So... This took a while. That's what I get for buying Fire Emblem and thinking that I could still have time to write. I beat it though, so hopefully this means a return to regular chapters?


Two years later

Ethan swung his legs off the bed, unable to sleep. He walked over to the window, grabbing a paper off the desk beside his bed as he went. He sat himself on the window sill and unfolded the flimsy piece of paper.

"Rereading every report you can find isn't going to change them." Said a voice from the bed. "Come back to bed, my love."

Ethan looked over at the woman, a sorrowful look marring his features. "If I could sleep, then I would." He dropped the letter to his lap and looked back out the window. "It's this damn war. It hasn't even started yet and it's already affecting me. I've tried looking at it a thousand different ways. Lance won't be beaten until I can bring all of Johto against it. I can't even manage to gather half of Johto's strength against him."

The woman smiled serenely, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "You said you were making progress with Falkner. The last time you went, you said he laughed at your joke about Lance's hair."

Ethan smiled softly at the thought of the Emperor's ridiculous hairstyle. "The man doesn't understand how to use a brush. Open rebellion is something completely different than just laughing at him." He shook his head. "You're right. I'm worrying myself too much." He folded the letter and put it on the window sill beside him. "I hope Lee is having better luck than I am."

The woman in the bed laughed. "Somehow, she manages to be even more stubborn than you while still being as charming as ever. I'm sure she's got Charles and Jasmine eating out of the palm of her hand by now." She rolled the blanket off her, revealing herself to Ethan. "Stop thinking about the war for one night. Just come to bed, and for once spend the night as my husband."

Ethan smiled and sighed. "How could I ever refuse you?" He stood up, walking back over to his side of the bed.

"This time is not for talking, Lord Marshal." She said.

He dropped the letter back onto his desk and looked down at her. "Yes, Lady Whitney."


"Just let me do the talking, alright?"

Gary sighed and nodded. "Whatever Ash. Just get her to agree."

Ash smirked at him. "Relax, Erika's a stuck up princess, but she's not an idiot. She knows that Saffron has to go."

Gary shook his head. "She also knows that we need her. Watch her try to get us to take care of some problems for her."

"When have we ever met a problem we couldn't batter our way through?" Ash retorted with a grin.

Gary grinned back. "Well, between the two of us, and your murderous onix, there aren't many problems that can't be battered out of the way."

The doors swung open, putting an end to their conversation. A woman in a dark green kimono stepped out, her arms folded over her chest. "Lady Erika will see you now." She turned and disappeared back through the doors, Ash and Gary following her.

A woman wearing an elegant rainbow kimono sat in the throne at the end of the hall. She rose from her seat and dropped into a bow. "Well, the legends have arrived. Welcome Ketchum, Oak. So glad to have you finally visit my hall."

Ash smiled and returned her bow. "Lady Erika, so glad to finally visit Celadon's halls ourselves. It's more beautiful than anyone ever told us."

The woman smirked. "Flattery will get you far in this world, Lord Ketchum." She dropped her hand to the glass of wine beside her throne and raised it to her lips.

Ash smiled back sweetly. "Despite my position in the rebellion, I don't actually have any titles. Please, I prefer just Ash."

"Very well Ash, what brings you to my hall?" She drained her glass of wine and beckoned for one of her servants.

"Well," Ash started cautiously. "I believe that we have a mutual enemy." He nodded at her. "I'm sure that I don't need to tell you that Saffron's strategic position is invaluable, or that a population nearly as large as the rest of Kanto put together is under the control of a hostile organization." He nodded at her, confidence swelling. "Kanto needs this M'Lady. It needs to be unified. I need your help to do that."

Erika listened intently, studying Ash's every move. A servant appeared at her side, baring a large bottle of held out her glass, allowing the woman to fill it for her.

"When we move on Saffron, I expect to see Celadon's standards flying with our own."

Erika smiled down at the two rebels coyly. "Very well," she said. "I cannot risk an attack on Saffron, not while the Rockets have such an easy path into my backyard. Fuschian forces are pushing for control of Rainbow Bridge." She sighed and raised her glass to her lips, draining half of it in one mouthful. She lowered her glass, a wicked grin on her face. "I'd collapse the bridge, but it still could theoretically serve as a vital trade route."

Ash sighed. "So what were you planning?"

"Smash the garrison on their side. Make them fear Celadon's strength." She handed the half-empty glass of wine off to one of her servants, and rose from her throne. "I want you to draw Lord Koga Kurowasa back to his home, and I want you to kill him."


Alan lifted the crate of dried fruit off the cart, barely even grunting with the strain. He dropped it onto the pile of crates that was forming in front of the market stall. Ian dropped his own crate beside him, completing the pile. The gigantic man shook his head, shaking the shaggy blonde hair out of his face.

Alan looked up at the giant, smiling. "How you doing, big guy?"

"S' hot" Ian replied as he wiped the sweat off his brow. He looked over to where his mother stood arguing with the merchant behind the stall. "Mother is angry."

Alan turned, eying the man arguing with a slender woman. "She'll be ok, big guy." He looked away, smiling up at Ian. "She's a big girl, she can handle a little haggling."

Ian scrunched his features up, thinking hard. "Hag-ling?" He asked cautiously.

"Trying to get more money for the fruit." Alan said absentmindedly. "She's gonna trick that guy into paying more than he has to."

"Mother is angry." Ian said quietly. He looked back down at Alan, frowning at the smaller man. "I don't like when Mother is angry."

Alan nodded and held out a bottle of water to Ian. "Drink this, buddy. It's hot out here."

Ian swiped the bottle off Alan and tipped it towards the sky, downing the contents in a few massive gulps. He dropped the empty bottle onto their cart and sat down heavily.

"Come on, boys." Ivy said as she hoisted herself up into the cart's driver seat. She pulled a pair of pokeballs from the folds of her coat and released a massive kingler. "Saddle him up for me."

Alan patted Ian's leg with a grin. "I got this, big guy. Just relax." Ian nodded, shimmying along the cart to be closer to his mother. Alan grabbed the harness off the cart and walked around the cart to where the kingler sat. It lazily eyed him, clicking it's pincers threateningly. Alan held out the harness, showing the crab his intention. "Just like the last hundred times, right Cap?"

The kingler seemed to roll his eyes, and lowered his claws, allowing Alan to slip the harness over his body. "He still doesn't trust you, does he?" Ivy asked from her place atop the cart.

Alan pulled the last strap tight, and looked up at Ivy. "He's stopped trying to cut me in half when I'm putting the harness on, so I'd say that's an improvement."

The woman laughed, and tossed him another set of straps. "He's a two-hundred year old crustacean. It's amazing he learned to trust me, let alone Ian. He'll warm up to you!" She said cheerfully.

Alan attached the straps to the crab's harness, warily avoiding his claws. He turned back to Ivy and threw up a thumbs up. He ducked out of the way as the kingler yanked the cart forward. Alan grabbed the front of the cart as it rolled by, pulling himself up into the seat beside Ivy.

"When we get back, I'm gonna get Ian to feed Syrana. Feel like helping me with dinner?"

Alan nodded. "No problem, just let me wash off first." He looked at her and raised an eyebrow at her. "So how much did you con him out of today?"

Ivy smiled gently, checking over her shoulder to see if Ian was watching. She looked back at Alan and quickly mouthed "later."

Alan shifted uncomfortably, knowing that whatever was enough to make Ivy uncomfortable was enough to make him want to curl up and hide. The woman was certainly made of stronger stuff than he was. He let the ride pass in silence, waiting until Ian hopped off the back of the cart to go feed his mother's gyarados. He looked back at the woman beside her. "Ivy, what's going on?"

She checked over her shoulder for Ian, then looked back at Alan. "The Empire is coming to Valencia. They're coming for the rest of Orange."

"How do you know?" He asked.

"The merchant spends time at Mandarin Island when he's not here. It's crawling with imperial troops. Apparently Lance sent his own son to govern us."

"Mew help us." Alan said.

Ivy looked back at him with a grim look. "Don't go praying to your God yet. We've still got me, and I don't intend on being here when the Empire arrives." She paused, hesitant to continue. "You're the best worker we've ever had, and you're good with Ian too. If you weren't, then I wouldn't ask…"

"You want me to go with you?" Alan asked. He scratched the side of his head in confusion. "Why?"

"Because Ian trusts you. I'm not gonna destroy his entire life just because I don't want to live under the shadow of the Empire. You're everything to him, and I'm not gonna be the one to take that away."

"When do we leave?" Alan asked curtly, the soldier in him taking over. "How do our supplies look?"

Ivy smiled and shook her head. "I've got it all taken care of. We leave next week. Hope you've got a good set of sea legs on you." She said coyly. The cart ground to a halt in front of the house. She stood up, dropping the reigns to her side. "Go get Ian. I'm gonna get a start on dinner." She hopped off the cart and headed into the house, leaving Alan alone with an irritable kingler.


"Be the master." Said the bald old man. "Of you body, of your mind, and your soul." He placed a pebble on the table in front of him and stepped back." Let the shadows flow through you. Let them become a part of you, an extension of your body."

Jay exhaled and slowly extended a hand. A tendril of dark energy sprouted from the palm of his hand and wrapped themselves around the pebble on the table in front of him. He lifted his hand slowly, attempting to manipulate the shadows into lifting the pebble. The pebble remained motionless, slipping through the shadows with barely even a tremor.

Jay closed his hand, banishing the tendrils of darkness. He opened his eyes and shot Fuji a look of frustration. "I thought you said this would be easy." He said angrily.

"I said it would become easy. First you must struggle. It is the nature of the world." Fuji stretched out his own arm and extended a tendril of darkness towards the pebble. It enveloped the pebble, and lifted it off the table. "But in the end, those who master their own selves are the victors." The tendrils whipped towards Jay, flinging the pebble at his head.

Jay reacted instinctively, and threw up his arms to defend himself. His shadow exploded, black tendrils of energy springing forth from the darkness behind him and solidifying into a wall in front of him. The pebble effortlessly cut through the shadows and bounced harmlessly off Jay's forehead.

"Fuck."

Fuji stepped out from behind the wall Jay had conjured forth. "Excellent reaction." He waved his arm, banishing the wall of darkness back to the shadows. "With more experience, your efforts would have been successful." He looked out the window and frowned. "The sun sets." He looked back at Jay and regarded him with curiosity. "You have grown so much since you came here. You have learned nearly all I have to teach." He sighed and looked back out the window. "You have potential, Jason. That much is clear. It remains to be seen what you will do with it." Fuji broke into a smile, still not looking at Jay. "I will see you tomorrow, Jason."

Jay turned and sucked in a breath. He stepped into his own shadow and disappeared, leaving Fuji alone in his tower.


"You really can't just sit back and relax, can you?" Lyra said lazily. "You don't need to always be working."

Oak sat back on his knees, wiping the sweat off his brow. He grinned at her, still poking at the fire with a stick. "I'll stop working when there's no work to do."

Lyra cocked her head to the side, raising her eyebrow. "Why didn't you just get Blaze to do that?" She pushed herself up in her bedroll, sitting up. "We'd have a bonfire going in seconds."

"That's the problem, my dear." Oak said as he poked at the embers under the fire. "What happens if I am separated from Blaze? How would my fire get lit then?"

Lyra paused, hesitating. "I didn't think of that."

Oak smiled at her and put the stick down in the dirt beside him. "I know, my dear. That's why I'm here."

Their small camp fell into silence, only the crackling of the fire filling the air.

"Professor, tell me about your pokemon." Lyra blurted out. She hesitated awkwardly and gave Oak a weak smile. "I mean, could you please tell me about you pokemon? You know all about my pokemon."

Oak chuckled to himself. "It's fine, my dear." He resumed poking at the fire with the stick beside him. "Who would you like to know about?"

"Let's start with Blaze." Lyra said quickly. "Since you just mentioned him."

Oak smiled and looked over at Lyra. "He's been with me almost my whole life. My father gave him to me right after he hatched." Oak smiled softly to himself, fondly remembering times long passed. "He was so friendly when he was young. You wouldn't know it if you saw him now. "He nodded to himself. "He's a cranky old man now, but so am I." He grinned at Lyra again. "Guess that's what makes us such good company, right?"

"Two peas in a pod." Lyra remarked.

"Then there's Poseidon." Oak said.

"That's your blastoise, right?"

He nodded. "He was the biggest pest that I've ever seen. He was tormenting some poor farmers in Vermillion City. He's by far the most extravagant prankster I've ever met. If anything, he's become even more of a nuisance with age."

"Water types are like that." Lyra said.

"So I've seen." He said. "Cora still hasn't forgiven him for dousing her last year."

"Who's Cora?" Lyra asked. "I don't think I've met her."

"She's my little jolteon." He said. "She doesn't like to come out much, that's why you haven't met her."

"She's shy?" Lyra asked.

Oak shook his head. "No, she's just old. Jolteon regularly only live until they are maybe twenty, or twenty-five. Electric pokemon are constantly building up a charge. Eventually, the strain becomes too much for their body to handle, and it just shuts down. Theoretically, it could lead to the creature's power growing exponentially. In reality, the sheer amount of electricity burns out the brain if they let it off too quickly?"

"How old is Cora?" Lyra asked.

Oak grimaced.

"It's ok, you don't need to tell me."

Oak shook his head. "No it's fine. I just never get used to it." He sighed, allowing the smile to return to his face. "She's forty-seven."

"She's almost doubled her life expectancy?"

Oak nodded. "It's a blessing and a curse. Knowing that she doesn't have much time left is torture, but seeing her hold on to stay with me warms my heart."

Lyra crossed her arms uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."

Oak nodded. "Look at it like a miracle." He said. "I do, and it helps take my mind off it." He tapped one of the balls on his belt absentmindedly. "Then there was Kensei, my scyther. He died during Lance's revolution. He was the most fearless fighter I've ever seen." The thought of his old pokemon brought a grin to his face. "One time, one of Lance's dragons went berserk and started attacking everything in sight. Without waiting for an order from me, Kensei brought that dragon down to its knees and bought Lance enough time to reason with the beast."

"I always forget that you fought with Lance before he became Emperor." Lyra said.

Oak frowned. "It was the best time of my life." His features seemed to sink as he slouched back. "You know, he wasn't always a madman." Oak looked away, gazing out into the trees. "He was the gold standard, what everyone wanted to be. He was a friend to every single person who fought for him. We were a family, and he brought us together." Oak's hand came up to his head, ad he started to massage his temples.

Lyra took the hint. She smiled at Oak, trying to be as soothing as possible. "You can tell me about it some other time." She said. "I'll take first watch. You just try to sleep."

Oak nodded weakly, not even bothering to argue. He rolled over in his bedroll, and within minutes was snoring soundly. Lyra shimmied forward, attempting to warm herself with the small fire. She pulled one of the balls from her pack and tapped the button.

A towering ursaring appeared, forming out of the red flash. It sniffed eagerly, taking in the crisp smell of the forest's night air. It dropped to all fours, shaking the ground where Lyra sat.

"Koda?" Lyra said cautiously. Her hand brushed the trio of other balls that sat in her pack, wary of the giant pokemon. He might've been her pokemon, but it wouldn't be the first time he fancied himself as King of the Forest.

Koda the ursaring plopped himself down on the dirt right behind Lyra, content with not being a king for another night. In seconds, he was sound asleep. Lyra moved closer to her pokemon, happy to be warm in his fur.

"Thank you Koda."

Koda just snored.


As always, thank you for reading and please leave me a review. I love them!