Chapter 28: Last of the Darkness.
Summary: Dusk and Ash are left to face both the leader of the Dark Aura Masters and the god of pokemon, but when things go from bad to worse they are saved by someone they never expected.
"No Ash, I will not leave you," Slavia argued with the raven haired man, stomping her foot on the ground in defiance of the trainer's wishes, she glared at the man, but he remained calm and unmoved by the intentions of the blue haired royal.
"This is too dangerous, think about your kingdom, you want to save it, then save yourself," Ash retorted, he turned away from the young royal who was about to break down, "I know, you want to prove to everyone that you are strong, but if you stay here, you will only get hurt," Ash explained while the grew more upset.
"Alright, but you come back safely," Salvia requested of the Aura Master, she shot her gaze at the doppelganger, tears now streaming down her face, "please promise that he will not die," Salvia made the other bluenette promise, she nodded and turned to Ash who was charging up his aura.
"Come on," Hilda led her friend away, Salvia looked back once more, knowing that this might be the last chance she would see Ash.
Salvia glanced over her right shoulder, Ash and Dusk charged towards the Dark Aura Master, as she walked away from the battle, her eyes fixed on Ash, as his fist was caught by Willow, 'please Ash, make it back to me safely,' Salvia thought to herself as the ground started to shake violently from the impacts of the fight.
"So you send away whatever chances you had of victory, in fact if you all attacked me at once, you all would have overwhelmed me," Willow explained to Ash and Dusk, she formed a dark ball of aura before pushing it into Ash, then punching the female Dark Aura Master, "you two are almost out of aura," she whispered, a confident smirk ran across her face.
"Yeah, but there is no way I am going to let you defeat us, I made a promise," Ash replied with a smirk, he got up slowly and started laughing, "if that is the best you've got, you might as well surrender," Ash taunted the enemy.
"Why you little bastard," Willow growled at the trainer, she rushed towards him, unleashing a powerful flurry of punches and kicks at Ash, to which he dodged the angry attacks.
Dusk watched Ash dodging the attacks, assessing the situation, 'that's it her weakness,' Dusk thought to herself with a smirk.
"Oh come on, surely the leader of the Dark Aura Masters is stronger than this, or are you as weak as the other two?" Ash continued to taunt the woman, he continued to the powerful attacks as they became more reckless, 'her aim is right off,' Ash thought to himself, but before he could finish the assessment, he slid back after taking a powerful kick from the foe, 'but when she is able to calm down, that is when her attacks become more potent,' Ash finished his assessment of the first exchange.
"So you noticed the same thing I have?" Dusk asked her rival about the foe they were facing.
Ash stood up and nodded, "yeah, when she get's insulted she loses focus, this prevents her from landing her attacks properly, but when she regains her composure, she is a potent all-round attacker, but she also lacks a defence," Ash explained to the female Aura Master.
But as the two were about to start the plan of attack, a large white, four legged pokemon with a golden formation of circle landed behind their foe, "alright Dusk what do we do about Arceus?" Ash asked the bluenette.
"Well then you be the decoy, I have unfinished business with Willow," Dusk allowed her Aura to radiate more violently, "plus there is something I need Arecus to do for me, so try not to kill it," Dusk instructed Ash about his fight with the god of Pokemon.
"Kill it? No chance of that happening, I might end up getting killed myself," Ash joked with the female Aura Master, the powerful pokemon formed an orange sphere before it exploded sending streaks of energy crashing onto the ground around Ash and Dusk, the two started dodging each of the attacks.
Willow pushed through the dust and knocked Ash down, she got back up and kicked the distracted Dusk, the two were soon separated from each other allowing for Arceus to focus on Dusk who performed a series of flips. Willow turned to Ash and while he was down she kicked him in the stomach, causing him to gasp for air, "you know what the sad part is Aura Master? You won't be a live when I hunt down your friends, kill the princess and take over this rotten world," Willow informed Ash with a smirk.
Gasping for Ash blocked the next kick and tripped the Dark Aura Master, Ash quickly got back to his feet and watched his foe following suit, he blocked another punch from the Dark Aura Master, this time creating a powerful shockwave that sent parts of the remains of the sky pillar off the summit, "still don't believe you think you can win," Ash gritted his teeth, reminding his enemy of the situation, the two opponents jumped back as the Aura started to destroy parts of the Sky Pillar.
"Don't think you will survive this," Willow informed Ash, she rushed towards the raven haired trainer with her aura bursting out of her body.
"I won't be giving up either," Ash charged towards the woman, his Aura starting flare out, the two punches collided causing the mountain to shudder violently, 'if this keeps up, Celestic Town will get buried,' Ash fell back, now trying his best to hold back from using any more aura based attacks.
Willow started laughing at the Aura Master who was lowering his aura, "oh so you care about the people, so much so, that you wouldn't let them get buried," Willow started taunting the young man.
Ash stood his ground as the woman charged at him once again, Ash blocked the attack with his left arms while the aura from the woman caused his arm to tingle, 'oh man, this is insane,' Ash leapted back, but was soon thrown of balance by Willow who was rushing towards him with another powerful attack, without thinking Ash charged up his aura to defend himself, causing a crater to form around him as the auras collided.
Ash and Willow leapt back as the aura exploded, 'what are you doing? If you want to save this kingdom and this world you better stop holding back," A voice started criticizing Ash.
'You again, I thought I defeated you,' the young man snapped back furiously.
'Don't think that all darkness is evil,'' the voice echoed in the Aura Master's head.
Ash watched the woman charging towards him with another powerful burst of aura, Ash instinctively built up a wall of aura to prevent his enemy from landing the attack successfully, "I will not be beaten," Ash allowed for his dark aura to counter the foe.
"I thought you were too afraid to use it," Willow taunted the trainer, smirking at him but the smile was soon wiped away as she noticed the control he was showing over the dark aura, 'wait a second, this dark aura is different,' Willow thought to herself, in shock at the power that was emanating from Ash.
'Finally, you have decided to use the darkness the way you should, I guess you won't be needing me anymore,' the voice reminded Ash, leaving him to fight the battle against the Dark Aura Master, 'goodbye Ash,' the dark variation farewelled the trainer.
"This fight ends here!" Ash used his aura to push the woman away from him.
Willow cleaned up some of the blood and looked up in shock at the power that Ash had shown, 'impossible, he was in full control, four days ago he couldn't control it,' the Dark Aura Master gasped, horrified that Ash had gained not only the control over the dark aura, but the fight as well. But as the fight was about to get restarted Dusk landed in front of Ash with the legendary pokemon hovering overhead, "even if you do have control over the dark aura, Arceus is still much more powerful than you," Willow stated with a confident tone, she stood up and watched the alpha pokemon charging up for another powerful attack.
"Are you alright Dusk?" Ash asked the bluenette, but the question was ignored with Dusk charging towards her foe, with no hesitation in her resolve she prepared to kick the Dark Aura Master with all her power.
"You're going down!" Dusk kicked the leader of the Dark Aura Master, after she slid back after taking the vicious attack Willow watched with pride that Dusk was now taking a boxer's stance, "you taught me a bit of boxing, now I am going to beat the crap out of you," Dusk charged up her aura, she rushed towards her foe and started hitting her with a powerful flurry of punches.
'Enough!' Arceus yelled out, using a powerful Earthquake to knock the people off their feet.
Ash and Dusk now standing back to back, watched as the powerful foes were getting ready to start another powerful attack, "so how much aura do you have left?" Dusk asked the trainer, panting after defending herself from the deadly attack.
Ash scanned the surrounding area, the enemies walking in closer, "well I have my dark aura reserves, but other than that, I would say sixty percent remaining," Answering the question with a smirk, he looked back and smiled at the ally, "how about you?"
"Well I wouldn't say I am in good shape, I have been on the defence for most of this stupid fight, slightly injured and down to about thirty five percent, and quickly dropping," Dusk replied with a tired expression, the two started laughing at the situation they were finding themselves in, Arceus used a powerful blast of electricity knocking Ash and Dusk off their feet, 'I can barely move now,' Dusk thought as her right arm started fading, Dusk noticed the faded arm and tried to hide it, 'what? What's going on?' Dusk asked herself as fear started to creep across her face, but was soon relieved that her right arm was now solid.
"Hey are you alright?" Ash asked the Aura Master.
"I didn't ask for your concern, concentrate on saving this region," Dusk snapped at the her rival with an angered tone.
"Wow, you're still a bitch when it comes to other people being concerned about you, no wonder why you don't have friends," Ash continued to criticize the blue haired Aura Master, he quickly shot his vision back towards the god of pokemon and the Dark Aura master, "well let's just say, that Pikachu's electric attacks were nothing compared to that, I lost a huge chunk of my remaining Aura," Ash remarked with a laugh.
"Arceus finish them off," Willow ordered the powerful pokemon, the legendary pokemon glared at the woman, but still continued to attack the opposing trainer, 'I better have this fight finished soon, I don't know how much longer I can control Arceus,' Willow thought to herself, witnessing the power of the alpha pokemon on full display, the power of Judgement was wearing down both Aura Masters.
Salvia continued to hear the rumbles of the fight raging on, she walked slowly with her friends, thinking about her promise to everyone, 'first mom, then dad,' Salvia thought as she closed her eyes picturing Ash with a smile, nodding at her.
Salvia stopped walking, something that Hilda was first to notice, "what's the matter?"
Salvia opened her eyes and looked back, "I am going back," she answered her friend.
"What? That's crazy!" Hilbert yelled out his dissatisfaction.
"I am sick of seeing the people I love dying on me," Salvia turned towards the Sky Pillar.
Hilda now in shock at the confession of her friend, she proudly smiled at the princess, "what did you just say?"
Salvia was about to start walking, but waited for a moment, "I love Ash," she replied to her friends.
Hilda sighed for a moment, while Hilbert shook his head, still in disbelief in his friend as the cave started to shake from the battle, "we cannot linger here, we need to head to Celestic Town," Hilbert stated the situation to his wife and friend.
"Alright Salvia we will be waiting for you, bring him back to Celestic Town," Hilda encouraged her friend, Salvia nodded and ran off back to the battle, "you might be thinking Hilbert, why did I let her go?" she asked her husband with a sense of pride.
"Because we couldn't stop her, even if we wanted to," Hilbert answered solemnly.
"Exactly," Hilda replied, the two walked towards the entrance taking a separate from the path the princess was taking, "how can we argue with her? She said it herself," Hilda questioned herself about the determination of the princess.
Meanwhile at the battleground, Ash and Dusk leapt back avoiding the attacks of Willow who getting more frustrated in the plans of the two allies, "stand still losers," Willow angrily criticised the foes, Arceus prepared another attack as the area around the pokemon started to shatter around it.
"Ok, so we are pretty much in trouble, one more would be a problem," Ash joked as he was avoiding the attacks of Willow, he watched as she changed her target to Dusk who was caught off guard by the Dark Aura Master, Ash looked up to see Arceus' attack swallowing the sky, Ash gulped while the ground started to shake around him.
"What are you doing? You idiot, stop Arceus from its rage," Dusk growled a the trainer.
Getting ready to fire its attack forcing Ash and Dusk were waiting for the attack to come, their eyes shut, the large pokemon prepared the attack and aimed it at the two Aura Masters, 'this will end it,' Arcues decreed.
"This will end nothing Arceus, you will stop!" Salvia demanded the alpha pokemon to cease its attack, the enormous pokemon formed a bright orange sphere above its head, "I am the future queen of Sinnoh Arceus and I order you to stop right now!" Salvia demanded with great courage.
'I am the god of pokemon, no one will order me around!' Arceus furiously informed the princess, it fired the attack, splitting in multiple streaks of energy, 'even if you are the future queen of this region,' Arceus stated, looking down to see a green barrier, 'what she called out her pokemon that quickly,' Arceus noticed the Gardevoir standing next to Salvia, quick to notice the determined expression on Salvia's face.
Ash looked up to see Salvia standing in front of him , "I told you to head back to the town," Ash told the princess off, but was soon smiling at the determination of the bluenette, "thanks for saving us," Ash showed more gratitude to the princess.
"Yeah what he said," Dusk replied trying her best to hide her gratitude.
The trio watched the barrier fall to the ground, Salvia glanced to her pokemon, "Gardevoir, attack Arceus with Psychic." Salvia ordered her pokemon to attack the alpha pokemon.
"Oh no you don't!" Willow charged towards the princess.
Dusk rushed towards Willow, tackling her to the ground, "you will not hurt Salvia," Dusk growled at the woman, she stood up and watched Arceus easily break away from the attack from the psychic type.
Salvia watched the powerful pokemon readying another attack, she clenched her fists while Ash was getting up slowly, feeling the effects of the prolonged fight against the Dark Aura Masters and defending himself from the deadly attacks of Arceus. Ash grinned at the princess who wasn't backing down from the prospect of another attack from the powerful pokemon, "Arceus, don't underestimate me," Salvia instructed the powerful pokemon, she signalled for another attack with her pokemon, this time sending out a powerful barrage of colourful leaves at the intended target.
"She didn't even yell out her command," Ash whispered, his curiosity soon turned to admiration for the princess, 'a while ago, she would hesitate, now she is challenging the god of pokemon,' Ash noted the changes in the young royal.
'Backing away is not an option, I am here now, so I cannot show Ash how scared I am,' Salvia reminded herself as she felt her hands shaking in fear.
Arceus shrugged off the powerful Magical Leaf and charged towards the princess' pokemon, 'how dare you hit me!' the alpha pokemon's rage grew.
"Double Team now Gardevoir," Salvia commanded her pokemon. The embrace pokemon split into more copies of herself as the opposing pokemon got closer.
Ash tossed out his pokeball, "you aren't hurt my princess!" Ash yelled out in anger, "Lucario Aura Sphere!" Ash yelled out his command, the aura pokemon formed a large ball of aura, tossing it at the mighty Arceus, the attack crashed into Arceus, allowing Ash to get to Salvia's side.
"Again with the my princess?" Salvia joked a little, she looked up to see the intimidating pokemon preparing an attack on the two standing in front of it, a powerful attack was sent careening into the two people their pokemon defended their respective trainers causing a powerful explosion that sent Dusk and Willow flying into different directions.
"So, what do we do to calm Arceus down?" Ash asked the bluenette.
Salvia turned her attention to Ash and smiled at him, "no idea, just winging it at this stage," Salvia replied to Ash.
"What? You are winging it at the moment? You have to be kidding me!" Ash replied in a shocked tone, he watched the dust clearing as the god of pokemon prepared another deadly attack, seeing the attack rushing towards them, "follow my lead, Lucario use Aura Sphere," Ash commanded both his pokemon and Salvia to go in for the attack.
"Use Magical Leaf with Lucario's attack," Salvia explained her attack choice to her pokemon.
'You will never defeat me!' Arceus reminded the two as their attacks combined into one, with the two attack crashing into one another, a powerful explosion the barrier protecting the two people cracked causing Ash and Salvia to be exposed to the explosion's shockwaves.
Salvia noticed what was going on and without thinking she stood in front of Ash, frozen on the spot Ash watched Salvia fall to the ground, 'no, not again,' Ash fell to the ground next to the princess.
Arceus looked down to see Ash kneeling next to the princess with a saddened expression on his face it, the alpha pokemon allowed the next attack to shrink, 'I see, so you would stand against the god of pokemon,' Arceus started questioning the two people allowing his attack to finally evaporate, he turned away before having a rock thrown at its head, the powerful pokemon looked back to see Willow panting from the fight.
"Where are you going? I command you," the Dark Aura Master informed the alpha pokemon of the situation.
"Willow this fight is over, you lost," Dusk limped towards the Dark Aura Master, grasping her side she looked over to Ash and Salvia, who were on the ground.
'She will be fine the injuries aren't fatal,' Arceus told the trainer, it glanced at the last remaining Dark Aura Master forming an orb around the young woman, 'I will be imprisoning you forever,' Arceus informed the enemy with a sense of disdain.
Ash watched Willow disappearing in the light, hovering up into the next dimension with Arceus following it, 'by the way, is there something I can help you with?' Arceus asked the two people.
Dusk looked at the ground, "I am only a remnant of other people's auras," Dusk stated with a frown, she looked up to the pokemon, her face showing a greater amount of determination, "I want you to make me a fully-fledged human," Dusk informed the legendary pokemon.
'Are you sure? You will lose a majority of your power, you will lose most of your memory, you risk not even knowing the people next to you,' Arceus asked the Aura Master.
Dusk looked over to her friends and smiled at them, "I will not lose the memories of my friends, but I don't want memories of people whom I have never met, but I also want to maintain the memories of a person known as Dawn," Dusk informed the god of pokemon with a smirk, she started to glow blue as the plates emerged from the legendary pokemon.
'Very well then, with the Fist Plate, the Mind Plate, the Splash Plate, the Zap Plate and the Draco Plate, they will be the pillars that will turn you away from being a pure Aura Being,' Areus started glowing as the plates followed the pokemon in the flash of light, the plates spun around the Aura Master before another burst of light engulfed the young woman.
Ash watched while holding Salvia in his arms, "what is she going to achieve?" Ash asked himself, he looked down to see the princess slowly waking up from the last attack of the battle.
The blue aura of Dusk leapt away from the light signifying her complete change, Dusk emerged from the light as the plates returned to Arceus, Dusk looked up to see the pokemon leaving the ruined area, "Ash, Salvia, it seems to have worked," Dusk informed the trainer, but soon noticed that the princess was still out of commission.
"I don't sense the strong aura from you," Ash commented leaving Dusk with a smile, she clenched her fists, "you knew this didn't you?" Ash asked the young woman.
"Knew what?" Dusk asked the trainer with a curious expression.
"You don't remember being an Aura Master?" Ash asked the former Aura Master.
"Not like I would ever forget that, let's get out of here," Dusk replied leaving Ash stunned that she would pull a joke on him, 'I need to search for the three pokemon of the lake to make the transformation complete,' Dusk thought to herself, proud of her new self, 'I can be Ash's rival and I can be his friend for many years, but for some reason, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,' Dusk watched the last remaining Aura Master picking up the princess.
Ash carrying the blue haired royal left the area and headed towards the cave, slowly the trainer carefully walked, 'I cannot believe my life was saved again,' Ash thought with a smile, he watched the princess waking up, she looked up to see Ash walking through a dark cave, "good morning," Ash joked, he looked down at the royal and smiled at her.
Wincing in pain the princess moved her right hand slowly towards Ash's face, 'he is carrying me,' the princess thought as she felt her face heating up, "am I dead?" Salvia asked the trainer.
"No Salvia, you aren't," Ash answered softly, Ash continued slowly not noticing the Sinnoh Royal moving her arms over Ash's shoulders.
(3 days later)
Ash was sitting in the Pokemon Centre, he watched the recovering princess walk into the main foyer with the help of her friends, 'there is still one unfinished task, Pride and Sloth,' Ash thought to himself, his thought quickly changed to the princess thinking back to when she saved him from the explosion, 'I cannot believe she saved me, I haven't even thanked her yet, man I feel like a jerk,' the raven haired trainer started to scold himself for his lack of gratitude.
"Yo Ash," a male voice called out to the trainer.
Ash looked up to see Hilbert approaching him, he grabbed a seat and sat opposite him, "hey Hilbert," Ash greeted the brown haired king of Unova.
"It has been three days since the situation at Mount Coronet and there is one thing that I have noticed," Hilbert pointed out with a cheeky smirk.
Ash grabbed a fork and started eating, it wasn't long before he turned his eyes to Salvia who was walking towards the café, "what are you talking about," Ash continued to keep his eyes on Salvia.
"There you're doing it again," Hilbert continued to notice the actions of his friend, "you're staring at the princess, you have done that for three days," Hilbert informed the trainer.
"No I am not!" Ash quickly denied the claim, he looked back at his food, continuing to eat his lunch, 'man, I cannot show him,' Ash tried to prevent himself from looking again, but the resistance was gone, he turned to look over his shoulder yet again.
Hilbert burst out into laughter, watching his friend keeping his eyes glued on the royal, "so when do you plan on telling her?" Hilbert asked the raven haired man with a knowing grin, he towards the princess, "I can easily read you Ash, she means a lot to you," Hilbert whispered as he turned to Ash who was still focusing on the princess and ignoring everything else around, even Hilbert, 'man this guy is impossible, he needs to tell her, geez,' Hilbert started complaining within his mind.
"Do you mind if I deal with this on my own?" Ash requested, finally responding to his friend calmly.
"Of course, this is after all something you need to deal with," Hilbert agreed with his friend, getting up he walked away from the table, "but don't expect your other friends to let this slide, they also know how you feel about Salvia as well," Hilbert warned the raven haired Aura Master with a concerned tone, "this small conversation, I will keep it between you and me, but please don't hide it from Salvia for too long," Hilbert requested with a nod, he left the area leaving Ash alone to think about the prospect of confessing to Salvia.
After Hilbert walked away Hilda walked up to Ash, "I don't know which is worse, the fact that you are so obvious, or maybe the fact that you're oblivious," Hilda informed Ash, she walked around the table as Ash watched her, "ok forget I said you were oblivious, but you and Salvia are two of the easiest people to read, and the worst part about it is, you two cannot figure out what the other is thinking, you're an Aura Master and yet, you cannot figure out what Salvia is thinking," the burnette criticized Ash for his lack of attention.
Ash stared at the empty plate, "I don't want to," Ash replied with a frown, he took a deep breath. Ash leapt out of his seat and started walking towards the exit, before leaving the medical facility Ash took one more look at the princess, watching her talking to their friends, she was completely unaware that Ash was staring at her.
While her friends were talking Salvia moved her eyes to the entrance of the Pokemon Centre, "so what should I get Ash for Christmas?" Salvia asked out loud catching all her friends by surprise.
"You just changed the topic Salvia," Greed replied with a chuckle.
"I did?" Salvia retorted with an embarrassed expression, she glanced at the entrance, "so what were we talking about again?" Salvia started spacing out, her friends exchanged glances then turned to look at the princess.
Greed noticed the Unova queen walking up to the rest of the group, "why not convey your feelings to Ash?" the Shadow Lord enquired.
"How about a Secret Santa? Hilda suggested with a smile.
"Not a bad idea," Hilbert replied happily.
"Count me out," Greed replied with a frown, shrugging his shoulders he left the group.
Hilda and Hilbert left the group to prepare the event. After minutes had passed the two Unova royals returned with the names in a bucket, everyone had picked the names out of the hat, leaving only Ash and Salvia to pick the names, Hilda called Ash over to select the name out of the hat, 'not like it would be a secret anyway, I had to rig it so Ash would be getting for Salvia and vice versa,' Hilda watched her friends picking the names out of the hat.
"Hey, come here for a moment," Hilbert called to his friend.
"Fine, I will pull a name out of the hat," Ash retorted with a hint of sarcasm. Entering the Pokemon Centre again he placed his name in the hat, taking one of the slips, he unfolded the piece of paper and silently read the name to himself. Ash turned away with the slip in his hands, 'I got Salvia,' Ash thought to himself in shock.
Meanwhile Salvia placed her hand in the hat grabbing the last slip of paper, "I wonder who I got," the excited princess started to unfold the paper. Upon unfolding the paper, she gasped in shock, 'me getting something for Ash? What do I get him?' Salvia questioned herself, she glued her blue eyes on Ash and remained silent.
"Good luck getting your presents," Hilda rushed away from the Pokemon Centre, with her friends she glanced back to see her two shocked friends, now refusing to look at one another.
Well Ladies and Gents the chapter brought on the Christmas season in the story, just what gifts will they get for one another?
Next time chapter 29: Painfully Obvious.
amazing news guys, I have finished the main story here, every chapter except for the epilogue has been completed, now to release every chapter written in this story