Chapter 20: the Light of Darkness.
Summary: Ash faces Wrath on his own in a fight to defend the new resolve, when things become desperate for Ash, he utilises a new power that could lead the way to victory.
The trees in the background and the white clouds dotting the vast blue sky, a bright blue aura surrounded Ash as he charged into the fight, fending off Wrath immediately after entering the fight, he pushed the Shadow Lord back, Ash now standing between Wrath and Paul, he stared at the Shadow Lord and grew increasingly angry at the man, "you and your leader were the reason why Salvia was reduced to tears, for that I will make you suffer!" Ash roared at the Shadow Lord, his intentions now fixed, he was ready to make his attack on the deadly foe.
'So he was only doing it because Salvia was crying,' Paul thought to himself, he looked back knowing that he needed to defend his royal friend, 'she even cut her hair,' Paul noticed the much shorter blue hair of the princess.
"No I don't need the help, I can look after myself, you help Ash," Salvia approached the battle ready to back Ash up.
'Something has happened,' Paul noted the new attitude within the princess, he turned to Ash who was getting ready to face Wrath on his own, "so you intend to face that big guy on your own?" Paul questioned his friend, Ash nodded as he awaited the Shadow Lord to make the next move.
"Oh this good, no this is excellent, I get to hit three little pidgeys with one stone," Wrath charged towards the three people, he raised his right hand balling it into a fist.
Ash waited calmly for the charging enemy who seemed too eager to fight him, "fool," Ash announced he grabbed the fist of the enemy and held him back, Ash awaited the next punch to come the trainer started sliding back as if on cue the foe released another powerful punch, this time Ash met it with his own fist.
As the first exchange continued Ash and Wrath leapt back causing the foe to become frustrated, "who are you?" Wrath asked with a panicked expression.
Ash cracked his knuckles, started to glow blue, "now that warms up are over, let's say we get serious," Ash informed the powerful Shadow Lord.
"Pride said you are a weak Aura Guardian, but you pushed me back," Wrath seemed willing to acknowledge the strength of Ash, but was still blinded by his anger and rushed towards Ash, he punched Ash yet again to which the Aura Guardian let out a sigh and defended himself, blocking the powerful hit from the deadly foe.
"Greed said you are one of the strongest, I guess he owes me an explanation," Ash whispered building up his aura to burn the powerful foe, Wrath leapt back as the trainer glared at him.
Paul watched with amazement, never knowing that his friend was this powerful, "hey what's going on here?" Paul asked but the princess remained quiet, watching Ash holding back the enemy.
"I thought you were taking this seriously," Wrath remarked with a hint of confusion.
"I am only holding back, but I will stop if you take this seriously, but if that is the best you have, then you're in for a bad time of it," Ash explained as his foe stepped back in fear.
Salvia remained calm knowing that Wrath was only getting warmed up, 'it isn't like he is holding back, it is the fact that he is scared of losing control of his dark aura,' Salvia thought to herself, remembering the first encounter with Pride and Wrath.
"Right, so we have both been holding back now," Wrath informed Ash as he removed some of the bands on his wrist and legs.
"Weighted clothes," Ash watched the items landing with great force on the ground, before he could react the enemy rushed towards him with blinding speed, he defended himself barely, he slid back after the attack, "great, this was unexpected," Ash growled he got back up and dusted off his clothes, "well this might be more interesting than I thought," he whispered to himself, almost as if he was enjoying the challenge.
"Hey it seems like he is enjoying himself," Paul pointed the smile on Ash's face to the princess.
(Flashback)
Sitting in a building outside the Hearthome City, Salvia and Dusk were eating a small meal, talking about Ash and about aura. "If Ash awakens dark aura, what will you do?" Dusk asked the princess, who was perplexed with such a question, "dark aura is different from your standard aura," Dusk informed the blue haired royal who was getting even more confused with the Aura Master's comments.
Salvia looked over to Ash who was standing outside talking to his aura pokemon, "how so?" Salvia asked the Aura Master.
"Dark Aura has one major drawback, it is extremely hard to control," Dusk looked at her hands and took a deep breath, "when I use it, I can barely control myself, so I find ways to fight with a mixture to increase my control, but for Ash on the other hand since he has no experience with dark aura, he will at first seemingly be in control, but the reality is, he will be finding many ways to hold back the dark aura if something happens, he will explode with anger," Dusk explained the sensation of the use of dark aura.
Salvia started thinking about the first fight with the Shadow Lords, remembering how she had witnessed Ash's aura exploding from him, "there was this one time, Snowpoint City he was involved in a fight against Lust and Envy, when Envy provoked him," Salvia started to shiver with fear, she glanced back towards Ash, with the vision of Ash surrounded by the aura, "his aura exploded and he badly injured the Shadow Lord," Salvia explained the fight to her doppelganger.
'Makes me wonder what would happen if you got hurt,' Dusk started thinking about the implications of the next fight, 'after all, she is Ash's biggest weakness at this stage,' Dusk recognised Salvia's importance to Ash, "he is important you, how will you snap him out of his use of dark aura?" Dusk questioned the princess, "remember, you don't have any particular skills, you have no aura abilities and nothing to fight off the Shadow Lords, in reality, you're useless," Dusk told the young royal with her form of brutal honesty.
"I know, I am nowhere near as strong as everyone around me," Salvia confessed her own weakness, "sometimes I feel like I have been getting in the way, but no matter what, I will support Ash," Salvia showed her determined expression to Dusk who showed her surprise to the princess.
"As I suspected, you're in love with him," Dusk started teasing her friend with a playful smile, Dusk turned her focus to Ash, "alright then, if Ash loses control, make sure you can snap him out of it, but it will not be that easy princess, he might end up hurting you," Dusk told the princess who nodded her head, 'she has courage, but lacks the strength,' Dusk thought to herself but knew that the Sinnoh royal was the only one that could bring Ash back.
"Dark aura, anger, fear, sadness, it doesn't matter as long as I can make Ash happy, because you're right," Salvia professed her intentions to Dusk, stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, she looked out the window and smiled at the man she loved, "because I love him, but I know right now I can't say anything to him."
"I see you don't want to burden him with such things," the Aura Master stated with Salvia nodding in reply. Dusk walked up to the window staring at the trainer, "you better not take too much time," Dusk warned the young royal.
(Away from Flashback)
Ash and the Shadow Lord Wrath continued their battle, Ash struggling to keep up with the speedy enemy, Salvia watched the battle as it unfolded in front of her, "what will I do?" Salvia asked herself trying to answer Dusk's question.
The two foes charged at each other not flinching Ash reserving his aura while Wrath was going all out against the aura guardian, "you were responsible for making Salvia cry, for that I will make you pay," Ash growled at the Shadow Lord.
"You know the last time we met you made one fatal error," Wrath stated rushing passed the aura guardian heading towards Salvia, Ash quickly started running but noticed dirt flying towards him, "pathetic, wouldn't you say?" Wrath taunted Ash.
The raven haired man evaded the dust and tried his best to catch up with the enemy, "get back here you coward!" Ash yelled at his powerful enemy.
Salvia now frozen in fear, 'no,' Salvia started to shake in fear, her hand moved slowly towards her pokeball, "Gardevoir use Psychic," Salvia quickly called out her pokemon, her pokemon's eyes started glowing causing a constrictive aura to surround the Shadow Lord, Salvia opened her eyes to see Wrath mere inches away from her, his right fist raised and his malcontent etched on his face, the princess fell back and gulp at the sight of the enemy's willingness to kill her.
Ash quickly moved as the hold of the psychic attack started to weaken, he raised his fist and punched the Shadow Lord before the telekinetic attack lost hold and sent Wrath flying to one of the trees, "you bastard, you dare threaten Salvia!" Ash yelled but the Shadow Lord again noticed the fear within the eyes of the young royal, "you persistent freak!" Ash ran at his foe, but the enemy leaped over him and towards the princess.
"Gardevoir use Hypnosis," Salvia quickly commanded her powerful pokemon. The hypnotic waves hit 2the enemy but he didn't seem to slow down.
"Salvia!" Ash hollered, he made his way urgently to the bluenette.
Paul jumped in between the attacker and Salvia, taking the punch for the princess, "you will not be hurting any of my friends!" Paul yelled at the Shadow Lord, falling to the ground after taking a severe hit from the larger foe.
Ash stopped moving in shock at what he had witnessed, first Salvia's father being murdered in front of Salvia and now his friend taking a punch for the person he wanted to protect, "you!" Ash growled, he clenched his fists as they started to glow a deep black, "how dare you!" Ash yelled at the foe.
"Weaklings fall before me no matter what, he was no different, now I am going to deal with your greatest weakness," Wrath explained his intentions to Ash, turning to the fear filled princess.
"Stay away from her! Your fight is with me!" Ash yelled at the Shadow Lord, quickly losing his composure, his aura exploding in all directions, causing the surrounding trees to topple over and the princess to skid towards the wild pokemon.
Salvia quickly noticed the change in Ash, he didn't seem like himself, his anger had taken over again, "just as Dusk told me," Salvia watched the blue aura and the black aura swirled around Ash, his eyes cold, now seemingly a different person entirely.
Ash glared at the enemy ready to attack without a hint of mercy, "now how shall we proceed with your death?" Ash asked the Shadow Lord, he raised his hand and signalled for the trainer to attack him.
'Could this be because of the dark aura?' Salvia asked herself as she remembered the conversation with Dusk. Her mouth agape at the spiralling aura, almost mixing together at the top, Salvia started to shiver in fear, stepping back, "I want to become stronger, but I cannot hold back my fear," Salvia gulped as she continued to stare at the trainer.
"T-t…that is not the real Ash," Paul sat up after taking the punch from the powerful foe, he observed the spiralling aura, Paul tried his best to get up but his strength gave way and causing him to collapse, "I am alright, the injury isn't fatal," Paul assured the young royal, he looked over to Ash and then to then princess, "I guess it is up to you to save Ash from that darkness," Paul whispered before falling unconscious.
Ash glared at the Shadow Lord and charged towards him, "I will make you suffer!" the raven haired Aura Guardian repeated again and again, not thinking of the people around him he charged blindly at the laughing enemy.
"Bring it on little runt," Wrath charged towards the rage filled man.
They collided in the middle of the field, not shying away, the two jumped back as the princess watched on in horror, 'Paul is right, this isn't like Ash, not the one I love,' Salvia started to remind herself, she placed her right hand where her hair was cut, "I promised myself that I would become a stronger person, but I never said anything about not being scared," Salvia professed witnessing the battle between the Aura Guardian and the Shadow Lord escalate further.
Wrath threw a punch at the trainer, but it was taken, Ash elbowed Wrath in the stomach, causing the powerful man to fall back, grasping his stomach in pain, "not bad little one," Wrath complimented the trainer.
"I am only getting warmed up, I intend to take my time destroying you," Ash announced his intentions for the fight, Ash formed a spiralling ball of aura in his left hand, "the pain starts now," Ash ran towards his enemy, getting ready to plunge the ball of aura into the enemy's chest.
Wrath blocked the attack but soon felt a burning sensation on his right arm, the ball of aura exploded knocking the Shadow Lord back, "damn you, where did you get this aura from?" Wrath grew frustrated with Ash and his power.
Ash refused to answer the question, a dark smirk crossed his face as he prepared another ball of aura, "the next one will destroy your arm," Ash started laughing at the Shadow Lord.
Meanwhile at Hearthome City, Dusk was walking towards the eastern half, she glanced over her shoulder sensing that something was amiss, she felt cold, sensing a burst of dark aura coming from near Veilstone City, "that is Ash," Dusk whispered to herself.
Dusk thought back to what she said to her royal friend, "I hope she finds her way," Dusk assumed what the princess' action, she continued on through the bustling city, on her way to the next mission, 'since I will not be there, I am going to stop my former teammates,' Dusk promised herself, now ignoring the dark aura that she was sensing.
As the two foes charge at one another they failed to notice the people around them, the fierce battle raged on with Ash forming a ball of aura, pushing it towards his enemy, the Shadow Lord grabbed the fist of the Aura Guardian holding back the aura, Wrath headbutted the trainer knocking him back, sliding back Ash charged yet again while Salvia watched in amazement at the ferocity of Ash.
Salvia shaking in fear, "I am wanting to get stronger, but I can see it, the anger in Ash's eyes," Salvia whispered to herself, she also started to recognise that Ash wasn't fully in control.
'Help him,' a voice echoed in her mind.
Salvia looked around to search for person calling to her, "was that, no it couldn't be," Salvia started to question herself, "I can't do it, I am too scared to even move, even if I promised myself to become stronger," Salvia tried to tell herself.
'Don't give up, I would hate for Ash to lose himself,' the voice continued to inform the princess.
"But I am not strong enough," Salvia argued with the voice.
'Yes you are,' the spirit told the young royal, 'I am leaving Ash to you,' the voice rang in the princess' mind before leaving the bluenette on her own to figure out what she was going to do.
Salvia clenched her fists, looking at the ground after hearing the guidance of the spirit talking to her, "was that Lady Dawn?" Salvia whispered inaudibly. She quickly turned her attention to Ash, determined to help the trainer, "I know what I have to do," Salvia started walking up to the battle without any form of hesitation.
After the trainer clashed with Shadow Lord, knocking him back, Ash without hesitating charged towards the foe punching him ferociously, "I will not allow to hurt anymore people!" Ash yelled at Wrath, hitting him again not noticing that the princess was approaching the battle.
Salvia grabbed the hand of Ash, stopping him from continuing the fight, "you need to stop, this isn't you," Salvia reminded the trainer.
Ash lowered his guard and took a deep breath, Ash turned to Wrath who was panting after the battle, "get lost," Ash ordered the Shadow Lord.
"I take no orders from you," Wrath informed the Aura Guardian, he ran towards Ash and performed a lariat, hitting the trainer who landed on the princess slightly hurting her.
Ash looked down in shock, seeing the princess who was on the ground hurt from the hit from his foe, "Salvia, are you alright?" Ash asked the young royal, he started shaking in anger, he glanced over his shoulder, "you, you hurt Salvia, you will die for that!" Ash yelled at his foe, charging towards him in a blind rage.
Paul watched his former rival charging towards the Shadow Lord, he grabbed his right side of the abdomen, "man, this isn't good," Paul whispered, but soon noticed that the princess was getting up slowly, 'stay down, you aren't strong enough, even I am nowhere near as strong as Ash,' Paul thought to himself, but noticed that Salvia was crying.
'I will not give up on the person I love,' Salvia thought to herself, slowly making her way towards Ash.
Ash pushed two powerful sphere of Aura into the chest of Wrath, causing the Shadow Lord to stagger back and coughing up blood, "not bad little runt," Wrath informed the trainer with a smirk, cleaning up the blood from his mouth, "but I am still standing," Wrath started laughing at the trainer.
"No way, Wrath should be on the ground by now," Paul gulped at the stamina of the Shadow Lord, seeing his friend charge once more at the injured enemy, he also noticed the princess getting closer to Ash, 'this is dangerous, but Ash lost control when Salvia got hurt, it is almost like he loves her,' Paul started to recognise the importance of the princess in Ash's life.
"This will end you!" Ash hollered as he pushed another ball of aura into his foe. Wrath fell to the ground as he took another powerful attack from Ash, the Aura Guardian still seething from the Shadow Lord's attack on his friend and the princess, "you Shadow Lords are a bunch of cowards," Ash growled at the injured Shadow Lord, Ash rushed towards his foe with what looked like a blade of aura protruding from his arm.
"No Ash, stop!" Salvia yelled out in shock immediately figuring out what he was going to do, Ash ignored her and used the aura attack to land the fatal blow.
"You are the next Shadow Lord that has been killed," Ash pulled the attack back, his enemy spitting out blood from the powerful attack.
"You have defeated me," Wrath fell on his back, staring up towards the sky he started to laugh, "you are no different to us Aura Guardian," the Shadow Lord chuckled, not realising that Ash was about to prepare for another attack not caring whether his foe was dying on the floor.
Ash charged towards the Shadow Lord still out of control, but when he was about to land the next attack Salvia ran up to him and placed her arms around his torso, "please Ash, that is enough," Salvia pleaded with the angry trainer.
Ash snapped out of his rage and looked around dazed and confused, "what happened?" Ash asked himself about his actions against Wrath, Ash looked down in shock as Wrath rested motionless, dead from the vicious assault from Ash, "did I do that?" Ash asked, he placed his hands over his head wondering what had happened.
"It wasn't your fault," Salvia tried to assure Ash.
Ash fell to the ground as he tried to regain his own confidence, "what did I do?!" Ash yelled out in anger.
Meanwhile in Hearthome City Dusk was walking towards the eastern side of the city, she paused as she sensed the dark aura coming from the west dissipate, "the fight is over," Dusk whispered, she continued on with her fists clenched in frustration, "damn you Ash, you are getting stronger," Dusk formed a ball of aura in her hands and sent it flying towards one of the trees in her vicinity.
Dusk continued through the town ignoring the angry cries of the people behind her, "hey you, who is going to pay for this mess you just made?" the male citizen asked the Aura Master.
Dusk stopped and glanced back with a smirk, "you are, I couldn't care less if a tree fell on you, let alone a part of what I hit destroying a house across the street," Dusk replied, but walked away from the angry member of society, hearing the yelling of the citizens of the major city, Dusk continued towards her destination, she walked with her right hand over her chin wondering what was going to happen next, 'Ash and Salvia are heading to Celestic Town,' Dusk thought as she remembered the words of her former allies.
"You know walking alone towards the next mission isn't something I would normally advice," a familiar male voice was heard from behind, Dusk glared back immediately recognising Greed, "I see you haven't changed much friend," Greed looked around to see some of the trees that were felled by the Aura Master.
"We've never been friends, so stop claiming that we're friends," Dusk hissed at the Shadow Lord.
"I can sense it another of my so called friends has been killed, Wrath, I guess my turn isn't far off after all," Greed started to chuckle.
Dusk glared at the Shadow Lord with a confused expression, "what do you mean?"
"When I am killed, I plan on making sure the Shadow Lords don't rise again, that is enough to repent from my own sins," Greed laughed confessing his own fate to Dusk, "what about you, what is your fate after this conflict ends?" asked the Shadow Lord with a serious tone, Dusk looked at the ground knowing that Greed was trying to help her.
Near Veilstone City Ash was helping his friend towards the city, his thoughts soon directed at the princess, "Salvia, did…..did I scare you?" Ash asked nervously, avoiding eye contact with the princess.
Helping her friend out, she glanced over to Ash who was visibly upset with himself, "no," Salvia didn't hesitate to answer.
"Liar," Ash retorted sadly, "did I hurt you?" Ash questioned the princess.
"No," Salvia replied as she waited for Ash to say something, but nothing was heard from the trainer.
Ash looked over to say something, but strangely no words emerged from his mouth, he tried to say something again, still no words sounded from the raven haired trainer.
Salvia kept her eyes on the dejected Ash, "you know Ash, it has been tough, but if you need someone to comfort you, I will be there for you, that I promise," the princess tried her best to reassure the hurting trainer, Ash nodded in reply but continued on without saying a word to the princess. Without a word Ash continued to help his injured friend, he glanced over to the princess with a guilt ridden expression, "please Ash, don't be sad," Salvia smiled at the trainer.
Paul with his arms around his friends noticed that Ash was hurting from his battle mentally, 'so Ash, you have found someone that will be there for you, I am certain Dawn would be happy for you,' Paul thought to himself with a smile.
'Come on Ash pick yourself up, I will be making sure that you find happiness,' Dawn's spirit appeared behind them, watch Ash and Salvia helping out Paul, 'Salvia, thanks for helping Ash, you really are a strong person,' Dawn vanished from the area with a smile on her face, 'I will see you both again really soon,' she promised Ash and Salvia of her own return.
What is Dusk's answer to Greed? How will Ash master the growing power of his Aura?
Next time Chapter 21: Connections
This chapter is the beginning of the Aura Master Saga, before we head out to finish the story with the last saga, Downfall of the Shadow Lords saga, this saga will also provide an even bigger push in the relationship between Ash and Salvia, but they will remain oblivious to the attractions from the other.
well the good news is ladies and gents, starting this chapter we are going to start a marathon every chapter written every day, meaning that chapters 21-32 are on their way with chapters 33-37 being written as well as 38 coming up soon. Hope you all like the coming marathon. also following this story is Fracture and Ash and Hilda story.