Ch 41: Showdown in the desert.
It was early in the morning in the south western Kanto desert and the group was traversing the sandy dunes.
The group had been traveling the desert for nearly 3 days since debarking from the Golden Luck. The desert was exceptionally hot and and dry. Ash had his gray short sleeved shirt and tan cargo shorts on, Brock had his brown sleeveless shirt and white shorts on. Lucy had a red tank top and black shorts while Serena had a blue tank top and grey shorts.
They hadn't seen many pokemon in the desert except some Sandshrew, Sandslash, Cube, Marowak, Rhydon, Diglett, Dugtrio, Geodude, Golem, and Onix
"Day 3 in the desert and we still haven't reached Neon city." Brock said.
"I just wish it wasn't so hot." Lucy said before she took another swig of water.
"I sent Aerodactyl ahead of us to see if we're getting close to Neon city." Ash said.
"Did you get him an Aerodactylite yet?" Lucy asked.
"I picked one up at the guild on Cinnabar before we left and finished his holder this morning." Ash said.
"It will still be a long walk regardless. Glad I got some Kalos chocolate on the ship, no offense to you guys. But Kanto chocolate is too bitter." Serena said as she took a small piece out of her bag.
"Je pensais toujours Kalos chocolat meilleur goût trop" Ash said agreeing with her.
"Vous en voulez?" Serena asked blushing.
"Oui." Ash said.
Serena put half the piece of chocolate in her mouth and leaving the other half out. Ash brought his head in and took the other half with his mouth.
Meanwhile up in the air Aerodactyl was looking down at the desert for any signs of civilizations. He would occasionally see some other pokemon below, but no signs of a city.
Eventually he noticed something strange. It looked almost like tremor in the sand. Something was moving underneath it in a direction. Aerodactyl purposely change his direction to see something. As he suspected, when he changed his path so did the tremor. It was following him.
"Aeroo!" He shrieked.
He wanted to go back to Ash and the others, but knew he had to look for the city.
He kept an eye on the tremor as it followed him. Eventually he reached a valley beneath a berm of sand. The valley was relatively large with a clear lake beside what looked like a small city.
"Aeroo!" He shrieked happy that he found the city.
He began flying back as the tremor stopped on top of the sand berm. A large metal pokemon raised hies head out of the sand and stared up at Aerodactyl.
Moments later a human walked up and in front of the pokemon and also looked up at the Aerodactyl.
"Hmp, looks like we're not alone out here after all.".
Several minutes later Ash saw Aerodactyl flying in towards them.
"There he is." Ash said as Aerodactyl landed in front of them.
"Aeroo!" Aerodactyl said.
"Awesome , he said he saw a city by a sand berm ahead of us." Ash said.
"Finally, let's hurry there." Brock said. As Aerodactyl lead them towards the city he saw, Ash and the others felt something moving in the sand around them.
"Huh?" Serena said as she looked around, then turned to Ash.
"Did you guys feel that?" She asked.
"Yeah, something is moving beneath us." Lucy said.
"It could be some Sandshrew or an Onix." Brock said.
Ash thought the same, but felt something strange with the movement, Lucy felt it as well. It also seemed like the movement was following them.
Eventually they reached the top of the large sand berm and Aerodactyl pointed down to the valley below.
The group looked down and saw what looked almost like an abandoned city. The buildings looked old and in a bad state of repair, and the city itself looked older.
"That's Neon city ?" Serena asked in confusion.
"That's not Neon city. I've never seen this city before." Lucy said.
"Aeroo?" Aerodactyl said confused.
"It's alright Aerodactyl, you did find a city. We could probably refill our supplies here and get proper directions." Ash said.
The rest of the group agreed and made their way down the sand berm as the same metal Pokemon rose out of the sand and the figure stepped out in front of him.
"They're here. What say we introduce ourselves.".
As the group entered the city they saw the streets were messy and there was a broken wooden sign that said "Sand City."
"Sand City?" Brock asked.
The group saw no people or pokemon in the streets and it was very quite.
"This place gives me the creeps. It's like a ghost town." Brock said.
Moments later Pikachu noticed a little boy peering his head outside the door of one of the wooden buildings.
"Pika." He said pointing to him.
Ash turned and saw the little boy, who quickly went back inside when he saw Pikachu and Aerodactyl.
"Hey, there was a kid there." Ash said.
"New trainers!" They heard from above them.
"Huh? Did you guys here that?" Serena asked.
Moments later several rocks flew down from above them and hit each member of the group.
"What the?" Lucy said as she and the others looked up to a building and saw more flying rocks.
"Aeroo!" Aerodactyl shrieked as he unleashed a gust of wind that hurled the rocks back and hit the top of the building.
Moments later 3 small children rolled off the side of the building.
"Oh no!" Serena shouted.
Ash and Brock sprinted over and quickly caught the 3 children before they hit the ground.
"Whew, that was close." Brock said before the boy he was holding smacked the top of his head.
"Ouch!" Brock said.
"Let me go trainer!" The boy shouted.
"What were you kids doing throwing rocks at us?" Ash asked.
"You're new pokemon trainers, you're the reason our city is like this." Another one said.
"What?" Lucy said.
Moments later the group heard a commotion nearby.
"Oh no it's happening again." One of the kids said.
A man stepped out from one of the buildings and ran over to the boys.
"What are you doing, get inside!" He shouted as he lead them to his building.
"Excuse me, what's going on here?" Serena asked only to have the man completely ignore her.
"Ok?" Serena said.
"Look over there." Brock said pointing to the main street.
A pair of young men wearing blue trainer's attire were surrounded by 5 men and women in yellow shirts with brown overalls that had a large K on the center, and wore brown hats.
"What are you Kaz punks doing in our streets?" One of the men in yellow said.
"We don't want any trouble, we just want to get to the pokemon center, our pokemon are exhausted from battling." One of the trainers in blue said.
"If you didn't want any trouble you wouldn't have walked in our streets." The woman said.
"If you didn't want trouble you wouldn't have joined the Kaz gym." another one said.
Moments later the 5 trainers in yellow each let out a pokemon, A Raticate, an Arbok, a Beedrill, A Golbat, and a Primeape.
"Please we just want to go to the pokemon center." The other trainer in blue said.
"Get em!" One of the Yellow suited trainers said as their pokemon began attacking the two trainers.
The group was in disbelief at what they saw, the pokemon attacks were also hitting the building behind them and did a lot of damage.
"We have to stop them! Pikachu Thunder! Aerodactyl use Ancient Power!" Ash shouted.
Pikachu leapt down from Ash's shoulder and unleashed a massive bolt of electricity.
"Pika, Chu!" He shouted as he unleashed Thunder. The Bolt of electricity flew through the air and surged through Arbok, Primeape, and BeeDrill, making them all shriek before knocking them out.
At the same time Aerodactyl flew in and unleashed several large boulders into the Raticate and Arbok.
As the trainers turned they saw Ash and the others.
"Looks like we got some meddlers here. We'll teach you to mess with the Yas gym." The lead one said as he sent his trainers at the group.
He and the two trainers in blue watched in awe as each member of the group made quick work of each of them.
"Woah." One of the trainers in blue said.
Several other people began peering their heads out of the buildings to watch what was going on.
The leader of the Yas gym trainers now sweat dropped and nervously backed up as he took out a walkie talkie.
"Help, we need help out here now!" He shouted.
Moments later Ash and and the other's eyes widened as they saw a dozen team rocket grunts come out of various buildings and surround them.
"Team rocket?" Ash asked as the grunts took out their electric batons and let out their Nidorinos and Zubat.
Upon seeing the rocket grunts the townsfolk quickly brought their heads back inside.
"Pika." Pikachu said sparking his cheeks as Brock, Serena, and Lucy prepared to let out their pokemon as well.
However, just before they could, the ground started to shake as the group felt the tremors they had before.
"There it is again." Serena said.
"Aeroo." Aerodactyl said also remembering the tremors.
Moments later a massive Steelix like pokemon burst out of the sand around the ground and roared. The pokemon seemed double the size of a normal Steelix with blue eyes, and a more heavily armored lower jaw with a more round curved shape. Additionally it had a third pair of ridges on its bottom jaw and two sharp , flat structures comprised of three conjoined points protrude from the front of its lower jaw. The gray, rock-like spikes and its tail had become a prism like crystalline spikesl the segments from which the spikes protrude were much larger as well. In-between the head and individual spiked segments were smaller units, adorned by a black spot with a blue hexagon on each side. Several metallic-looking scraps constantly rotated around its neck, vaguely resembling hands.
Lucy also noticed a band around its forehead with a piece of Steelixite embedded into it.
"A Mega Steelix." She said. Moments later Ash saw a man wearing a hooded tan and darker tan robe with a cloth over his mouth and neck.
The man leapt down from the building onto the sand road and slammed his hand into the sand. As he did a burst of aura came out around him and hurled 4 of the grunts back.
He then got up and let out a pair of hidden blades before going at another 4 grunts. His Mega Steelix smashed his massive Iron tail into 2 Zubat and 2 Nidorino, knocking them out.
Lucy and Ash quickly let out their hidden blades and joined the other guardian in combat against the other grunts as Pikachu and Aerodactyl began fighting the rocket pokemon as well.
After a few minutes the fighting was over and all the grunts and their pokemon were knocked out.
The aura guardian walked over to the two trainers in blue and helped them up.
"Are you two alright?." He asked.
"Bruised, but alright. Thanks Athir" One said.
"Get yourselves to the pokemon center as quickly as you can, then back to the Kaz gym." The guardian said as the two trainers in blue hurried off.
Ash and Lucy walked over to the Aura guardian as he turned to them.
"About time the mentor sent me some help, I've been alone out here for months. Why aren'y you two wearing your robes, trying not to draw attention from team rocket?" The guardian asked.
"I'm Ash and this is Lucy. We're guardians , but we're just passing through, we weren't sent here by the mentor." Ash said.
"Really, my name is Athir and this is my Steelix. We are the guardians of the desert." He said.
"What's going on here?" Serena asked.
"Follow me to the pokemon center and I'll explain everything." Athir said.
He lead them to the pokemon center where only a few people were waiting.
Once inside, Athir lowered his hood and removed his cloth. He had very tanned skin and blue eyes with short brown hair. He looked only a few years older than Ash and Lucy about mid to late 20s.
"So what happened to this city?" Brock asked.
"This city , Sand City, was once a thriving city in the desert until Neon City was built and drew people away from here. The city began to get a bit out of repair because not many people were coming here. That is when one of the local trainers , a man named Kaz decided he wanted to start a gym here. A gym would help bring people into the city." Athir said.
"He wants to start a gym here?" Ash asked.
"Kaz is an honorable trainer who cares about pokemon and training them to their full potential. I believe he would make a fine gym leader. However, after he started his gym, another man in the city named Yas decided he wanted to start his own gym , but not for pokemon, so that he could gain notoriety and get all the money that comes with it." Athir said.
"What a horrible reason to start a gym." Brock said.
"Indeed, and there can only be one gym here in Sand city. So Yas started hiring any passing by trainers to join his gang and harass anyone who is part of the Kaz gym. They use their pokemon like weapons in a war." Athir said.
"So that's why the buildings are wrecked and people here are afraid of new pokemon trainers." Ash said.
"How horrible." Serena said.
"But why is team rocket here?" Lucy asked.
"When team rocket found out about a new gym forming here they came to support the Yas gym so they could have someone working for them in the pokemon league and allow them access to their functions." Athir said.
"Team rocket in the pokemon league. I don't even want to think about that." Ash said.
"That it why I came here. To stop them, unfortunately Yas had recruited so many foolish trainers to his gang and has a rocket officer named Christian the Cleaver helping him with dozens of grunts. Yas has a small army behind him now. I can't stop them alone, that is why I need your help, please." Athir said.
"Of course we'll help you, it's our duty to help people and pokemon." Lucy said.
"Excellent, now that we have more guardians behind us we have a chance." Athir said.
The two trainers in blue they saw from earlier got their pokeballs back from Nurse Joy and walked over to a run down looking gym. With all sorts of messy items hurled at it's walls, windows broken, parts of the wall broken, cracked ceiling tiles.
"Here we are." Athir said.
They walked inside the gym to find it as bad as the exterior.
"This place looks like it's seen better days." Lucy said.
Eventually they reached a pair of battlefield where 2 trainers in the same blue outfits were watching another 2 trainers in the blue outfits battle with a Growlithe and a Machop.
"Growlithe use Take down." One of the trainers shouted. The Growlithe smashed himself into the Machop.
"Again!" The trainer shouted as his Growlithe hit the Machop with another take down.
"Again!" The trainer shouted before he saw his Growlithe looking very hurt and struggling to stay on his feet.
"Oh no Growlithe , what happened?" The trainer asked.
"You made a mistake." Another voice said. The group turned to see a large man with tan skin, black eyes, and black hair that was slightly spiky. He too wore a blue trainer's outfit, except it had a large K in the center and a red scarf around his neck.
Walking beside him as a large Electabuzz.
The man walked over and knelt down next to the Growlithe while placing a hand on him.
"You forgot that Take down does recoil damage to your pokemon as well Jackson, you kept using it without realizing the pain you were putting your pokemon through. All you were focusing on was winning, that's not what I teach here." The man said.
"Yes, I'm sorry Kaz." The trainer said.
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to your pokemon." The man said.
The man got up and saw Athir with the group.
"Athir, good to see you again. What's this, you brought friends." The man said.
"Indeed I did, Kaz this is Ash, Serena, Brock, and Lucy. Ash and Lucy are guardians like me. Group this is Kaz, the aspiring leader of the Kaz gym." Athir said.
"Pleasure to meet more people like Athir." Kaz said.
"So you want to start a new gym here in Sand city." Ash said.
"Yes, ever since I was a child I dreamed of being a great pokemon trainer. I found Electabuzz here as an Elekid and we started our journey. We even got to compete in the Indigo league once. We didn't win, but that was alright. We came back here to our home town, only to find that since Neon city was built , Sand city was in a horrible state." Kaz said.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Serena said.
"That is when we thought maybe we could make a difference here. That maybe if we started a gym, that we could bring more people here. Encourage young trainers to come learn from me. Unfortunately Yas heard about my plan." Kaz said.
"Athir told us he just wants to be a gym leader for the money." Brock said.
"He does, and he's a ruthless man. He hired every foolish trainer who passed by to harass all my students and try to scare them away. They also attacked our building itself , sneak in at night and mess it up. Steal any money and supplies we keep in here." Kaz said.
"With team rocket backing Yas, the local law enforcement is powerless. I'm the only one who has been able to do anything about it." Athir said.
"So that's why your gym looks so, uh." Serena started trying not to be offensive.
"Horrible, I'm afraid so." Kaz said.
"Buzz." Electabuzz said nodding.
"They hurt our pokemon too." One of the trainers in blue said.
"There's only 8 of us students left and Yas has dozens , plus all his rocket cronies." Another student said.
"An official from the pokemon league will be coming in soon to inspect the two gyms, they also expect Yas and I to have a pokemon battle. Whoever's seems more fit and whoever wins the battle will become a gym leader and represent Sand city. With my gym like this, there's no way we'll become a gym. Yas will and he'll corrupt the good name of the pokemon league." Kaz said.
"And team rocket will have inside men in the pokemon league." Athir said.
"What can we do to help?" Brock said.
"Well there's a few things. First of all most of the pokemon we have here are pretty hurt from being attacked by Yas's pokemon. We'd take them to the center, but as you saw earlier we were attacked." One of the students said.
"We ran out of potions and oran berries so we have no way to heal their injuries." Another student said.
"If it wasn't obvious the building itself is a very bad condition and needs plenty of repairs." Another student said.
"Then there's the biggest problem, Yas will be sending his henchmen down to do more damage. We'll need protection" Kaz said.
"Well I'm studying pokemon medicine, I could help heal the wounded pokemon." Brock said.
"I could help too, Aura is a good healer." Lucy said.
"I could help get the building interior in good shape." Serena said.
"I could help get the exterior fixed up." Ash said.
"And I can provide security. Plus Ash will be there to help if we need it." Athir said.
"Alright sounds good, let's get to work." Ash said.
"Pika!".
Several minutes later Brock and Lucy were in the medical room with Chansey and Milotic out helping them tend to each of the hurt gym pokemon.
"Alright let's take a look at that leg." Brock said as he badged the leg of a Nidoran.
"Chansey." Brock's Chansey said as she used healing pulse on a Spearow with a hurt wing.
At the same time Lucy was using her aura to heal a Bulbasaur with a hurt bud, and Milotic used Aqua ring on a hurt Psyduck.
"At this rate we should be able to get all these pokemon healed by the time the inspector comes." Lucy said.
Elsewhere Serena was with her pokemon and 3 of the students trying to clean up the interior of the gym.
"Alright Vaporeon use Water gun." Serena said.
Vaporeon opened his mouth and unleashed a jet of water across the dirty hallway.
"Now Charla use flamethrower." Serena said.
"Grauu!" Charla roared as she evaporated all of the water with her flames.
Serena then covered Scyther's blades in plaster before he used his blades to quickly put it across all the cracks in the walls.
Serena then went to help the three students as they put new floorboards in.
Outside the gym, Ash was on the roof with Charizard, Ivysaur, and Wartortle as well as Kaz and his Elecatabuzz as they put new ceiling boards on.
Aerodactyl flew up to them with several more in his talons and dropped them off in front of them.
"Thanks Aerodactyl." Ash said as he held one in place and Pikachu nailed it in with Iron tail.
On the ground the other 3 students were fixing up the walls as Athir stood watch on the roof looking down at the area around the gym with Aura vision.
As the fixing continued Athir saw several hostile auras approaching them.
"Hold on, we're going to have some visitors." Athir said as several Yas gym members with their pokemon out approached the gym.
Kaz, Ash, the students, and the pokemon watched as they approached the gym.
"Well well well guys, looky here. The Kaz punks are trying to spruce up their gym before the inspector comes." One said.
"I think it looks kinda nice, we better take care of that." Another said as his Vileplume stepped forward.
"I don't think so." Athir said as he touched his mega evolution stone. The ground began to shake as Mega Steelix rose out of the ground in front of the Gym with a very intimidating look.
The Yas gym members began to back up especially when they saw Athir's hidden blades as well Ash Ash and his Pokemon on the roof by Kaz and his Electabuzz.
"This ain't over, we'll be back with help." One said.
Ash touched his Mega evolution stone and moments later Charizard and Aerodactyl mega evolved as well.
"It seems your help will need help." Ash said as he showed his own hidden blades and Pikachu sparked his cheeks.
"Come on let's just get out of here." Another said as they walked off.
"Well, we didn't even have to fight them. Outstanding." Athir said smiling.
Two hours later the group met inside the Gym with Kaz and his students.
"Alright here are your pokemon." Brock said showing the gym pokemon all looking very healthy and fit.
"The interior has been fixed as well." Serena said showing the gym interior looking spotless.
"Excellent, the pokemon are healthy, and the gym is looking great. We're ready for the inspection, Electabuzz are you ready for the battle?" Kaz asked.
"Buzz!" Elecatabuzz shouted flexing his arms and sparking his antennas.
Moments later another trainer in blue ran in with a woman who looked like she was in her thirties.
"Kaz! Kaz!" The trainer shouted.
"What is it Mikey? Mrs. Tentson, what are you doing here?" Kaz asked.
"Kaz I went to pick up your daughter Susan from school like you asked and well." The trainer said nervously.
"Well what!?" Kaz shouted.
"Mr. Kaz, I'm sorry but during class members of the Yas gym and team rocket burst into the classroom and took her." The woman said.
"What!?" Kaz shouted.
"I'm so sorry, there was nothing I could do." The woman said.
"They left us this note." The trainer said as he handed it to Kaz.
"Dear Kaz, I hope you weren't planning on winning the inspection battle today, otherwise I may have to do something real bad to your daughter. Keep that in mind. No , No , no." Kaz said looking weak.
"This isn't good." Brock said.
"What do we do now?" Serena asked.
Kaz sighed.
"I got no choice, I can't risk him hurting my Susan, she's everything to me. I have to throw the match, I'm sorry Electabuzz." Kaz said as the electric pokemon tried to comfort his trainer.
"No, we can't give up. There must be something we can do." Ash said.
"Pika!".
"Perhaps there is a way." Athir said.
"How?" Lucy asked.
"I'm assuming Yas will be keeping Susan close to him during the battle to motivate you to lose even more. But we guardians are masters of stealthy movements, especially in plain sight. I believe we can save her in the open." Athir said.
"Are you sure? This is my daughter's life." Kaz said.
"We can do it." Lucy said.
"If Christian and his grunts are there, they'll probably be disguise. But Christian has seen us before, he'll get suspicious if he sees us." Ash said.
"So stay hidden like me." Athir said.
Moments later another trainer in blue rushed in.
"Kaz, the pokemon league inspector has arrived and is almost done inspecting the Yas gym." The trainer said.
"Then they'll be coming here soon. Alright, let's do our best." Kaz said.
Several minutes later the group was waiting outside with Kaz and his trainers. Ash could see and feel from Kaz's aura how nervous he was, not just about the inspection, but his daughter's safety.
Ash put his hand on Kaz's shoulders.
"Huh?" Kaz said as he snapped out of his trance.
"Kaz, everything is going to be alright. Just stay calm." Ash said.
"Look, the inspector." One of the trainers said.
Ash and Pikachu's eyes widened as they saw who the inspector was. Serena saw walking towards them was an elderly woman with graying blonde hair and pale skin. She had black eyes, and a slightly creepy expression on her face. She was shorter than Serena. She wore a violet guess with a white front to the skirt and a white collar.
She also used a wooden cane with a pokeball like top.
"Who is that?" Serena asked as she saw Brock had an equally dumbfounded expression.
"That's Agatha of the elite four." Brock said.
"What!?" Serena said. A member of the elite four was coming to inspect, she guessed it made a little sense. Then again Daniel told them she was retiring and would be the one Ash or Gary would be replacing.
That wasn't all though. She could tell from Ash and Lucy's expressions that something else was going on. She could also feel it from her connection to Ash's aura.
Agatha looked at Ash and Lucy before turning to Kaz.
"So are you the aspiring gym leader?" She asked.
"I am." Kaz said very respectfully.
"Well then, let's take a look at your gym and the pokemon you have here." Agatha said.
"Of course, right this way." Kaz said.
As they walked in, Athir stood on top of the Gym looking down at them.
Just before Agatha walked in she looked up at the top of the gym for a moment before walking inside.
Once inside the gym, she looked around at the building interior thoroughly.
"H'm, this building looks more old fashioned than the Yas gym. That gym looked far more expensive." Agatha said.
Hearing that made Kaz nervous.
"Still , more expensive doesn't mean better. This gym looks like it's in very good shape though. It has the basic necessities and sometimes being simpler is better." Agatha said.
Serena and the rest of the group were glad to hear their efforts had not gone to waste.
Kaz and his students then assembled all of the gym's pokemon.
Agatha knelt down and looked over each pokemon.
"H'm , healthy and very happy." She said with an impressed look.
"I must say , they do seem much better taken care of than the pokemon at the Yas gym, and the pokemon are the most important thing at a gym." Agatha said.
She got up and turned to Kaz.
"Your gym and your pokemon seem well enough. Now all that's left is to see who the better battler is." Agatha said.
"Where will the battle be?" Kaz asked.
"The center of town." Agatha said.
"The center of town?" Brock asked in confusion.
"Why the center of town?" Kaz asked.
"Why not, that way everyone in town can see." Agatha said.
"Alright." Kaz said as he and his students walked out with her. Ash noticed Agatha look back at him and Lucy again.
"What's going on with her? Why does she keep looking at you two?" Serena asked.
"And why does she want the battle in the middle of town?" Brock asked.
"There's no time to explain." Ash said.
"No time to explain?" Serena asked.
Moments later Athir walked in.
"Come on , we need to get into position." He said.
Several minutes later Ash and Serena were crouching on a rooftop near the center of town with Brock and Lucy on another rooftop across from them and Athir on another building.
"Here they come" Athir said as he saw a large group of people approaching the center of the city below them.
Ash noticed Kaz and his trainers walking over to the center of the city with Agatha beside him.
Walking from the other side of the street were over a dozen members of the Yas gym. Also beside them were several men wearing hooded jackets covering their faces. Leading the group of Yas gym members was a tall man with tan skin, black eyes, and very short black hair.
He wore a black undershirt with green overalls that had a large yellow Y on it and an orange scarf.
As Ash and the other guardians used their aura vision they saw all of the hooded figures glowed red in their aura visions.
"Hostile aura, I think we found our rocket grunts." Lucy said via aura message.
As Athir looked through his aura vision he saw a small girl who glowed gold in his aura vision, who resembled Kaz being held by a man in a hood.
"I think we found our target." Athir said.
"We better get her soon, I don't think Kaz will risk battling for real until he see's she safe." Lucy said as she saw Kaz notice his daughter being held.
"So you were man enough to show up Kaz." The tall man said with a nasty expression.
"Yas." Kaz said as he gave an angry expression.
Agatha stepped to the side of the street as the trainers made some room for the two men to battle.
"This battle will be a one on one, the one who wins will get plenty of points for my final decision." Agatha said.
"I just hope you remember what's at stake here Kaz." Yas said as the man holding his daughter showed her again.
Kaz gave a nervous look as he took out a pokeball.
"Alright go Electabuzz." Kaz said as his Electabuzz came out and flexed his arms while sparking his antennas.
"Go Scizor!" Yas shouted as a large Scizor came out of the pokeball and held his claws in front of his body.
"Scizor use Bullet Punch." Yas said.
The Scizor began spinning his arm as he flew at Electabuzz.
"Electabuzz counter with," Kaz started when the man in the hood showed him his daughter again.
Kaz hesitated and Electabuzz was hit repeatedly in the face by bullet punch.
"He's not doing anything." Serena said nervously.
"We need to get down there." Ash said trying to think of something.
"Allow me." Lucy said. She leapt down into the sand and onto two of the hooded figures, knocking them out. She noticed there was a contained filled with soft sand behind her and quickly dragged them into it as the other hooded figures looked on and didn't notice it in time.
Ash leapt down and did the same.
"Scizor use Metal claw." Yas said.
Once again Kaz hesitated and Electabuzz was slashed across the face. Agatha noticed his hesitation and looked back at Yas.
One by one Ash and Lucy quietly knocked out the hooded men until there was one left.
"My turn." Athir said as he leapt down and landed on the one holding Kaz's daughter.
She looked over and saw Athir, recognizing him.
"Athir?" She said.
"Yes, you're safe now Susan, I said you're safe!" Athir shouted. Kaz saw and heard this.
"Scizor finish him with Iron head!" Yas shouted.
"Electabuzz use Thunderwave to stun him!" Kaz shouted.
Electabuzz got up and blasted Scizor with electricity, paralyzing him.
"Huh?" Yas said.
"Thunderpunch!" Kaz shouted.
"Elcta buzz!" Electabuzz shouted as he got up and slammed his fist hard into the now paralyzed Scizor.
"You sure you want to do that Kaz." Yas said.
"Yeah I am. Electabuzz use Thunder."
"Scizor dodge and use X Scissor." Yas said.
"Electabuzz use Low Kick!". Kaz shouted Electabuzz came in low and slammed his foot into Scizor's lower body, hurling him back.
"Thunder!" Kaz shouted.
"Electa Buzz!" Electabuzz shouted as he blasted Scizor with electricity.
"Scizor!" Scizor grunted before fainting.
"What! No Scizor get up right now!" Yas shouted angrily.
"No, your Scizor is unable to battle. The winner is Kaz." Agatha said.
"We did it Electabuzz!" Kaz shouted.
"Buzz!" Electabuzz shouted holding his arms up.
"We've done it!" One of Kaz's students shouted.
"Yay my dad won!" Susan shouted.
"What!?" Yas said as he turned to see Athir, Ash , and the rest of the group standing with Susan and all the hooded figures gone.
"No!" Yas shouted.
"Based on the results of the battle and what I saw at the gym, it is obvious that the Kaz gym is the right choice for the Sand city gym." Agatha said.
"Oh no you don't old lady! I didn't do all this so you could deny my my gym!" Yas shouted before giving a sharp whistle.
All the trainers he brought with him each let out a pokemon as over a dozen rocket grunts stepped out and surrounded them with plenty of Zubat and Nidorino.
Among them was none other than Christian the Cleaver with his two Scizor beside him.
"Oh no." Kaz said.
"Looks who's here, I should have expected you meddlesome twerps would be here to interfere with my plans." Christian said as he saw Ash and the group.
"You won't infiltrate the pokemon league!" Ash shouted as he let out his hidden blades.
"We won't let you!" Athir shouted as he and Lucy did the same.
"I will end all of you if I must." Christian said as he raised his boomerangs.
"Enough!" Agatha shouted as Christian and his grunts turned to her.
"There will be no violence here. You band of hoodlums will leave this city now or face the consequences." Agatha said.
The grunts began laughing histaricly as Christian smiled for the first time that Ash and the others had ever seen.
"Very well" Christian said as he hurled his two boomerangs at her.
"No!" Ash shouted.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted.
Agatha smiled as Christian hurled his two Boomerangs at her. Just before the two metal boomerangs could reach her, she raised her cane and knocked them aside like they were nothing.
Christian used his gloves magnets to draw them back to his hands.
Agatha let out a pokeball and released a massive Haunter that was twice as big as Agatha and had a necklace with a piece of Gengarnite in it.
"Huh?" Brock said.
Agatha revealed a mega evolution stone. She touched it and her Gengar Mega evolved.
All of the rocket and Yas pokemon got ready to battle.
"Gengar use Dark Pulse." Agatha said.
Gengar's eyes glowed violet as he unleashed a pulse that hit and instantly knocked out most of the rocket pokemon.
"Pikachu Thunder!" Ash shouted as Athir's mega Steelix came up and used Iron tail on half the Yas pokemon and Pikachu's Thunder got the rest.
Enraged, Christian sprinted at her preparing to slash her with his boomerangs. Just before he could, Agatha dropped her cain and threw her wrists up.
Brock and Serena's eyes widened as they saw none other than a pair of pitch black hidden blades come out from under her wrists and blocked the metal boomerangs.
"What!" Brock shouted.
"What!?" Christian said.
Agatha smiled as she forced his arms away then snapped her finger, unleashing a pulse of aura that hurled him back.
"Get out of this city!" Agatha shouted as her eyes glowed blue, she picked up her cane and then slammed it into the ground unleashing a massive wave of aura that went safety through Kaz, his trainers, and the group, but hurled all of the rocket members and Yas gym members back.
The rocket grunts all sprinted out of the city as fast as they could with Christian close behind.
Agatha walked over to Yas who just raised his head up and saw her right in front of him.
"But I'm suppose to be the gym leader." Yas said.
"No, you are not worthy of being in the pokemon league. Or even pokemon trainer, you mistreat your pokemon and see them as only a means to an end of making money and notoriety. You will leave this city and take your band of hoodlums with you." Agatha said as her Gengar stood beside her with a serious look.
Yas got up with his men and ran off with terrified expressions.
"Good riddance." Athir said.
Upon seeing the Yas gym members run off, the people of Sand city started to come out of the buildings and walk around.
Agatha walked over to Kaz who looked dumbfounded.
"Mr. Kaz, as a ranking member of the Indigo Pokemon League, I hereby sanction the creation of a new gym here in Sand City and appoint you as the gym leader." Agatha said as she took out a badge and handed it to Kaz.
"Thank you, thank you so much. You don't know what this means to me." Kaz said as he lifted up his daughter in his arm.
He then turned to Ash and the others.
"I owe this to you all, thank you for helping me fulfill my dream and bring life back to this city." Kaz said.
"It was no problem, I'm glad we could help bring you into the pokemon league." Ash said.
"Pardon me young man, but I'd like to have a word with you and your friends in the pokemon center." Agatha said.
"Of course." Ash said sounding particularly respectful. Serena could understand as she was a member of the elite four, but she knew there was something else to it.
The group and Athir followed Agatha to the pokemon center. Once there Nurse Joy left to look at many of the pokemon around town she had not been able to with the Yas gym thugs in the streets.
"Well it appears we're alone now, thought I'm sure the people of this town know what you are by now." Agatha said to Athir.
"So you're an aura guardian too?" Brock asked.
"I am." Agatha said.
"Guys, you don't know the half of it." Lucy said.
"What?" Serena asked.
"Agatha is the mentor of the Kanto region aura guardian Brotherhood." Ash said.
"What!?" Brock and Serena said in disbelief as they turned to her.
Agatha smiled again.
"It's true, I am the leader of all guardians in the Kanto region." Agatha said.
"When I asked for help, I had no idea you'd be coming mentor." Athir said.
"I may be an old lady and the leader, but I can still handle day to day affairs. Besides I felt this young man's aura near the desert and had to come meet him." Agatha said walking over to Ash.
"You wanted to see me Mentor?" Ash asked.
"I knew your father well, I had hoped that he would replace me as mentor some day, but then followed you to Kalos and decided to spent more time with his family, it was for the best though. I also heard from Daniel that you're aspiring to replace me in the elite four." Agatha said.
"Well I." Ash said nervously.
Agatha laughed.
"Calm down my boy, I want a replacement. I'm too old to be the mentor and a member of the elite four. Being in the pokemon league has been a great honor, but it's time for me to do just my sworn duty. He tells me that you and Oak's grandson are the top contenders, I wonder if Oak's boy is as handsome as he was when he was younger." Agatha said as her Gengar laughed a little.
"Regardless I've heard great things about you, several years in the NPC and runner up in the Kalos league. Plus Chairon has spoken highly of the fact that you stopped Lysandre and met none other than the creator. Please , tell me what he's like, I must know." Agatha said.
"What! You met the creator!" Athir shouted in disbelief.
"He was like nothing I've ever felt before. Like all the love, wisdom, and goodness in the world in one creature." Ash said.
"Yes, I can only imagine. You should consider yourself blessed, only a handful of guardians have ever met the creator in person. It is a privilege he bestows upon only those he deems worthy. That says a lot about you. More than I could ever say." Agatha said.
"Thank you Mentor." Ash said as he respectfully bowed.
"I look forward to seeing you at the Indigo league. But I'm afraid I must be going now." Agatha said.
"Thank for coming here Mentor, it's always good to see you." Lucy said.
"It was an honor meeting you." Brock said.
"It was a pleasure meeting you two as well. May Reduka be with you all." Agatha said as she and Gengar walked off.
"Well, now that Sand city is safe, I must be going as well. The desert is large and there is plenty for me and Steelix to do." Athir said before he walked off as well.
"It's getting pretty late, we should probably get some rooms here and spend the night before heading out again." Brock said.
"Agreed." Serena said.
After dinner , the group each went to their rooms.
After all the walking in the desert she did that day, Serena was ready to sleep and immediately fell asleep beside Ash with Pikachu. Ash ,however, wanted to read more of Altair's memories. He reached for Altair's time flower.
However, as soon as he even touched it he felt Altair's aura overwhelming his own. He didn't even have time to connect to the time flower , but felt one of Altair's memories coming. He realized it was another one of Altair's memories stored in Ash's own aura, that had been triggered by coming on contact with something from Altair's past.
It only happened on occasion, but must have happened because he had seen enough of Altair's earlier memories for this one to come out on it's own without having to read the time flower, but come from Altair's aura that was part of Ash's own aura.
Ash saw a massive city that looked like an ancient city, but new for it's time. Despite looking like ancient architecture, it looked very advanced. With marble buildings held up by columns, aqueducts bringing water to different parts of the city.
There were public path buildings where Arceons and Pokemon bathed to keep themselves free of disease. The largest was a large stadium like building, which Ash assumed was the Colosseum Maria talked about where pokemon trainers would battle.
Walking down the streets were roman citizens , some with their pokemon beside him. There were also groups of roman legionaries marching in formation with an officer in front calling cadence.
Ash then saw the memory focused on a group of romans. He recognized one as general Titus, 4 of the others were legionaries of some kind. However, they looked much bigger in physical size and much more muscular.
Their chest armor and helmets looked almost identical to normal legionaries except they were pitch black with yellow edges. Their under tunics were also purple instead of red. Beside general Titus were two centurions wearing similar armor as the other legionaries. Also walking beside them were a pair of Blastoise wearing similar armor around their shells.
"So what is the Consul like?" One of the centurions asked.
"He is a wise and fair man. Despite only being 33 years old , Romulus has lead the people of the world into a civilization based on reason and wisdom. With the guardians help of course. Romulus is the one who founded this city and the republic." Titus said.
"I have to ask, are the stories about him true?" The other centurion asked.
"About his origins?" Titus asked.
"Yes, I heard his parents were killed by the Tulls when he was a baby. That a Mightyena intervened and killed the Tulls then raised him." The other centurion asked.
Titus gave an uneasy look.
"I can tell you this, there is only 2 Arceons in this world who know if that is true. We'll soon meet one." Titus said.
Ash didn't understand why the memory was focusing on Titus and not Altair. That is when the memories focus shifted away from Titus to a figure that was quietly trailing behind them.
The figure wore a black hooded cloak and kept a distance between them and the group of roman soldiers.
When Titus thought he heard something he turned around only to see the hooded figure was gone.
"Sir?" One of the centurions asked.
Titus turned back and kept walking. The figure kept themselves behind a corner being very stealthy. When they saw Titus walking forward again they came out and continued following Titus.
"Why are they following Titus, unless." Ash said worrying if this Arceon was a templar Assassin. They did say they wanted Titus dead.
That is when the focus of the memory shifted again. Now to the rooftop of a nearby building, finally Ash saw who he had expected to see from the start, Altair. It all made sense, what he was seeing before was Altair's aura vision allowing him to see through the aura's of Titus and the hooded figure, thus explaining why he saw them so closely.
Altair stood atop of the building staring down at the cloaked figure. Ash noticed that Altair was alone, Lucario was not with him. That was very odd, since Altair met Lucario, every time he had seen Altair he had with Lucario with him. He wondered why he was alone.
As the hooded figure continued walking Altair kept following him from the rooftop. He was a bit confused, if Altair was there to save Titus from the templar , why didn't he simply air assassinate them, he had the chance. Or why didn't he simply shout out to Titus.
Still he could feel Altair's aura senses and saw the hooded figure glowed gold, which meant they were his target.
Perhaps Altair was tailing them to see where they were going.
Eventually Altair and the others reached a large palace like building with many towers and archers on them.
At the palace entrance, a pair of guards wearing the same armor as the ones with Titus. They quickly came to attention.
They allowed him and his men to enter. When the hooded figure approached the palace ,they moved to a gap in the guard's vision of sight and to a low wall, almost as if they knew it was there. They climbed up and into the well hidden weakness.
Altair acrobatically leapt onto the palace walls and began scaling it, moving quickly to avoid being seen by the elite guard. Eventually Altair reached a walkway where he could see the palace courtyard.
Below him was the hooded figure who was on another walkway looking down at Titus as he and his men walked into the courtyard.
"Ah yes, general Titus, consul Romulus is waiting for you." A man wearing a diplomats cloak said.
The hooded figure continued following Titus until he walked into the palace itself. Oddly enough the hooded figure continued walking, not even stopping. They entered into a tower instead of following Titus.
"What?" Ash asked. Altair rushed over to the tower and began scaling it. Eventually he reached the top and saw the hooded figure standing there with their back to him staring out at the capital of the roman republic.
Moments later the hooded figure turned and faced Altair, the hooded figure lower their hood, revealing it was none other than Maria. Her long black hair handing down over her shoulders.
"Maria?" Ash asked in disbelief. What was she doing there, why had she snuck into the palace, and why had Altair followed her.
Ash then felt something very strange in Altair's aura. Maria gave a strange seductive look and raised her right hand before beckoning Altair forward with her finger.
Altair came forward and wrapped his arms around Maria as she did the same to him before they kissed.
"Woah, alright I wasn't expecting that." Ash said.
Moments later Ash saw something else, Maria stepped back and began untie-ing parts of her robe. Moments later her cloak and tunic fell off, leaving her wearing nothing.
"Oh no." Ash said feeling very uncomfortable.
Altair threw off his own Guardian robe revealing his body as well before the two lied down on a large pile of cloth and silk piled up. Ash now had to watch as the two had each other passionately. He wanted to look away, but it was a memory, he had no choice except watch and feel very uncomfortable.
After what seemed like an eternity, Altair got up and put his robe back on.
"Must you go already?" Maria asked.
"I'm sorry my love, but Malik expects me soon. I hope we can see each other after." Altair said before he gave Maria another kiss. He then walked over to the edge of the tower and leapt off performing a leap of faith.
However, instead of following him, the focus stayed up on the tower.
"Huh?" Ash asked.
It wasn't like before where he saw out of Altair's aura vision.
Instead, it was like there was another Ash's aura was trying to make him see. The focus then went to Maria, getting closer to her. Closer to her stomach in particular.
That is when Ash realized what was going on.
"By Reduka." He said.
The vision began to fade and he woke up to find Serena had awoken as well. She had slightly concerned look on her face.
"Ash are you alright, you're all sweaty and you look kind of freaked out?" Serena asked.
Ash didn't know how to tell Serena he had watched his ancestors allow his existence.
"I'm alright, I just witnessed something. Well, I'd rather not talk about it." Ash said.
"Was it from Altair?" Serena asked.
"Yes." Ash said.
"Was it something bad, scary?" Serena asked.
"A bit scary." Ash said.
"What? Did someone die or." Serena started.
"Serena, you really don't want to know. It was one of Altair's more private memories with Maria." Ash said.
"What was he?" Serena started before she felt it in Ash's aura and the look on his face.
"Oh." She said sweat dropping.
"I think I'd rather get some rest." Ash said.
"Ok." Serena said as Ash laid back down and she rested her head on his chest. Ash wondered why he saw that memory of Altair's , unless it meant something. But what?
Author's note:
Alright you guys have been asking for something like this and you finally receive, the M content.
Like I said though, I don't do lemons, it's just not my style.
So We also find out who the mentor is, I thought I'd go with an existing pokemon character unlike Chairon.
Now many of you have voted on where the third part of this story would take place, but I'll likely keep the poll up until the end of this story. So if you haven't voted yet, vote.
Also know that I have been rethinking the whole Pokemon mystery dungeon fanfiction, I'm not saying it won't happen, It's just that I've been getting back into star wars lately and I've considered possibly doing a fanfiction on it as well, it would be after this story though.
The thing is I've done star wars fanfictions before and neither were very good. But that was a while back.
If I did do a star wars fanfiction it would likely be either SWKOTOR or SWTOR if you know what those are, likely involving Revan, The sith emperor, The hero of Tython, Havoc Squad, the Emperor's wrath, people like that.
So PM what you think of that idea as well.
So until next time, please review, comment, suggest, or ask(via PM) and vote