Chapter 26: Trials of time
Summary: Salvia must face her trial on her own as she discovers how strong the bond between Ash and Dawn truly was, she begins to doubt herself, but pushes herself to go forward without regret.
"So the princess does have some fight in her," Hollow whispered as he started chuckling at the blue haired royal. The princess remained calm, preparing her pokeball for a battle, "A pokemon battle, is that what you want?" the Dark Aura Master asked the royal, "fine, but I will not be holding back against you," he informed the royal, holding out his pokeball for a battle.
"I am stronger than you think," Salvia replied with a slight hint of venom in her voice, throwing out her pokeball a humanoid pokemon with a white dress appeared with a green head and red eyes appeared, "say hello to my Gardevoir," Salvia told her foe, confident in her skills in battle.
"Lucario, time to bring the darkness," Hollow called for his signature pokemon.
Salvia glared at the pokemon, "right so all people who have aura can use Lucario," Salvia whispered to herself with a frown.
"Pitiful, sheltered little princess, everything has aura, even you, but yours is way too weak to be used in an effective manner, not like Ash's or Dusk's auras," Hollow informed the bluenette, he pointed to the clock face behind the princess, "there is one question that I would like to ask you," he grinned at the clock face.
"Now you're stalling," Salvia stated with a displeased expression.
Hollow laughed even more as the picture of Ash's past appeared behind the young royal, "oh this is interesting, it seems like Ash and this woman named Dawn had a really strong bond," Hollow remarked with a dark smile, seeing all the events the two shared with one another, happy moments and sad moments, "so where are you in all of this?" Hollow questioned the princess.
Salvia looked back to see how happy her two friends were, doubt began to arise in the eyes of the princess, 'those two looked really happy,' Salvia thought as she watched the love between Ash and Dawn continue to grow in front of her, "but that is in the past," Salvia whispered as she turned to the Dark Aura Master.
"Oh really? But aren't you their friend?" Hollow started to taunt the Sinnoh royal with a smirk, he pointed towards the clock to show more of the bond between Ash and Dawn, "do you seriously think you can compete with that. "Lucario, use Metal Claw," Hollow ordered his powerful pokemon to start the battle against the princess.
"Gardevoir counter with Shadow Ball," Salvia commanded her pokemon to strike back, the psychic type pokemon formed a powerful orb, leaping back and throwing the orb at the incoming attack.
The orb collided with the metal claws of the aura pokemon slicing it in half, each half flew in separate directions causing the clock faces to explode after the impact of the spheres, "I wonder what else can we see here?" Hollow asked the princess, searching for another way to attack the princess on a mental level.
"You said you wanted a battle, yet all you are doing is looking for a way to mentally beat me down, there is nothing you can say that will make me doubt myself," Salvia snapped at the Dark Aura Master, she looked over to her pokemon who was getting ready to make another attack, only needing the command of her trainer, "alright, since you don't want to continue this battle, Gardevoir attack now with Psychic," Salvia ordered her pokemon to attack yet again.
"Double Team now," Hollow issued his command, the powerful aura pokemon split into multiple images causing a small hint of confusion with the embrace pokemon, "now hit it with Metal Claw," Hollow called for the counter attack, the images of the fighting type pokemon leapt up and extended their claws to slash down on the opposing pokemon.
Salvia scanned the ground until she spotted a shadow, "there Gardevoir, use Dazzling Gleam," the princess ordered her pokemon, a powerful burst of light pulsed out from Gardevoir, knocking away every double she had seen and the opposing pokemon at the same time.
"Not bad, but you aren't going to win that easily," Hollow complimented the princess,a clock face appeared behind the Dark Aura Master, "you see, time can be used to show many things, the past the present and the future, have you ever wondered what the future tells you?" Hollowed started to question the princess.
"I never stopped to wonder, I decided a while ago, to follow the path I choose, not have it predetermined for me," Salvia replied as she tried her best to keep Hollow from playing more mind games, before Hollow could answer she watched as the image of Ash and Dawn journeying together, "so you bring up their journey," Salvia glared at the Dark Aura master.
"No that was you, you were wanted to see what their journey together was like," Hollow replied as he pointed to the image of Ash and Dawn five years prior to the current battle, "as you can seem there is no way you can even think of replacing your best friend," Hollow informed the princess who was stepping back in shock.
"I have no intentions of replacing Lady Dawn, I am Salvia, a different person," Salvia answered back timidly, she watched the images keep winding forwards, seeing Ash and Dawn holding hands, a sense of envy filled the eyes of the princess, 'why is it getting to me?' Salvia started to question herself, she grew more doubtful at the images she was seeing.
"I can see it in your eyes, in fact, you still doubt that you can compete with a person who is deceased," Hollow continued his taunting, he chuckled at the princess who was placing her right hand over her forehead, "I can also read your aura, it tells me a lot," the man's eyes started glowing as he continued to read into Salvia's aura.
"I need to block my thoughts," Salvia tried in vain to clear her mind.
"A little late there princess, I have already read some of your thoughts," Hollow stated with a broad grin, he turned towards another clock face and pointed towards the next image, "your greatest fear," he showed the princess the newest image.
"My greatest fear is heights," Salvia answered back, but soon noticed another image, in her thrown room alone ruling her kingdom with no one at her side.
"Fear of heights is something a person can conquer, but this fear is something that resides deep down inside," Hollow continued his mind games with the princess, as the princess began hesitating he signalled for his pokemon to initiate another attack on the opposing psychic pokemon.
Meanwhile outside the dimension, Paul and Greed started walking back towards the battle, seeing the people were now safe from the Dark Aura Masters, "so Greed, you are telling me that you have another plan for later on?" Paul asked his ally calmly.
"Yes, but I need you to keep it quiet from Ash," Greed made the Sinnoh based trainer agree, "I know that he has been suffering all because of my mistake, so I plan on sacrificing myself to stop my former allies," Greed explained his intentions to Paul who suddenly felt the ground jolt beneath, "something is happening," Paul whispered as he tried to hold his footing, he noticed parts of the cave falling, "we better get a move on."
"Right," the Shadow Lord agreed with a hurried tone. The two started running towards the Sky Pillar not wanting to let their friends remain in trouble, "those Dark Aura Masters have almost awakened Arceus, I can feel it in my bones," Greed whispered as he, tried to keep his composure.
At the Sky Pillar, Hilda and Hilbert called out their flying type pokemon, "I am not going to sit and wait for Ash and Salvia to return," Hilbert declared as the winds started to pick up around the summit.
"You two morons wait, they will be here soon," Dusk hissed at the Unova royals, her frustrations growing at the length of time Ash and Salvia were taking.
"But what are supposed to do?" Hilda enquired impatiently, she looked up to the sky, "this was like six years ago," Hilda whispered, remembering what had happened.
"That is because this event is a worldwide even, it could also be seen from Kalos, Unova and all other regions," Hilbert explained to his wife, he took a deep breath and recalled his pokemon, he turned to glare at the Dark Aura Master, "she knows that this could do a lot of damage," Hilbert watched on with lightning starting to crash down around them.
(In time Dimension)
"Psychic now," Salvia quickly called for another attack.
With the eyes of the embrace pokemon glowing blue, a powerful psychic wave rushed towards the opposing pokemon, the fighting type pokemon quickly dodged the attack and charged at the princess' pokemon, with a bone staff ready to strike back against the opposing pokemon, "now use Bone Rush," Hollow issued his command with a crazed laughter.
"Use Double Team to evade it," Salvia quickly ordered her pokemon in a panicked tone.
Creating doubles of herself, the psychic type easily evaded the attack making the princess breathe a sigh of relief, she looked up to see another image of her and Dawn talking to each other, "so it seems like you two also share some sort of bond," Hollow looked around to see more of the past between the two people that have had a great impact on Salvia's life, "man this past stuff is amazing," Hollow started to show more signs of arrogance.
"You are more focused on tormenting me about the past, using one of the many possible futures," Salvia grew more impatient with her foe, she looked at her pokemon and nodded, "let's change that shall we?" Salvia nodded at her pokemon, knowing what she was thinking the embrace pokemon unleashed a powerful barrage of colourful leaves in every direction, hitting the opposing pokemon without any trouble and destroying the clock faces that surrounded the battlefield.
"She wasn't going to wait for me to finish, fine, Lucario attack now with Metal Claw," Hollow called for the next attack. After getting up slowly the fighting type pokemon roared as he extended out his claws, charging towards Salvia's pokemon.
"Hold it in place with Psychic," Salvia quickly instructed her pokemon to make a counter attack. With Gardevoir's eyes glowing blue a powerful blue aura surrounded the enemy's pokemon in place, with the battle heading towards the conclusion, a powerful roar echoed through the area, Salvia looked around wondering what was happening.
Hollow looked around to find out where the roar was coming from, "well it seems like you accidently called Dialga here," he stated while returning his focus back to the princess who was starting her search for the princess, "you know these pokemon defend their dimensions," Hollow informed the royal as a large blue, four legged pokemon appeared from another portal.
Salvia watched the large pokemon burst through the portal, in awe at the might of the pokemon it's red eyes soon beamed down towards her, she started to tremble in fear, "th-that is Dialga," Salvia placed her hands over her mouth in shock.
"Let's have a little more time talking about, how things haven't changed," Hollow grew in confidence, he formed a barrier preparing to show off the next image, starting with Salvia watching Ash's back, "you were always behind the eight ball, you were nothing special, in fact you are weak," Hollow explained to the princess who started to show signs of doubt creeping back into her mind.
"You're wrong, I am getting stronger, I have chosen my own path," the bluenette replied as she watched another image appear on the barrier.
Hollow watched the image, depicting the chosen path of the young royal, "is that so?" the Dark Aura Master questioned the royal, the image showing Salvia looking up at Ash with a glare of admiration, thinking of a new goal, "you couldn't come up with your own goal, so you're about to borrow, the goals of your best friend and that young man," Hollow laughed at the princess, ridiculing her for not having her own defined goal.
With Salvia's eyes widening, the large pokemon landed in front of Hollow, almost lost for words as the intimidating pokemon looked down at her, "your thoughts are easy to read, you want Ash around to bail you out, not like you could ever do that yourself, you had people bailing you out for your entire life," Hollow explained to the princess who was stepping back ready to hide from the powerful pokemon, "the sad part is princess, no one is here to help you, not even Ash," he reminded the blue haired royal.
Salvia lowered her gaze to the ground almost ready to cry, 'he is right, I have always had other people helping me out, Greed, Hilda, Hilbert, Dusk, Dawn and even Ash, maybe I am weak after all,' Salvia thought to herself, she closed her eyes and thought about her own past.
(Flashback)
Dawn walked up to the Salvia who was feeling anxious about the speech that she had to present, "what's the matter Princess Salvia?" Dawn asked her friend with a smile.
Salvia looked up to her friend and smiled, "nothing," Salvia replied, with a false smile.
"You lie," Dawn pointed to her friend, "I can see it, you're about to present a speech, yet you feel like you might not be able to do it properly," Dawn stated her friend's concerns.
"Am I that easy to ready?" Salvia asked the coordinator.
"Very much so, but no need to worry, I doubt Ash would ever be able to read you, he might be an Aura Guardian, but he is useless when it comes to figuring out how people are feeling," Dawn started laughing at the expense of her boyfriend.
"So Lady Dawn, your bond with Ash is so strong, yet you can tease him yet maintain your love for him," Salvia stated with a proud smile, "you radiate so much confidence, Ash seems to feed off that confidence," Salvia explained to her friend as she looked up to the sky.
"You kind of envy me don't you?" Dawn asked her friend, she watched the shocked expression of her friend and hit her right shoulder, "no need to worry," Dawn used her catchphrase again. She looked back to see Ash standing at the entrance of the palace, "not everyone is perfect, if you try too hard, you will only fall over, but there is something you need to know," Dawn informed the royal as she looked down to see Ash calling to Dawn.
"What is it Lady Dawn?" Salvia asked her friend.
"Never to give up, when you fall, you need to pick yourself up and keep trying, failure is a part of life," Dawn continued to give her form of wisdom to the princess, "no matter how many times you fail, you will learn where you went wrong and apply those lessons," Dawn finished as she turned away from her royal friend and nodded at her.
"Thank you Lady Dawn," Salvia thanked her friend with a broad grin.
Dawn halted and glanced over her left shoulder, "one more thing, if the odds are stacked against you, hold your head high and stand your ground, don't ever give up," Dawn advised her friend with a determined smile.
Salvia watched her friend leaving the palace, 'wow Ash, you have someone really special,' Salvia thought, witnessing the gates close behind her friends.
(Return from Flashback)
After hiding for a moment, Salvia stood up and exited her hiding place, 'I was running away, but now Lady Dawn's words continue to echo in my mind,' Salvia approached the battle again with her pokemon following her, she looked up to her foe and without hesitaition she signalled for another attack, "I am not backing away ever again! I am not going to have other people bail me out of anything ever again! I will follow the paths people have shown me and I will follow those paths my way!" Salvia yelled out her intentions as she watched her pokemon land a critical hit on the opposing pokemon.
"No way, she has gotten stronger," Hollow gritted his teeth, seeing that his pokemon was crashing in front of him.
"Don't doubt me, I will become stronger, I will no longer rely on others to pick me up when I am down," Salvia quickly turned her attention to the temporal pokemon.
'What, she is challenging Dialga to a battle?" Hollow watched the princess, but was soon met with a steely gaze, 'oh man, she isn't doubting herself,' Hollow thought to himself as fear started to settle into his mind, he started ti take steps back.
Salvia glanced over to the mighty pokemon of time yet again, she wasn't ready to give up, unflinching her psychic pokemon prepared herself for battle against the legendary pokemon, "their bond might be strong, but I will not give up, even if Ash and I end up alone, we will still go forward," Salvia informed the Dark Aura Master with great resolve she glanced over to her pokemon and signalled for another attack on the enemy.
"Pitiful, you think that Ash would give up on his love for another woman? Even though she is dead," Hollow snapped back in frustration.
Salvia shook her head and started to turn away from the foe, "I told you, I plan on going forward without regret, if Ash and I were never meant to be, then I will accept it, but I am not going to force Ash to forget about the person he has loved for a very long time," Salvia answered the Dark Aura Master.
"What if Ash impedes on the future you desire?" Hollow asked the princess, he started laughing as the princess glared at him without a hint of relent in her eyes.
"If Ash, stands in the way of me reviving the Sinnoh Kingdom," Salvia started her answer, she clenched her hands, looked back at the clock and smiled, "then he will leave me no choice, but to defeat him," Salvia finished her answer, turning to the Dark Aura Master with a confident smile, "but I seriously doubt Ash would ever get in my way, in fact, he would support me on my ambition to save Sinnoh," Salvia explained her resolve to Hollow as he burst out into laughter.
Suddenly another image appeared behind the royal, 'what that wasn't there before, it is different than the previous ones,' Hollow thought to himself as he watched a scene but before he could get the conclusion the image was enveloped in a bright light, he quickly turned to the princess, furious at the image, "you fight for nothing, yet you still want to forge your own path ahead," Hollow continued the mind games with the princess, "I seriously doubt the one you love would return those feelings, he wouldn't want someone who is weak," Hollow belittled the princess as he burst into laughter.
Salvia stopped and clenched her fists tightly, "have you said enough? Or do I have to make you shut up?" Salvia growled at her foe, turning her eyes to the Aura Master, she stared at him with great confidence, "if you cannot say anything intelligent, then don't say another word," Salvia hissed at her enemy.
"Big talk coming from…" the Aura Master started, but was stopped by a powerful burst of psychic energy, "so you do have some bite," Hollow whispered as the princess approached him.
Salvia walked up to Hollow as her pokemon held him up to the clock face, raising her right hand she slapped him causing a bright red hand mark to appear on his face, "Dark Aura Masters ha? Ash conquered his darkness, at least he maintained his true self, you playing these pointless mind games, I would have spared your life, but you have left me with no choice," Salvia turned away, a hint of disdain in her voice, she looked back as the Dark Aura Master tried to fight out of the Psychic hold, "Gardevoir, crush him with Psychic," Salvia instructed her pokemon with no amount of hesitation.
Hollow started to feel the power of the psychic based energy, "n-n…..nooo!"Hollow screamed out as he felt his bones breaking and the air being squeezed out of him by the psychic pokemon, "damn you princess! Damn you!" hollow yelled out as he started fading from the power of Salvia's pokemon.
"You left me with no choice, you're beyond redemption," Salvia reminded the Dark Aura Master as she noticed the light fading from his eyes, "rest in peace Dark Aura Master," Salvia wished her enemy, her blue eyes fixated on the powerful dragon, "my past was used against me Dialga, but no longer will it haunt me, Hollow promised to turn back the clock, I know that would be unnatural, so instead, I choose not to live in the past, but instead, I want to strive for a better future," Salvia explained her intentions to the powerful pokemon.
Dialga looked down and nodded at the princess, 'that wasn't part of the trial, but you have proven to me, that the past is a lesson that can push you to the future, Hollow wasn't going to be killed by such an attack, but what will happen, is he will be imprisoned for eternity,' Dialga informed the bluenette, the large blue, four legged pokemon let out a powerful bellow opening up a portal for the princess to return to her world.
"Thank you Dialga," Salvia bowed her head with a smile. She looked back at the severely injured man, thinking back to what she had seen, the past and a possible future which was cut off in the middle, 'maybe what I had seen was another possibility, one that Ash and I have to decide through our own journeys,' Salvia told herself as she turned away and started heading towards the portal.
'I saw into your future, do you want me to tell you what will happen?' Dialga asked the princess as she walked closer to the portal.
Salvia stopped at the legendary pokemon's words, "no Dialga, I want it to be a surprise," Salvia replied as she exited the time controlled world of Dialga, "a person's future isn't determined by what we are told or what we see, it is determined by the path we follow with the people we share our lives with, this is where the Dark Aura Masters and the Shadow Lords went wrong," Salvia explained to the legendary pokemon, she looked out to see Dusk, Hilda and Hilbert.
'Very well, and good luck,' Dialga flew away from the princess, wishing her well for the future, closing off any form of contact with the royal the dragon looked back to see the portal closing with Salvia watching it leave, 'I saw a bright future, after the darkness is finally gone, but very soon you will make a discovery that will help you become even stronger,' Dialga watched the time portal close before flying away.
In the real world Salvia looked around and spotted her friends, she noticed Dusk searching for the other Aura Master, "where is he?" Salvia asked with concern, she looked around for Ash who was still nowhere to be found.
"Seems like he is still stuck, he isn't allowed to die, well not until I kill him myself," Dusk clenched her fists angrily, she glanced over to the royal as she looked back to see her portal gone, "but I guess your boyfriend can live after this for now," Dusk promised the young royal.
"He isn't my boyfriend," Salvia denied quickly, with her face turning red, but also felt that Dusk was able to sense her feelings for Ash, 'it isn't like I can hide it from my friends, they all know except for Ash,' Salvia thought to herself as a smile graced her mouth, 'I know where my future rests now, so from now on I am going to make every effort possible to convey my feelings to Ash,' Salvia thought as she looked up to see the light piercing the sky causing it to change colour yet again.
"He better hurry up," Hilda gritted her teeth as fear started to run through her mind.
The group heard the bellows of the powerful pokemon, sending shockwaves towards the group, knocking them off their feet, they looked up in shock at the light growing larger, almost about ready to swallow them, "Ash," Salvia clasped her hands together, closing her eyes to prevent herself from being blinded by the light.
In the altered dimension Ash was searching for a way out until he came across a man with spikey blue hair wearing a white suite and black shoes, "well if it isn't my old foe from all those years ago," the man called to Ash.
"Cyrus, I thought you were taken into an alternate dimension," Ash immediately remembered the last time he saw the former Galactic leader.
"There is a lot that needs to be said, but let's sit down for a while," Cyrus informed Ash who was confused about his meeting with his former enemy.
Salvia has made it out of her trap, now Ash will meet with Cyrus, what will Ash's trial be? And will he overcome it?
Next time chapter 27: Trials of Darkness
Good news my friends, one more chapter to be written, meaning that I will be releasing the rest very soon, oh and I am almost done with the epilogue of this story, so it is time to release some more chapters.