Chapter 6: Rompiendo el Castillo de Los Illuminados

Paul was trapped with the Big Cheese in a burning barn while the Ashes and Gary were outside. Ash wasn't going to stay back and wait for the grim outcome. "Hang on, Paul!" Ash roared. "I'm coming!" He reached for the door handles and pulled. They were locked...and burning his hands. "Yeowch!" He shook off the burning sting. "No good! We can't get in!" Not that way, at least. Ash knew Paul was tough but the Big Cheese was a whole new level.

"Ash, this is Paul who's in there!" Gary wanted to point out. "He can hold his own in there!" It wasn't that Ash didn't believe his first rival. He just had a sinking feeling that after the two run-ins with the bearded big man, one where he tossed Paul's Aggron back at him and another where he nearly choked out the second rival altogether, Paul would be in a bad fight. That's when he spotted two villagers carrying a tall ladder, tall enough to reach a window on the upper floor. To Ash, this was an idea.

"Open sesame..." He dashed to the villagers who were setting up the ladder. Ash decided to put his Spanish tongue to good use. "Es lo que ustedes necesitan ayuda con esa escalera?" Nope, they had it set before Ash noticed. "Supongo que no." That's when the villagers spotted their forigner.

"Deje de él!" growled one villager. Ash needed to bail.

"Up I go!" Ash hustled up the ladder and through the window where he saw the Big Cheese...with his body split in half only connected by his spine. Paul looked like he was fine but Ash wasn't taking that chance. The fire was raging all over the barn. The smoke billowed out the window, making it difficult for Ash or Paul to breathe. The villagers climb up the ladder to see one of their own struggling as he was getting bullet-riddled.

"Mendez!" Big Cheese had a proper name. Mendez turned to see Ash squaring up against the villagers. He became a monkey and raced to save his men.

"That idiot!" Paul scowled. Ash would turn Mendez into the idiot by his race. One villager swung an ax but Ash ducked it and scored an uppercut to the gut, forcing the villager to drop the weapon. Finally spotting Mendez out of the corner of his eye, he snagged the still reeling villager for a tossing projectile.

"Head's up!" he shouted as both Mendez and the villager's heads met from Ash's heave. Both clocked enemies fell into the burning hay. "Now that's a head-on collision." One head-to-head that was decided in less than a second. Mendez, with his body in flames, rose up pissed off. Ash ignored Mendez and twisted to Paul. "I'll take care of the fire! You finish off him!" And how was he going to do so how? Buizel? Paul scoffed at Ash and his quick study of the layout.

"I wonder if he's trying to impress me to think better than saying he's some pathetic Kanto boy. His voice has broken ground in our adventure." Ash released Buizel where he used Water Gun on the flames to minimize the blazing damage and smoke. Paul whipped out his sidearm and fired, piercing Mendez multiple times with each round. Paul had an idea, practically adopting some of Ash's lightning strategies. "I need three flashers!" Three flash grenades? Ash chucked three blue grenades down to Paul, believing he knew a way to stop Mendez. "Aggron, standby for battle!" Paul released Aggron, knowing full well that he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Ash realized Paul's plan.

'Of course. Those flash grenades will blind Mendez for Aggron to score a hit.' Mendez chased Ash again, not a good idea since Ash whipped out his shotgun. BLAM! Shot in the head, Mendez flew back down to where Paul pulled a pin from a flash grenade as the practically invincible Big Cheese rose up. Paul tossed the grenade where he and Aggron covered their eyes but Mendez wasn't quick enough and got caught in the sudden shine with a paining roar.

"Flash Cannon!" Aggron fired a silver beam, blasting the spine in pieces. Mendez fell from the separated blasting but still lived. His legs were still. With the fire put out, Ash retrieved the ladder as Paul crept toward the down Mendez. He pulled the pins from the other two and shoved them into the fallen's innards.

"Pronto, las plagas se destruye," Mendez gasped. "Usted perderá todo." You'd think Paul knew what he said? Or cared?

"Whatever." Ah, no. KABOOM! The Flash did more than light up Mendez's inside. The concussion of the blast knocked the lights out in Georgia and good. Ash set the ladder, a bit scornful with Paul's brutality.

"Was that really necessary?" he questioned as Paul climbed the ladder, an eye in his pocket. Ew!

"What do you think? And next time I'm in trouble, don't come bailing my tail from danger." Man, everything Ash did to keep everyone safe, Paul rants him out in negativity. They climbed down the ladder to regroup with Gary and Ashley, relieved to see them still standing.

"Told ya he could hold his own," he vehemently sighed. "But you wanted to make sure instead of insisting in my opinion." Ash couldn't help it. He had to make sure in the benefit.

"Hey, I'm not wanting to upset Reggie about Paul eating it, alright?" he argued. Paul growled more at Ash's words.

"Stop bringing up my pathetic older brother!" he bellowed as he stomped away.

"Wait, do all of you have siblings?" Ashley asked. Gary was offering the details.

"Older brother," he informed as he pointed to Paul. "Older sister," he continued as he fingered himself. "Only child," he finished as he "gunned" Ash before following Paul, leaving the Ashes in the rear with Pikachu.

"Kinda sucks to be an only child, huh?" Ash just shrugged his shoulders before they followed the rest. After scaling back through the ski lift, Paul scanned Mendez's eye and the doors opened. The foursome followed a trail and for the time being, it was just them as they approached a castle. That's when the overly used groans of villagers sounded the approach of another mob.

"Pararlos!" one villager roared out. "Que van a obtener en el castillo!" They were too late. The group reached the drawbridge and operated the cranks to raise it, cutting the path to the others.

"Hemos llegado demasiado tarde!" another local groaned. Inside, the boys had taken stock of the size of the castle. They weren't aware that the castle had defensive tactics like a catapult. Soon enough, flaming shots rained down on them, exploding on landing. The group found a storage shelter after some running, hearing repeated moans of what sounded like a prayer.

"We need a way to stop that catapult!" Gary shouted over the explosions. Paul started to smell gunpowder from somewhere below. Lots of gunpowder.

"I can smell gunpowder from a cannon from over there!" he suggested. "Ash, come with me!" Ash nodded, believing Paul had a plan and turned to Gary.

"Hold the fort!" he ordered. Ash and Paul scampered under the fire of the catapult and arrows from crossbows. Reaching the other side, they found another crank. Paul released Electabuzz. Why?"

"Electabuzz, use Protect!" Electabuzz erected a green veil just as another round from the catapult hit. The veil was strong as Ash and Paul teamed to crank the wheel, ultimately revealing a cannon as suspected. Paul exited the Protect as he fired the cannon by pulling the fuse. The cannon fired a large bomb, blowing the catapult...and the users into pieces. Shreds of black robed cloth scattered.

"That was perfect! Thanks, Electabuzz!" Electabuzz nodded before being recalled by Paul who simply walked.

"Electabuzz is not your Pokémon. Don't address it as it is." Paul's callous attitude had Ash wondering if he wanted this parasite to eat him without help. Regrouped again, the crowd entered the castle where Ash got a buzz. Ingrid, did she find anything about Saddler?

"Ingrid, what's up?"

"Concern and maybe my blood pressure," she scoffed a bit. "Where's your current location?"

"A decrepit castle just beyond a ski-lift. We were hoping for cover when that was learned to be a bad move."

"Clarify."

"I have a hunch that the castle is in cahoots with the Los Illuminados.Let me tell you that was the worst welcoming since I rescued a baby Lapras in the Orange Islands."

"A baby Lapras, I'd love to see what you mean. Meantime, I need you to-" Swiftly, the connection was lost.

"Ingrid? Ingrid!" No dice. A jamming signal in the castle? "I guess we're on our own." Gary had gone to a wall where there was a platinum sword embedded in a golden section of a wall. It didn't ring sense as he carefully pried the sword out.

"I wonder if there's something that goes here instead of this sword," he pondered as he returned to Ash. "Hey, any word from US HQ?"

"No, I lost contact with Ingrid." Why would the phone suddenly disconnect? Before anyone can ponder, more cloaks arrived and attacked. Ash did a superb job blasting away the cloaks as Gary removed a gold sword from a platinum portion only to insert the platinum sword where gold was. Perfect fit. Retreating back to the gold wall, he inserted the gold sword, opening a wall to reveal a door.

"Hurry!" The group ran through the door which led back outside. They ran to evade any extra resistance when...

"Chicos!" shouted a familiar voice. Only one person would call the group chicos. The group turned to see Luis racing from behind.

"Luis, what's up?" Ash greeted as Luis began to catch his breath.

"Good news. I got something that can help you." He began to dig into his pockets...not having anything. "Dammit! Must have lost it outrunning those villagers!" Lost what?

"What was it?" Ashley asked.

"It's a drug that's suppose to control seizures and convulsions." The group looked at each other, making sure that they were okay. No one had a seizure recently, right?

"We're all fine," Ash reassured. "None of us have had any difficulty with health since that sea creature." Back when Ash had his old voice and that all three passed out gradually.

"You're all carriers, right? You've been coughing up blood?" Pikachu rose his paw, saying that he was completely fine.

("I haven't!") he denied. Luis didn't count on Ash's Pikachu to be part of the group.

"That's one less to consider a carrier. There isn't much time now that the eggs have hatched." That concerned Pikachu and Ashley. The boys were in hot water but Ash stood in confident fashion.

"Hey, leave the situation to me," he grinned. Luis was rather astounded with Ash being forward about what he could be plotting. "And a situation like this might need some thinking outside the box, right Gary?" Gary scoffed, remembering that Silver Conference battle he lost to Ash.

"Okay, I deserve some of the blame for that," he admitted. "But I'll leave you with Ashley if only to find the drug." Gary's going with Luis? That left Ash with Ashley and Paul...but that would be very short lived.

"There's no way I'm staying by a pathetic party crasher," he snarled as he walked off.

"Ash!" Luis called, forcing Ash to turn away from Paul. "I have faith that you'll keep an eye on the president's daughter. Just don't fail me." On that note, Gary and Luis left, now having Ash and Ashley behind with Pikachu. Ash was upset that the others bailed on them when they needed. Pressing on, the Ashes blew through a few more cloaks only to enter another door. Inside, creeping laughter echoed off the walls. Trying not to intimidated, Ash and Ashley continued...to the base of a stairwell.

"I didn't hear the joke, let alone a punchline," he scorned. Pikachu spotted the sounds from the balcony just above the staircase as someone was coming out.

"I was simply humored at how you haven't noticed who may be running the show," a cackling Spanish toned man scoffed. Looking up, there was a shrimp of a guy, about Ash's height wearing navy blue royal garb. He also was wrinkled with pasty white skin and gray hair. By him were two large cloaks.

"And who might you be?"

"I am Ramon Salazar, the eighth castellan of this glorious architecture. I have been given...enormous power and control by the great Saddler." Unlike the boys, he was given the eggs. Ash had to say something about Osmund.

"Ozzy really likes to giveaway his eggs, doesn't he?" Ramon jumped in insult. Not to him, more like to the cult.

"How dare you mock the leader of the Los Illuminados! Regardless, I was expecting a brethren to...make his acquaintance." Ash wasn't one to consider Ramon a brethren, though it was a nice gesture.

"I'm happy as an only child, gracias!" Ramon huffed a chuckle, impressed at Ash's tongue.

"You've got quite a bit of spunk, little one. However, if you value your life, it would be your best interest to simply...accept the power." With that he walked off, Ash still shooting his mouth off.

"Takes one to know one!" Ramon stopped and gazed at a determined Ash, a new feud boiling. He turned back around and exited.

"There's no way in hell that I'm turning into one of them!" Ashley spat in protest. Ash breathed himself to a calm mood.

"Cool your jets, Ash. I got this." Ash proceeded forward as Ashley twitched her eye, startled that he'd call her by his name. Finally, she surrendered and tailed Ash. Just steps from a door down a hallway after the staircase, a wall sprung up. Path was blocked but to Ash, no blockage would stand up. He released Gible. "Gible, Dragon Pulse!" Gible fired a green sphere from his mouth and shot it at the wall. KABOOM! The wall...stood. That strong attack didn't put a dent in that wall. Even worse, Gible felt weak in the...did he even have knees? "Guess we need to find a way around." Regaining strength, Gible walked up to the hard-as-nails wall and bit into it. "Gible?" Gible did something to make the wall glow orange. Ash realized what Gible was doing. "I didn't know you could use Draco Meteor like that. Let's take a few steps back." Getting far back, Gible released it with a big KABOOM! Hoping for the best, the cloud of smoke disguised the outcome. As if all the world hated the Ashes, the wall stood. Draco Meteor failed...mostly. Ash was intrigued with Gible's mechanics of using Draco Meteor.

"So wait, your Gible bites on something and transfers...whatever that was and a big explosion is the outcome?" Ash dug out his device and hit a few keys before handing it Ashley.

"Draco Meteor is a move only learned by Dragon-Type Pokémon," the device computed. "The Pokémon stores power into it's body before ejecting the powerful orb to the sky, creating meteors to fall on all reckless enough to stand close by. However, the Pokémon's Special Defense takes a drastic plummet." A risky move to have.

"Unless someone has magic under their cloaks, Gible should be just fine." Ash nodded before going through the only open door, wondering about his rivals. Ash stopped when he looked down from a window, viewing a cage as Ashley and Pikachu walked from him toward flame-throwing statues. No way they could cross it. That's when Pikachu spotted something shining from the painting on their right.

("What's that?") he spoke. Ashley looked to the painting, spotting a silver key. She removed it with an inscription imprinted: "LLAVE DE LA MAZMORRA." Maybe Ash knew what that translated to.

"Hey, Ash! I'm not too sure but I think that key goes to that door." She offered the key to Ash who had a good look at it.

"Dungeon key?" he questioned as he translated the engraving. He used the key which fitted into the lock and opened the door. "Stay here with Pikachu." Even with his old voice back, Pikachu was still fearful for Ash's well being. Ash journeyed down a flight of stairs where he spotted a tall, muscular man wearing black pants, a silver helmet covering his entire head...and a pair of steel claws on each hand. He was boarded to a wall beside a lever, all behind iron bars. Ash peered around to see crates and two silver bells while Pikachu and Ashley watched from the safety of the window above. Cautiously, Ash reached the bars. Before he could reach the gate to open, the clawed man woke up and broke from the steel shackles, raging. Ash retreated to get distance as the raging man destroyed the door. Now Ash was facing down a man that had gone berserk. Could he escape?

CONTINUARÁ...