Chapter 6: Shattered Snow Storm.
Summary: The snow storm is over, but the clean-up begins, during the clean up the enemy shows up unexpectedly ambushing both Ash and Greed, but the turning of the tide appears when the Shadow Lords start to discover who they are facing against.
Greed walked around to make sure the people were alright, smiling he noticed a little child walking up to him, "you're amazing," the kid complimented the Shadow Lord.
Greed chuckled slightly and turned away, "no it was my two friends, they did all the work," Greed tried to remove all of the credit from himself, the people looked at him as if to tell him he did an amazing job, Greed rushed off to find his allies, he walked into the hallway and noticed that one of the doors was part open, he pushed it open to find that Ash and Salvia were sitting up and sleeping at the same time, he also noticed Salvia's head resting on Ash's right shoulder.
A broad smirk crossed his face coming up with an idea, he tip-toed into the room and approached his friends, 'time to play a small prank on these two,' Greed thought as he grabbed the right arm of Ash, slowly but surely moving it without making any sudden movements. Moving it slowly until Ash's arm was around the princess' shoulder.
Greed walked out quickly and without making any noises, he closed the door and waited for Ash and Salvia to wake up, "I cannot wait for the reaction," Greed held back his laughter.
Salvia was the first to wake, she was quick to notice Ash's arm around her, getting upset at what she had seen, she poked the face of Ash, trying to make him uncomfortable, "Ash wake up now," Salvia demanded.
Ash slowly woke up and stretched out his arms, yawning at the same time, "is it morning already?" Ash asked the princess tiredly.
"What were you doing with your arm around me?" Salvia glared at her friend.
"Hey, I did no such thing," Ash replied before noticing the position of his right arm, "yeah and slept on my shoulder like a baby," Ash snapped back.
"Wait we slept together?" Salvia pushed Ash away, before hearing the laughter of Greed coming from out the bluenette's room. Ash and Salvia looked at one another and nodded, "he pulled a prank on us," Salvia acknowledged with a slight laugh, she got up and pushed Ash out of the room, "I need to get dressed," Salvia commented as she closed the door.
Ash looked over to Greed who was smiling proudly with his own actions, "sorry about that Ash, you two seemed really comfortable," Greed teased his friend.
"Why didn't you wake us up?" Ash asked Greed with a disappointed tone.
"Me wake you two up? No that was way too much fun," Greed admitted his interest in pulling his prank on Ash and Salvia, "the storm has finished, I think we also need to clean up," Greed informed Ash as he walked away from the trainer.
"You know changing the topic isn't going to help you later on," Ash remarked with a serious tone, looking towards the door that was closed, "Salvia, I am heading to the main foyer, I will get your breakfast," Ash informed the young royal quietly, Ash exited the hallway, shaking his head in disbelief that Greed would pull a prank on them.
Meanwhile Salvia who was fully dressed, also wondering why she was the victim of a prank, "maybe Greed did it to put us a little at ease," Salvia whispered to herself, but her thoughts soon drifted to the previous night, her and Ash talking about their respective fears, "it was nice that we were able to talk, at least he was calmer," Salvia quietly told herself as she pulled out a picture of her and Dawn at the palace prior to her friend's own demise, "you know Dawn, he hasn't been happy for a while, but I bet I can change that," Salvia whispered to the picture of Dawn.
(Arrowroot Town)
Pride walked to the king who was sitting on the throne, "sir, we have found your daughter, she is in Snowpoint City, Lust and Envy will be there in just two hours from now," Pride informed the king who nodded in approval.
"Very good Pride, don't let me down, after all you promise to bring my wife back is still a part of our deal," Salvia's father explained to the Shadow Lord.
"Yes of course, your majesty," Pride retorted with a smirk. The Shadow Lord turned away his smile broadening, holding back his laughter, 'you sir are a fool, we have no intentions of bringing your wife back, not that we could anyway, you are as foolish as the good doctor in Snowpoint City,' Pride thought as he opened the door, he peered through the door seeing the depressed king, "this is almost too easy," Pride smugly stated as he closed the door.
A man with a black cloak walked up to Pride who placed the hood over his head, "Pride, is the king about ready to fall?" Gluttony asked his leader.
"No, he is still going to be a pawn in this game, plus with Greed's betrayal, I don't expect Lust and Envy to have an easy mission, he has given way too much information to the enemy," Pride explained the problem to Gluttony.
"I see, so you don't expect those two to survive?" Gluttony asked the leader of the Seven Shadow Lords.
"Our problem will come if the king and queen of Unova join this fight, Lust and Envy don't concern me, but Greed on the other hand….." the leader clenched his fists angrily and punched the wall to the left of him, "I want Greed dead!" Pride informed Gluttony giving him a stare that shook the subordinate to the core, removing his fist from the wall revealing a gaping hole that scared his ally even more.
"Y-yes sir," Gluttony replied before running off to fulfil his mission.
Pride watched his subordinate running away to start his mission, 'yes, everything is falling into place, the pieces are aligning and the next stage of this game is about to begin,' Pride thought as he glanced over his right shoulder, "but first….. soon one piece will be eliminated," Pride started laughing at his first victim.
Pride walked down the hall sliding his right hand across the wall, until he felt a secret button coming from the wall, he pressed it lightly, he heard the growls of one of the members followed by the snoring of another, "I see so Sloth is asleep while guarding Wrath," Pride turned on the light to see Sloth sleeping on a chair.
Raising his head slowly, Sloth opened his eyes to see Pride walking through the secret hallway, "Pride…sorry, for sleeping," the lazy member of the Shadow Lords apologised, slowly and without any emotion.
Pride approached the near sleeping member, "don't worry too much Sloth, the time will come when I will unleash Wrath on the world," Pride informed the loyal guard.
"Pride! Let me out and so I can destroy everything!" Wrath bashed at the door.
Pride calmly stared at the, looking into the prison containing the final shadow lord seeing the bulky man thrashing about the prison, "Wrath, your turn will come, but you need to wait, first I need to deal with Pride, the foolish king and his meddling daughter," Pride informed the powerful man, he turned away allowing Sloth to sleep even more on his duties, 'luckily Sloth is almost equal to Wrath,' Pride thought to himself walking through the hallway again.
(Snowpoint City)
Ash started cleaning up the city with Salvia looking on from the distance, not even noticing the princess helping out a little while keeping an eye on him, 'last night, he comforted me, but now he is helping out other people, it is like he is a lot more at ease,' Salvia thought, shivering as the chilling wind blew in from the mountain.
"He certainly is serious, it is like he doesn't want to let any more people down," Greed crossed his arms watching Ash repairing a fence after the severe storm that lashed the area.
"What do you mean Greed?" Salvia asked the former Shadow Lord.
Greed knelt down and picked up some of the snow, "you know Pride will be after me soon, no doubt he will try to kill me, one of the reasons why I left the Shadow Lords is because Pride is using them for his own ambitions," Greed explained to the forming a snowball.
"Why are you telling me this?" Salvia asked her new ally.
"Because I will not survive this battle," Greed informed the princess much to her dismay, he turned towards the mountains and spotted the doctor approaching the princess, "remember princess, pretend not to know," Greed whispered without the doctor knowing.
Ash was quick to notice the doctor, he dropped his tools and nodded at the young royal, "time to get some answers," Ash hissed inaudibly, Ash followed Salvia back into the Pokemon Centre, but waiting for the chance to confront the doctor, Greed wasn't far behind, the Shadow lord glanced over his shoulder to make sure the enemy wasn't nearby, "so, what is the plan this time?" Ash asked calmly watching the princess remain quiet.
"We wait, then Salvia will come out to get a drink of water, that will be our chance to confront the good doctor," Greed informed Ash who remained serious about the plan, Ash grabbed a chair and waited for the chance, thinking about what he had heard from the day before.
Meanwhile Salvia was getting another health check, to make sure that her illness was clearing up, "good, everything seems to be going well," the doctor remarked.
Salvia stood up and walked out of the room, "I am going to get a glass of water," Salvia informed the doctor, she opened the door and looked back, "I will be back in a moment," Salvia smiled at the doctor.
"Alright," the man with short grey hair replied calmly.
Salvia walked into the main foyer and glanced at Ash who was sitting, waiting for the plan to be enacted, "you wait here," Ash ordered the young royal. After jumping out of his seat Ash and Greed rushed to the room with the hopes of getting an answer from the doctor.
Ash and Greed walked into the room hoping to see the doctor, as they entered they found the doctor on the ground in a pool of his own blood, "what happened? That was too fast," Ash enquired looking around, to see who was responsible.
"It seems like we have company," Greed retorted, scanning the room for the person responsible.
"Ah we arrived much sooner than expected," a voice familiar to Greed echoed in the room.
Greed looked around to find that no one was in the room, the silver haired man, turned around and ran out of the room, he scanned the hallway to find that the person who said something wasn't in the hallway, "stupid Lust, where is that bitch?" Greed hissed in frustration, running down the hallway to see where his former teammate was hiding.
Meanwhile in the room Ash was looking around until he was pushed to the wall, upon opening his eyes he spotted a man with green eyes, red hair and wearing a black suit, "hello, I see you have made friends with Greed," the young man said while picking Ash up off the ground, "do you know who I am?" the person asked the trainer.
"Yeah, you're Envy, the dirty little pig that killed my fiancé," Ash replied, glaring at the man.
"Oh so I am famous now, nowhere near as famous as you," Envy replied with a hint of jealousy.
Ash smugly smirked at the Shadow Lord, "oh well, not all of us are as stupid as you," Ash insulted the Shadow Lord, "I know it was you that killed the doctor, what are you hiding?" Ash asked Envy with a more serious tone.
"Hiding, well how about the truth?" Envy answered the trainer, putting the trainer back on to the ground he started walking towards the door way, "the truth is, I was responsible for the death of your precious fiancé, as well as your mother, her friend and the two pokemon," Envy admitted to Ash. Now seething with the truth being told to him Ash blindly charged towards Envy and grabbed him by the throat, pushing him out of the room and into the hallway.
"You bastard, for that, I will make sure your death is long and painful!" Ash yelled at the Shadow Lord, raising his left fist into the air, preparing to punch the enemy, upon seeing Envy laughing at him and taking it as a taunt from him, Ash hit the Shadow Lord, but missed him hitting the wall just inches from Envy's face.
"What's the matter? You missed me, I thought you were going to slowly kill me," Envy continued to taunt Ash.
"I change my mind, I am going to let Greed deal with you," Ash growled at the Shadow Lord, pulling his left fist back Ash prepared another punch, this time jabbing Envy in the stomach, Ash let go of Envy as he started coughing and spluttering, gasping for air. Ash quickly grabbed the trench coat and dragged envy back towards the main foyer.
Lust looked at her teammate now in a pathetic position, "you know, this has nothing at all to do with you, yet you meddle in our affairs," Lust turned her attention to Ash who shook his head in response to Lust's comments, "you want to get involved in this? I don't pity you," Lust placed her right hand over her head in displeasure.
"Listen up, your teammate was responsible for Dawn's death! Don't you dare say this has nothing to do with me!" Ash yelled at the only female shadow lord, using all his strength Ash tossed Envy towards Lust who was looking at the teammate.
"No one hurts my teammate and gets away with it," Lust coldly informed Ash.
Greed stood infront of Ash and barred the path of Lust, "do you not know what Pride is after? You don't even know why I betrayed Shadow Lords, you only took it as something that should never have been done,' Greed started as he looked over to Envy who was slowly getting up, "Ash, take the princess somewhere safe," Greed whispered to Ash, preparing to take on his former comrades.
"Envy, prevent the princess from escaping, I will deal with Greed," Lust ordered her teammate calmly, Lust glared at the former member of the Seven Shadow Lords, "Twinleaf Town, you betrayed us," Lust growled at Greed.
Laughing at his former comrade, he walked around the Pokemon Centre and stood between the people and Lust, "there is a difference between me and the other Shadow Lords, I have found something or someone worth protecting, life is a precious gift and I intend to be greedy and enjoy all the pleasures of life, money, food, wine and yeah you know the rest," Greed confessed with a smirk, he looked over at Ash and Salvia seeing them running away from Envy.
"So what is you lust for Greed?" Lust asked the traitorous member of the Shadow Lords.
"Well it something you and the other bastards don't have, but I think I will keep that a secret, not that a filthy bitch like needs to know what I want," Greed taunted the female member of the Shadow Lords.
"For that Greed, you will die as painfully as possible," Lust scowled at Greed, lowering her hood revealing her long red hair.
"There is something else, I am going to enjoy ripping your hair out by the roots," Greed stated before feeling a powerful kick that sent him flying towards the wall, "right almost forgot, don't incur Lust's wrath," Greed whispered to himself, Greed looked back to see the people panicking, "hey you guys, don't panic, get out of here now!" Greed instructed the people, 'man this is against my policy,' Greed looked over to the woman taunting him.
"What's the matter Greed, can't hit a woman?" Lust asked her former comrade.
"How about changing forms? You know to a man, so I can at least hit you," Greed suggested with a smirk
"Nope, I know your biggest weaknesses Greed, like how soft you are when it comes to people, you have always been soft," Lust walked towards a little girl who had lost her mother in the panic, Lust grabbed the girls hair and smirked at Greed, "so what now? You are in a position where you have been hurt because of one attack and there is this little girl who you want to protect," Lust continued the insult on her former teammate.
"Let her go Lust, she is only a kid," Greed slowly got to his feet, 'man I hate this, but she is provoking me,' Greed closed his eyes, but was left with little choice, he charged towards Lust with the intentions of saving the little girl.
"Mr Greed, please help me!" the little girl cried for the former Shadow Lords assistance. Greed tackled Lust to the ground, forcing her to let go of the girl, he looked over to the girl and smiled at her, "get out of here now, find your mother," Greed instructed the girl, he was pushed off by the strength of Lust.
"Oh so you want to fight, too bad Greed," Lust stood up, dusting off her black robes.
Greed started laughing and noticed the fast emptying Pokemon Centre, "so let me ask you this question, why did you kill the doctor?" Greed curiously asked his former ally.
"He was nothing but a pawn," Lust retorted proudly at her own actions. Lust rushed towards Greed with her fists clenched, getting ready to punch her former ally
"Much like you and Envy," Greed replied as he grabbed Lust's arm and threw her towards the wall, the impact caused a gaping hole to form on the right side of the Pokemon Centre, Lust stood up yet again dusting her robes, "I see, so you are taking me lightly," Greed acknowledged the red haired member of the Shadow Lords.
"No, I am not, you are the one taking me lightly, I am stronger than most normal men out there, so you better take this fight Seriously Greed, or you will not survive to see how Pride is going to punish you," Lust informed the former Shadow Lord.
"Well since you are stronger than most normal men, I guess I better stop holding back," Greed started laughing at the, cracking his knuckles preparing to fight against Lust.
Meanwhile out northern parts of Snowpoint City Ash was running with Salvia behind him, Ash looked back to see Envy chasing after them, gritting his teeth Ash looked towards the cave entrance, "get in," Ash snapped at his friend.
"But Ash," Salvia tried to argue with the trainer.
"No buts just get in, you will be safer," Ash snapped at the blue haired royal, he turned to Envy who stopped at the cave entrance, "I guess you were too scared to face Greed," Ash remarked, seeing his enemy crossing his arms, standing in front of the cave entrance.
"Afraid of Greed? Not a chance, at the moment, he is struggling against Lust, she knows his weakness, he would never hit a woman," Envy pointed out happily. Thinking about the situation in Twinleaf Town, he started laughing at the trainer, "oh your revenge right, there is something you need to know," Envy started laughing at the raven haired man.
"Shut up, you worm," Ash snapped at the Shadow Lord, as the wind started to pick up.
"He destroyed half the town along with the people, it was enough to set up the Unova Soldiers as well as Greed," Envy pointed out with a smirk, leaving the trainer shaking with anger.
"You confess that it was your fault that Twinleaf Town was destroyed in one night, meaning you aren't only responsible for the death of Dawn, you are also to blame for the loss of my mother, Johanna, Pikachu and Piplup, keep your mouth shut, I don't more reasons to say that you have to die," Ash ordered the member of the shadow lords. Ash charged towards him, with his right fist raised, swinging at his enemy with all his anger, the Shadow Lord fell back with his hood falling, revealing short brown hair.
"That one was for free," Envy remarked arrogantly.
"No that was just the start, you will suffer," Ash snapped back, starting to glow blue.
Envy noticed the colour around him, "what is that?" Envy asked the man.
"This? Well, it is called Aura," Ash replied, his eyes started to flicker with shades of blue, scaring Envy.
Envy stepped back as Ash got closer to him, "wait a second, does that mean, you're are one of the legendary Aura Guardians?" Envy asked the trainer, but without warning Ash rushed towards him and unleashed a powerful burst of punches, 'dammit, he is fast, but has power to support it,' Envy thought as he jumped back to retreat from Ash.
"There is no escape for you," Ash coldly announced, walking slowly towards the Shadow Lord, "you know the difference between you and me?" Ash asked the Shadow Lord, raising his right hand again, clenching his fist.
"Easy, I have no guilt in what I do!" Envy stated with a proud tone, he tackled a surprised Ash to the ground stopping him from punching the Shadow Lord, the followed up by using Ash as a punching bag, forcing Ash to defend himself from the flurry of punches, "it wasn't that hard we rig the town with explosives, then we set the timer, amazing how fun it was to destroy an insignificant town," Envy arrogantly pointed out.
"It was fun to you?" Ash now seething even more, "I told you to keep your mouth shut, now all I will is rip that filthy tongue out of your mouth," tried to push Envy off, using his aura to throw his enemy off of him, Ash quickly got to his feet and ran towards the Shadow Lord, "don't mess with an Aura Guardian you filthy coward!" Ash yelled at the foe, his right fist glowing blue, swinging his right hand at the Shadow Lord, he sent the man flying towards the building.
Envy slid back, cleaning up some of the blood that was oozing from the corner of his mouth, 'an Aura Guardian, Pride said nothing about an Aura Guardian in the job description,' complained the angry member, it was then he felt a shockwave emanating from behind him, getting up from the crater of snow was Lust, "we are in trouble, we have an Aura Guardian in the mix," Envy informed his teammate.
Upon hearing this a panicked expression befell Lust, she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists angrily, "what I thought they were extinct!" Lust snapped at her ally, feeling another shockwave pulsating from the trainer.
Greed looked on in amazement, he began to smirk at the trainer, "well, well, what have we here?" Greed wondered to himself, seeing the blue aura pushing the snow away from the battle, 'man I am glad I changed sides,' Greed thought as he began to shake in fear.
"Envy, we need to pull back, we need to tell Pride what we are up against," Lust instructed her teammate, looking over to Ash who was getting ready to attack.
"We need to fight this man in order to get to the princess," Envy argued back, getting ready to fight back against Ash and Greed.
"No, we have lost the advantage, we need to come up with a new plan," Lust tried to tell her teammate, but the pleas soon fell on death ears as she watched in horror, seeing Envy rushing towards Ash, but was soon sent flying back.
"Damn, how do we combat against an Aura Guardian?" Envy got back up slowly trying to figure out their next course of action against Ash.
"We retreat for now, we need to tell Pride about the Aura Guardian, we timed our attack too soon," Lust helped her ally up.
Ash watched them running away, he tried to run after them, but was stopped by Greed, "get out of the way Greed," Ash ordered the former Shadow Lord.
"Not now, we need to make sure the people are alright first, plus there is something I want to know," Greed informed Ash, looking around to see the people in fear of Ash, "you let your anger get the better of you, now you have also revealed who you are, an Aura Guardian to the rest of the people of this city," Greed tried his best to reason with Ash.
"You are letting them get away!" Ash yelled at Greed, but the Shadow Lord tried his best to stop Ash.
"If we chase after them now, we will lose the advantage, here we can make a new plan, concerning your abilities," Greed whispered as he looked over to the distance, knowing that Lust and Envy were no longer in the city, "plus they won't get far, most likely hiding in Lake Acuity," Greed pointed out as he spotted a narrow blood trail leading away from the city, 'judging from the attack, Envy might have a few broken ribs and Lust well, I think I broke her spirit, I cannot wait for those two to finally be eliminated,' Greed thought to himself.
Salvia emerged from the cave seeing that Ash had calmed down after the short battle, she walked up to Ash with a relieved smile on her face, "so what happened?" Salvia asked the two allies.
"They are injured, but they aren't going anywhere in a hurry, soon it will be time for us to make a counter attack," Greed replied as he turned towards the people, he started walking towards the almost destroyed Pokemon Centre, "come on you two we better get to work and rebuild the Pokemon Centre," Greed instructed his allies.
Meanwhile at the Lake not too far away from Snowpoint City, Lust and Envy entered a cave to heal from their injuries, "how did we find the only Aura Guardian alive? I thought the previous Shadow Lords destroyed them over a hundred years ago," the injured Envy punched the cave wall in frustration.
Lust grabbed her phone and started to dial the number, "yes Pride, we have encountered a problem," Lust started talking over the phone, "have you heard of the Aura Guardians? Well we have encountered one, and Envy, well he had to fight him," Lust confirmed the problem to her leader, after informing the leader about the new development, she heard her leader yelling out his frustrations.
"What is the plan to stop Greed and now an Aura Guardian?" Envy asked her teammate grasping his side in pain.
"Yes, yes of course," Lust ended the call, she looked over to Envy who was hoping he would get his revenge on Ash, "we are to retreat even further, to Lilycove City," Lust instructed her teammate.
"Dammit, it will take us weeks based on our injuries," Envy complained with a punch on the ground, he looked out to the exit, the image of an explosion of aura etched in his mind, "so we can now confirm we have an Aura Guardian," Envy reminded Lust of the current situation.
"Yes, we don't have a lot of time, we need to rest up then head out," Lust replied with a frown.
Back at Snowpoint City, Ash was sitting at the table with people looking at him after the recent fight, Salvia approached him nervously, "Ash, you seem to be shaken up," Salvia's concerns started to show for Ash.
Ash looked over to the phone to see Greed talking to someone, all he could spot was a young woman with long brown hair, "I over reacted again," Ah whispered with a deep breath.
At the phone Greed continued his conversation, "you know we have a new powerful ally," Greed informed his ally.
"Is that so? How powerful?" the woman asked Greed with a smile.
"He is an Aura Guardian," Greed replied with a smirk, he glanced over his left shoulder to see Ash eating his meal.
"An Aura Guardian? I thought they were all wiped out by the previous Shadow Lords," the woman stated with a surprised expression.
"So did I, but I was surprised to see that Ash Ketchum is indeed an Aura Guardian," Greed explained to his ally.
"Then I have to meet him," the woman replied with a smirk.
"Well are you a little busy Queen Hilda? I mean, there is no way you can get to Sinnoh in just a few days," Greed replied to the woman known as Hilda.
"I need to meet the Aura Guardian, plus I want to avenge the death of N, so defeating the Shadow Lords is one of my missions," Hilda informed Greed calmly.
"Fine, we will be in meet you in Jubilife City," Greed ended the call and turned towards Ash, he got up and walked over to the duo, "alright we need to plan for the counter attack, plus we also have another ally to meet up with," Greed looked down at the angry trainer.
With the new developments and the chance to meet the next royal, Will Ash and Greed defeat Lust and Envy? Or will they escape yet again?
Next time Chapter 7: Cold Aura.