Chapter 28 – Emanation

"Ash was the only other person I had met who had the potential to use aura, and I didn't care if I had to stalk him around Sinnoh, but I was not going to let him walk away from it again!"
"You sound like such a creep Riley."
"But you still love me!"
"Unfortunately…" Riley and Cynthia

[12:20PM] – 14th June 2003 - Sinnoh – Mount Coronet – North Eastern Pass

Ash's peace at Mount Coronet was interrupted by some measly common Pokémon bandits, trying to smuggle stolen goods through the mountain pass. He was training among the rocky passes, trying to work out how electrocute rocks, when Luxray caught their scent, and the battle hungry Luxray practically threw himself on them, with his trainer chasing after him.

"Lucario use bone rush!"

It was on sheer instinct and a sixth sense (Ash had a niggling feeling that it was because of the Lucario but he wasn't sure) Ash ducked under the blue staff, skidding in the gravel. He cursed as he watched Lux's tail vanish out of sight, heading towards a cave where he would no doubt trap them.

"What the hell?" Ash glanced around frantically for his attacker, no Lucario in sight. "Pikachu use iron tail!"

The yellow mouse leapt upwards, tail spinning silver.

"Aura sphere!"

The blue sphere collided with Rai, sending him crashing to the ground with a weak 'chu'.

"Aura sphere again and then metal claw!"

"Gallade use Protect!"

The blue spheres hit the shimmering golden shield as Ash glanced around wildly, eyes finally resting on the blue and black jackal who was charging towards them, claws extended in a metal claw.

"No! Lucario! Not them!"

The jackal skidded to a halt, red eyes flaring in confusion as his trainer skidded into view, panting heavily, attack called off. Gallade still maintained the protect barrier, spinning his blade warily.

Ash frowned in confusion at the man, with that stupid blue hat which looked all too familiar. "Riley?" he asked, motioning to Tristan to let the barrier drop. The Gallade obeyed, still spinning his scythe nervously.

"Ash..?" Riley took a step forwards. "Gee – I'm sorry…" he winced slightly. "We were after the thieves…"

"Yeah..?" Ash asked, "Me too. Well… my Luxray was." He shot a wary glance towards the aura Pokémon before continuing. "No need to worry – Lux and Tyr are going to end up trapping them in the cave just ahead." On that thought he glanced towards the direction of the cave to where static was beginning to crackle in the sky. Dread filled him. "Uh, how about I'll see you in a bit... I've got to check that Lux isn't killing anybody!" he waved a goodbye before turning and sprinting off, Pikachu at his heels.

Gallade sighed. "Not more running." the psychic complained, before his form flickered and he teleported after his errant trainer.

Riley glanced curiously at his Lucario. "We should probably go and see what the problem is." The jackal was still looking slightly guilty at mistaking Ash for the bandits. The aura guardian and his partner arrived in the cave, slowing to a halt and taking in the dim lighting, the phosphorescent glow and dripping rock pools. He instantly zoned in on the crackling electricity, and the sight of Ash, fishing an electrocuted Feebas from a pool.

"Ash..?" Riley asked cautiously. "Where are the bandits?"

The teen glanced up, "Lux and Trist cornered them over there. They're paralyzed and psychically bound up – not going anywhere any time soon." He winced as static danced across the water and up his arm. "My Luxray was a bit over enthusiastic in dealing with them."

Anther static spark and a flash of red, as Ash captured the small Feebas in a little white premier ball. Riley took a step forwards to survey the bandits, and was alarmed when the dark floor in front of him moved, coming alive in a torrent of flames and gold eyes.

"Tyr!" Ash snapped. "Down boy." He chided the Typhlosion, who had half reared up, but on his trainer's command had dropped back down on all fours to slink out of the way, towards where Pikachu was sitting.

After making sure the bandits were safely secured and dealt with, and their loot robbed off them, Riley moved back to where Ash was brushing off his hands.

"I thought you were competing in the Sinnoh League?" Riley asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I did that." Ash stood, sounding unusually cheerful. "Came in the top four... I missed the boat back to Kanto and decided to stay and train a bit…" he trailed off as his Luxray stalked up. "If you can't behave yourself I'm going to return you." he threatened the cat. "I… I should probably give Jenny a call to come and arrest them. Give me a moment…" he scrambled for his phone, talking as he did. "She gave me her number when she realised I was training here."

"Don't bother." Riley said, walking over, his Lucario at his heels. "I've already phoned her. The bandits… they're why I'm here actually."

"Oh?" Ash stopped, raising an eyebrow. "So she wasn't kidding when she said this was a popular smuggling route? I mean…" Ash eyed the newcomers. "Calling in the guardians… then again this is only the fourth group I've encountered since I've been here…"

"How long have you been here?" Riley asked. "And what happened to the other groups?"

"About three months?" Ash paused, and Pikachu nodded in agreement. "And with the other groups I beat their Pokémon and they ran away dropping loads of cash. I heard one of them scream about whiting out – can you white out? I thought it was black out? Oh well. So this time I just set Luxray on them and let them have it." Ash perched on a large rock, letting Pikachu leap up into his lap. "You here on guardian business?" he ventured, as the pair settled into waiting for Jenny to arrive.

"How did you guess?"

"Well the Lucario…" Ash gestured to the dark haired man with his funny blue jacket, dark trousers and jaunty hat. Once again it struck him how much Riley looked like Sir Aaron., "And the whole appearing randomly on Mount Coronet and mistaking me for a bandit."

The man winced. "Yeah… sorry about that..."

Ash shrugged it off. "No sweat – at least you didn't hit me – my Pokémon have better reactions than before."

"You still train?" Riley looked curiously towards the Luxray and Gallade. The teen nodded in response.

"And you?" Ash asked.

He nodded, and after affirming that the bandits weren't going anywhere paralysed and psychically trussed up with a battle hungry Luxray and fearsome Gallade guarding them he perched on a nearby rock. "Steel types mostly." He admitted, "Well… I only have the two… Metagross and Lucario... I also have an Absol, Salamence and Ursaring."

The dark haired teen visibly blanched. "That's a nasty team." He winced, impressed. "Wouldn't want to face those in battle… Do you prefer steel types them… training on Iron Island and all?"

He nodded, adjusting his hat so it wouldn't fall off. His Lucario had perched on the floor, and Pikachu had leapt from his trainer's lap to bound over and say hi. Typhlosion too, recently evolved and slightly clumsy, hopped over to greet the aura Pokémon. "I prefer steel types. Byron asked me once to be a gym leader but I refused and suggested his son was a better choice. I also wanted to continue my training to be an aura guardian."

Ash smiled, "Well you seem to be doing okay for yourself. Saving the world from criminals and the like…"

"I'm trying to balance being a trainer and a guardian." Riley told the teen. "It's hard, but worthwhile."

Ash mused over that. He'd always just stuck to the trainer side of things, and not considered that he could do both.

"And you?" Riley asked, "What have you been up to since Iron Island? You seem quite settled here."

"I guess so. I completed the league and then missed the boat back to Kanto, so I decided to stick around and train electrics mostly." I realised with surprise. "I mean… I've always had Pikachu… but I now have Lux over there, an eccentric Tynamo and a Lanturn."

The two humans sat in the dim cave, filled with stalactites and stalactites, pools full of lurking Pokémon, their Pokémon teams spread out, quiet repetitions of their names in the background of the two dark haired men's chatter.

"You're still a trainer then? Aiming for that Pokémon mastery?" the aura guardian's tone had grown teasing, and Ash let his head fall into his hands.

"Don't. Since I'm not running around after gym badges I'm actually taking the time to reconnect with some older Pokémon. Although…" Ash paused, "Shard was a little pissed to see me again. Flamethrower to the face, as always." He winced slightly.

"Can't persuade you to switch to guardian can I?"

"You didn't really try last time," Ash laughed, "But you can give it a go since I don't have a clue what I want to do anymore."

"PikaPikaPi ChuKaa!" the electric mouse chirped.

Ash frowned at his starter Pokémon. "Repeat that again." Ash instructed. "I caught my name and 'finally' but not the rest."

"You can understand him?"

Ash glanced up at Riley, who seemed surprised. Shaking his head, he said, "No, not really. I'm just learning the language slowly. Gallade usually translates or…" he paused as Pikachu began his usual charade. "Pikachu acts it out for me. Wait? What do you mean I finally grew up?" his tone was indignantly as the electric mouse finally finished miming a change of height.

"KaChu!" he squeaked cheekily.

From where Typhlosion was curled up by Lucario he made a noise of agreement.

"What do you mean you agree? Stop ganging up on me!"

Riley laughed. "You seem pretty settled here. The months of isolation aren't catching up on you? Nice Typhlosion by the way."

The Pokémon in question puffed up with pride, dark blue fur contrasting with the soft cream belly, and his flaming back now reduced to slight glowing embers. "Thanks," I answered for him. "I've been reconnecting with some of my older Pokémon. It means a lot of trips into Celestic on Pidgeot or Charizard. Swellow is getting to the size where I can ride him too now. I switch my team around regularly. I've got Pidgeot and Sceptile with me as well."

The aura guardian choked slightly. "And you thought my team was impressive? You have a Charizard?"

Ash shuddered slightly. "It's more trouble than it's worth." He assured Riley. "Trust me."

"Can I see?"

He considered it for a moment. "If you let yours out as well… It's not like there isn't space or anything, and I camp out in another cave, other side of the valley, so it's not as if they're going to burn down my equipment like a certain orange drake I know."

In flashing red beams of light, a white furred Absol, large and formidable Salamence, hovering Metagross and roaring Ursaring. Ash had been right; they made a scarily strong team. The trainer slid down, holding out a hand to greet the dark type who had stalked over, eying him warily.

"Sol?" the disaster Pokémon inquired.

Ash glanced automatically to Pikachu for a translation, surprised when Riley gave it instead.

"He can sense your aura," the guardian said. "I can to for that matter; it's like a burning flame."

"I'll give you burning flame," Ash mumbled, releasing Sceptile, Pidgeot and Charizard, the latter of whom tried to greet him with his usual ember, but his trainer ducked out of the way. Riley chuckled, but when the blue eyed lizard turned his attention towards him instead, he stopped. "Meet Shard, Spectre and Cia." he paused after saying that, "You know I never used to nickname," he added, almost as an afterthought, "But it's just a habit I seem to have gotten in after meeting Tristan. My Gallade." He added for Riley's benefit.

Riley thought it over. "Well I suppose it would be like calling each other human. Pokémon have names too." He gestured to the Salamence, "Maia," he told Ash, "The Absol is Duke, Metagross is Terra, Ursaring is Io and Lucario is Aaron."

"Like… Sir Aaron?" Ash asked, smiling at the blue and black jackal.

"Scep?" the green gecko paused in chewing his twig. "Tile?"

"PikaChu!" the mouse added for his trainer's benefit. "KaChu…"

"It's okay Rai, I caught that," Ash interrupted his mouse. "Yes, that was when we visited Rota."

"You've been to Rota?" Riley looked slightly envious.

Ash nodded. "We're been to the palace for a battle tournament. Obviously." He rolled his eyes slightly at the way every place they had been was linked to battles or with contests. "The usual save-the-world crisis occurs and we had to team up with Lucario to help Mew at the Tree of Beginning."

"You… you've seen Mew?" the guardian was awestruck. "Wow."

Ash seemed to miss this, instead focussing on something which had been bothering him. "That symbol." He gestured to the necklet the guardian wore. "I've seen it before… on a pair of gloves worn by Sir Aaron and I think it's on Groundon's hands too."

Riley swallowed. "You've been close enough to Groundon to see the symbols on its arms?" he asked, in disbelief.

"Well it's actually a pretty big Pokémon – kinda' hard to miss." The dark haired man stared at the teen in awe and he shifted uncomfortably. "Is there any significance?" he asked again.

The guardian shook his head. "Coincidence?" he deviated. "The art of aura originated north of Kanto, in the Rota region actually, which is why I want to go there. It spread to Hoenn and Sinnoh first and foremost, and the art must have picked up some influences from the various creations myths. Hoenn has the elemental creation tale… if I've got it right… while Sinnoh in famous for this very peak where the Original One birth the deities of time and space."

"And dimension." Ash added, not really thinking.

"You've met Giratina?"

On the floor Pikachu snorted. "KaCHu PikaPika PikaPIKa PiChiChuKa!"

"Hey, that's not true!" Ash protested. "I've never really met a Raikou… that stuff in Crown City doesn't count. And I've never been to Unova…"

"Ash." Riley began grey eyes wide, "Are you telling me you've met every single legendary Pokémon and helped them in some way, or had them help you."

The teen scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well when you put it like that…"

"You mentioned Sir Aaron earlier. How the hell do you know what his gloves look like?"

Pikachu, clearly overjoyed that Riley understood him, began to dictate the tale to the shocked aura guardian and his Lucario companion. Ash let his head rest in his palms, eyes closing wearily. "It's… not a grand as it seems…" he protested weakly, watching some of the charades that Pikachu seemed to fall naturally into for his trainer's benefit.

"And you still refuse to learn how to use aura?" the steel type trainer asked, when the yellow mouse finally fell down in exhaustion from his tale. "Even when Sir Aaron… this is Sir Aaron, the singularly most famous aura guardian ever, who founded the Order and died to protect his kingdom… his Lucario, apprentice and companion… mistook you, for him, because your aura is practically identical… and you don't even want to know how to use it."

Ash was saved, at that moment, by the barking of a Growlithe as Officer Jenny finally arrived, her large Skarmory tucking in the blade-like flight feathers against its body.

"Now where are these bandits?" the teal haired officer brushed off her hands, her fire type wagging its tail at her heels.

("I'll admit that I don't remember the next bit too well. It's one of those blank sections which vanished and never came back." Ash paused for a bit, frowning, before glancing up at the bandana wearing girl at her computer. "I suppose also… that's why I wanted this all written down May… so in case I forget I have something which remembers for me."

There was silence as he continued. "I don't want to forget our journey, our struggle; the people we've met and the places we've been. The stuff that happened doesn't deserve to be forgotten. It's a part of yourself, memories, and if you lose them… you lose yourself." Rai chirped in agreement, eyes sad. "I don't want to lose me." Ash frowned, not sure about the grammatical sense of the sentence and adding, "I don't want you to lose me again."

Misty latched onto his arm and gave his a quick kiss to his cheek. "Stay with us then." She smiled weakly at him. "Promise me?"

"Always..."

Ash glanced at the group. "Riley had warned me that our conversation wasn't over, and we must have continued it, but I don't recall it. I think though that I left Coronet, and began travelling with him around Sinnoh. My next memory which isn't a blur of images and sounds is him, dragging me behind him with the insistence that we were 'Training. Now,' I must have followed along, half curious, half reluctant, with Rai laughing his head off… you would have, don't deny it…" Ash snapped at the miffed orange mouse. "I don't think you recall things any better than you do!"

"RaiAi! ChuRaichuRai!" (I do! I remember being knocked out by that Absol!)

Ash paused, frowning at the faint images he could barely remember. "That's right." He said slowly. "He agreed to train me in aura provided that I gave him some battling tips. After one look at his terrifying Salamence and Absol I stated he didn't need any, but then he pointed out the difference between Charizard and Sceptile to his Ursaring and Metagross. Personally I couldn't see it, but I guess I must have agreed."

"What is aura?" Dawn frowned. "I mean, I know it's the attack that Togekiss uses and I think those fighting types from Unova can use it too, but you and Brock kept avoiding the issue when I asked you in Sinnoh."

"What is aura?" Ash laughed. "Gee Dawn, you sure pick the hard questions, don't you. Never mind." He waved it off, beginning to explain. "Aura is a form of energy that all humans and Pokémon emit, in waves that can be sensed, just like sound. Because it is just like sound, it can be disrupted by cutting into airspace."

Luca nodded in agreement. "I had some trouble once with these roughnecks, attacking my home oasis in Orre with Mothim that kept using air slash. It disrupted the aura in the air, making it hard to locate anything using it." The gang blinked at him, although whether it was because he had spoken and broken his silence, or that he had actually spoke to them in a language they could comprehend… it was debatable. "What?" he frowned, "So I'm a telepath, but it doesn't mean I have to broadcast it?" He shifted uneasily

"Right," Ash brought them back to focus on him, as opposed to his black Lucario. "Aura is the energy that every living thing, animate or inanimate contains, although obviously living organisms hold more than non-living. Aura defines itself into different forms, creating the various elements. Normal types have a completely neutral aura, while fighting types use aura to strengthen their bodies and minds. Some Pokémon, like Lucario and that Unova one Dawn mentioned, can naturally sense aura, and can use it to read minds, actions, see the 'sound' of the aura around them, or track a specific aura of a person, provided we know what we're tracking. In a few rare cases, humans can do this."

He gestured to himself.

"And Riley is the only other guardian that you know of?" Max asked wide eyed. "That's wicked!"

Ash shrugged. "They'll always be one or two a decade, although Sabrina would probably count. It's just that the aura they channel has manifested itself into the psychic element. Riley and I, as Guardians, can use aura in its pure form, normal type if you will, but also channel it into elemental forms. I tend to lean towards the electric, fighting, psychic and dark, while Riley picks the steel, fighting and normal."

"What about Luca, sensing the gears?" Lance glanced at the black furred jackal curiously.

"Luca's aura is developed to allow him to sense the Time Gears in their elemental form and the ripples they have upon the world." The elite explained. "We call this ability Dimensional Scream, although I have no clue why. Some people, like Annabel, who is a weak empath, can simply sense the auras of others and their emotions because of it."

"So the move aura sphere…" Gary frowned. "That's channelling your aura into an attack?"

"Yeah - that's right Blue," Ash smirked mocking at his former rival. "Aura sphere is a move made of pure aura. Only a few legendries, Lucario and that Unova one whose name I can't remember…" he paused frowning, before continuing, "Well they can use it. And yes, Misty, Dawn, Togekiss can use it too." He told the two Togekiss owners. "Riley reckons dragon pulse, dark pulse, detect and force palm use aura, but it's not been confirmed." He shrugged. "In in essence, all Pokémon attacks are aura, just varied into elemental form."

"So it is energy…?" Gary asked in disbelief, "Pure raw energy that you can harness and add a type to?"

"Aura is not energy. Don't be so crude, Gary, you're a scientist." The aura guardian looked a bit offended. "Aura is a type of energy true, but if you want to give it a term, it's more like 'life energy' or even 'soul energy'."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Gary complained.

"It's not meant to be clear Blue – it's not a science, it's an art." Ash rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Leaf spoke up over her blustering boyfriend, "I heard in Orre they have these things called shadow Pokémon that have their hearts closed. Does that mean their aura is basically shut down?"

"Yeah, I heard about that too." Ash looked impressed at her knowledge. "But then Orre has always been a backwards place. The Shadow Pokémon has their aura inverted, their life, or soul energy inverted until they remain an inverted shell of what they were." He gestured to his loyal mouse. "Rai and I were sort of like that… but more of a dead sort of negative. Luca thinks he might be one, but we've seen no evidence for it. Personally I reckon he's just naturally dark. I have met an albino Furret once, and I think it's just a genetic quirk, like shiny Pokémon."

Gary looked curious at this, the scientist in him wanting to test that theory, but he restrained himself.

"Did you go back to Johto then?" Erika, who they had thought was asleep on the floor leaning against her Meganium, opened one eye.

"No, we didn't immediately, but eventually he wanted to get back to what he considered home, so we did leave Mount Coronet for Iron Island.")

[13:48PM] – 18th September 2003 - Sinnoh – Iron Island

"PikaChu!" (Look Out!)

Pikachu's warning allowed his trainer to duck the first rock that hurdled his way and he spun around, eyes blazing until his brown gaze landed on a smug Riley, another rock in his hand.

"What." Ash spat out. "Are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he asked with a smirk that Ash did not like the look of, creeping onto his face.

"You look like you're trying to give me a concussion." The teenager answered honestly. Briefly, he mentally calculated how long it might take him to run over to Gabite and hide behind him.

"It's to train your aura. I mean… using it passively and with a lot of thought is all well and good, but you need to learn to use it on instinct. First thing: dodging. Then, we can move onto fighting properly. At the moment you fight like a kid with a wooden sword."

Ash narrowed his eyes. It had been several more months since the pair had left Mount Coronet together, and they had eventually worked their way back to Riley's home island.

"Pretty miserable home," Ash had told him, staring at the dull grey landscape, with little greenery in sight. Riley had made his run laps then, around the damn island, and Ash had learned not to insult the dark haired man's home, even if he had technically been born in Canalve City.

Their training had varied from physical exercises (Riley had literally thrown him off the boat on the way here and left him to swim to the mainland), mental meditations (which involved a lot of sitting around doing nothing) and aura techniques. The latter progressed a lot quicker once Ash was able to manifest his aura physically, through a flare of blue or even a sphere. Pikachu was secretly learning to, and had managed to teach himself force palm through some trick or other.

Ash warily eyed his mentor, getting to his feet and steeling himself. It shouldn't be too bad, after all he was used to ducking Misty's mallets, or Dawn's wild slaps whenever he accidently insulted her or her hair. This shouldn't be too much trouble at all.

Then Riley threw a blindfold at him. "Put it on." He motioned.

Ash stared at him.

"I'm waiting." He indicated.

"Riley… come on… we're friends, right?" Ash begged, smiling, as if he was joking (please Arceus let him be joking) and ignoring Pikachu's traitorous laughs.

"Right," Riley grinned, rock in hand. "So let's see how good you are at dodging."

Ash's smile dropped off his face.

("Yes Misty, I am telling the truth, if you don't believe me, then tough." Ash glared around at the gang, as if daring them to argue.

Lance cautiously raised a hand, before speaking. "I can vouch for him." He told everyone. "I watched one of their 'training sessions' although I think that… well… I think massacre might describe it a bit better."

"Thanks for the support." Ash grumbled. "We spent a while there, before moving on. We visited Eterna, Celestic, and then Sunnyshore again. We circled around south to Jubilife and Twinleaf, before we took a boat to Johto."

"Why Johto..?" Gary asked. "Why not Hoenn or stay in Sinnoh?"

Ash shrugged. "I was just following Riley. It was a nice change to go to where someone else wanted to go and not where I wanted to go. We mutually decided Johto because he had never been there, and I hadn't been there for a while. We were getting less and less calls from the Sinnoh League, and we decided that the Sinnoh rangers could manage themselves."

"How did the guardians work?" Erika asked, glancing up. "Were you on par with the ranger and elites?"

Ash nodded. "The Leagues had links to us, and whenever they couldn't contact a ranger or elite, or they thought the situation needed something more, they would contact us to sort out the problem. We shut down an operation in Eterna, a hatchery, breeding Pokémon for profit. After rescuing the eggs and baby Pokémon, giving them to a nurse to send to Solaceon, Riley taught me how to…" Ash stopped, "Actually you know what, never mind." He cut himself off.

"The Guardian Order was small, with the aura ability only being very slight. Riley told me that he only knew three other members, and his Lucario and I were two of them."

"The other..?" Leaf asked.

"I don't know." Ash shrugged. "But we moved down to Johto and found ourselves in Mahogany Town, and I was reintroduced to Lance Wataru."

Where he was sitting Lance pumped his fist. "Finally!" he sighed. "I've been waiting for this! My grand entrance." He glanced at the looks he was getting. "What?"

"Yes." Ash smirked. "I met the insane dragon master who ran after a raging Hydreigon."

"But…" Lance didn't seem to see a problem with this. "It was a Hydreigon!")

[17:18PM] – 13th January 2004 – Johto – Mahogany Town – Underground Tunnels

"Duck!"

Hearing that command one too many times from his own Pokémon and the eccentric aura guardian, Ash obeyed instantly, because when Riley told you to duck, you listened. Ash had grown to know the older guardian well over the past six months of travelling. Riley had an odd penchant for explosives, a fascination with mythology and a hatred of seafood, and he and Ash had fitted into a friendly routine. Riley wasn't the big brother that Brock had been, but neither was he the little sibling that May, Dawn and Max had provided. If Riley was a sibling, he'd be one that you pretend isn't related to you.

As it was, the two were friends and both trusted the other with their life, due to the various scrapes they ended up in, due to trouble stalking Ash, and Riley stalking trouble.

They made a great team.

Ash ducked and rolled, out of the way as Duke, the Absol, shot a night slash over his head, knocking the wind out of the thug in front of the teen.

The guardians were wiping out a small fraction of Team Rocket, which had splintered off from the main body and set up a small Pokémon smuggling circle under a small souvenir shop. Out loose from their Pokéballs, Eelektrik, newly evolved, Luxray and Gallade.

Arrin (the Eelektrik) was throwing a thunderbolt at the grunts not hit by Duke's wide razor wind. The happy eel had discovered a thunderstone on Iron Island, and was waiting until he felt it was the right time to evolve. Until then Pikachu now avoided Ash's bag, and sent in Tristan to retrieve his ketchup bottle whenever he felt like a snack. Ash had caught his electric starter bribing the psychic fighting type with anything from a twisted spoon to a black sash, although where Pikachu found those items was beyond him. He had a nagging suspicious that Pikachu had learnt thief though at some point.

Probably from Luxray, Ash observed his Luxray tackle a grunt, claws ripping the fabric and jaws snatching out a small bag of money.

Oh well, if they paid for their own care then all the best for them.

The man in front of Ash staggered up, winded but not yet down, and Ash punched him in the chest, fist imbued almost naturally with a blue aura.

"PiKa!" (Nice one!) Pikachu chirped, and Ash thanked Mew for small miracles. Being able to actually understand the chirps and squeaks without having to resort to his large and expansive dictionary of Pi's and Chu's was a small blessing in a fight, when his Pokémon could give him warning and communicate problems with ease.

The grunt's partner spun around, rifle raised, only to be sliced in half by the electric lion's iron tail. Lux looked far too happy, as he ripped the remains of the weapon away with his teeth, paralyzing waves sending the man crumpling to the ground.

"No killing." Ash snapped at his bloodthirsty electric type. Lux glared at his trainer, but consented with a flick of his tail, sending a paralyzing wave at the group of approaching guards from another corridor. Ash had turned away to the east, observing Tristan blocking the meagre Persian statue defence from screaming out yet another alarm.

"So much for subtlety Riley," Ash muttered to himself. Spinning to the left, he almost ran into a grunt lounging about in the corridor, but Eelektrik barrelled into him with a wild charge, and Ash kept moving.

The abandoned base they had just entered was a rabbit warren. Riley and Ash were splitting up, the former acting as a distraction for the grunts by running into the sensors and security, allowing Ash through unimpeded to search for the trapped Pokémon. It had originally been Riley's plan for Ash to run around as bait, but the teenager firmly refused, and it was now the older guardian leading them on a merry dance around their own base.

Ash's aura skills had improved drastically under Riley's 'teachings'. With Lucario there, it helped a lot, the jackal instructing him how to form attacks. Once the raven haired teen had learned how to harness his aura, the rest was relatively easy in comparison. Nothing could quite beat the challenge of trying to form his first aura sphere through.

Ash rounded down another corridor, heading for a set of stairs, which twisted and curved around, and he struggled for orientation. A sixth sense told him he was getting warmer, and he trusted that tiny feeling which told him which way to turn.

There was a lone guard at the bottom, and Ash instinctively closed his eyes, slipping into aura sight. Riley's abrasive training method had worked, and the living pulse of the grunt echoed, beating across the aura fields. Ash dodged the blue of his swing, seeing the movement before it happened, and grabbed the arm, twisting it and overbalancing the man, dropping a large, dull aura sphere on him.

He hesitated a moment when the blue heartbeat flared and died. He hadn't meant to kill the man!

"(I thought you said not to kill them.)" Luxray criticised.

"T…Try not to." Ash tried to catch his thoughts, but the need to find the Pokémon overwhelmed his urge to stand around wondering what had just happened.

He had killed a man.

He didn't feel anything was wrong with the action, justified in his need to find the creatures which needed him more.

It didn't stop the slight feeling of guilt build inside him.

"We don't want a repeat of Eterna," Ash spun away, talking to his electric types.

"(Eterna was horrible.)" The electric eel agreed as he danced forwards. "(But whether that was because of the stuff they were doing or because of Riley and his explosives I'm not sure.)"

He considered it a moment. "Riley." He confirmed. "Definitely because of the explosions," he told Arrin, who was glancing down a split corridor.

"The Pokémon are this way!" Tristan telepathically called, standing near a locked door which was no longer locked, instead hanging off its hinges, metal singed by the force of his psychic cut.

The eel turned from his station, moving forwards after the Gallade. "On it," Ash leapt forwards, following Arrin and Tristan. "Lux guard the hall." He called over his shoulder, as Pikachu followed him in.

The guardian grimaced at the scene in front of him. This was a smuggling alright, cages upon cages of metal, scared elemental faces peering through the bars in fear. Ash considered the fact they were still alive and in good health a positive factor, even if they were caged against their will. The raven haired trainer hastened to release them, getting them out of their safely by the safest method available, catching them in Pokéballs and allowing them to transport themselves to Oak's ranch.

The red and white spheres shimmered with blue and teleported away. They would be released upon arrival into the safe environment, their new home. The spheres weren't registered to anyone, and so they would still be 'wild' essentially.

It took about twenty minutes to calm them, explain what was happening and then to act upon it. One little Flaafy refused to be caught, and instead hopped down and joined Pikachu in explaining what was happening to the others.

A loud explosion from outside signified Luxray had just hit somebody with a spark attack, and Ash felt my heart go out to the sorry bastard. Catching the last Pokémon – a Poochyena - he let the sphere teleport away and then spun around to check Luxray wasn't killing anybody.

The blue and black cat was snarling instead at a very large and frightening Dragonite, the dragon taking up over half the corridor. The lion looked unafraid, and all too prepared to charge right into battle.

Ash was the one to notice the orange fire forming.

"Oh crap." he cursed.

"Use hyper beam!"

He'd never seen a hyper beam form that fast. Except in the case of the champion's monster when he was battling the red Gyrados… Ash ducked, just in time, as Luxray took the safer option of leaping into a corridor out of the way. The orange beam hurtled over his head, missing by a few inches and passing over towards a group of grunts who were running towards the source of the explosion.

Not always a good or wise idea.

The raven glanced up at the monstrous lizard, wondering if it was, in fact the champion's own partner.

It was certainly large enough, but Ash was sure that Riley had phoned and told the G-Men to stay out of this mess.

Behind him the hyper beam hit the grunts and scattering their ranks. The remaining few who had avoided the hyper beam, staggered forwards, guns raised and ready to fire on the champion and his dragon.

The shots peppered out against a blue protect shield, bubbling from Ash's gloved hand. It shook, unstable, under the physical impacts, the first time it had been tested out in a life or death situation, but it held.

Luxray let out a howl, bounding towards the grunts, cloaked in fire. Ash ignored his Luxray who had somehow managed to learn flame charge, when it wasn't possible for his species via extensive teachings or breeding, and let him have at it, knocking two of the grunts down while Pikachu, Eelektrik and the Flaafy took care of the rest.

"What the…" Ash heard the dragon owner's confusion, watching the electric types take care of the rockets. Spinning around, he caught sight of the red-hair, cape and wondered what it was with old acquaintances mistaking him for a criminal.

"Please don't try and fire another hyper beam." Ash snapped, quickly before Lance got it into his head to attack again. "I'd like to keep me head." He added, watching as the champion stared at him, with dawning recognition, a name forming on his lips when there was a rumble.

The whole building shook, the floor rattling violently. The group staggered with the impact, but managed to remain standing, Ash mentally cursing.

"Dammit Rai," he glared at his rat, "I thought you said Riley didn't have any explosives!"

"Pika..!" Pikachu leapt for safety, namely his trainer's shoulder, as Ash returned Arrin and Tristan. "Kaa Chu Pikachu!" (I checked! I swear there was nothing explosive anywhere near him!)

Ash tried to return Luxray but he dodged the beam, stalking around and looking for more rockets to electrocute, with the Flaafy dancing at his heels.

"Lux!" Ash snapped, and the cat turned to glare at him. The floor shook again. "Can you find the exit?" Luxray considered this for a moment. "Retreat..?" Ash tried, hoping he might lead them out.

The electric type didn't appear to know what that word meant, but as the building rattled once again, sending both Ash and Lance crashing into the wall, trying to remain upright, he got the message, and rounded towards the nearest exit, bounding away like an electrified cannon-ball on crack.

Ash glanced over his shoulder to Lance. "Are you coming?" he asked.

The champion protested. "But the Pokémon…"

"Saved," Ash interrupted. "It's done, it's sorted! We can get out of here and let the police and rangers to clear up what's left of the paralyzed guys." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the unmoving black uniformed grunts. "I'm all in favour of getting out of here while the building remains standing, to try and find out what my idiotic mentor is up to."

As if hearing his words, there was a rumble and cracking sound, of the splitting ceiling tiles. The raven haired teen glanced warily upwards, beginning to walk down the corridor in the direction that Luxray had taken. For a moment the champion looked torn, before returning his giant Dragonite and breaking into a jog after him.

"You're with Riley?" he asked, glancing sideways in disbelief. "He's a maniac!"

"Tell me about it." Ash rolled his eyes, pausing briefly to scoop up the persistent Flaafy into his arms, after Lance almost tripped over her. "But he did definitely sent a message to the G-men telling them we had this under control. Didn't you get it?"

Lance scoffed. "Of course we got it. But when it's from Riley and his 'unknown apprentice' it doesn't mean anything." They rounded the corner making for the stairs. "Wait." Lance frowned, taking the stairs two at a time, skidding to a halt at the top and turning to look at Ash. "Does that mean you're Riley's new apprentice?"

"I don't know about 'new'." Ash shrugged. "I think I'm his only one, and he calls the position 'cannon fodder', actually."

The pair emerged up another set of stairs into the tacky souvenir shop, only to find the shop… was no longer there. For a moment they stood blinking at the rubble, coughing in the dust, until Ash spotted Lux a few feet away and moved to join him.

"What did Riley do this time?" he coughed, waving away a cloud of dust from around his face. He glanced around for his errant friend and mentor, spotting Aaron, his Lucario, forming an aura sphere. The jackal was looking very weary and battered, standing next to Absol. Above them, Riley's new Skarmory was locked in battle with a purple and black monstrosity.

"Beautiful." Lance breathed, eyeing the three headed dragon.

The ground shook as a hyper beam missed the steel bird, crashing into the ground and sending ripples through the earth. Ash guessed that explained the earthquakes, as Pikachu clung even tighter to the collar of his blue jacket. Lux leaped out of the way, running a current over his body to keep him in the air, in a mock magnet rise effect.

"I suppose the good news is that Riley doesn't have any explosives." Ash tried to look on the bright side, ignoring the infatuated look the champion had, while staring at the pseudo legendary dark and dragon type. The grunt in control of the beast… was not actually in control, and had actually been knocked out by Absol. Riley was on the ground, trying to order Skarmory about, while ducking from the multiple mix of hyper beams, flamethrowers and… that thing could use surf?

"I've always wanted a Hydreigon."

Ash glanced at the champion warily. "Well you know what? Go for it." Ash gestured to the three headed hydra. "It's all yours."

"Really..?" Lance looked like Christmas had come early. Then again, Ash mused, if he got given a Pokémon for Christmas he's be ecstatic too. He wondered if he'd be more so, if it was an electric type.

"It's your funeral." Ash quipped, moving to help Riley arrest the thugs milling about of the surface, while trying to dodge the hyper beam and hyper voice attack. Lance released his Dragonite and Altaria and started forwards, towards the Unova dragon, a determined look on his face.

Lance found a lot of rare Pokémon around Mahogany Town. Maybe he should hang around there more often.

("He caught it. Well… when I say caught, I mean his Dragonite knocked it out with a close range focus blast and then he pilfered the Pokéball from its unconscious trainer."

"You stole it!" May was aghast. "You said someone gave it to you!"

"Liberated, I liberated it!" Lance corrected, and May couldn't really argue with that.

Ash shrugged and continued. "Lance and Riley then proceeded to argue about whose job it was to attack Mahogany, while I rolled my eyes a lot and eventually accompanied the Flaafy to where her family lived and said goodbye, promising to visit. Yes, she is my Ampharos – I went back later and asked if she wanted to come along with me."

"What… wait… that's where you went?" Lance glared at him. "You left me with that smug guardian on purpose!"

"You didn't notice." Ash promised him. "You were mid-way through a long and complicated discussion on how a phone works."

Lance frowned. "It wasn't about how a phone works. It was about responsibilities, and whose duty it was to respond to that sort of crisis!"

"Lance." Ash tried to let his friend down gently. "We don't really care."

"Of course you don't care." Lance grumbled. "You ran away and left me with him for an hour. A whole hour! I don't know how a managed it."

Ash rolled his eyes. "You managed well enough when you began travelling with us." He reminded the champion. Turning back to the group he continued. "After their little argument, Lance began to tag along with us. We went west to Ectreteak, even though we were meant to be heading for the ice path."

"It was Riley's fault." Lance added.

Ash was actually glaring at Rai, who was busy playing with Shadow. "We ended up heading west, instead of east like we first intended. We split ways briefly around Cianwood, me and Riley heading to the Safari Zone to deal with these renegade smugglers while Lance was looking up on some Hoenn myths."

May perked up. "Embedded tower?" she glanced at the champion, "Did you find it?" she asked eagerly.

"I found a tower." Lance admitted. "A cave in the cliff of route 47 which wound up and up, although the stairs were ruined and I needed Rago. There were the patterns in the walls floors, similar to the weather deities. It probably was."

"Wow." May breathed. "It's said that the Hoenn people came to Johto over the sea, and that was the first place they landed. In order to commemorate their landing, they built the tower to worship their deities, but during a war with Johto, it was torn down."

"Why would they do that?" Lance frowned.

"The people of Johto worshipped their legendary bird titans. For these strangers to come and talk about Pokémon moving land, sea and sky opposed their view about the elemental birds."

"I thought our regions believed in the birth of Mew." Ash pointed out.

"Mew was the birth of all people and Pokémon. Arceus was the birth of the world." May recited, "That's how the legends go, at least. Who knows whether or not it is true?"

"What did you sort out at the safari zone?" Misty asked.

"Hunter renegades. Leftovers from J's gang," Ash told her. "Then of course that idiot couldn't leave us to handle it and had to turn up with his shiny Gyrados, and create a new target for them to go after."

"I'd finished what I was doing." Lance grumbled. "You were taking too long."

"We were stalking out their camp." Ash replied. "We told you that! You were just impatient; hanging around Cianwood trying not to be seen by those crazy people you call 'fan girls'."

Misty sighed. "Thank god my reputation preceded me, and once they found out that Ash and I were dating they backed of him."

"What?" Ash's voice had risen slightly. "What do you mean I had… uh…?"

"No." Misty looked smug. "If you did they no longer exist. Trust me on that."

Brock was crying, mock tears, and Ash just decided not to ask. May was staring at her boyfriend slightly worried. "You… don't still get stalked by fans do you?" she asked warily.

"You'd know if I was." He reassured her. "And no, I don't. Karen spread rumours that I was dating Lorelei."

"In retribution," Ash smirked. "We spread rumours that Karen and Will were dating. Then we discover that they actually are when Lance walked in on…"

"Shut up! You said you'd never mention that!" the champion looked slightly flustered.

The aura guardian just smirked for a moment, before receiving a cushion in the face, which Lance had thrown across the room at him. "Sorry," he said cheekily. "Forget you asked that."

"You two are hilarious." Erika rolled her eyes. "No wonder whenever you battle each other it gets so much publicity. They're not watching the battle though. They're watching the pair of you act like idiots."

Ash opened his mouth to protest but Misty beat him too it, "He does not act like an idiot!" she paused. "Well he does sometimes, but only I'm allowed to tell him that!"

"Thanks for the support Misty." He rolled his eyes. "My point was, Lance couldn't stay put so he came looking for us in the safari zone. And then things just went from bad to worse…")

AN: This is a birthday present to... uh... myself I guess. I'm back to my Thursday posting schedule! I just like Thursdays for some reason, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I was born on a Thursday (not this one), that school ended today or that Castiel happens to be the angel of Thursday.

Thanks to Guest for pointing out the double evolution of Gible in the previous chapter - it's edited now and he only evolves once, despite how awesome he is. Thanks also to everyone who reviewed - I'm glad you're enjoying the story and hope you continue to do so!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter - next up Riley, Ash and Lance wander around Johto some more. See you on a Thursday (not sure when). :)

~ Eclipse