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Chapter 14- Life lessons on the road

A few days later walking down the road Ash and his team were still talking about what happened in Lavender Town. All of them were relieved when Ash told them about giving Spiritomb away, it had been a nightmare to battle, and having to battle it all the time to keep it under control wasn't something they wanted to do.

"It sure put up a hell of a fight" Charmeleon said "but it didn't seem that strong."

"It wasn't" Ash agreed "but something was controlling it. Forcing it to be angry, so it just couldn't feel pain when we attacked. That's why we had to force it back into its keystone and then capture it."

"Do we have any idea what was controlling it?" Bulbasaur asked.

"I believe it was whatever was in Cerulean Cave" Ash said "I have no proof though, but there's no way a Spiritomb can pull off entrancing an entire town on its own. Especially considering the black box that was attached to it."

"What happened to it?" Pikachu asked, "in the melee I didn't see what happened to it."

Reaching into his pocket Ash pulled out the little box "I took it. It seems to be some kind of transceiver, the little light that's red was green. So, whatever was using it was using it remotely."

"Is it safe to just be carrying it around like that?" Squirtle asked "I mean, you remember what it does right?"

"Yeah, it's perfectly safe for us" Ash said pocketing it again "don't forget, we weren't affected by it to start with. Not only that but the antenna it was attached to was broken in the fight so at the minute it's just a funky little box. I'm gonna take it apart when we get to Saffron. See what I can find out from it."

"You can do that?" Squirtle asked surprised.

"Yeah" Ash said chuckling "I don't know if you know this Squirtle but I'm kind of a genius. I've been taking apart and fixing mechanical issues in electronics for years now. I managed to help upgrade Professor Oaks transfer system a few years ago with a little device I came up with. I didn't want to take any credit for it, so Sam and Bill claimed it was their collaboration. I'm fine with that. It helps me out now, and I have enough fame as it is. Sam, Bill, and I know who helped and that's enough for me. This just looks like a standard transceiver. If I can figure out where the ignition part is of the internal antenna, I may be able to re-use it to find out where the master one is. It could be impossible though, but I won't know until I try."

"Wow" Squirtle said "can you teach me?"

"Well, I can do" Ash began "but you don't have opposable thumbs. They're kind of vital for precision grip, so I don't know what you'll be able to do. I tell you what, I'll ask mum to bring a few things from my room when she sees us, and I'll let you tinker."

"Thanks Ash" he replied happily "when I used to steal things, I was always fascinated by the gadgets my team managed to get. I never knew what they did. It would be nice to be able to actually know what they did in future."

"Well, none of you have come to me about outside interests yet" Ash began "we won't be battling until we die, and we won't always be together so there must be other things you guys are interested in."

"Flowers" Bulbasaur piped up immediately "I love flowers, I love arranging flowers and help nurture new life. I would love my own garden."

"Speak to mum" Ash said immediately "she's an avid gardener. For years she's cross-bred different species of plants. She's even wrote a few books on the subject. So that's a very doable thing. Plus, when I do eventually settle down, I'm going to have a big garden to just enjoy my old age. There really is nothing like sitting down in a park, surrounded by nature and just letting the world go by."

"Ash" Charmeleon said slowly "what do you mean we won't be together forever?"

Looking up at the sky he noticed that the sun was beginning to set. "Let's set up camp for the evening and we'll all talk then. Can some of you guys go find some firewood while we set up?"

A few hours later after they had all eaten Ash brought up the subject again. "Right, I guess there's been a bit of concern about how I worded it before. Charmeleon, let me ask you this. Professor Oak is in his late fifties which means be became a trainer well over forty years ago. How many of his original team do you think he still has on hand?"

"Well, you've mentioned a Dragonite and a Charizard. I don't know about the rest as you haven't told us." Charmeleon said thinking out loud.

"You know what, that's fair" Ash said "in his career as a Pokémon trainer Oak became Champion at age 24 and gave it up less than six months later because of a tragedy that took the lives of two of his Pokémon. He decided in the aftermath to become a full-time professor as well as a full-time dad. He caught only eight Pokémon in his training career. He had the three starters, Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise. He caught a Nidoking and a Dragonite. He also had an Eevee which became a Flareon, a Pikachu which became a Raichu and last but not least he had an Alakazam. The only ones which are still with him are Charizard, Raichu and Dragonite. Blastoise left to form his own colony just outside Cinnabar, his offspring are what become other's starters. Venusaur and Nidoking died trying to rescue some Pokémon from a burning building which caused him to lose his appetite for battling. Charizard now has his own family and lives in the mountains, not at his lab, Flareon died of old age a few years ago and Alakazam works at the league with other Alazakam and Blue Oak helping to come up with new technology. Raichu and Dragonite are the only other ones on site at the lab at all times.

So, you see that's what I meant. Bulbasaur will likely want to tend a garden when we're done with battling, Squirtle is interested in technology so may decide to do so elsewhere. You Charmeleon may decide you want to go round the world challenging Legendaries to prove how tough you are, and Pikachu may decide he's just done with battling and want to rest. On the flip side you may all have families and want to live with them and look after them and that's just as an admirable goal as anything else. I may never find my destined mate, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be happy for you guys if you did. It's just one of many things that we're going to have to eventually think about. We all have different reasons for doing what were doing. We may all have the same goal for now, but eventually? Who knows."

"I see what you mean" Charmeleon said "thanks for clearing it up, Ash. And how did you know what my dream is?"

"What do you mean?" Pikachu asked intrigued.

"Well Ash go it spot on" he replied "my dream is to become a legend amongst legends. I want to attain Legendary Pokémon status as a normal Pokémon."

"Is that possible" Bulbasaur asked confused.

"It depends on who you ask" Ash said "in the Pokedex, no. in the real world, certainly. My fathers Charizard was legendary as is Professor Oaks. I don't think either of those challenged actual Legendaries. It won't be from us that he gets that designation though. You can never call yourself the greatest of all time. You can think it, sure. But that's for others to decide and it's always subjective even then. But if that's your dream Charmeleon I'll help you out as much as I can. So that's Bulbasaur and Charmeleon who know what they want later in life. How about you two?" he asked looking at Pikachu and Squirtle.

"You already know mine Ash" Pikachu said "I want Rock types to fear electric types. I want to go down in history as the electric Pokémon that changed the game and how a 'little mouse' destroyed the myths of Rock and Ground types invulnerability".

"And after that?" Ash asked.

"Not a clue" Pikachu said shrugging "I suspect something will come along at the right time. How about you Squirtle?"

"I haven't a clue" Squirtle said pulling out his sunglasses and looking at them "In a way I'm very envious that you all have goals. For the longest time my life was dominated by thoughts of revenge against Pokémon trainers. Especially those who were happy. I once lived a very pampered life. My owner, not my trainer, my owners' parents bought me from a day-care because I was literally a bright shiny new toy for him to play with when he got bored of his last one. I saw the procession of others come and go and thought that would never be me. A shiny Squirtle is rare and so that was my value to him. Until one day he had an argument with another snobby rich kid and agreed to settle it in a battle. He put me against a Weepingbell and asked me to use moves I'd never been taught. Obviously, I got my shell handed to me. And then I was abandoned because I made him lose and look stupid in front of his friend. I was dumped outside a small village near Vermillion City by him with nothing but a broken pokeball. I had no life skills like wild Pokémon are taught by their parents, couldn't forage for myself because I didn't know what I could and could not eat and I was essentially left to die. I remembered walking through Vermillion with him once and seeing the shops that were full of food, so I resorted to stealing.

Weirdly I was really good at it, and it soon became a game to me because I knew every escape road out of the village and could do so quickly. And then I found another Squirtle one day when I was going back to my hiding place. He saw that I could get food easily and took me back to the cave where I saw the other three Squirtle's. Seeing them brought all the anger and rage back from my original owner and I vowed that I wouldn't let any of them suffer again. I quickly became the leader of the gang because I was bigger, faster and knew more than them. They accepted me as the leader and so we began our reign of terror. When the shops began to get more lethal, we decided that passing trainers would be a more lucrative project and so began waylaying them. We did this for around three months and had never failed until one day we attacked the wrong person. Within thirty seconds my entire team had been beaten and captured. Effortlessly too. I was so mad. I had promised them that I would protect them from being subjected to being a trainers Pokémon ever again. And I failed that because we, no I, got too cocky. It took me a while to get over that. Even now I feel guilty because I don't know how they're doing."

"I'm sure they're doing well" Ash said, "Jenny is a good person."

"I'm sure she is Ash" Squirtle said sadly "doesn't stop the guilt. So, to answer your original question I have no idea what I want to do. I'm just taking things a day at a time at the moment."

"And that's perfectly fine" Ash said reassuringly "Outside of becoming Champion and finishing Arceus' task I have no idea what I want to do either. I suppose the future will bring whatever it will bring. As for the rest I will do whatever I can to help you achieve your dreams. Now, it's getting late. We've made really good progress so we may get into Saffron earlier than usual. It's still at least four days away though."

The next day after training Ash walked away so he couldn't be heard and made a phone call. Receiving the answer he was after he helped pack up and they continued on their way, battling the occasional trainer and chatting about anything and everything.

"Ash" Charmeleon asked a day outside Saffron "what's your issues with Psychics? I mean, we're getting nearer to Saffron now and its gym leader is a psychic trainer. Are we going to have to make you keep your focus? Because I have to say for the last few days you've made nothing but bad remarks regarding them whenever they're brought up, and while I'm happy to go along with your views at times this one is puzzling me."

Sighing Ash knew he was right "It's something I struggle to explain to non-aura users. According to my mum my father was the same. It actually ties in with the Ancient we found a few months ago outside Vermillion. You see when the Great War happened between the Ancients and the Liberators Aura users and Psychics joined opposite sides. They were once like me and wielded Aura for the betterment of humanity and Pokémon alike. That was until a particularly powerful Aura user called Malokei became their leader. He decided that he wasn't happy with what the Aura Guardians were doing, constantly saving Pokémon from dying and serving royalty at their leisure and not ours. So, he decided to take as many like minded people as he could and created his own guild. There were many who believed like he did. And he experimented trying to use Aura to serve his purpose and not the other way around.

The man and his companions eventually succeeded after many failed experiments and was able to use Aura to manipulate minds. But they experimented too much and corrupted Aura in a way that's never been done since. And for good reason. You see Aura makes up literally everything inside and outside us. It's in our bones, our atoms and in the very air we breathe. Pokémon use it every day, it's the essence of what shapes your attacks. Corrupting it affects everything around you when you use it. Malokei either forgot that or ignored it and created his own army, formed up of hundreds of people whose minds they had taken over with their new creation. And they waged war against the Aura users. The irony is that the new manipulated power he created had no effect on natural aura users and so they were quickly losing the battles. Aura users had the ability to shape the very air around them into anything they wanted, Psychics as they became known could only alter the aura but couldn't keep it constrained in any shape. The structures Aura users made in battle were far superior to the ones Psychics used as they didn't change the very fabric of what made them whereas Psychic power only altered the reality of them.

They got battered in the war. And then they found another cause that suited them; the Ancients vs The Liberators. I won't go too much into that one, but the psychics saw their chance to regain some form of power and joined the Ancients who were revered as Gods. I mean, how can a God lose? Well, it turns out that Ancients weren't Gods, they just believed they were and so eventually they lost the Great War. The psychics were all but destroyed by Aura users. Very few remained. But over the centuries they regained their losses while the Aura Guardians dwindled. They still don't dare start another war as there's many things around now that can combat them. Psychics fear us because they cannot manipulate our minds in any way, which means they cannot control us. But Aura users have never forgotten or forgiven what Malokei and his people did to the world. They've also not forgiven them for assassinating the Queen of Rota a few centuries ago by ensnaring her sons mind and committing Regicide. It's tied into our very DNA to reject them. They are an abomination, a cancer on the world. But sadly, it's not one we're allowed to cut out because there are too many of them. I wish I could" he finished.

"Wow" Charmeleon said "so that's why you're so angry at them."

"It's more than that Charmeleon" Ash said shaking his head "it's not something I can control or learn to control either. It's part of my very makeup. Now, I have nothing against Psychic Pokémon. They were created by the All-maker as they are. Like myself, they can't help who they are. And Psychic Pokémon didn't get involved in the war and be on one side. They were on both. It's a shame really that the abominations used their types as a collective name for themselves and virtually lumped them in the same boat simply because they could talk telepathically. But psychics, even to this day have the option of being an aura user or a psychic when they begin their training. They get to decide and still choose poorly."

"So, you don't want us to believe what you do?" Squirtle asked slowly

"No, this is my own personal gripe" Ash said shaking his head "this is part of who I am. I want you guys to decide these things on their own merits and on what people and Pokémon do to you personally. If a psychic never harms you maliciously then I won't complain when you tell me so. Just know it's not something I can or even want to control. Now, for your original point Charmeleon, I plan to be in and out of Saffron inside two days. I want Sabrina done and dusted the first day so that the next day we can enjoy the conventions in Silph.

So, to that end I will be teaching you a move called Shadow Claw" he said pulling out a page he had printed off. "I should really have begun this as soon as we left Lavender Town, but I forgot, so that's on me. I don't expect you to master it, but the basics will give you an advantage against a psychic Pokémon's grip. Sadly, the rest of you can't learn it so we'll come up with other strategies. Squirtle, I want you to start trying to use attacks while you're in your shell. It would give you a significant advantage in battle. Bulbasaur you've managed to get Sludge made but not mastered, now we just need a way of launching it. Failing that we run around and leave them in places. It also may not be a move you can master in your current form, but we will try our best. We're going to start on Solarbeam soon as you've not got a ranged attack like the others. Pi, Thunder is your next move. We've been experimenting with the Light Ball a lot and I've figured that it doesn't give you that much of a boost really. Maybe ten percent, which is better than nothing I suppose. So, what I want you to do is build up your electricity and let it out once you can no longer hold it. Without the Light Ball Hopefully we can carry on building up your reserves that way. We'll start those tomorrow. We should reach Saffron by tomorrow evening. Let's go guys."

The next day passed by very quickly and in the late afternoon Ash walked into the City of Saffron and his senses were immediately assaulted. It wasn't the same oppressor as Lavender, but whatever it was was fairly powerful. Giving a mental shove the presence was violently ejected. "Bloody psychics" Ash mumbled heading down the street earning disapproving glances from a few members of the public. Ignoring them Ash walked into the centre and handed his Pokémon over to Joy before heading to his room. Making a call to his mum he let her know he was in Saffron safely and all going well he should hopefully be in Vermillion by the weekend. Hanging up he had a nice long shower before heading down to the entrance to pick up his Pokémon. Just as he was about to enter, he heard raised voices on the other side of the door.

"Where is it, Nurse?"

"Yeah, nurse. Where is that thing?"

"I have no idea what 'thing' you three are talking about. Now you'll either be civil in here or you can clear off" Joy said angrily.

"It came in here about an hour ago Nurse."

"Yeah. We want to talk to it."

"Right, that's it, out. You've been extremely rude already and I gave you a warning. Leave. And you can bet I'll be telling Sabrina about this" Joy said.

"It's ok Nurse Joy" Ash said walking out nonchalantly over to the water stand. Buying a bottle of water he then walked over to Joy and standing at her side observed the three people who were accosting her "that 'thing' they're on about is me. These abominations will apologise to you now, or I will quite happily break their limbs."

"You wouldn't dare" one of them said.

"Yeah, you don't have it in you." the second one piped up.

"Try me" Ash said starting to advance before feeling a hand on his arm. Looking back, he saw Joy looking at him with concern and anger.

"You'll try nothing" she said furiously "all of you. Now, explain"

Looking around he noticed that quite a few people were in the centre and also around the door wondering what was going on.

"It's quite simple really" Ash said creating an Aura Sphere, causing the three men to hiss and take a step back "I'm an aura wielder, those cretins are psychics. We're natural enemies. Now I'm guessing that your boss sent you here?"

"So, what if she did?"

"Yeah. She sent us to come fetch you."

"Did she now? Too cowardly to do it herself is she?" Ash asked sparking shouts of outrage "enough, you're making our ears bleed with your bleating. You see Nurse Joy as soon as I set foot inside Saffron I felt an oppressive presence try and take over my mind. I ejected it very forcefully. Nothing will ever influence my mind other than my Pokémon, myself and my mother. Sabrina evidently didn't like the fact she can't control me like she can everyone else in this city and sent her goons here to try and strongarm me into seeing her."

"What do you mean" a man in his early forties asked stepping forward "what do you mean control us?"

"Sabrina has a vice grip on this city using her psychic powers." Ash said looking around at everyone "she actively uses her psychic powers to manipulate your thoughts and feelings every day, and none of you would have ever known differently. All the psychics at her gym train to do this using the people of this city as guinea pigs. As an Aura wielder she cannot affect me in that way, so she has no control over what I can or cannot do. Nor can she control what I tell people. I know some people are sceptical but do a little test tonight. Walk out of the city and then back in and tell me if you felt the difference in you."

"You lie" one of the goons said, "Sabrina would never do that."

"I will do so young man" the guy said, "in fact why don't we all do that right now?"

"Certainly" Ash said smiling "I shall lead the way. Be warned though, the witch won't like this and will try and make you feel like you need to be elsewhere. She can't have her little lab rats escape her clutches after all. But I promise you that you will feel the difference."

Leading them all out of the Centre the goons quickly ran away in the direction of the gym. "see" Ash said nodding at the fleeing men "they run to their mistress like good little boys to tell her that her test subjects are escaping. Do not be surprised if she appears in front of you all to convince you otherwise." As they walked many others joined them wondering what was going on. When they heard about his claim many were outraged.

"Who are you Mr?" a small voice asked. Turning around he saw it was a little girl no older than six.

"My name is Ash Ketchum little one" he said smiling "I'm an Aura wielder. Would you like to learn?"

"We can do that?" she asked wonderingly. "I'm Emily by the way"

"Yes, you all can" Ash said addressing them "every single one of you was born with the power to wield Aura. It surrounds us, it makes us who we are. And we can all utilise it to some degree. Now it's not easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is. So, while we're walking to the city edge, I'll give you a quick lesson."

Ten minutes later they reached the signpost and found they weren't alone. The goons were there along with a tall willowy woman with bright green hair wearing a black and red jumpsuit. Behind her was an Alakazam.

"Well, well" Ash said "if it isn't the witch herself. I told you guys this would happen, didn't I? I told you that she wouldn't want her lab rats escaping. Emily, do me a favour. Why don't you and your father just step over that concrete line there and tell me what you feel."

"She cannot" Sabrina said stepping forward looking at Emily and her eyes glowed pink.

"You either move out of the way witch, or I will make you" Ash said stepping forward in front of her his eyes glowing blue. "I am not playing around here. We might not be allowed to legally kill each other anymore but I will do everything I can in my quite considerable power to reduce you and your kind to nothingness. Now move, or I will make you."

Looking like she was about to cry Sabrina moved out of the way "Go ahead Emily."

The little girl and her father tentatively crossed the threshold and immediately felt an oppressive presence they didn't even know was there lift. "Oh wow" her dad said collapsing to his knees "I feel so much better, my head is so much clearer" looking up his visage grew angry. Standing up he looked at Sabrina "You! You did this! What right have you to meddle with my thoughts and emotions? How dare you! I swear that I will do everything I can to see you out of my city!"

"Your city?" Ash asked, "what do you mean?"

"I am Hatori Suzuki, Mr Ketchum. I am the son of the president of Silph Company" the man said, "the gym is open at our pleasure, not theirs as it is financed and ran by my fathers' company."

"Oh well pleased to meet you." Ash said "I was going to visit the conventions tomorrow afternoon actually after I had had my gym battle. I doubt that will happen now as there's no way I'm setting foot in the witch's gym on my own. I'd be killed and then people would be told it was an accident while having their minds manipulated to believe it so."

"I will be getting in touch with the Pokémon League about this and I will express my outrage they let this happen" Hatori said. Looking at Sabrina he continued "she will be replaced, that you can be sure of."

"That gym is my home!" She said angrily stepping forward "my family own that building so we can't be kicked out."

"There's ways around that" Ash said smirking "isn't there another gym in this city? I'm sure the league can strip her of gym rights and give it to the other gym. It lets her keep her home but stops her meddling."

"That" Hatori said "is a great idea. Come on Emily, we're going. I shall keep an eye out for you at the convention Mr Ketchum."

"I shall hopefully see you then" Ash said "oh before you all go, I'm releasing a book on Aura in the next few months. It should be out before the league starts. It'll be free of charge too. So, you can all learn to protect yourselves from psychics. Thank you all for believing me. I know it must have been hard."

"I shall keep an eye out for the book" Hatori said as he left, the crowd following him. Soon enough it was just Ash, Sabrina and her three minions. Smirking Ash turned his back on her and began to walk away, very pleased at his work. As he was walking, he felt he could hear his ancestors celebrating this big victory. As Ash had told Charmeleon he couldn't legally kill psychics due to moral legalities, but he could find ways around that to still do his best to eliminate them. Walking back into the centre he thanked Nurse Joy for looking after his Pokémon and went to bed.

Elsewhere

"He's getting very close to the answers then?" Lorelei asked as the Elite Four sat in a private room.

"Yes, he's pieced together bits and pieces and came up with a pretty accurate reconstruction of what happened to his father" Agatha said fiddling with her cane. "He doesn't believe he is dead though, just that he disappeared. And he knows we're covering it up. He's given us all until he beats Blue to come clean before he dismantles the Elite Four and Goodshow."

"How did he get the information?" Lance asked "we all had to swear that we couldn't say anything. It's legally locked up in Goodshow's office."

"The kid is really clever" Agatha said "he knows that we're all hiding something. And somehow, he knew that Team Rocket was financing Cinnabar Labs back then. He also knows that they were trying to create something, and that the explosion put a halt to that. He looked up information on Fuji, put two and two together and nearly came up with four. He was especially interested in what Fuji did back then".

"So, he's getting his information from somewhere?" Bruno asked "where?"

"Likely Giovanni. His sister is Ash's mum" Lance said leaning back "Gio was very angry about what happened to his gym and never fails to let us know the damage done to his sisters family. He still claims that he has no idea why Rocket was using it that day".

"Which we all know is bullshit" Bruno said, "No one uses a gym and keeps the leader ignorant".

"Ash believes something survived from the experiments" Agatha piped up "he told me that he and his Pikachu felt an 'extraordinarily powerful presence' at Cerulean Cave that disappeared the day after they first felt it. And that a similar presence was at large in Lavender Town."

"If something survived then wouldn't we know about it?" Lance asked.

"Not if it was a powerful psychic" Agatha said "the experiments were on a Mew fossil after all, it stands to reason that the creation would be psychic too. Fuji goes missing the minute Rocket makes a comeback, a psychic Pokémon is felt in Cerulean cave weeks later and takes control over the town Fuji was in. Fuji was in charge of creating said creation. Ash put all this together from three newspaper clippings and a bio of Fuji found on the internet. He's bloody annoying but also bloody clever."

"I received an email from Cynthia this morning. Apparently, she met Ash in Lavender?" Lance asked.

"Yes" Agatha said nodding "they got on ok, he gave her a history lesson and then he left to head to Saffron."

"A history lesson? To Cynthia?" About what?" Lorelei asked.

"He told her the true story of Auras vs Psychics, including their involvement in the Great War" Agatha said.

"Why?" Lance asked trying to remember what he knew about them.

"Because of her companion." Agatha replied "Lucian I think his name was. Anyway, Auras and psychics are mortal enemies. You remember Red and his reaction to the psychic challenger who wanted to be part of our Elite Four?"

"I do" Bruno said whistling "it wasn't pretty, was it? Red demolished him with his Charizard alone."

"Aye" Agatha said, "and that hatred seems to have been passed on to his son."

"Oh, that's not good." Lorelei said worried "and he's heading to Saffron? Maybe one of us should head there to keep the City from being levelled."

A that moment Lances pokegear rang. Answering it he was baffled and then looked resigned the longer the other person talked. Hanging up he looked at the others.

"That was Goodshow. We're too late it seems" Lance said sighing "Ash got to Saffron. Within the hour Sabrina will be evicted from being the cities gym leader. It seems she's been using her powers to control the minds and emotions of the people in the city and Ash exposed her. Directly to the President of Silph companies' son. They threatened to pull all funding and sponsorship of the League and all its sanctioned events if nothing was done about it before midnight. They said and I quote "it is an absolute outrage that the Elite Four and it's Champion have let this go on for as long as it has." First Cerulean and now Saffron? Is anywhere else safe from Ash?"

"Cinnabar will need a new leader soon" Agatha said helpfully.

"Oh, not this again Agatha" Lance said "you know our hands were tied on him. There was literally no evidence to say Blaine was involved in anything that Rocket did."

"Yeah, well Ash knows he was Fujis right hand man." Agatha said smirking. "How long do you think it will be before Ash figures out that Blaine had a hand in the experiments?"

"And how does he know this?" Lance asked exasperated.

"I may have let it slip when talking about Fuji." Agatha said cackling.

"You told Ash that Blaine was a part for Team Rockets experiments?" Lance said standing up and pacing "you realise you could be put in prison for that?"

"Actually, I believe what I said was 'Soon you will face a man in battle who was Fuji's chief of staff on Cinnabar Island who was cleared of all wrongdoing because of the explosion erasing everything. He too should have been locked up.'" Agatha said still cackling. "I never gave Ash a name."

"Then how did he know it was Blaine?" Bruno asked.

"He figured it out from just that sentence" she replied shocking them "as I said he's very clever. He figured it out from the pronouns I used. He knew who he would have to face, that being the gym leaders to get badges. And as I said 'he', it narrowed that down to three options. And then he added that of those three only Blaine lives on Cinnabar and hey presto, he had his man."

"So, Blaine will need replacing then too?" Lance said pinching his nose as he sat back down.

"No, I doubt it" Agatha said "Blaine has lived in isolation underneath the volcano for eleven years now. Ash will probably get his badge, ask a few questions and then leave. The biggest issue we have now is sorting out Saffron gym."

"Nope," Lance said "Goodshow has already decided that. He's given the status back to the Fighting Dojo. The Sensei is being told as we speak."

"Oooh" Bruno said, "at last, a fighting gym."

"Back to Ash" Lorelei said, shaking her head fondly at Bruno "what do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do." Agatha replied "He's extremely driven in his quest. And his Pokémon are very well trained. Sooner rather than later he will face us and beat us. I have no doubt about that."

"You think he'll beat us" Lance asked with surprise on his face "why?"

"That boy is special" Bruno said "and so is that Pikachu. Don't scoff Lance. It beat Brocks rock types after being with Ash only three weeks, my Sandslash one-on-one after only five weeks, he beat Lt Surges Raichu in a match of electrical power, it then healed a Zapdos using just its electricity. And then just last week it beat a Spiritomb. Ash has been a trainer just over four months now. And already he has surpassed what his father achieved by that point. Trust me Lance, you do not want to underestimate that boy."

"And the rest of his team are very good too." Agatha piped up "That Charmeleon of his in particular is going to be a monster when it evolves. Those three are going to be incredible in a few years' time. Meet him, then you'll know how right we are."

"I will be doing soon" Lance said "I have an appointment with him when he reaches Cinnabar" seeing their confused faces he carried on "Oh, when he reached Pewter, he found a fossil in a rock. It turns out it was an Old Amber that contained the DNA of an Aerodactyl. As is the law no rookie trainer can have one of those after the Unova incident. So, I'll be taking it off his hands and relocating it to an isolated island."

"And he's ok with that?" Bruno asked, "he's just willing to give up a rare and powerful Pokémon like that?"

"Yes" Agatha said remembering Spiritomb "if it doesn't fit in with his plans or potentially harms his team then he won't keep it."

"Agatha is right" Lance said "I received an email off him the day he found the fossil. He stated in it that he had no desire to have an Aerodactyl on his team. 'they're too much trouble and I'd rather not be on edge to see if it tries to eat me or not all the time' he seems to have a good head on his shoulders."

"He does" Lorelei said nodding and standing up "Anyway, I've got a daughter to get home to. Let me know how you get on with Saffron" giving her husband a kiss she left followed by Agatha leaving just Bruno and Lance.

"Bruno, I need you to do something for me. But you can't tell the others. I need you to go to this location and pick up this package" he said handing over a form "I can't go pick it up myself, I need to go to Dragons Den. Something I need to pick up there too."

"What is this, Lance?" Bruno asked, "and why me?"

"It's nothing sinister Bruno" Lance said chuckling "I promise you. I plan on asking Melanie to marry me. But her ring needs to be picked up in the next week."

"Oh right, well congratulations" Bruno said, "and the ladies can't know because?"

"Seriously? Do you remember the squealing that happened when you asked Lorelei?" Lance asked chuckling.

"Point taken. Yeah, I'll pick it up for you." Bruno said standing up clapping him on the shoulder leaving him sat down.

Also, Elsewhere

A Lucario raced towards the palace. Passing many surprised people she continued on her path, seeing the lights up ahead gave her the impetus to carry on with her mission. Racing past the bewildered guards she soon found herself in the big hall where a meeting was going on. Hearing her enter everyone stood up, wondering what was happening that required a Lucario to disturb them.

"My Lady, I have news" Lucario said.

"So, it would seem" Ilene said also standing up. "Speak then Lucario."

"The Psychics no longer have any power in Saffron City" Lucario leading to gasps of surprise and mutters.

"How, why?" Ilene asked grasping Lucario on her arm.

Wondering how she was going to say it made her hesitate "well?" Ilene asked.

"Ash Ketchum evicted them, My Lady."

Silence. You could hear a pin drop. Ash was a very sore subject amongst the higher ups of Cameron Palace and Rota. Everyone knew his thoughts on them, just as everyone knew he was wrong.

"Are you certain?" Riley asked stepping forward "are you absolutely certain?"

"Yes Lord Riley" Lucario answered "I witnessed the event myself. Ash led an entire contingent of people to the cities limits to help them escape the witches mental grasp. When she tried to confront him, he challenged her, and she backed down knowing she was outmatched. A man then stepped over the cities threshold and collapsed in happiness; his mind had been freed. It was the witches bad luck that he is the son of the Silph companies president. Within the hour Sabrina is due to lose her gym status and it will be given to the Dojo once more."

"Oh that is great news" Ilene said happily sitting down, "great news indeed. I shall send a Lucario as a messenger to the gym leader, Riley you will accompany them. Hopefully we can renew our friendship once again."

"There is more My Lady" Lucario said hesitantly "Ash Ketchum has written a book on Aura. He's selling it free of charge and sending it to everyone in Saffron."

"Why does that sound concerning?" a man asked at the table "surely the more people protected from the scum the better?"

"It is concerning" Riley said sitting down "because it will more than likely include our history, unvarnished. We have kept a lot from the general public regarding us over the centuries. Ash will certainly write about his ancestors, especially Aura Guardian Sir Aaron Ketchum and his relationship with Queen Rin"

"Can we not stop its release?" the man asked again.

"To what end?" Ilene asked "he has already told an entire city, who believes he is now their hero that he's got a book waiting to be published. It's clear you've never met him. If he finds out that we have tried to put a stop to it, he will hunt us down and eliminate us. At the moment we're not a threat to him, more of an annoyance."

"But you're the Queen!" a lady said.

"I am not his Queen though, Rebecca" Ilene said "and I likely never will be either. He doesn't see serving in Rota as an honour like the rest of you do. My ill advise pursuit of his father irritated his mother. And Delia has certainly passed that on to him. We met him outside Mt Moon a few months ago and he told me exactly what he thinks of me and Cameron Palace."

"He's only one Aura user though" the original man said, "why can't we eliminate him?"

Laughing Riley had to compose himself. Unable to do so he excused himself. It was the Lucario messenger who spoke though.

"Ash Ketchum is the single, most powerful aura user we have on record, and he is only Eleven years old. He wields it effortlessly and he has never felt a drain in his reserves in the entire time we have known about him. After the incident outside of Pallet Town we all took turns in training him in aura usage as reparations and in the last year of our service not a single Lucario could beat him in hand to hand combat. I felt his power when he confronted the witch. It was incredible. No, we would find ourselves at war with Ash and we cannot afford to do that. There are too few Aura Guardians as it is."

"Which leads to another problem" Riley said coming back in after composing himself. Giving his apologies he continued "soon everyone in Kanto will be able to access their aura, making us superfluous and nothing but a novelty. What we gain in eliminating the abominations we lose in respect. I cannot help but think this was always destined to happen."

"What do you mean?" Ilene asked.

"Because of our own laws we have limited the amount of aura users while the psychics grew. Because of this we are currently vastly outnumbered should they attempt anything. Ash knows this too, he has seen the records his father took years ago. So, Ash has done something about it to even the playing field as it were. I don't think he even planned to do this, he never gave off the impression that he would do so anyway. So, by giving everyone access to Aura, we're pretty much useless."

"You have a point" Ilene said after several minutes "so what can we do?"

"Something you're probably not going to like." Riley said, "work alongside Ash."

"He would never commit to that" Ilene said standing up and pacing "you know how he feels about us."

"I know my Lady, but what choice do we have but try?" Riley said sighing.

"Shit" she said sitting down. That about summed up everybody's mood.