Enjoy!
Chapter 3
Ash, Misty, and Brock had decided that the fastest route to their destination was straight up Route 1 to Viridian City then over through Victory Road to the base of Mount Silver. However, that would still be quite a trek.
"Brock, when's dinner?" Ash asked him as his stomach audibly growled. The trio had just stopped for the day in a small clearing in the woods.
"I haven't even started cooking yet!" Brock said laughing as the fire started to pick up.
"Sorry!" Ash said sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it, we're all hungry. Why don't you go look for some more firewood?" Brock suggested.
"Sure." Ash answered standing up before adding, "Misty wanna come with?"
She looked at him from where she was laying on the ground. "Are there bug Pokemon in there?" She asked answering Ash's question with another question.
"Well probably but-"
"No thanks I'm good here." She said shuddering at the thought of running into some stray Caterpie or even worse, a Beedrill.
"Alright seeya later then!" Ash yelled over his shoulder as he took off into the woods with Pikachu following close behind.
Carefully moving through the the brush, Ash stumbled upon a wide stream with a fairly large bank. Turning to his electric companion he asked, "What do you say we do some training?"
"Pika!" Pikachu said nodding his head yes.
"Well ok then come on out!" Ash said as he tossed five pokeballs into the air as his Sceptile, Infernape, Buizel, Staraptor, and Snorlax materialized in front of him. "Ok guys why don't we train for a little bit? If we are going to find the Book of Moirai, we have to get stronger."
All of his Pokemon nodded and paired off before beginning to spar. Ash walked off a little to the side before summoning an aura sphere and flinging it at a rock across the stream. It hit it's mark causing a small explosion and a cloud of dust to rise into the air. Had Ash been paying closer attention, he would have noticed as three shapes blasted off into the sky. Smiling, Ash produced another one, this time he flung it a falling leaf, but missed. Suddenly he felt a bit weak in the knees. Using aura takes a lot out of me, he thought to himself, I guess I have to build up a tolerance. Well, no time like the present!
"Misty, would you go find Ash? Dinner is almost ready." Brock said as he concentrated on the soup he was making.
"Yeah, I'll be right back." Then, getting up she warily walked into the woods, giving each bug Pokemon she saw a wide berth.
Soon, she heard the sounds of Ash's Pokemon training. He was supposed to be finding firewood! She thought as she came upon the bank. But, much to her surprise, she found Ash in a sparring match with his Sceptile. This aura thing is gonna take some getting used to she thought as she suppressed the urge to break up the fight remembering that Ash was now pretty capable of handling himself. Leaning against a tree, she silently watched the fight.
"Ok Sceptile, don't hold back!"
Sceptile looked at his trainer with uncertainty. He was, after all, being asked to attack the very person who raised him from a Treecko. But, he couldn't disobey direct orders so he quickly charged at Ash as the leaves attached to his arms began to glow and extend into blades. With astonishing speed, Sceptile attacked with three quick slashes to Ash's midsection only to be stopped by a thin blue shield that appeared in front of his trainer. Shrugging off the ineffective attack, Sceptile sidestepped and fired a razor leaf attack at Ash's unprotected back. But Ash was ready, it's like a sixth sense he thought as he whirled around bringing up his shield and then firing an aura sphere that pushed Sceptile back a few yards. I can sense what Sceptile is about to do. Then mimicking what Sir Aaron had done to Lucario, Ash ran forward hurling an aura sphere at his surprised Sceptile before swiping his aura shrouded hand up towards the Pokemon's chin. A powerful blue arc threw the grass-type onto his butt, defeated, as Ash dropped to a knee, completely wiped out. Ash's pokemon stared at him in astonishment and with a new level of respect.
"Good fight Sceptile, but you'll have to do better than that!"
Sceptile let out a determined cry as if to let Ash know that next time wouldn't be so easy, but then he approached his trainer and helped him to his feet.
Misty was just as astounded as Ash's Pokemon were when Sceptile fell defeated. It was as if Ash had been fighting all of his life, although, in a way, he had been. He had been in Pokemon battles since he was ten. Then again he hadn't been the one fighting... she thought to herself before watching him fall to one knee. Just as she was about to run out to make sure he was ok, his Sceptile helped him back to his feet. Almost instantly he appeared to recover. Relieved that he hadn't been hurt, she called out to him.
"Ash! Dinner's ready!"
"Oh hey Misty!" Ash called back, then returning all his Pokemon except Pikachu, he walked over to her. "Thanks for letting me know! I'm starving!"
"That fight looked like it took a lot out of you," she said noting the evident exhaustion in his eyes.
"Don't worry I'm fine," Ash started, but then he stumbled and had to use a tree for support as black spots began to obstruct his vision.
Misty watched as he slowly slumped onto the ground.
"Pika pi?!" Pikachu cried as he ran to his friend's side as Misty crouched down in front of Ash worriedly.
"Ash?" She asked, but got no answer. Oh god, oh god! She thought as her heart began to race. Reaching out she gently placed her hand on his neck feeling for a pulse. Finding one, she closed her eyes and exhaled in relief only to have them shoot open again when she felt a hand grab hers. She blushed as she found herself quite close to Ash's face looking right into his eyes.
"See? I'm fine," he said smiling.
"Ash, you need to be more careful!" She yelled pulling away. "How are you supposed to what Sir Aaron asked if you're dead!" She said feeling angry and worried at his recklessness. "We don't know much about all this aura stuff and-"
"The only way to find out is by using it." Ash finished with a hardened face clearly stung by her words.
Misty looked at him before maneuvering to sit next to him. For a couple of minutes they just sat like that watching the breeze play with the trees before Misty ended the silence, her tone softening as her initial anger faded away.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just working your body to its limits the day after discovering aura seems a bit foolish," she said looking straight ahead before turning to face him and continuing, "I know this is a lot of pressure just laid on your shoulders, but, you don't have to hold the sky up on your own."
"Pika." Pikachu added nodding his head in agreement.
"I know." Ash stated as he rose to his feet. Turning around he extended his hand to Misty to help her up. As they walked back to Brock, he shot her a sideways glance before saying, "Thanks Misty."
"For what?"
"Putting things into perspective," he answered as they reached the camp.
"What took you so long?" Brock asked before shaking his head and answering his own question "You were probably making o-"
"Brock you finish that phrase and I will end you." Misty said sizing him up.
"Ok. ok. Sheesh it was just a joke..." Brock said as he handed out bowls of soup.
Landing with a thud, Jessie, James, and Meowth groaned and untangled their entwined limbs.
"What was that?" James asked rubbing the back of his head.
"I don't know!" Jessie said bewildered. "All I saw was the twerp and then boom!"
"It was an aura sphere." Meowth stated matter-of-factly. "The twerp is an Aura Guardian."
"A what?" Jessie asked in confusion.
"An Aura Guardian," Meowth repeated. "And a powerful one at that!"
"What the hell is an Aura Guardian?" Jessie asked angrily as she realized stealing Pikachu just became infinitely harder.
"They were said to be an ancient group of people with the power to manipulate aura, but they were thought to be extinct," James said remembering the definition from when his wealthy parents had sent him to school before he joined Team Rocket.
"Whatever," Jessie grumbled, "where are we anyway?"
Suddenly a new voice joined the conversation. "You're two miles away from Team Rocket's base, you dumb shits."
"Domino," Jessie spat out clearly displaying her hatred for the woman, "what do you want?"
"I want the location of this Aura Guardian that you speak of."
"We don't know where he is, we just landed here after an explosion," Meowth said happy to inconvenience Domino.
Taking out a pokeball, Domino threateningly countered, asking, "Are you sure you don't know? Because I'm sure my Salamence would love to come out to play..."
James' eyes widened as he began to spew information like a volcano spews lava. "We were following them from Pallet Town down Route 1 until the twerp went off on his own into the woods talking about some Book of Moirai, we were about to steal his Pikach-"
"Stop!" Domino said briskly walking up to James and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "What...did you just say?"
"We were about to steal the Pikachu-"
"Not that! Before that!"
"Book of Moirai?" James squeaked out.
"Yes!" Domino said eyes widening. Then throwing him to the ground she ran off.
Jessie and Meowth looked at James accusingly.
"Why did you give her all that info!" Jessie screamed angrily.
"Forget that!" Meowth started, "Did you see how fast she ran off! I bet that Book of whatever she said is worth a lot of money! We should steal it and give it to the boss."
"And then we will be his favorite instead of that whore Domino," Jessie said.
Domino stopped to catch her breath. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small phone. Opening it, the phone made a weird beeping noise before Giovanni's voice came from the other side of the line.
"Domino, what news do you have for me? You certainly could not have secured the...items yet."
"No sir I haven't. But a complication has arisen."
"What?! What kind of complication?" He asked, his temper beginning to rise.
"It appears that someone else is looking for the Book," she said tentatively.
Giovanni laughed. "Well it doesn't matter."
"Sir?" Domino inquired confusedly.
But he continued, "Even if they find it, they cannot take the book from within its dark shield. Only an aura user can do that, and we both know that I am the only one left... Right?"
Domino didn't answer.
"RIGHT?!" Giovanni said as Domino imagined his face turning purple with rage at the realization that he was no longer the only aura user left in the world.
"Sir, eyewitness reports say that he's an Aura Guardian."
Giovanni screamed with rage and Domino heard a distinct thud as the line was disconnected. But moments later, she received a text.
I DONT CARE HOW YOU DO IT JUST BRING HIM TO ME!
"With pleasure," Domino said aloud smiling while simultaneously calling out her Salamence. Then turning to him she said "Let's go hunting."
Misty, Brock, and Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder, sat around the fire talking and laughing about memories from their first journey together.
"Always remember guys," Ash began, "that if it's raining you can use your trusty frying pan, as a drying pan..."
They all laughed except for Brock who defensively exclaimed, "Well you know what? I didn't get wet that day!" Before breaking out into laughter as well.
"We sure had some good times huh?" Misty said starting to calm down.
"Yeah-" Ash began as a huge yawn escaped, "I'm beat! I think it's time for bed."
"Yeah that's probably a good idea, we have to get moving pretty early," Brock added.
Each person then undid their sleeping bags and crawled in to go to sleep.
Ash closed his eyes expecting to see darkness that would lure him into a deep sleep, but instead he saw the world around him through a blue lens. Curiously, he saw the outline of some sort of figure in the sky. Focusing a bit harder, he saw that it was a Salamence? he thought to himself. Something's not right he thought as he opened his eyes. Looking up, he saw a Salamence with someone riding on its back swooping down silently right at him.
"Hey!" Ash screamed alerting the others.
"What the heck Ash!" Misty said opening her eyes and then immediately noticing the Salamence with the mysterious rider falling from the sky straight at Ash.
Brock was already up, calling out his Croagunk. Seeing this, Misty called out her Corsola. Ash jumped out of the way as the Salamence landed, shaking the ground.
Domino jumped off the mighty beast's back and asked "Which one of you is the Aura Guardian?"
No one moved or answered except Pikachu who moved in front of Ash, cheeks crackling with electricity.
"No one? Well that's just flat out rude! Salamence use flamethrower on Croagunk!"
Before Brock could even call out for Croagunk to dodge, his Pokemon was knocked out.
Brock gritted his teeth. "Croagunk return."
"So you can speak! Salamence use hyper beam on Corsola."
Letting out an intimidating roar, Salamence fired a beam of powerful white light at the defenseless Corsola that would inevitably hit the shocked Misty as well.
"Enough!" Ash yelled dashing in front of the beam.
Domino's hellish grin turned to astonishment as a blue wall of aura completely blocked the hyper beam. In fact the only evidence that the attack had been used were the cracks webbing out from the spot of impact on the shield.
"Snorlax, use Outrage!" Ash called as he threw his pokemon materialized in front of him immediately using outrage. The move was super effective against the Salamence but didn't knock him out. "Pikachu help Snorlax!" And then dropping the shield Ash rushed at Domino.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Ash yelled as he ran forward.
Dodging an aura sphere, Domino replied, "My name is Domino, and to put it simply, I want you."
Whipping out a knife, she slashed at Ash, but like when he was fighting Sceptile, he could sense the attack and stepped out of the way.
Brock and Misty looked on helplessly as they watched horrified; Domino seemed bent on seriously injuring Ash.
Dousing his hand in blue, Ash chopped down on Domino's shoulder causing her to cry out, but it left him vulnerable. She quickly tossed her knife to the other hand and aggressively swiped at her opponent, grazing his upper bicep. However, Ash was too amped on adrenaline to feel it. Smoothly, he grabbed her wrist and called upon his aura once more, firing an aura sphere at point blank range. Domino cried out in anguish as she disengaged and swiftly jumped onto her Salamence's back.
"You will pay for this!" She called out as Salamence took off. "You will never get the Book before us." And then she disappeared.
Returning his Snorlax to his pokeball, Ash commended the Pokemon for his efforts. And then went over to Brock and Misty. "Are you guys ok?" Ash asked concerned.
"Yeah I think so," Misty said checking herself.
"Are you ok?" Brock asked as Misty eyed the gash on his right arm, right below the shoulder.
"Yeah I'm fine" Ash answered. "We should really get to Viridian City tonight. It's not safe to stay in the woods."
The other two agreed with him and they all packed up their things and started walking. About ten minutes in, Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's shoulder unknowingly forcing him to grimace, but he kept quiet so he wouldn't worry any of his friends.
As the trio and Pikachu arrived at the outskirts of of Viridian City, the sun was beginning to rise. Misty took a second to look back at Ash and noticed that there was dried blood all down the side of his arm. Frowning, she picked up her pace a bit silently urging the other two to move faster. "We should head for the Pokemon Center to get some rest," Misty stated.
Brock and Ash both nodded their heads. Finally, the three of them reached the Pokemon Center. Ash and Misty went to claim a room while Brock took care of the remaining logistics.
"I just want to sleep for days," Ash complained collapsing on a bed. Pikachu was already almost fast asleep.
"Not so fast," Misty started as she sat down on the edge of his bed, "let me just check your arm really quick."
Much too tired to argue, Ash sat up cooperating with his worried friend. "It's fine! It barely hurts," he assured as he pulled up his sleeve.
Misty inspected it before dragging him to the bathroom. "Ok, well at least let me clean it up."
He nodded as he sat down. Misty grabbed a towel and put it under the faucet. "Alright, this will be easier if you just take off your shirt," she said averting her eyes a tad embarrassed at her request.
Ash just mumbled some gibberish about everything being fine but did as she asked. Turning to face him again, she blushed a deep crimson. Ash is pretty muscular...she thought to herself as her mind began to wander making her blush even darker. It's a good thing he's basically asleep she resolved as she bent over and started to gently wipe away the blood until just the gash was visible.
"It's not so bad, but it's good to clean it up, prevents infection and stuff," she said justifying her actions.
"I told you it wasn't bad!" he said impatiently.
Reaching into her pack she pulled out a couple butterfly bandages and applied them to the wound.
"There, you're good to go," Misty concluded.
"Thanks" Ash said as he got up from his seat. The bathroom really wasn't much bigger than a small closet, and as Ash tried to squeeze around Misty towards the door, his waist pressed up against her stomach causing Misty to blush and Ash's heart to speed up. "Sorry!" Ash apologized as he tried frantically wriggle out of Misty's personal space.
"It's ok!" She said moving to her right to make a bit more space. Really it's alright! she thought excitedly. But Ash, being Ash, just extracted himself from the situation and then in a matter of minutes was sleeping, leaving Misty red faced in the bathroom.
Giovanni needed some good news. It had only been about six hours since he found out that this other Aura Guardian would not be joining him yet. But he knew it was just a matter of time. Domino never failed. Suddenly, his intercom buzzed.
"What is it?! I'm busy!" he asked venomously.
"Sir! Doctor Voorman is here."
"Send him in."
Entering the room was a tall skinny bald man who stood at about six foot four. "Sir, your machine is ready to be built. I just need you to sign off on the design."
Giovanni sat down at his desk. "Finally, some good news!" And then reaching out he looked over the schematics. "Perfect. Start building straight away."
The doctor nodded his head and dismissed himself from the room.
"On to phase two," Giovanni said as he ran his hand down his Persian's back.
This chapter basically set up the connection point of the two sides of the story. Also, I wanted to show that Ash isn't invincible just cause he's an Aura Guardian. Development of character relationships was also a main focus of this chapter. Hope you enjoy it! Drop me a review :)
Thanks for reading,
theriot010