Hello to all my readers. I have only good news today so rejoice! The good news is that starting from the next chapter, Cilan will appear, so Cilan lovers rejoice! Also, starting this chapter will be previews for my next Aura less story but I'll only put previews for Mr Question Mark stories when I'm starting a whole new one. Assume the age for the Kanto Gym Leader to one that suits you. Be realistic please.
Finally, the final piece of news is the fact that we have an original aura story happening. Get ready...
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon
The lesser man stood in front of his superior.
"The Overload happens today" said the lesser man. He couldn't keep the excitement out his voice. He wanted to laugh and jump but he knew that there would be time for that later. After the Overload had occurred.
"Yes." Said the superior. "Today is the day. We cannot fail. Too long have our threats been pushed aside and dealt with by those with medium level aura. We will show the Unova region what an extreme aura event looks like."
The esser man nodded. "What time will the Problem cause the Overload?"
"3 pm." Said the superior. "It's up to us to make sure that nothing...unfortunate happens."
"Nothing will." Said the lesser man. "Today, the Lower Class of Aura will rise."
8 am
Time until Aura Overload: 7:00:00
"Yes!" said Ash as he pumped the air with his fist. He was well rested and ready to head to Striaton City for his next Gym Battle. Add in the fact on his newly caught Tepig and the world seemed like a great place. "Time to get to Striaton City, Pikachu!"
"Pika pikachu!" agreed Pikachu, sitting on Ash's shoulder and pumping a fist as well.
Iris sighed and leaned against the wall of the Pokémon Centre. "Do you have any idea where you're going?" she asked.
Ash laughed. "Of course I do! Striaton City!" he answered.
"Riiiiight." She replied. "And what direction do you have to go?"
Ash froze and put a finger to his chin. "Uuummm...that way!" he said, pointing in a random direction that was clearly not the way to go as it led to the market place.
Iris shook her head. "Wrong answer. It's THIS way." She said and her hand glowed blue as she manifested an Aura Hand. Ash watched as the Aura Hand came closer and rotated him so that he was pointing north. "That's the direction we need to go." Said Iris. "What a kid. Doesn't even know where's he's go-Hey!" yelled Iris as Ash raced on ahead to reach his next Gym Battle.
"Where are we going?" asked Officer Jenny. People passing by recognised her uniform immediately and waved at her. Her cream coloured clothes and green hair were all aspects of the familiar police force in the Unova region. (The Best Wishes Officer Jenny for those who read and said WHAT THE?') "This is the way to the shopping district, not to the boy's house!"
Her companion however, earned their fair share of glances. They were unfamiliar and looked out of town. "I have a feeling that if we walk around here then we will find someone who is critical to solving this case..." they said.
"I've never heard anything so ridiculous! I don't see why the boy's mother hired you to help."
The companion turned around and got in Officer Jenny's face. "I'm here to help, Officer. And one of the ways I'm helping is by finding the person who has the ability to solve this case. So get off my back."
The companion walked off, leaving a stunned Officer Jenny. "Kanto people..." she said and raced after them.
8:10 am
Time until Aura Overload: 6:50:00
"Where are we going!?" yelled Ash as he was dragged away from his collar by Iris's Aura Hand. "I wanna go to my Gym Battle!"
Iris fumed as she turned to explain it to Ash for the 6th time. "HOW MANY TIMES TO I HAVE TO TELL YOU! THE GYM IS NORTH!" Her aura reacted to her anger as it swirled around her.
"I was going north!" protested Ash.
"You were going south!" said Iris. "You have to pass the shopping district to reach the Gym!" she said.
"I don't wanna go shopping!" cried Ash. "Gym Battleeeeeee!" he cried to the sky. Iris looked around embarrassed as people started to look at them and smile. Iris had no idea why they were smiling at the two of them but she didn't like it. It wasn't a 'that's funny' smile but rather a 'they look cute' smile. She blushed and looked at Ash. That was one smile Iris didn't need directed at her and this...this...this KID.
"Why do you think we're going shopping?" she hissed, getting in his face.
"Girls ALWAYS want to go shopping" Ash complained, remembering all the times with Misty and May and Dawn. He had been subjected to the slow torture known as shopping only a little but had heard the stories of how Brock had nearly been crushed from the weight of all the parcels he had to carry. And since it was just Ash and Iris now, he didn't want to go through that. He wanted a Gym Battle and that was that.
"I don't want to go shopping. I'd rather take you to your Gym Battle."
"REALLY?" said Ash. "Why didn't you say so?" He got up from the ground, Iris releasing her Aura Hand as he did so. Suddenly, Ash took her hand in his own hand and smiled. "Lead the way Iris!" he said pointing in the wrong direction.
Iris blushed and walked away, trying to avoid the cheerful expression of Ash and the 'they look cute' smiles of the people around her.
"Why are we here?" asked Officer Jenny. She stood in front of the largest building in the shopping district, the Pokémart. Starting trainers from Nuvema Town had to stock up for their new adventure somewhere and Accumula Town was the place. As such, the Pokémart was one of the biggest in the Unova region.
Her companion pointed off in the distance. "Soon, someone will appear from that corner. They'll attract all sorts of attention and that's how we'll know that that's the person we're looking for."
"Are you saying you don't know the person who will help us?" asked Officer Jenny.
The Kanto region companion shrugged. "That's likely. I don' know many people in the Unova region. In fact, I believe it's none. We just have to hope that this person will be willing to help.
Iris rounded the corner of the street, seeing the Pokémart in the distance. As she remembered the map, she was glad that she was almost out of town. That way, she wouldn't have to be seen leading this kid towards the Gym. She had told Axew to stay inside her hair as to avoid embarrassment on its part and Iris herself had formed a small Aura platform that put up in front of her face so that no-one would see her face.
The boy she led looked at the Pokémart in awe. "It's huge!" he yelled in a voice so loud that Iris doubted he could hear it in his excitement.
"Pikaaaaa!" cried Pikachu in agreement. Both Ash and Pikachu were thinking the same thing. How many types of Pokémon food could Brock whip up using the ingredients in that one store? (Pokémon and trainer alike. They both think about food. And battles.)
"It's huge!" cried a voice over the sounds of the streets of Accumula Town.
"Well, that's your person" said Officer Jenny. "You said he would make a ruckus and cause attention or something like that. We should-Hello?"
The Kanto companion looked at the source of the voice. She...she had heard that voice before, in the past year (I did say Ash was still 10). The voice of a past challenger, one that she remembered and would never forget. She hoped that the universe wasn't playing tricks on her. That would be cruel, even for it. Hadn't someone said that coincidence was the universe's way of having fun? (Doctor Who reference right here folks! See the episode 'Closing Time' for details). Still, she had to see for herself. Using her aura to levitate herself, she floated above the people of Accumula Town and saw what she thought she would. A Pikachu riding on a person's shoulder. And on that person's head was a cap with black hair sticking out. Happily she soured down to greet her old friend.
Ash didn't know what happened. One moment, the Pokémart was in front of him standing straight and tall and then it turned to the side. Did the world suddenly decide that everything would be on its side today? That would make his Gym Battle difficult.
"Pikapi!" said Pikachu from somewhere to his side. Ash looked and saw Pikachu pointing to something on top of him, his cap lying next to Pikachu. Ash turned to look at the figure on top of him. She had green hair and her eyes were a dark blue. She wore a red coat with gold buttons that were done up all the way to the top, had black sleeves and black pants. All in all, she looked the same as when Ash had first met her. "Ash!" she cried.
"Sabrina!?"
(audience gasps. *gasp!*)
8:25
Time until Aura Overload: 6:35:00
The four (Ash, Iris, Officer Jenny and Sabrina) all sat in the nearest cafe that they could find. Pikachu sat on Ash's lap and as always, Axew sat in Iris's hair, popping out to see what was going on.
"Are you sure this kid can help us?" asked Officer Jenny. "He doesn't seem to be able to do much."
Sabrina glared at Officer Jenny. "Don't judge a book by its cover. It just so happens that Ash here helped me get over a large hurdle in my life."('Cause in the anime, Ash 'freed' Sabrina from her creepy self. Watch the episode people!)
Officer Jenny arched an eyebrow at Ash. "Is that so?"
Ash scratched the back of his head. "Well, I really didn't do much."
"Don't be so modest Ash." Sid Sabrina as she leaned forward, smiling at Ash. "I am what I am today because of you. If you'd like-"
"What did you want Ash for?" asked Iris, clearly angry that Ash was getting all the attention.
Sabrina turned to her. "Sorry? Who are you?"
Iris's aura swirled around her at the comment. She had followed Ash all the way here! Who did she think she was?!
She was about to answer with something rude but Ash cut in. "She's a friend." Said Ash, backing away slightly at Iris's aura as it swirled around her. "She's helping me get to Striaton City." He explained.
Sabrina looked between the two. "I...see." she said, her jealously causing her own aura to manifest itself and swirl around her. Upon seeing Sabrina's aura, Iris's aura got denser as she got angrier. Ash and Officer looked at each other, sweatdropping. What had gotten into these two?
"Sabrina." Said Office Jenny. "We really should inform the boy of what's going on." She said.
"Is something wrong?" Ash inquired. He would be happy to help if he could. Being an Aura Zero didn't mean he was useless and he was always reaching for the chance to prove that to himself.
Officer Jenny nodded looking at Sabrina and Iris. Their aura had calmed down, so clearly whatever negative emotions they had accumulated had subsided. "Around a week ago, a boy -he's around 6 or 7-starting having massive headaches. At this point, the police weren't called in but the mother got worried and took him to the doctor. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with him, even with their sensitive aura skills, there was no 'sickness' aura emanating from him." She said, spilling out the details easily as her aura allowed her to memorise facts easily.
"The doctor suggested that the boy (he's called Chris) go home and they did. That night, the mother was going to feed Chris dinner when he suddenly collapsed. Again, when Chris was taken to the hospital, there was no 'sickness' aura. The doctors assumed that he had collapsed from exhaustion or something like that. Chris was still having headaches but nothing serious happened until two days later that is 5 days ago."
"While the mother was feeding Chris soup, his eyes suddenly glowed red and the mother stated that 'she felt a force push her away from her son'. She tried again and the same thing happened. She called the doctor and this time, the boy pushed back the doctor using the same force. That's where Sabrina here comes in."
Ash and Iris looked at her. "Yes. 'Red eye' as the condition is called is the beginning of when aura users let loose their psychic energy."
"Psychic energy?" asked Ash along with a "Pika?" from Pikachu. "How is that different from aura?"
Sabrina leaned forward. "Good question Ash. Let me show you." She looked at Pikachu and closed her eyes. When she opened them, a red glow appeared from Pikachu and he was lifted into the air. Pikachu floated in the air and then dropped. "As you could clearly see, the energy was coloured red, not blue."
"My Pikachu's aura is sometimes yellow" said Ash. "When he uses APS" (see Chapter 1 for details)
Sabrina's eyebrow arched. "That's awfully unusual. Usually when a Pokémon's aura matches that of its type, it has an extremely high aura level. I don't see how that's possible." (You know how in the games, the types are different colours? Electric is yellow, water is blue? Like that)
Pikachu looked away, not wanting to reveal anything about the fact that it hadn't used its aura due to Ash not wanting it too. Ash grinned sheepishly and rubbed Pikachu on the head. "Guess you're pretty special, eh buddy?"
Pikachu smiled and nodded.
Iris smiled at the boy and his Pokémon before realising what the psychic was talking about. "What has psychic energy have to do with aura?" she asked,
Sabrina glared at her but kept on talking. "Although aura is an energy that emanates from the body, psychic energy emanates from the mind. As such, sometimes people with psychic abilities can access them when their brain reaches the 'operating stage'. When that happens, the eyes usually turn red and as such, the energy is also. After that, whenever people use their psychic abilities, the energy is red. The two forces also work differently. Although I could lift up Pikachu with my psychic powers, I can't do so with my aura. I'd have to create a platform or block to do so."
Ash nodded. "I see. So what does this have to do with...what was his name?" asked Ash.
"Chris" answered Officer Jenny. "Anyway, the mother had heard about this 'red eye' condition and called Sabrina here to help her son. Although she was busy with the Gym until recently she took the plane to Unova two days ago and arrived yesterday."
"Really?" asked Ash. "What have you found out?" he asked.
Sabrina shook her head. "Not much Ash. When I came here, I had a ...vision. As I thought it was going to be a simple job and the replacement Gym Leader (they won't be mentioned but if anyone is interested, it's Leaf from Chapter 1. She needs training to actually become a Gym Leader. Think work experience for Gym Leaders. She doesn't have to do it but elects to) need my Pokémon because it's a Psychic Type Gym, I didn't bring any. Anyway when I arrived, I saw into the future."
"Really?" said Iris sceptically. (Damn it! There's always someone!). Axew agreed with an "Axew?" "The future?" asked Iris.
Sabrina nodded, tying not to let her aura manifest itself in response to her anger. "Anyway, I had a future vision. That any intervention that I would do alone would result in failure and that I needed help. There was a time and place provided but not a face. And..."
"Me?" asked Ash. "You mean that I have to help?"
Sabrina nodded and reached over to grab Ash's hands. "But I wouldn't have anyone else Ash. With you I know that the boy will be helped."
Sabrina tried to avoid blushing as she dared to touch Ash's hands. Iris tried to avoid blushing as she saw someone else touch Ash's hands, thinking what it would be like to do it again. Ash just looked at Sabrina and stood up.
"Then what are we waiting for?!" he said in a loud voice. He turned to Officer Jenny. "Officer Jenny? Let's go!"
9:00
Time until Aura Overload: 6:00:00
The house was relatively normal. Unless Officer Jenny had told them that this was where the boy called Chris lived, Ash would have regarded it as not very important. It had a red roof and was two stories high. There wasn't even a garden. Just a path that went through a gate that led to the house. Ash, Pikachu, Iris and Axew all looked unimpressed.
"Are you sure that this is the place?" asked Ash.
Officer Jenny rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ash. I'm sure of it. My aura helps me to retain information and facts, just like all of the other Officer Jenny's." she said. "And this is the place."
Ash looked at the house, still unsure. "What do you think buddy?" he asked Pikachu. Pikachu looked at the house and turned to Ash, letting out a "Pika?" of indecisiveness.
Sabrina rested a hand on Ash's shoulder. "This is the place." She said, tapping her head. "I can feel the psychic presence of the boy." Ash looked from her to the house.
"If you say so, Sabrina!" said Ash, clearly placing trust in the Gym Leader's abilities. He ran down the path and rang the doorbell. Iris followed behind him as did Sabrina and Officer Jenny. From the other side of the door was footsteps, they were light but they could be heard.
The door opened and a women of late 30's opened the door. She was wearing a green apron and her eyes were bloodshot from crying. She had red, long hair and a face that had been hardened due to her ordeal.
"Officer Jenny!" she cried. "I got your message. Come in, come in." She practically dragged in the police officer while Ash and the rest followed, letting off their shoes in the hallway. They went past the door and staircase to their left and went down a small hallway to their right towards what was a kitchen. There was one plate set out near a sofa and the woman came and offered seats to her guests. They obliged, Officer Jenny taking a single seat, as did the mother while Sabrina, Iris and Ash sat on the biggest one with Ash in the middle.
"This is Felicity" said Officer Jenny. "Chris's mother."
Sabrina exchanged greetings while Iris and Ash stayed quiet. Sabrina was the guest as they were only here because Sabrina had wanted Ash. They didn't need to be heard.
"It's gotten worse." Said Felicity. "He stayed up all night and his eyes are still red." The concerned mother turned to Sabrina. 'I hope you can help my son, Sabrina." She said. "I heard that you were the expert on all things psychic."
Sabrina didn't answer to the compliment. "When your son got the headaches, you took him to the doctor. Did he mention anything about 'red eye'?" she asked. Felicity shook her head.
"All he did was just say that Chris needed rest. He did give me some aspirins that he said worked faster than others. I have them…" She stood up and moved to the kitchen, looking around the countertop or the aspirins and when she found them, she came back and sat down. "These are them". She passed the small bottle to Iris who took it and had a look inside. All there really was were some pills, very small pills, so small that they looked like they could be swallowed by a child easily. Nothing else.
She gave the bottle to Ash, who took it from her. The bottle was so small so it was inevitable that their hands would brush. Even so, Iris tried her best not to blush at the action as Ash's warm fingers brushed against hers. Trying to focus on others things, she looked away at Felicity. Ash had a look inside as well not finding anything special and he handed the bottle to Sabrina, who also blushed at the contact with the Aura Zero. She set the bottle on the table.
She looked at Felicity. "Do either you or your husband have any psychic abilities? These things are usually hereditary."
Felicity shook her head. "My husband is off working in the Battle Club assistant and he never has. Me on the other hand…."
Felicity looked over to the bottle that was now on the table. She raised a hand and her eyes glowed red. Slowly but surely, the bottle gained the same aura and lifted from the table. Ash looked in fascination and Sabrina looked on analytically.
Felicity placed the bottle on the table again and leaned back, wiping sweat off her brow. "That's all I can really do. Not much else. There's no little of it that I didn't even bother to tell my husband."
Sabrina nodded. "Yes, but the fact remains that the psychic ability is still there."
Officer Jenny looked at Sabrina. "What do you think of this?" she asked.
Sabrina stood up. "Well, this explains the headaches. Usually when a child has hereditary psychic abilities, they usually result in headaches from the individual when they blossom. I was like that. When I first gained my psychic abilities."
Felicity looked at Sabrina, surprised. "That was it? I've been given my son these aspirins for a week now, 3 pills every day."
"The aspirins would not have helped in any case. Since your son's psychic ability is growing it will constantly produce headaches as can be seen in the fact that he pushed you away. It is strange though, how Chris has taken so long to actual produce any psychic results-"
She stopped talking when the people heard a crash upstairs, followed by a scream. Felicity, her mother instincts kicking in, rose from her seat and raced towards the staircase. Sabrina and Officer Jenny followed with Ash and Iris following. They arrived to a corridor where there were 2 doors on either side. The closest door on the left was open and the 4 went inside.
A boy, around 7 with blond hair was on the floor, thrashing about uncontrollably. His eyes were a deep red and numerous objects around the room were stuck in a levitated state, a red aura coming from them. Felicity stood in the doorway and looked at Sabrina.
"Th-this is the second time today. Please. Please help my son." Sabrina nodded and walked past the concerned mother. She turned to Officer Jenny.
"Officer? I need your assistance. Could you perhaps use your aura to fasten the boy down? It will make it easier to calm him." Officer Jenny nodded and put her hands out in front of her, her hands glowing blue.
"I wanna help!" exclaimed Iris as she stood forward, doing the same as Officer Jenny. Ash stood back and watched the two aura users and the psychic try and calm down the thrashing boy. (Chris used Thrash! Not very effective...). Sabrina nodded to Iris and spread out her hands as well and a red energy grew in her hands, I the shape of a ball. When it was large enough, it burst out, engulfing everything in the room, but only the objects that were being levitated due to Chris's psychic powers and Chris himself were affected. The objects fell and a red aura came off Chris.
Almost as if in reaction to the unknown threat, Chris looked towards Sabrina and thrust out a hand, the only act of him that seemed to make sense. A red beam of energy shot out of his palm towards Sabrina, one that Sabrina countered by letting the beam hit her hand. There was a BANG! And the beam absorbed into Sabrina's hand. "HOLD HIM DOWN!" yelled Sabrina.
Officer jenny and Iris acted. Two blue hands appeared from theirs and flew towards the boy, who was exhausted from fighting the more experienced psychic. They pinned him to the ground and as much as Chris tried to struggle, he couldn't and his body limped as he ran out of energy.
After a while, Sabrina nodded. "It's OK now." She said. "You can let go." Officer Jenny and Iris brought back their aura hands and Felicity ran towards her son. She cradled his head and lifted him to the bed, using her aura to make the job easier. When the boy was tucked in, she stroked his hair and turned to Sabrina. "Thank you."
Sabrina scowled. "His psychic ability level was quite high. We have much to discuss. Let's go downstairs." Felicity nodded and left the room. Sabrina followed as did Officer Jenny and finally Iris did to. Ash stared in amazement at the boy, considering the power of the three girls who had calmly stopped the situation.
Pikachu leaned further against ash's head in an effort to bring him back downstairs and Ash nodded and was about to before something caught his eye. From where Chris lay, there was a blue liquid coming out. It was thin and it glowed the same way that aura did. He walked towards the bed in wonder, Pikachu taken with the new discovery as much as Ash was. He bent down and used his finger to catch some of the liquid.
He held it up to the window on one wall to see well. There was no mistaking the glow and the warm feel of the liquid against his skin. It was aura.
"Pikachu? Is this aura?" he asked and he put his finger under his Pokémon's nose. Pikachu took a sniff and said "Pika!" in response. Ash walked over to the boy's bed and lifted to the covers to see where the aura was coming from. He had heard Professor Oak talking about how aura turned into a liquid form when it was all bottled up and had no place to go, but he had said that the process had taken around 10 years and Chris had only been sick for a week. It was impossible. Anyway, Ash lifted the covers and saw where the aura trail started. It was from his right hand.
It was there, but it was very faint. He could just see the start of it but it had looked fainter than it had before. Was the aura trail...disappearing?
"What's going on?" asked Ash in wonder.
"Pika..."said Pikachu in response as the aura trail form the boy's hand all but disappeared. When it was gone, trainer and Pokémon looked at each other.
"What was that?" asked Ash to his Pokémon. Pikachu shrugged and looked down at Chris. Ash put back the covers and did the same. What was happening to Chris? It had more to do with aura than psychic powers in Ash's opinion. "Let's keep this to ourselves." Said Ash. "He can't be leaking aura after a week. It's impossible."
Pikachu nodded in hesitation. He knew that no-one would believe them, as much as his trainer did. They turned to see Iris standing in the doorway, hands on her hips.
"What are you doing?!" she cried. "We're all waiting for you!"
Ash looked at Pikachu, hoping to come up with a good excuse but Pikachu just turned away. Ash sweatdropped. Quickly, think of something...
"I was um... checking whether Chris was alright!" he said. "Yeah. That was it. Just checking whether Chris was OK."
Iris raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked. Ash nodded as did his Pokémon and Iris sighed. What were these two doing, checking whether the boy was alright? "Oh well, get downstairs, you're giving me a headache."
Ash complied and Iris pushed him down the stairs to make sure that he was moving faster so they could listen in on the adult discussion.
The lesser man turned to his superior. They were looking through a window and had seen the entire incident that had just taken place...including the part where Ash had discovered the aura trail. "That kid discovered it. What do we do?"
"Nothing." Said the superior. "It's impossible for a person to have an Overload after a week. The great Professor Oak prove that. Even if the boy says anything, the trail has disappeared and there's no telling when it will reappear. Nothing has changed."
The lesser man nodded and enhanced the aura in his eyes to make him see better, only one of the few abilities he had. "That's right. Nothing has changed." He repeated, almost trance like.
9:30
Time until Aura Overload: 5:30:00
"So, what can be done about my son?" asked Felicity as they all sat down. Iris massaged her forehead, a headache forming like she had said. Honestly, is this what happened when she hung out with this kid? She didn't think she could have headaches 24/7. She looked up as she saw Ash standing there with a glass of water in one hand and the bottle of aspirins in the other.
She nodded in thanks and used her Aura Hands to take the two items and (after checking with felicity whether it was alright) took one aspirin and drank the water. She said thanks to Ash and handed the objects back to him and he walked back to the kitchen and placed them on the bench. Then, he went to his old stop next to Iris as the adults talked again.
"Your son has an extremely high level of psychic power. Given the fact that it has had over a week to accumulate, I'd say that it has reached dangerous levels." Said Sabrina, a dark look on her face.
"That doesn't sound good." Noted Officer Jenny.
Sabrina nodded her head. "There's only one course of action that comes to mind right now. I have to draw out Chris's psychic energy to my own and absorb it."
"Is that safe?" asked Felicity. "Your psychic abilities might reach dangerous levels too."
Sabrina shook her head. "Unlikely. In order to draw out Chris's psychic energy I'm going to have to use up practically all my remaining psychic energy."
"What are you going to do?" asked Ash.
Sabrina looked at him. "I'm going to have to set up a psychic barrier."
"Barrier?" asked Iris. "What kind of barrier?"
"Basically, nothing physical will be able to get in or out of the building for about 5-6 hours. I'd say that will be enough time to get Chris's psychic energy all out."
"When you said nothing physical, what did you mean?" asked Officer Jenny.
"The only thing that would be able to get in or out of the barrier is aura. Since it's a separate force from my psychic energy, it doesn't get contained. Anything else stays outside or inside. And I'll have to do this as soon as possible for it to be most effective." Sabrina turned to Felicity. "Is it OK if we stay here for a couple of hour's ma'am?" she asked.
Felicity nodded. "Anything for my son."
Sabrina stood in the doorway of the house. She raised her hands and her eyes glowed red as she focused her psychic energy at the job at hand. Her body glowed red as she didn't direct the energy anywhere and soon, the brightness of the red aura around her was overwhelming. It was at this point that she released it, a red wind shooting out in all directions.
Slowly, the area around the house got redder and redder, almost as if the occupants of the house were looking through a filter, and soon, the entire outside world was seen through a dome of red. Iris used her aura to scale the walls to see how far the psychic dome covered and found that, just as Sabrina had said, it covered the whole building.
Ash walked up to the dome and touched it, jerking his hand away as red electricity sparked from it and hit his hand. He stumbled back and fell, looking at the dome. Sabrina looked at him, clearly proud of herself, but sweating a tiny bit.
"Anything you want to say? I've heard it all." She said. Ash looked at her and smiled. His stomach growled. Sabrina face planted and Iris did so as well and she glared at Ash. He laughed sheepishly.
"Guess I'm hungry." He said. "Have you got anything to eat?" he said turning to Felicity and she nodded. She led him inside the house and Iris descended from the rooftop.
"I haven't heard that one before" said Sabrina. Officer Jenny and Iris laughed.
The lesser man turned to his superior upon seeing the red barrier being put up around the house. "Does this alter the plan?" he asked.
The superior smiled the mouth visible from underneath his hood. "Not at all. In fact this is good. Now that nothing can get in and out, besides aura, because of the psychic field, no-one can stop the Overload. Soon, only the Lower Class of aura will survive and the rest will perish."
The lesser man nodded. "Soon." He said.
9:45
Time until Aura Overload: 5:15:00
Ash handed his plate back to Felicity. "Fifths please!" he said. The other occupants at the table sweatdropped upon seeing the boy's appetite. Iris had seen Ash eat but there had always been a limit. Never had she seen a boy eat so much. She was also desperate for food, with her herself being a big eater, but her headache had put her off. She had only eaten half of one pancake and that was it while Axew ate the rest.
She looked outside to see the barrier looking brighter than it had before. "Sabrina?" she asked. "Is the barrier brighter than before?"
Sabrina nodded, not bothering to look at either the barrier or Iris. "It's the effect of Chris's psychic power being attracted towards the barrier. Nothing to worry about."
Iris scowled and focused the attention if the only interesting thing in the room; Ash and his appetite. She smiled as she saw that Ash had finally finished, while Pikachu was sitting on the table, licking a bottle of ketchup. What was up with that anyway? Since when did Pikachu like ketchup? Iris sweatdropped at the odd pair of trainer and Pokémon.
Felicity reached for the plates and out them in the sink. "I'm going to check up on my son." She said and practically raced up the stairs so that she could comfort her sick son. Sabrina stood up and followed her, wanting to monitor Chris's psychic progress and Officer Jenny followed. Before she went up the stairs, she sent a glare in Iris's direction, one that Iris returned.
"Axew?" asked her Pokémon as she looked between the two trainers. Why were they fighting? When Sabrina went up the stairs, Iris leaned back in her chair at the dining table and massaged her head.
"This headache's bad." Iris said to Axew, unaware that she wasn't whispering but rather talking in a casual voice. "It'd be easier if I had some herbs. That'd deal with this."
"Really?" asked Ash. Iris stared at him, realising that she hadn't bothered to lower her voice. Stupid headache. Why wasn't that aspirin working? "What do you mean?" asked Ash clearly curious.
"D-Doesn't matter." She said. Her headache made her fumble with her words. Why was it this bad? Why wasn't the aspirin working. The label said it worked it around 10 minutes. It had been 15! Stupid aspirins.
Ash stood up and went over to Iris, looking down at her with worry. "Hey Iris. Are you OK? You don't look so good."
Iris mumbled something in response but she didn't really hear it. Now it was her whole body that felt warm, not only her head due to her headache. Why was that?
Ash put his hand on her forehead to see if she was burning up there was no sign of fever but still she didn't look well and he doubted that it was anything serious. It was times like these that he hoped that he could sense people's aura in order to tell if they were sick. Anyway, the first thing he had to do was put her on a flat surface then get an icepack.
He hadn't dealt with something like this is a while but he was confident that he could do it, aura or no aura. He put one of Iris's arms over his shoulder and lifted her to the large sofa. Pikachu jumped off the table and Axew jumped out of Iris's hair and watched the trainer move.
Iris noticed that she was moving all of a sudden. Why was she moving? She edged her head to her left and saw Ash taking her somewhere. Where was he taking her? Manually at that. Why didn't he use his aura? She shook off the thought. What was he doing? He didn't have to help. That was her job, as the mature trainer. She had to help him. Not the other way around! She pushed at him, in order to get him to go away. She could do so herself. She didn't need any help. He didn't budge. If that was the way it was going to be...
She pushed, using her aura to strengthen herself. Had her headache caused her body to become weak? It just felt warm. No, not warm anymore. Hot. It was hot! Regardless, she pushed at Ash with her aura and then as she directed her aura out of her body, she suddenly lost all heat. She fell, now that Ash was no longer holding her and stared at her hands, her vision blurry. What had happened? She had used her aura and then...
There was a crash to her left, the side that Ash had been on. She looked at her eyes went wide. There was a hole in the wall. Not a small hole. A big one. The wall itself was practically gone. Where had it gone? But that wasn't what caught her eye. She couldn't see it well at first but she caught a glimpse of it. It was a boy on the ground in front of the barrier with the fallen cap that caught her eye. She thought that she heard herself say Ash's name before she passed out.
Ash had felt Iris push against him but he had kept on walking towards the sofa. She may not want help from him but regardless, he would help. That's went he saw it. Iris's hand glowed blue, a bright blue unlike Iris's previous aura shine and she pressed in against him. That's when the pain began. His side burst into an explosion of pain and he was thrown through the air, smashing into the wall of the house, hoping that it would end there. It didn't. He passed, through the wall, now aching-no, BURING-on both sides of his body, knowing what was coming next. He didn't even have time to scream, as he smashed into the psychic barrier that Sabrina had set up, red electricity bursting form the impact of the Kanto trainer, sending it through his body. He dropped like a rock to the ground, seeing his hat fall off his head.
Felicity, Sabrina and Officer Jenny were immediately alerted from the crash downstairs. They reacted immediately. Felicity stayed with the unconscious Chris while Sabrina and Officer Jenny rushed downstairs to see what had happened. When they were half-way down the stairs a weak cry of "Ash!" came from under them. This was followed by cries of "Pika pi!" and "Ax ax Axew!". The two rushed down and looked at the scene in front of them, eyes wide. Iris was on the floor, Axew shaking her head, but that wasn't the most incredible thing there. The wall having a large hole in it was the most notable thing. Parts of it were lying in the backyard and also laying in the backyard...
Was a boy lying face down, with a Pikachu shaking his head and crying, "Pika pi!" over and over again. Officer Jenny went over to Iris while Sabrina went over to ash, picking up his hat as she did so. She rolled Ash over and checked his pulse. He was still alive. That was a relief at least. She had a look at the hole in the wall then at the unconscious Iris. Why would she do such a thing? And why was she unconscious. The first thing to do would be to take them both to a hospital...
Officer Jenny and Sabrina both looked at each other, realising the same thing. The barrier prevented them from doing that exact thing. And with no experienced doctor among them, they had to take care of two children, one of which could have major injuries by themselves. Officer Jenny took Iris to the sofa and Sabrina picked up Ash by the shoulder, and took him to the kitchen table and lay him down on it. Officer Jenny came over and looked at the boy.
"The girl's alright. Just fainted. She'll be OK." Reported Officer Jenny.
"Good." Said Sabrina, moving a strand of Ash's hair out of his face. "I have some questions for her."
Officer Jenny nodded and looked down at the boy. Pikachu had jumped up onto the table and was rested by his trainer, while Axew was rested by his. Officer Jenny's hand glowed blue and she ran it down Ash's body. Sabrina had seen Jenny's damage assessment aura ability before and she now saw how useful it could be. "He's got a wound on both sides of his body. That barrier didn't do him any good either. He's hurt really bad." She looked at Sabrina. "We can use aura to close to wounds."
Sabrina nodded. "Let's do it then." She said as her hands glowed blue, as did Officer Jenny's. And they got to work, repairing Ash's damaged body.
12:00
Time until Aura Overload: 3:00:00
Iris groaned as she woke up, her body aching all over. Her body was no longer warm though which was an improvement. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the roof of the house, and then she saw the happy face of her Axew.
"Ax Axew!" it cried upon seeing that its trainer was OK.
She looked at the boy on the table and the two women who were sitting on either side of him, plates of food lying near them. They had clearly had an early lunch put a full plate lay near the boy but he neither moved nor was attracted to the food. She went wide-eyed and drew her eyes away. It couldn't be true. She hadn't…..!
She fell off the sofa with a thump when she saw the hole in the wall. Sabrina and Officer Jenny were immediately alerted by the sound, obviously more alert than they had been when Axew had cried its name. All Iris did was stare at the hole in the wall, remembering what she had done to Ash. When did she have that aura within her do to something like that. To other PERSON, no doubt. She felt something unpleasant rise in her throat, put she forced it back down when she looked up at the shadow of the person that was now in front of her. She looked at and saw Sabrina, her face contorted into an expression that was full of hate. "You…"she said silently and so coldly that it belonged in a horror movie. Her appearance was similar, her hair was in a mess and the buttons that held the coat together were undone, revealing a black undershirt.
Iris was going to say something but nothing came out of her mouth. Even she was unsure what had happened before so she had no excuse for what she had done. Sabrina grabbed her collar and practically dragged her towards the boy. Iris could see the faint glow of aura on her hand but it was very faint. Clearly she had used it to a large extent. Judging by what she remembered what happened to Ash, she felt more unpleasantness rise in her throat.
Sabrina brought her to the boy, who was breathing ever so slightly. "Look at him!" she commanded and shoved Iris towards the table. She fell forward and used the table to regain her balance. At this point she could see what wounds Ash had developed.
His skin shone with a bright blue as his shirt was lifted to reveal the glowing skin underneath. There was some bruising but that could be seen to be fading away slowly. An aura closing operation, where aura was used to close any wound that someone had developed. That was not what had caught her eye. It was the six of the bruise. Iris looked up at the clock. It was around 12:10 and this was the size of the bruise. If this was the size of the bruise now, what had it been like earlier?
Iris caught a glimpse of what was in the sink that Felicity had put Ash's plate before. There was a white cloth in there but she couldn't' really tell among the faint shade of dark red….
Iris put a hand to her mouth as she realised what had happened, what type of injury Ash must have sustained in order to leave the bruising for this amount of time and that would have resulted in having a white rag turn red. Life threatening injuries. She took a step back and shook her head. "No." she said as she looked at the boy. "No. No way."
Pikachu looked from Ash's side at the girl. He wanted to make Iris hurt. A Thunderbolt would have done it but he knew that Ash would never have that. It was an accident. He knew that and he knew that Ash probably did too and if Ash learned that he had hurt Iris in anyway over an accident, he didn't want him to get angry. Instead, he merely looked at Iris and scowled and then went back to looking at his trainer.
Sabrina approached Iris and shoved her closer to the boy. "LOOK AT HIM!" she said. "Look at what you did!" she yelled. Iris struggled against Sabrina, not wanting to look at Ash. Tears began forming at her eyes at the sight. She could she Sabrina's anger, thick and dense, through Sabrina's aura and didn't want to face her either. She could feel Sabrina tense up and flinched unsure of what would happen.
"Stop." Said Officer Jenny. She had stood up, her cap off, revealing her green hair. "There's no point fighting." She said. She looked even more worn out than Sabrina. She turned to Iris. "I want to hear your side of the story." She said.
They sat down at the sofa, Felicity joining in, wanting to understand what had happened to her house. One problem child was enough. Iris told them how Ash had tried to help her and how she had used only a tiny bit of her aura to move him away from her and what it had led to. Officer Jenny listened while Sabrina just looked hatefully at the girl.
After she was done, Officer Jenny leaned back in her chair and rubbed a hand through her hair. "Have you used your aura recently?" she asked.
Iris nodded and stroked the Tusk Pokémon on her lap. "Yesterday. I used an Aura Fist." (See previous chapter for details).
"Then it can't be excess aura. It was unlikely but it could happen." She put her cap back on her head and shook her head. "If what you saw actually happened, I have to explanation. It's almost like your aura decide to spontaneously grow stronger. Maybe you saw Ash as a threat? Aura tends to grow stronger in times of stress."
Iris shook her head and looked at Axew, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "I didn't. I just wanted to push him away. That was it."
Officer Jenny shrugged. "I don't know. I would call an expert but…." she waved a hand to the barrier. "Otherwise, all we have to do is wait for a few more hours. Ash needs a lot more aura for those wounds to completely disappear."
Iris looked down still, feeling guilty at what she had done. Sabina stood up and walked over to the injured boy and watched him lie helplessly on the table. Officer Jenny watched as she did so and Iris did, wondering why Sabrina was so attached to the boy. The same question occurred to Iris as well. Why was she so attached to Ash? That didn't matter. All that mattered was that Ash made it out OK.
And so she waited.
2:47
Time until Aura Overload: 0:13:00
Ash groaned. His body hurt all over but not as much as the first time he had run into an accident with aura. He knew that Iris hadn't intended to use that much aura, it was clear in the fact that she had called out his name before he had fainted. He figured that Iris had fainted around that time as well but he couldn't be sure. And since it was an accident, Ash considered the issue to be resolved. Her intentions weren't evil or hurtful so Ash forgave her. He hoped Pikachu forgave the girl as well. Even after Ash had been subjected to Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt, it still always tingled a bit.
He opened his eyes, seeing the ceiling of the house. But why had Iris's aura suddenly gotten so high? That question Houndoured (Get it!? Hounded by instead it's Houndoured like with Houndour. Just to solve any confusion) at him constantly. It was just like Chris's aura trail. It was like something had caused her aura to increase. He sat up, his sides hurting. He grunted, using a hand to grip one of his sides. How bad were his injuries he wondered?
"Pika pi!" cried a familiar voice form next to him. He looked to see his Pokémon sitting on the table next to him. Pikachu leaped from the table into Ash's arms and Ash cuddled the Pokémon.
"Hey Pikachu…" he said softly and then let go of the embrace. "I'm OK." He confirmed. "You didn't shock Iris did you? It was an accident." Pikachu shook his head and Ash patted his Pokémon's head.
"A-Ash?" came a voice from the other side of the table. Ash looked over to see a purple haired girl standing at the end of the table, her chair on the ground. Neither said anything, waiting for the other to say something to break the silence.
"Hi Iris." Said Ash unsure of what to say in the situation. What would you say if you saw someone who pushed you through a wall? He scratched his head, his arm slightly hurting as he did so. "I know it was an accident." He said. "It's OK. I forgive you. No need to worry." (Tip of the hat to Dawn for her catchphrase!)
Iris blinked her eyes and they gained moisture as tears began to form. She ran from her spot to embrace Ash, her tears splashing on Ash's shirt. "I-I-I'm so sorry." She said sobbing. "I-I-I didn't mean to-"
Ash pulled her away from him, put his hands on her shoulders and smiled. "It's OK." He said. "I'm OK. How are you?" he asked, more concerned for her wellbeing than his.
Iris wiped her eyes. "I'm fine. My headache's gone but the thing is that you're fine. The others are upstairs. Hang on. SABRINA!" she cried. "OFFICER JENNY! IT'S ASH! HE'S OK!" There was some rustling upstairs and the sound of heavy footsteps as Sabrina entered the room.
She looked at the boy on the table with a Pikachu on his lap and immediately lit up. She ran towards Ash and pulled him into a hug like Iris had, Ash's side hurting as she Ursaring-hugged him. (Not Beartic-hugged him because Ash hasn't seen a Beartic yet. Close as I could get. Sorry.) She pulled him out of the hug, her eyes wet with tears as well.
"Thank goodness." She said softly. "I was so worried." She pulled him into another hug and Ash groaned smiling at Iris, glad that she was OK. She returned the smile, only after glaring at Sabrina. Ash was glad that she smiled. She had been in a really bad shape with her headache. Even after she took the aspirin, he wasn't sure…..
Ash's eyes went wide. Iris noticed and pulled Sabrina away from the boy. Sabrina saw the look on his face and was afraid. Had she hugged him too hard? "Ash? What's wrong?" she asked.
Ash doubted that Sabrina had seen the connection. Only he had seen the aura trail as he knew. He had dismissed it because there was no way that Chris had had enough time to get that enough aura. But with Iris gaining all that sudden aura….
I've been given my son these aspirins for a week now, 3 pills every day. Felicity's words echoed in his head. A week was 7 days. Given that the fact that Chris must have taken one on the morning, 7 x 3 + 1 was …..was…was….was a lot! (Ash isn't good at maths as seen in the Rise of Darkrai) Chris must have taken a lot of aspirins and if Ash was right about those aspirins.
He turned to Sabrina. "Where's the aspirin bottle?!" he almost yelled. Sabrina stepped back in alarm. Did he have headache or something? He didn't have a sick aura but something in Ash's voice made Sabri9na snap to attention. She turned to the table that lay near the sofa that Iris had woken up on and saw the aspirin bottle. Iris saw it to and reached out an Aura Hand to pick it up as she was the least worn out of the two. She placed the bottle in front of Ash and he unscrewed the top and poured the remaining pills onto the table. Pikachu, Iris, axew and Sabrina all looked on in confusion as Ash crushed on the pills on the table with his palm. When he lifted his palm, the crushed pill could be seen, a powder like substance. But that wasn't all.
Among the powder, there was a bright blue glow. It rose from the powder and swirled in the air, the shine of it getting gradually dimmer. Iris and Sabrina looked at it while Pikachu took a sniff of the substance as it was close to the table.
"Pipika" the Pokémon said and Ash nodded. Sabrina reached out her hand and passed it through the mist, pulling back immediately as she did so.
"Is that aura!?" she asked. Iris did the same as Sabrina. As soon as her fingers reached the mist, a bright warm spread throughout her, engulfing her whole body. She could have spent all day touching that mist but pulled back regardless.
"What's aura doing inside an aspirin?" asked Iris, looking at Sabrina.
Sabrina looked at Ash. "The aspirin must have increased Iris's aura powers. Since she ate all that aura, there was no way for her to release it unintentionally. So when she did release it, it hit you."
Ash nodded sweat still on his brow. "Chris has been taking these for a week." He said.
Sabrina nodded. "Yes. But he's been releasing the aura. You could see it when..." Sabrina never finished the sentence, her eyes showing her reaction to what she had discovered. Fear.
"W-what? What is it?" asked Iris, looking between the boy sitting up on the table and the Kanto Gym Leader. "Chris HAS been releasing it. We saw that this morning."
Sabrina shook her head. "That wasn't aura. That was psychic power. The two are different. If you use psychic energy, you keep aura inside of you dormant. When you use aura, the psychic power is dormant."
"But that means-" started Iris.
"Chris has been using psychic power. It was the cause of the headaches. Ever since then, he's been releasing psychic power because he's not used to it and at the same time, keeping the entire aura he has bottled up. If a single tablet allowed you to push a person through a wall, Chris an immense amount of power. He took two tablets today, plus the 21 over the week...that's 23 of those tablets." Reported Sabrina. "And if he's still keeping the aura bottled up..."
Sabrina looked upstairs to the ceiling, roughly where Chris's room was. "It can't be..." she said.
"It is." Said Ash, getting off the table. He looked hurriedly for his hat, speaking while he did so. "I saw an aura trail after this morning." Pikachu handed him his hat and he put it on and ran towards the stairs, taking some time because of his injuries (the aura may have healed him, but there ar5e some bruises. It is to be expected). Sabrina and Iris were ahead of him though, using their aura to increase their speed.
"What does it mean?" asked Iris. "The aura trail?" she asked. She had heard the term before, when some scholar had come to her village but she didn't remember what they had said.
"It means that Chris is going to release his entire bottled up aura and soon. Since it can pass through the barrier, there's nothing we can do to stop it." The two girls reached the room and saw Officer Jenny and Felicity over boy.
"But what does that mean!?" Iris said, growing impatient, her anxiety showing as her aura swirled around herself.
Sabrina looked at the girl. "It basically means that Chris is going to expel his entire aura. It will be an Aura Overload that will cover the whole town. Only low level aura users will absorb the aura and be unaffected. For others, it will be too high." She looked at Chris. "He's a bomb ready to obliterate practically any aura user in Accumula Town."
The lesser man turned from his binoculars and looked at his watch. 2 minutes left. The Gym Leader had figured it out and was explaining it to the officer and mother, evident in the fact that the officer was leading the mother from the boy, who was crying and hugging her son. He turned to his superior.
The superior nodded. "Good thing the mother came to your office 'Dr. Smith'."
The lesser man nodded. "Purely coincidence. But it allowed us to try out the aura pills. And they worked." He could barely contain his excitement. He licked his lips and looked through the binoculars. "Any time now..."
2:58
Time until Aura Overload: 0:02:00
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT HE JUST GAVE THE PILLS!?" yelled Officer Jenny to Felicity. Sabrina had just explained what they had figured out and they had demanded an explanation from Felicity. She had simply said that she had visited the doctor (A Doctor John Smith) who had given them the pills, without asking them to buy them.
"AND WHAT KIND OF ALIAS IS JOHN SMITH!? ANYONE COULD SEE THROUGH THAT!" Officer Jenny added. (Although this look s like a Dr Who reference it is not. The Doctor is a good guy, not the bad guy.)
Felicity let out a whimper as she was taken from her son by Officer Jenny's Aura Hand as well as Iris's. Axew provided some assistance but due to his aura level being low he didn't do much. Ash had reached the doorway and was leaning against the frame, upset at seeing the mother being taken from her son.
Officer Jenny restrained Felicity who was letting out cries of "NO!" as they closed the door. "Will that help?" asked Officer Jenny.
Sabrina shook her head. "It's going to be an aura burst. It will pass through everything and enter the town, killing every aura user who has anything high than a medium level aura. Others will just absorb it. I doubt there will be over 50 survivors."
Officer Jenny turned away and sat down. She had expected her death as a police officer to be more spectacular. Sabrina looked at the whimpering mother, tears at her eyes as she thought of her own, back at the Gym not knowing what was happening to her daughter right now. Iris hugged Axew and Axew hugged her back, their eyes full of tears. Only Ash looked at the room, Pikachu at his side.
What could he do? The only thing that Professor Oak had told him about an Aura Overload was that it rarely happened and was very dangerous. Since he was an Aura Zero, he really hadn't cared but listened to be polite. He felt sweat coming down his forehead and put his head in his hands, Pikachu comforting him, as he remembered why he was here in the first place; why Iris was here in the first place.
"That any intervention that I would do alone would result in failure and that I needed help. With you I know that the boy will be helped."
That was what Sabrina had said but what could he do!? WHAT COULD HE DO!? He was injured, he was an Aura Zero and...
Ash looked up in shock. Why hadn't he seen it before? Others will just absorb it. Anyone under a medium level would just absorb it. And if he was an Aura Zero.
But what if the aura didn't absorb. What if it rejected him and passed through anyway? He looked at the 4 people and Axew who couldn't do anything. But he could. HE COULD.
2:59:30
Time until Aura Overload: 0:00:30
Ash looked at Pikachu. Neither of them knew when the Aura Overload would happen but they both knew that they were the only ones who knew what to do. Ash remembered that there was a lock in the room. If Pikachu could only distract them and then he could...
Pikachu met his trainers eyes and knew what he was going to do. It was something that Ash WOULD do after all. But what if he didn't make it? Or...
Pikachu shook away the thoughts. Ash would make. He had to.
The movement was quick and sudden. Ash stood up and ran to the door; being opposite it made it easier. Pikachu moved as well, looking at the other people who were not as near the door as Ash was. When Ash opened the door, the others were alarmed.
Sabrina leapt up, as did Iris and Pikachu sent a Thunderbolt at them, stopping them. They both looked at Ash who looked back. "I'm sorry." He said and ran inside the room, closing the door and locking it before either of them could react to the action. He saw Chris and ran towards the bed, covering the young boy's body with his own.
"What is that kid doing?!" yelled the lesser man. There were less than 10 seconds left!
The superior laughed. "Witness, Smith. Witness the first victim of the Aura Overload of Accumula Town."
The lesser man turned to his superior and nodded. Nothing was going to stop them now. Nothing.
2:59:55
There was banging on the door but Ash ignored it, he kept the young boy close to him, the bruises on him hurting as he pulled Chris in tighter. He didn't want to mess up. He wasn't going to mess up.
Cries of "Ash!" came from Sabrina and Iris. Ash closed his eyes, waiting for the Aura Overload to happen.
3:00:00
Blue energy burst from Chris and spread out like a wave. Being the closest, Ash was almost thrown off but held his grip, his cap flying off in the process. The force shattered the window of Chris's room and sent many objects inside of the room flying. Windows on the opposite buildings were also smashed and car alarms could be heard in the distance. Ash hugged in tighter, his body feeling warm, his bruises burning as the powerful aura reacted to them. He closes his eyes tighter, unsure of what would happen next.
...
...
...
3:00:10
Ash opened his eyes and looked around. He was...alive. He was alive! He let go of Chris who groaned as he was let go. Slowly, the boy opened his eyes. They had a green glow, not the red of psychic power or the blue of aura. Just green. Ash had never been happier to see green in his life.
"Wh-Who are you?" asked Chris in a soft voice. Ash smiled and opened the door, seeing the stunned faces in front of him. No-one moved until Chris spoke again. "Who are they?" he asked.
Felicity let out a shriek of happiness and threw herself past the others and into her son's arms. She wept tears of joy and hugged the boy, while Sabrina and Iris hugged Ash, glad that he was alright. Officer Jenny looked on in amusement and reached for her phone.
"I better call this in." she said.
3:14
Police officers came in and out of the building now that the psychic barrier had been removed. Felicity and Chris had been taken to hospital for further inspection of the injuries that they had received and Chris's aura level. Before leaving, Felicity had thanked everyone and hugged Ash, thanking him for saving her son. Of course, Ash denied any involvement but Felicity had laughed and said that he was welcome anytime.
As they walked to the ambulance, Ash reflected on how many times he had been hugged today and immediately thought that it was too many.
Officer Jenny had also thanked him but warned him about doing reckless things. Ash had apologised and so had Officer Jenny to Sabrina, saying that she was sorry for doubting her abilities. Ash, after all, had not only saved Chris but everyone else in Accumula Town. In addition, Dr. John Smith's office had been cleaned out. There was no sign that he had worked there.
"If I ever see his face here again..." Officer Jenny had mumbled as she walked away.
Ash, Iris and Sabrina watched as she walked away. Pikachu came from the house, Ash's hat in his teeth and Ash put on the hat, thanking Pikachu. "Man! It feels good to have my hat again" he said. "I forgot where I put it."
Sabrina and Iris smiled at him. "Say Ash? How did you push back the Aura Overload? All your injuries have healed so does that mean you absorbed it?" asked Sabrina. "Does that mean that you have a lower than medium level aura?"
Ash shook his head. "I don't know how I did it Sabrina. I just wanted everyone to be safe. "
Sabrina arched an eyebrow but shrugged. "I suppose that's a good enough answer for me. Where are you heading now?" she asked.
Ash's and Pikachu's eyes sparkled. "Striaton City!" he exclaimed. "For my Gym Battle!"
Sabrina laughed. "Of course." Her mood went down as she looked at Iris. "And I suppose you will be following him?" she asked.
Iris hesitated and blushed. "I-It's not because I want to! He doesn't know Unova very well, so I thought I'd help him." She said in her defense. Axew came out of her hair and gave an "Axew!" in support.
Sabrina's eyes narrowed and she looked at Ash. "Well Ash, I have to say that it was a pleasure meeting you again. I have something g for you if you would like it..." she added.
Ash nodded. "Sure. What is it?"
Sabrina smiled and held out both of her hands, palms facing up. A pick light shone from them and soon, there was a small pink sphere inside of her hands that had a blue glow.
Iris blushed upon seeing it. The-that was a Heart of Aura. Iris knew about these. They were generally handed to lovers or were a sign of affection. If you were handed one of these, it was basically the same thing as saying "I love you." If Sabrina was handing Ash this, that meant...
Sabrina herself blushed as Ash looked at the Heart of Aura. He then looked at Sabrina and smiled. "Thanks Sabrina!" he took the Heart of Aura and handed it to Pikachu who put it in his backpack. Pikachu sighed. How many of these had Ash received over his journey? He still didn't get the meaning of them. How dense could someone be?
Pikachu nodded to his trainer. Ash looked at Sabrina. "I'll treasure it!" he said in a cheerful voice that was clearly oblivious to what had happened. Iris and Sabrina looked at the ignorant boy in surprise but Sabrina let out a laugh.
"Oh well. At least I got it off my chest." She said. "One last thing Ash..."
She bent down and kissed Ash's cheek, Iris looking away embarrassed. Ash looked at Sabrina in alarm. A kiss? Why had she kissed him?
"I'm going back to Kanto now." Said Sabrina. "Gotta get back to my Gym Leader duties." She winked at Ash. "See ya later." She said and walked off, leaving a flushed Iris and confused Ash. The two watched as Sabrina walked away ad turned the corner.
"We better get going to, right Pikachu?" said Ash.
"Pika!" cried Pikachu.
"Right! Then let's go!" he said, walking off in a direction. (I refuse to say one direction!)
Iris looked at Ash and smiled. At this rate, they were never going to get to Striation City.
"YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!"
"EH!?"
The lesser man looked at his superior. "We failed.
FAILED!" he hissed.
The superior nodded. "We have to evacuate Accumula Town. Our presence is known. We can't compromise safety."
The lesser man nodded. "All because of that kid."
"He won't get in our way again."
"Which branch of the Lower Class of Aura are we going to?" asked the lesser man.
"I'll tell you when we get there."
Sooooo!? What did you think? did you like the DeathShipping and NegaiShipping moments and rivalry? What about the concept of Hearts of Aura. Oh, and speaking of them, I have a little one-shot with Ash and his mom involving Hearts of Aura and then there will be more news below!
The phone picked up. "Yes hello?" asked the other end.
"Mom!" cried Ash. He was at the Pokémon Centre getting ready to leave Accumula Town after the whole Aura Overload incident.
"Ash!" cried Delia. "So nice to hear from you! Where are you!?" she exclaimed.
"In Accumula Town." He answered. "I'm about to leave but I sent something back home that you have to pack away."
Delia stared at her son. "You didn't-" she said with a glare.
"D-Didn't what?" asked Ash, looking at Pikachu on his shoulder. Pikachu shook his head.
"You didn't rip your underwear did you?" asked Delia. "It happens to people but you've never done that before. I'll have you know that underwear is expensive and-"
"MOM!" Ash cried, embarrassed, earning looks from the other people in the Pokémon Centre. "No-one rips their underwear!" he said in a softer voice.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Said Delia. "But if you didn't, why are you calling sweetie?"she asked.
"I got another one of those Heart of Aura things." Delia face-faulted at the casualness that her son said the comment. Then again, he also said it like this.
"ANTOHER ONE?!" she exclaimed. For an Aura Zero, her son was very popular with the opposite gender.
Ash nodded. "I've already labelled it, so you can put it on the shelf with all the others. I've sent it via Pidove Shipping Service." (Get it!? Romance is called Shipping and...you don't get it)"
Delia looked at her son. "Ash, who is it this time?"
"Sabrina. You know the Psychic Gym Leader from home."
"What was she doing in Unova?" Delia asked.
"I'll tell you later!" said Ash. "Just calling to tell you that."
Delia nodded. "Thank you Ash dear. Pikachu, keep an eye on my boy."
"Pika!" said Pikachu.
"See ya!" said Ash as he and Pikachu waved to his mother.
They hung up.
On Delia's side...
Delia put down the phone. Mimey was around the house sweeping so she went to check up the room that she had set up for the Hearts of Aura that he had gotten on his journey. When he had gotten his first one from Leaf, she had assumed that would be the end of it, but her son's denseness had no end.
She came across what looked to be a closet but as she opened it, it revealed a large room with rows and rows of shelves. There was one thing that separated them and that was the name of the region that they came from.
Little pink spheres that glowed blue were placed in square glass boxes. All they had on them was a name and location. Although, some of them stood out they usually didn't mean anything to Delia. She moved to an empty shelf, next to one labelled 'Sinnoh' and opened a box. She glanced to the one next to it, one labelled 'Cynthia-Lily of the Valley'.
Delia had a rough idea of what Ash meant with Cynthia but when she asked Dawn about it, she had blushed and walked away. Strangely, Dawn hadn't given Ash a Heart of Aura while his previous female travelling companions had. Maybe the next time she saw him, Dawn would? (Foreshadowing for the World Tournament Junior Cup!)
Delia sighed and looked down at the now empty box that was waiting to be filled. "Honestly Ash..." she said.
On Ash's side...
Ash hung up the phone and apologised to Nurse Joy for the commotion. She said it was fine and Ash left the Pokémon Centre, where Iris was leaning against the wall.
"First the post office and now the Pokémon Centre. Are you going to actually going to go to Striaton City?"
"Of course!" Ash said. Iris narrowed her eyes and walked ahead, Ash following so he wouldn't get lost.
After a while Ash spoke up. "Hey Iris?" he asked.
"What is it?" she responded.
"Have you ever ripped your underwear?"
"WHAT!?"
And that is that. What did you think of the little one-shot? Anyway, there's not much, just that I'll be working on a Mr Question Mark story chapter and then I'll work on a chapter for this. AURA GYM BATTLEEEEE!
I'm excited and so should you be excited. Here's a little preview...
"Pansear, use Aura Dig!" cried Chili.
Pansear's hand glowed a bright blue again and it buried underneath the ground. Ash gritted his teeth. He had no idea where Pansear would come up next and he didn't want Tepig to get hurt by Dig any longer. So...
"Follow Pansear into that hole and grab it!" he cried. Tepig straightened out and launched itself into the hole, both Pokémon now out of sight of their trainers.
"Oh yeah?!" exclaimed Chili. "Use aura Flamethrower to repel it!"
"Use the flames power to heat up your Ember!" countered Ash.
A Flamethrower shot out of the hole, with fragments of blue surrounding it. From the perspective of the trainers, it looked like Pansear had won but this idea was shaken off after an Ember shot out of the hole as well.
"What the-?" exclaimed Chili. He watched as Pansear shot out of the hole with Tepig on its tail. "Shake it off!" he cried. Pansear complied and spun around, attempting to throw Tepig off.
"Use Ember as you spin!" said Ash. Tepig blew out small flames from its nose and shot them towards Pansear while they were spinning in the air. Pansear cried out and although it wasn't very effective, it gave Ash the chance he needed.
"Now! Throw Pansear to the ground!" cried Ash.
"Use your Aura to cushion yourself!" cried Chili. As Tepig threw Pansear to the ground, Pansear's body glowed a bright blue as Pansear approached the ground.
"No you don't. Push it harder using Tackle!" said Ash pointing toward the falling Pansear. Tepig shot towards the other Pokémon, slamming into its back.
"Sear!" cried Pansear as he hit the ground in a cloud of dust. Tepig spun off and landed perfectly, all eyes on the dust cloud.
And that's all she wrote! I have to say that this chapter was fairly long. Sorry for the wait, although I'm sorry for not putting this notice first.
And as always,
Review if you please