Episode 49: Saving Truths

Time to add some more action to the story, please enjoy and review as well, would like to know what people think of the story as well. After this chapter and some from the other stories I will be going on hiatus, due to really busy schedule until to about mid-September.

Cynthia: 25

"I hope I am not too late," a woman with long blonde hair hoped while sitting on the back of her large blue pokemon as it flew through the skies. "Hurry Garchomp our friends need our help,"bshe told her pokemon while he flew through the skies as the dragon picked up speed and flew across the sky, "King Brian, I will find your daughter and Ash Ketchum," Cynthia decreed as he long blonde hair whipped around wildly in the wind.

(Flashback)

A group of ships were getting ready to dock on the shores of a small town, the waves were crashing and the people of the town were beginning to wonder what was happening with the ships, at the front of the ship stood a man wearing mostly red and a powerful crown, "Cynthia, I need you to bring Ash and Salvia to this town," Brian instructed the champion with confidence, the blonde haired trainer acknowledged this and called out her large blue dragon, the king signalled his forces to disembark ready to take the stage in the war, 'I was only able to bring five hundred of my very best me,' the king thought as three of his soldiers approached him and saluted his professionally, "get our bases built, we will be here for a while to come," the king stated with a frown while looking at the tiny town with guilt written in his eyes.

The king walked off his ship and kept things in working order, "Sire, we will have our medical facility up and running before the end of the day, also the ships will be used as our cafeteria," the soldier stated while handing the king a set of papers.

"Very good, also make sure the people are evacuated, I don't want them caught up when the fighting starts," Brian told his soldier calmly. He scanned the papers and looked the small base that was being quickly set up with the workers doing everything for the king, 'if only I had another thousand men,' the king said with disdain.

(Return from flashback)

"I know I should have followed his orders instead of keeping an eye on what was happening in Undella Town," Cynthia professed with disdain while looking down at the cities that hadn't been affected by the war, 'these people don't know the horror that will befall them,' Cynthia thought sadly as she continued to approach her destination.

Nacrene City

"So you intended to reclaim you pokemon, it's your fault really, you should've put power before the princess and that worthless little girl," the Shadow Triad member on the left said as their pokemon continued to fight against the trainers while Ash was moving further away from the large green pokemon attacking him, "what will you do? Knowing you can't protect the people important to you?" he questioned the prince with a dark smirk.

Ash placed his hands on the wall as the legendary pokemon got ready to attack the trainer, "crap, I am trapped," Ash hissed in frustration. Before the attack hit Ash a powerful wave of psychic energy pushed the pokemon, hovering in front of Ash was a small pink pokemon with a long tail, 'Mew?' Ash wondered as he started to look around to see Salvia standing at the entrance of the museum, "Salvia what are you doing?!" Ash yelled out at the princess who was holding her side and panting from sheer exhaustion.

"I am not letting you fight alone," Salvia replied tiredly.

"How cute, even when she is severely sick, she still finds the strength to want to protect you, you really must feel pathetic right about now," the Shadow Triad leader taunted Ash in a cynical chuckle.

"He is not pathetic!" Madeline replied while Raichu stood by her side with sparks flying from his cheeks, "Raichu use Thunderbolt on that big green pokemon," Madeline instructed the electric mouse pokemon with hopes that the electric type would listen to her, Raichu unleashed a powerful blast of electricity while targeting the legendary pokemon.

The devastating blast of electricity surrounded the legendary pokemon dealing significant damage, "now is the time, Mew use psychic to retrieve the Master Ball," Salvia ordered before collapsing onto the ground.

Ash noticed this and quickly ran over to his wife, "Salvia, I left you behind so that way you wouldn't push yourself too far," Ash told the bluenette with great concern, "Lucario, Zoroark finish Absol and Bisharp off now," Ash ordered his pokemon without averting his gave from the princess, it was then that a powerful attack slammed into Ash pushing him to the ground next to the royal, he tried to pick himself up before seeing Madeline standing between them and the Shadow Triad, "Madeline run, now," Ash told the little girl with fears for her safety.

Madeline glared at the three men as two of them approached the trio, Madeline gulped for a moment as the men glared at her manically, "I will not let you hurt my friends!" Madeline decreed as the masterball flew pass her head and landed next to Ash.

"You can't be serious, you are nothing but a little girl," the plasma elite told the girl before hitting and knocking her back, "pitiful girl, making sure you two worthless idiots are safe," the middle plasma stated while walking up to Ash.

"Bastards, you hurt a seven year old girl! There is no honour in such a cowardly act!" Ash yelled out to Team Plasma as he picked up his Masterball and called out his powerful legendary pokemon.

"Is that all you monster have got?!" Madeline questioned the Shadow Triad, she got up and glared at the trio with anger, the black haired girl limped towards the battle grasping her right arm and blood trickling from her nose, "it would take more than that to keep me down," Madeline declared while smirking at the enemy forces.

Ash looked over to the girl and grinned at her, 'she is tough,' Ash complimented while the girl collapsed back to the ground, Ash watched a Madeline got back to her feet, "no Madeline, you need to stay back, this is my battle, Reshiram time to crush these guys," Ash called out his large white pokemon standing by his side ready to battle, "Lucario, Gengar and Zoroark back to my side," Ash called over to his other pokemon to return back to his side of the battlefield. After his three other pokemon got back to him the third Shadow Triad member collapsed from the loss of energy, "there are only two of you left," Ash commented while pointing over to the fallen triad member.

The other two members looked over to Ash and shook their heads, "we are stronger than you think," the two remaining members stated in unison while the vast white pokemon roared at them, "Tornadus attack with Air Slash," they ordered quickly.

The large green pokemon sent out blades of air at the pokemon of truth, "no you don't, Reshiram attack with Flamethrower," instructing his pokemon to unleash a counter attack. The vast white pokemon sent out a blast of flames towards the incoming Air Slash the flames pushed the powerful attack back knocking the large green pokemon away as the Shadow Triad prepared to use another couple of pokemon for the battle, "oh come on guys, at least try to battle with some honour," Ash hissed in frustration as the duo called out their dark type pokemon.

"Garchomp, attack with Dragon Rush," a familiar female voice called out for her attack.

Ash looked and smiled at the woman with long blonde hair, a light blue sleeveless blouse and black jeans, "so Cynthia, you decided to arrive," Ash said with slight sarcasm.

"Ash, the king wants to see you for some reason, he didn't say why," Cynthia retorted to Ash's comment before walking next to the trainer, "you better leave, I will deal with these guys myself," Cynthia instructed Ash.

"But I need to fight," Ash replied in frustration.

"No Ash, you need to heal up, the king needs you immediately," Cynthia retorted while keeping an eye on the enemies while her powerful dragon jumped back from the pokemon he attacked.

'Ash, she is right, we need to get out of here for now, remember Salvia is in bad shape and Madeline is also injured,' Reshiram's voice echoed through the prince's mind.

Ash looked back for a moment to see Madeline and Salvia on the ground, 'alright we will leave,' Ash replied to his powerful pokemon, "Gengar, Lucario and Zoroark return," Ash recalled his three other pokemon. Ash walked over to Salvia and grabbed her pokeball so he could recall the small pink pokemon who was hovering nearby.

"Here are the orders Ash," Cynthia told the trainer before throwing a map in his direction.

"Reshiram, can you lower yourself for a moment?" Ash asked his legendary pokemon. After the vast white pokemon followed the instructions of the trainer Ash picked up Madeline and carried her over to the legendary pokemon, after putting the little girl on the legendary pokemon's back he walked back towards Salvia, 'even while sick you managed to protect me, you saved me, makes me feel weak now,' Ash thought with guilt while kneeling down to his wife, he picked her up and carried her towards the dragon type pokemon.

Ash climbed on while thinking about the battle, "Ash, are you alright?" Salvia asked tiredly as she placed her hand on the trainer's face.

"Yeah I am fine, just a few scraps and cuts thats all," Ash replied solemnly, 'but I feel worse deep down inside, Reshiram, I need to do some serious training, if I don't become stronger how am I supposed to protect my friends and the one I love?' Ash asked his pokemon with a quieter tone. Ash climbed up on his pokemon and took off leaving Cynthia to deal with the Plasma elite.

'Ash, you had no other choice, you needed to protect Salvia and Madeline,' Reshiram told the trainer in reply.

'But it wasn't enough, Madeline got hurt and Salvia got involved,' Ash commented with a disheartened tone. The vast white pokemon continued to fly through the skies while Ash looked down at the girls who were hurt from the battle Raichu looked over to his master with a saddened expression, "Raichu, when we land we are to take them to a medical facility, you are to train with Madeline, I have some serious training I need to do," Ash confided with his pokemon while holding onto the legendary pokemon.

(An hour later)

Ash had landed in Undella town to be greeted by the king himself and a few of the Sinnoh elite, "Ash, are you looking after my daughter?" the king asked immediately.

Ash turned his head and looked over to see the princess resting on the back of the legendary pokemon, "she is really sick, and it's my fault that she is sick too," Ash said as tears rolled down his face, "she was about to be flattened by a part of the building, I tackled her out of the way to save her," Ash explained the situation as more guilt hit him harder.

"Alright we have a medical facility, you should take her there," the king told Ash with a smile, "you saved her life, so I can't blame you for it," the king reassured Ash with a smile as he walked over to inspect more of the buildings to see if they were ready for the upcoming battle. The king looked over to Ash knowing that he wasn't happy about something, 'even though I let him marry my daughter he doesn't seem like the same person,' the king stated while watching the trainer move his daughter into the facility.

The doctors approached the trainer and the royal with great concern, "she is in bad condition, it will take her at least a month to get better," the doctor pointed out with sadness, "she has a case of Pneumonia," the doctor pointed out leaving Ash to stand there in disbelief.

"She had been sick for a while now, has she been hiding her illness?" Ash asked himself before walking outside to get Madeline, he walked up to the legendary pokemon and looked at the little girl, 'can't believe even you defended me, makes me feel like shit as well,' Ash thought while picking up the little girl.

Ash walked into the hospital with Madeline in his arms, "she seems to have minor injuries but as for Lady Salvia we will need to keep an eye on her for a while," the doctor pointed out with a frown leaving Ash to look away with guilt.

"Do you have room, I need a place to think," Ash replied with his fists clenched.

The doctor lead the prince to the room and left him there, Ash sat down with his head in his hands and wondered what to do, "why is I cannot protect Salvia, my mom was captured by her psycho uncle and Madeline refused to back down in a fight that she had no chance in winning," Ash whispered to himself before hearing the door open, Ash looked up to see the king walking in, "Brian how are you going?" Ash asked his father-in-law as he took a seat.

"What's the matter Ash? You don't seem like yourself," the king questioned with concern.

"Everything seems to compile all the time, the war, my responsibilities as your daughter's husband and now I need to find new allies to end this war," Ash said while looking away trying to avoid eye contact with the king, "not only that, I hurt daughter, my wife, what kind of husband am I?" Ash asked the king as he got up and punched the wall in sheer dissatisfaction.

"Ash, please calm down, it wasn't your fault, my daughter would never blame you for that," the king told his son-in-law with a proud smile, "you saved her life, but she will recover from her illness so please don't beat yourself up because of what you needed to do," the King reassured his daughter's husband.

"It gets worse, I did everything I could to combat The Shadow Triad but it wasn't enough, your sick daughter saved my pokemon and that little girl even battled after I took a hit from their legendary pokemon," Ash explained as the king walked to the door still smiling at his son-in-law.

"What are you going to do Ash?" the king enquired calmly, he looked over to Ash and watched him hitting the table in front of him, "you are now married into royalty, you are my son-in-law I believe you will make a choice that is neither right or wrong," the king told Ash before walking out of the room.

Ash sat on the chair thinking about the battle of Nacrene City, he got up and walked out of the room, walking towards the room flashbacks of saving Salvia flashed through his mind, "Salvia, you will not be seeing me for a while, I need to get stronger to protect my family," Ash told himself as he entered the room, the prince walked up to the princess's bed and noticed that she was sleeping peacefully, even while asleep you seem to bring peace to me,' Ash thought with a smile.

Ash walked up to the table and grabbed a pen and paper, he sat down as started to write a letter, 'Dear Salvia, when you wake in a month's time I will not be here, I will be off training to get stronger not only for my pokemon but for you and Madeline,' Ash wrote down the first paragragh before turning his gaze towards the bluenette, 'honestly I have no idea how long I will be gone for, but when I return I will be much stronger mentally as well, my aura abilities are needed in this war so I need to train my aura abilities as well,' Ash wrote down his next paragraph as he thought about what to write down next, a thousand thoughts rushed through his mind, but he started to feel like he even failed his own mother.

"What kind of son am I? Unable to save even my own mother," Ash questioned himself while writing down the final paragraph of the letter, 'I will love you always, Ash Ketchum, don't worry I will get you a really nice Birthday present as well,' Ash thought while placing the letter on the bedside table draw next to Salvia's bed.

Ash walked over to the entrance of the room only to be greeted by Madeline, "and where do you think you are going Mister Ash Ketchum?" Madeline asked with her left hand on her hips.

"Madeline, I need you to stay here, I have some soul searching I need to do," Ash told the girl who shook her head in anger.

"So you intend to leave your wife and me alone?" Madeline questioned the trainer as she approached him.

Madeline stomped her foot on the prince's causing him to yell out in pain, "if it's any consolation, I am leaving Raichu here with you and Salvia, I promise I will be back, I just need to do something," Ash told the little girl causing her to huff her chest and shake her head.

"Ash, why are you doing this, I finally found two really great friends, ones that trust me and I trust them with my life and one of them has to go somewhere?!" Madeline screamed out, saddened by her friend's news. "Have you considered how your wife will feel if she finds that you did a disappearing act on us?!" Madeline yelled out in anger not caring that people were listening to the lecture that she was giving Ash.

"Madeline I told you about that because I trust you," Ash replied with a frown.

"I don't care Ash, you are one of my best friends, you helped me get back to my feet and now I see that you are leaving," Madeline started to cry a she fell to the ground with tears hitting the ground leaving Ash in shock, "what will we do?" Madeline asked leaving Ash in awe at the little girl's sadness.

"You're stronger than me, I couldn't do a damn thing to prevent them from hurting you, all I could do is watch it happen," Ash replied solemnly, "when I come back, I promise you and Salvia, even my mother will never get hurt again, my family is important, all I did is watch them get hurt," Ash said while the black haired girl looked up at the trainer clenching his fists, "I will never let that happen again," Ash declared while looking back to see Salvia remain on the bed, "I will never watch the ones I love get hurt again, I will never watch my friends get hurt again," Ash stated with a powerful resolve as he placed his hand on the little girls head and smiled at her.

"Fine I will make sure Salvia remains safe and that she gets stronger too," Madeline submitted while picking herself up.

"That a girl," Ash retorted while messing up Madeline's hair again.

Madeline pushed Ash's hand off her head and stomped on his other foot, "I told you to stop doing that!" Madeline yelled out while Ash was hopping around in pain. Madeline walked pass the trainer and into the room, "please Ash, don't do anything stupid," Madeline requested with a smile as she opened the door to the room.

"Come on Madeline, you know me better than that," Ash said while scratching the back of his head nervously.

"That's what concerns me the most," Madeline remarked causing Ash to chuckle. "For two weeks you have been reckless even when you saved my life," Madeline pointed out with a cheeky grin as she walked into the room letting Ash to do his own thing.

Ash walked out of the medical facility and spotted his legendary pokemon, "I am sorry Salvia my love, but there is some things I need to do, but don't worry I will come back for you," Ash commented while walking up to the vast white pokemon quietly, 'all I could do is watch the people important to me get hurt, my mom get taken away like a puppet, never again will I allow that,' Ash thought as he looked back to think about his adventures with the princess and with tears starting to flow down his face, 'it was me that got you in bad shape Salvia, it was my fault I wasn't strong enough, but when I do come back, I will be much stronger so I can protect you and not the other way around,' Ash thought while getting ready to leave the area.

"Ash, where are you going?" Brian asked while watching the trainer get on to his legendary pokemon.

"I will be doing some special trainer, I will not be back for a while, I will not stand for it ever again, to watch the one love get hurt while I watch it happen, I will not watch my friends fight and get hurt, I will not watch my mother be taken away because I was too weak to do anything about it," Ash explained while clenching his fist in anger while the king looked on in concern knowing that Ash was about to leave, Ash looked at the ground to see the king turning around.

"You can leave on one condition, make sure you apologize to my daughter on your return," King Brain instructed Ash before hearing the wings of the pokemon flapping causing a large gust of wind to hit the area, king Brian looked up to see him leaving on his own, 'I was too scared to tell him he is now the king of Sinnoh, I am too terrified that it would add too much of a burden on him,' the king thought while the large white pokemon left his point of view, "it was my fault Ash that I put you through all of this, I can see why you left to become stronger, it was because of me," the King told himself while thinking about the problems that had followed since he left Johto. The king looked at the ground to find Ash's X-Transceiver laying in front of him.

Meanwhile Ash was on the back of the large pokemon staring into the distance, 'Reshiram, I will need your help as well,' Ash requested while he flew towards another destination.

'Very well Ash, I will help you train,' Reshiram acknowledged while flying into the distance.

"Salvia, please get well," Ash whispered while remembering the people that had given their lives to end the war.

While Ash was flying into the distance Salvia had woken up and noticed the letter Ash had given her, she looked around to see that Ash was nowhere near in sight, she picked up the letter and started to read the contents, much to her disbelief, she started to cry as she continued to read, "he was blaming himself for what happened to me," Salvia uttered before folding the letter up and putting back on the bedside draw, 'you idiot I never blamed you for that,' Salvia thought, she turned her gaze to the door to see her father entering the room, "dad, you're here?" Salvia questioned with a saddened tone.

"Great to see you awake," Brian stated with a smile as he walked up to the bed to see Salvia sitting up, he looked over to see the little girl with Ash's Raichu, "but Ash is hurting more and he needs some time alone to think," Brian pointed out, he took a seat and showed his daughter the item Ash left behind, "it seems like he was blaming himself for you getting sick, but really it was my fault for making him shoulder such a burden," the king stated while, "I was only thinking about our kingdom and not about him, I must be the most selfish father in the world," the king stated while placing the X-Transceiver next to Salvia.

"No dad, you did what you had to do, Ash took that responsibility because he wanted to look after me," Salvia reassured her father with a smile before placing her head back on the pillow.

"Not only that Ash went off somewhere because he was failing as a husband, he wanted to protect you but he said it was you who protected him," Madeline interrupted as she walked up to the bed side of the royal.

"I thought it was going to remain a secret," the king said with disdain, "who are you?" the king asked the little girl with a frown.

"My name is Madeline, I am Ash's and Salvia's friend," Madeline declared with a smirk, "who are you?" Madeline asked the in a disrespectful manner.

"I am Brian the king of Sinnoh and Salvia's father," Brian retorted in slight irritation.

The two looked at one another not happy to be in each other's presence, "you know something, I get the feeling I am going to dislike you," Madeline told the king while glaring at him.

"Come on you two, please stop this we all need to find a way of contacting Ash," Salvia tried to mediate the two as they looked away from each other, 'Ash, please come back to me safely,' Salvia wished as she started to fall asleep from the illness she had been suffering from, 'it's just as much my fault too Ash, I shouldn't have hidden my condition from you,' Salvia told herself as her father and Madeline continued to argue in front of her. "Will you two shut up! If you want to argue go outside, I need some sleep," Salvia demanded causing the room to fall to a sudden silence.

Madeline walked towards a seat and sat down next to the princess, "well I am staying," Madeline decreed with a smile as she grabbed an apple.

"Well I have an army to prepare," the king said as he left the room to prepare for battle.

Hope you all like this episode, I enjoyed writing this one because I thought it would be a different change of pace. Please note I will be on hiatus for a while due to an increasingly busy schedule, so I would like my readers to be patient, I wanted to get stuff done by June this year but something has come up that will prevent me from doing that. If things go well in the next week or so I might put in another episode.

The next chapter will happen after a time skip how long, maybe 6 months.

What Improvements will Ash have made during the time skip? And what changes to the will have occurred during that time?

Next time episode 50: Emotional Reunions