Author's Note #1: You probably noticed the title change to the story, as "Revival" becoming Book One of the "Aura Rising Trilogy". As I mapped out the entire saga, I quickly realized that the story I wished to tell would need to break down into three parts, in order to make the tale easier to read, rather than taking it in all at once. It also makes it easier to write out. The second Book in the trilogy will be called "Shaman of Blue Flame".
Author's note: Warning, the next two chapters contain violence and some mentions of blood. The next two chapters also contain the deaths of pokemon. If this disturbs you, you are welcome to skip ahead to chapter ten. While chapter ten does mention previous events, they'll be easy to comprehend. I hope this does not offend anybody in any possible sort of way.
Alan and and Mia scouted the outskirts of the clearing, where Ash and the others were spending the night. They were surrounded by thick tall trees, but with little undergrowth for the trackers to ambush from. They slunk back to where Stella and Eldrin were waiting, bent in brush pile, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Eldrin puffed a strand of hair out of his face. "Well?" he asked impatiently.
"This is the only area where we can hide safely without being spotted," Mia answered. Eldrin made a face; he was hoping to get much closer to where they were, to get a better shot with his crossbow. But he would have to make with what he had. "Fine." he knelt down in the undergrowth and placed a quarrel on his crossbow. He aimed the weapon in the direction of the clearing. "We'll make the attack here. If all goes well, then we should have the boy much quicker than the Master expects. The last thing I want is to send Captain Archer to do our job." Stella crouched next to him, preparing her crossbow as well. "On my signal," he commanded.
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Blaidd felt something shift in the air as he entered the clearing. The hairs on the nape of neck rose and he stiffened, trying to discern what exactly had triggered the feeling. His eyes shifted around the area surrounding the campsite, trying to sense with his Aura what laid beyond the glade. Nothing seemed out of place, the 'currents' of Aura were flowing properly. Blaidd tried to relax, but couldn't; there was something not right, but he couldn't place it. He shoved a hand in his coat pocket, rummaging around for a hunk of chocolate. Ever since the boy Max had given it to him two years ago, he fell in love with the taste, the texture, the smell of the substance. Since then, he always made sure he had room in his traveling pack for a bar or two. Maybe three, if the cravings were really bad. "Blaidd?" Misty asked. "Is something up?" "Nothing, nothing," he responded. "Just looking for a piece of chocolate. I thought I had one in my pocket in here somewhere."
Misty flashed him a smile and pulled out something from her pack. Blaidd's mouth nearly started to water at the sight of the foil wrapped piece of heaven. "Here, I usually keep it for emergencies, but I'll make an exception for you. And here I thought women were crazy about their chocolate."
Blaidd gratefully took the piece from Misty, hastily unwrapping the foil and biting into the chocolate, eyes closed in bliss as the piece melted on his tongue. This had to be the best chocolate, ever."Thank you. And there's nothing wrong with men liking it either."
"I know that. Ash would eat one of those five pound bars if he could."
"I heard that!" Ash protested from across the clearing. He and Drew were setting up the two tents they recently bought. With the extraordinarily wet summer, they realized that spending that little extra cash would keep them from waking up like they had gone through the rinse cycle of a washer. In other words, very, very wet. "I bet I could too."
"You aren't supposed to be proud of that Ash!"
Blaidd chuckled. As a precaution, he made a careful study of his compatriot's Auras. It was interesting to note that Ash and Misty's would flare up whenever they were near each other, just as May and Drew's did too. Though in Ash and Misty's case, their interaction was far more complicated then the latter pair. Blaidd placed it upon himself to ask more about their relationship with each other, probably with Brock. The other male seemed to know a lot more about those two.
Meanwhile, Max listened to the conversation with Misty and Blaidd with sensitive hearing. Since he had met Blaidd, there was something very familiar about the man, even though Max was positive that they had never met before. Hie demeanor, his history with Cameran Palace, knowledge of Aura, his eye color, all these things were connected, but for the life of him, couldn't determine what. The love for chocolate was just the icing on the cake, so to speak. Max grew frustrated and took it upon himself to figure where in Mew's name he recognized the man.
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Eldrin continued to wait, growing irritated. He was a man of action, built for combat, not for squatting in the woods until he could no longer feel his legs. But it was the only way to get back onto his Master's good side. "When do we fire?" Stella whispered; she was growing restless and testy as well. "Until everything falls into place—Now!" He popped up and jerked on the trigger, unleashing the bolt on it's flight, the broad metal head catching the sunset's rays.
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Blaidd froze again, his ears picking up a twanging sound. He stiffened and flung himself away from the sound, wincing as the arrowhead ripped through his clothes and slicing through the skin underneath. The chocolate piece was jammed in his pocket as he did so. Misty dove down, the bolt whizzing overhead, embedding itself into a trunk of a tree.
"What in Ho-Oh's name was that?" She yelled.
"Ambush!" He cried out. His hands started to glow a bright blue as he waved them over his head. A shimmering dome of Aura went over the clearing. A few more bolts ricocheted off harmlessly the dome, which was holding steady. Blaidd could feel his strength swiftly draining away. The use of Aura on this scale took a lot of mental and psychical stamina. "Run!" he commanded to the teens. He made an opening in the Aura dome, wincing as a stab of pain went through his chest. He couldn't keep this up much longer.
When he was positive that they had fled, he collapsed the dome, reabsorbing the Aura into himself. He let out a battle cry, a bestial sound that was a cross between a growl and a roar. Using the reabsorbed Aura, he fired six Aura spheres in rapid succession, towards the direction of the bolt. When all fell silent, he fled the clearing too, following the teens.
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Eldrin bit down on his lower lip as one of the spheres impacted with his crossbow, shattering the weapon and some of the bones in his trigger hand. Splinters went flying everywhere as he dove into the brush, clutching his injured hand. Another sphere broke off a thick branch where his head just was. He looked around to see how the others fared.
Stella and Mia were alright, but Alan wasn't so much. An Aura sphere had collided into his chest, crushing his ribcage. The broken ribs caved inwards, piercing his internal organs. He was dead before the tracker hit the ground.
Eldrin cursed loudly. He hadn't expected to lose on of his comrades so soon, even though no one really did like the weaselly man. He snatched off the pokeballs off the dead man's belt. "After them!" he snarled.
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Water soaked through Ash's shoes and pants as he raced through the woods, crossing a stream. The sky was starting to darken as they fled, along with a steady temperature drop, making the water so much colder. His lungs burned and his muscles started to ache, but he had to keep running.
"Guys!" Brock yelled. "Keep running in the stream! It'll mask our scent!"
"Good idea!" Blaidd replied, who had just caught up with them. They continued to run, the stream deepening to about two feet deep. They came across a fork in the stream.
"Crap," Drew glanced at the streams that broke off. "Which one do we take?"
"Simple, we take both. May, Drew, Brock and I will take one of the paths." Blaidd instructed. "Ash, Misty and Max will take the other. They'll probably have tracking pokemon, so by taking both paths, we'll confuse them. We'll meet up later, when the coast is clear. Alright?"
"Right!" The group split up, May, Drew, Brock, and Blaidd taking the right stream, with Ash, Misty, and Max taking the other.
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"Son of a gun!" Eldrin snapped. The threesome had just come across the fork in the stream. To go down either one could lose the chance of losing their quarry. He whipped out Alan's pokeballs and clicked four of the buttons. Two mightyena and two houndoom, both expert species in tracking, appeared. Mia, Stella and Eldrin did likewise, and soon, a dozen mightyena and houndoom were milling about, unsure of their commands. By the Master's decree, all trackers must have at least three 'tracking type' pokemon in their line-up, to ensure their success.
Mia bent down. "Bring me the boy," she commanded to the leader, a burly houndoom with multiple scars crisscrossing its black hide. She used her Aura to project a mental image of the teen to the pokemon. "The others you can eliminate. Go!"
The pokemon diverged into two smaller packs of six each and they charged down the two streams, yelping and howling the whole way.
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May shuddered as a howl echoed through the forest, causing shivers to run down her spine. "I think something's after us!" she panicked.
The stream dropped down to a fifty foot, waterfall, the water churning and roaring below them. They couldn't jump, lest they suffer injury from the jutting rocks. They had become trapped, and the howls and barks were coming closer.
Blaidd perked his human ears up. "Mightyena and houndoom from what it sounds like."
"Oh great, a pack of blood thirsty dark types. Fun way to end the day." Drew pulled out a pokeball. "Masquerain, come on out!"
May took the hint. "Glaceon, Venasaur, you too!" The blue fox pokemon shook its head and the temperature suddenly dropped. Ice crystals formed on the surface of the water.
Brock did likewise. "Let's go Croagunk!"
The houndoom and mightyena soon came in sight, with four mightyena and two houndoom. Saliva dripped from their mouths at the prospect of prey.
"Glaceon, use ice shard!" May commanded. The temperature dropped to freezing levels as the moisture around Glaceon froze into jagged pieces of ice. With a mental effort, the pokemon launched the shards into the slavering pack. A handful of the shards went into the leading mightyena's chest and throat and it tumbled over, blood spewing from its wounds. The others went sailing by or nicking the other pokemon. They roared in rage at the death of their comrade.
May was repulsed by the idea of killing another pokemon, but it was either her or them. "Glaceon, ice shard again!" The fox pokemon attacked again, but the dog pokemon were wily enough to pick on to the trick and they nimbly dodged the attack. In a few strides, they were on the group of trainers.
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Ash, Misty and Max splashed through the stream, trying to escape the howls. There was no time to worry about their friends now, their survival was imperative. Max's foot caught on a wet rock jutting out and he tripped, twisting his ankle in the process. He groaned as waves of pain shot through his foot.
"Max!" Ash and Misty ran to him.
"I think I twisted my ankle," Max whimpered.
Ash bent down and offered for Max to climb on, piggy-back style. Misty grabbed the boy's pack. "You on there tight?" Ash asked.
"Yep."
"Okay then." the trio were off again, Ash considerably slower due to the added weight. Pikachu scampered alongside the couple.
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May's Venasaur was the first to react. It launched out with its vines, keeping the pack at bay as it swung the vine whips around like a bullwhip. One vine sent one of the houndoom crashing into a tree trunk, where some of its ribs cracked with a wet pop. The venasaur finished the houndoom off with a blow to the creature's spinal cord, ending the beast's misery. One of the mightyena ducked underneath the vines and clamped onto one of the meaty appendages, drawing blood. The venasaur bellowed and swung the mightyena around, but the pokemon hung doggedly on with its teeth.
Drew recalled Masquierain back into its ball, making the realization that it would all be useless in this situation, so he called out another pokemon. "Absol, use psycho cut now!"
The black and white lupine pokemon appeared and it shot out a transparent 'blade' of purple energy. It struck the clinging mightyena, but the pokemon still wouldn't let go, so the disaster pokemon took more extreme measures. Using Venasaur as a launching pad, it swung its black horn upwards, into the chest cavity of the mightyena and jerked its head backwards, eviscerating the pokemon. The mightyena fell to the ground, dead. The four had to repress the urge to become violently ill. May was glad that Max didn't have to see this. He owned a pochyena. Absol bounded off Venasaur to engage a houndoom, but was knocked aside into a tree, leaving May and Drew wide open for another attack..
Blaidd held his own too, launching an aura sphere at a charging houndoom, giving a satisfied smirk when the aura sphere collided head on. The houndoom's head twisted funny with the impact, breaking its neck. Another houndoom, enraged, leapt at him. Blaidd grabbed the beast by the curved ivory horns and twisted sharply, snapping its neck too. He tossed the creature aside.
Brock found himself backed up against a tree, his croagunk protecting him from a snarling houndoom. Spittle dripped in long streams from the beast's snout. It lunged for the man, until it was stopped by a poison jab from Croagunk. The houndoom went careening away a few feet then sneered at the diminutive pokemon, thinking it an easy challenge. Croagunk leaped high above the beast's slavering jaws and came down with a brick break attack, cracking the pokemon's skull. The houndoom dropped to the ground, blood leaking form its facial orifices.
The remaining houndoom ducked under Venasaur's vines and jumped at May, who had nothing to defend herself, until Drew jumped onto the beast, grabbing the dog pokemon by the ivory horns, jerking the creature away from May, over the waterfall. "Oh, no you don't, you mangy mutt!" Drew shouted.
"Drew!" May screamed, watching as the houndoom, with Drew still clinging on, plunge into the churning river.
"No!" Blaidd cried out, his heart twinging at the girl's anguished cry.
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The foamy waters poured into Drew's lungs as he and the houndoom tumbled into the waters. By some sort of miracle, the houndoom impaled itself on a jagged piece of black rock as it fell down. Drew was flung off the beast's back with the impact, crashing into the waters. Water flooded into his nose and mouth as he struggled to stay alive. His shoes touched the bottom and he thrust himself upwards, hoping that he would get to the surface in time.
May skidded down the shifting rock face to find Drew, fervently praying that he was still alive. She noticed the houndoom impaled on a spur of granite at the foot of the waterfall, but her eyes went back to the churning water. There was a flash of green as Drew surged out of the water, absolutely soaked and coughing intensely, but he was otherwise alright. Brock and Blaidd helped him out of the water.
Drew coughed up more water. "Remind me never to do that again." he remarked.
"You better not!" May scolded. "That, by far, had to be the stupidest thing you have ever done, ever!" She then hugged the waterlogged boy tightly, never minding the fact that he was drenched. "I'm so glad you're alright though." she planted a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."
Drew blushed and Brock coughed, trying to repress a snicker. "Whoa Brock! Your croagunk's evolving!" Drew pointed out
"Huh?" The frog pokemon was enveloped in a white light as its form changed, into a much larger, stronger version of itself. It stood about four feet high now, with a more developed throat sack. What appeared to be red tubes traveled down the creature's arms, to meet with a wicked red hook on each hand. "Whoa, a Toxicroak!" Brock high-fived Toxicroak, mindful of the red hooks. "Nice job buddy!"
"Tox, toxi-croak!" Toxicroak replied.
Blaidd turned his head eastward. "I hope the others fare well." He then found a ford for the group to cross. "We'll head this way, hopefully where the others are."
Epic moment by Drew folks! Yay for Contestshipping! This chapter was originally going to be one HUGE one, with both Ash's scene and the one above, but I got so carried away with the fight scene (The heroic moment with Drew popped in my head at the last minute, completely not planned XD ), that I was forced to split the chapters into two parts.
And remember, your comments are always appreciated, so don't be afraid to drop a line (except if it's a flame, then you'll be promptly blocked and shunned... SHUNNED!). I swear I don't bite...
Well great, that just sounded desperate...lol