Hello again my good readers! Once more we return to the world of Time Crossed Heroes! Last time, we realized that Ash is even denser than we thought, and doesn't even know from where the hell babies come from. Rather interesting to see his reaction once he DOES learn. Will be rather interesting, ne? Also, in this chapter, we will have the first connection between the two timelines. Now, let us begin!
SUPREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE THAT YOU PEOPLE HAVE TO READ: Girl of Darkness10 made an RPG of Guardians of Altomare on her forum. So come on, people, and jump in! Here's the URL
forum/Pokemon-RPG/119134/
Same spot as we left off last time, 10 minutes later
The Guardians were still on their table, having their afternoon tea, while Delia and Prof. Oak explained to Ash where babies come from. Dragon, for one, was patiently expecting the highly predictable reaction of the young trainer…
"I CAME OUT OF WHAAAT!?"
"Ah, there it is…" Dragon said with a slight chuckle. Mind, on the other hand, was laughing like there was no tomorrow.
"Oh, Legends, that made my day!" the slightly deranged Guardian said between maniacal laughter. "Think he'll still take the challenge knowing what you're telling him to do?"
"Doubtful." The leader stated. "The kid's still too naïve. Maybe in a few years, he will." And then, the Guardian leader felt a horrible chill down his spine, and the source was rather evident: Flame, Thunder, and Poison were giving him an Aura technique that had driven lesser men insane: The Aura Glare of Ultimate Death. Luckily, Dragon was no lesser man, so instead of going insane, he just started sweating like he had three Demons in front of him. "Um… I-is something w-wrong, sisters?" Their glare intensified, and Dragon was now sweating a waterfall.
"You're a pig, Dragon." Flame stated simply. Dragon raised his hands in defense.
"Now, now, you know very well I didn't expect him to say yes." Dragon answered, trying to placate his sisters. "On that note, I at least expected him to know what I meant. It didn't cross my Mind he'd be that dense."
"Dude, he's you" Steel deadpanned. "Before you became the Guardian, you were as dense as molten iron." All the other guardians agreed wholeheartedly, making Dragon slump. However, before they could continue pestering their leader, a small, familiar voice came from above them.
"Uh… Hello!" They all looked up, and saw the small green sprite that had brought them to this world to begin with. "H-how are you guys doing?"
There was silence for a few seconds… until Celebi screamed in fear as blasts of Aura were fired at him.
With Ash and Co., about 5 minutes later
"So… that's where babies come from, eh?" Ash asked, after waking up (Yes, he passed out). He had not expected his mother to be so blunt about it. He figured she'd explain slowly and easily… not straight out of the bag.
"Yeah, that's right!"
"I still can't believe you hadn't explained this to him earlier, Delia." Oak, slightly annoyed, spoke. "Gary knew of all this since before he began his journey!"
"Well, excuse me for wanting to keep my son sheltered." Delia countered. Their argument would've continued, but a small, green bullet barreled past them and hid behind Oak.
"SAAAM! SAAAVE MEEEEEE!" Celebi cried out before hiding behind the dumbfounded Professor.
"A C-Celebi?" the sprite looked up towards the Professor. "A-are you the same one I met all those years ago?" Celebi nodded frantically, and screamed when a poison laden aura knife impaled itself right beside his head, and hid behind the professor again.
"COME BACK HERE, YOU ROOTS FOR BRAINS!" Poison screeched as the Guardians ran towards the Professor. "WE ONLY WANT TO DISMEMBER YOU AND FEED YOUR INSIDES TO THE MUKROWS!" The professor turned around to look at the little Pokémon.
"Wait… did you bring them here?" Celebi nodded, frightened, knowing that if the Guardians caught him he'd be as good as dead. "Can't you just send them back?"
"I WISH I COULD!" Celebi cried angrily, tears spilling from his eyes. "I CAN'T SEND THEM BACK UNLESS…" Celebi paused, and looked up fearfully. "That's it… I'm dead…" Just then, the professor saw a massive shadow lumbering over him. He slowly and fearfully turned around, and saw the hulking mass of the Berserker armor towering over him. The armored being extended his hand.
"Hand him over and you walk out of here alive." Mind's distorted voice rang out from within the Armor. "Refuse… and your investigation will find itself in need of a new scientist." Knowing Max would carry out that threat, the Professor handed over the small Pokémon, both of them trembling the whole time. "Thank you very much…"
Celebi was shaking like a leaf in the wind, his little bee wings folded tightly against his back as the Berserker carried him towards the Guardian Leader, whose Paladin Armor was starting to form.
"I may not be able to keep this form for long… But it'll be enough to make you talk…" The armor of the legendary Paladin began to form around the Leader of the Guardians, making the Legendary Pokémon shake in fear.
"WAIWAIWAIWAIT! I CAN CONNECT THE TIMELINES!" The Voice of the Forest managed to cry out. His face impassive as ever, Dragon canceled the transformation.
"Explain, quickly." His voice promised pain if he did not like the answer. Celebi flew out of Mind's grasp and flew as high as he could while still within earshot.
"Ok, here's the thing. Undoubtedly, you've noticed that some things in this world are completely different from your world." The Guardians nodded. "So, if you guys were to meet with the opposite of something or someone you know, or just a really different version of them, and, uh, release your emotions towards them, I'll be able to connect both timelines for a while, just enough time for you guys to hug your families and plan stuff with the other Guardians." Mind's eyes narrowed. He dissolved his armor before asking the question in all their Minds.
"What do you mean… release our emotions?" He asked, with a threat hidden under his words. Celebi chuckled nervously at this.
"You…uh… have to… you know… sing them." Silence fell all around them. Celebi was already picturing himself turned into a salad… Dragon sighed heavily.
"Well, it could be a lot worse." Celebi stood dumbfounded at his words, half sure he had heard wrong.
"Pardon?"
"I said: it could be a lot worse." Dragon clarified. "You could've told us to kill the opposites, even if they were innocent. Just singing isn't that bad." The little sprite released a sigh of relief… until the Berserker jumped and brought him back down.
"If you can connect the timelines…" Mind asked as he dissolved his armor, "Then why can't you just send us back home, right now?" His shield's blades were pointed at Celebi's throat. The sprite gulped.
"M-my original plan…" The Time traveler began. "Was to send you guys here for a short while, then I'd come back and you'd depart this world with a teary good-bye to your counterparts. You know, like a cliché fanfic." Dragon raised an eyebrow at that, but decided to ignore it. "The only reason I was able to bring you here, was that both you and the other you were feeling proud of something. You were feeling incredibly proud at the progress Ritias was making with her Aura training, and the other you had just won another badge… That pretty much sums up the difference between you two." The sprite Pokémon shrugged as he said the last bit. "If both of you manage to get a moment of synchrony, I'll be able to send you back." Dragon sighed and nodded, understanding the situation. He was a bit miffed, however, about having to cooperate with that useless waste of organic material that was his other self.
"Anyway, I believe we may have found a connection opportunity already." From his current position, Dragon saw the innocent versions of Max and May. "That version of May will be perfect for the connection…" (Omake at the bottom)
Back in the Guardian Universe, somewhere in the Unovan forest.
A young woman, with an eyepatch over her left eye and her brown hair tied up in a ponytail, dressed in a white tank top and jeans, and a long, silk glove covering most of her left arm, sighed as she finished cooking breakfast for her family.
'It's hard to believe it's been 3 years since we got away from them.' She thought, happily. 'I guess I gotta thank the Guardians for beating King Roland I guess…' Speaking of which, she really wondered how the Guardians were doing. It'd been a while since they appeared on the news, after defeating some evil team or got rid of some kind of threat. Either way, they always seemed to save the day. Her own triplet daughters idolized the Guardians. 'If only I hadn't screwed up…'
"Penny for your thoughts?" The woman smiled as she heard the deep voice of her mate.
"Nothing, really." She said as he sat down beside her. He was an Absol, a regular one, with a small, pearl-like gem dangling from his neck. "Just thinking about how the Guardians haven't appeared in the news for a while." She said as she kneeled down and gave him a kiss. "Good morning, by the way."
"Hehe, sorry. Good morning, my dearest." The Absol quickly amended. Soon after, a distinctively male yawn rang out. "Aaand good morning to you too, Natural." The male, now identified as Natural, groaned.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Natural said angrily. "You know I hate that name." The woman chuckled, before going back into breakfast making.
"Where's Resh, anyway?" The woman asked, and just as she did, a white haired woman walked in, yawning slightly. "Never mind. Morning Resh!"
"Morning." The woman had incredibly pale skin, and electric blue eyes. She picked up the controller and turned on the TV.
"*BZZT*…in other news, The Sacred Guardians of Altomare derailed the plans of Team Rocket leftovers..." The brown haired woman blinked owlishly at the screen.
"And there they are again." The brown haired woman said. Her mate shrugged.
"The Guardians have always been a bit unpredictable." The Disaster Pokémon said, shrugging as best as his canine form allowed him to. "I wouldn't find it odd if they decided to take a vaca…" The Absol suddenly froze, his eyes wide. "Uh-oh…" Before the woman could ask, three little girls, all of them sporting the body of a human, but with the legs, tail, horn and head gem of an Absol, with snow white hair, ran in.
"MOMMY, DADDY, WE'RE SCARED!" The girls yelled, crying, as they tackled their parents. The woman turned to her mate.
"W-what's wrong?" the Absol began to sniff the air, trying to find something.
"Something's close. If what I'm feeling, as well as what the girls are feeling, is correct, we might have a situation… a Disaster of earth-shattering magnitude." the girl's remaining eye went wide, before becoming a cold slit. She materialized a weapon made of aura, her prime technique: An Egyptian Khopesh shaped like her mate's horn, with a chain sickle attached to the hilt, shaped like something akin to an Absol's horn, but different. It was made of snow white Aura with red markings along the blade's edge The Disaster Pokémon nodded. "Bring the girls, I have a feeling we might be gone for a while. You too, Natu… I mean, you and Resh should come too." The man and white haired woman nodded. The man then materialized his own weapon, a two foot long longbow made of icy green aura. The top and bottom sides of the bow were wicked family of five and the young couple left their small cottage in the woods, and headed towards the direction the Absol and Half-Absols were getting an energy signature from. Upon arrival, they saw something that might've been a Demon straight out of hell. Another woman, but half of her head was a machine. Her entire left arm, right leg, right shoulder, and her left ear were also mechanical. Out of her implanted hand, the woman was firing a blue laser at a small, crystalline shard.
"Sol…" The brown haired woman whispered to her mate, terrified of the sight before her. Her hand unconsciously went up to her eyepatch, a gift the creature they were looking at had given her. "W-what is that crystal that… that thing is shooting at?" The Absol was restraining himself from going in and killing the cyborg, but turned to answer his mate.
"My dearest… that is a shard of the Adamant Orb, one of the three orbs that house part of the power of Dialga, Palkia and Giratina. The Adamant Orb holds power over time, so…" Just then, a portal opened. On the other side, the woman could clearly see the Guardians, sitting down in a clearing and eating. "Listen, I sense that if we don't follow that abomination, the results will be beyond disastrous. We HAVE to follow her… and maybe get some payback while we're at it." The woman nodded, and the entire family began to stealthily make their way towards the portal. After escaping Hunter custody, sneaking up on a cyborg wasn't so hard. Just as the Cyborg entered the portal, Absol grabbed one of the girls by the scruff of her neck (Her Pokémon half making the bite completely painless) while the woman grabbed the other two. They both lunged into the portal, along with the Natural and Resh, and made it through just as it closed.
AND THAT'S A WRAP! Who are these people? Who could this Natural and Resh be? More importantly, who is the woman with the eyepatch? All those answers shall come in soon! *Grabs the intercom* ATTENTION ALL GUARDIANS! YOU ARE ALL TO REPORT TO THE CAPTAIN'S MESS! *5 minutes later, the Guardians arrive*
Mind: Ok, cappy, what's the deal? *Author points at a cloaked person next to him*
Ask her, she's the one that popped out of nowhere and nearly gives me a heart attack.
Cloaked figure: *Giggles* Oh, I just have a little surprise for all of you. An idea I gave your captain. *All the Guardians pale.*. My name is Midnight Monster, by the way.
Dragon: A-An idea, you say?
Mind: Aw, crap… what you call 'Ideas' we call FODs.
*Author looks confused*
FODs?
All the Guardians: FUCK OUR DAY!
Ooooh… right.
Dragon: Anyway, what was this idea?
*Author chuckles ominously as Natural, Resh, the Woman and her family (Absol and the triplet girls) walk in* Oh, you'll see, my friends… you'll see.
Mind: WHO THE FUCK ARE THEY!?
You'll see Mind, you'll see...
Intercom: *plays What does the Fox Say?*
*Author sweatdrops* What the frog?
Midnight Monster:. . . . *Starts to dance crazily*
*Sigh* Things are getting too weird here. This is BladeOfThePoet, logging out.
OMAKE #1
"I WON'T DO IT!" Mind yelled for the 4th time.
"Come on, you big wuss." Steel said, trying to push the youngest Guardian forward. "It's for everyone's sake!"
"HELL NO! NO WAY IN *BLEEP* -ING HELL I'M GONNA SING!" Dragon was getting pissed…
"LEGENDS DAMN IT, MIND" The normally calm and collected leader of the Guardians yelled. "Start singing, or so help me, I'm gonna tell Kirlia you tell Ayame war stories!" The Guardian of the Mind stopped struggling as all color drained from his face. He regarded his leader fearfully.
"Y-you wouldn't…" He managed to stutter out.
"If you don't start singing right. NOW. I SURE AS HELL WILL!" Survival 101: Never get between a Dragon and his family. Mind sighed, and walked forward, focusing on the other May as he began to sing.
(Normal means Max/Mind is singing. Bold means Berserker. Mixed means both)
(Runaway by Linkin Park)
Mind took a deep breath, ignoring the Berserker's spirit materializing next to him. He looked like a red blob of blood-red Aura shaped like Mind. And slowly, they began their tune.
Graffiti decorations
Under a sky of dust
A constant wave of tension
On top of broken trust
The lessons that you taught me
I learn were never true
Now I find myself in question
(They point the finger at me again)
Guilty by association
(You point the finger at me again)
The last two lines, Mind pointed at the Other May, but stopped once the next part began.
I wanna run away!
Never say goodbye!
I wanna know the truth!
Instead of wondering why!
I wanna know the answers,
No more lies!
I wanna shut the door,
And open up my Mind!
Using his Aura, Mind created a set of instruments. They all played, seemingly on their own as Mind continued.
Paper bags and angry voices
Under a sky of dust
Another wave of tension
Has more than filled me up
All my talk of taking action
These words were never true
Now I find myself in question
(They point the finger at me again)
Guilty by association
(You point the finger at me again)
I wanna run away!
Never say goodbye!
I wanna know the truth,
Instead of wondering why!
I wanna know the answers,
No more lies!
I wanna shut the door,
And open up my Mind!
The instruments went into full silence at that moment.
I'm gonna run away… and never say GOODBYE!
(gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away)
I'm gonna run away… and never wonder WHY!
(gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away)
I'm gonna run away… and open up my MIND!
(gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away gonna run away)
Every time Mind screamed out a word (Goodbye, Why, and Mind) a piece of the Berserker Armor formed over him. He fully formed it upon screaming out Mind, which made the Guardians think he was showing off… which he probably was.
I wanna run away!
Never say goodbye!
I wanna know the truth,
Instead of wondering why!
I wanna know the answers,
No more lies!
I wanna shut the door,
And open up my Mind!
I wanna run away!
(and open up my Mind)
i wanna run away
(and open up my Mind)
i wanna run away
(and open up my Mind)
i wanna run away
and open up my Mind
Mind released a heavy sigh after he finished singing, the Berserker's spirit going back into him as he finished. Just then, spectral versions of the other Guardians and mates appeared…
"LATIAS!" Dragon yelled as he ran towards the slightly transparent version of his wife. Upon seeing him, Latias smiled widely.
"ASHIE!" The two ran to each other, each one wrapping the other in a powerful hug.
"DADDY!" Two voices rang out, and two little beings tackled Dragon. The Guardian leader was smiling like he did when he was a trainer. Seeing him Ash realized this was the first time he had seen Dragon give a genuine smile.
'That smile…' Ash thought. 'It's like the one I have when I win a badge, but it seems… more real somehow.' He looked around to see all the Guardians that had been sent to this timeline hugging and kissing their mates, while their children (of those that HAD children) were tightly hugged as well.
"Amphy, I missed you!" Thunder yelled as she squeezed the life out of her mate.
"Missed… you too, sweetheart… can't breathe… need… air…" The poor Ampharos managed to gasp out, prompting his mate to release him… only to then squeeze her own son.
"Oh, Donner, mama missed you so much!" Thunder yelled while hugging her son tightly. Poor thing was going purple. Luckily, she let him go just in time. "Now, you haven't been causing your father any trouble, have you?" The little boy shook his head, but Amphy knew better.
"Oh, sure, causing three city-wide blackouts in a week isn't trouble at all…" The former employee of the Lighthouse muttered. Riight… moving on!
Steel was tightly hugging his wife, Lucario, with his two children, Blake and Adaira, squished up between them. No one said anything. No words were needed.
Mind had gotten over the fact his wife had evolved (And was now as tall as he was, considering his growth spurt a few years back) and was kissing her passionately while Ayame rode on his shoulders. The Guardian of the Mind was grinning like an idiot, happy to be with his family once more.
Poison was spinning her mate around, happy to see him again, not noticing that his eyes were already spinning due to dizziness.
Flame was making out with her mate, flames pouring out everywhere as her Feral mode surfaced ever so slightly.
Ice and his mate were also making out, but everyone had to move away from them as it became too cold. Literally. The ground around them froze up.
Despite that, Ash noticed the looks of happiness on the faces of all the Guardians. They were simply exuding joy. Just then, Ash felt an odd emptiness within himself. He took out his Badge case, and stared at the pieces of metal within…
'W-what is this feeling? I feel… empty…' He looked up again to see Dragon and Latias staring at each other lovingly, their daughter flying above his head and their son running around his legs . 'Is… this what he meant? Is this the hollow feeling he had when he abandoned training?'