Chapter 8

"You wanna battle, try me. I've barely gotten a fight today" said Ash yawning and then smirked. "Fine" said Drew. "Let's go outside". With this, both Ash and Drew went outside, with Dawn following them after giving a pitiful look to a sobbing May.

When she came outside, Ash and Drew had already taken positions opposite each other. "Looks like we all got to test our strength" Brock said, coming from behind her. "Yeah, that's true" Dawn said without turning her face away from the battlefield.
"Go Roserade" Drew said, his expression stoic. Roserade appeared out of his pokeball just as Ash threw his own pokeball. Buizel appeared on the battlefield, his arms crossed. Drew immediately started the fight. "Roserade, use Petal Blizzard". "Buizel, Water Counter shield. Then Blizzard" Buizel easily stopped the petals from reaching him. Drew, as soon as Buizel used Blizzard, immediately commanded "Roserade, Sunny day" The sun intensified, and turned the snow from Blizzard into water drops.

This worked out against him as Buizel's ability Swift Swim activated and made Buizel much faster. "Buizel, use Aqua Jet" Ash called out. Drew realised, he'd have to take a hit if he wanted to land one. "Roserade, Counter it with Energy ball" Drew smirked, knowing that Grass moves were super effective, and Buizel would receive much more damage than Roserade. Just as both Pokémon were about to collide, Ash called out "Now freeze it using Ice Punch.

"What?" Drew stared in shock as the outer surface of the Aqua Jet froze, and the move turned into an Ice Aqua Jet.

The Energy Ball was nothing compared to the power of Buizel's move, and when the smoke cleared, Buizel emerged without a scratch while Roserade was spread on the ground, swirls for eyes. "Damn" said Drew and sent out his next Pokémon. "Let's go, Pinsir".

"Huh, that's new" Ash said, remembering Drew never owned a Pincir when he knew him. "That's not the only thing that's new" Drew smirked as he revealed a bracelet with two key stones embedded in it. "Pinsir, Mega Evolve". A bright light engulfed Pinsir and when it faded, it was mega-pinsir, looking even scarier than before.

"Pinsir, use Focus energy" Drew immediately commanded knowing this would be a tough battle. "Buizel use Water Pulse" Ash commanded. "Pinsir, straight ahead." Drew commanded as Pinsir went head on into the Water Pulse. As he reached near Buizel, Drew commanded "Now Revenge" Buizel got a hit square in the chest due to the sudden attack. He winced as it was a critical hit.

"Well, if the big guns are out" Ash smirked. "Buizel, combine Whirlpool and Surf". A huge whirlpool, almost twice its normal size headed for Pinsir. Drew saw only one way of escape. "Pinsir, fly straight up" Unfortunately for him, Ash had already thought of this, so just as Pinsir flew up, he saw buizel who had risen using Sonic Boom on the ground. "Send him down using Hydro Pump" Ash commanded smirking as Buizel followed. Now freeze everything using Blizzard.

This was a battling combination Ash had developed after seeing Dawn use combinations in her battling style. The result was that pinsir got completely encased in the ice crystal. "Now shatter it using Brick Break" Ash commanded. "Pinsir, use Toxic around you" Drew called as Buizel was about to hit.

Buizel's punch broke the ice and got through to Pinsir. Unfortunately, this poisoned him. Pinsir however was done for and had reverted back to its original form. Drew smirked, his plan was working. "Go Flygon" he said. Ash didn't want buizel to continue fighting while still poisoned. So he returned Buizel and gave him a Pecha berry. "Let's go Swellow" Ash said, sending out his next Pokémon.

It was now an air battle, as both combatants circled each other in the sky. Ash decided to start the battle. "Swellow, Aerial Ace" . "Flygon, retaliate with your own" Drew immediately ordered. Both attacked head on, and being powerful Pokémon, sent shockwaves through the air. Ash decided to try out their new move. "Swellow, Boomburst" Ash called out. However it seemed drew knew the move too. "Flygon, Boomburst you too"

The two attacks caused huge sound waves which caused all of them to cover their ears. "Ash, can't you keep the noise to a minimum" Dawn called out, clearly irritated. Ash decided not to reply and focused himself on the battle instead. It seemed both of the combatants were evenly matched. Ash started to think of a strategy. "Flygon, don't give them room to breathe" Drew smirked "now Draco Meteor". Ash's eyes went wide. This might be a problem. But then he smirked, he had thought of a plan. "Swellow Double team" he called out, and then commanded it using his aura to his the real swellow below Flygon till the meteor ends.

As expected, all copies were wiped out, but Swellow emerged without a hitch. "Now, Giga Impact" Ash called out and Swellow got in a critical hit from below Flygon. Drew knew he'd have to use a powerful attack to damage Swellow, so he called out again "Flygon, Draco Meteor, full power"

Ash knew this was going to happen, and it was crucial to his strategy. "Swellow, use Aerial ace to get in close" he then relayed the rest of the strategy to Swellow via Aura. As Flygon needed a moment to charge, it gave Swellow enough time to get in close quarters. Just as Flygon sent the meteor up, Swellow took hold of Flygon by the tail and tossed him up, smashing him into the meteor. Draco meteor, being Dragon type, was super effective, and Flygon was out and crashed.

Drew returned him and was about to send out his next Pokémon when sound of helicopters alerted them. Drew's smirk grew into a laugh as he said "You fools…..I had already alerted the Pokémon League of your presence. Those helicopters probably contain the most powerful trainers. You can't beat them all. I was just stalling you for them to arrive."

"Damn" said Ash as he recalled Swellow and sent out Mewtwo. He conveyed what he wanted via Telepathy and Mewtwo looked at Drew for a few seconds, then they all teleported. May came to Drew and put a hand on his shoulder, as Drew looked weirdly at her. "Who are you? Are you my Momma? I want my momma?" Drew said as he sat down and started sobbing. Then May realised what had happened. Drew's memory had been wiped down right to when he was an infant. This left May standing there as a crowd of people gathered around her and shouted curses at her to die and go to hell.

*8 km from Pokémon Ranger HQ, Mt. Silver*

It had been a quiet day. Pupitar had done nothing but eat berries all day. It had been pretty hard on him, when his mother Tyranitar, the protector of the forest had died. But all that was in the past. It was now his duty to look after the Pokémon. Suddenly he heard a little commotion a little from where he was. It seemed like humans, so he went to check it out.

He saw three humans there, one of which he recognised instantly. It was Ash, the person who had taken care of him when he had hatched. "Ash" he said telepathically. Ash looked behind him and immediately recognised him. "Larvitar, it seems you've evolved. How've you been, buddy?"

Pupitar immediately came and hugged Ash, or more like tackled him. "Easy boy" Ash said, patting him on the head. "Does Ash know that Pokémon" Dawn asked Brock, seeing as how the Pokémon was acting like it belonged to Ash. "Well, it's complicated" Brock said, and explained to Dawn in short about what had happened. When he had finished, Ash had already left on a walk with Pupitar and Pikachu. So the both of them decided to prepare lunch. Ash returned about half an hour later, a little sad, with Pikachu on his heels.

"Hey Ash, Lunch is ready" Dawn called out to him. "Ah, lunch cooked by our dear Ash's love interest. That's gotta cheer you up" Pikachu said to Ash via his aura. "You know Pikachu, I think Lopunny would like some time with you after that battle. She deserves a prize after all" Ash retorted back. This made Pikachu stop laughing immediately.

"Wow, it's delicious" Ash said after he had eaten some of the food. "No surprise there, seeing who prepared it" Pikachu said, teasing Ash again. Ash just glared at Pikachu which made him quietly snigger. "So how'd it go?" Dawn asked Ash striking up a conversation with him. "Well.." said Ash "Pupitar said he would love to come with me but unfortunately couldn't. He, after his mother, was the protector of the Pokémon who live in the forest. And so he had to stay to protect them"

"Oh, that's sad" Dawn said. They had almost finished eating when suddenly Ash dropped his bowl and Dawn dropped the spoon she was holding. Both of them had suddenly experienced a traumatising fear and heard a cry for help coming from the hillside. Brock heard none of it but seeing Dawn and Ash cringe like that told him something was not right.

Both of them were very near the ground, with a group of Mightyena attacking them. No matter how hard they tried,, they couldn't move. It seemed like they were in someone else's body. Then they both heard a cry of help and they were back. "What was that…?" dawn said after that was over. "Wait, Dawn, you saw that too? I thought only I saw it because of my Aura Powers" Ash said to Dawn, who looked just as surprised as him.

"Wait..Now that I think of it, I think Dawn used Aura too when you fainted near Rota because of the big explosion you caused. But I thought I had seen something else. I guess that explains it" Brock said. "Well whatever it is, we can debate that later. Right now, it seems we have a Pokémon in danger" Ash said and left to the side of the hill, where he thought the aura came from. Brock and Dawn followed without a word.

They soon were in the forest. A little distance away from them, were two Kirlia who were cornered by a pack of five Mightyenas. However, what intrigued them even more was that the two Kirlia were blue coloured where there was normally green. As they ran near the place, one Mightyena pounced. One of the Kirlia covered the other with itself and shouted 'Kir Kirlia' and, quite amazingly, sent out an Aura shield. However, when everybody had just heard the Kirlia's call, Dawn heard the words "Away from my sister, you dog" Dawn was shocked and stopped where she was.

Ash ordered Pikachu a quick attack, and within a second all five Mightyena had already been hit. As soon as they stood up, they fled immediately. "Who are they" Ash suddenly heard the smaller Kirlia, which was hidden behind the other speak through Aura. He extended his own Aura and told her they were friends. She seemed quite surprised at being able to communicate with a human. Dawn reached the other Kirlia and asked "Are you all right?" Quite amazingly the Kirlia answered her "Thanks, I'm fine". Dawn was shocked to hear a Pokémon talking. Sure she had seen Ash do it, but to be able to talk to some of his Pokémon, but to do it herself was a huge feat for her.

"Ash, why am I able to talk to this Kirlia?" Dawn asked Ash. "It seems like these two Kirlia are shiny, and are somehow able to use aura. Since they were in a life and death situation, they extended their Aura for help. And since you and I were the only Aura users around, we immediately bonded with them" Ash explained to Dawn and Brock, and also used his Aura to explain it to the two kirlia.

"So what now?" the elder brother Kirlia asked Ash. "Well, if this had happened normally, I guess the trainer would have tried to catch the Pokémon, but in this case, I leave the choice to you. "Let's go, brother. I like this boy" the little Kirlia said to her brother". "Fine" he said "But only if you promise to take care of my sister" the Kirlia said to Ash. "Believe me, she'll become so strong under Ash that she could take care of you" Dawn told him with a smile. Satisfied, the brother Kirlia pressed Dawn's pokeball and let himself be caught. The smaller sister Kirlia did the same with Ash's pokeball. Soon both of them were caught and the group headed back to where they had ate.

A/N: Yo hoo…another chapter done. Seems like I'm on fire. Well, gotta make up for lost time. If someone thinks May wasn't punished enough, you are right. She will return and Ash will fight her this time. Be sure to leave you suggestions. I may be the one typing, but it's your story after all. Also leave me some of your favourite stories for Pokémon. I will check them out. Keep reviewing…