Hello everyone, April vacation is over for me now. Even though I'm typing on the second to last day of it. On the bright side I'm going to a Red Sox game on May 2nd. We don't really have baseball in the UK so I'm not 100% what to expect but I'm going with friends and as long as they're they, well I'll go to hell and bad with those idiots. I love those stupid bastards, but anyway I hope you have all been well and have enjoyed the story so far. Thanks to all who clicked on it and I hope you enjoy the new chapter, there's going to be little action in this and I have only thought of one way to make an action seen but no one dies in it. It's only sparring, that actually just gave me an idea for 2 action seems. One will be hand to hand and the only with be sword sparring. Maybe there'll be a seen of everyone training, whatever. Point is that this is chapter 11 and I hope you guys like it.
jojo298: You're welcome, it was my pleasure. And thanks for the compliment
Rubyspe: Well I glad I could be privileged with one of your reviews, and I'm glad you enjoyed the fighting seen. I wasn't sure about the style I did it in. The first action seens I focused on Ash and had him peek and see how the others were doing and give a small description of how their fights were going. But I really wanted to show you how the entirety of the Magma Core fought so I gave descriptions about all of them. I kind of make them sound invincible when I describe what they're doing but I don't want to ruin the moment with "Ruby received a large gash on his chest, the blood was flowing in a unstoppable torrent". That just kills the mood. Thanks though, I'm happy you enjoyed it.
Guest: Well thank you, I seriously couldn't remember what gave me the idea and it was killing me
Sailor Taichichi Vegeta: Someone might die and someone might not, you never know. Yeah, that kind of seemed like a Ash moment didn't it? You know, when he doesn't know what he's saying. Stole that first part from a movie though, but the movie was great so I have no regrets that I borrowed a small eight second clip and put it into words. What you thought I killed Meowth off after all that? I ain't that cold. Glad to hear it, and I did that kind of a fight scene in this chapter and the one on one kind of fighting as well.
Fallingarcher22: I glad you enjoyed it, I try to put in as much action as I can and I hope you stick around for the end
Chapter 11: If you aren't Jealous...
I was relieved to hear Butch only fell unconscious from blood loss. He had us all really worried and the impact knocked Thomas, who was already struggling to stay awake, unconscious as well. Samantha had already been unconscious, she fell right after the fighting stopped. But now we were all in the infirmary minus the princess who had been reunited with her family and friends. Princess Dawn basically dragged her away after the celebration was finished, at least that's what Ash had told me. She hadn't visited yet, or maybe she did but I was asleep, but I'm a lowly soldier who might as well have made her kill the man she stabbed. That was my fault and mine alone. At least Ash calmed her down.
Speaking of which he was on the bed across from me. I was at the end of the infirmary room next to Butch who was next to Thomas who was next to Samantha. Ash was on the other side about eight yards away next to David who had no one next to him. They were all sleeping, Ash was having a nightmare by the looks of things. The frown on his face and the occasional twitch of his hand tells me he's fighting someone in his nightmare, and losing. Weird considering that's the reason I'm the only one awake. At least we could leave tomorrow, even though the doctors advised against it. We can't stay cooped up here too long, it had already been two and days, now on the third day.
The door opened to reveal both royal families and Archie with his generals right behind him. May walked over to me because I was the only one awake. I immediately jumped from my bed and went down to one knee and placed the fist opposite of the bowed knee on the ground and bowed my head. "Your highness, you honor me with your presence" I said immediately. I probably didn't look too dignified, having my bare chest showing off with bandages in many places and only being in my ripped pants. At least I still had my bandanna.
May giggled a little before saying "Ruby I think we know each other well enough for you to drop with the formalities. Just call me May"
"If that is you wish your highn-...May" I said, correcting myself before standing up. I scanned the other faces, King Norman, Queen Caroline, Prince Max, Queen Johanna, Princess Dawn, and Archie watched on a little bit behind May. The three generals were behind Archie, and his eyes connected with hers. If looks could kill she'd be in a grave right now. Archie saw his look towards his direction and thought Ruby was looking at him.
"Hey you got a problem with me kid?" he said menacingly. I turned his gaze to him and put an impassive look on my face.
"I wasn't looking at you. But if you have the audacity to threaten me in front of the royal families of both Hoenn and Sinnoh then the Aqua Guard must be doing poorly. The Archie I remember would have never even considered using violence in front of the royal family" I said
Archie's face contorted in anger "Why you little" he said while taking a step forward. "Enough Archie" King Norman said, he took a step forward and and put his arm on my shoulder. "Ruby, can you please tell us about the last of the Magma Core" King Norman asked, his face deadly serious
I nodded and but my hand at a ninety degree angle behind my back "I will start with the myself. I am Ruby, current leader of the Magma Core as appointed by Maxie during combat. My designation in tyne Black Book is seventy seven with the nickname "The Red Eyed Reaper" due to the color of my eyes and the battle where David and I lost our platoon. My specialization is with my sword and hand to hand combat. Other skills include archery and I'm adept at knife throwing. My platoon was the one led by Maxie on a joint operation with the Aqua Guard in deep Kanto territory" Ruby said, turning into the analytical machine Maxie trained him to be.
"The man to my right is Butch, he is the heavy weapons expert of the Magma Core. He belonged the the strike force charged with attacking Saffron which ended in the total destruction of his unit. His skills include heavy weaponry, particularly with a double bladed axe. The man to his right is Thomas, our espionage expert He belonged to the same unit as Butch and they are the last surviving members of it. His skills include a mastery of stealth and evasion alone with exceptional short sword skills and knife combat and knife throwing"
"The woman to his right is Samantha, the defense expert. Her skills include a mastery of the sword and shield. She was the commander of a platoon that was completely wiped out and she left her post to allow someone more adequate to take over. Than man across from Butch is David, he is our blades master. His skills include the mastery of any and all weapons that could be considered a sword or knife, his preference is the longsword"
"The man who is currently somewhere outside the infirmary is Matt, our bow expert. His designation in the Black Book is number eighty five with the nickname "Hell's Angel" which he earned because it seems as though he rains arrows from the heavens but his mask and hood make it seem like he's from hell. His skill set includes an outstanding bow expertise rivaled by few along with highly developed knife skills. He was in the squad that was sent into Johto and his entire squad was lost leaving him the last Magma Core archer" Ruby finished with his monotone analysis of his friends. Norman pointed to Ash though "What about him then?"
Ruby looked at Ash but hesitated, wondering how much information he should give "He is the mercenary known as "The Ranger". His designation in the Black Book is thirty four with the nickname "The Black Death of Kanto" which he earned through the slaughter of countless bandits and even Giovanni's soldiers. Hius skills include exemplary swordsmanship and hand to hand combat. He is proficient in Archery and is a master of the knife. His partner Pikchu is one of the best lightning users there is"
"So why was he with all of you?" Norman asked. Ruby paused again before looking at May. "he was with May before any of us were, he appeared toys coming from the river died and out of breath with may at his side. So I believe May has the answer to that question" Ruby finished although he knew the answer
All eyes turned to May "Well, when I first escaped from the tower in Saffron I got to the Dark Forest but I stepped on the mushrooms on a Paras's back and fell unconscious with Eevee. When I woke up Prince Drew and some soldiers were looking for me along with him. Drew had apparently hired him because he had been in the Dark Forest before then and knew his way around. He was the one who found me an dragged me out to Drew but Drew tried to kill him instead of pay him. He let me go to fight and I ran but he caught up with me soon. He was going to leave me alone but then I offered him one hundred gold pieces to bring me here" May said
"So he's just looking out for himself huh" Norman said with a frown
"Don't say that about him! Ash is a good person and without him I wouldn't be here right now. In fact I would probably back in the tower at Saffron or being tortured for trying to escape" May yelled at him
"Ash?" Max said curiously. May's eyes widened when she realized what she said and covered her mouth. Suddenly Ash bolted up from his bed, he was breathing heavily and sweating. He tore the covers off himself and stood up, still not noticing everyone looking at him and began tearing all the bandages from his chest and arms. He sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair when he was done before finally turning around to face the people staring at him.
"Uhhh hi" Ash said with a small wave, not exactly realizing that he wasn't supposed to be shirtless in front of two princesses and their royal families.
"Ash your awake!" May said with a smile, running up to him and giving him a hug. "I'll go and get Pikachu for you. Be right back" she said while leaving to go get his partner. Ash blinked, a little confused at her behavior and looked to Ruby who shrugged, but then frowned, realizing that she said his first name out loud. Norman had his mouth agape, his sweet little daughter who had been in captivity for years just hugged a mercenary who has killed countless amounts of people. Caroline just smiled at Ash "Well it's been a pleasure Ash, we'll see you around the castle won't we?" she said while dragging the king outside with Max looking back at Ash curiously. Ash nodded and Dawn smiled and waved as did Johanna. All that was left was Archie and his three generals, one of which Ash knew.
Archie stepped forward to Ruby "So Maxie is dead" he said it as more of a statement than a question but Ruby nodded "And you're his replacement" he said in the same tone, Ruby nodded again. "Why did it take so long for you to get back? You can't tell me you were planning on rescuing the princess and were just bidding your time" Archie asked.
Ruby looked up at Archie "I watched my entire platoon die in front of me as did David, Thomas and Butch suffered a similar fate, Samantha believes she was responsible for the deaths of an entire platoon, Matt lives each day hating himself because he couldn't protect his wife. None of us thought we had the right to return. We all failed in some way, what army would want a set of failures?" Ruby said
"But the Magma Core is the best military unit there is. If you tell someone this I'll deny but you are better than us, by a lot. I was told about what happened on your last mission. That the Aqua Guard had the choice of helping your squad and possibly loosing men, or turning and running. I have never been so ashamed to be the leader of the Aqua Guard in my life and in behalf of that Aqua Guard I apologize" Archie said sincerely Ruby looked at him and his eyes softened a little "If you're worried about me telling King Norman about how you abandoned us you have nothing to fear" Archie looked at Ruby in surprise "If I told him about that it would only cause the king to distrust the Aqua Guard. That's the last thing we need at this moment. So just forget about it, okay? We'll settle the score some other time" Ruby said, his eyes drifting to meet Sapphire's when he said the last part.
They stared at each other for a moment before Ruby grunted and started waking towards the door "Ash we need to keep up a good work ethic so when everyone's cleared tomorrow we're going to train hard, got it?"
Ash smirked "I can still kick your ass Ruby, don't forget that" Ruby chuckled at that before leaving to get some cloths for everybody. Ash turned to the leaving Aqua Guard members. "Sapphire" he called out to her just as they reached the door. She turned to look at him and a silent message was sent from him to her. She bowed her head and walked out of the room followed by four confused Aqua Guard members.
"PikaPi!" cried Pikachu as his partner burst through the door and jumped at his friend. "Woah, come on buddy I was just sleeping for a few hours. Not like I was dying or anything, you saw me a few hours ago" Ash said while Pikachu rubbed his cheek against Ash's. "Vee!" Eevee cried as she ran through the door. Pikachu instantly paled and his behind Ash's head as best he could.
"Uh Pikachu, what are you doing?" Ash questioned. Pikachu just shook his head frantically and continued to hide behind Ash's head. Eevee leapt to Ash's shoulder and turned behind his head coming face to face with Pikachu. "Pika!" Pikachu yelled before sprinting out the door with Eevee hot on his heels.
Ash just tilted his head in confusion "Well it looks like those two are getting along well" May commented from the door.
"Yeah, I guess they are" Ash said "Are those for me?" Ash said, pointing at the clothes in May's arms. She nodded her head and gave them to him, he took them gratefully and began to take of his pants. May immediately turned around with a blush on her face "W-what are you doing?" she asked.
"What did you bring these clothes for me not to put on?" Ash said sarcastically.
"N-no, I mean w-why are you undressing in front of me?" May stuttered out
"Getting excited are we?" Ash whispered in her ear.
May jumped from his closeness and turned around to see him thankfully clothed and with a cocky smile in his face. Her face flushed in anger and embarrassment. "N-no, I would never like a barbarian like you" May huffed out, turning her head to the side.
Ash smiled deviously "You know, I hear Pokemon have the same feelings as their owners" he said very nonchalantly "Got something you want to say to me?" he asked. May's face grew even redder "As if!" she said
Ash laughed at that before walking towards the door "Come on, we're no doubt giving all of these guys nightmares. Let's give them some peace and you can show me around, shall we?" Ash said while holding a hand out to May. She instantly forgot about what he'd been teasing her about and latched her arm to his before leading him down the hallway.
-May's POV-
"Ow! Dawn calm down, you're hurting my wrist" May said as Dawn dragged her towards her room. Dawn shoved the door open and might as well have threw May on the bed.
"Alright you got some explaining to do. Why did I see you hanging off the side of that guy's arm while walking around the castle?" Dawn questioned
May tried to fight off a blush "Well, I was just showing him around the castle. He has never been here before and I thought I'd show him around so he knows where he's going"
"Oh I know he hasn't been here before. I think I would remember someone so...damn" Dawn said with a perverted smile
"Dawn!" May exclaimed
"What? Already got a claim on him?" Dawn said with a suggestive smile and a raised eyebrow
May's face went bright red "N-no, that's not it at all"
"Ha! I knew it! You're totally head over heels for this guy" Dawn said while laughing on the floor. "So how was he?"
"What do you mean?" May asked
"You know, was he good?" Dawn asked, but May just tilted her head in confusion. Dawn sighed "Guess I'll have to go with the direct approach. How good was the sex?"
"DAWN!"
Dawn rolled on the floor laughing at May's tomato red face
-Next Day, Sapphire's POV-
"Come on! If ya keep doggin' it then we gonna be runnin' all day" I yelled at my platoon who were all on their knees or on the ground gasping for breath. "Give us a break boss we're tired" a guys said. We had only done a few laps around the courtyard. This was ridiculous. "Hey check it out guys. There's the Magma people sparring over there" one guys said while pointing towards the archway that lead to the weapons training ground. All the men started to walk towards the archway to check out there their rivals skill.
"Hey where the fuck do ya think you're goin'?" I called after them, but they ignored me and kept walking towards the training ground. I sighed and followed them having nothing better to do. When we passed through I saw why they wanted to watch
The big guy, Butch I think, was fighting the small and scrawny one Tom. They both had wooden weapons, the big guy with an axe, the small one with two knives. Tom had weights in his leafs and arms though, to slow him down and make things harder for him. They were in a deadlock, Butch was trying to push Tom to the ground but Tom was holding his ground. Soon Tom rolled under his legs and swiped at Butch's exposed back but Butch jumped forward in time to dodge. They kept going at each other, Butch tried to overpower Tom to trip him up but Tom dodged and moved around like he was Mew or something.
The lady, Sarah?, Sam?, Serena? I think it was Sam was, facing off against the guy in Ruby's platoon, David. David kept her at arms length with his wooden longsword, not letting her get close enough to attack him, but he himself was having trouble getting a good attack in. Sam kept using her shield to block all strikes and lunged at David, trying to stab him but he spun the right so he would stop just a few inches behind her and brought his blade and stabbed behind his back, stopping millimeters from hitting her. "Severe liver damage, possible broken ribs" David said with a smirk. Sam growled in frustration and jumped back before going right back at it with him.
The bowman, Matt was firing arrows at the Blaziken who was dodging them at a wall. Matt would occasionally get a hit in but the Blaziken seemed unfazed by the bruise it most likely just received. A Slugma was firing flamethrowers at a stone wall as well. "Check out the merc and the lead Magma, I hear the merc is in the thirties in the Black Book and the lead Magma is in the seventies" one of my men said.
I looked over to see Ruby and Ash fighting in hand to hand combat. Both of the idiots had their shirts allowing you to see the sweat glistening off their bodies. Their fists were like blurs. Ash was on the offensive right now throwing punch after punch and Ruby was barley dodging or blocking them. Soon Ruby managed to catch Ash's right fist and used his own right hook to try and get Ash in the face but Ash ducked and swept Ruby's legs out from under him before flipping him over and restraining him. "Yield!" I heard him say.
"Break my fucking arm" Ruby spat back at him. Ash just sighed and let him go before offering a hand out to Ruby. "That wouldn't help now would it?" Ash said while pulling Ruby up. Now let's go another round, shall we?" Ash said while getting into a defensive stance. I glanced up and saw King Norman and the two princesses watching everything from up on a terrace. The princesses were giggling about something and King Norman was watching curiously.
We saw Ruby lose one more time before he stood up and brushed himself off before turning to his men "Alright all of you" he said, instantly getting the attention of his men "Let's do twenty five laps around the castle as a warm up and then we're going straight into strength and conditioning. Thomas you do suicides with a total of forty pounds weighing you down and up that as you go along, Samantha you work with David on your speed as well, David give her the appropriate amount of weight she needs. Butch, I will work on strength and Matt you keep up your accuracy training with Blaziken except I want you shooting from two hundred yards out rather then one hundred. If I don't see bruises on Blaziken than your running laps till dinner time, got it? Scorch I want to see that rock turned to magma by the end of the day so lets move it!" Ruby commanded
All of them except Ash stood at attention and and yelled "Understood before going running past all the stupefied Aqua members towards the castle entrance. Ruby talked to Ash for a moment before they both ran towards us. "Hello Aqua Guard how's your training proceeding?" Ruby asked some of the guys in the front "If any of you want to join in than feel free to" Ruby said as he passed us with Ash.
Ruby waved back at us while he and Ash ran towards the others. "Are they even human?" I heard some guy say. "It's like they're Machamps or something" another said. "With those abs it wouldn't surprise me" I heard a girl say "The white haired one looked hot" I heard my fellow general Blue say.
I don't know why, but those last two got me mad, really mad.
"What'dya mean the white haired one's hot?" I demanded from her. Blue just smirked at me "Well Sapph when a girl finds a boy attractive she usually calls him hot or handsome, I thought your daddy taught you these things when you were little". My face went red with anger "If you think you can insult me without gettin' hurt then you got another thing coming!" I yelled at her
"Fine, it'll be a good demonstration for the platoon anyway. Let's do it right after I'm done admiring Mr. Red Eyes over there" Blue said while walking to wards the castle entrance and followed by the platoon also curious to see if the Magma Core was as tough as they appeared to be. I heard the third general, Green, mutter his favorite adjective for Blue, "pesky".
I was trembling in rage by the time they left the castle walls "NO YA NOT. WE'RE GONNA FIGHT NOW!" I yelled after her and charged to catch up with her and drag her back to the now vacant training grounds.
Our platoon sat watching from the side, none of them trued to stop us. I'm not surprised, they saw this as a way to delay their training and get some entertainment at the same time. Blue stood opposite me, wooden sword in hand but it rested lazily at her side. I was in a defensive stance with my practice sword, ready for anything that she might try.
After a couple of seconds I realized that she wasn't going to attack me and I would have to make the initial strike. I lunged at her and went to slash at her waist but she met my strike with a parry and countered with strike to the same place. I ducked under the strike and came up to stab her in the gut but she twisted to the left and tried to hit me over the head with her sword but I rolled to her left.
I quickly stood to face her charging at me with and overhead that I parried before coming down from my overhead parry to attack her neck. She ducked under my strike and and made a slash at my waist that I parried. I drove my sword at her chest but she twisted out of the way again, but I simply flicked my sword towards her and hit her with the flat of my blade across the neck. I took the opportunity as she reeled back from the unexpected strike and put my leg behind hers and pushed to the ground before taking a step back to let everyone see who one the match.
"I have to say, that was pretty good" a voice from the archway said. We all turned to see the Magma Core and Ash watching, all of them covered in sweat. Ruby walked over to Blue and held out a hand which she took. "Your dodges were good but your counters were slow and predictable. An adjustment in your stance would help" Ruby said to Blue. Blue sent a smirk at me before saying "Could you show me?" Ruby nodded and got into the stance.
Blue got into a stance similar but I could tell she was purposely doing it wrong. Ruby walked over to her and pressed his chest against her back before gently grabbing her arms and guiding them to the place they should be.
The sight of their bodies pressed together infuriated me to no end
I yelled in anger before driving my sword directly at Blue. Ruby grabbed the sword from Blue's hand and pushed the blade underneath the hilt of mine and twisted so the sword came out of my hand. He grabbed my outstretched hand that no longer had a sword in it and wrapped it around my back before dropping his sword and hooking my throat in his elbow.
"If you got a problem, you take it up with me. Got it?" Ruby whispered in my ear. I nodded, a little scared at the speed that he carried out the maneuver with. "Good, now go cry about this to your pussy ass boyfriend" Ruby whispered darkly before shoving me towards the astonished Aqua Guard platoon. "Lady, you ain't got no chance against the boss" Thomas yelled from the side
I sent him a glare that would send most people scampering away but he just grinned back at me. Ruby walked over and stood in front of his group "Alright everyone, begin the assignments I gave you. If I see anyone of you half assing it you will be sleeping outside tonight, am I understood?" Ruby said. They all stood at attention once more and yelled "understood" before going about there tasks.
Blue joined me and green who were watching the cores work out. "Do you notice how they all follow his commands without question or hesitation? And though they lack in numbers they all have well rounded capabilities that give them diverse ways to fight. They have stealth, archery, knives, sword and shield, longsword, and heavy weapons. Truly a force to be reckoned with" Green said analytically
"How come our unit can't follow our orders like that?" Blue mumbled. "Probably because they know how much of a pesky girl you are" Green mumbled.
"I'm sorry I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you sat I was pesky?" Blue said with an overly sweet voice. Green started to sweat a little "I don't know what you're talking about Blue" he said while trying to walk away to get out of the situation.
"Oh yes you do" Blue said while running after him. "Uh, Sapph. A little help here?" Green pleaded as Blue began running at him. He paused in his walking and stared back at Sapphire who had yet to move from her position. "Sapph?" he called out, even pausing Blue. But I didn't hear a word they said, I just kept staring at Ruby. His last words stung, a lot.
And I don't know why.
I hope you guys like the action seems in this. I'm sure about the transition between showing everyone fighting vs one on one combat. If you don't like one than tell me and I'll try to leave it out. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for clicking on it in the first place. On a side end note I saw Con Air starring Nicolas Cage...never see that movie if you want to stay sane. I actually got mad at the movie, I mean, who blows up from getting hit by a motorcycle? Seriously. But thanks again and I'll see you next time.
-novaking2832