Chapter 4. Hm. I don't have much to say. I could just tell you some stuff that will happen in the chapter. Nothing specific.
The Pawāde~you concept will be explained.
Dima will return. There will be a short segment of his ship adventure.
First preliminary match takes place.
There you go. Enjoy.
-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-
"Hey" Cynthia heard a voice. Cynthia was wondering where she was. She could feel herself suspended in mid-air. Everything around her was pitch black. It was as if she was stuck in the middle of an endless void.
"Hello? Who's there?" Cynthia said.
"Cynth, it's me." The voice said.
Cynthia felt a warm feeling flicker in her heart, as she turned around and saw Ash.
Cynthia smiled, and tried to move towards him. However, she found herself stuck in one spot. Not even a few seconds had passed when she started throwing punches and kicks in the air, clearly frustrated and still trying to reach Ash.
Ash smiled and to Cynthia's surprise, he moved, and flew over to her side without any difficulties.
Without a uttering a word, Ash quietly embraced Cynthia, and she let the tears flow from her eyes. She couldn't be any merrier.
Suddenly, she felt a force pulling her away. Cynthia tried her best to stay with Ash. As she tried to hold on to Ash, tightening her grip, she could feel the force getting stronger.
"No…" she whispered.
"Ash… Ash… wait." She kept saying, but Ash quietly shook his head.
Then much to Cynthia's surprise, she saw Ash's hand glow blue, and he placed the hand on Cynthia's forehead.
The moment he kept his hand on her forehead, she felt instantaneous bliss. Ash kissed her forehead and let her go.
Cynthia saw Ash's face for the last time, as she was pulled further away from him. Ash waved for the last time, before everything went black.
-XXXX-
Ash was amazed. He never thought the sunset could be so beautiful. In all his life, Ash had only ever been able to admire the rising sun, as he thought it gave him a new ray of hope every day, to work harder.
Nevertheless, for now, he had to admit. The time of the dusk surely was soothing.
He turned around to see Cynthia still passed out. The moment he had taken her with him on his Charizard, she had fainted.
"Maybe she was shocked." Ash said to himself.
He was lost in his thoughts, trying to figure out how was he gonna say everything he's wanted to say for the last 10 years, that he didn't notice Cynthia.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw a strong figure sitting in front of her, watching the sunset. She tried to remember where she was.
She saw the Charizard she was riding on. She couldn't believe that a Charizard like this could even exist. His body was unbelievably strong, and not to mention his height.
The Charizard gave a low growl as she saw the man sitting in front of her nod and turn around. He gave a shot smile, as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"A-As….Ash? Is it really you?" Cynthia stuttered, as tears threatened to fall out.
"Yeah, it is me Cynthia. It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Ash said, wiping his tears.
Cynthia put a hand on her mouth, and before Ash could say anything, she started wailing and crying.
Ash took her in his arms as she cried and cried hard, spilling her tears on his chest.
Ash kept saying soothing words to calm her down, and it took her almost an hour to calm down.
She looked at Ash as he smiled.
Then, something took over her mind as she slapped Ash hard.
Ash made a funny face as he touched his cheek, but he knew this was coming.
"Where the hell were you?! You disappeared for ten years! Do you even know what all I went through to find your dumb ass?! Then you just come out of nowhere, kick on of the traitors' ass and take me with you on your overpowered Charizard, to whom you can communicate telepathically?!" she sputtered the words out, and gasped for air.
Ash gave a short laugh, only to receive a glare from Cynthia.
"You're laughing? Do you even understand how serious I am right now, you asshole?" Cynthia said, through gritted teeth.
Ash stopped laughing and his face turned serious as he got closer to her and put a hand on her cheek.
"I get it. I know. And I am truly sorry. I am." Something in Ash's voice made her believe him.
Cynthia had already forgiven Ash. She knew it wasn't his fault after all. They WERE BLAMED FUGITIVES. They couldn't have come back that easily.
Cynthia's happiness knew no bounds, as she could Ash in front of her, alive. But the grief in her heart had turned into anger that she had to take out to calm her nerves.
"Look, I know that we made a mistake disappearing like that, but the true reason for not returning wasn't Trip's actions. After we were proved innocent, we decided to stay incognito for more time because we wanted to train even more to be better. The words that the traitors said were more hurting than their actions."
Cynthia nodded, still frowning. She understood all that Ash meant, and she agreed with him on that fact.
"I am sorry. I am here now. And I'll never leave you like that." Ash said, still cupping her cheek.
Cynthia felt much better than before. She decided to play along.
Still frowning, she pouted, and slapping his hand away, said, "Whatever, Ash. An apology isn't enough."
Ash chuckled and said, "Okay, is this?"
"What are y-?"
Before she could say anything, Ash placed a hand on her waist and pulled her closer, locking his lips with Cynthia.
Cynthia was surprised at this spontaneous action, but she couldn't even describe her feelings.
Happiness exploded in her chest as she closed her eyes.
Ash broke the kiss, and looked her in the eyes.
She couldn't believe this was happening. In all he years of loving Ash, she never noticed.
"Does he… love me too?" she wondered.
"What was that for?" Cynthia said.
"What do you think? Cynthia Shirona, you idiot. I am in love with you, and I've always loved you with all my heart. My life is meaningless without you, and always will be, if I don't have you by my side." Ash said, completely serious.
Cynthia started crying when she heard those words, the exact words she was dying to hear.
She jumped on him and kissed him, this time with more passion. Ash was surprised, but quickly melted into the kiss and put his arms around her waist.
"That'll suffice." She said, as they both gave a short laugh.
Night had fallen by then, and the only thing that was helping them to see each other was Charizard's tail flame.
"I love you too Ash and I always have. I'll never leave your side, regardless of the problems we'll face." Cynthia said.
"I hope this will last long enough to make both of us happy." She continued as they both giggled.
They started kissing again, but Charizard punched Ash on the hand. Cynthia's eyes widened, as she took Ash's hand.
"Oh my god Ash! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" she said, as she inspected his hand.
Ash gave an amused look.
"Yeah I am okay. Why are you so worried?" he said.
"Why? Are you crazy? A Pokemon just punched a human." She said.
"Yeah, about that." he said, as he gulped.
"What?" she said, as Ash looked a bit nervous.
"Ah! Don't tell me! Charizard is a human?" she said.
"No you idiot." Ash replied.
"So what? You are a Pokemon?" she said.
Ash sighed, and said, "No, I'm not. I'll tell you what you want to know, but let me deal with him first." He turned to Charizard, who was snorting in anger.
"What's wrong?" he said. Charizard said something telepathically to Ash, but all Cynthia could hear was loud grunts and snorts. Nevertheless, she could see Charizard was clearly angry.
She looked at Ash, who was blushing hard.
"Why are you blushing Ash?" Cynthia said.
"Well… apparently. Charizard said he doesn't want to fall in danger, so he's suggesting us to return. And also.." he trailed off, blushing again.
"Also…?" she said.
"Well, if I quote him, he said, "I am not interested in two humans having coitus and producing eggs on me." That's all."
Cynthia blushed harder than Ash, and said, "Don't worry Charizard; we won't do anything like that. Besides, as a punishment, Ash isn't gonna get much sex with me for a long time. Not after what he did." She said, mocking Ash.
"Hey" Ash said, raising both his hands, "I apologized."
The trio laughed and Charizard headed back. Ash took the time to explain everything to Cynthia. He told her everything from his encounter with Arceus and everything else.
Cynthia carefully took it all in and took a deep breath after Ash finished.
"So you're Sir Aaron's successor, and you're also related to Queen Ilene. In addition, you're an Aura Knight? Just like Sir Aaron?" she said.
Ash said, "I know it's unbelievable. I can understand if you don't trust me, b-"
Ash never got to complete his sentence as Cynthia gave him a quick kiss.
"I trust you. I've seen enough crazy things to trust THAT. Plus, if you're the one who said it, then I am going to trust it, no matter what." She said.
Ash let a tear down his cheek, and Cynthia wiped it off.
"Thank you so much, Cynth." He said, as he kissed her back.
Charizard gave a small nod, as they both saw the battle tower ahead.
"We're here." Ash said.
Charizard dropped the two trainers at the gate of the battle tower, and Ash recalled him.
The two went inside, holding hands.
But to their surprise, the place was empty, and all the lights were out.
"What's happening?" Cynthia whispered, and Ash sensed something was weird.
He clenched her hand tighter, and whispered back, "It's okay. Don't worry."
The couple headed further and went through the VIP door. The lights in the VIP hallway were out too. They could see the golden door at the end.
"The lights in there are switched on. Someone's in there." Cynthia said, and Ash nodded.
"Wait. Isn't that the VIP conference room where Charles invited all the Champions to discuss something important?" Cynthia thought to herself.
When they got closer to the door, they heard voices coming from inside. There was a quick rattle of footsteps as the people inside said, "They're here! They're here!"
The lights in the room went out, and Ash looked confused. Cynthia understood what was happening, because she recognized the voice.
"Oh lord, this is so dumb, Diantha." She wondered.
Ash opened the door, and couldn't see anything. Everything was pitch black dark.
He was about to use his Aura to increase is vision, but before he could do that, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"I think t-" the man said, but before he could finish, Ash grabbed the hand and twisted it. He kicked the man on the knees and locked his hand behind his back.
"Hey! HEY! OW! ASH STOP IT YOU'RE HURTING ME!" the man said.
Ash couldn't see who the man was, but he recognized the voice.
"Scott?!" Ash exclaimed.
The lights came back on, and Ash was flabbergasted.
All the regional champions and many Gym leaders were present in the room. They were holding glasses of champagne in their hands and were smiling.
Even Ash's mom, Delia, along with Pr. Oak and Gary were present there.
"Welcome Back Ash!" everyone shouted, raising his or her glasses.
Ash smiled and let Scott go, helping him get up.
"That's not the right way to treat a person who planned the surprise party for you." Scott said, rubbing his hands.
"I am sorry, Scott." Ash said, wondering how many people he was going to apologize to that day.
The two men locked into a manly embrace.
Ash greeted everyone in the room personally and everyone was party.
The Champions and Ash were all standing together.
"Alright! Welcome Back Ash! And let me tell you that you owe us a big explanation!" Lance said.
"Yes, Ash. Why didn't you return?" Alder said.
Ash sighed as he slowly unfolded his tale, explaining whatever he went through.
The champions all heard his explanation in shock.
"You sure have turned mature Ash. I mean you were a crybaby back then, and look at you now." Steven said, slapping him on the back.
"Exactly!" Wallace said, "Delia must be proud of you."
"Well I am, Wallace. I am proud. And not only Ash, I am proud of both my sons." Delia said, joining the conversation.
"Ah yes!" Lance said, turning to Ash, "Where's Dima? Isn't he participating? I really wanna see him. We all do. We missed him just as much we missed you."
"Not to mention someone missed him more than anyone else." Leon said, nudging Diantha, who blushed furiously.
Everyone laughed, as Diantha gave a curt smile, her face completely red.
"C'mon now, don't tease her that much." Ash said, giggling.
"Oh and Dima is someone you all don't wanna meet. Especially you Drake." Ash said.
"Why so?" Drake said.
"I don't want you to feel depressed and think that your years of work-out went waste. Dima is totally something else now. You may be remembering that short Dima who stayed silent all the time and was physically weak. Well, now he's a tall lug, and let's just not mention his body. His disciplined anger and frustration has now turned into icy cold fury." Ash said.
The champions all laughed as Drake sweat dropped.
"Well this makes me wanna see him even more now." Said Trace.
Diantha blushed after hearing the description Ash gave.
"Has he really changed that much? Wow." She wondered.
Everyone was enjoying chatting with each other after so long.
"Well, you still didn't answer Lance's question, Ash." A voice said from behind, as they all turned, around to see Charles standing there.
"Mr. Goodshow." Ash said, as Charles approached Ash and shook his hand.
"You've grown, Ash. Tremendous." Charles said, earning nods of agreement from everyone.
"Ash, c'mon tell us! Where is Dima!?" Steven said again.
Ash had been trying to avoid Dima's topic, but he didn't have any other choice now. He had to tell them the truth.
Ash's face turned extremely serious. "Well…" Ash trailed off, feeling nervous.
He looked at Diantha, who looked really scared.
"What's wrong Ash? Where is Dima?" Cynthia said, clearly worried.
"Ash." Delia came near Ash and put a hand on his cheek, "What's wrong? Is Dima okay? What happened?" she asked.
Ash sighed.
"Okay. But please everyone, just don't freak out. Di-" Ash never finished speaking as Gary and Pr. Oak interrupted.
"Guys? You might want to see this." Gary stuttered, and Pr. Oak nodded.
Everyone went over to the two men, clearly vexed, and saw the television switched on. It was showing a news telecast on the recent ship crash.
"Good evening, and welcome to the evening broadcast. We have just received and update on the recent ship crash near the Trido region."
"Yeah I saw that too, I wonder what happened." Steven said, as some other Champions nodded.
"We have received a short video clip recorded by one of the trainers who was on their way to the region. The clipping that will be shown is not a property of the PokeNews channel." The reporter said.
The group got closer to carefully see the clip. The clip started.
The huge ship was extremely damaged. The four engines were on fire, and huge flames could be seen coming out of the back of the ship. The ship crashed on one of the subsidiary islands that belonged to the Trido region.
Just before the ship landed, a huge blue colored figure emerged out of the cockpit, and landed on the ground with a huge thud.
Every person in the room watched wide eyed as they saw the clip again. The huge blue figure was a big cube, and there were more than 30 Pokemon in it. The Pokemon landed on the ground and groaned in pain, but some of the stronger ones got up, crying ad looking towards the ship.
"Why are they crying?" Trace said.
"Oh my god…" Diantha said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Diantha.." Ash said.
"Dima." The two said in unison, and everyone else in the room was shocked to hear that name.
"What do you mean Ash? Why did you say his name?" Delia said.
Before they could say anything, the news reporter started speaking again.
"It appears that the ship belonged to the Team Rocket Leader, Giovanni. However, the person in charge of the ship was Cyrus, who was found tied up and alive in the cockpit. The police has taken him into custody. Police investigations and witnesses show that an individual brought down the ship, who is also responsible for saving the Pokemon and defeating Cyrus. The rescued Pokemon are assumed to be crying in grief for that person, which means that their savior is either highly injured or dead. The only question remains is that who is this mysterious hero?"
Everyone watched in silence as all the pieces fell in line.
"Do you mean… that… Dima was the person who did this?" Lance stuttered.
Ash and Diantha nodded, as Diantha sat on a chair and Cynthia ran over to her to console her.
Before Ash could explain, he heard his TransmissionDex ringing. Everyone was shocked to see the device.
"What is that?" Wallace whispered, and everyone whispered back, "Not now Wallace."
Ash looked at the screen to see who was calling, and the blood in his veins froze when he saw the name.
"Holy Arceus… It's…It's… D-D-D-D-Di-Dima." Ash stuttered, and everyone looked at him.
He picked up the call and turned the speakerphone on.
"Hello?" Ash managed to say.
The moment he picked up the phone, he heard a loud shriek, which had to be Dima.
"Dima?! DIMA!? ANSWER ME?! Are you okay?!" Ash yelled.
"Dima! Switch to video mode! What happened?!" Ash yelled again.
He heard Dima speaking from the other end.
"B-Brother… where… where are you?" Dima managed to say, as Dima let out another shriek.
Everyone in the room looked on the verge of tears. They could feel the pain in Dima's voice.
"Dima! Where are you?! What happened?!"
"Don't… go… anywhere brother. Please. I-I-I need your help." Dima whispered, as he broke the connection.
"DAMN IT!" Ash roared, which scared everyone.
"God? What did he do?" Diantha kept whispering to herself.
"Will anyone please tell me what happened? Can I know where my son is?" Delia said, tears flowing from her eyes.
Ash tried to console her, but she kept crying.
"You need to find Dima, Ash. Leave. NOW!" Lance said. Everyone else nodded.
Ash nodded and called his Pidgeot out. He was about to head outside when everyone heard a crackling noise.
They all turned around, and saw the door slowly opening. The door opened, and in came a man, limping, and leaving prints of blood wherever he set his feet. He was wearing a blue cloak, which was drenched in blood and sweat. There were many wounds on his body and head, and he was barely able to speak.
He was a tall, fit man, with a handsome face. The man looked up and twitched one side of his mouth up.
"O-Oh. Hey e-e-ver-everyone." He managed to say.
His legs lost all the strength as he collapsed.
"DIMA!" Ash roared, as him and Diantha came running over to him.
"Heal me…now." Dima said.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU GO TO THE HOSPITAL YOU IDIOT!" Ash yelled, tears coming out of his eyes.
"Heal me…" Dima said.
Ash's hand glowed blue, as he placed it on all the wounds on Dima's body. He took Dima's cloak off.
Dima looked at Diantha, who was crying extremely hard too.
He tried raising his hand, and after a loud groan, he placed it on Diantha's cheek.
"Di… Hi." He said with a smile, and finally passed out.
"We have to get him to a hospital." Steven said, as Lance helped picking up Dima.
"What was the blue light on your hand, Ash?" Trace asked.
"Not the right time, Trace." Ash said, as he carried Dima outside, and placed him on his Pidgeot.
"I am taking him to the hospital near the Pokemon Center. Summon your Pokemon and get to the hospital. FAST!" Ash said, and everyone nodded.
Diantha decided to come with Ash on his Pidgeot, to help Ash carry Dima.
They took off, and Diantha heard Ash say, "Alright Pidgeot. Light speed."
Pidgeot took off and flew at an extremely high speed.
Diantha yelled over the noise of the wind, "Will he be okay?!"
"I've healed his major wounds, so that won't be a problem. He will live…. If we reach the hospital on time….. Which we will." Ash yelled back.
Diantha looked at Dima. His face looked weak, due to the blood loss.
"Oh Arceus, please. Please save him." She prayed.
-XXXXXXXXXXX-
"Do you really want to do that? Perhaps you should reconsider." Officer Jenny (Trido) said, still surprised from the decision taken by Special Forces.
"It's final. The Trido Special Forces has decided to have him in our side. Your permission is all we need." Another Officer Jenny (Kalos) said.
"Oh don't worry about that. If it's the order from the special forces, who am I to interrupt. Please, carry out the necessary procedures." The Officer Jenny (Trido) said.
The other officer nodded as she signed the papers and followed her cousin to the prison cells.
"The Trido region surely is something else." Officer Jenny (Kalos) thought.
They reached the cell with maximum security, and the officer entered the code to open the cell door.
The Trido Officer saw the man inside, lying on the bed. His face looked weak, as if he wasn't eating properly. There was a plate with some food in front of his bed, untouched.
He got up walked up to the officer, with an intimidating look on his face.
However, the officer was undaunted, and said, "You might want to try eating the food, Maxie."
The man, Maxie, gave a loud chuckle and said, "I am the Team Magma leader. You really think I am going to eat the food given to me by the ones I despise the most? I might as well just starve to death." He sat back down and threw the plate on the other side of the room.
The Trido Officer took a deep breath and said, "The offer we sent you, di-" before she could finish, Maxie said, "I am in."
"What?" the Officers said, surprised.
"I am in. Giovanni is going to pay for all the suffering he made me go through. We sketched the whole plan together, and suddenly I'm not good enough for him? He wiped out my whole team and my main grunts. I will have my revenge."
The officers nodded and gave him the necessary papers to sign.
He picked up the pen. And just before signing the papers, he said, "Just so you know, it doesn't change anything between us. I know I am going to end up in the prison again after this, so I need everything I ask from you for the mission. Do not expect me to cooperate blindly and listen to everything you say."
The Kalos Officer chuckled and said, "Hold your horses, Maxie. The only thing you're going to get in this mission are your Pokémon back. Nothing else. We have direct orders to terminate you if you try anything fishy."
Maxie gave a low growl and nodded in acceptance. He changed into his outfit and took his Pokémon. However, he only found five of them.
"Where's my Magmortar?" he said, clearly vexed.
"Well, as we all know that you had stolen it, so we returned it to its original trainer."
Maxie sighed and headed out the building with the two officers.
The Kalos Officer said, "Okay. Take him to the Trido region and have the deal. I'll be there next week. There are a few things I need to take care of."
The other officer nodded and looked at Maxie, who stood there, irritated.
"Where to?" he said.
"Trido region." She said.
-XXXX-
Ash was sitting on the bench, rubbing his face. Lance and Delia were sitting beside him.
Cynthia was sitting beside Diantha, her head on Cynthia's shoulder, sleeping soundly. Diantha had fallen asleep.
Delia was still sobbing a bit. Ash was constantly trying to console her.
Alder came in with a few cups of coffee and gave a cup to everyone present over there.
It had been a week since Dima had been hospitalized. The doctors said that due to some miracle, some of Dima's wounds had clotted, so there was a high chance that Dima could be saved. They performed surgery, and managed to save him. Everyone eyed Ash when the doctor said "Miracle". If Ash hadn't been there, Dima would have been dead by now. The only thing they were waiting for now was Dima to gain consciousness.
"What did the doctors say?" Lance said.
"They said he's completely out of danger, and his wounds have completely healed, which you know why." Ash said.
He had told everyone about how Dima and Ash were Aura Knights and how they met Arceus. If Aura users had any minor wounds, or major wounds which were instantly treated, then their body could heal themselves. This was the case with Dima.
"The only thing we are waiting for is Dima to wake up." Ash finished.
Everyone listened to what Ash said and gave a sigh of relief.
Just then, the doctor came out of Dima's surgery room and faced everyone.
"Congratulations. He is completely out of danger, as you all know, and now has gained consciousness." Everyone got to their feet in contentment and smiled. Delia started smiling too as she hugged Ash, and Diantha was crying in bliss.
"You all can go meet him now. Miraculously, his wounds have completely healed. He just needs some more sleep."
The group rushed into the room, and there smiles brightened when they saw Dima.
He was sitting on the bed, typing something at a quick pace, on a laptop.
He saw everyone come in and smiled. He put the laptop aside and said, "Not the kind of reunion I was expecting."
They all laughed as they walked towards him and hugged him.
Then Diantha gave him an extremely hard slap on the head, and Dima groaned in pain.
"I guess I did deserve that one." He said, and every person in the room except Ash gave him a slap on the head.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! That's not the ideal way to treat a man who just gained consciousness an hour ago!" Dima said, rubbing the back of his head.
"What the hell were you thinking, trying to take down a whole ship down by your own self?!" Delia screamed.
Dima sighed and said, "Okay look mom, everyone. I know it was a dumb idea. But you all know someone had to do something. He," Dima said, pointing towards Ash, "suggested me to do it by myself and decided to come here to sign us both up for the tournament."
Everyone looked at Ash. His jaw was on the floor.
"Hey! You liar! I tried to stop you but you turned into the "Dark Dima" mode. And everyone here knows what "Dark Dima" is like!"
They all thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, and looked back at Dima, who was fuming in anger.
"Well it's not completely my fault! You know what all the ship reminded me off!" he said.
The two men glared at each other.
"Well if it's a fight you're picking up with me, then I don't have a problem, you nit." Ash said, cracking his knuckles.
"Oh, believe me; I don't have a problem either, brother." Dima countered, popping his neck to both sides and got out of the bed. Ash made a blue-white colored Aura Sphere appear in his hand, while Dima did the same.
"Okay! Okay! Stop it both of you! Stop fighting like little boys!" Delia exclaimed, hitting both of them on the head.
Dima looked away and sat back on the bed, gazing out of the window, still frowning, and Ash looked away too.
Everyone could see the tension rising in the room, but then the least expected thing happened.
"Why didn't you go straight to the hospital? How did you even find me in the first place?" Ash said, his voice as hard as stone.
Dima gave a slight grunt, and still looking away, answered, "When I called you, you switched your TDex on, obviously, and I tracked it. To answer your first question, I knew that I was badly wounded. Doctors would not have been able to save me."
Ash gave chuckled and said in a low voice, "Asshole. Take care." He started walking out of the room, and before opening the door, looked at everyone, and said, "Diantha, stay here and talk things out with him. C'mon everyone, give them some space."
Everyone smiled and nodded, and Lance remarked, "Well, Well. Looks like even though you fight like two 10-year olds, you do care about each other."
"GOD LANCE! SHUT UP AND GO!" Dima said, and everyone laughed and left, except Diantha.
She looked at Dima, and unable to control herself, started crying.
"No. NO." Dima said, walked out of his bed towards Diantha, and embraced her.
"What is wrong with you? Why? Why? Being kind every time is not the solution, Dima. Do you even know how scared I was?" Diantha said, her voice close to being a whisper.
"I know Diantha, and I am sorry. As for the reason, I am pretty sure brother told you. I couldn't control my anger when I saw the ship and it reminded me of everything you went through." Dima said, as a tear rolled down his cheek.
Diantha wiped her tears off, and wiped his tears too.
"Whatever. Now promise me one thing. You won't do anything like that alone. Ever, EVER AGAIN." Diantha said, directly looking at Dima.
Dima nodded and said, "Okay. I promise, I won't, Di."
Diantha smiled and said, "It has been quite long since you used that nickname, hasn't it?"
Dima laughed and said, "It has been quite long since I've used your REAL name. In addition, I promise I am gonna make up for these ten years. I love you, Diantha. More than anything."
Diantha, close to tears, her voice cracking, said, "Stop that. Don't make me cry, you idiot." She said.
"I love you too, Dima. And I always will."
Dima smiled and gently pulled her in for a kiss. The couple locked their lips together, which quickly turned into a fierce and passionate make out session.
They broke the kiss off, gasping for here.
Diantha smiled and touched her forehead with his, smiling.
"That's one hell of a welcome." Dima said.
"I am gonna leave you alone now, okay? I am going to tell the others to go back and have some rest. I'll be here with you for the rest of the day just in case." Diantha said.
"You really don't have to, Di. You should rest too, after all." Dima said, concerned.
"Nope. You did whatever you wanted to back with the ship, so now it's my turn." Diantha said, shaking her head.
Dima sighed and nodded. He switched his laptop back on, and got back to what he was doing.
"What are you doing anyways?" Diantha asked, pointing towards the laptop, looking curious.
"Oh this? This is a report on the how everything went down at the ship. The Chief Officer Jenny here is going to need it, so that she passes it on to the court. When the time comes, I'll be able to give a statement." Dima said.
Diantha's face turned serious and she sat down beside Dima.
"Dima, tell me the truth. Ash said that it would've been a piece of cake for you, but you came back all beaten up. What happened?" she asked.
Dima took a deep breathe, and an expression of pain went across his face.
"Do I really have to?" he said. Diantha took his hand and nodded.
Getting rid of some anxiety, he nodded, and slowly unfolded the tale.
FLASHBACK
"This is great. It's just how I wanted to spend my time." Dima wondered, crouching behind a big crate that contained the food and water supply for the ship.
A day had passed by, since Dima had snuck into the ship. He had taken out almost all the grunts in the ship, and wasn't caught.
The ship was on high alert now, and every grunt on the ship was busy looking for Dima on the ship. Every light on the ship was glowing red as the speakers were blasting, saying, "Intruder Alert!"
He had beaten all the grunts in a short amount of time, and to make his job easier knocked all of them out.
The only people that were in his way were the two main grunts and the ship leader.
Apparently, Cyrus was the ship leader. Team Galactic was commandeering the ship. This clearly showed that Team Rocket and Team Galactic had joined forces. Well, the fact that almost all the leaders had escaped showed that they all have joined forces.
Dima knew what they were trying to achieve. He had overheard some grunts talking about some Pokemon in the cockpit, with their leader.
Dima looked around and checked whether the coast was clear. After scanning the storage room, he got out of there and quietly headed towards the cockpit.
Morpeko was on his shoulder, casually eating seeds.
Dima inwardly smiled at her little antics. She didn't seem daunted. Well, neither was he,
He reached the cockpit and was surprised to find its door ajar. Since the ship was on high alert for the intruder, he knew that no one would make that mistake. It was clearly a trap. Dima sighed, because he had no option but to walk straight into the trap. The Pokemon were in there, and this was the only way in or out.
He went through the door and closed it, deciding not to lock it. He had to be ready to escape at any moment.
He was amazed to see the cockpit. It was a well-maintained room, with a huge control panel and lots of glass panes. The cockpit was huge, and it had enough space in it for an Onix to reside.
"They spent a lot." Dima muttered, and Morpeko nodded.
Two huge crates were in the middle of the room, and he could hear the cries of all the captured Pokemon.
He quickly opened the crates. One crate held the smaller ones, and the baby Pokemon, whereas the other crate majorly consisted of the evolved forms.
The bigger Pokemon showed their gratitude by simply nodding and bowing their heads and all the baby Pokemon jumped on Dima.
Still struggling with the Pokemon, he petted all of them and managed to get all of them together.
"That's 38 of them." Dima said, quickly counting all of them.
He was still deciding what to do with them when he heard a voice behind him.
"That's not really a decent thing to do. We never expected a thief."
Dima turned around and saw three people. Mars and Jupiter were inside the room, and Cyrus was standing at the gate.
"Ah Team Galactic. I am disappointed. I was expecting Team Rocket, because I wanted to do some serious ass kicking. What are you up to now, filth?" Dima said, looking at Cyrus.
"We were about to take the Pokemon to our boss, but you're in the way." Cyrus snarled.
"Boss? YOU have a boss?" Dima gave a tiny laugh.
"Yes. I do. We all do. We've joined forces, and it's about time we did that." Cyrus said, smiling.
Dima's face turned serious as he looked straight at Cyrus, and said, "So who is this boss of yours?"
"Who other than Giovanni?" Cyrus said, with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Dima took a step back in surprise. Giovanni? Their boss? How did they even agree to this?
"Ah, so you're surprised. Good, good. Let the fear set in. Although you do look familiar to me. You ever heard of the Pawade~you?"
"So he hasn't recognized me yet." Dima thought to himself. The name Pawade~you sent chills down his spine. He had a pretty good idea of who they were.
Dima said plainly, "Never heard of it."
Cyrus smiled and shook his head, "Then you're of no use to us. Giovanni was expecting some information when he heard of the infiltration."
He looked at his two grunts and said, "Deal with him, will you?"
Jupiter and Mars nodded and looked at Dima.
A wry smile came over their face, as they took two poke balls out of their pockets.
"Mars, you're still with them? I thought you quit."
Mars was astonished at the person's knowledge, as they hadn't realized that this was the same man who took them down before twice.
"Well, they offered me enough money for two lifetimes. Anyways, any last words?" Mars said, smiling.
Dima didn't say anything as he took two pokeballs out too.
Mars and Jupiter threw their pokeballs in the air and yelled, "Houndoom! Zubat! Come on out!"
Dima shook his head in disappointment as he was expecting this.
The two grunts looked at him in confusion, but Dima just smiled and sent his Pokemon out, without saying anything.
From one of his Pokemon, emerged a Pokémon resembling a bipedal, blue-colored sea turtle. Its stomach was pale blue. It had deep blue rocky structures encrusted on its face, back, and the sides of its chest forming a "mask" and shell. Its flippers were long with black finger-like protrusions at the tips. It had a thick tail and short legs with two-toed feet.
From the second Pokeball, emerged a Pokemon that had a triangular, wing-shaped head, a relatively short body, and a long, laterally flattened tail similar to a newt's.
The dorsal side of its flattened head and the anterior half of its body were a dark navy colour which faded to a teal on its posterior end & tail. The lateral, wing-like crests of its head were pink. The ventral portion of its head and body were a light yellow-tan colour, and its belly was marked with three pink chevrons angled toward its head. It had four hollow, triangular horns and narrow yellow eyes. Its limbs were relatively short and thin, and were clawed. The claws on its forelimbs were pink.
Cyrus looked at both the Pokemon in awe, and the grunts were speechless.
"Both.. Both the Pokemon in your possession are extremely rare. How?" Cyrus managed to say.
Dima said nothing as he turned to the trainers and waited for them to attack.
The two trainers growled and yelled, "Zubat! Aerial Ace on Carracosta!" "Houndoom! Shadow Ball on… what even is that?"
Houndoom and Zubat growled as they carried out their attacks. Dima decided to scare them even more and didn't tell them to dodge or counter. He let them take the attacks.
Zubat flew to towards Carracosta with an impressive speed, ready to slash as his body glowed white. Houndoom shot a black and purple ball, resembling a shadow, towards the second Pokemon.
The two Pokemon took the attacks, and stood there unfazed.
"Time to end this.." Dima thought.
"Carracosta! Use Stone Edge on Zubat! And… Dragapult! Use Dragon Pulse on Houndoom!"
Carracosta surrounded himself with rocks, suspended in mid-air, which he shot at Zubat at an amazing speed.
Dragapult shot a shock wave, a purple coloured beam from his mouth, which hit Houndoom.
Both the Pokemon took the attacks, and were barely able to continue. They gave a cry of pain as they finally tumbled and fainted.
The grunts recalled their Pokemon and looked at Dima in disgust.
"Hm. You have amazing power. You should join our forces, you might find it interesting. Also, you can hand over the Dragapult right now, and no one has to get hurt."
Dima started laughing at Cyrus' words. He recalled his Pokemon, still laughing, and said, "Me? Joining YOU? Nice try Cyrus!" Dima turned to the two grunts and smiled, and the grunts sprinted towards him.
Dima easily out of the way and dodged their attacks, with amazing reflexes.
"Alright then. If that's the case.." Dima lashed out with his left foot, which hit Mars straight in the stomach, knocking her out. She lay on the floor, grabbing on her stomach on the floor.
"Shit. What did I do? I wasn't supposed to hurt her." Dima cursed himself inwardly and looked at Jupiter, who was looking at him in disgust and fear.
A look of regret went across his face, as he charged towards her.
"I am sorry" Dima whispered, and Jupiter gave him a look that was confused and vulnerable. Dima closed his eyes and lightly stroked her on the neck, triggering one of her pressure points.
She instantly fainted and crumpled on the ground.
Dima apologized again inwardly, as he turned to Cyrus and got ready to combat.
Cyrus smiled, and charged at him with an impressive speed, but it was too slow for Dima. Dima dodged Cyrus' attack and jabbed Cyrus on the side of his head, but only to receive a hard sensation in return. Cyrus had managed to bring his hand up to block the attack.
"I underestimated him. But the power he has doesn't seem normal. He didn't train his body, because his hands were still weaker.
"His aura is really strange too. Why does it feel so dark?" Dima thought, and decided to attack seriously.
He kicked Cyrus on one knee, which made him fall on the ground, and punched him again on the side of his head, this time hitting him hard.
Dima was forced to use his Aura, because Cyrus was using some kind of Aura power too, which Dima couldn't understand. Weren't him and Ash the only ones? How is this possible?
Dima kept punching Cyrus in the guts, and blocked all his counters.
He landed his final blow on Cyrus' chest. It made him groan in pain, and he fell down, panting heavily and defeated.
"What.. are.. you?" he managed to say.
Dima smiled and said nothing. He found a few ropes under the control panel, and tied Cyrus to a pole on the side of the cockpit, and surrounded him with an Aura shield.
"This shield will last until I want to, or it will break if hit with a huge impact. In your case, it will be the latter as I will be destroying this ship."
Cyrus watched him wide eyed, as Dima instructed Morpeko to use Thunder on the control panel. What surprised him even more was that the tiny Pokemon created such huge volts of thunder that even Cyrus' Electivire couldn't produce.
Dima called Charizard out and instructed him to destroy all the four engines of the ship.
Charizard snorted and flew out of the ship to do his job.
Dima turned towards the captured, but now free Pokemon and closed his eyes. He knew he had to focus to create an Aura Cube this big. He had never done it before.
Dima tried to concentrate, but all in vain, because the moment he closed his eyes, he fell down on the floor, as the ship moved violently, and started heading towards the ground at a fast speed.
Charizard appeared on the open door of the cockpit and showed a thumbs up sign.
"Shit. I should have first formed the cube. But I can't let Charizard down, he did his job perfectly." Dima thought.
He smiled and showed Charizard a thumbs sign too, as he recalled him.
Dima tried his best to form concentrate and form the cube, but he kept tumbling here and there.
Morpeko was looking scared for the first time.
He knew he wouldn't be able to create a full force cube in the amount of time he had.
He quickly tried making a cube, and managed to cover all the Pokemon with the cube shield.
He smiled at Morpeko, and talked to her telepathically.
"I guess this is it, bud."
Morpeko looked at him in horror, and shook her head.
"No. Shut up. Don't say that." Morpeko said.
Dima just smiled and gave Morpeko a small pat on the head. He recalled her, and braced himself for the pain that was to come.
The ship crashed on the ground with a huge bang.
Dima saw the floor of the ship below him get ripped apart, and closed his eyes.
With all the power he had, he directed the cube out of the ship.
The Pokemon looked at him in horror, as he fell backwards, into the big crack of the floor.
Dima felt himself falling, and hit his head and shoulder with a huge thud. Big chunks of steel and wood hit his body, and some of them went through his skin, like a knife.
Dima peacefully accepted his fate, and closed his eyes for the final time.
But then Diantha's face appeared in front of him. She smiled at him, and Dima felt a jolt of electricity pass through his body.
He winced in pain, and suddenly opened his eyes. He managed to stand up, and saw Morpeko beside him, in tears. He looked around and realized he was on a beach. He looked at his left, and saw an island bigger than this one.
"That's the Trido region." Dima thought.
Dima called his Charizard out, who was shocked to see his trainer's condition. He helped his trainer to stand, and Dima asked for his help to fly over to the Trido Island. Charizard nodded furiously and helped his trainer sit on him. He headed for the islands at an amazing speed, and saw his trainer dial a number on his pokedex.
-xx—
FLASHBACK END
Dima looked at Diantha, whose jaw was almost on the floor. She gently put a hand on his cheek, and kissed him.
She broke the kiss and looked at Dima.
"I don't care what happened. All I know is that you're here with me now and that's all I want. I don't know what reckless things you're going to do in the future, but I don't think I can stop you. So I am going to be by your side all the time." Diantha said.
Tears dwelled up in Dima's eyes as he hugged her.
He wiped his tears off and said, "Alright. Let's head out."
"Well, that was a heck of an experience, Dima." A voice said from the door.
They both turned around to see everyone standing there, but the one who spoke was Ash.
"You all do realize that you spent 20 minutes listening to my bullshit?" Dima said.
Everyone in the room except Ash and Dima were shocked.
"Where's mom?" Dima asked.
"She went home. Her exacts words were, "I trust Diantha. She is a great girl after all. Really pretty too. Perfect for my Dee-Dee." Lol."
Diantha blushed at hearing those words.
Dima sighed. "Man that nickname sucks."
"How did you know we were here the whole time?" Cynthia asked.
Dima looked at Ash, who said, "Aura. We can sense multiple presences. You'll get to see a better performance when Dima is battling using Lucario. He is better at the Chakra points and sensing, whereas I am better at creating and using Aura weapons."
Dima smiled and shrugged, "We have our differences. Everyone does."
Lance suddenly exclaimed, "But wait a second! You have a Dragapult?! They are extremely rare! I don't even think there are more than 10 Dragapults on earth!"
Dima giggled and looked at Ash.
"Should I tell them?" Dima asked.
"Of course. This the perfect time." Ash said, laughing.
Everyone looked at the brothers in confusion, and Dima said, "Well, I was obsessed with the Dragon Clan since I was a young kid. Lance was like my idol, and I loved Dragon Pokemon. But, I knew that my dream to become the Pokemon Master required experience and efficiency in every type. So I didn't focus on Dragon Pokemon. Also, the fact that I cannot join the Dragon Clan made me neglect my dream. But I don't regret it. My love for Dragon Pokemon still exists, and I love catching Dragon Pokemon even today." Dima finished.
Lance looked on the verge of dying from happiness, and everyone smiled. They were impressed.
"And that's not even it." Ash said with a smile, putting a hand on Dima's shoulder.
"He has certain Dragon Pokemon that you haven't even heard off. He spent years trying to catch them. He even has a legendary dragon that probably the strongest Dragon I've ever seen." Ash said.
Lance said, "HOLY SHIT! Dima I want to see you battle! This is amazing!"
Dima laughed and said, "Sure! And I guess you're in luck. I have a match today at five."
"What?" Ash exclaimed.
"Yep. I have a match today with Claire." Dima said.
"Didn't she support the traitors?" Diantha asked.
"Nope." Lance said, "She didn't."
Wallace nodded, and said, "Yeah, she didn't. She cut them off after learning what happened."
Dima and Ash nodded.
"Wow, Dima, Ash. I wasn't even expecting you guys to be this strong!" Wallace said in awe, "You guys remind us of the Pawāde~you!"
Everyone smiled and nodded furiously, except the brothers and Alder.
"Pawāde~you? What's that?" Alder said in confusion.
"OH MY GOD! ALDER WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST 8 YEARS?! PAWADE~YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW THEM?"
Ash and Dima gave nervous looks, and Alder said, "No I haven't! Tell me!"
Cynthia suddenly jumped and said, "Me! Me! I'll tell you! Oh my god I am so in love with them!" Cynthia said.
"Anyways", she continued, "The Pawāde~you is a duo of two men. In the past eight years, they have brought down all the attacks carried by different evil teams, who escaped prison, as you remember. It is still a mystery that why they never tried to catch the team leaders, but whenever a team tried to carry out any evil tasks, they came in the way and destroyed them. The legend says that Pawāde~you are two extremely powerful and worthy men chosen by Arceus. It's their job to protect the earth from evil. This legendary duo tradition goes back to a 100 years, when the first duo was chosen." Cynthia finished explaining.
Before any one could say anything, Diantha chimed in and said, "And that's not even it. The two men are considered the most powerful trainers on earth. The name Pawāde~you mean "Power Duo". As the legend has continued for years, both the men have fixed names. One of them is known as Shiroi and the other is known as Kuro. According to the ancient books, the duo is gifted with legendary Pokemon, but they have to battle them to gain their trusts. Different men who were part of the Power Duo chose and fought different legendries. The witnesses and rumours tell us that the duo this time have chosen quite interesting legendries. Kuro possesses the legendry Bird and Weather trio, whereas Shiroi possess the legendry Tao and Aura trio." She finished explaining.
Ash and Dima looked at the girls in awe, and Alder was feeling dizzy.
"Wow! Oh my god you girls surely do know a lot about us!" Ash exclaimed.
"We sure do, As-" Cynthia started speaking, but stopped.
"Wait a second. Did you just say "us"?" Diantha stuttered.
Ash and Dima giggled. Finally, Dima said, "You didn't figure it out yet? We are the Pawāde~you. The legendry duo that has been wiping out evil for the past ten years."
Everyone looked at them in utter shock.
Cynthia's jaw was hanging, and Diantha couldn't say another word.
Finally, Lance managed to speak, "You may be taking this lightly, but you do know how big this is right? You guys are the Pawāde~you. The whole world is looking for you to say a word of thanks."
They both looked at each other and nodded.
"Yes. In addition, what is wrong with you? You do not have to put your lives on the edge just to save the world. Even before being the Pawāde~you, you defeated the evil teams numerous times. Even when the whole world despised you for something you didn't even do, you tried to save it. Why?" Cynthia said.
Ash gave a big smile, and Dima softly said, "True. We don't owe the world a thing. So maybe we don't have the right explanation. But, think of it as that way. All of you guys are the only people who brother and I trust with our lives, and we wouldn't want you to get hurt."
Everyone in the room smiled.
Suddenly Steven said, "I would just like to break the fourth dimensional wall and mention that the writer hasn't given me many lines. And I would also like to request him to please move on with the story. This is getting boring."
Everyone laughed at that.
"But hey? Is it true that you guys have the four trios?"
Ash nodded and said, "Yep! We do."
Cynthia walked over to Ash and said, "So, which one of the two are you?"
Ash said, "I am Kuro."
Diantha nodded and looked at Dima.
"So that would make you.." she said.
"Shiroi." Dima completed.
"So, the trios! Tell us more about them!" Wallace said.
"You just want to know who has which, right?" Ash grunted.
Everyone nodded.
The brothers sighed and Dima answered.
"I have the Tao and Aura trio, whereas brother has the Bird and Weather Trio. But, my Tao trio is incomplete, whereas brothers' weather trio is incomplete."
Everyone looked confused.
"What does that mean?" Lance asked.
"Well, you see. I was on Mt. Inferno for 10 years. Therefore, I was the one who caught Groudon. On the other hand, even though Kyurem's Den was in the core region where I was, brother was near that cave at that time, getting rid of Team Flare. So, he was the one who caught Kyurem." Dima explained.
Lance nodded.
"Okayyyyy enough talk. Dima's battle is in an hour. So, let's go. Dima has to get ready. And I mean get READY. Dima look at you, your hair and your beard." Ash said.
Everyone laughed, and Dima said, "You're one to say."
"My hair is wayyyy shorter than yours. Your hair is longer than Diantha's." Ash remarked.
Dima chuckled and said, "My hair is longer than Cynthia's."
Cynthia punched him on the arm, laughing.
Everyone headed out of the hospital, towards the hotel.
-XXX—
"They're really back" Brock thought.
"Can you believe it?" Max said, while everyone shook their heads.
"What should we do? They won't listen to us even though we'll be telling the truth." May said.
The traitors were all sitting in the Battle tower lobby, trying to think of what to do.
Ash was going to the battle tower, to get some of his Pokemon back from Nurse Joy. The traitors didn't notice him entering, and there was no one else in the lobby as everyone was rushing to get tickets for Dima's match.
Ash saw them and quickly averted his gaze.
"Huh. The bastards are here." He thought to himself, stopping his hand to hit each of their faces. He could see that they were discussing something, and he did not intend to listen, but due to his high senses, he could hear what they were talking about and when he heard his name being taken, he decided to eaves drop.
"Will they even listen to us?" May said. She looked on the verge of tears.
"They won't. We are at fault after all." Dawn said.
"You know that's not true, Dawn. The voices were controlling us." Iris said.
Ash froze when he heard that sentence.
"The voices? What do they mean by that? Are they trying to say that it wasn't their fault? Oh lord, such pests." Ash thought. His disgust for the traitors deepened even more, as he quickly grabbed his Pokemon and headed out of the tower.
"Huh? Who was that?" Max asked. He saw Ash's shadow as he walked out of the tower.
"I don't know. Anyways, let's just go. Dima's match is about to start. We have to go see it." Cilan said, his voice laced in pain.
The others nodded and walked out of the tower.
-XX—
Stadium number 12 was filled with the maximum number of people that day. Everyone had gathered to see the match of the fallen hero. The match that had taken place the other day against Ash and Max was recorded by a spectator and was posted on the PokeGram. People had gone crazy on seeing the return of Ash and Dima. The stadium was roaring with extremely loud shouts and crazy roars. ¾ of the stadium was cheering loud and clear for Dima. The others were cheering for Claire. The two respected trainers were about to write history.
A huge segment of girls was sitting on one side of the stadium who were shouting like crazy. Apparently, one of the girls had saw Dima step out of the hospital and clicked a few pictures of him. They had printed those pictures out and had made huge placards out of it.
"Oh my god I love his new look! Even though that's not how a young guy should carry his hair and beard, he looks like a god!" one of the girls said to the news reporter, who was interviewing the fans outside the stadium.
Another girl suddenly came up and said, "Well, yeah Dima does look great. But Ash.. oh he's so dreamy." The two girls started quarreling.
Back inside the stadium, the champions and Ash were sitting inside the VIP area. They had a clear view of the field.
Ash waved to few people in the stands, who went crazy.
"Man this is crazy. They all love you guys." Wallace said.
Cynthia nodded, and she looked at Diantha, who was fuming in anger looking at all the girls in the stands.
"Chill, Diantha." Cynthia said, laughing, and so did the others.
"I can't wait for Dima to show me his three dragon Pokemon! This is exciting!" Lance said.
"Two." Ash said.
"What?" Lance said, clearly confused.
"Two dragon Pokemon. The rules have changed, Lance. It will be a 2v2 battle." Ash said.
Lance grunted, "God damn it."
They all looked at Ash again, who was muttering to himself.
"Two Pokemon….hm… his second one…. So…if the…dragon tail? Nah he won't…. this is gonna be tough" was what they heard him muttering.
"You seem excited Ash." Delia said. She was allowed to be in there on Ash's request.
"Of course Mom! I have to see what tricks Dima is going to use. I'll use it against him in the finals." Ash replied, confidently.
Cynthia ran a finger on Ash's back, which sent a chill down his spine.
"You really don't think that you're going to reach the finals, right Ash? I am still here." Cynthia said, her voice seductive.
Ash smiled and said, "We'll see about that, Cynth."
Before anyone could comment on whatever was going on, the commentator started speaking.
"Welcome everyone! Today, the third round of the preliminary matches begin. We will now start with the battle!" He said, as his voice blasted in the speakers all across the stadium. People roared and cheered, as the time to introduce the two trainers arrived.
"On the red side, we have the insanely beautiful dragon type trainer, who is well known for her achievements. Please welcome, the Blackthorn City Gym leader, and Champion Lance's cousin, Clair Ibuki!"{I know Ibuki isn't her last name, but whatever.}
Even though most of the people were supporting Dima, everyone in the stadium roared and cheered. Clair was a well-known gym leader. Everyone loved her.
A sound was heard on the left side of the battlefield, as smoke appeared on the field. Everyone waited for what was going to happen next. Suddenly, the smoke started forming a tornado like structure. What everyone saw was mesmerizing. Clair was standing on the raised platform, where the trainers stood during the battle. Beside her, was her Pokemon, Dragonite. Dragonite had used his wings to form a tornado out of the smoke. He carried the smoke up with him into the skies and struck at it at an amazing speed. The smoke dispersed in the air.
Everyone roared and cheered at the amazing display of talent.
Clair smiled and waved at everyone. She had long blue hair, which she had tied up. She was wearing a blue combat dress, which went down until her knees. She was wearing a purple colored cape, and the brightest smile.
XXX
"Hey, she's gotten prettier." Ash said, and looked at Cynthia. She gave him a death glance and Ash gulped. He smiled and rubbed the back of his head and turned his gaze back towards the field.
XXX
"That was quite the entry!" The commentator said.
"Now, it's time to call out the second trainer. This man had disappeared along with his brother, and they both have returned after 10 years. By the looks of it, they've become extremely powerful! Ladies and gentleman! On the blue side, we have Dima Ketchum of Pallet Town!"
The crowd went haywire, and Clair's smile turned brighter.
They all saw him.
Dima didn't do anything extraordinary, and simply walked out from the back room, onto the raised platform.
That was enough to make people go crazy, and only a few girls managed to suppress their nosebleeds.
XXX
"Oh god what has he done?" Lance said.
"Shut up, Lance. He looks amazing." Delia said, and Diantha furiously nodded. She was having some nasty thoughts when she saw Dima.
XXX
Dima was still wearing his blue cloak, but his hood was off. The beard that once reached his chest had completely disappeared. He had kept a clean-shaven look, which made him look amazing.
More than that, he had cut his hair REALLY short than before. Some of his hair fell in front of his forehead. {Just imagine the ideal Usui Takumi from Maid Sama.}
"Well! Well! That surely is new look for this young trainer! Let the battle… BEGIN!"
Everyone roared and cheered.
"It's great to see you Dima! I can't believe you're back! Let's have an amazing battle!" Clair said, with a big smile.
"It's great to see you too, Ms. Ibuki. I hope we have a great battle!" Dima replied.
"Please, call me Clair." She pointed out.
Dima simply smiled and nodded. They both looked at the referee.
"This will be a 2v2 Pokemon Battle between Clair Ibuki and Dima Ketchum. The first one to make the opponent's two Pokemon faint wins. Substitutions are allowed."
Clair and Dima nodded, and smiled at each other as a last "best of luck" gesture.
"Now trainers! SEND OUT YOUR FIRST POKEMON!"
Clair grabbed a Pokemon from her belt and threw it on the field.
"Garchomp! Show them your true power!" Clair yelled.
The dark blue bipedal shark Pokemon appeared on the field, and gave aloud battle cry. Everyone cheered on for him and turned to Dima. They were expecting his Pokemon to be strong.
Dima thought for a moment.
"Trainer? Your Pokemon?" the referee asked."
"Yeah. Sorry." Dima said.
He took a Pokeball for the belt underneath his cloak, and threw it on the field.
The moment the Pokemon appeared, the whole stadium went quiet.
XXX
"Holy mother of god. What is that?" Lance said in awe.
Everyone looked at the Pokemon in awe. No one had ever seen it before.
Ash shook his head and smiled.
"God, Dima. I thought you weren't gonna use him." Ash said.
"Ash. You know what Pokemon that is?" Diantha asked.
"Yeah. That's a dragon/steel Pokemon. A Pseudo Legendry beast."
XXX
Clair was at a loss of words when she saw that Pokemon. She had never seen it before. It had a bipedal stance with large feet, a chunky tail, and a head integrated to its neck. It had zigzag patterns running down its body, gray bands around its arms, and had two black slits on its lower chest. Its right hand had four triangular indents, while its left had five. It also had a red segment on its head and two slits on its head. Its body was mainly light gray and dark blue. It had yellow eyes with green pupils, and it appeared to be scowling.
The referee also looked at the Pokemon in awe.
"Ummm… can we start?" Dima asked.
"Y-Yes… BATTLE BEGIN!" the referee yelled.
The crowd started making noise again.
"Alright. Garchomp! Start with a Dragon Claw!" Clair yelled.
Garchomp ran over to the Pokemon at an amazing speed, and sliced was about to slice his hands on the Pokémon's head.
Just then, Dima yelled, "Duraludon! Block it and counter with Breaking Swipe!"
The Pokemon, Duraludon, brought its hands up to block the attack, and threw Garchomp backwards. He swung his tail wildly and attacked Garchomp. The attack sent him flying, and Garchomp crashed on the ground.
"Garchomp! No! Can you battle?" Clair asked, worried.
Garchomp nodded and got back up, glaring at Duraludon.
Dima suddenly looked up, and Duraludon, without even looking at Dima, looked up too. Dima gave a brief nod. Duraludon gave a battle cry, which made the stadium rumble.
Clair gritted her teeth and yelled, "Garchomp! Use Earthquake!"
Garchomp jumped and created a huge quake, which made Duraludon stumble a bit.
"Impressive, that was strong. You Garchomp is amazing. However, that was a mistake." Dima remarked.
XXX
"What does he mean by it was a mistake?" Alder asked.
"I already know the answer, but you'll find out." Ash said.
XXX
Clair looked at him in confusion.
"How so?" she asked
"The cells in Duraludon's body are more durable than any known Steel-type and it is resistant to earthquakes thanks to the body structure." Dima said.
Clair's eyes widened as she realized her mistake.
"Duraludon! Garchomp is tired! Use Dragon Pulse followed by Dragon Tail!" Dima yelled.
Duraludon shot a purple colored beam from its mouth, which hit Garchomp square in the chest. Duraludon jumped, to everyone's surprise, and thrashed Garchomp with his tail, shining red.
This cause Garchomp to scream in pain.
"Garchomp!" Clair shrieked, as she saw her Pokemon lying on the ground, fainted.
"It's okay, Garchomp. You fought well. Take a nice long rest." She said, recalling her Pokémon.
She looked at Dima, who hadn't recalled his Pokemon yet.
"My, my Dima. You have grown amazingly strong. I didn't even know about this Pokemon. I learn something new every day. I am truly enjoying this." Clair said, excitedly.
Dima just smiled and replied, "I am glad you're having fun, Clair. I am having fun too."
Dima recalled Duraludon, and waited for Clair to call her next Pokemon out.
"Garchomp is unable to battle! The blue trainer wins! Clair, please send out your next Pokemon!"
XXX
"Wow!" Lance exclaimed. "You were right Ash, Dima is simply amazing. His dragon Pokemon are awesome!"
"I know right. Although, his next Pokemon is known by everyone, but it's really strong. In fact, I have that Pokemon too." Ash said.
"Hmm.. what dragon type could it be?" Diantha wondered.
XXX
"You may have won the first one, Dima, but I won't give up!" Clair said.
Dima nodded.
"Alright! Dragonite! Come on out!" Clair yelled.
The orange colored flying dragon Pokemon appeared on the field. Its body twirled and twisted like the tail of a kite, and everyone cheered for its amazing acrobatic skills.
"Tremendous." Dima commented, which made Clair smile.
Dima grabbed another Pokemon from under is cloak and threw it in the air.
His next Pokemon was a well-known Pokemon, and everyone gasped in shock seeing the huge Pokemon.
This Pokemon had both draconic and insectoid features. Its upper body was slender with thin arms and a long neck. The upper chest, neck, head, and arms were light purple, while its waist was dark purple with a fuchsia stripe on each side. Each shoulder had a long gray spike and each hand had three pinkish purple claws. Running down each side of its neck was a dark purple stripe, which connected and formed a loop on its chest. The lower area of the loop was fuchsia and had a short, downward extension in the middle. At the end of its long neck was its head, which had a long, spiked crest on the top. On the sides of its mouth were a pair of curved, gray spikes that acted as mandibles. Its glowing cyan eyes were conjoined, rimmed with fuchsia, and had a spiky crest on either side, which gave them a visor-like appearance. A pair of light purple wings sprouted from the center of its back. Those wings had a single fuchsia claw at the joint, two spikes along the wing-arm, and darker purple membranes with fuchsia markings near the spikes.
XXX
"Hey! That's a Naganadel!" Lance exclaimed.
"In the flesh." Ash said.
XXX
"Wow Dima. You sure have been really busy huh?" Clair said.
Dima just shrugged and replied, "It took a lot of hard work, though."
Clair smiled and yelled, "Alright let's begin! Dragonite! Use Ice Beam!"
Dragonite sent a beam of ice towards Naganadel, who gracefully flew out of the way. Dragonite kept using Ice Beam and Naganadel kept dodging it.
Naganadel was flying pretty close to the ground, so the Ice Beams hit the ground and created a lot of vapor and smoke.
"Now Dragonite! Backup Strategy!" Clair yelled, and out of the smoke, appeared Dragonite, his mouth glowing purple.
Dragonite shot a Dragon Pulse on Naganadel, and he didn't receive a chance to escape.
Dima watched in surprise as Naganadel took the attack and grunted in pain. He didn't take drastic damage, but it was a lot of damage, and a great tactic.
"That was a simply exquisite move. I see you're intelligence and beauty are both top notch, Clair." Dima complimented.
Clair blushed hard on the comment, and managed to say, "T-T-Thank you, Dima."
"Alright. Naganadel! Use Dragon Rage on Dragonite, and stay on the ground after the attack. The moment Dragonite attacks roll your body like a sphere." Dima instructed.
Everyone in the stadium gave a confused look.
XXX
Lance was wondering what was Dima up to.
"What is he trying to do, Ash?" Cynthia asked.
What surprised everyone was Ash's reply, "I have no clue. Dima has changed over the years; he may have some new tricks up his sleeve."
He leaned forward and stared at Dima, whose face was emotionless.
XXX
"What is he trying to do? I know I can't underestimate him." Clair thought.
Naganadel quickly used Dragon rage, which dealt Dragonite a lot of damage. Then, as instructed by his trainer, Naganadel simply landed on the ground.
"What is he trying to do? I can't understand!" Clair felt frustrated.
"Urgh!" Clair yelled in frustration.
"Dragonite! Use Ice Beam again!" she instructed.
Dragonite did as instructed, and shot a beam of ice at Naganadel.
Naganadel waited for his trainers signal.
When the attack was about to hit, Dima shouted, "NOW!"
Naganadel rolled his long body, and the pointed tip at his bottom faced the attack head on.
The moment the attack collided with him, the beam shattered and deviated.
Everyone was shocked. Dima had just managed to cut an attack in half.
Clair watched in awe as the beam was deviated.
"So that's what he was trying to do? Wow." She thought.
She instructed Dragonite to use more attacks like Water Pulse and Hydro Pump but all in vain.
"I have no choice." She thought.
"Dragonite! Use Double Edge!" she yelled.
Dima suddenly looked alert, and it scared Clair a bit.
"Naganadel! Wait for my signal to turn back to normal! And don't dodge the attack!" Dima yelled.
Clair looked confused again. "What is he doing now? God he's so mysterious." She thought.
The moment Dragonite was about to hit Naganadel, Dima yelled, "DO IT!"
Naganadel quickly straightened his body, and Dragonite collided with Naganadel, hitting his chest.
Naganadel snorted again, and quickly flew away from Dragonite.
Dragonite suddenly shivered in pain, as his body turned purple and quickly back to normal.
"Wait a second..." Clair thought.
"Poison Point. Dragonite is now poisoned. I knew attacking Dragonite head on would be tough. Its flexibility is simply amazing. So, I had to tire him out. I did so by rolling Naganadel. You didn't know what I was up to, so you used a few attacks, which tired him out. In addition, you were forced to use a physical attack, so I used that to my advantage and poisoned Dragonite. Now he's really weak, and Naganadel's attacks will easily hit."
Clair looked at Dima in shock. This young trainer's tactics were brilliant. Such quick thinking was rare. But, it was expected. The way he protected his energy and stayed disciplined was really great.
"Naganadel! Use Clangorous Soulblaze followed by Core Enforcer!" Dima said.
Clair watched in horror. She hadn't even heard of the attack Dima had said first.
She saw Naganadel open his mouth and send out huge supersonic mauve colored waves that hit Dragonite. Dragonite looked on the verge of fainting.
The last of the poison did its job and Dragonite fainted and started falling to the ground.
Everyone thought that Dragonite was just a bit tired, as its eyed were still half open, but Dima saw that Dragonite had already fainted.
Naganadel had collected his energy and was about to shoot a huge green colored beam towards Dragonite, but stopped as he heard his trainers voice.
"NAGANADEL STOP! DRAGONITE'S FAINTED DON'T HURT HIM!"
Naganadel knew it had no option as it already had collected the energy.
It took shot the beam on the ground, which reflected it back right towards him.
Naganadel shrieked in pain as it was hit by the attack.
The beam finally died out, and Naganadel fell down on the ground.
Both the Pokemon had swirls in place of their eyes.
"Both Pokemon are unable to battle. This round was tie. But since two of Clair's Ibuki's Pokemon have fainted, the winner is Dima Ketchum!"
The crowd went haywire, and girls started throwing roses in the battlefield.
Dima ran over to Naganadel and petted its head.
"You did great, Naganadel. You took the attack to save your opponent. I cannot be more proud than you. Thank you so much buddy, take some rest." Dima said, and the Pokemon smiled and nodded.
Dima recalled him looked around him. He simply smiled at the audience and gave brief nod, before turning to Clair.
She had recalled Dragonite, and was walking towards Dima.
"You have improved drastically Dima. You made me look like a little girl. And thank you for saving Dragonite." Clair complimented.
"Not at all, Clair. You were amazing. Your backup strategy was really great. You did catch me off guard. In addition, don't mention it. It's my responsibility to protect them." Dima replied.
"Oh please. As compared to your strategy, it was nothing. The way you battled was totally something else. I'll root for you and Ash for the rest of the tournament. And I want to know more about Duraludon!" Clair said.
"Thank you so much, Clair. And sure, I'll tell you more about my Dragon Pokemon."
The two trainers shook hands, and Clair was about to turn around and head off, when she heard Dima say, "Wait, Clair."
Clair turned around and said, "Yeah?"
Dima smiled and reached for something inside his cloak.
Clair was still wondering what Dima was up to when Dima came closer to her and gave her something.
Clair took it and looked at it in bliss. It was a blue colored flower. It had six petals, and they were widely spread out. the petals were light blue colored, like her hair, and the petals had an intricate design of grey on them.
"I-I… I don't.." Clair stuttered.
"Don't like it?" Dima completed.
"NO! Don't be ridiculous Dima! I love it! Thank you! Thank you so much! But… why?" Clair asked, and gave a small chuckle at the end of the sentence.
"It's my way of showing gratitude to the trainers I battle with. That, is a Clematis Occidentalis. You can just call it Clematis. The blue color represents your hair, and it also represents your confident and self-controlled nature. Not to forget, it even shows us your childlike and vulnerable side." Dima said.
Clair's face was extremely red. She managed not to pass out and said, "You're really sweet, Dima. Thank you." she held the flower close to her chest, as she walked away.
Everyone cheered when they saw the scene unfold. Dima walked out of the battle field and went inside the VIP stands.
The first face he saw when he entered the place was Diantha.
"You could at least wait for me to leave before flirting with other girls." She said
Dima laughed and sat beside her.
"It was a just a small thank you for a good battle. I'll do this with every trainer, you see. So don't worry, Di. I have something for you too." He said, and kissed her.
Diantha blushed and said, "Yeah yeah whatever." She laughed and kissed him again.
-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-
Fuck man. Finally done with chapter 4. If you notice, the total number of words in every chapter have increased since chapter 1.
Anyways, drop a review PLEASE. PLEASE BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW WHETHER I AM DOING GOOD OR NOT.
I hate writing battle scenes, so be sure to tell me how it was.
I know this chapter was lengthy and a bit boring, but I'll try to keep things more brief from now on.
If you identify any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or anything like that, please forgive me because I am not going to read this chapter before posting.
I think that's it.
PLEASE DROP A REVIEW. PLEASE.
Hang around for the next chapter,
BaneP,
Off for now! {Literally off for now. Man I am gonna go take a nap. Typing for hours is tiring.}