Episode 52: The First Swordsman.
Alright I admit it; I went a little far near the end of the last chapter but the story does need some moments of courage, but still I hope you enjoy the story, because I am just starting to pick things up. This is just great my Laptop decides to die on me with only a little left to do on my other stories chapters.
I shall start off from where the last episode left off.
Ash glared at his mother with his fists clenched as the green pokemon in front of him started to get ready to unleash another attack; he turned his gaze to a distraught princess, her tears flowing down her face after witnessing the cold blooded murder of the Mayor of Oplucid City, "why is my uncle doing this?" Salvia asked in shock, the bluenette collapsed to her knees with her hands now firmly planted on the ground, Ash noticed Iris continuing to battle bravely with her mentor's pokemon as the Legendary pokemon started to push her into a corner, "Ash is battling bravely and Madeline is helping out as much as she can," Salvia stated while looking around to see the black haired girl helping out the large dragon pokemon.
Ash looked over to his wife and smiled at her serenely, "Salvia, everything will be fine," Ash promised her quietly, Ash turned his focus back to the battle and nodded his head, the ghost type instinctively formed a large ball of ghostly energy and got ready to fire it at the grass type, "mom, stop now or face defeat," Ash told his mother as he extended his right arm out, Delia didn't respond as the grass type unleashed another powerful wall of leaves at the ghost type, "Gengar, put all your energy into this attack," Ash instructed the shadow pokemon with confidence, the ball of energy started to expand until it was larger than Gengar, Ash nodded allowing his ghost type to send the attack into the wall of leaves.
Madeline looked up to see the attack pushing through the storm of leaves before smashing into the grass type causing an explosion, "amazing, his Gengar is stronger than it was six months ago," Madeline pointed out while staying near the injured dragon pokemon.
Delia recalled the pokemon and pulled out another pokeball, "go Bisharp," Delia called out for her next pokemon, Ash watched as the dark type pokemon glared at his ghost type pokemon, Delia blankly looked into her son's determined gaze as memories started to flash through her mind, she placed her hands over her head and started to scream out.
Chris looked back to see Delia screaming on the ground, "well it seems like we will finish this later." Chris told the dragon master before running out to get the woman, 'I need to make this hypnosis more permanent,' he thought before picking up the woman and jumping into his helicopter, Ash tried to get to the helicopter but was hit by a dark wave of energy, Ash fell onto the ground and watched as Chris recalled the pokemon from the battle, "next time Ash!" Chris taunted Ash as the helicopter flew off into the distance.
Ash got back to his feet and smiled knowing that he was close to getting his mother back, "no you bastard next time I will get my mother back," Ash said with pride as he raised his fist into the sky. Ash turned around to see his Gengar collapse from exhaustion and Salvia still on the ground in disbelief of what had just happened, Ash recalled his tired pokemon and walked up to the princess.
Ash knelt down to comfort the royal by placing his hand on her shoulder, "Ash, look at this place, my uncle really made a mess," Salvia stated as she looked up to see Ash.
"Ash, this Dragonite is badly injured," Madeline told Ash as she stood up and waved to Ash.
Ash got back up and extended his hand down towards his young wife, "come on Salvia, we need to help the people out and we need to help Iris out," Ash told the bluenette. The young woman took the trainer's hand and got back to her feet, they started walked towards the gym, they watched as gym entrance collapsed with Iris trapped inside with the people, "Iris!" Ash yelled out for his friend with great concern.
"This building doesn't have much longer," Salvia pointed out, the building started to rumble as parts of the building were landing in front of them, "we can't get anywhere near the building," Salvia said as panic started to build up in her voice.
"Iris if you can hear me, use you Excadrill!" Ash barked out his instructions to the dragon master.
"Right, Excadrill Use Dig to help me get the people out of here," Iris called out a mostly brown pokemon with steel claws and hood, the subterrene pokemon spun around with tremendous force, the ground type effortlessly pierced through the rubble allowing Iris and the people to get out in time, Iris walked up to Ash with a frown, "Ash, I am sorry I failed to save this city," Iris apologized with tears starting to roll down her face.
"One of my most out spoken friends is driven to tears?" Ash questioned the purple haired girl as the group watched the destruction of the gym building, he closed his eyes for a moment and thought about the battle that happened moments before the collapse of the building, "Iris, you battled Chris right?" Ash asked while looking towards the sky with his fists clenched so tightly he began to bleed from his hands.
Iris nodded with regret, "I might be the champion of this region, but he is the most violent trainer I have ever face, in fact he is also to most insane I have ever come across," Iris replied while remembering the battle she had with Chris. "They attacked without warning, we thought this city was safe, but we were wrong," Iris submitted while pointing around the foreseeable area, pointing towards the devastation that had surrounded them.
Ash and Salvia saw injured people as they got up grasping their injuries and loved ones who were still trapped, "this is worse than Goldenrod City," Salvia gasped while placing her hands over her mouth in disbelief, seeing buildings fall to the ground and injured people on the street, she turned her gaze back to a seething Ash to see blood coming from his hand, 'he is so angry that he doesn't realize that his finger nails are digging into his hands,' Salvia thought.
Ash was almost in reach of saving his mother from Chris but knew that it was only a matter of time before he could rescue her, "I am guess Chris will try to restrengthen the hypnosis," Ash told himself, the trainer turned around unclenching his fists now with blood coming from his fingers, "alright you guys, we will need to search for survivors, Iris, can you take the west, Salvia and Madeline take the southern part of the city and I will take the north and the east of the city," Ash instructed the girls while trying to hide his anger.
Salvia grabbed Ash's arm and held him back, "Ash, let me put some bandages on your hands," Salvia told the trainer, Ash stopped and looked at his hands, Salvia opened her backpack and pulled out some medical supplies.
Ash watched as Salvia wrapped his hands to prevent Ash from losing more blood, "when did you learn this Salvia?" Ash asked in amazement.
Salvia finished bandaging the trainers hands before grasping them, "while you were gone for six months, I decided to learn some handy skills and to improve on ones that I already have," Salvia replied proudly, she let go of Ash's hands and turned around to start the search for people who were injured during the battle.
"Excuse me Ash, can I ask you a question?" Iris asked her friend.
Ash turned his eyes to Iris who stood in front of him, "ask away Iris," Ash replied calmly.
"It's nothing, I was just thinking that you two act like a married couple," Iris replied while watching the princess walk away with Madeline and Raichu.
"We are married," Ash replied with a smile as he pulled out a ring from his pocket, Iris smiled at the reply and turned around, "Iris, what will you do after you rebuild the city?" Ash asked the dragon master quietly.
"I will be trying to continue the legacy of Mayor Drayden," Iris retorted while staring at the ground, she stood on the spot thinking about the lessons she learnt thanks to her former mentor, "I might be young but I will not let this city fall again," Iris openly stated with a determined expression, Iris looked around to see the remnants of the once proud city still smouldering from the sneak attack.
Ash viewed the city and thought about what to do next, his thoughts of almost saving his mother before his enemy ran away again, the fact that he couldn't save the people and the smell of smoke filling the air of the collapsed buildings that surrounded him. He moved his hands in front of his face to look at the bandages that wrapped his hands. Ash looked up to see Salvia helping injured people from the rubble of the city, he proudly smiled at her, "she has learned first aid," Ash told himself as the dark clouds started to gather and the sky started to light up with lightning and the sound of thunder rattling the area.
Ash ran though the cityscape to search his part of the city for people who survived the sneak attack, "somebody, help!" a female voice called out for assistance. Ash ran towards the origin of the plea for help to discover a woman with long brown hair wearing a red jacket with blue jeans, "please my fiancé is stuck in the building, he was helping a bunch of kids who got stuck in the building," the woman cried out.
Ash closed his eyes for a moment and scanned the building, "he is alive," Ash replied as he walked towards the building and started to remove some of the parts of the building, he spotted the man keeping the children safe, "hey are you lot alright?" Ash asked the group as he leapt into the building. He looked around to see the man on the ground, Ash immediately ran over to him and breathed a sigh of relief, "good you alive," Ash commented with a smile.
Ash helped the man wearing a blue shirt and jeans with short black hair, "yeah I am alive, but I think my leg is broken, the kids are around trying to find some wood to use as a splint to help me out," he replied with brave smile, in that moment dust started to fall from the ceiling of the building and the loud rumbles as parts of the building started to fall around them, "find the kids now," the man instructed Ash before pushing him away.
"Right, you just stay here until I come back to help you out," Ash told the man with a smile. Ash quickly turned around to begin his search for the children; he looked in every corner before hearing the wails of the children emanating from a distant room. The trainer quickly ran towards the origin of the screams until he finally made it to the room, he looked up to see a large green pokemon lying on the floor, Ash pulled out one of the photos of the legendary pokemon he was meant to find he flipped through the pictures until he came across the legendary pokemon he was supposed to find legendary pokemon in question, he walked up to the children to see if they were alright, "hey kids are you alright?" Ash asked the children before turning his attention to injured pokemon.
"Yes Virizion protected us, but it is hurt due to a sneak attack," one of the children pointed out while the grassland pokemon slowly got back to its feet, the group watched as the legendary pokemon fell back onto the ground.
Ash ran up to the injured pokemon with great concern, "hey don't push yourself," Ash said with keeping the injured pokemon in its place, the pokemon opened its eyes and pushed Ash back, "hey I only want to help you!" Ash yelled out while the children started to cry in fear.
'If you want to help so badly then you need to prove your worth to me,' the legendary pokemon's voice echoed in the trainers mind, Ash looked up to the legendary pokemon before walking up to it, 'stay away from me, I need to protect the pokemon,' Virizion told Ash before getting back up to push Ash away.
"You can't test my worth if you're hurt," Ash told the pokemon as he walked closer to the pokemon again, "I know someone special to me that can help you, but you need to allow me to help you out as well," Ash explained with a smile before pulling out his pokeball, he called out a large white pokemon to push the remains of the building away, 'Reshiram, can you help Virizion out of here? I will help the kids escape before anymore of the building falls around us,' Ash told his pokemon. The prince watched as his legendary pokemon assisted the grassland pokemon before flying out with it on the vast white pokemon's back.
Ash turned around to the children and nodded, "mister, what are we supposed to do now?" one of the boys asked nervously.
"We meet up with the man that helped you," Ash replied as he led the children out of the room, he led them through the hallway until he spotted the man in the middle of the room, the group quickly ran up to the man, "are you still with us?" Ash asked him with even more concern.
"Yeah I am still alive, just in a lot of pain that's all," he replied with a broad grin, Ash placed his arm around the man's shoulders and heaved him up with all his might, "you know this place is about to collapse and yet you are still going to help me out," the man stated happily, Ash helped the man towards the entrance of the building.
Ash pulled out one of his pokeballs with his free left hand to call out his Lucario, "alright Lucario, give us a doorway with Aura Sphere," Ash instructed his aura pokemon with confidence. The group watched Lucario form a powerful ball of energy then firing it at the wall, an opening appeared much to the delight of the children, they ran out as the rain started to fall, "time to get you out of here," Ash told the man with a smile, the prince helped him out of the building before it finally collapsed behind them, he looked back and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks for saving my life and the lives of the children," the man said with a smile, he looked up and smiled at his soon to be wife, he watched as she counted the children, "sorry forgot to introduce myself, my name is Aaron I help her run the orphanage in Johto, it seems like we will have a few more children to help find families later," Aaron told Ash while watching his fiancé playing with the children in the ran.
"My name is Ash Ketchum, "Ash replied while helping the Aaron towards the woman of his affections.
"Ah the famous pokemon trainer," Aaron replied with a smile while being helped by the trainer, he looked up to see the brunette standing in front of Ash with her hands on her hips and pouting at the man, "great now she is angry at me," Aaron complained with a cheeky smile.
"Thanks for bringing Aaron back to me safely, and you Aaron are so reckless," she said with her fists clenched in anger, she raised her hand up making it look like she was going to punch him, but soon embraced him grateful that he was alive and well, "don't make me worry like that ever again," she said with tears rolling down her face. The woman pulled away from the embrace and turned her attention to Ash, "wow if I wasn't going to get married to this reckless fool I would totally fall for you in a heartbeat," she said with a smirk much to the shock of her fiancé.
Ash burst out into laughter after hearing reckless in the same sentence, "nah, I am far more reckless," Ash said with a chuckle. Ash continued to the exit of the city until he reached the outskirts, "plus I am already taken, there is no way I am going to trade her in," Ash stated proudly as more people appeared from the city with Salvia and Madeline leading them, Ash turned his attention to Salvia and noticed that she was getting ready to help the injured people.
"Oh where are my manners? My name is Samantha and you are?" the woman known as Samantha introduced herself while asking for the trainer's name.
"My name is Ash Ketchum," Ash finished the introductions, he placed the man on the bed before collapsing onto the ground, "you know something funny, even though I am married I still get women asking me out," Ash laughed, he quickly turned his gaze back to the bluenette and smiled at her again, he noticed Salvia helping the people out with their injuries.
"So she must be the luckiest girl in the world," Samantha remarked while the storm raged on around them.
"No, I have said this numerous occasions, I am the one that is lucky," Ash remarked with a submissive smile. After talking to Samantha he slowly walked over to the princess, the prince was now thinking about what to do next the city destroyed and people hurt, he looked around to see Salvia working her hardest to heal the injured people on her own, 'she is really trying her best,' Ash thought as Salvia collapsed from exhaustion but was still wanting to help the people out.
Meanwhile Virizion watched what was transpiring in front of it, 'amazing, this little girl is doing everything she can to save people and pokemon,' the grassland pokemon told the vast white pokemon, the swordsman watched as young royal fell to the ground again this time Ash was by her side, 'he save me from the falling building,' the legendary reminded itself while watching the trainer pick up the blue haired woman and Madeline walking next to him with Salvia sleeping in his arms.
'Yes Virizion, he is something special, the truth is he needs your help to stop a war that will hurt not only pokemon but people as well,' the vast white pokemon explained while taking off towards the trainer.
Back in the tent with the rain clearing up Ash placed Salvia on a bed to let her rest up, "Ash, I need to continue working to help people out," Salvia told Ash tiredly, Ash moved the blanket over the princess to let her rest.
"No Salvia, me and Madeline will continue on, you take some rest alright," Ash told his wife before walking out with Madeline while Salvia watched them walking out. Ash looked around to see people helping each other out, he looked over towards a cliff to see a large green pokemon looking down towards him, Ash nodded at the powerful pokemon before seeing the vast white pokemon land in front of him, "Madeline, why do girls seems to want to ask me out?" Ash asked with a chuckle, the girl looked at him for a moment perplexed at what he was asking her, "it seems everywhere I go girls seem to be hitting on me," Ash commented while thinking about Salvia who was resting in her tent, he looked back towards the tent thinking about her.
"Come on Ash, you know that's bound to happen, but you better stay loyal to Salvia or I will make you regret it," Madeline replied with a cheeky smile, she walked pass the trainer, the black haired girl looked over her left shoulder, "I don't want to have to hurt you Ash," Madeline said before running off to help the people out.
"Hmph, she seems to have figured me out a little, but she has nothing to worry about, I have turned down every advance a woman has made," Ash silently told himself while remembering the moment Skyla asked him out a few months before returning, Samantha even having her moment to hit on him, "Salvia is all I need," Ash commented as he looked at his ring, he closed his eyes for a moment and remembered the day he married the princess, thinking about the events prior to the wedding which was forced upon them, 'Salvia, I promise to have a proper marriage with you,' Ash told himself while walking around the tent city to make sure the people were alright.
After a few hours of keeping things in check Ash returned to the princess' tent to see if she was resting, "so is everything alright?" Salvia asked quietly before they heard a loud noise at the front of their tent.
Ash made it outside to see Virizion standing in front of him, he looked up as the pokemon stood on the spot, 'in two weeks' time I will test your worth,' the grassland pokemon told Ash after he had emerged from the tent, the trainer gulped for a moment as the pokemon walked pass him, the legendary turned its gaze back to him, 'but I have one condition,' the large pokemon told Ash calmly.
Ash nodded while keeping his nerves, 'name that condition,' Ash replied peacefully.
'You cannot use Reshiram in our battle, to truly test your skills you must battle with your other five pokemon,' the legendary explained before disappearing from sight.
Ash thought about the challenge as he remembered the moment he hesitated against his own mother in the battle, "I cannot hesitate in this battle, if I do then all is lost," Ash whispered to himself before noticing the princess walking up to him, "Salvia, Virizion has challenged me to a battle for two weeks' time," Ash told his wife with a nervous look. The trainer looked towards the city and saw Madeline approaching them.
"So how long are we going to stay here for?" Madeline asked the two people in front of her, 'I hope we stay we need to help the people out,' Madeline thought as the married couple looked at each other.
Ash and Salvia nodded in unison, Ash turned his gaze to the little girl and knelt down in front of her, "as long as the people need us, also I sense you have some sort of worry," Ash replied to the little girl. Madeline looked to the ground before Ash placed his hand in her long black hair, "you have nothing to worry about, I am going to stay by Salvia's side until the day I die," Ash remarked as he took his hand of the girls head and brought his hand down, he extended his little finger out and smiled at the girl, "how about I make a promise to you?" Ash assured the little girl. She looked at it for a moment and nodded.
Madeline wrapped her little finger around Ash but before she let go she glared into her friend's eyes, "you better keep your promise or else," Madeline threatened the prince much to his shock, "and I will make sure that you keep that promise by staying with the both of you," Madeline told the two before letting go of Ash's little finger.
"Oh great this shall be interesting," Ash complained before getting back to his feet, he watched as Salvia helped Madeline back into the tent with a smile on his face, 'I would love to have her as a daughter, she is strong willed,' Ash thought before hitting himself for thinking of a family, "but eventually Salvia and me would need to consider it," Ash reminded himself as he pulled out the ring from his pocket.
Ash continued to stare at the ring failing to realize that Salvia was standing right behind him, "Ash, what are you thinking about?" Salvia asked the trainer with concern, she walked up to the trainer's side and placed her arm around his left arm, she rested her head on his shoulder and looked at the stars, "even during the war, the night sky is so peaceful," Salvia commented happily before closing her eyes.
Ash exhaled heavily and remembered his train of thought's moments before Salvia walked up to him, "Salvia, I was thinking about after this war and our journey," Ash started before gulping at the mere thought of telling Salvia what he was thinking.
"You can tell me anything Ash," Salvia assured Ash with a warm smile.
Ash gazed into the royal's bright blue eyes and smiled, he nodded and gulped again this time the nervous tension was gone and was willing himself to tell the princess what was on his mind, "after our journey, I want to start our family, settle down run the kingdom just you and me," Ash decreed happily, this revelation caused Salvia to stare at him in shock, "well what do you say?" Ash asked the princess as she stood next to him unable to say a word.
She looked into Ash's brown eyes ignoring her surroundings, 'he is serious,' Salvia thought as her heart started to beat faster, she looked towards the ground and started to shed tears of joy, "thank you Ash, but we cannot be thinking that far ahead," Salvia told Ash with a smile, she loosened her grasp on Ash's arm and turned around and walked back towards her tent, before entering she looked back to see the prince nodding at her, "I am still seventeen," Salvia commented as she looked up to the night sky to see a star streaking across the inky canvas and the bright moon, a gentle breeze blew through the camp and her smile grew, she walked back into her tent feeling more joyful than ever.
Ash continued to look at the night sky with the sounds of the trees swaying in the gentle breeze with the people talking about what they were going to do when they rebuild their city, 'I made a promise to both Madeline and Salvia, so I better do my best to fulfil it,' Ash thought while looking back towards the girl's ten, "plus I don't want to find out what Madeline means by or else," Ash told himself while snickering at what he was told, he walked around the tent city to make sure the people were safe from any attacks.
I hope you all enjoyed this episode of the series, please leave a review and tell me what you think. Also I am thinking that I will release alternate versions of certain episodes that will be released I have already written two versions that will not be canon to the story.
Will Ash defeat the legendary Virizion without the help of Reshiram?
Next time episode 53: By the Sword 1