Chapter 34: When Shadows fall.
Summary: the final stages of the battle against the Shadow Lords has just began.
Hilda's cold stare remained focused on the Shadow Lord who was preparing to battle the young woman, "it doesn't matter what your power is, I will still snap you in half," Sloth decreed as he made the first charge in the final battle against the Unova native, raising his left fist in to the air, preparing to strike the female trainer as hard as he could.
Hilda leapt out of the way, then punched the powerful man, she landed next to the injured enemy, "you have to catch me first," Hilda replied coldly, she jumped back again, the Shadow Lord leapt up and dusted off his shoulders. The two opponents remained calm and started smirking, "Hilbert and N, stay out of this," Hilda ordered the two people emotionlessly, her serious expression remained fixed on the enemy.
"You know what happened in Twinleaf Town?" Sloth asked the young woman with a smirk.
"You bastards destroyed it," Hilda closed her eyes and started to get a greater picture of what happened, "you even murdered my brother's fiancé, family and his pokemon, for that I will make you suffer," Hilda promised the enemy with a grin, she ran up to the foe and punched him yet again this time sending him flying into the forest behind them.
Sloth picked himself up again, wiping away some of the blood away from his lip, he watched Hilda walking into the forest, twigs and leaves flying around her, "I see, so this is the full extent of your abilities," Sloth started laughing at the young woman.
"No, not even close," Hilda replied before leaping back to avoid a ball of aura coming from a distance away.
A girl with long blue hair emerged from the forest with a smirk running across her face, "the full extent of my abilities gone, but I am still able to fight," Dusk stated proudly, she peered up at the brunette who was less than pleased to see her, cracking her knuckles, laughing at the enemy, "I was busy doing something peacefully," Dusk started to power up what remained of her aura, "and you disturbed the peace I was enjoying, for that I am going to break every bone in your body."
Hilbert and N watched as the two girls prepared to make their attack on the Shadow Lord, keeping their distance knowing how dangerous Hilda would be without the bracelet, "so old friend, it seems like we have to deal with the fact that your wife is going to fight again," N reminded the king of Unova.
"N, I get the feeling not everything is going to go as she has planned, we need to create a plan in case that happens," Hilbert whispered, noticing how calm the Shadow Lord was, almost confident in his posture, "Sloth is too confident, he is hiding something."
"Are you sure?" N questioned the observation of his friend.
Hilda and Dusk rushed towards the enemy, the enemy waited and at the last minute evade the attack, causing the two girls to hit themselves without any chances of dodging, shocked at what he had witnessed, "Hilda watch out!" Hilbert called to his wife in disbelief.
Sloth grabbed Hilda's left leg and slammed her into the ground, but before hitting the ground she cushioned herself with her psychic abilities, "so you're fast ha, well it seems like my statement was proven wrong," she started to laugh at her foe, she raised her left hand up and unleashed another burst of psychic energy at the much larger foe.
Sloth was sent flying allowing Dusk to leap up and giving him an almighty kick that shot him into the ground, Dusk landed after the strike, clearing the blood from her arm, "that was your fault Hilda, no one has ever hit me that hard," Dusk complained as she glared at Sloth who was getting back to his feet again.
"You're the one getting involved in the fight!" Hilda angrily snapped back at the blue haired aura guardian.
Sloth charged towards the two females, they easily evaded the attacker, but were soon caught off guard by another pre-emptive attack on him, she ducked and tripped them up, he leapt up and prepared to launch another attack on the two females, but before he could land the killing attacks Hilbert and N saved the females from getting hit by the deadly foe.
Hilda looked up and smiled at her husband, "even with a certain degree of control, my fear is holding me back," Hilda admitted to Hilbert, staring at her bracelet, before Hilda could grab for the item, Hilbert was pushed to the ground, the bracelet falling from his hand by the force of Sloth's attack on him, he shattered the containment leaving Hilda stunned by what she had seen, "let my husband go now!" Hilda demanded the enemy, but was being ignored.
N picked up Dusk and started taking her to a safer location, "hey the fight is that way," she complained but N was too busy focusing on their safety.
"I am sorry, but when Hilda goes all out, the entire area geographically changes around her," N retorted with concern, he looked up at the sky to see the clouds building up, the winds picked up as the trees in the background began to fall out of the ground.
Ash glanced back seeing the storm rolling in, "oh man, is she willing to go all out?" Ash asked himself, feeling scared, witnessing lightning arching through the sky landing some distance away from the trio.
"We cannot wait, we need to make it to Arrowroot Town," Greed reminded Ash.
Ash ignored the calls of Greed, his eyes fixed on the effects of a battle that seemed to be raging on with him on the sidelines, Salvia approached Ash, slowly placing her hand on Ash's shoulder, "we need to go, my home town is still a couple of days away," Salvia pleaded with Ash, bringing him at ease.
"Right, no more time to waste, but…." Ash took one more look at the battlefield, the lightning cracking across the sky and the clouds continuing to build from outside the battlefield.
"We need to trust Hilda, she won't let anything bad happen," Salvia assured the young man.
Ash turned without looking back again, walking ahead but still showing concern for Hilda who was fighting the powerful foe, as well as the people who were in the area, "thanks Salvia"
At the battlefield, Hilda erupt with anger, using the lightning in the storm that she had created, targeting the enemy, a bolt of lightning darted towards Sloth, but he was quick to dodge the attack, another bolt of electricity crashed down but this time Hilbert was in the firing line, Hilbert looked up and managed to dodge it at the last second, but was still sent flying due to the force of the impact. Slowly getting up the king started panting and felt his arms tingle from the flow of electricity that barely missed him.
Hilbert watched Hilda in a blind rage, looking down at the ground he spotted the shattered bracelet, "oh no, Hilda has lost control," Hilbert fell to the ground, gathering the remaining shards of the bracelet.
Hilda catapulted herself towards the enemy, spearing him with all her power, Sloth used both his hands to form a hammer, hitting the brunette with all his might, Hilda fell to the ground, but was quick to get back to her feet, she cleared up all the dust on her vest and smirked at her enemy, "that better not be the best you have," Hilda remarked with a hint of bloodlust in her voice, she swiped a bit of blood coming from her mouth and licked it away.
Sloth stumbled back in fear of Hilda's rage, showing a hint of hesitation, "what the hell is going on?" the shadow lord asked.
"You started this bastard, now I am going to end it, by ripping you to shreds," Hilda growled at the terrified enemy, she raised her left, preparing to lower it in one quick move, "die, son of a bitch!"
The lightning came crashing down catching the massive enemy off guard, an explosion erupted, the light illuminated the area. The light vanished with Hilda and Hilbert standing side by side, the dust settled moments later, the sound of thunder shook the ground, like an earthquake they were soon surprised to see the enemy who had taken a direct hit still standing, "is that it?"
"I guess I have to go at one hundred per cent!" Hilda cracked her knuckles.
"No, we cannot do that, imagine the destruction!" Hilbert argued back in disdain at the suggestion that Hilda let slip.
"I don't care, as long as this bastard is turned to dust," Hilda smirked at her husband showing even more savagery directed now at Hilbert.
Hilbert stepped back, lost for words at the savage plan of Hilda, no matter the change that Hilda was displaying, before Hilda could make the final attack, Dusk caught Sloth from behind and struck him with a stiff kick to the back of the head, the large foe fell to the ground, "what are you doing here?" Hilbert enquired.
"I knocked N out and thought it would be fun to go for round two with this jackass," Dusk answered her friend, playful in her response she started to build on her aura, she turned her focus to Hilda who was preparing another savage attack on the Shadow Lord.
Hilbert choose to find another area to hide, feeling like it was unsafe to be around the girls, as he started walking off, he stopped to think about Hilda yet again, looking in hand at the shattered bracelet he turned around and walked back to the battlefield again, "I am not leaving," Hilbert informed his wife and friend.
"So you do have a spine good, I think it's about time we end this Shadow Lord," Dusk suggested with a calm barbarity in her voice.
"No….my…..fight," Hilda slowly stated coldly.
Hilbert stared at the brunette as she was charging up for a full power attack on the Shadow Lord, Dusk noticed the complete change and let out a sigh, "Hilbert, I will finish this battle, you stop your wife."
Hilda charged in, but was caught by Hilbert, he grabbed her and prevented her from moving forward, the blood curling screams of Hilda echoed in the area, at the same time Dusk viciously kicked the Shadow Lord dealing significant damage, the enemy fell down with blood flowing from his mouth. At the same time Hilda was yelling loudly and violently moving around, Hilbert continued to tighten his grip on the brunette, "Hilda, please stop, the fight is over!" Hilbert tried to bring Hilda back.
Sloth tried to get back up, but Dusk placed her boot on the back of his neck, "now you die," the blunette hissed at the injured foe, not giving Sloth a chance to say anything, she stomped on the back of his neck snapping it and killing the mighty foe. With Sloth now dead Dusk turned her focus on to Hilbert who was struggling to contain his rampant wife, she charged towards Hilda who had pushed Hilbert aside.
Dusk evaded an attack from Hilda and hit her on the back of the neck, knocking her out, Hilbert got up and tended to unconscious wife, "she will be fine, I just knocked her out," Dusk assured her friend, she looked down at the brunette and sighed, leaving the battlefield without saying another word, she glanced back at her friends and gently smiled at them.
"Wait Dusk," Hilbert called to his ally, "where are you going?" he asked the blunette still holding his wife in his arms.
Dusk stopped for a moment, turning her gaze to the distance, "me, I am doing the same thing I was doing before this fight, creating my own identity and forging my own destiny," Dusk responded proudly, she restarted her mission, halted once again and peered back, with a broad smile she turned her attention to Hilbert, "if any one of my friends distracts me from my mission, I will hurt them….. badly," she threatened her friends as she started laughing at a concerned Hilbert, leaving him to wonder what Dusk was going to do next.
(The Arrowroot Harbor)
Paul rushed around to avoid getting caught, keeping an eye on the royal guards who were guarding the ships which were being prepared for the new battle at sea, keeping calm, Paul started to assess the situation that he placed himself in, "so they are heading out to start a war ha?" he whispered to himself, quickly rushing back to his hiding place, 'I cannot believe how easy this,' the confidence grew in the Sinnoh native grew more upset with the Sinnoh Navy.
One of the sailors approached the commanding officer, saluting promptly, he stood at attention, "sir the final preparations are almost complete," the sailor informed his leader.
"Excellent, Pride will be pleased," the leader replied with a confident smile.
Listening in on the conversation, the lavender haired trainer stroked his chin and smirked, he peered around the corner once more to watch the men still talking about their mission, 'so, it seems like the Sinnoh Navy is being used as the next scapegoat for Pride.' Remaining calm Paul started to sneak away from his hiding place.
Another soldier approached the commander and saluted immediately, "sir, there seems to be someone in the area who shouldn't be here," the soldier quickly informed his commander, pointing at one of the containers.
Paul gritted his teeth in shock at being discovered, "no time for me to linger, but…" Paul growled, he started to run but his path was barred by the Sinnoh soldiers, "I thought you were all loyal to the Sinnoh Royal family," Paul expressed his disdain at the new enemy.
"The Royal family is no more, Pride told us the last in line is dead," the commander countered Paul's complaint glumly.
Paul burst out laughing, grabbed his pokeball and prepared to start a battle against the more numerous foe, "Pride lied to you," Paul notified the soldiers who started to mutter incoherently, trying to figure out who was telling the truth, "I met the princess almost a month ago," Paul continued to talk the soldiers around.
"Not possible, Pride said the princess was killed off by a man named Ash," the commander furiously snapped back at the Sinnoh born trainer.
Paul clenched his fist, angered by the allegation that was presented to him, he gritted his teeth and started shaking, he looked up and tossed out his pokeball, "Torterra standby for battle!" Paul yelled for his pokemon to appear for a battle, "what you just said was absolute crap, there is no way, my rival and friend would kill Princess Salvia!" Paul bellowed harshly.
"All men, call out your pokemon," the commander ordered his soldiers quickly.
"Like hell I will let that happen!" Paul responded, a smirk appeared while his pokemon prepared to start the battle against the navy, "Torterra, use Earthquake!" The experienced trainer commanded his pokemon to attack.
Glowing red the continent pokemon built up enough energy causing a massive shockwave to expand out, pillars of earth jolted out of the ground, blasting holes in a few of the ships and knocking the men of the Sinnoh Military to stumble.
Some distance away Ash and Salvia fell to the ground, feeling the power of the ground type attack, "seems like this Earthquake was unnatural," Greed steadied himself on one of the trees.
Salvia instinctively shot her gaze at the port, spotting the raised pillars of Earth, "someone attacked our military base," Salvia quickly informed the two allies. Getting to her feet, she rushed off to the port.
"Salvia, wait!" Ash demanded with a concerned tone, he lunged in an attempt to grab the blunette's wrist but soon fell to the ground as the ground shuddered again from another powerful attack, 'oh man, today is filled with bad luck, first Hilda decides to go all out and someone is dumb enough to attack the Sinnoh Port,' Ash grumbled to himself, struggling to get back to his feet.
Salvia waited for the sudden jolt to subside, determined to reach the port, "whoever is doing this is causing more trouble," the princess expressed her concern. Not knowing that she was being followed by Ash, she made to the top of the hill, witnessing part of the building exploding with Paul leaping back with his starting pokemon stepping back.
Ash made it Salvia's side and watched Paul battling a large number of pokemon with his Torterra, "that idiot! Bastard!" Ash furiously berated his former rival, he ran downhill to meet up with the lavender haired trainer, grabbing his pokeball ready to defend his friend.
Salvia staying behind watched Ash fondly, 'is he back to his normal self?' she started running, thinking about the way Ash use to act in the past.
(Flashback)
"So Lady Dawn, what is it you love about Ash?" Salvia asked her best friend quietly.
Dawn started blushing at the princess after she had asked her, "well, he is …um ahhh, kind and considerate, he encourages me to be the best coordinator I can be, we learn off each other, but…" Dawn ended her sentence showing off a cheeky grin.
"But what?" Salvia uttered her curiosity.
"He is just so reckless, he always puts himself second and whoever he cares about first, be they friend, rival or me, he isn't selfish and can be seriously confident to the point of over confidence," Dawn explained to her doppelganger. After hearing the explanation Salvia and Dawn started laughing at the expense of Ash. Dawn was the first to stop as she looked out to the fields that extended out to the main route, "but he also lights up my day when I find that it gets too dark for me, he makes me happy," Dawn confessed to the princess.
"I see," Salvia replied gently, she turned away to leave her best friend to look out towards the sunset.
(Return from flashback)
"Lady Dawn, I am going to help Ash as much as possible, I am going to stop pride and once this is all over, I am going to tell Ash how I feel," promised the young royal, confidently and yet remaining calm. She stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky, "Lady Dawn, I now know what you said is true, everything and I can tell you this with clarity, I too love Ash with all my heart," Salvia whispered, a broad smile ran across her face, she lowered her gaze and watched Ash enter the fray, calling out his Lucario for battle, "he has encouraged me to take the throne and be queen of Sinnoh."
"Lucario, attack now with Bone Rush!" Ash ordered his pokemon to quickly get involved in the battle.
"I had it under control," Paul smugly stated.
"You bastard! We were heading to the palace; you didn't need to attack this port!" Ash yelled at his former rival, "what were you trying to achieve?!" Angrily questioning his rival.
"Trying to stop Sinnoh from going to war, because of our enemy," Paul replied sharply, "Torterra, use Leaf Storm."
"Lucario, Aura Sphere," Ash ordered his pokemon as a follow up to his friend.
Lucario formed a bright sphere in his paws waiting for his trainer to give the signal to release the orb, "not yet Lucario, make it larger…" Ash calmly ordered his pokemon, "much larger." Lucario added more aura into the sphere, making it larger.
Greed watched the sphere growing larger as he watched his friend smirking at his enemies, "no way, he is going too far," Greed started to panic.
Salvia felt the aura radiating in front of her, "no Greed, he is doing what he needs to do, plus, his target isn't the men," Salvia assured her friend. Covering her face to protect her vision from her blue hair she stood with courage from the powerful wind exerting from the sphere.
Ash and Paul nodded at one another, realising that it was time to unleash their respective attacks, "now, unleash your might!" Ash and Paul signalled for the attacks to be released.
The large ball of aura was enveloped in a barrage of leaves, the attacks brushed passed the men who were in shock at what they were witnessing, the commander watched the attack barrelling towards the shits that were still docked in the harbor, "no!" He screamed out in horror. Soon he witnessed the force of the two attacks colliding into one of his ships, effortlessly creating a gaping hole before coming out the other end slamming into another ship destroying the main tower before the attacks dissipated, "it can't be, those two destroyed our best ships," the commander collapsed in shock.
An explosion rattled the area taking the rest of the ships in the dock, Salvia waltzed up to the commander and looked down at him, "we can rebuild," she informed the commander calmly, she looked back at Ash and tilted her head, smiling at him with pride in his job, "you overdid Ash."
Before Ash could respond Salvia was knocked to the ground by one of the soldiers, tying up her hands, "Salvia!" Ash called to the princess, with his guard down he was pushed to the ground by one of the royal guards, "let me go!" Ash yelled out, watching Salvia being taken away with nothing he could do. Ash started glowing blue burning the hands of the guard forcing him to let go of the Aura Master allowing him to run after the princess.
"Stay back Ash, there is something I need to do," Salvia instructed Ash, she was taken away, Ash stopped in shock at the scene he was forced to watch.
Greed and Paul approached Ash who was visibly shaken by the comments of the royal, "yo Ash, is everything alright?" Greed enquired, he looked around to spot Salvia, but discovered that she was nowhere in sight.
"No everything is not alright," Ash snapped back furiously.
"Get back to your feet, I will not be accepting any weakness from my rival," Paul coldly ordered Ash, he looked back in shock at the declaration of Paul, "that's right Ash, I decided what I wanted to do, proving that I am better than you as a trainer," Paul announced his intentions, he brushed passed Ash and started heading towards the palace with Ash in shock at the announcement.
(Flashback)
Salvia watched Ash talking to his friends, without noticing Greed approached the princess with a concerned expression, "why aren't you with your friends?" the former Shadow Lord enquired.
Taking a deep breath Salvia gulped as she started to shake in anger, "I haven't done anything in this conflict with Pride, just getting in the way," Salvia whispered her contempt, angry at the fact that she hadn't taken action against the Shadow Lords, "if I wasn't so weak, my father would still be alive."
"Not true, you were able to help Ash more than you think," Greed replied calmly, he turned to Ash, smirking at the Aura Master.
"Ash will not be able to enter the palace without any assistance from the inside," Salvia explained the problem that she and Ash would be facing, she knelt down, slowly placing her hand in the water of Lake Valor, "I am going to let my guard down, get taken to the palace," Salvia told Greed of her intentions, she glanced back at the group with her eyes firmly fixed on Ash.
"I see, so you intend to help Ash from within the palace to make it as quite as possible," Greed quickly pointed out the next step of the plan. He crossed his arms and stroked his chin, "hmmmm…by that time, I will not be able to help," Greed stated with displeasure.
"Please don't tell Ash, I don't want him to worry about me being captured," the Sinnoh Royal ordered Greed apprehensively.
Greed started laughing at the princess who was hiding her shame, "you love him don't you?"
In shock at the princess cupped her face, which had turned red in embarrassment, "w-w…what makes you think that?" She asked with hesitation, turning away to hide the blushing that crossed her face, her friend tried to catch a glimpse of the redness on Salvia's face, "I….. m-might, like Ash a little, but I ahhhh ummmm, I am not in love with him," Salvia tried to rationalise it, but was failing to sound convincing.
"Ah ha, right…. So why is your face red and why are you lying about it?" Greed picked up the stuttering of the royal.
"Just don't tell Ash how I am going to help him, I don't want him getting too concerned," Salvia tried her best to change the topic, but Greed started laughing at the princess, "what?!" she snapped at the Shadow Lord.
"You changed the topic slightly," Greed added to the dent in Salvia's armour, "you don't want Ash being concerned, because…"
"Alright I admit it!" Salvia stopped Greed mid-sentence, clenching her fists, "but I don't know how and when my feelings for Ash changed, but one day I was realising what my best friend was telling me was applying to me as well," Salvia explained in an out pouring of emotions, she wiped away her tears running down her face, "I couldn't make any excuses as to why it was the case."
"You don't need excuses," Greed walked away from the princess and pointed at his heart, "you just need to know what is happening here," Greed informed Salvia leaving her to ponder her next move, "oh and don't worry, Ash will not know anything yet," he promised the bluenette calmly.
Salvia placed her hand over her heart and felt it racing, "no excuses, I just need to tell him," Salvia whispered to herself, thinking about the absence of her best friend, "Lady Dawn how did you get the confidence to tell Ash how much you loved him?"
(Return from flashback)
Being pushed by a small number of guards Salvia took one last look back, preparing to enact her plan, 'Ash, I am sorry, but all will be made clear soon enough,' Salvia promised the trainer with a stern expression, 'Greed was right, so was Hilda,' Salvia thought to herself about how her friends were pushing her to tell Ash.
"Keep moving imposter!" the guard pushed Salvia forward, she didn't make a peep not wanting to over react to the demand.
Salvia walked along the road surrounded by the royal guards, 'to make sure that no one in the town panics, I will be allowing Ash in at night time, but I need to make sure that Ash…..' Salvia thought to herself, dropping something on the road, she looked up hoping that it wouldn't start raining, 'come on my love, time to save this kingdom together.'
With Salvia being taken back to the palace to enact a small plan that could save both her kingdom and the world, the final showdown starts with the first round between Greed and Pride.
Next time chapter 35: Greed's last Stand