Chapter 18: The Aura Storms Forth.
Summary: head long into battle, Ash heads to a fight that will determine the fate of the world, there he is confronted with a choice that will cause an unsettling change within him.
Salvia was pushed into a building where the guards kept an eye on her, she looked around without the ropes, she noticed the food that was on the table, slowly approaching the table she stared at the food, she was hungry but didn't want to risk the chance of food poisoning, she heard the door opening over the thunderstorm, she looked back to see her father entering the building, "dad, what are you doing?" Salvia asked her father still displeased at his recent change in personality.
"You ran away, you were plotting against me," the king informed his daughter with anger.
"No I wasn't plotting against you, Pride is lying to you," Salvia tried her best to reason with her father, but the king grabbed one of the apples and bit down on it.
"The food is good, this is your last meal," the king informed the princess with a cold tone.
"No it isn't dad, I have someone out there that can save me, but if you cannot listen to reason, then I will be left with no choice…." Salvia started to hesitate, she opened her mouth wanting to finish the sentence, but thought otherwise, "no dad, I will stop you, after all you are being used," Salvia continued to tell her father of what was happening.
"Pride promised this kingdom that they will have a queen," the king informed her daughter.
Salvia looked at the plate with tears streaming down her face, "it doesn't matter how much you wish for it dad, no one can bring back the dead," Salvia argued with her father, upset at admitting this piece of information to her father.
"I will not be giving up," the Sinnoh King informed the bluenette, he opened the door and walked out of the building leaving the royal on her own.
Salvia heard the door slamming as the lightning illuminated the area, "I am not strong enough to tell my father, please Ash, help my father," Salvia clasped her hands together and prayed for some miracle.
Outside the king was walking through the city, on his own, until he was approached by the leader of the Shadow Lord, "so you met your daughter again?" Pride asked the leader of the region.
"Yeah, she was babbling on about how you were using me," the leader stated with a soft grin.
"Why would I be doing that? I know what is important," Pride reminded the man, trying to assure him that everything was alright, he watched he king walking ahead, 'yes that's right long live the king,' Pride smirked, the Shadow Lord glanced at the building where the princess was being held captive, 'soon my plans for this region will be realised,' Pride thought to himself.
Ash rushed through the streets, with the rain starting to get heavier, he noticed a man turning around Ash approached him and stopped, "you, are you Pride?" Ash asked the man.
The man known as Pride turned around and smirked at Ash, "ah the Aura Guardian I have heard so much about," Pride turned to Ash.
"Tell me where is she?" Ash questioned the leader of the Shadow Lords. Pride turned away and started walking towards the eastern side of the city, "you didn't answer me, where is Salvia!? Ash yelled out his question, he started to glow blue before charging towards the Shadow Lord leader.
Pride calmly stood ready to receive the attack, he watched Ash raising his right fist, but it seemed like it was in slow motion for him, he grabbed the Aura Guardian's fist preventing the attack from landing, "pitiful, Aura Guardians of the past were way stronger then you," Pride belittled the raven haired man.
Pride let go of the trainer's fist allowing him to jump back, "I am not going to ask again, tell me where is the princess?" Ash persistently asked the leader of the Shadow Lord.
"Fine, if you want to know," Pride pointed towards the house behind him, Pride smirked at the young man and started walking away, "I have no idea why you want to save her, she isn't all that important, unless….." Pride placed his hand over his mouth resisting the urge to laugh at the Aura Guardian.
Ash glared at the Leader of the Shadow Lords, "what is it?" Ash asked angrily.
"Nothing, I just find it funny…. Funny that you care so much about her, in fact, if I was going to take a wild guess, one might suggest that you're in love with the princess of this region," Pride started to taunt the trainer, he walked away laughing at the man who was slowly approaching the building that he was directed at, "this is precious, a person of no royal blood, in love with the princess who will be killed in mere moments from now," Pride wiped away tears of laughter.
"I will save her," Ash hissed, he continued on spotting the guards.
Meanwhile to the north of the city Paul was making his way to the city in hopes of catching up with Ash, Paul noticed the storm growing stronger, the lightning hitting the water's surface and the loud claps of thunder overhead, the cliffs glowed white as the lightning continued to move closer, "so this storm is getting worse, I better hurry up," Paul started running towards the coastal city of Sinnoh.
The lightning illuminated a powerfully built man, he was staring at the ground as the rain started to hit his body, "my name is Wrath, I am assigned to prevent people from entering the city," Wrath looked up to Paul as he stopped running.
"I couldn't care less who you are, you're in my way, if you don't move, I will force you to move," the experienced trainer informed the Shadow Lord.
"You little pipsqueak, I will destroy you for that!" Wrath charged towards the Sinnoh born trainer.
'Judging from his appearance, I have no chance in fighting him in hand to hand combat,' Paul watched the Shadow rushing to him, "so I am left with no choice, Machamp, stand by for battle," Paul called out a four armed pokemon with greyish skin colour, "hold him back Machamp," Paul instructed the pokemon, the powerful pokemon grabbed the powerful man with his top two arms.
"Seriously, is that all you have?" Wrath asked the trainer, he pushed the powerful fighting type pokemon away and performed a lariat on the trainer's first pokemon, knocking him back with ease.
Paul remained calm, not wanting to lose his nerves in the fight, "you don't have a pokemon, but since you're a Shadow Lord, I don't think that matters to me in the slightest, you are all a problem for the world for the Sinnoh region, for that I will destroy you," Paul explained his intentions to Wrath as his pokemon started to fire a flurry of punches.
"Pitiful, runts like you don't stand a chance against me," Wrath grabbed one of the fists and counted with a powerful punch of his own.
Paul remained calm, "if that is the best you've got, then this will be so much easier, my Machamp was trained to take on the most powerful pokemon," Paul watched as his powerful pokemon stopped moving and prepared to make his own counter attack on the Shadow Lord, "I think it is time for Machamp to take this fight to the next level, with Dynamic Punch," Paul ordered his pokemon to make the next attack.
Back in Pastoria City Ash was charging through a group of soldiers yet again most of which were sent into the air, Ash's aura exploded with great power, easily evading the power attacks from the pokemon, "oh come on, surely you idiots can do better than this," Ash commented with frustration, the soldiers fought with unnatural strength, 'something isn't right here, Soldiers should never fight like this,' Ash thought until he noticed a hint of dark aura around the men, 'so that's how it is, Shade and Hollow each gave them their respective auras,' Ash started to defend himself.
The king watched as the soldiers fought against the single fighter, "Pride that is near where my daughter is," the king told the Shadow Lord, showing a hint of concern for the princess.
"Yes, he was assigned to help her assassinate you sire," Pride lied to the king.
"I see, so they both need to be killed," the king replied with a frown, he charged towards the fight with Pride watching with a sense of joy, he walked slowly down towards the fight behind the king, showing no sense of urgency.
"Get out of my way!" Ash yelled at the soldiers, but they refused to move out of the way, they all continued their relentless attacks on the trainer, 'this dark aura has clouded their vision, they see me as their enemy, I think I need to just knock them out,' Ash thought to himself, hitting the foes on the backs of their head knocking them out.
Ash quickly looked over to his right and noticed another man approaching him, "Salvia's father, why is he here?" Ash asked himself trying to figure out as the situation began to get worse.
"Young man, you dare plot against me," the king asked the Aura Guardian.
"What the hell are you talking about? I have no interest in plotting against you, in fact I have no idea who you are, you're a complete stranger to me," Ash reasoned with the leader of the region.
"It doesn't matter, you have both arrived to dethrone me, now, I will execute you both here and now!" the killed told the trainer of the plans to get rid of the princess and Ash, "men, seize him, also take my daughter to the gallows with him close behind her," the king ordered the corrupted men.
'I don't want to hurt the soldiers they won't even remember their actions, but I have a plan,' Ash lowered his guard to let himself get captured, 'a trap of my own,' Ash thought as his arms started to get bound by the ropes. He started walking behind the royal with Salvia getting closer, "hey princess," Ash greeted the bluenette.
"A fine knight you are," Salvia joked with Ash.
"Hey take it easy on me," Ash replied with a cheeky grin, "supposedly we are meant to be hung for our treasonous crimes, but luckily for us I have a plan," Ash whispered confidently as he continued to walk towards the last prison cell.
"Yes, but you still could have gotten away, I mean I am insignificant," Salvia lowered her gaze to the ground.
"I wanted to save you, after all, you are my best friend," Ash scanned the area knowing that something was about to happen, 'hurry up Paul,' Ash thought to himself sensing the former rival close by.
"You know something Ash, I never thought I would be hung next to you," Salvia started to get a little upset, she looked up to find a wooden structure, with two ropes hanging from the top part.
Paul continued to push Wrath back into the seaside city, until he spotted Ash and the princess walking to the floors of the gallows, "Torterra, save those two!" Paul called to his starter pokemon, as the ropes were placed around the necks of Ash and Salvia the grass type pokemon prepared to unleash a powerful set of leaves directed at the rope.
"Any last words?" Pride asked the trainer.
Ash smiled at the sight of the grass type pokemon, "yeah, go to hell," Ash replied as he was being pushed the rope was sliced through with an accurate Razor Leaf attack, "thanks Paul!" Ash yelled out his appreciation, the princess was saved next and was caught by Ash who immediately placed her back onto the safety of the ground.
"How did you know?" Salvia asked the Aura Guardian.
"Everyone has a different aura, so I knew my old Rival wasn't too far away," Ash answered with a nod directed at his friend.
"I see," Salvia replied with a submissive smile.
Ash pushed Salvia out of the way as the king landed in between them "you really are a fool," the king charged towards the trainer attacking up with a dagger, Ash evaded the attack with little to no effort.
"For someone who has royal blood, you sure fight dirty," Ash jumped back with a look of disdain.
"Dad, please stop, he isn't the enemy!" Salvia tried to beg her father, but was soon grabbed the leader of the Shadow Lords.
"No Salvia!" Ash evaded the next attack and charged towards Pride, he trackled the powerful member forcing him to let go of her, "you will not harm her in any way!" Ash declared furiously, but was easily pushed off by the enemy. Ash landed in front of the princess, clearing away the blood from the corner of his mouth, "are you alright?" Ash asked the princess, he looked around and found themselves surrounded.
"What do we do?" Salvia asked the Aura Guardian.
"Well we are surrounded, outnumbered and I have plenty of aura to….." Ash stopped as he looked over his shoulder to find Salvia with a fearful expression, 'even in this situation, I cannot even tell her, it must mean something,' Ash thought to himself as he returned his focus on the enemies, "nah forget it, just stay close," Ash whispered to the princess, fending off the attackers by knocking out the soldiers with a well-placed chop to the back of the head.
"He isn't even aiming to kill them," Pride noticed the aims of the trainer, 'he must have noticed the Dark Aura,' Pride reminded himself as he watched the trainer defending the princess from harm, 'but he has a weakness,' Pride thought as he glanced over to the king, "sire why not take the opportunity now to kill your traitorous daughter?" Pride asked the king to finish the job.
While Ash was preventing the soldiers from hurting them he failed to notice the father of Salvia rushing towards his daughter with murderous intent, "now to end you both!" the king yelled out in anger.
Pride waited for the opportunity to make his move, 'that's right, almost time, time to change the world,' Pride thought to himself. Pride vanished and appeared next to the king as he got closer, "the pawn has finally met his end," Pride told the king aiming an attack towards him and his daughter.
The King with a shocked expression moved in the last minute to take the attack for his daughter, "no father!" Salvia screamed out in horror as the king collapsed, blood coming from the wound and his mouth.
Ash quickly turned towards the king and made it to Salvia's side, "sire, you alright?" Ash kneeled down next to the royal family.
"I guess it…is too late for….apologies," the king struggled to apologise for his actions.
"I know what it's like to lose someone you love, I lost my fiancé because of the Shadow Lords," Ash replied with a serious expression, "you saved your daughter's life, that is redemption enough," Ash assured the king.
The king started to breathe heavily as the Shadow Lord leader started to laugh at the three people, "I missed one," Pride growled waiting for the king to pass away from his injuries, "you will be joining him soon enough," Pride promised the princess as he watched with a satisfied expression.
"Please, look….a-after my daughter….." the king finally died from the savage blow from the Shadow Lord, raising his arm before it fell to the ground.
"Father, father, please stay, don't die….." Salvia pleaded in vein, but no response was heard from the king, Salvia remained motionless, not even taking notice of Prides vicious intent to finish the job.
Ash got up and grabbed Pride's right arm, he glared at the Shadow Lord, "enough is enough!" Ash yelled out as his hand started to glow with a dark aura, "you killed the king, you hurt the princess, I will make suffer!" Ash punched the Shadow Lord with all his might.
"What is this?" Pride looked on in shock as the Aura Guardian stared at him with darkened eyes.
Meanwhile back in the forest Dusk stopped chasing after Hollow, she looked back towards the city, "this is odd, I sense a powerful yet dark aura," Dusk gulped at the sensation, she turned towards the city, "Salvia better not have been hurt," Dusk started running back towards the city giving up on her chase of Hollow.
Shade started to shudder at the feeling as well, he was only metres away from Dusk, but knew that something was up, "this cannot be, the Aura Guardian had this type aura," Shade started to step back as fear gripped him.
(Near Eterna City)
Hilda placed her hand on her head, wincing in pain from the sensation that she was feeling, Hilbert glanced over to his wife in concern, "are you alright?" Hilbert asked the brunette.
Hilda quickly looked to the south of the city, "yeah, but something doesn't feel right, I shouldn't be sensing it from this far away," Hilda stated as she began to shiver, "is this what feeling aura is like, this is coming from Pastoria City," Hilda informed the experienced trainer.
"Wait that is where Ash is," Hilbert replied with shock.
"Yeah, that confirms is, this is Ash, something terrible has happened," Hilda confirmed with fear, she looked at the ground, "it must have been too much, seeing everything bad happening, someone close died," Hilda explained the situation to Hilbert.
"It must be the king, Ash would do anything to save Salvia," Hilbert stated with a worried tone.
"Yeah, but it wasn't Salvia that was killed, it was her father," Hilda replied sadly.
(Oreburgh City)
"Oh man, that sensation is strange," Greed rushed towards the northern limits of the repairing city.
Melissa walked up to Greed who was trembling in fear, Melissa with a fearful expression looked towards the city, "that Aura belongs to Ash, but this is different, it is almost pitch black," Melissa stated as she started shaking in fear.
"Yeah even though I cannot sense Aura, I still sense something has happened, but even Aura Guardians like you shouldn't be able to feel this aura from here," Greed explained to the Kanto Princess.
"I don't know why, but this is unsettling," Greed ran back to his apartment to grab his stuff, "damn you Pride, I have had enough waiting to destroy you," Greed whispered as he ran with Melissa watching from a safe distance.
(Pastoria City)
Ash rushed through the soldier mercilessly, not taking any considerations for their well-being, taking the dark aura that had corrupted them, he continued his charge towards the leader of the Shadow Lords, but was soon stopped by Wrath, "you're in my way," Ash coldly informed the powerful member.
"I am defending my leader," Wrath retorted as he charged towards Ash.
The two enemies punched one another, but Wrath was the only one sent flying away from the battle, Pride who was looking on gasped in shock at what had happened, "no way," Pride watched as the trainer charged towards his foe.
"Don't worry Pride you will be next," Ash promised the Shadow Lord.
Salvia watched in disbelief at the sight of Ash fighting both the powerful members of the Shadow Lords on his own, 'this isn't like him,' Salvia slowly got to her feet, she was soon surrounded by the soldiers that swore to defend the kingdom.
Ash quickly noticed the danger she was in and rushed to her side, he watched as the soldiers started their attack on the blue haired royal, "not on my watch!" Ash yelled out in anger, he charged through the crowd of soldiers then pulled out his pokeball and tossed it out in anger, "Lucario, I choose you!"
Pride nodded at his teammate and the two simultaneously rushed towards Ash and the princess, "we will destroy you!" the Shadow Lord leader yelled out furiously.
Ash defended himself, standing between them and the bluenette, "you will not harm Salvia," Ash growled at the two men, they jumped back slightly and rushed again while Ash awaited for them to make the next attack, Wrath punched Ash on the face, while he was kicked by Pride sending him back towards the soldiers leaving Salvia on her own.
"Now to finish off the royal family," Pride smirked at the princess, as he prepared to land a fatal attack, Pride felt a powerful burst of energy coming from where Ash had landed, Ash now glowing with a black aura jumped into the air with his fist surrounded by a blue aura, Ash landed infornt of Salvia punching the ground, causing a powerful shockwave that pushed Salvia back a few feet, "he is still fighting?" Pride asked himself, trying to figure out what he needed to do, 'there is too little space,' he thought to himself as he noticed the fallen trees and the destroyed buildings.
"Sir, what do we do? We are out matched at the moment," Wrath tried to reason with his leader.
Pride punched one of the walls next to him, unable to achieve what he had set out to do, "damn that trainer, the Aura Guardian and the princess, they ruined everything!" Pride furiously stated the failure of his mission, he looked down at the trainer glaring at him, unable to contain his anger at the defeat he had suffered, "just you wait Aura Guardian, You won this round, but the next time, I will destroy the royal family and the Sinnoh region will belong to me," Pride rushed off with Wrath, leaving the angry Aura Guardian to watch the soldiers retreat with the two Shadow Lords.
"Get back here you cowards!" Ash called for the Shadow Lords, but they continued their retreat, "Pride you coward, when I get my hands on you, I will kill you!" Ash threatened the leader of the Shadow Lord.
Salvia noticed the dark aura still hanging around Ash, she also noticed the Aura Pokemon barring his trainer's path with the help of Paul, "Ash calm down, first you need to comfort the princess," Paul tried his best to reason with Ash.
"But Paul the king was murdered, I don't sit back and watch his murderer run free!" Ash argued with his former rival.
Paul raised his right fist and swung back, "that is exactly what you need to do now!" Paul snapped back, punching Ash, he fell back as Paul followed through, "right now, you both are in trouble, Pride is going to use this situation to his advantage, he is going to lie through his teeth," Paul explained the upcoming situation to Ash.
"How would you know?" Ash asked coldly.
"Because I met with a royal guard a few days ago, he told me everything about this trap," Paul explained to Ash as the princess fell to the ground, "a trap you two fell for, it cost the life of this region's king," Paul grabbed Ash by the collar, he pulled him up and glared into his eyes, "now, you two will be framed meaning you have made more enemies than you should have," Paul informed the trainer and the princess of the situation.
"Excuse me, sir…" Salvia hesitated for a moment, "Paul is it?" Salvia asked the former rival of Ash.
"What is it?" Paul asked the young royal.
"How do you know this sort of stuff?" The bluenette asked the purple haired trainer.
"Because Pride seems like the enemy that can turn the situation to his advantage, he is going to lie to the royal guards and tell them that you two were the ones who assassinated the king," Paul explained to the shocked duo.
Salvia fell to the ground in fear, she knew that the royal guards of this region were feared by other members of the royal families of other regions, "but my father, he saved me," Salvia looked down at the lifeless corpse of her father.
"So, you two have caused more troubles that you should have," Dusk shrugged her shoulders, she approached the Aura Guardian and grabbed him by the collar, "what the hell happened?!" the bluenette asked the trainer, now shaking the shocked trainer violently, "tell me, why did I sense your aura all the way from Hearthome City?" Dusk continued to interrogate the young man, but no response emerged from Ash.
"You, you're not Dawn, who the hell are you?" Paul pushed Dusk off of Ash.
Dusk pushed the trainer's arm away from her, "if you want to live to see Christmas I would recommend not touching me ever again," Dusk threatened the lavender hair, she ignored the trainer then turned her focus back onto Ash, "now what the hell happened?" Dusk questioned Ash.
"I don't know, when I saw Salvia's father get killed by Pride, I just lost it," Ash tried his best to answer.
Dusk turned to the princess and noticed the dead man in front of her, "so you go angry because of the death of a stranger," Dusk asked the Aura Guardian, 'everything has been building up, the loss of his fiancé, his family and now Salvia has lost her father,' Dusk explained the situation to herself, she looked up to see that the storm was clearing up, the rain started falling steadily and the rumbles of thunder rolled on in the distance, "come on, the Pokemon Centre is still open," Dusk stated as she lead her lighter counterpart to the medical facility.
Salvia still in shock looked back to her father, unable to release the tears she wanted, she remained quiet, knowing the sacrifice of her father, 'Ash and I made more of a mess,' Salvia thought as guilt pulsed through her body.
Ash started hitting the ground in anger, "Pride! Your turn come soon enough!" Ash yelled out in a blind rage, hitting the ground again, knowing that the real fight was about to begin, "I failed miserably!" Ash continued to hit the ground, causing bits of aura to pulse out of him.
"What was that Aura?" Paul asked his friend.
"Dark Aura, now I have the ingredients to become an aura master, but I don't know how to go about it," Ash looked up to the clouds as the rain started hitting his face, "I am scared of mastering it, in case I hurt Salvia, I don't want to hurt her," Ash admitted his fear to Paul.
"So now your greatest weakness in now the princess, something I am certain the enemy will take advantage of," Paul retorted with a frown, he looked over to see Dusk and Salvia entering the building with a red roof.
The death of the king has severely dented the resolve of both Ash and Salvia, with Ash questions whether he has what it takes to be an Aura Master.
Chapter 19: Into the Wind.