Chapter 7: Cold Aura

Summary: the final showdown against Lust and Envy, how will Ash control his Aura perfectly as his anger overcomes him? Read and find out.

Sitting at the table Ash slammed his fists down angrily at one of the comments that Greed had made, "so that is what you now see me as, you find out I can control Aura and now you see me as a living breathing weapon?" Ash asked the former Shadow Lord with his eyes glowing blue, trying his best not to yell and scare the people who were sheltering in the Pokemon Centre.

"Listen Ash, you are the only Aura Guardian left, you need to remember the Seven Shadow Lords need to be killed, me included," Greed finished his sentence with a sigh.

"But why?" Salvia asked the Shadow Lord with a shocked tone.

"Because no matter what, I am still a Shadow Lord, but I intend to die the way I choose, and it will not be by your hands," Greed looked over to a seething Ash.

"So you will choose your own fate," Ash snapped back at the Shadow Lord, Greed nodded his head with a broad smile.

"Listen Ash, you are to the only Aura Guardian left, you have to do something," Greed tried to plead with Ash, "being an Aura Guardian means you have…" Greed started but was soon interrupted by the Sinnoh Princess.

"Enough Greed!" Salvia yelled at the Shadow Lord, she looked over to Ash whom was looking at his food, "Ash is not a weapon, he is a human, I refuse to treat Ash in that manner," Salviawalked towards a seat and sat next to Ash, "hey, I know the true you, there is no need to be sad and you have to try and find a way of going forward," Salvia tried her best to pick Ash up from his downward spiral.

"Thanks princess, you are proving to be a true friend," Ash thanked the royal.

"No problem Ash, I will help you out no matter how bad the situation is," Salvia quietly assured the trainer who started eating his food.

"You seem to know how to calm him down," Greed complimented the young royal, he walked towards the table with his own plate of food, taking a chair and sitting down, "but right now we need to figure out how we can defeat Lust and Envy," Greed openly stated the intentions of the group.

"It is great that a lot of people will not be in the way," Salvia breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, I am relieved about that as well," Greed confessed happily.

"The next time we face them, they will have a plan as well," Ash informed the two friends.

"That I am aware of, it isn't like Lust to not have a back-up plan, after all I have never defeated her in a game of Chess," Greed proudly stated with a chuckle, "but I could also tell she was thrown way off guard because of you, she didn't expect an Aura Guardian to be around," Greed pointed out the situation that Lust and Envy were in, he started eating his food, while Ash remained quiet.

"Yes, but next time, they will be prepared for Ash's aura abilities," Salvia commented as she focused on Ash who silently sat next to her.

Greed stopped eating for a moment and lowered his fork, "yes, that is true, so this is what we are going to do, we are going to use the initial plan, I will pretend to defect, but there will be a slight difference, Ash you wait for the signal to attack," Greed instructed the two friends calmly.

Salvia noticed Ash clenching his fists and looked away again, "alright, but what is the signal?" Salvia asked the former member of the Shadow Lords.

"I will just say, no we should execute her in front of Pride and her father," Greed informed the princess and Ash of the line that would be used as a signal, "from there I will take Salvia to a safe distance then Ash and I will proceed to destroy the first two members of the Shadow Lords," Greed informed Ash and Salvia of the plan, Greed turned his attention to Ash who turned away and left the duo to watch him getting upset, 'oh man now he is pissed,' Greed thought to himself, it didn't take long for Salvia to get up and follow Ash outside, she grabbed her jacket and rushed outside.

Salvia looked around to see if she could find Ash, "why did Greed have to say that to Ash?" Salvia asked herself with a saddened expression.

Ash walked to the scene where he fought Envy, thinking about how he exploded with Aura, "is Greed telling the truth? I mean look at this, did I really cause this much damage?" Ash kept reminding himself, seeing the houses that were flattened and the trees snapped like twigs in every direction, then his thoughts quickly turned to the scared people in the area, "I also scared the people, the very same people I needed to make sure were never to get hurt," Ash approached the crater thinking more about how he scared the Shadow Lord.

Salvia looked around and eventually found Ash at the scene of his first confrontation with Envy, hearing him talking to himself about how he felt about his Aura abilities, Salvia watched from behind a tree listening with concern in her mind, "great, he is beating himself up even more," Salvia whispered as she started to feel guilty about her own weakness.

It was then a little girl approached Ash, she was looking for her plush toy, hoping that she would get help, Salvia watched Ash helping the upset girl, hoping that he would be alright to do so, 'he hasn't been himself lately,' Salvia thought while keeping her eye on Ash.

"So where did you put it?" Ash asked kindly, trying to his best to remain calm, Ash looked up to see a spirit standing in front of where a house once stood, "this way," Ash told the girl quietly, as he got closer to the house, he noticed the apparition vanishing at the same time, "what does that spirit want?" Ash asked himself, trying to figure out his own mystery.

"Excuse me mister, this is where my old house was," the little girl tugged at the Aura Guardian's left arm, informing him of the location of the girl's house.

Ash knelt down and cleared up the snow, revealing a small plush toy, "is this it?" Ash asked softly.

The girl watched Ash pick up the plush toy and clean it up for her, "thank you sir," the girl hugged the trainer happily before running off to find her mother and father.

Salvia with her back turned to a tree, started smiling to herself, she glanced around the tree to see Ash walking slowly away from the house, 'he is looking after me, not only that he isn't happy, but still makes other people happy around him, he is hurting because he now thinks he is a weapon to defeat the Shadow Lords,' Salvia thought to herself, she walked away towards the Pokemon Centre, taking one more look back, she smiled at the trainer and seeing him sitting down in the snow, "Dawn, I finally realise what you see in him," Salvia admitted to herself, looking towards the pokemon centre, she covered her mouth with her cheeks starting to turn red, "what did I just say? I shouldn't have said that," Salvia told herself, looking back once more hoping that Ash wouldn't have heard her own admission.

Greed tapped her on the shoulder and quickly noticed the blush running across her face, "hey why are you blushing?" Greed asked the princess, curious about his friend's blush, he glanced over her shoulder and noticed that Ash was in her line of sight, 'oh I see, she has a crush on Ash,' Greed immediately jumped the gun.

Salvia ran off towards the medical facility hoping that she wasn't being followed, 'this shouldn't have happened, I shouldn't have a crush on Ash,' Salvia tried to deny her new found crush.

Greed watched the princess enter the Pokemon Centre but decided to remain quiet about what he had discovered, "yo Ash, we need to head out now and we cannot let Lust and Envy get too far away!" Greed yelled out to Ash who was balling some of the snow, "Ash, I am sorry for calling you a living weapon," Greed apologised to the Aura guardian, "I shouldn't have called you that, Salvia is right, you're human, that's all that counts," Greed balled up his fists in anger directed at himself.

"No it's fine Greed, I mean look what happened here," Ash pointed in direction around him, showing Greed what he was capable of, "I caused all this damage," Ash admitted to the aura burst that destroyed the local area, "I was so angry at Envy, he admitted to blowing up half of Twinleaf Town, I just lost it," Ash started hitting the ground, feeling like he let everyone down.

"Yeah I know, I tried to stop Envy from blowing up Twinleaf Town, that was when I tried to destroy him and I failed," Greed walked up to Ash and sat next to him, "hey, you can't be moping about, we need to stop him and the rest of the Shadow Lords," Greed informed Ash with a smile.

"Greed what is your intention?" Ash asked the former enemy.

"Me? To enjoy the finer things in life, food, alcohol, women, parties, money and most of all having a shit load of friends," Greed answered Ash, laughing at his own greed for a moment, he balled up a pile of snow and tossed it into the crater, "Ash, like these people, you can rebuild your life, it will be difficult, but some day you will find someone who will make you happy again," Greed tried his best to comfort the person he takes as a friend, getting up slowly and walking away, Greed took a chance to smile at his ally, 'little does he know, the person I could be mentioning to is the princess,' Greed thought while thinking about the moment he bumped into the royal and seeing her blushing.

"Greed, no one can replace Dawn," Ash informed the former Shadow Lord.

"Yes, that is true, but you cannot expect other people to be just like your fiancé, everyone is different," Greed wisely told Ash calmly, walking back towards where the princess was heading, "we will enact the plan soon, this time we have the advantage," Greed informed Ash who nodded in approval.

Ash waited for a few minutes, he looked over her left shoulder to see Salvia and Greed leaving the medical facility, Slowly standing up Ash turned towards the direction of the final battle with Lust and Envy, 'I need to make sure this doesn't fail, but at least the people of this city will be out of harm's way,' Ash thought, taking a sigh of relief, but also knew that the princess was going to be in danger, 'Greed, Salvia better not get hurt,' Ash started thinking about the safety of his friend.

(2 Hours later)

"Alright they are still here, we need to move quickly," Greed whispered quietly, he noticed that the princess still wasn't feeling one hundred percent, but also knew that this was their last chance to rid the world of Lust and Envy, "listen once Ash arrives, you need to go somewhere safer," Greed instructed the princess.

"Right, but what about Ash? Will he be alright?" Salvia asked the former member of the Shadow Lords.

Greed looked down at the blue haired princess and nodded, "yeah, I will make sure of it," Greed answered back with a smirk, he looked back to see Ash approaching them, 'good, this final confrontation will be so interesting with him around.

Inside the cave Lust and Envy were preparing to leave when they spotted Greed walking in with the princess her hands tied up, "so it was you who captured the princess, nicely done Greed," Envy pointed out, but Lust remained suspicious of Greed suddenly showing up in the cave with the Princess.

"Why did you show up with the princess so suddenly?" Lust asked the enemy with a serious tone.

"Oh come on, surely you know I am good at tricking other people," Greed tried to convince Lust of his intentions, "I tricked the princess and the Aura Guardian that I was on their side," Greed acted more convincingly, but still Lust was getting more annoyed at the tone of Greed. He was walking closer hoping that Ash would be ready to ambush the Shadow Lords in front of him, 'oh man, I don't think Lust or Envy are going to be convinced much longer,' Greed thought as the princess eyed him for a moment.

"I will try to act the part," Salvia whispered, but only enough to let Greed know what she was intending.

"How could you Greed? We started to trust you, didn't know you were still working for the enemy," Salvia did her best to act in a convincing manner.

"Shut up and keep going," Greed ordered the princess as they got closer to the injured duo.

Outside Ash was waiting for the signal to attack, hearing Salvia and Greed arguing, he immediately knew that Salvia was trying her best to act the part, but knew there wasn't much longer to go, "come on hurry up," Ash hissed in anger.

"No, we should execute her in front of her father and Pride," Greed's words echoed from the cave.

Upon hearing those words Ash sprang into action and ran into the cave, "now this is where it ends!" Ash yelled at the two Shadow Lords.

"Well, that is true, Lust and Envy," Greed agreed with Ash, he untied the princess and allowed her to run off, "now it is our turn to ambush you both," Greed announced, grabbing Envy by the collar and throwing him towards the cave wall, "now it is time to end you," Greed sneered at his victim.

Ash started showing his aura while Lust glared at the young man, "great this again," Lust hissed as she closed her eyes, seeing an image of someone from Ash's past, seeing the bluenette that made him happy, 'I see, so there is a woman by the name of Dawn, he loves her and still does, yet she was killed in one of our attacks,' Lust thought to herself, coming up with a counter attack.

"Ash don't let her use your weakness!" Greed informed Ash, defending himself from the attacks from the injured Envy.

"So, she is your greatest weakness, thanks Greed for making it easier," Lust glanced over her shoulder, she then turned her attention to Ash, "you know, just like you I have a special ability, I can change my appearance to the person my victim loves," Lust explained to Ash, as she started glowing in a bright light.

Ash cover his eyes to protect his vision from the blinding light, "what is she doing?" Ash asked himself as the light started to dissipate.

Greed pushed Envy back towards the wall, but was soon kicked off by his injured foe, he fell back and soon noticed the light, "oh no Ash!" Greed yelled out, he tried running towards the light in hopes to stop Lust from completing the change, but as he got closer he was stopped by Envy who had tripped him over, pinning him down he started punching Greed with a flurry of punches.

"Hello Ash," Lust appeared from the light this time with the appearance of Ash's lost love.

Ash's blue glow vanished as he started to step back, his eyes now widened as he and trying to digest what he was seeing, "Ash, get a hold of yourself, that isn't Dawn!" Greed tried his best to inform Ash, but was being him constantly from Envy, bleeding from the corner of his mouth and trying his hardest to move his arms in order to throw Envy off.

"Don't listen to him Ash, Greed is trying to trick you," Lust continued to use Dawn as a medium to stop Ash.

Ash continued to hesitate as the blue haired woman continued to approach him, 'what's happening?' Ash started to question the situation.

"Come on Ash, do you remember that special day?" Lust continued her act on Ash, still maintaining her appearance as Dawn, "I am certain Empoleon is waiting for us," she said with a gentle smile.

Suddenly Ash snapped and charged towards the blue haired woman, "you fool, Dawn never evolved her Piplup," Ash tackled the woman who appeared as Dawn to the ground, but was soon pushed back by Lust as she reverted back to her normal form, Ash hit the cave wall next to Salvia who was watching Ash struggle.

"Come on Ash, you know better than anyone that Dawn cannot be brought back," Salvia helped Ash back to his feet. Ash looked at the ground feeling hurt by having his feelings played on, "do you know what lust means?" Salvia asked calmly, glaring at the woman who was laughing at the injured trainer, "it means to hold excessive desires for the person you love," Salvia informed Ash of the enemy's name.

"I see, but what am I supposed to do?" Ash asked, seeing the princess knelt down next to him.

"It will be tough Ash, but you have to let go of your love for Dawn, otherwise it will get you killed," Salvia got back up while telling Ash the honest truth, she started walking up to Lust who was laughing at the man who was still feeling down, "she used your desire for the return and love of Dawn, but she knows that by using it you would be unwilling to make a stand, but I know full well, that Dawn would never take advantage of you," Salvia glanced over her left shoulder, moments afterwards she turned towards Lust and raised her right hand.

Ash from a distance watched Salvia slap Lust causing the woman to grow angry with the princess, it wasn't long before Envy jumped to his teammate's side, "hey you leave Lust alone," Envy ordered the princess, as he was about to punch the princess, Ash jumped in and grabbed Envy's fist. "hey you let me go," Envy demanded the Aura Guardian, with fear etched on his face he noticed the trainer growing even angrier, his eyes glowing blue he suddenly felt his fist being tightened as the pain coursed through his body.

With Envy screaming out in pain, Ash started to gain a blue aura, raising his left hand, he balled it into a tight fist, in a sudden move Envy was sent flying from the location towards the wall, Ash was quick to turn his gaze to Lust who was shaking in fear, before she could move Ash's left elbow made contact sending her towards the entrance of the cave.

"That was fast, his aura is making him stronger," Lust cleared up some of the blood coming from her nose, she landed safely but was stopped by Greed who was barring the exit of the cave, "dammit, we cannot get out of here, Envy and I are too injured to continue this fight," Lust glared at her former teammate.

"What's the matter Lust? The advantage you thought you had is no longer there, well that is your fault," Greed blamed his former ally for the situation she was in, "now what was I going to do?" Greed tried to remind himself of his intentions, placing his hand on his chin, "oh right, I was going to rip your hair by its roots," Greed grabbed the red hair of the helpless lust, "normally this goes against my policies, but since you're a Shadow Lord, I am willing to make an exception," Greed sneered at Lust who was trying to pry Greed's grip on her hair.

Lust looked into the eyes of Greed who seemed more carefree about hurting the Shadow Lord, "You have to defeat all seven Shadow Lords, that means you," Lust struggled to complete her sentence while trying to build her strength back up, "you kill us Greed there is no going back, Pride…. Will have no hesitations in killing you."

Bring his right hand back and Lust's hair still in his left hand, "going back?" Greed asked the former ally, angry at Lust who was shivering in fear, "who said I want to go back to your side?!" Greed asked before unleashing a vicious punch on Lust that sent her flying towards one of the pillars in the cave, "I never want to re-join the Shadow Lords! So you and the rest of the Shadow Lords can rot in hell!" Greed informed Lust before she was impaled by the pillar, her hair still in his left hand, he let go as Lust looked on in fear and her life force quickly fading.

"Damn you Greed….. you will pay for this…." Lust started to fade as she continued to die.

"Envy and the rest will be joining you very soon, then I will make sure the Shadow Lords never rise again," Greed informed the dying Lust.

"You…..will, die….too," the last words came from Lust who faded away due to her injuries.

"I know that, but I will die with honour," Greed turned to Envy who was staring in shock at what had happened.

"No Lust, it can't be, Greeeeeeeeed!" Envy yelled out furiously, he continued to seethe as he tried to charge towards Greed who had shown no guilt in killing his fellow Shadow Lord, "you will pay for this Greed!" Envy yelled out in anger, but as he got closer Ash appeared in front of him.

"You want revenge? Well so do I, you killed my future wife, but if it is consolation you will be joining Lust in hell," Ash informed the Shadow Lord, punching him in the stomach, causing the enemy to collapse to his knees, gasping for air, Ash kneed the enemy in the face as he was trying to recover, Ash ran up to him, grabbing his throat, Ash started punching the Shadow Lord Envy, multiple times until he started to go out of control.

Salvia was watching the scene unfold and her fear started to overcome her, "Ash, stop this, it's over now!" Salvia demanded, but Ash ignored her and continued to strike Envy with a flurry of punches, "no Ash, please stop!" Salvia yelled, but as her fear overcame her, she used a small ounce of courage and grabbed Ash's arm, stopping him from punching the almost dead Envy.

"You are…a monster," Envy started laughing at the Aura guardian, starting to fade away from his fatal injuries.

Ash let go of his enemy, he watched the Shadow Lord fall to the ground laughing at him, mocking him, "no, you are the monster, I got my revenge, now I need to destroy the rest of your kind," Ash glared coldly at his enemy.

Salvia let go of Ash's hand and stepped back, breathing a sigh of relief, "I hope he doesn't do that again, but I also hope that he doesn't lose himself," Salvia whispered as she watched Envy trying to get back up.

"You know, I hope this revenge of yours was worth it, you have made an eternal enemy Aura Guardian," Envy fell back to the ground and started laughing at the Aura Guardian, dropping the phone showing the number of the palace, "Pride, he heard everything," Envy's laughter faded as he died with a smile on his face and his disappearance from the cave

Greed walked over to Ash and trampled the phone, "there is no going back for either of us, I hope to never hit a woman again," Greed stated with a saddened tone, he turned towards the entrance of the cave, he looked back to see Salvia comforting Ash, "I am going on ahead, I will meet you both in Jubilife City," Greed informed his now permanent allies.

Ash taking a deep breath, kneeling on the ground, "revenge? Revenge doesn't feel good," Ash confessed to the blue haired royal.

Salvia put her right hand on his left shoulder, "I know, revenge is overrated Ash, even if you get your revenge, you will still feel empty afterwards," the princess explained to Ash.

Ash got up slowly and started moving towards the entrance, his thoughts were of the enemies he defeat with the help of Greed, "you're right princess, but there is still four more to go," Ash added to the royal's comments, he exited the cave with Salvia looking on.

Salvia looked around as the cold breeze started to filter into the cave, she noticed a shadow watching Ash leave the cave, "that spirit, is it following us?" Salvia asked herself, keeping her eye on the spirit as it started to vanish again, "is it watching over Ash? And why?" Salvia started to question the intentions of the spirt, she slowly got back up to her feet and walked out and she glanced over the shoulder wondering why Ash was being followed by the spirit.

Salvia exited as she was greeted by the waiting Ash, "thanks for stopping me," Ash thanked his friend, before walking ahead, leaving the princess staring at him, "come on, time to head off," Ash whispered, Ash looked at the sky seeing the flying type pokemon, thinking about the fight that was still ahead of him and the princess.

"You do know that someone or something is following you," Salvia reminded Ash, but the trainer ignored her and continued on. Salvia remained quiet and wondered what to say next, the mountain in the background with trees in front of her the clouds grew in the dark and the snow started falling again. 'It will not be easy for him, but I will make sure that Ash becomes a better person,' Salvia made her resolve, standing side by side with Ash, she looked up to see him with a unwavering expression.

AN: Now before I go on, there is something I need to point out, I know this chapter sent the wrong message, I am not endorsing violence against women and it is a cowardly act, pure and simple.

This story is far from over, there are still four more Shadow Lords in play, so what will happen there? Well the next chapter will take place a week later in Jubilife City, and yes I am developing Salvia's crush slowly, it isn't a full blown crush, but it will continue to grow slowly but surely.

Next time chapter 8: Greed VS Gluttony 1.

Taking the chance to lower the rating to T, but this is still borderline M, it will not change what I am working on in this story.