance of escape, the brunette closed her eyes, waiting for her inevitable demise...
...
...
...
"See? I told you they'd be fine."
"Shut it, Gary."
"My stomach... ughhh..."
May opened her eyes, recognizing all three voices that had just spoken. Her eyes were forced to narrow, the bright lights before her being far too much to withstand. However, they died down rather quickly, allowing her, as well as everyone else, to see their surroundings.
Wisps of dark aura snaked through the air, fading away. Taking their place were brighter, bluer particles of energy, particles that swirled around the entire room with unmatched beauty and elegance. The giant Dark Aura Sphere was gone; popped like a balloon by none other than the Chosen Guardian of the Aura, who was standing a few feet in front of Nate, staff in hand. Standing on his right was Gary Oak, dressed in a Fellowship cloak. On his left were Max and Gardevoir, the former barely able to support his own weight.
"Oh-... oh no..." gurgled Max, falling to his knees to throw up.
Ignoring Max's suffering, Gary turned towards Kamerion, gun in hand. Meanwhile, Ash turned towards everyone else.
"Sorry we're late." he apologized, smiling. "Public transportation's a bitch."
"Oh please," drawled Gary, still aiming his gun at Kamerion. "You know you'd do it again if you had the chance."
"No. I wouldn't." droned Ash, glancing at Gary. He then took a quick look at who Gary was holding at gunpoint, letting out a snort when he noticed how short Kamerion was. He then returned his attention to the group, cracking his knuckles. "So, I'm guessing the Dark Aura Oompa Loompa over there is who I have to... beat... up..."
The raven-haired Guardian trailed off, his face falling into a blank stare. This was the third or fourth time it happened, but it would never stop warranting a moment of shock. When he'd turned around, his gaze had quickly scanned over everyone present, checking to see if anyone was injured. Much to his relief, May and Serena looked completely fine. Heck, even the two random teens with them looked pretty good.
Their foreheads were a different story, however.
"I don't understand..." thought Ash, his mouth ever so slightly agape. "I don't even know who they are. How are they...?"
"The Aura has chosen them." declared Lucario. "There is nothing to question."
Ash continued to stare at Nate and Rosa, prompting the pair to look back at him in confusion. He wasn't saying anything, so of course, their next course of action was to look at each other. What they saw next surprised even Rosa, the brunette raising a hand to touch the area between Nate's eyes with the utmost intrigue.
There was a glowing number 2 on his forehead. And unbeknownst to her, there was a 1 on her own.
That's that. Truth be told, I'm not too happy with how this chapter turned out, mainly towards the end. I cleaned it up a bit on my proofreading of it, but still... I don't know. I think part of it is the length. I usually aim for my chapters to be around 9,000-11,000 words. This is 15,000. Oh well, hopefully I'm just being my own worst critic.
Well, next chapter is sure to be a doozy, I'm pretty excited to get it started. I plan to have many questions brought up in this chapter explained in the next one, so just you wait! Also, I love writing big fights, so yeah, the next chapter may take some time to write, but it'll be a goody. As for now...
What's the deal with Nate and Rosa's abilities?
Will Ash have what it takes to defeat Kamerion?
Just what the hell is the Dark Order even about?
Find out the answers to all these questions and more in the next splendid installment of Pokemon: The Fellowship of the Aura!
Later,
~DarkSlash9
