OSPREY….SWOOOSH
UO: Hey guys! Ready to work?
Ash: Ready
Dawn: All fired up.
May: Ready
Anabel: Good to go
Misty: Let's rock and roll.
Gabby: Give Tori a minute but we're good.
Brock: Let's rock
Max: Good to go
Drew: Re—(BOOM)
UO: So damn close! (Group runs over to the sound of the explosion. They see a red head with some sort of RPG blowing up the studios.)
UO:….OZPIN!
Ash: Uh, do we want to know?
UO: She's part of a series I'm negotiating with. Probably won't see anything productive until after both Grand Prix and you guys finish up. But for now. OZPIN! I HOPE SOMEONE SPIKES YOUR COFFEE! Disclaimer please while I go talk to him about his students.
Brock: UnitedOsprey1991 does not own Pokemon or any references made. He would be rich otherwise and wouldn't writing this wonderful story.
Normal: Dialogue
Italics: Thoughts, Flashbacks, and telepathy.
CAPS: Attacks
Bold: Yelling and Belt Noises
Bold and Italics: Yelling in head:
Chapter 41: Iron Will
On the road to Canalave City sometime in late September
When we last left our heroes, Ash and Drew completed their fifth gym challenge overcoming the challenges of Fantina and her Hypnosis from her tricky Ghost-Types. While traveling, Dawn was unwillingly turned against her friends and if it wasn't for a mechanism in the armor, Dawn might have seriously hurt her friends. Then while traveling to her hometown, Dawn found her temple that she stumbled on when she started her journey and overcame the doubt she encountered when she nearly skewered Ash. She then used the final form to protect her town and her mother who found out about her and friends heroics. She was glad that her mother understood that her daughter was growing up.
Now they were on the way to Canalave City for the next gym challenge. Along the way Dawn found a new pokémon in Swinub that had started to pilfer their food. It had quickly evolved and it scared Dawn that Mamoswine evolved so quickly and she was worried that she wouldn't get him to listen to her. Thanks to Ash and Misty who had experience with unruly pokémon, Mamoswine and Dawn had reached an understanding on his behavior and how Dawn would train him.
It was early in the morning and Brock was unsurprisingly the first one up. He normally got up to start preparing meals, but he also took some the early time to train both his earth manipulation, his skill with his axe and bonding with his pokémon, especially Ninetails. As he swung his axe in a kata, he thought about the last three years. He remembered when he first faced Ash. It was his Pikachu and a Pidgeotto. He had beaten them once, but as he had come to know the young man, he was tenacious and returned. In the rematch, he somehow triggered the fire systems and weakened Onix. When he looked from his Onix to Ash he saw his younger siblings holding onto him and in a shocking, no pun intended, turn of events, Ash ordered Pikachu back and surrendered the match. Most people like Gary was before he had an attitude change would have taken advantage of that. But not Ash. It was why he gave Ash the Boulder Badge and came with him and Misty after making up with his father.
Brock chuckled at the events that happened since then. He had seen Ash and Misty grow up with gentle guidance and as the group expanded he seemingly took up the wise older brother. Now that they seemed to be getting stronger, there seems to be no place for his guidance. He was glad that he could be with his friends for the foreseeable future.
Brock stopped. Friends…at this point he knew them better than his actual siblings. Guess they were more than friends at this point. And yet he wondered what role he would play in their group in the future.
"Penny for your thoughts, Brock?" He was snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see Drew who had snuck up on him and was petting Ninetails.
"Drew…didn't think you were up."
The younger male shrugged his shoulders. "Meh woke up earlier couldn't go back to sleep, Want to spar?"
Brock nodded and the next few minutes they swung their weapons at each other. Drew noticed Brock wasn't really into it.
"Something the matter, Brock?" Drew said as they paused.
Brock sighed. "It's just, you guys are maturing and growing up before my eyes. It brings a tear to my eye that you are turning into great young men and women. It's just…I don't know what to do with you all. I feel like I'm just the guy that cooks for you all."
Drew shook his head and placed his sword down. "Brock, first off you are way too young to be talking like that. I know you raised your siblings and had to mature faster than us. Second, you're always going to be important to us. You're at least three years older than us, you probably know your way around the world and heck being older might be a blessing considering that we being as young as we are we won't be taken as seriously."
Brock smiled. "I guess you're right. You might be more mature than most people, but you all are pre-teens. Your going to make a lot of mistakes. And it will be up to me to sort you out."
Drew laughed. "There we go. Glad to hear it." He said. Both of them returned to the camp as the rest of the group started to wake-up.
On the road after breaking camp, it was quiet for once as the group watched the scenery go by. After a few minutes of silence, Max decided to ask a question that had been bugging him.
"Hey Drew?"
"Hm?" The older male asked.
"Why would anyone worship a crucifix? Wasn't it used for medieval executions?"
(For those offended by religion I apologize in advance for the following section. I don't mean to offend other religions as well)
This got to Drew to sigh and reached into his shirt and pull out his cross, getting Max to widen his eyes.
"I guess you wouldn't know about religion Max. Where to begin? I guess I can say a crucifix was the reason why my religion exists."
He looked up at the sky. "About 2000 years ago on my world, a baby was born to a virgin mother and conceived by the being that we call God. That baby's name was Jesus Christ."
Ash snapped his fingers. "Like Christmas?"
"Exactly. Though the holiday was more pagan than religious, but yes that is the day they consider his birthday. It's one of the holier days on the religious calendar. Sorry Drew." Gabby said looking at Drew who shrugged.
"Anyway, he grew up and became this Messiah. He had been prophesized thousands of years before hand, not unlike our prophecy. He was seen as the world's savior and people flocked to see him preach. He performed miracles that even this world could have a hard time explaining." Drew said smiling. "He also gathered 12 disciples that were from many different backgrounds, mostly fishermen, an apt word choice, because they became in the words of scripture "Fishers of men."
"What happened to him?" May asked.
Drew stopped smiling. "Well one day he walked into this ancient city called Jerusalem. At this point he was the equivalent of an Elite Four Champ I guess would be the closest description. They rolled out the red carpet, or I guess in his case the green carpet as they waved Palms, not unlike a king. As far as I could find, over 2.5 million people came to the city just to see him. Which is astounding for that day and age. (I went to a Palm Sunday service and the minister said that. It was an insane number for back then, the amount is equal to Chicago.)
So like anyone with power, there were people scared of him. This was during a time when the area was part of an Empire that spanned an entire continent. So the governor and a lot priests weren't happy. Especially when he tossed people out of the temple for using it as a market place. But it was alright for Jesus. Until Passover that is."
Drew took a deep breath. "He sat down with his disciples and he started doing stuff like he knew he was going to die. He created a new covenant or pact and used wine and bread to symbolize it. After the dinner, they went into a garden to pray. Unknown to the disciples but seemingly known to Jesus, Judas one of the twelve sold Jesus out for thirty silver pieces. The legionnaires arrested him and charged him with trumped up crimes." Getting the trainer group to gasp.
Drew continued. "Now here's the thing the Governor could have used his power to free him over another prisoner. But the crowds didn't want that. So with his fate sealed, Jesus was sentenced to be crucified. To further humiliate him, he was made to carry his own cross to the execution sight. Crucifixion is a very painful way to die. He was nailed through the hands and feet and slowly left to bleed out. And that's what happened. He died on the cross, on a day we call Good Friday, for he died for the world's sins. This cross is made from the wood of his execution site Calvary." Here he stopped and looked at the group. Most of the girls had their mouths opened and covered by their hands.
"That's…horrible." May said.
"Why would anyone betray their comrades?" Misty asked.
"It's disgusting how the people turned on him like that?" Dawn said.
"He should have been treated better. That governor was no better than the people we fight." Anabel said.
Drew chuckled. "I never said I was finished with the story." He said getting the girls to quiet. "So before I finish this, bear in mind my world has no magic, no time travel, and no natural way to resurrect someone. So three days later after they placed him in a tomb, there was a big earthquake. When his followers checked the tomb, it was empty save the burial shroud. He had come back to life somehow. That was the miracle of the other holy day on the calendar, Easter. He came back from the dead to preach to the world one more time. This cross is the symbol of the religion that was started to honor him. Though there are many schisms in the church, Christianity is a strong influence on the world and has been for thousands of years."
Max didn't think the question would have a vivid answer like that. "I honestly didn't think the answer would be that morbid."
Drew smiled and rubbed Max's head. "Its alright. You asked a question and I gave you answer. Let's just learn and move on."
Max nodded before asking another question. "What about those guys that attacked your home?"
"Another time, another place, Max. Let's get moving." Drew said dropping the subject. It was obvious that this was a more serious issue.
(Considering Easter was recently I thought it appropriate. I don't mean to offend anyone at all. If you have a problem with this…Get. The. Hell. Out.)
The group walked in silence but there was sense of understanding and a slightly more intimate closeness between them, knowing that if they were to try and betray each other…well they would die before they willingly did that.
A few hours later they decided to stop at a lake. Despite the late September weather, it was still very warm. They switched into their swim suits and played in the water. One of those grateful for the water was Misty. She was finally able to release her water pokémon and especially her newly evolved Milotic. She was acting like a little kid especially as she swam with Gyarados and Milotic acting like a couple.
Ash was treading water nearby as Misty rose to the surface with Milotic and Gyarados flanking her.
"She really is like a little mermaid." Ash said. May who had been swimming nearby giggled. "She is always happy when she's in the water." Dawn who had just swam up just smiled. "It's like seeing a switch flip on her. She just seems so calm and serene." Dawn looked at Ash who had started to float on his back. Looking at May who had a smirk on her face. On the count of three they pushed Ash under the water. Surfacing and coughing, he looked at the two laughing girls. He growled playfully and started chasing them.
Anabel was treading water when Misty swam over to her. "You having fun?" She asked with a megawatt smile.
Anabel nodded picking up on her happy expression. "Yeah. I've never swam like this before. It's so enriching."
Misty giggled as Gyarados nuzzled the empath. "You know I used to be scared of Gyarados, due to an incident with my sisters. Now he's a big softie especially with Milotic." On cue Milotic surfaced and gave out a positive cry. Misty turned to Anabel. "Want to take a dive?"
Anabel looked at Misty. "Uh…sure? Wouldn't we need our rebreathers?"
"Nope, just hold onto Gyarados and follow me." Misty said as she grabbed Milotic and dove under the water. Anabel followed and held onto the big water type. She widened her eyes in amazement at the clarity in the water. But what amazed her was Misty's form. Her long red hair complimented her toned and taunt body, especially since she started to let it grow, it now being past her shoulders. Misty swam over to her and smile at her. Anabel returned it and then felt the need to breathe. Signaling to surface, they broke the water.
Anabel took a deep gulp of air. "Sorry, wished I could hold it longer."
Misty waved it off. "No worries."
"Can I say something?" Anabel asked.
"Hm?"
"You looked really pretty under the water." Anabel said with a blush.
Misty giggled. "So did you honey." Misty said hugging her close. "Come on, let's back to shore. All this swimming made me hungry."
Anabel nodded and they hopped onto the water-types.
On shore, Drew was sitting on the shore reading a book. Brock was making lunch, Max was with the younger pokémon, and Gabby and Tori were sunning themselves due to their monthly visitor.
"Man…this is a great last day of swimming. Seriously we needed this." Gabby said.
"With all of the traveling and fighting, I agree." Tori said.
"We needed to act like kids our age. Not trained soldiers. And I think the pokémon sensed that." Brock said looking especially at Riolu. Said Aura user was playing with Pikachu and Piplup.
"Can't be helped I guess." Drew said laying against the tree. This only lasted a couple of moments before he snapped them open.
"Whoever is watching get out here now?!" Drew said standing up and getting into a fighting stance. "Brock, Max flag the others we have company." He said as the rest of those on the shore scrambled to their bags.
A few moments later, two figures appeared from the bushes. One was dressed in a blue fedora hat a dark cape and a blue dress shirt and khakis. The other was recognized as a Lucario.
You're an Aura Guardian aren't you?" Tori realized. At this point everyone had started to climb out of the lake and meet the new comer.
Ash saw the get up and realized that whoever this was, was an Aura Guardian, but he played cautiously. "How are you doing? Sorry we were swimming and we thought this was isolated."
"It was. My apologies, my name is Riley. We were heading to our training site when we sensed several large auras in the area."
Ash looked at Drew who then spoke. "If you would let us get changed, we would be more than happy to talk to you. Give us 15 minutes."
Riley nodded and went to go meditate with Lucario. As he was sitting down, he casually looked up to see that the girls weren't going to some different area to change. The fact they were changing in front of the guys wasn't surprising, it was the fact the guys weren't really caring and some of them were appreciating the views so to speak. He immediately went back to mediating to calm himself down.
With the changing group, Drew happened to glance behind him. "You think it's the real thing?"
"Probably." Ash said as he slipped on his pants. "He hasn't been threatening. Besides we need an Aura teacher to see if we have been doing things correctly. He could also give us some pointers."
"Fair enough." He said buckling up his pants and putting on his hat. Those that had changed had started packing up as Drew and Ash turned around. 'Riley was it?" The Guardian looked up. "Our apologies, you caught was with our proverbial pants down. My names is Drew. These are my companions."
The group introduced themselves and then Riley told the group what he did, confirming what he said early.
"So you said that you detected it a large aura presence around here?" Brock asked.
"That's correct. Though now that I'm close I can see that instead of one large broadcast, it's more like ten just as large Aura presences." Riley said.
Looking at each other and nodding, Ash stepped up. "You mean like this?" Ash held up his hand and powered up a Thunder Ball. This caused Riley to widen his eyes, then drop his jaw along with Lucario as the others performed similar feats."
"…Okay. Thank you for confirming that." He said trying to keep himself from collapsing.
"No problem. Actually we've been looking for someone like you Riley." Drew said.
"Really?" The Aura Guardian asked.
"Yeah, you see we came across several books on Aura but we've hit a dead end on how to take that next step." Here Riolu made an appearance and took in its evolved brethren with a wide eyes."
Riley was surprised. "Okay…perhaps if you show me what you have learned perhaps I can teach you where you need work."
The group nodded and one by one they performed some of their attacks. After a few minutes, Riley stopped them.
"Okay I see where you need to work. You've done a lot on your own, increasing your power and I believe you also said you could infuse it with some of your weapons. The way I see it, most of your issues concern focus."
"What do you mean?" May asked.
"I mean your using too much for smaller attacks. What you need is some way to focus that energy more efficiently. If you want, we can take you to our training ground and show you some pointers."
"Where is it exactly?" Brock asked.
"It's on Iron Island. Outside of Canalave City."
"So why not do this. How about you join us because we are heading there as well? We can train with you along the way?" Brock proposed.
Riley rubbed his chin. "It's been a while since I traveled with a group. Most of the time Aura Guardians train alone, that would be great."
The group finished packing up and began travelling towards their mutual destination. Along the way, Riley took note of the group dynamic. It seemed that while Brock was the oldest member of the group, the leadership role of their little group was split between Ash and Drew as they seemed to be making more of the normal decision making, but fell back on some of their advice, particularly of the two gym leaders. A few more observations included seeing that the girls seemed to gravitate to the two leaders. This was not unheard of as Aura users in the past seemed to attract multiple women. But this didn't seem like Aura, it seemed like they were sharing them for the heck of it out of a mutual attraction. This seemed to spread to the girls themselves, as they seem to be at ease with each other. He wasn't one to judge but due to his training he wasn't quite versed in social interaction. He filed his thoughts away for later.
Hours later they had stopped for the night. At the current pace, the port which would take them into the city was less than a day and a half. Riley was once again amazed at how quickly the camp was set-up, the fire was going and their training started.
"Its amazing how much training you guys do." Riley said to Brock who was starting to cook dinner.
Brock watched as May and Dawn were training with their swords, Gabby was teaching some throws to Anabel, Ash and Drew were in a sparring match with Misty as the ref and Max was with Tori learning some school work.
"Yeah. I've know most of them a while. They have trained a lot since we met Drew, Gabby and Tori."
Riley raised an eyebrow. "What did those three do?"
"It's not for me to say to you. But, they gave us something that is greater than ourselves and this world."
"You make it sound like they are aliens." Riley said jokingly. Brock laughed to keep the façade and went back to cooking as Riley watched the rest of their physical training.
Three days later (DP108)
Ash was standing on the Canalave Gym battlefield wishing he had taken some Aspirin before this battle. The reason for this headache was the gym leader Byron. Now Byron wasn't a bad guy by any means, on the contrary he was a very jovial man. It's just that his obsession with fossils got really annoying after a while. This was compounded by the fact that his son, the Oreburgh City gym leader Roark and the obsession with fossils reached a ridiculous amount. This was compounded by the fact that when a battalion of shadow troopers came in, Byron was more interested in holes they dug.
Once the shadowy figures were destroyed, it became a struggle between father and son as the fossil and digging puns went flying. It got to the point where even Riley, the stoic Aura master was contemplating ordering Lucario to use Aura Sphere on the two. Though they became more sympathetic when Roark revealed that Byron seemingly abandoned Roark when he was younger until Bryon revealed a fossil that Roark had unearthed and revealed he kept it all these years as a reminder of why he left. Seeing this interaction, the gym battle was put on hold as those with families on this world went to call them and tell they missed each other. Drew, Gabby and Tori just looked at the lockets or in Drew's case his watch and shed a tear at their families' pictures.
Now they were ready to battle and all the sympathy went out the window as Ash started to rub his to fend off the headache.
"Bronzor Let's Go!" Byron roared releasing the steel and psychic type.
"I might not have a fire-type but it doesn't mean I don't have a way to handle Steel-types. Riolu I choose you!"
Drew groaned. "IF this headache wasn't giving me trouble, I would be questioning Ash's choice.
"ASH YOU KNUCKLEHEAD IT'S A PSYCHIC TYPE!" Gabby yelled right in Drew's ear
"NOT HELPING!"
"SORRY!
"WHAT!
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Tori screamed enlarging her head.
"Sorry, Tori." The two said with fear. Tori might not be aggressive but even she gets mad and it got nasty when she got mad.
Bronzor opened up with a Psywave which Riolu's speed easily dodged. Then Riolu moved in with a Rock Smash. Unfazed, Bronzor was then ordered to use Gyro Ball which with the considerable weight did some considerable damage. Riolu was staggered but recovered and got back into his stance almost mimicking Ash.
Riley noticed this and Drew saw the look. "Yeah that's something that we started developing. Especially those who battle a lot like Ash and myself. We call it an Aura Link. Our pokémon, depending on how they stand can mimic our stance. We developed this thanks to Anabel who has a natural empath link." Drew said pointing to the purple haired girl.
Riley made a noise of understanding just as Riolu launched a Force Palm to counter a Gyro Ball. Both were thrown onto the ground with their respective trainers yelling at them to get up. Riolu was able to although on shaky legs. Bronzor tried to float up but fell back down on the ground knocked out.
Roark who was refereeing the match announced the knockout. Ash was more concerned with Riolu than the result and recalled him to rest hopefully. Byron sent out his Steelix. To counter, Ash sent out Buizel, despite knowing about the defensive stats. He ordered a Water Gun but it was quickly blocked by a Screech, which made any headaches worse.
"Wait isn't that the same trick Roark used?" Dawn asked.
"Yes, but it is obvious Byron learned how to use it, but it might have been more for the Fire-types than the Water-types." Brock mused. They watched as Steelix grabbed hold of Buizel and slam it down knocking it out. They saw Ash recalling Buizel, tossing it to Buizel and then debate who to send out.
"What do you think?" Brock asked looking at Drew who had started to pace around.
"If he wants to go try the type match-up, then Grotle is up. I don't think he wants that, he wants speed. Riolu or Gliscor is up."
And Drew was proven right when Gliscor was sent out for his first gym battle. He had evolved on the way to Canalave City after Ash was nearly kidnapped and Gliscor was able to overcome its insecurities and help save him.
Steelix roared and lunged at Gliscor. Gliscor dodged it and then used Fire Fang and bit the snake's belly. Steelix grunted and tried to use Iron Tail to crush Gliscor. Gliscor flew back and they struck with Steel Wing. It then became a test of whether Gliscor can avoid damage and doing enough to knock Steelix down. A few minutes of battling later Steelix had exhausted itself and an X-Scissor finished it off.
Riley was impressed at the coordination of Ash and Gliscor as Ash was weaving in and out as well using cutting motions to mimic the Steel Wing and X-Scissor. It was obvious they had trained in this Aura Link but like he said earlier, they were using more energy than they needed.
With Steelix out, that left Byron with his trusty Bastiodon. Gliscor was left in. Ash ordered a Steel Wing. This was met with an Iron Head, which knocked Gliscor back. Before Gliscor could recover Bastiodon used its surprising speed to use Iron Head again and then it used Flash Cannon and knocked out Gliscor.
Now Ash was in a pickle. Bastiodon was still near full health and Riolu hadn't fully recovered. Seeing no choice, Ash sent out Riolu.
"Alright Bastiodon use Iron Head."
"Riolu use Detect and then Bone Club."
The charging dinosaur crashed into the green shield and then was hit with the Ground-type move, seemingly unfazed.
"Use Flash Cannon."
Before Riolu could retaliate it was blasted back. Ash felt the hit hard, especially considering that Riolu was called the Emanation pokémon. Outside Pikachu and Charizard, Riolu had the biggest bond with Ash and it hurt the Riolu was hurt. Before he could think of a counter, Bastiodon charged at Riolu again. Ash held out his hands and Riolu somehow managed to stop the charge. But he was losing ground and if something wasn't done Riolu would lose. Ash poured Aura into the link in effort to push Bastiodon back. Riolu continued to struggle as Aura seemed to flicker in and out of its eyes almost like it was going to lose.
'No! Ash is counting on me! He's my friend! HE'S MY MASTER! I WILL NOT LOSE!' Riolu shouted in his head. It then started glowing which got everyone on the benches to jump. This meant it was evolving into a Lucario.
"Ash's friendship must have been high enough for it to evolve." Riley said.
"This battle is going down to the wire. I think Ash and Lucario have enough in them to beat Bastiodon." Drew said with a smile.
On the battlefield, Lucario, who was almost completely flattened started to push back against the Shield Pokémon, to the giant's surprise. Once on even footing, Lucario formed a one-handed Bone Club and staggered Bastiodon. Before Bastiodon could make a move, an Aura Sphere hit. A couple more hit it in an attempt to knock it off its legs. Lucario used its speed advantage and got closer to where it could use its Bone club to leverage Bastiodon over. Lucario held out his hand in a Force Palm ready to finish it.
"Byron, surrender. I do not want to hurt your pokémon any further." Ash said.
Looking at the writing on the wall Byron conceded. Lucario powered down and then fell onto a leg. Ash walked over wincing at the impact bruising but smiling at Lucario as he helped bring the Aura pokémon over to Tori.
"You can see what an Aura Link does. It not only allows us to share our pokémon's abilities but it also makes us share the pain." Drew said as Ash walked past him and gave him a high-five and walked over to his girls. He was immediately looked at by Dawn how had her hands on the bruise. Ash sighed at the pleasant feeling and leaned across Misty and May's lap while Anabel rubbed his head.
"My turn now. Don't think it gets any easier with me Byron." Drew said ditching his hat and jacket.
"Wouldn't have any other way." Byron yelled as he healed Bastiodon back to fighting strength. Considering he had to face two trainers in a row he several Steel-Types ready and Bastiodon was raring to go.
"Magneton let's go!"
"Electric-type? Don't make me laugh. Let's Ride, Flygon." Drew called out. The Dragon-type cried out and started flying. Byron tsk, the Electric type was pretty much neutralized. But he still could fight back. Ordering a Flash Cannon Flygon was able to dodge it easily. Flygon then used Flamethrower which did considerable damage to the electric type. It stood no match to Dragon Pulse and went down like a sack of potatoes. Recalling the electric type, he sent out Skarmory. Decided to try type match, he pulled back Flygon and then sent out his trusty Luxio.
Luxio deftly used its speed to dodge Skarmory's attacks. When Skarmory came in close, Luxio used Fire Fang and bit the beak which cause Skarmory to caw in anger and try to strike the Electric-type. Eventually it struck the ground hard enough to get it stuck. A Thunderbolt later and the Skarmory was done like a thanksgiving turkey.
Calling back Skarmory, Byron sent out Bastiodon. Realizing he didn't have the matchup, he switched Luxio out and sent out Chimchar. This got confused looks from the spectators, but his friends knew if Drew did something it was a good reason. Chimchar looked at Bastiodon and nodded getting into its stance. Bastiodon began by charging after Chimchar, but like Luxio, it used its speed to out run it, though it got grazed on the arm. Bastiodon then fired a Flash Cannon which Chimchar dodged by digging. This happened twice more before Byron caught on and held back on the Flash Canon and struck Chimchar hard. Chimchar struggled to stand up as Bastiodon charged at the monkey. Doing the same thing as Ash, Drew held out his hand and somehow Chimchar held back the charging dinosaur. Chimchar was groaning in pain as he held the charge. A few minutes of struggling and Chimchar started growling and then started glowing white, indicating an evolution. Once it stopped glowing, Chimchar was now more orange and had a longer tail.
Ash pulled out his pokedex, Monferno, the Playful Pokémon and the evolved form of Chimchar. Monferno launches aerial attacks off of ceilings and walls, and its fiery tail is used as one of its weapons.
Monferno was slowly pushing Bastiodon back but it knew it needed more power. Reaching into himself, Blaze activated and his tail ignited. Once of its fists glowed and punched Bastiodon with a Fire Punch. Then it went into a Flame Wheel which hit the unarmored side of the dinosaur and knocked it off its feet.
Seeing the same scenario as with Ash, Byron just gave up. These kids were really good and if they were willing to be merciful then all the more reason to give them their badge. He had a big laugh as he congratulated the two on their sixth badge.
Three days later, Iron Island.
The group of friends had landed on Iron Island where they had run into Barry who was also training on the island. After a greeting and setting up a camp, Riley began instructing the group in focusing their Aura. The first thing they learned was learning to meditate. Some of them, like Dawn and Misty who were more patient got the idea better than Ash and Drew who were never the patient type took a long-type to get their rhythm going. After a couple of hours of this, Riley had them trying their attacks one at a time targeting the rocks and saw a noticeable improvement in their abilities and decided to help them learn some basic aura attacks. Barry had joined them to help alleviate his hyperness which made it hard for him to sit still.
It was now day 2 of the training and Riley was pleased with the progress that morning. They were sitting down to lunch and began discussing an individual training regimen.
As they talked Brock was being quiet watching his young charges take to the new training set up by the Aura user. Learning shouldn't be confined to one dimension, they needed to learn a lot if they were going to seemingly survive when they got older.
As he ate, he started hearing whispers. Looking around he was confused when the voices started fading in and out. Brock stood up which got his friend's attention.
"Brock? What's wrong?" Ash asked.
Brock said nothing and slowly started walking. In an instant that walk turned into a sprint. His friends looked at each other and nodded.
"Max follow him. Everyone clean up and move." Drew called out.
Barry was surprised. "Another one!? Man you guys are nuts!" Barry said as he picked up his bag and went after Max.
Riley was confused. "What is going on?" The aura user asked.
"We'll tell you later. We got to move now!" Ash said as the camp was packed up in less than five minutes.
Meanwhile Brock was walking through the canyon on the island. Soon enough he reached a clearing with a large headstone.
"Brock you alright?" Max called out.
Brock looked at Max. It was a testament to their endurance training that he was breathing normally after what was a long run over the terrain. He watched as the rest of the group appeared and Barry was the one out of breath amusingly. He turned back around. "Whatever is calling me is around here." Brock said and then looked at the headstone. "Gabby come help me out."
Gabby blinked and followed Brock. Ash turned to Riley. "The reason Brock asked Gabby to help is because both have power over earth. Most of us have an element to ourselves, save for two, Earth and Water. Misty and Tori are our water wielders but they use it differently. Misty is more attack focused while Tori is more healing based."
Brock walked up to the headstone and turned to Gabby who nodded and pulled out Sagittarius and splitting the bow up. She stabbed the ground and sent an earth wave towards the rock. It lifted the rock slightly which was enough for Brock to get underneath it and grab it. He grunted as he poured Aura into his arms and slowly but surely lifted it over his head. Once he did so he tossed it off to the side. He began catching his breath as his friends appeared and Dawn began healing him.
"Great job, Brock." Ash said patting his shoulder. Brock nodded and went into the chamber. The first thing they noticed that, save for a couple of torches, it was pitch black.
"Okay, if this is the temple I think it's going to be, we might have a problem." Drew surmised as Brock approached the wall with his emblem on it. He held up his buckle which caused the emblem to glow and the wall to crumble. They moved forward and looked down into the hole there. Looking at each other they nodded and one by one they jumped down into the hole. Anabel grabbed Barry and Ash led Riley down the hole.
Down the hole, Riley watched as the group pulled out flashlights because of the darkness.
(Play Wind Waker OST: Earth Temple)
"Okay, now I know what temple it is, and we have no real way to solve some of the puzzles." Drew said grimacing.
"What do you mean?" Barry asked.
"The trick to this temple is reflecting light. In the game, you have someone who can reflect the light until you get your own mirror. But unless we can somehow reflect the light, we can't really traverse this temple.
Anabel then spoke up. "What if my Chakrams can reflect the light? Barring that, me and Dawn can use Mirror Coat to do it as well."
"It could work. Let's get going." Ash said.
"Wait." Riley said stopping the group from proceeding. "What is going on here? I saw that headstone many times before and yet until you guys showed up nothing could pick that up. Who are you guys?"
The group looked at each other. "Barry, I hope you don't mind hearing this story twice." Dawn said as they sat down and began to explain their story.
Twenty minutes later, Riley was reeling from the information overload. "That is…a lot to take in. So that's why you know how to use elemental attacks. And also how you were able to use aura like that.
"Yes. Though just because we have royal ancestors does not mean we are different people. We are just people with gifts that we use for the good of mankind. We are Aura Guardians in a sense." May provided.
Riley nodded and they all stood up. Brock turned to Drew. "You think you can get us through?"
"Yep. I got it all memorized. Just be ready to fight." Drew said as they crossed the gap to the door. In the next room there were three shadow beasts, two of them on the floor the third on the ramp. Splitting up Drew took the one on the stairs while Misty and Ash quickly took out the others. Once destroyed, Drew pointed to the pillars.
"One switch there, one switch over there. Dawn, Max jump on up."
The two nodded and ran up the stairs. They jumped on the stairs, Dawn using her increased jumping and ability and Max using a bit of his air bending to fly. Dawn hopped on the switch then Max flew over to the other switch. The door opened and they proceeded to the next room. It was seemingly empty. Before they crossed the several blobs started to appear. They were green, red and black. Taking out their weapons and ordering Barry back they attack. Before long the red and green blobs were destroyed but they were having issues with the shadowy ones. Anabel dodged out of the way one and noticed a beam of light in the room. She headed towards it while her opponent chased her. She reached the light just as one of the dark blobs reached her and watched as it turned to stone. Realizing what happened she pulled out her chakrams and the started reflecting the light and hit the dark blobs instantly turned to stone, the fighting stopped almost immediately as their opponents turned to stone.
"Well, that confirms your weapons can reflect light Ana." Drew said bringing his sword down on the stone statue. The others followed suit and the door opened. They proceeded through the door and came to a larger room. The doors on the left and right were locked and the way forward was covered in fog.
"So where do we go?" Brock asked.
Drew pointed into the fog. "There is a switch there. However the fog will numb you for a few moments, if you touch it. We need to disperse it with light. Anabel?" The purple haired girl nodded and reflected the light at the spot indicated. The fog cleared and a big switch was revealed. Brock walked over and slammed Mortar against the switch. The door to their right opened and they went inside.
"Brock that block is blocking the light source. Anabel go with them. Gabby, Dawn be prepared to attack."
"Why?" Dawn asked.
"Remember those things from the May's temple?" Drew asked. "The Floor masters?"
Dawn shivered at that and pulled Sylveon. Brock pulled the block out and light flooded in.
"What do I do?" Anabel called out.
"Reflect the light around until you find a chest we need to find it to proceed."
Anabel nodded and started to move around. She eventually caught something and shined the light on it, causing a chest to appear. Brock jumped down and grabbed the key.
Two shadows appeared, one going after Anabel and the other near the door.
"Anabel stay in the light, Gabby, Dawn light them up." A few moments later both of the floor masters were gone and they went back into the previous room and then went through the locked door.
Drew pointed his finger and burned the curtain allowing light to flood in. Several blobs appeared and the same strategy as the previous and destroyed all of the enemies. Then Ash and Misty stepped on the switches which dropped the ladder. Drew and Brock climbed the ladder and pushed the block off the ledge onto the floor opening up the door. In the next room, Gabby took out the floor master which opened up the skylight.
"This is why we need something to reflect the light. Those statues and the walls with a yellow symbol need light shined on them to disintegrate them. Then when they are destroyed we need to move it onto a switch."
Anabel nodded and proceeded to reflect the light around the room. Spotting the block, Brock moved it until it hit a switch. The door on the top level opened up and they all went inside.
In the next room they spotted two goblin like creatures and two floating lanterns.
"Anabel get up there, reflect the light on the lanterns. Everyone prepared to fight." Drew called out as they pulled out their weapons.
A couple of minutes later their opponents were gone.
"Okay, pop the statues and then come down. Everyone save Brock, me Ash and Anabel stay here."
Anabel hopped down after popping the statues. They followed Drew into a room on the left side.
"Okay, this room we really need to be careful. There are three…zombie like creatures in here. Anabel shine the light on the coffins one at a time. We are going to need to be careful."
The four proceeded carefully into the next room. Anabel walked into the light and pulled out her chakram to reflect the light. Shining it on one of the crypts she was slightly disturbed by the creature appearing.
"Okay key is not in there-"Drew was cut off by an inhumane scream. The scream caused the four to freeze and caused Anabel to reflect light onto the other crypts.
This created a hard fight as the other two zombies appeared and screamed as well. One of them nearly grabbed Ash but he slipped out and managed to decapitate the first one. Brock managed to bisect the second one, and Drew decapitated the third one. Putting away their weapons, Brock grabbed the key. Climbing out of the depression, Ash spotted Anabel still shivering and on her knees.
"Ana? You alright? Snap out of it."
Anabel blinked and looked at her boyfriend. "That scream…it was full of pain….it felt like my soul was being sucked out."
Ash grabbed her in a hug. Drew sighed. "Anabel, I'm sorry I put you through that. I forget that some of us are more in tune with our emotions than others."
"It's…fine…you didn't know." Anabel said calming down.
The group walked back into the room.
"Next we only need Brock and Ash, plus something that can explode." Drew said as they walked to the door that was locked. (Mini boss wasn't really tough)
Anabel was still shivering and Misty noticed. "What's wrong Ana?"
"That room had zombies, they screamed and I nearly…got them hurt."
Misty hugged her close. "It's alright, he's alive, so is Brock and Drew." She said gently into her ear.
Riley rubbed his chin. "It must because of her empathetic abilities, she feels comfort in the living. Seeing those zombies screaming like that it must have been hard on her."
Misty hummed as the other two girls tried to squeeze in bring the purple haired girl some comfort. A few minutes later, the door opened and the three boys stepped out. Brock had some sort of shield on his back and was discussing what to do.
"Ana?" Ash called out concerned. The empath stood up. "It's alright. I can keep going."
Ash nodded. Drew stepped up. "Okay, Brock is going to reflect the light to you Anabel. You're going to reflect it into the wall in front of you."
Brock nodded and used his new shield to reflect the light down. It hit Anabel and bounced into the wall disintegrating it. The group went through the wall and then found themselves in the first room.
"How are we going to go through? You said the fog would make us not be able to use our weapons?" Misty asked. "We've gone everywhere else."
"Simple. Brock, Anabel stand on the light sources and aim it at the eyes."
The two did so and watched as the room instantly lit up and the fog dispersed. Stairs then appeared underneath the sun.
"Let's move on then." Drew said as they descended down the stairs. Once more a tablet stood in the way which Brock easily broke through. In the next room, Anabel took a step back as she spotted more of the zombies.
"Drew please tell me there aren't any more of these?" Misty asked with a growl.
Drew waved his finger around. "There might be one more, but we might be able to get through without seeing them." Drew said looking ashamed. "Sorry Anabel, if I had known you were heavily impacted I would have thought of something else."
Anabel nodded hesitantly. Gabby pulled out her bow and sniped the two in the head before Brock reflected the light onto the statues.
"Okay, room to the right has a key but its full of blue fog. Room on the left has a long hallway and a mirror we need to proceed. Brock I suggest you and Max head right. Gabby, go with Ash, keep an out floor masters are in there.
The two groups left and the remaining group members sat down and waited.
In the right room, Ash closed his eyes and sent out an Aura Pulse. He saw the floor masters and the clear path and navigated their way around. Once at the end they grabbed the key and the lights went on. Now that the fog was cleared, the floor masters came after them. They were quickly dispatched and they returned to the middle room.
On the left side, Max flew with some difficulty with Brock hanging on to him. Seeing the mirror they pushed it forward until it clicked into place. Seeing the switch, Brock hit it causing the light to shine into the room next to them and then scurried back to the original room.
Once in the room they went through the locked door and saw that the room was bright.
"Okay there are some ghosts and we need to combine the light beams to destroy the statue over there.
Light was reflected all around and the ghosts were summarily destroyed. The light was then reflected onto the statue letting them enter a crypt like place. They hurriedly ran through the crypt and unsealed the door.
They came across a large chasm and a door with the boss key lock.
"Last two rooms. We need to go down. Half of us goes down, the other half can fly over and wait for us."
Riley volunteered and followed Max, Anabel, Brock, Drew and Misty down the stairs. Meanwhile, Dawn and Ash helped the others across the room. Down the stairs they came across a large room.
"Max go up to that switch and press it. We are going to be moving statues around." Drew said. Max flew up and pressed the switch. A vent opened up and the group went about manipulating the light. A few minutes of moving around later and the light had crisscrossed the room. Brock and Anabel stood on the pedestals reflecting the light into the statue. The room lit up and the door opened.
"Okay, we just bust some heads including an armored soldier and we have the boss key." Drew said. "Anabel, why don't you stay out here and be prepared to fly out of here."
Anabel nodded and released both Metagross and Latias ready to bring up her friends. A couple of minutes later they returned with the Boss Key. They left the chamber and hopped on the psychic types with Ash hugging Anabel close on Latias. Once at the boss door, Brock opened it up and they all went inside.
Brock walked up to the center of the darkened arena and held out his buckled. A bright light shot out from it and hit the emblem on the floor.
(Play To the End of the Journey of Glittering Stars.)
The light died down to reveal a more mature looking Brock. He was in a brown shirt and pants with some sort of body armor over his body.
"Hello. My name is Takeshi. I take it your my descendent." He asked Brock.
"I suppose so. What's your story?" Brock said.
Takeshi smiled. "My story is one of a foot soldier. You've been to the temple of Masato and Kasumi correct? They were in the Kingdom's Air Force and the Navy. I was in the Army. It was pretty much the only way to support my family. Seven kids and parents working on the farm would do that. I enlisted and I became quite adept at my axe skills and also using the guns, particularly rifles.
One day, one of the guardians, Prince Satoshi appeared in our base looking for his first knight. He decided on the advice of his trainers to look in the armed forces first. When he showed up, we were surprised to see he had the Water Guardian as well, the future Princess Kasumi. We found that this was the fourth base he had attended and in the previous three, he had not been hit once, his speed and reflexes already reaching legendary status." Takeshi said. Brock nodded. Out of all the group, Ash was the fastest. He was among the slowest with Tori beating him out slightly.
"At the time I was considered a sergeant which meant I was considered an NCO at the base. All of the NCO's were asked to fight Satoshi. And like the bases before, Satoshi was mopping the floor with us. I figured I didn't have much of a shot but as I stepped into the ring, something in me changed. I was always a tough person to do damage to, but to actually take some of the prince's hits actually and not fall surprised me. When the fight went five minutes, the whole base was stunned but I didn't pay attention to them. I fought hard and in the end I nearly got a hit on Satoshi before he knocked me out. When I came to, both the Prince and the Princess were with me. They were impressed with my fighting skill despite my low rank and offered me the position of one of the knights. I accepted on the condition that anything I did was to support my family.
Takeshi now looked hard at Brock. "You know what to do?"
"I win, my final form becomes available. But you move onto the afterlife."
Takeshi nodded. "I will warn you, I earned the nickname the Iron Wall for the fact that I had a really tough defense and not falling until my comrades rallied."
"Heh, I guess that name survived. I was the first test for many young trainers. Let's see whose defense is tougher." Brock said as he mirrored Takeshi's stance.
HENSHIN
EVOLVE
(Begin Kanto Gym Leader theme Remix)
The two riders pulled out their weapons and started to circle each other.
"It definitely looks Takeshi was the thinker of the group. He's trying to figure out where Brock is weakest." Drew said rubbing his chin. "He's definitely got real battlefield experience. Land troops are more often under fire than fighter pilots and seamen. Learning about their opponent before attacking is absolutely key."
After a couple of minutes of circling, Brock made the first move reaching back with his axe and slamming it down creating a shockwave. Takeshi stood firm as Brock charged at his opponent. He slashed at Takeshi but he didn't even flinch.
"Your going to have to try better than dad. GAIA FIST." He shouted punching Brock back.
Brock rolled away and went to his deck and pulled out a card.
ROLLOUT
Brock curled up and charged at Takeshi. Not even fazed, Takeshi stood his ground as the Rollout impacted him and then tossed him into the wall.
Takeshi shook his head. "There is a reason I was one of the hardest riders to beat in a one on one fight."
Brock said nothing and scanned two cards.
IRON TAIL
EXTREME SPEED
Takeshi raised an eyebrow at the increased speed as Brock charged in with his glowing with power. The extra speed did nothing as small sparks from the slashes burst forward.
IMPACT GEYSER
Brock was sent flying as the force of the attack slammed into him. He groaned as he tried to stand.
"I swore to be the Iron Wall and never let my friends and comrades suffer. You are not going to break me."
Brock shakily stood up and looked at his friends. They looked at him scared for his life. He looked around the room and saw that light was streaming into the room. Remembering what Drew said of Max's Hookshot, he unhooked his mirror shield as Takeshi unlatched something in the poleaxe.
"I was always comfortable with a rifle. So much so that I modified my axe to fire rifle rounds." He hefted up the axe and fired a couple of shots which deflected off the shield.
Drew grimaced. "I guess it can't be avoided." He said getting his friends to look at him. "Guns can't be avoided forever. When we go back to my world, we are going to train with guns." He looked at the horror struck looks. "I know, I don't like it either. But if we are going to survive we need to use all the tools available. You don't have to use them, just know how to without hurting ourselves."
Back on the battlefield, Brock had successfully blocked a few shots as he made his way over to the light. Pulling out his shield he reflected the light into his opponent's eyes.
Satisfied his opponent was blinded, he swapped in cards that he normally would not use.
CONFUSE RAY
HEX
COMBO: FLAMES OF CONFUSION
He fired the two ghost attacks at Takeshi. The attacks connected in the moment of blindness. Takeshi recovered from the sun and saw stars in his vision. Brock took the opportunity to charge in and knocked Takeshi of his feet. Brock jumped back and looked like he was waiting for something to happen.
Takeshi stood up and looked ready to charge at Brock but then felt his legs start to burn.
"What the hell? What did you do to me?""
"In this world there are eighteen types of pokémon. One of these types deals with those you would call Ghosts. That attack was designed to use ghostly flames to damage the opponent. Occasionally it will result in a burn. What you're feeling is that burn."
Its funny. Your armored form protects from all outside damage. But your insides are quite weak, a simple thing like a burn could do some considerable damage."
Takeshi roared and charged at Brock. The attack hit him but it was obvious the burn was doing its damage to both Takeshi as the attack seemed to less damage than before. Brock then struck back an managed to do more damage than before. A couple more attacks forced the former knight back.
Brock then scanned his finisher cards as Takeshi recovered his wits.
FIRE SPIN: MAXIMUM ENERGY
IRON TAIL: MAXIMUM ENERGY
COMBO: IRON FORGE STRIKE
Brock watched as his axe glowed. He jumped up with axe on fire. Takeshi seeing the attack held up his axe to block it. The two weapons collided for a few moments before Takeshi's weapon cracked and broke in two allowing Brock's finisher to end the fight.
"AHHHHHH!" Takeshi yelled. He then slowly fell to his knees, his armor powering down indicating his defeat.
"Imp…pressive. My legacy is…is in good hands." Takeshi said as he coughed up blood. He reached down into his pocket and held it up. It said Onyx Diamond.
"May this power protect you and your comrades." Takeshi said. Takeshi closed his eyes and fell backwards disintegrating as he did so."
Brock watched him disappear with a small smile. "Thank you and I will." He said as Ash approached him and congratulated him on his victory. They went to the door that held the treasure chamber and sealed up the very valuable treasure and took the body with them. Outside the temple, they buried Takeshi's body in a proper grave and left. Brock looked back at the temple and saw three spirits in ceremonial get up fire their guns seven times in some sort of salute.
Next Day (Elements of DP110-111)
Brock was once again up early to train. He was surprised though when Riley was also up meditating.
"Hey there."
Riley woke up. "Ah how's it going Brock."
The dark skinned man sat down. "Nothing much just looking to do some training."
Riley nodded. "So…this whole Kingdom business, what do you think of it?"
Brock looked at the sunrise. "Its humbling that I was given this responsibility. I never knew that I could be this strong." He looked at his friends. "All the more reason that I need to survive. They may be more powerful, but they are still kids. At this moment I may as well be their big brother."
Riley looked over at Ash's sleeping bag which contained him, Misty, May, Anabel and Dawn, with Ash having his arms around Misty and May and Anabel and Dawn snuggled up to Ash's chest. As Riley watched, Dawn shivered and May, seemingly sensing her momentary distress, tightened her arms. Dawn sighed and nuzzled against Ash's chest.
"Are you okay with those four sharing Ash?" Riley asked. "For that matter what about Drew and the other girls?"
Brock looked over at Drew's bag. He had his arms around Tori and Gabby tightly. Tori was slowly waking up and cutely yawned.
"As long as they care for each other, I don't care. Besides, I expected at least a competition for Ash. I'm glad that's not the case."
Riley nodded as the camp came to life.
A couple of hours later, the trainers were training with their pokémon for either contests gym battlers or just trying to keep in shape. Barry was instructing his Empoleon in a Hydro Cannon which did some considerable damage to the rock he was training on.
"Great job Empoleon, that Mine Badge is as good as ours." Barry called out.
Empoleon nodded and was about to continue with another attack, when he abruptly stopped.
"Uh, Empoleon?" Barry asked.
The water type turned around and Barry saw that its eyes were glowing red.
"Metagross calm down!" Anabel called out which got everyone's attention. Metagross was growling in pain with Anabel trying to calm the psychic type down. Metagross did not listen to her and began charging up a Hyper Beam. Ash pushed her out of the way as the beam fired forcing the others to duck out of the way. Metagross seemingly calmed down and Anabel was forced to call it back.
"What the heck is going on?" Tori asked frightened.
"I don't know. Metagross just started going crazy." Ash said. He looked down at Anabel. "You alright?"
Anabel nodded. "Yeah, thank you."
Before Ash could respond, a loud roar was heard. They watched as an Aggron came charging towards them. Before they could react, Brock and Drew came and blocked the Aggron until it calmed down. Looking around the camp, the only ones that appeared to be affected were the two Lucarios and Steelix."
"They're all Steel-Types. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not. But only those that share those types are being affected." Gabby said as the Lucarios settled down.
"We don't know, but I think we have an idea." A female voice said. They turned to see Team Rocket walking up to them.
"Wait aren't you guys with Team Galactic what are you doing here?" Barry said. "What are you doing here?"
Jessie ignored the hyper boy and turned to Ash and Drew. "I'm glad we caught you. There's something we need to show you." Jessie said.
The group started to follow Team Rocket. Barry was freaking out by the fact they were working with criminals and even more shocked that the group was not reacting to the criminals. In fact, they looked like they were cooperating for something set off alarm bells.
"What the heck? What are you guys doing they're criminals?"
"Not everything is black and white, Barry." Gabby said. "What you say is a criminal, we see as a double agent."
"They are our agents against Team Galactic and their benefactors. As far as we know, they haven't been found out." Tori said as even Riley noticed the shift in the attitudes. Where there was humor and compassion, there was more of sense of focus and bravery settling in.
"If you truly want to see what we do…then I suggest you stay low and be quiet." Drew said as they began pulling out their weapons. The former Rocket trio led the group over to a canyon. What they saw scared the non-riders and got the riders to widen their eyes. There were at least four kaijuu they could see and at least 500 troopers mixed in with Team Galactic grunts. At the center was a machine that looked like some sort of scanner. The distinctive red hair told them this Commander Mars.
"They are looking for something, hence the extra security." James said.
"Something about the ruins here being connected to the big mountain on the mainland." Meowth added.
Drew looked at Barry. "Stay low, this is going to be ugly." The blonde nodded and the riders discussed their plan. Because they had pulled an ambush like this in the past, Team Galactic was more than likely ready for their normal tactic of Gabby firing and then sneak attacking the base. With this many around they would need to be stealthy and try to remove as many as they could. Splitting up they snuck around the camp to the best positions possible.
May and Dawn were seated behind a couple of crates. Their position allowed them to get a glimpse of the machine. They spotted five troopers approaching their position. Crouching low they waited till they turned a corner and then thrust their swords out. They caught three in quick succession and when the other two tried to attack, they thrust it at the necks getting them to choke and disintegrate.
Dawn voiced her thoughts. "Is it just me or is taking their lives not phasing us as much anymore."
"Do you like to kill them?" May asked as they went into another hiding spit.
Dawn shook her head. May smiled. "I think that's a lesson that we all learned. As long as we don't take pleasure in it, we are not monsters. We are just kids that were thrust into this position."
Dawn looked at the camp as two more of the troopers were snipped. "Drew said he hated violence but he knew it was a necessary evil. As long as we know what we're fighting for…I will destroy every one of our enemies."
May smiled and kissed her cheek. They continued to take out the troopers heading their way.
On the other side of camp there was a small river. Some of the troopers were grunting and laughing at something one of them said. A few stragglers were off to the side patrolling and had their backs turned to the river. One moment they were there and the next they were gone. Their friends turned and notice the two gone. Shrugging they went back to growling at each other. They didn't notice the water swirling underneath them and pull them in one by one. All but four of the original forty were left and they were in a panic. They looked around and saw the water bubbling and investigated it. It was the last thing they ever saw as Misty's trident breached the surface and stabbed it through the throat. The one next to it was bashed in the skull scaring the two that stayed alive which allowed Misty to stab the remaining ones without them screaming.
Misty looked at Tori and nodded to her and snuck back into the base.
Ash and Drew and managed to sneak close to the machine with Riley and both Lucarios figuring out a way to destroy the machine. They watched as the machine started up and started scanning something. At the same time both Riley's and Ash's Lucario started going crazy as whatever they had been using to fight the signal had failed and looked like a bull seeing red. While Riley was trying to fight his, Ash and Drew fought to keep Ash's Lucario from blowing their cover.
"Come on Lucario snap out of it!" Ash said sending his Aura through the link. The noise got the attention of the camp as they tensed.
"Ash calm him down, he's going to blow our cover, if it hasn't already." Drew hissed.
Ash did the only he could and that was hug the Aura pokémon. This seemingly snapped Lucario out of his delusions but it also brought the attention of the rest of the camp.
Mars seemed particularly smug. "Well now, it's the Kamen Rider Rejects. And what looks like an Aura Guardian. You think you can take on all of us by yourself? We've got over 500 of these shadow troopers and a whole group of our best foot soldiers."
Drew raised an eyebrow. "You honestly think we came here alone? You might want to check your math." He looked behind her. "I reckon you have about 200." At that moment three of them were decapitated by a chakram, two were stabbed by a pair of sais, two were chopped up and another two fell to arrows Before the grunts could react, the four responsible appeared next to their friends.
"Make that 190, plus your Kaijuu." Drew said causally as he pulled out his phone. "Now we can do this the easy way where we take you to the authorities or the hard way where we kick your butts and then take you to the authorities."
Mars growled. "GET THEM!"
"Hard way it is, eh?" Ash asked with a small laugh.
"Yep. Let's ride." Drew said powering on his phone and activating it. The others got their belts ready.
STANDBY LEO/ORION
HENSHIN
EVOLVE/ORION/COMPLETE
Now in their rider forms they went after the remaining troopers and even started attacking the Kaijuu.
Ace and Orion were up against an Alakazam like monster. Seeing that it could conceivably predict attacks, Ace wasted no time going into Maverick form. Now in a considerably faster form he took to the sky keeping the monster dubbed Mind Storm on him. As Ace was keeping his attention, Orion ran up to it in Hercules form and gave it a strong right hook. Mind Storm's attention was diverted in multiple directions and as a result was not able to get off any of his powerful psychic moves. A few minutes of hit and run later and Mind Storm was on the ropes.
Orion looked at Ace. "Care to do the honors?"
"My pleasure." Ace said scanning his cards as Orion activated her finisher.
METAL CLAW MAXIMUM ENERGY
AIR CUTTER MAXIUM ENERGY
COMBO: METAL STORM
HERCULES: MAXIMUM DRIVE
DOUBLE COMBO: KNIFE STORM
Separating her bow she tossed the knives into the shoulders. Ace tossed his Sais at the knees and kept him from moving. Jumping up their fists glowed as they came down and drilled through him.
"This hunt is over."
"Splash one bogey." They said standing up as their opponent blew up. The looked at each other and high fived and recovered their weapons.
Kyokan and Onyx were in a tag team situation against what looked like humanoid Piloswine and the other looked like closer to humanoid Seadra. This acutally put them at a disadvantage mainly do to type, but Kyokan being more fragile than Onyx forced him to defend more than attack.
IRON CRUSH
Onyx through his axe at the Spike Horse which dodged and continued to snipe at Kyokan who was forced to block the attacks while trying to keep Armored Tusk from charging at their position.
REFLECT
The charge was bounced back and Kyokan panted slightly.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold up. My defense isn't as strong as it should be."
Onyx looked at their opponents. "Stay behind me, I got you."
"Onyx its two on one. Let me help you." Kyokan said.
"Not if I use this." Onyx said holding up his newly acquired Diamond card.
Kyokan looked at it and nodded. "I think both of our final forms plus a Duel Strike will do it. Let's Rock." Kyokan said pulling out her Seer card.
SEER
DIAMOND
Their armors glowed and transformed. Kyokan assumed her exotic Seer form. Onyx took on a much different appearance. His armor had turned earthen gray to a color resembling diamond. At the joints, sharp edges like diamonds themselves. The helmet also took a more rugged appearance. This was Onyx Diamond form.
Onyx looked at his armor. "Now this could work. Now for part 2. Let's do this."
"Right. Let's Go!"
"DUEL STRIKE
(Play Advance Wars 2: Hero Super CO Power.)
In their heads the two emblems shot out electricity towards each other. They weren't as strong as Kyokan's was with Triton but it was powerful. Snapping to attention they charged at their opponents.
Spike Horse fired multiple Hydro Pumps at Onyx. But like the mineral, Onyx stood firm against the attacks. He calmly scanned a couple of cards as he seemingly predicted the Spike King's movements.
HEX
He swung his axe around launched a ghostly fire surrounded his opponent. He then approached the flames seemingly unaffected by the flames and saw his opponent burning. He decided to put it out of its misery and activated his finishers.
IRON TAIL: MAXIMUM ENERGY
FIRE FANG: MAXIMUM ENERGY
COMBO: IRON FORGE STRIKE
He swung Mortar around and bisected the monster.
"This wall held." Onyx said.
Kyokan was dancing around and dodging the wild charges of Armored Tusk. Her Seer poweres allowed her to predict the moves. She jumped over another charge and threw one of her chakrams empowered with Meteor Mash. The additional strength provided from the Duel Strike dealt a cut to the boddy and cause it to be dropped to the ground. Flinging her other chakram around she scanned her finisher cards.
ZAP CANNON: MAXIMUM ENERGY
HYPER BEAM: MAXIMUM ENERGY
COMBO: HYPER CANNON
"No hard feelings but you should die now." Kyokan said as she fired disintegrating her opponent. She looked over at Onyx and nodded before they went to secure the site.
Aura and Zodiac were facing off against a very aggravated monster that looked like a Probopass like monster. The extremely tough defense knwn to that line was rebuffing their weapons and even their water abilities were not creating the damage they needed to get through. They got out of the way of a Flash Cannon that was fired at them.
Regrouping themselves they looked at their opponent roaring.
"Any ideas?" Aura asked.
"Cancer might do the trick but its defense won't survive multiple hits. We need something to break through. What about Soul form?"
"Not enough to make a difference." Aura said. Before they could think of something one of Ash's cards glowed and Lucario appeared to push back Magnet Totem.
"Lucario what are you doing?" Aura asked.
Lucario pounded his chest and pointed at their opponent. He then pointed at the mega stone around his neck.
"I think he wants to Mega evolve, Aura." Zodiac said looking at his phone. He saw one emblem he hadn't used. It was the sign of Capricorn the goat.
"Well haven't used this form yet. Let's change and then go into a Duel Strike."
"Right. Lucario!" Aura called out.
Lucario crossed its arms. Ash held up his hand and then slapped his right hand over the braclet.
(Play the Japanese Digivolution theme)
"Execute. MEGA EVOLUTION!"
With the light show going on between pokémon and trainer, Zodiac pressed the button on his phone.
STANDBY CHANGE: CAPRICORN
When the lights died down, the riders gained new features. Zodiac picked up a couple of horns on his head but the main difference was his hands. He gained a pair of metal knucklers his legs looked stronger. This was Zodiac: Capricorn form
Aura though changed a lot. His gloves had changed colors to red and his armor gained a more black and red appearance. On his back he had a yello cape and his helmet gained a black mask and gained two blue ears. This was Aura Mega Lucario Form
"Alright, Let's Go!"
"DUEL STRIKE
(Begin Allied Duel Strike music)
The power flowed through them as the familiar sensation of combing their powers flowed through. Snapping to attention they charged at their opponent.
Magnet Totem fired off a Flash Cannon but the two riders were too quick and got in close.
"Force Palm." Aura shouted and sent the monster back into the rocks. Zodiac came in and started landing punches and kicks. He then grabbed Totem and sent him flying via a German Suplex.
Aura was waiting with a Bone Club and snet him back. Zodiac reset himself and punched him back creating a ping pong match. After a couple of rounds the sent him flying and they jumped after him and then kicked him back to the ground.
"Time to end this." Aura said activating his finsiher cards while Zodiac pressed the Capricorn button again.
FORCE PALM: MAXIMUM ENERGY
METAL CLAW: MAXIMUM ENERGY
COMBO: AURA CRASH
STANDBY FINSHER: CAPRICORN
DOUBLE COMBO: METEOR FIST
Aura and Zodiac's fist glowed and they charged at their fallen opponent.
"AURA CRASH!"
"CAPRICORN KNUCKLE BREAKER!"
The two attacks merged with a vision of Lucario and a charging goat appeared behind him. The monster stood no chance and blew up on contact.
"Game Over."
"Yippe Kiya."
The two stood tall and watched as Team Galactic got away. The bomb they had been trying to set off was blocked by Riley and his Lucario's Aura manipulation to contain the explosion. This was good because of the ruins containing valuable research data on the pre-Sinnoh civilization. But what is that thei enemies want in Mt. Cornonet? Find out as the Journey continues.
END OF CHAPTER
UO: GOOD LORD, THAT TOOK FOREVER TO GET OUT. Sorry folks real life got in the way.
New Forms
Onyx
Diamond: Onyx's final form. Taking the characteristics of one of the hardest substances known to man, Onyx can take punishment, a literal tank. His issue is speed and the fact that Diamond can be broken with enough force.
Zodiac
Capricorn: The Goat and one of the twelve zodiac signs and the sign of those born between December 22nd and January 19th. One of the four cardinal signs or signs that begin a season, in this case the Northern Hempisphere Winter and the Souther Hemisphere Summer. The others are Aries (Spring/Fall) Cancer (Summer/Winter) and Libra (Fall/Spring) In this form, Zodiac has access to a pair of knucklers that can break through rock.
Preview: As the gang heads to Snowpoint City, Dawn faces a phantom of her past. Then a snowstorm seperates the group and forces two of them to survive in the cold. Then in Snowpoint a plan to awaken a giant could end in catastrophe for all involved.
Next time: Mountain adventures.
Please Review Kindly. Next update is Bleach Grand Prix. Also check out my pals, Lalapie203, Spartan719, Code-Emperor07, Kurogane 7, Soleneus, Soulsilverlord, Vanishing Raptor, Kage Bijuu, Giratina Zero EvashinobiKaiserKnight Kamen Rider Super-Fan and NorthSouthGorem. I help on a lot of their works. Also call me out on mistakes.
Before I sign off I would like you to take a moment and a prayer for the people of Nepal who got hit with a 7.9 earthquake the day before this went up. In an area not designed for earthquakes and in the land of the Himalayas, fatalities are going to be numerous in the cities and on Mt. Everest due to the avalanches.
OSPREY…. SWOOOSH