Hello again my good readers! I am back once again with another chapter. This will be a small explanation chapter to a few things left unexplained in the original Guardians of Altomare, as well as some plot development. And I just have to say, I am highly disappointed. No one saw the reference to the most epic Sci-Fi show to have ever been born: Firefly in the last chapter! Seriously, it was a whole scene from the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds"! *Sigh* Nevertheless, I shall continue.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. Wish I did, but the blue fairy put me on hold.
Path to the next town
The Guardians had had their fill. They just couldn't stand it anymore. One more question from that brat and they would perform a public execution on the spot. It had been merely a few hours since the death of MX-02, and poor, poor May was being assaulted by question from the most insufferable brat the Guardians had ever met.
"How was that arm grafted into your body? Is it connected to your nerves? What's its power source? What was that Mega Evolution thing your Absol did?" Max kept barraging the robot armed woman with similar question, occasionally switching to asking things to the triplets and rarely to N. All the aforementioned were just about murder the kid. Well, except the triplets, but they were still very annoyed. But not as annoyed as…
"Oh, for the love of Arceus, SHUT UP!" Mind went Berserker and roared straight at the kid's face. This effectively shut him up. "One more question out of you, and I will commit murder, plot be damned." OI! Mind, you can't kill him, I need the guy alive! "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!" Yeesh. Ok, moving on. Max was utterly terrified at the sight of the Berserker, and yet it felt… familiar. He could feel something stir inside of him at the sight of the hulking armor. While he would never admit it, Max felt… giddy at the sight of the cyborg being slaughtered. He was horrified, sure, but deep inside he felt a sadistic glee surfacing.
"H-hey, uh, other me?" Max asked tentatively.
"What?" Mind answered as he slowly dispelled the Berserker.
"What did it feel like, when the Berserker woke up?" Mind stopped walking when he processed the question. He chuckled slightly, but it was a hollow chuckle.
"You finally ask a good question, brat." He said. "It was… odd, really. His awakening was what turned me into the bloodthirsty nutjob I am today. He first woke up when my sister tried to take me back to Petalburg…"
"Second biggest mistake of my life, I might add." May piped in, to which Mind nodded.
"The reddish Aura seeped into my own, and I could feel a powerful desire for blood. I wanted to make her blood seep into the soil beneath my feet. I had no idea what was happening to me at the time. The second occasion he woke up was when my blood family attacked my wife in our home, in an attempt to bring me back…" May shuddered at the memory. "That day was when the Berserker truly woke up. I saw my Kirlia, lying in a pool of her own blood… I saw red. A massive surge of bloodlust rose from my gut, and all I could think of was how I desired to make blood rain. And it almost did, too, if not for Dragon and Kirlia saving me before I was too far gone. Ever since then, I am this. A bloodthirsty psycho warrior." The others just nodded.
"However, it seems like being in the presence of his wife and daughter has a calming effect on him." Flame added. "Whenever he's near them, his thirst for blood is kept in check." The Guardians nodded.
'And being near your mate keeps your Feral mode under control, too…' Dragon thought, looking at his 'sister'. Dragon noticed that the sun was starting to go down. "We should find a place to camp before night falls." The others nodded and, faster than the trainers could comprehend, the Guardians scattered to find a suitable place. It took them less than a minute to find a good clearing, and even Ash had to admit it was way faster than when the Trainers did it. Ash decided to use this moment to ask something to Dragon.
"Hey, Dragon? I was wondering…" Ash started.
"Yes?" Dragon prodded him to continue.
"Has being mated to a Pokémon changed your aura? I know I'm not proficient with it, but I can sense yours to be… well, different from others I've felt from humans." Dragon smiled. The kid's brain was starting to work.
"Good question. The constant contact with our mates has caused our Auras to attune themselves to their element. My aura is draconic, which is what you feel as 'Different'." Ash nodded in understanding.
"So… your aura is Dragon/Psychic?" Dragon shook his head 'no'.
"No. Our auras can only attune to one of our mate's elements. The reason is that all of our Auras are already Human type. The mixture with our mate's made us all dual type, and two is the limit any Aura can take. I'm Human/Dragon, Flame is Human/Fire, and so on and so forth." Ash nodded.
"So, if I were to mate with a Grass type, would my Aura become Human/Grass?" Dragon nodded, and his brow rose in suspicion.
"Any reason for that particular element?" Dragon asked, remembering a certain, green skinned Pokémon. Ash turned beet red.
"N-not really." He said. Embarrassed as he was, Dragon could tell the kid wasn't lying… just not telling the whole truth. His piercing gaze struck the Trainer hard, trying to force an answer out of him. "*sigh* It's about the challenge you gave me. Now that I know what I have to do, I realize it isn't that simple a choice as I originally thought. First off, I don't even know if any of the girls traveling with us right now would even consider doing that with me." Dragon sweatdropped at the kid's innocence. He looked over to where the others were and he saw May and Dawn giving Ash lust-filled stares.
'This kid's even more naïve that Ritios… and he's 3 years old, damn it!'
"Then, even if they DID want to do it, if I went with one, the other might feel bad… So I considered, you know…" Dragon held his hand up, making him shut up.
"Meganium?" He nodded. "Wouldn't have been my first choice. Then again, my first and only choice will always be Latias." Ash looked down to the floor, and he unconsciously grabbed his chest. Dragon grinned. "Ah, you feel it, don't you? The void, deep inside. A feeling you can't quite place and yet you feel like it's been there a long, long time." Ash nodded, making the Guardian chuckle. "There it is, then. The same feeling I had after I lost the Hoenn League. The feeling I held for two years after my disappearance." He looked up in nostalgia. "Have you ever heard of the term Aura Mates?" Ash looked at him confused.
"Uh… no, I haven't." For once, Dragon didn't mock his lack of knowledge, and instead, shed some light unto him.
"It is the original term for Soul Mates. Two people whose Auras are a perfect match, a perfect fit with each other. I had felt it from the second I first met Latias. A tug in my gut, like a string connecting me to her. I had no idea what it was at the time. But when I found out… everything felt so clear. The path I had to take was suddenly revealed to me. I shed my old self, my naïveté, my previous life, my entire past, and left for Altomare. When Latias and I were reunited… it was like a blast of light erased the darkness in our pasts. The depression she'd been in since Latios had died and I had left, the void I felt ever since I left her… all gone, just like that." He held his chest. "And I know this will sound cheesy, but the longer I'm away from my wife and children, the more I can feel that void coming back…" Ash looked at him oddly.
"So… you're with Latias only to avoid that pain? Isn't that kinda selfi…" before he could finish, Dragon's sword was pointed directly at his throat.
"Do not try to deduce that which you cannot understand." Dragon's voice dripped with a poison that would've made one of his sisters jealous. "I am with Latias because I love her more than my very life. For her, and for my children, I would gladly undergo all the tortures of this world and the next." Ash nodded, gulping loudly because of the pointy object poking his throat, very close to breaking skin.
"U-understood" Ash held his hands up in surrender and backed away.
"Now, remember you can always back out from the challenge and release a mere 6 Pokémon. You have a whole herd of Tauros, just release 6 of them and get it over with." Ash shook his head.
"No. I value my friends more than my own dignity." Dragon stared at the kid, bewildered as he showed one of his rare moments of maturity. "After all…" Ash shot him a Victory sign "There's no way I'll become Pokémon Master if I release so many Pokémon!" Dragon faceplanted.
'Does this kid think of anything else!?' He thought angrily. That's when his danger sense went off. Ever since he had been shot all those years ago by a Hunter sniper, he had trained to expand his Aura's reach, allowing him to sense people from longer away. His current range was 3.2km (2 miles), and something had just popped up in the edge of his 'vision'. Whatever it was, it was moving rapidly towards them, running through the woods at a speed only an experienced warrior would be able to achieve…
'3.1km… 2.8km… 2.4km… 2km… what is this?' His eyes snapped open, and he ran towards the others, dragging the other ash with him. They rapidly reached the camp, where all the Trainers and Guardians (+ May, N and their mates and children). "GUARDIANS! TO ARMS!" Dragon yelled, spurring all the Guardians into action. Faster than the eye could see, the Guardians had set up a perimeter around the camp.
"Dragon, what's wrong?" Flame asked him.
"Something's moving towards us, fast. 1.2km away, 30 degrees northwest." The Guardians prepared for combat, extending their auras to locate the bogey…
0.9km…
0.5km…
0.2km…
.
.
"THERE!" Thunder yelled and fired her Charge Beam attack. Out of it popped out a man, dressed in a slightly baggy purple robe and a full head mask covering his head, with a pair of slits for the eyes. The man bore the symbol of the King's Hunters. All of the Guardians snarled bestially, and the man bowed to them and held out his hand, holding an envelope.
"My master sent me to deliver this message to you." Dragon took the envelope. The ninja-like man bowed again. "Have a nice day." And with that, he ran off, vanishing from sight. Curios but wary, Dragon opened the envelope, conscious of his brothers and sisters peeking over his shoulders.
"To whomever you may be:
I have seen your prowess in combat, and would like to extend my most cordial invitation to my palace in the northern part of Unova. Should you agree to come, you will be accommodated with many luxuries: Food, baths and bedrooms, for example. I sincerely hope you will accept.
Prince Roger of the King's Hunters, descendant of King Roland"
They all blinked owlishly at the letter, utterly confused by its contents.
"Didn't King Roland kill off all his children?" Poison asked.
"In our timeline he did." Dragon answered. "He must've had one more in this timeline. Either that or they were different from the ones in ours…" His eyes held an angered look. "Well, my brothers and sisters, it looks like we're going to a castle. Some… cleaning is way overdue in this place." The Guardians reacted differently for this.
Mind grinned sadistically, bloodlust oozing off his aura.
Steel remained quiet, but his claws materialized, a general sign he said 'Let's do this.'
Thunder sighed, but nodded. She had hoped the killing would be diminished. At least they were killing Hunters instead of standard bandits and thieves.
Poison chuckled, her poison knives dripping toxic fluid. No matter what timeline they were in, she still loved to kill the Hunters as payback.
Ice nodded, the air around him cold. He wanted to make sure the Hunters would not be able to harm anyone else. And Flame…
… Flame looked worried, cradling her flat belly. Dragon looked at her, confused. Normally, she was the second one to jump at the chance to kill Hunters (the first one being Mind), and yet this time she looked like she didn't want to go in. Dragon closed his eyes, and let his aura out. He saw the Auras of all his brothers and sisters, like Mind's dark green, shield-like aura and Ice's glacier-shaped one. Flame's was, as one would think, a towering fire around her. However, he saw something else. Something that made him feel like the largest, most idiotic imbecile of the world. He saw not one, but two smaller auras. They were mere embers dancing in the hearth compared to Flame's aura, but they were there. Two healthy auras, slowly growing in Flame's womb. Dragon's eyes snapped open in shock.
"F-Flame… Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-You're…" She nodded before he could finish. Dragon went solemn in an instant, and with a flash of Aura, he burned the letter. "Nevermind, Guardians. We're heading to the next city. We need to get Flame to the Pokémon center ASAP." The others looked confused, but realization dawned on them quickly. Flame cradling her belly, Dragon's sudden change of mood and him calling off the mission… Thunder and Poison lost their tough demeanor and started squealing like fangirls, hugging Flame tightly.
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Poison yelled happily.
"Donner will have a new playmate! YAY!" Thunder chirped in joy. By now, even the Trainers figured out what was going on.
"Uh, Thunder?" the girl turned to her leader. Dragon showed her two fingers. She turned back to Flame.
"Y-you're having TWINS!?" Flame glared at Dragon, but nodded. The two other female Guardians squealed even louder, incredibly happy. "How far along are you?" Thunder asked her. With a sigh, Flame turned to her.
"I'm only at a month right now." She smiled sadly. "I just hope we can get home before they're born. The last thing I want is for Ty to miss their… WHOAH!" She found herself lifted onto the shoulders of the hulking Berserker.
"GUARDIANS! V-FORMATION!" Dragon barked out. The remaining guardians aligned themselves in front of the berserker, using the same formation flocks of birds use, with their weapons ready. "Our mission is simple: Keep the path clear to the next city! Knock any trainer in the way unconscious, and kill any Team Plasma or Rocket you see!" They all nodded, while Flame looked bewildered.
"D-Don't I get any say in this?" She asked.
"No." The Guardian of the Mind answered truthfully.
"Guardians! MOVE OUT!" The formation started running forward, leaving the trainers and the others from the Guardian timeline behind. They all watched the dust cloud kicked up by the Guardians for a few seconds... before breaking into a run after them.
"WAIT FOR US!"
That's it for now! I do hope you enjoyed it. This is BladeOfThePoet, logging out.