Chapter 10:
Seeing ash and Serena trapped like animals was more than the princess could bear even after assurances from ash and Serena that they'd be fine but as for Katie's brother this sight couldn't have made him any happier but right now his objective was to destroy his sister at any cost and, with this mission in mind Kenneth once again looked up to primus who was floating right above his head and then back to Katie before shouting at her that; "this ends now!" as he commands primus to use his primal energy burst attack! what he didn't know however was ash and Serena had been training Katie to perform the miracle herself but, at this moment she wasn't entirely sure she was ready yet but as the princesses purple eyes focused on ash and Serena the trainer and performer knew that they were going to have to "encourage Katie" just a bit more in order to save them all as Serena that she "can do this!"
While ash encouraged her to "go for it" this was all Katie needed to hear to try it as she raises her left hand up towards the sky and calls out; "Solarois!" this move caused Kenneth to jump back in astonishment as the skies begin to darken once more with red lightning striking the ground as the large red dragon; Solarois the guardian of the earth descends! causing the princess to jump for joy a little as she exclaims; "i did it!" while Kenneth on the other hand demanded to know how she did that as she turns once again to look at ash and Serena before answering her brothers question; "ash & Serena taught me how to call the divine dragons!"
Flashback begins:
If you want to call on the divine dragons your feelings have to match theirs ash explains to the princess as they stand in the middle of a large open meadow with mirror wall dragon flying over their heads as Serena picks up where ash had left off; "just stay calm, cool and, collected" as ash continues to pick up where his wife left off; "if they sense any hesitation, fear or uncertainty they won't appear!"
It was then that Serena said the most important part of their lesson; "but remember when they do appear you're in whatever battle your facing it together; you either win together or fail together! The princess had taken in every word as she acknowledged that when you call a divine dragon you go all in!"
Flashback ends:
Seeing what the princess had done couldn't have made ash and Serena any prouder as they continue to encourage the princess in knowing they knew she could do it but all this was sickening her brother as he orders primus to attack Solarois while Katie ordered Solarois to counter with it flamethrower attack these two attacks together caused began to cause the ground to vibrate and smoke to build which soon cleared out revealing a draw between primus and Solarois and while Kenneth was impressed Katie began feeling pain in her side as she begins to question in her mind what was going on but, Serena on the other hand noticed Katie's had go to her side and she began to worry knowing that expression all too well from her and Ash's previous experienced when they first met the divine dragons. Serena soon turns to ash and asks him in a worried tone of voice if he thought Katie would be okay? ash responds to Serena's concern in his confident voice a voice which always seem to have a calming effect on the performer; "she's strong Serena; she'll be fine" ash then reaches down to grasp Serena's hand as he says to his wife; "now what do you say we get out of this mess Serena!?"
A question Serena responds to with a nod and one word; "right!" as she reaches into her pocket for Braixen's Pokeball and calls out her partner and ace while ash sends out Pikachu to battle!
Back with Katie and Kenneth:
As the princess continues to glare at her brother while grasping her side she continued to tell herself; " everyone is counting on me ash... Serena... mom... dad... I can't back down...!" Before ordering Solarois to attack primus again with flame-thrower! however; Kenneth wasn't about to let primus just sit there and get attacked as he orders primus to go up and over Solarois which primus did quite splendidly and with primus above Solarois caused Katie to worry as Kenneth finally orders primus to finish Solarois off by blasting him with primal energy burst and as the blue stream escapes Primus' jaw and hits Solarois on his back from above him causes the guardian of the earth to fall from the sky worrying Katie as she calls out to Solarois but as the words escaped her lips she immediately felt another sharp stabbing pain causing the princess to go to her knees immediately concerning ash and Serena who along with Braixen and Pikachu managed to clear a path causing all of them to run towards Katie while Kenneth decides to take advantage of the situation and orders primus to blast them all seeing this attack incoming ash immediately grabs Serena into his arms as they stand in front of the "downed princess" as ash calls for ash Greninja to show himself and use his cut attack to deflect the blast.
Seeing this caused Kenneth to start Cursing ash as the rouge prince performs what he calls "a tactical withdrawal" as the smoke from the blast clears out and revealing what Kenneth had done Serena does wonder where he went her attention Immediately went back to Katie who was now lying face down on the ground; Causing both ash and Serena to panic as they run towards the princess's unresponsive body to check on her.
Upon arriving at her side Serena immediately began to shake the princess asking her if she was alright and after about the third attempt Katie began moaning as she begins picking herself up off the ground and assuring Serena and ash that she was okay and while ash's worry turned to relief Serena's worry turned into anger as she told Katie that she; "wasn't doing that again!"
An order that confused the princess as she Asks Serena; "why?" a simple question that Serena had a simple answer to; "I don't want you getting hurt!" it was about this time ash jumped into this discussion even though he didn't know why considering He didn't even know which side he was on; "I'm sure what Serena means is you need more practice and..." but before ash could continue he found himself cut off by Serena who began to angrily scold him…
"No i mean i don't want her to do that again! once again confused and trying to get his wife to calm down ash tries once again to reason with her; "Serena..." but once again ash found himself cut off again...
"Don't you Serena me ash; you always do this "twisting what i say and usually i let it slide because you end up being right ash; but not this time!" but now it was the princesses turn to grow angry at Serena.
"Don't you dare tell me that i can't avenge my parents Serena!"
This outburst both confused and irritated Serena as she once again turns her attention to Katie who continues to lash out at Serena; you may be my mom's dimensional counterpart; but you're not my mother! I'm grateful for your help don't get me wrong, but i can handle this whole thing myself so stay out of my way!
Before running off away from ash and Serena and, while ash tried to reason with the princess before she ran out of sight Serena grew even angrier as she snaps at ash again, let her go ash, if she wants to recklessly risk her life, let her! We'll just focus on getting Home!
Ash was shocked by Serena's outburst but knew she didn't really mean it as he tries to get the performer to calm down; now Serena just calm down i know you don't really mean that, come on Serena let's have a seat and Talk about this as he takes her hand and walks with her towards the campsite.
Meanwhile with Katie:
I can do this without ash & Serena's help, mom... dad... I'll make Raphael and Kenneth pay for what they did to you! Katie assures herself in her head but it was about this time she heard another telepathic voice calling out to her;
Foolish mortal girl, you should've never trespassed into my domain! hearing this scared the princess almost half to death as she continues to search the tree line in hopes of finding the voices origin as she shouts out to who or what Was talking to her; show yourself! To which the voice just replied; "very well as a larger pair of red eyes became visible in the pitch black night.
Back with Ash and Serena:
After ash finally got their campfire going he returns to Serena's side as she continued to pout while looking into the fire; so you ready to talk Serena!? Ash asks in a soft compassionate and concerned voice as Serena responds to him, About what!? pretending to be ignorant about what ash was doing and it was then ash even started to grow annoyed but he didn't want to show it as he say to Serena; "Katie" Serena went quiet for a moment before finally giving her response.
"What's to talk about ash; she wants to be stupid & reckless, that's her problem!"
Hearing this response ash came to a loss so before saying anything more he extends his arm and begins to caress Serena's back trying to get her to relax as he says to her; "come on Serena I know you don't really feel that way, you're a nice and caring person and i know you're worried about her deep down!" hearing this infuriated Serena who although knew it was true deep down she was still angry over how Katie snapped at her and from her point of view that ash was more on Katie's side than hers as she hastily gets up she says to ash; "forget about it ash, I'm going to bed!" as Serena storms off over to their tent before removing her boots and entering the tent. Ash unsure of what to do Just continued to stand in the shadow of the campfire with his arm partially extended as he began debating on whether he should go after her or just let her be!
Meanwhile with Katie:
As Katie continued to stare at the glowing red almost demonic eyes staring at her from the tree line the princess nervously stutters out once more; "show yourself!" As she said this a large dark green skinned dragon showed himself first on his four legs before taking slightly to the air as he announces himself to the scared princess; "I am Dagon, the divine guardian dragon of the underworld!" seeing the guardian of the underworld terrorized the princess what he said next paralyzed her; "you shouldn't be in my domain human" after hearing that Katie began to plead with the divine guardian; "Please Dagon i just want to talk To you" but Dagon was quick to reiterate that he had no interest in what she had to say...
Back with Ash and Serena:
Serena had been tossing and turning in her sleeping bag for a couple hours now as her eyes finally fly open as she begins to grow frustrated by her not being able to fall asleep it was then Serena looked over and noticed ash wasn't there causing her to wonder if ash was still up so she decided to crawl out of her sleeping bag and out of the tent and saw ash's shadow caused by the fire and decided that she was finally ready to talk about how she's feeling about what happened; "ash.." she whispers as she comes up behind him causing ash to turn to her and ask her what she was doing up and it was then she told ash that she couldn't sleep and ash was quick to guess if it was about Katie as Serena comes over and sits next to ash by the fire, after sitting herself down ash let Serena begin their discussion; "i don't know how to explain this feeling ash, i know we don't really know Katie but i just feel some kind of connection with her!"
It was then Ash began to realize what Serena was talking about and unknown to Serena ash felt very similar that is if they were thinking the same way and after all the years he'd been with Serena ash was positive that they were as he began to talk to fill the silence left by Serena; "i do too Serena "at first i thought it was Sympathy for what she's going through, but the more i thought about it, maybe it's because she's Kate's dimensional counterpart!" Serena was both awestruck and amazed by what ash had said because it was exactly how she was feeling as she hears ash go on; "that's it isn't it Serena; when you look at Katie you see Kate, and if Katie gets hurt it'd be like us letting Kate get hurt, and as Kate's parents we couldn't... wouldn't let that happen!"
Ash was spot on and Serena knew it as she felt a tear roll down her face as she begins to speak to ash again; that's right and because Katie can't understand that i lost my temper, I'm sorry i was such an idiot for letting my anger get the best of me!" as Serena began to cry ash quickly began to calm Serena down and reassure her that it'd be okay. "no you're not Serena you no we... are just in a complicated & difficult situation don't worry we'll get through this together, but first let's go get Katie we owe it to Our dimensional counterparts, Katie's parents to keep her safe no matter what!"
Serena really did feel more relaxed by ash's words as she wipes a tear from her eye and slides over to hug him before whispering to ash that she loved him. To which Ash responded in kind before whispering to Serena; "Okay Serena let's go find Katie!"
"Right I owe her an apology" no sooner did those words leave Serena's mouth both her and ash jumped back as they heard a "blood curdling" scream for help and the voices owner sounded like Katie fearing the worst both ash and Serena jump up and run towards that screams point of origin.
A few minutes later:
After frantically searching and shouting out to Katie they finally got a response "ash & Serena please help me!" as she continues to scoot across the ground away from Dagon who vows that Katie would pay for disturbing him before beginning to prepare an attack and it was then ash and Serena finally arrived much to the relief of the princess but Dagon on the other hand didn't stop as he launches it at them feeling confident that he had dealt with this minor annoyance however, when the smoke began to clear the guardian of the underworld saw a very surprising sight in front of the humans he just blasted where a large snake like dragon and, red dragon it was Osiris and Solarois!
Seeing his brothers startled the guardian of the underworld as he began to ask what they were doing here. While the dragons were communicating Serena looked to the princess who was now in her arms and then to Dagon and asked Katie; "is that?" and it was then Katie told Serena that the dragon in front of them was Dagon, the divine guardian dragon of the underworld!" and not hearing anything from Osiris or Solarois ash and Serena began to plead with Dagon; "Dagon we need to tell you something!" to which they were answered by Dagon; "quiet humans" but it was then Solarois and Osiris spoke up…
"listen to them" but while all this was going on and unknown to them all they were being watched by warlord Raphael who has now decided that it was "Show Time" as he moves to sneak up behind them and to "crash the party!" as Raphael begins to make his move ash, Serena and, Katie began to plead with Dagon; Dagon we need to tell you something, it's about Dragonus he has been captured and, dragged back to the other dimension!" Dagon was in shock and disbelief over what he had just heard begins to question how that had happened but Solarois soon chimed in and told his brother that he was at risk of suffering the same fate!"
Still in disbelief Dagon and the others soon find the silence broken by Raphael who had silently arrived out of the tree line kind of like a ghost and Raphael wasn't alone with him was his and Kenneth's newest prisoner Olympus who was now brought under their command; Raphael soon ordered Olympus to blast them all but ash, Serena and everyone else could sense his pain as he uses his telepathy to apologize for what he was about to do and begged them all to forgive him. Everyone succeeded in dodging the blast however and it was then ash and Serena turned to the princess and told Katie to; "get Dagon out of here; we'll take care of Raphael!"
Hearing this began to unease Katie as she begins to question "what if!? seeing the princess struggling ash and Serena decided the princess needed just a bit more encouragement before she could do this especially after last time so they began to encourage the princess; "you can do it Katie, we believe in you!" hearing this encouragement from ash and Serena Katie realized she can do this as she looks to Dagon and tells him; "let's go!"
As they begin their escape, using the smoke for cover. with Katie gone Serena couldn't help but ask ash if he thinks she'll be okay and ash was quick to assure her that of course she can she's strong before turning to Serena and reaching for her hand before Asking her if his; "partner was ready to take care of this menace!?"
Serena smiled at this before accepting his invitation with a "ready sweetie" as their smoke cover finally clears out revealing to the warlord that not only Dagon but the princess were both gone and ash and Serena's Braixen and Greninja have appeared with Osiris and Solarois overhead as they say to the warlord; "Raphael if you want to find Dagon, you'll have to get past us first!" a challenge Raphael happily accepts as he orders Olympus to blast them again!
Meanwhile with Katie:
"Quick Dagon this way" Katie tells the guardian of the underworld as she shimmies her way down a narrow path down a steep hill seeing the princess doing all this had touched the guardian of the underworld as he begins saying to himself; "i can't believe this brave human girl is helping protect me!" but, as Katie and Dagon are continuing Their escape they suddenly stop as they spot a figure over in the clearing, Dagon didn't recognize the small figure and at first neither did the princess until the figure began speaking to them; "come now you don't even recognize your own brother Katie!?" as Kenneth begins to emerge from the shadows Dagon curiously asks the princess;
"That's your brother" before primus chimes in; "and he's not alone" as he appears and it was then Katie begin yelling at her brother; "Kenneth i won't allow you or the others to lay a hand on anymore of the divine dragons!" Kenneth laughed at this as he orders primus to blast them. Determined to keep her promise to protect Dagon Katie begins saying to herself; "guardian of the dimensions please lend me your strength!?" as she calls for mirror wall dragon to appear as the sky begins to darken with silver colored lightning flooding from the sky as mirror wall dragon appears from the clouds and lands in front of them to protect them from the blast that hits his body instead, and Just like last time as mirror wall dragon takes the blast.
Katie begins to feel the pain mirror wall dragon feels coursing through its body. Seeing this intrigued her brother as he exclaims to her; "interesting sister you managed to call out a divine dragon but, can mirror wall dragon take the abuse!? And, can you handle the abuse on your Body and spirit caused by your connection to him? I guess we'll find out" as he orders primus to keep going with his attack and as a result the pain Katie's feeling continued to grow in intensity as she begins to scream out in pain!
Meanwhile with ash & Serena:
Raphael and Olympus have no doubt been beaten back by ash and Serena's team work as he informs them that he was still standing as Serena says to ash; "they've gotten stronger ash!" as ash responds by saying to Serena; "yeah they have Serena ordinarily we'd have beaten him by now." as Serena continues to look at her and ash's opponents she still couldn't help but think to herself;
"this is the first time since me and ash got married, I actually feel that we may not win..." but before another attack could be declared ash and Serena are interrupted by a scream coming in the distance; a painful scream" that from the voice left no doubt in their minds that it was the princess deciding that her safety was the current priority as Serena looks to ash and told him the same thing he was feeling that; "Katie needs their help!" and it was then ash and Serena plead with Osiris the sky guardian to please take them to Katie Osiris agreed and descends to the ground allowing both ash & Serena to climb on him so he can fly them to Katie as ash sand Serena say under their breath; "hang on Katie we're coming... please stay strong as Osiris begins to fly them in the direction of where Katie and Dagon were pinned down!
