Chapter 11: Greed VS Gluttony 2: intervention.

Summary: Greed does battle against Gluttony, this time there is a battle to protect someone who he seems to have grown fond of, but as things start to go badly for Greed, reinforcements arrive to turn the course of the battle, but will it be enough? All the while a chance meeting is about to take place.

Dusk walked back towards Sandgem Town, thinking about the orders of her friends, "why am I the one to follow this order? Couldn't those two fulfil the task themselves?" Dusk whispered the question, wondering what she has to do with Ash and Salvia, 'who am I? why do I feel like I know those three?' Dusk asked herself as she continued on, she looked at her hands and wondered what was next for her, "I have hurt innocent people, even killed them, all in the name of the Dark Aura Masters, yet when Ash saw me, he spotted a different person, he saw me as this woman named Dawn," Dusk told herself as the words of Ash started to ring in her mind.

(Flashback)

"You know Dusk, you need to get the aura of your counterpart," Shade instructed the female Dark Aura Master, he glanced over to Hollow and winked at him.

"Why do I need to get it?" Dusk asked her teammate with a serious expression.

"Come on Dusk we have been working together since we found you, we have helped you out, but all we want in return is for you to return the favour," Hollow informed his ally with his hands on her shoulder.

"I doubt that," Dusk retorted with a frown.

Shade walked up to Dusk and turned her towards the city, "you know, we did promise to answer your questions, heck we even gave you a name, since you don't remember your original name," Shade informed the young woman.

"You also promised to answer my questions when the time is right," Dusk tried to get her teammate to answer her questions.

"Not yet, the time isn't right, first you need to follow our mission, then by the end we will tell you everything," Shade assured the young woman.

(Away from Flashback)

On the road heading towards Oreburgh City, the Dark Aura Masters were heading towards the major city in hopes of making sure that they helped in the destruction of the city and the Shadow Lord Greed, "Shade, are you sure that we can use her anymore?" Hollow asked his friend calmly. Shade looked back at his ally and nodded.

"Like I care, she is only useful to us, because the Aura Guardian sees her as a different person, by taking the remnants of his lost love's aura, we can kill two birds with one stone," Shade turned towards the city, he walked towards the city looking around as the people looked at them strangely, 'these people don't know what will befall them,' Shade thought to himself as he did his best to find Greed.

"Shade, what will happen with the Aura Guardian?" Hollow asked his comrade quickly.

"I am not worried about him, he made his weakness very clear when we met him, using Dusk to exploit those weaknesses will get rid of both problems," Shade answered back as he looked over to find Ash walking with the princess and the royal family of the Unova Region, "but as for now, we let the Shadow Lords toy with them, we head to Celestic Town," he told his teammate with a smirk.

Ash continued down the road leading to Oreburgh City, with his thoughts on the woman he met in Twinleaf Town, 'she look like her, but she is nothing like her,' Ash thought, trying to think about the reasons why this was the case.

Salvia walked up to Ash's side and tilted her head, "you know, you shouldn't worry too much about the appearance of one person, she looks like Dawn, but she obviously isn't," Salvia assured the Aura Guardian, placing her hands behind her head, she looked up to the sky and smiled, "I can still see it in your eyes, you still seek revenge," Salvia informed the trainer much to his surprise.

"Since when can you start reading me like a book?" Ash asked the young royal, the question upset the princess walked ahead of the other three.

Hilbert walked up to Ash and shook his head in shame, "smooth Ash, real smooth, she is really concerned about you and all you can do is push her away," Hilbert stated as he looked towards the princess, "you need to let people in your space, what happened weeks ago will be tough to accept for a while, but you cannot keep pushing people away, that is how you lose yourself and your friends, right now she is the best friend you have," Hilbert explained to Ash about his current situation.

"Maybe I don't want people to get too close to me," Ash snapped back at the king of Unova.

"Oh right, so when all those people close to you try to help you, you are going to come up with that, let me guess, you are blaming yourself for what happened, considering that it was outside your control," Hilbert told Ash, but the trainer turned around and grabbed him by the collar, "what are you going to do? Punch me?!" Hilbert asked the trainer who let go of his collar.

"You have no idea, I lost the people closest to me and here you are telling me to open up!" Ash yelled at the Unova Royal, Salvia ran up to Ash and grabbed his left arm to prevent him from completing the action he was about to do, with Hilda preventing the enraged trainer from starting a fight with her husband.

"Stop it Ash," Hilda instructed the raven haired trainer.

"Yes, don't do something that you will regret later," Salvia pleaded with Ash, she moved her hand slowly towards his and gently made him let go of the collar, Hilbert shrugged off the dust from his shirt and placed his right hand on Ash's shoulder.

"Listen Ash, you cannot afford to lose your cool when someone tells you as it is, that is what will get you into trouble," Hilbert stated while walking ahead, he looked back and smiled at the Aura Guardian, "since I am not in Sinnoh as the king of Unova, but here to help rid the world of the Shadow Lords, I will let this slide, but pull that stunt again, I will hurt you," Hilbert threatened Ash with a playful smile.

(Oreburgh City)

Greed looked around the city making sure that everything was going to be fine, he was alone in the sprawling city, he looked around to find that the people were doing their shopping, or even spending time with their families, Greed looked up and spotted the clouds heading towards the mountains that dominated the region, "it seems like there is a storm brewing," Greed thought out loud.

"I have been here for over a week and still nothing, but the peace will soon be shatter, I need to be ready," Greed reminded himself, he looked up to the sky to see the regional flying pokemon flying in formation.

"Greed, why are you alone?!" Melissa asked her crush.

"Oh great, I am being followed again," Greed sighed with disdain, he looked back and frowned at the woman, "what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to get ready to leave this city in case my former comrades showed themselves," Greed stated the problem to the nurse.

"You know better than anyone that my job is to make sure the people are alright, if they get hurt then it is my responsibility to help them out," Melissa argued with the Shadow Lord.

"Fine, then I will make sure no one gets in your way of helping the people out," Greed walked off towards the northern limits of the city, 'I can sense it, there is a heavy feeling in the air,' Greed thought, the wind started to pick up blowing off the hood covering his head. The shadow Lord looked back to see that Melissa wasn't walking through the streets and was at the entrance of the hospital, 'she is too kind, but she is right she needs to make sure the people are alright,' Greed thought to himself as he turned to walk back into the large city.

At the mountain entrance east of the city a large man walked out of the cave and looked down at the city, "now it is time to hunt down Greed," Gluttony glared at the city, he started his approach of the city and with a broad grin he started to get even more excited about fighting Greed once more, "oh this fight will be fun," Gluttony started cheering.

Greed looked back to see Gluttony in the distance, "not now," Greed started running to the hospital, he entered quickly to find the Kanto Princess, "hey have you seen Melissa?" Greed asked the attendant at the counter.

"Yes she checked in moments ago, she will be helping a patient out soon," the woman said with a proud smile.

"Alright, get as many people out of here as soon as possible," Greed instructed the attendant.

Before the woman could respond loud screams were heard in the distance, people started a panicked charge towards the western side of the city, "just get the patients out of here," Greed ordered the woman in a hurried tone, he rushed out to see where the commotion had started from, he scanned the area and found nothing of concern, but the people were still running away from something.

"Greed!" a chilling voice rang out through the air.

Greed looked up to see Gluttony approaching him, Greed jumped back avoiding the attack from the enemy, "oh great you came here sooner than expected," Greed hissed, frustrated that he wasn't able to escape from his former comrade, "so Gluttony, how much did you eat this time?" Greed asked the Shadow Lord with a calm smirk.

"Lots of food," Gluttony replied with a smirk, hitting his stomach with great pride.

"I see, so it will be easier for me to make you suffer from indigestion," Greed joked with his former ally, he rushed towards the larger enemy and punched him in the stomach, but Gluttony didn't flinch, he looked down at Greed and with a dark smile, used his large arms to start his attack, Greed jumped back to avoid the attack, "not only did you eat so much food, it slowed you down," Greed whispered.

"I am still stronger than you," Gluttony informed his quarrel.

"Dammit he is right," Greed admitted with a look of displeasure.

Greed looked around hoping that there was a safe spot for the him to flight Gluttony, 'if I can get him out of the city, the people will be safe,' Greed thought to himself as he ran towards the Shadow Lord, he started punching the much larger enemy towards the eastern end of the city, but with one swing of Gluttony's right arm he was sent flying towards the building.

"You aren't going to get away that easily," Gluttony decreed while running towards his foe,

"Who said anything about getting away?" Greed sneered at the Shadow Lord, he fell to the ground and looked up, he started to chuckle at the foe, "you really aren't that bright," Greed started charging towards the enemy, he started pushing the enemy, but it felt like he was pushing an immense weight.

"I will not move that easily," Gluttony taunted the former ally. But as he was about to make his attack, he felt Greed kicking him, he staggered back, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Shaodw Lord from being phased by the sudden attack from Greed, "is that it?" the larger fighter asked his enemy, laughing at him.

"No, there is plenty more, you stupid blimp," Greed retorted, he rushed at the foe preparing to punch him, unleashing an unrelenting flurry of punches and a few picks thrown in the mix Greed managed to push Gluttony away from the panicking crowd, he looked back to see Melissa attending to the injured people, "hurry get them out of here, I can only hold him off for a short time!" Greed yelled out.

"Oh a tasty morsel," Gluttony bypassed the former ally making his way to an unaware nurse,

"Not a chance!" Greed yelled out to his enemy, he rushed towards him and tripped him up, preventing him from, "Melissa get away from here now!" Greed yelled his instructions out to the nurse.

Meanwhile Ash entered the city seeing that dust was picking up in the middle of the city, "what's happening?" Ash snapped out his question.

"There is a fight happening, it seems like Greed is fighting another one of him," Hilda answered the trainer, she looked around to find the people running around.

"Right, you lot stay here and help the people, I am going to assist Greed," Ash announced his plan.

Salvia took a deep breath and looked away, "be careful," Salvia requested.

"I will," Ash promised, he ran off leaving the other three behind, he ran into the city to help his friend out in the fight.

Shade stop at the top of a building watching Greed struggle in his fight against Gluttony, he turned to the westered part of the city and spotted Ash, a broad smirk crossed his face, "now the true game begins," Shade whispered as he became more amused at the panicking people as well as the Shadow Lords destroying parts of the city.

"So the Aura Guardian finally showed himself," Hollow remarked as his ally sat down to watch the battle against Gluttony.

"Yes, things are about to get interesting, let's see how our enemy handles himself in this fight," Shade kept his gaze firmly on Ash.

Ash kept running until he was stopped by Greed who landed in front of him, Ash knelt down to help Greed back to his feet, "so who are we up against?" Ash asked the Shadow Lord.

Ash looked up to see a much larger man, "well, there you have it, Gluttony," Greed answered with a hint of sarcasm.

"Alright so how do we deal with him?" Ash asked in shock.

Greed looked around to find that more people were still hanging around in the city, "well we need to either get the people out, or move him away from the city, your choice," Greed answered as he glared at the foe, cracking his knuckles to prepare for the fight, "be careful, this guy is deceptively strong, he defeated me in Hearthome City," Greed pointed out with a frown, thinking about his battle against Gluttony in the other city.

Ash started to glow blue, glaring at Gluttony who was laughing at the trainer, "this game ends now," Ash growled at his foe. He ran towards the larger foe with balls of aura forming in his hands, he pushed the balls of aura in to the body of Gluttony, causing him to be sent flying towards one of the buildings, "ha too easy," Ash smirked at the enemy as the building started to crumble around him.

"It's not over yet, he wouldn't fall that easily," Greed stated while looking around to see more people running away from the fight.

"That was a good warm up," Gluttony stated as he exploded out of the rubble, much to the dismay of the Aura Guardian, "now for the main course," Gluttony charged towards Ash who was caught off guard. Ash leapt back avoiding a lariat from Gluttony, "I am nowhere near as weak as the other two," Gluttony taunted the trainer as he continued on with the attacks.

"I need an opening to attack," Ash whispered to himself, he jumped back once again avoiding Gluttony's slam on the ground. Ash placed his hand on the pokeball, shaking at what he might have needed to do next.

"Do what you need to do now!" Greed tackled his enemy away from Ash.

"I cannot do it," Ash whispered as he removed his hand from the red and white device.

(Jubilife City)

Dusk looked back seeing the smoke rising in the distance, remaining calm knowing what was going on, "I was wondering how long it would have taken to start the fight, Shade and Hollow are there as well," Dusk whispered, her eyes glued to the column of smoke.

"What's going on in Oreburgh City?" one of the citizens of the city asked in shock.

Dusk returned to her mission, she had a grin on her face, feeling the adrenalin of the fight all the way from where she was, "that Aura Guardian is there too," she whispered to herself as she continued throw the city, not wanting to waste any more time with watching the battle from the distance, "I don't have the time, I need to hurry," the bluenette reminded herself.

"Ash, there is something familiar about you, but I don't know what it is," Dusk started to tell herself as she thought about her first meeting with the trainer, 'then there is the princess, why do I feel like I know them from somewhere, yet my memories are non-existent," Dusk told herself as she, slowing the pace her advance towards the next town.

Glancing over her right shoulder one more time she kept her attention on the column of smoke, "I will be there soon to shake things up a little," Dusk promised herself, walking quickly towards Sandgem Town.

(Oreburgh City)

Ash and Greed glared at the Shadow Lord, he was laughing at them, mocking them for not being as strong as he had hoped, "an Aura Guardian and a traitor, I have been waiting to defeat the last Aura Guardian and you Greed," Gluttony confessed his interest in destroying them, he charged towards the two men and threw another powerful punch at the trainer.

"Oh man, he is fast," Ash whispered, he jumped back and held his ground again, he started to glow blue as he started to charge up his aura for a counter attack, 'if I use too much aura I will not be able to use it for a few days,' Ash thought as he started to assess the situation which was getting worse for him, "I have no choice," Ash muttered to himself, he rushed at the larger enemy with two balls of aura in each hand.

Greed watched the Aura Guardian pushing back the former ally of his, "he is using too much Aura, if he keeps this up, he might not be able to use Aura for a few days," Greed watched in shock as Gluttony was hit by a few punches encased in the blue Aura.

Sitting down at the top of one of the buildings, Shade was enjoying the fight, "oh so he plans to risk it all for one win, this is going to get interesting," Shade whispered at the show he was watching.

"What if he wins this fight?" Hollow asked his teammate with a concerned tone.

"No, I don't want this game to end too early, plus, we have a certain issue we need to deal with," Shade informed the other Dark Aura Master of his intentions, Hollow looked at the friend with a concerned expression, "that's right Hollow, our beautiful little pawn will be joining the fray soon enough," Shade started laughing as he knew about the growing situation with Dusk, "she still thinks we will be giving her an answer to her questions, too bad for her we have no intentions of giving them to her, plus we also have another little piece of the puzzle," Shade explained the plan to Hollow as he looked down to see the princess at the tent city with the people still shocked at the battle to save the city.

(Near Sandgem Town)

"So this is where you're buried," Dusk stared at the ground, thinking about her meeting with Ash, "you threw away everything for him, but the truth is," Dusk sighed heavily.

The wind started to pick up, causing the tree to sway and the leaves to pick up blowing around, as the leaves dropped an image of a person appeared in front of Dusk, with long blue hair and in her pink skirt, boots, with a white tank top and black vest, "hello Dusk, it is so nice to meet my darker side," the woman called to her counterpart.

"Darker side, then you must be Dawn," Dusk hissed at the spirit of the young woman.

Dawn tilted her head as she smiled at the Dark Aura Master, "I see you are wondering why I sacrificed myself to save Ash, do you know why I did it?" Dawn asked the doppelganger, who was growing impatient with the spirit.

"Then tell me already," Dusk growled at the ghost of Dawn.

"I saved Ash, because I love him," the gentle spirit replied with a warm smile, "I was thinking at one stage to give you my will, but someone else is far more deserving of that," Dawn knelt down in hopes that the ring was gone, "you know, all I want is Ash to move forward with his life, to be happy," Dawn confessed as the Dark Aura Master listened to the coordinator's words.

"The princess, who looks like the both of use, she is too soft," Dusk reminded the ghost with a smirk.

Dawn turned to the other bluenette and smiled, "no she is strong, but she has a lot of issues to deal with," Dawn reminded the blue haired aura master of the resolve of the young royal, "right now she is tending to the people whom she will one day protect as queen of this region," Dawn stated with a proud smile as she looked down at the wilting wreath at the base of the tree.

(Near Oreburgh City)

Salvia stood out of her tent waiting for the fight to come to an end, the princess gulped in the hope that Ash will make his return, "hey princess, we need your help, this person has a broken leg," Melissa called to the young royal from the tent.

"Right, I am on my way," Salvia responded with a nod, she entered the tent where the person was crying in pain.

"Help, my son, he is still in the city!" one of the people started to panic about the loss of their child.

Salvia jolted into action and headed out to find the child, "Melissa, I am going to find the child, Hilda and Hilbert you help Melissa out," Salvia instructed her two friends as she ran off towards the dangerous scenes in the city.

"Princess Salvia, be careful!" Hilda called out to her friend as she entered the tent to help out the injured.

Shade watched as the young royal entered the city, on her own and in search for the lost child, "either way this could get much more interesting," laughed the Dark Aura Master, watching the unsuspecting royal, seeing her running towards the battle to find the lost child, "I can sense it, she is looking for a lost child," Shade continued to laugh as the battle continued on a mere hundred metres away from her current location.

Ash continued to pummel the larger enemy with his punches, but tried to show no signs of relenting, "oh man, he is just taking my hits, what's going on?" Ash asked in frustration, seeing that Greed was getting ready to call out his pokemon.

"This isn't going to be as easy as the first two," Greed stood next to Ash.

"Yeah, I can see that, but what is this guy?" Ash asked the Shadow Lord standing next to him.

"He is one of the three most powerful Shadow Lords, even I am a low ranked Shadow Lord," Greed informed the trainer with a concerned tone.

"What? You never told me you had ranks!" Ash snapped at his ally in anger, feeling like he was never told of the system the Shadow Lords were using.

"You never asked," Greed retorted as he watched Gluttony vanish from the battlefield, "damn it, he has left the battlefield, we better find him and fast," Greed ran off to find his former ally, leaving Ash perplexed by friend's comments.

"The Shadow Lords, who are they?" Ash asked himself as he grew more doubtful in the abilities of Greed, "he said that Gluttony was the third strongest member of the Shadow Lords, so what does that mean about Wrath and Pride?" Ash asked himself, looking around for the enemy that had almost forced him to use up all his aura, 'damn, I am almost out of aura as well,' Ash started to complain about the situation he was in.

"I see, she he has almost overused his aura," Shade whispered curious as to how this battle was going to go.

(Near Sandgem Town)

"Why are you still here?" Dusk asked the ghost of Dawn with a frown, "you should have crossed over, and yet, you cling to this world, in hopes of achieving something," Dusk stated while the ghost looked away with a hint of guilt.

"You're right, I should be crossing over, but something is preventing me from doing exactly that," Dawn's ghost stated with a saddened expression.

"Unfinished business," Dusk looked away with disdain, "why?" she asked the bluenette as she glared at the spirit.

Next time Chapter 12: Morning and Evening

Dusk and Dawn have started their conversations, but the battle to save the world continues on, what will Dusk discover about her role in this battle?