The Guardians of Citera
A Pokémon Fanfiction
RATING: T (Story contains of the following; violence, blood and gore, language, and mature themes. Viewer Discrimination advised.)
GENRE: Adventure/Friendship
SUMMARY: It's been eight years since Ash disappeared; his reasons unknown, events across the Pokémon world have risen, and even the Pokémon Masters can't stand against the evil armies of a mysterious man. Now, the only hope of the rests on one's shoulders- Ash. But the boy they once knew, is now long gone, and his intentions... Are far greater than simply catching them all.
DISCLAIMER:
I do not own Pokémon. Rights go to their respective owners. I only own my OCs.
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Chapter 1: Morning Patrol
Ash woke to the sound of his alarm going off, as usual, at five o'clock sharp in the morning. He groaned, turning over in his bed, pulling the sheets with him and curling up.
'Come on, Ash. We got patrol, you know that just as much as my scaly ass does.'
He grumbled, getting annoyed by the consistent beeping of his alarm. He groaned, face still buried in the pillow, as he reached up, slamming his hand down on the silver device located on his night-stand. Charizard snorted in amusement, watching the ex-trainer (they didn't consider themselves 'trainers' any more) from his place curled up on his soft bed against the wall. At his feet, his female Absol, Angel, lay, nuzzling his thigh while purring a bit.
Ash reached up, gently rubbing Angel's black snout. "Hey... Morning, girl... Care to get my armour out?"
She grumbled a little, reluctantly standing up and jumping off the bed, padding over to his wardrobe as requested. Ash yawned, stretching and sitting up.
Getting out of his comfy bed, he sighed, and quickly showered, brushed his teeth, and got dressed in clothes with his armour on top, wrapping his cloak around and grabbing his sword. Angel purred, rubbing against his leg delicately, and he smiled, watching each of his Pokémon call to him; Charizard, his bonded partner- Angel, his Absol, as pre-mentioned- his loyal, legendary, majestic, snow white Reshiram, Chaos- his Luxray, whom reminded him a lot of Pikachu- his male Nidoking, Valiant, and lastly, his now fully grown Lapras, from when he had travelled with through the Orange Islands of Kanto.
He sighed, walking over to and stroking his Lapras' large head from where she was laid in her fountain-like bed, with shallow water up to his knees in depth.
She crooned gently, nuzzling his armoured chest. 'Stay safe, Ash.' Lapras whispered softly, and he nodded, murmuring his assurance.
Luxray spoke up, ruffling his black, star-shaped mane. 'And don't get killed, we still need you.' He casually scratched behind his ear, smiling at him. Ash smirked back.
'Don't you fret, Lapras,' Charizard rumbled, smirking a toothy grin. 'He's got me around to babysit him.'
Ash groaned, but grinned regardless. "C'mon, gang, I'm not that danger-prone... And yes, I do recall every single time that I..." He looked at his companions, each with raised eye-brows and pointed looks directed his direction, and corrected himself. "Okay, fine, you guys win. I'm a living, breathing, trouble magnet-"
'-And, we are, rather unfortunately, more than aware.' Charizard muttered.
Sighing and shaking his head, the young man patted the dragon's flank, and climbed into the saddle, strapping his legs into the securing loops.
He pulled on his black helmet, covering the top of his skull and the whole of his face, apart from his eyes. Clipping himself onto the safety ring near the saddle horn, he patted the thick neck in front of him, turning to look at his other Pokémon. Bidding them goodbye, he walked his mount outside, closed the door, and headed towards the day ahead of him.
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"Ready to go?" Luna asked, sat upon the back of her faithful Noivern. While not her 'bonded' partner Pokémon, the large (and much bigger than usual), flying, bat-like dragon and her were extremely talented in the air and very close.
Ash nodded, his Charizard landing a good few feet away. The others were already there, waiting for his command to go.
Sat on the back of his male, huge, bonded Braviary, was Alex, calm and collected in expression and posture, as always.
Nina was riding her usual mount, her large and faithful Pidgeot named Feather.
And, as always, Terak was on his own bonded partner, his shiny Charizard named Shadow, with his huge red wings and glittering black scales.
Sighing, Ash steered Charizard forward to stand in front of the group, as they filed into a V- formation; Ash & Charizard took the lead, with Luna & Noivern beside Nina & Feather in the middle, and tagging along at the back taking the rear were Alex & Braviary with Terak and Shadow.
They took flight, climbing high into the air and soaring over the city, before doing a simple Circling (which had the rear pair flying low under the middle, with the leaders circling at the top, the bottom doing one loop, middle doing two, and top doing three) before they headed in single-file for the now open exit they usually entered through. Today, there was a Persian and Liepard guarding the entrance, both equipped in silver armour. The five Guardians and their mounts nodded at the duo in regards and acknowledgement as they swooped by, flying through the tunnel to the open, vast mountain range.
The winds were as strong and daunting as usual in the chilly mornings, buffeting the Guardians from all directions as they fanned out into their tight V-formation again.
Ash pushed Charizard in lightly with a mental nudge, getting them moving.
'So,' Shadow suddenly said as they glided past one mountain, his large head turning to their 'flight-mates'- Alex and Braviary- and eyeing them. 'What are you two doing tonight?'
Alex sighed. "Not much, Shadow. And you two?"
"Ugh." Nina turned back to them, Noivern glancing back slightly. "Can we just focus on patrol?"
'That WOULD be much preferred.' Noivern rumbled, his large, disc-shaped ears twitching back and forth. 'And I doubt that we'll need to pass time with nonsensical banter, judging by these winds. It feels to be a tough morning for a patrol.'
Charizard dipped his large, orange head. 'Couldn't be said better on my own tongue, Noivern.'
"You guys don't use your tongues." Alex snorted, bemused, shutting up quickly as Charizard sent a large blast of fire over his head.
As Noivern had predicted, the Patrol wasn't any fun, with brutal and unrelenting winds that almost tore them off course, more than enough times, messing and toying with the five duos. The temperature was freezing beyond comfort, as they soared over and between the mountains, low down over the long Vyruŗrk river, and past the valley, before they finally came home, diving into the tunnel with frost on the Pokémons' wings and their riders shivering, ripping off their frozen helmets as soon as they entered the warmth of the cave.
"That... Was nasty." Luna groaned, falling forward into the creamy-silver spikes of fur at the back of Noivern's neck.
The large creature twisted his long neck around, nuzzling her with a gentle croon, closing his eyes as the young lady stroked his snout.
Ash sighed, eyeing each of them as they looked his way.
"Well, I can't argue there. I say we all go to our rooms and lock ourselves in until dinner..."
Charizard growled, his head lifting up as a Brekar (a flying-physic, dark green bird-like Pokémon native to Sciarston) swooped in, landing on the lizard's neck and speaking in his chirpy, high-pitched voice.
'The Guild requests you, Guardian Ash! Trouble in the North! Articuno! Blizzards!'
"Go figure..." Ash muttered darkly, pressing Charizard on with a light nudge to the flank, which got him moving. Behind them, their team followed, still shivering and almost wanting to run off and hide in their rooms until the crisis was solved.
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Ash strode into the Meeting Room, where nine Guardians stood around the huge table, their Pokémon either behind them, or in their Pokéballs, equipped onto their belts. Ash stepped inside, Charizard walking behind him slowly, head proudly lifted and posture firm, majestic, showing an example to all around him. His partner was likewise, shoulders squared as he walked up to it, immediately acknowledged.
"So, what's all this about issues in the North?" He asked, standing beside a tall woman in her mid-forties, her red cape and hair standing out against her black hair and attire. Close beside her, was her partner Blaze, (a powerful and rather stubborn Moltres) watching everything around him warily.
She spoke up, her voice firm and confident with the shining abilities of a natural-born leader. Khlostra had been in the Guild for as long as Ash could remember, ever since he joined six years ago.
"Natural systems are getting out of hand; the blizzards have stopped, and that translates into trouble. Mamoswine herds are getting hunted and killed too frequently, moving into normally not accessible areas, and now the seven packs of Wolvareins are moving in to hunt them, like the fat, greedy dogs they are- some thing's wrong-"
'-And that's probably to do with the flock of Articuno that live there, controlling the blizzards and keeping things in order.' Blaze finished.
Ash and Charizard instantaneously nodded, turning to the leader of the Guild, Scar.
Scar was a tall man at six foot two, with short black hair, piercing green eyes, and a lean but strong figure. Most noticeable was the long, menacing scar from his chin to hairline, caused in a freak accident with a Houndoom (which is understandably why everyone questioned how he had partnered with that very Pokémon, although not the same one who did it) when he was merely a four-year old child. His bonded partner was a lethal, terrifying, absolutely enormous Kyurem, who was currently not in the room. Probably for the best; even after about eight years, that chilly dragon still scared the living daylights out of him.
The man looked up. "I'll send out a team to go check it out... Any volunteers?"
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"Seriously?" Nina groaned, flopping on the bed. "Why us?!"
Ash sighed, sitting on his bed. His team had all come to his room to get the update. "Because Khlostra's team are out on a mission to Kanto, and both Ellie's and Aeras' teams are out on their own jobs."
Charizard dipped his head, speaking up in his deep and echoing voice.
'Everyone else needs to be around, in case something on a higher level that we can't do, comes up, and they have to go. It's simple sense... And honestly, we should be grateful for the rather easy task. It could be worse.'
Ash stroked the fire dragon's head. "Charizard's right. So we're better off just accepting that."
'We leave at dawn. Be ready.' Charizard finished, his forked tongue slipping over his sharp, white teeth that filled his mouth.
Alex and Terak nodded, easily taking on the challenge, although the girls just seemed annoyed.
"So, off you go." Ash groaned when the two young woman didn't move. "That means leave. I'm tired and you two keep me up."
'I don't know whether I should laugh, or if I should be insulted.' Noivern said, quickly picking up his human by the back of her shirt, and putting Luna on his neck before slithering outside. The others quickly followed, leaving Ash alone with his Pokémon partners.
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A/N:
Just something I feel I should mention is the main source of this story's inspiration- one of my other fanfictions, 'This Is War', set in the How to train your Dragon world. If you've read it, just probably have already picked up one or two similarities.
Well, I do apologise for the late arrival of this chapter, but things have been tough... So, despite this, hope you, my wonderful reader, enjoyed!
-Crystallion12