Unknown Location
Celebi flew toward the top of a very tall Mountain, which is so tall, that the top is several miles above the clouds.
The mountain itself is also completely covered in snow, and the entire thing is surrounded by very harsh blizzard that would prevent humans and most Pokemon from accessing the mountain, that is of course, if they could even find the mountain, which is unlikely as it is in a completely different dimension then the human/Pokemon world, in fact, it is on a different planet, in a different dimension, and not on Earth at all.
It took a while, but Celebi finally arrived at the top and from the distance, she noticed a human (at least it looks like a human, doesn't really mean it is) form seating on the tip of the mountain and looked like he was meditating.
The man looked like he was in his twenties, he was wearing black pants, and that was about it, as his feet were bare, as well as his upper body. The only other noticeable thing on him is a black colored infinity symbol on the middle of his forehead, as well as an unruly silver hair, that's sticking in several directions and short silver beard that's covering his face, though it's not spread on his neck.
Celebi approached the man, and just floated in front of him, but said nothing, waiting to hear him first, while at the same time she was shivering from the cold, and if she didn't know who this person is, she would have wondered how he can just sit there in just his pants.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, Celebi." The man said in a deep but gentle tone of voice, though his eyes were still closed and he didn't even look at Celebi.
"It sure has, my lord." Celebi replied and bowed her head a little in respect for the being in front of her.
"I'm surprised to see you here," the man said. "Is there something you needed?"
"I had a pleasure to meet a very nice human just few hours ago, and I noticed something curious about him." Celebi said, and as soon as she did, she noticed a small smirk on the man's face, though his eyes were still closed.
"And what would that be?" The man asked while still wearing that smirk on his face, which made Celebi believe that he probably knows something, and if she thinks about it, and considering who he is, he most likely does know.
"Deep inside of him, I sensed some of your power, or more specifically, your presence," Celebi said, while looking at the man. "And it made me curious to see if he is one of them."
The man's smirk widened a little, and he then finally opened his eyes, and they were the same silver color as his hair and beard. He then looked at Celebi and said.
"You were right, he is one of them. But tell me, why did you decide to give him some of your powers?" He asked.
"Ash saved me from that vile man that would have caused an untold amount of damage if he had control over me and my time manipulation ability's," Celebi said. "So I thought he deserves a reword. I also looked at his mind and I saw that he is a very nice person who I'm sure will not use my powers for evil deeds, though I will admit that the amount of anger I felt coming from him at the moment I came out of that dark Poke Ball, did put me on edge a little. He will definitely have to work on his anger issues, which seem to come out when someone is doing something very bad."
After few minutes of silence, the man said. "I know what happened as I saw it all, and I agree with you that he has some anger issues, but I can't blame him, he is my descendent after all, and we all tend to be easily angered. You have met several of the others and know how they tend to be at some times."
Celebi nodded, as she know this man's history and the history of his race.
"Do you think he will be able to reach this place one day?" Celebi asked, and the man went quiet for a few moments, before he answered.
"If he stays the way he is now… I mean, if his mind and goals stay the same, and he doesn't stray from his path… then he will," the man said, but then his eyes narrowed a little, before he continued. "But if he slips, then he will not be able to come here, and will have to be disposed of."
Celebi flinched a little at what she knew was a promise, but after few moments she gathered herself and sighed. "It always made me curious as to why you are disposing of your descendants who go to the dark side, when you are neither light nor dark, and are in fact neutral."
The man looked at Celebi with the look in his eyes that made her nervous, and after few minutes of silence, he said. "My descendants who stick to the light side live their lives how they want, and then when the time comes, they and their loved ones come here to live without interfering in the mortal world," he stopped for a moment, and then continued. "On the other hand, those who go dark, don't want to come here, they want to stay in the mortal world and rule it, and that's causing death and destruction which then causes the balance to be shifted, and if left unchecked they could become a threat on a universal level. I mean, they are my descendants after all, and even the weakest of them have been extremely powerful.
"I have decided eons ago to deal with them in the beginning before they can cause damage which I will have to correct later, and I find it much easier to just dispose of them then to fix their destruction."
"I see…" Celebi simply said, and then went quiet, while the man was also quiet for the next few minutes.
"Keep an eye on him, but don't interfere with his life," the man said, as he stood up from his seating position, showing that he is about 6 foot three inches tall. "I want to see how he will decide to go with his life without anyone's interference."
"What about the other legendry and mythical Pokemon," Celebi asked? "What if they decided to give him some of their powers like I did?"
"Then let them be," the man said. "They know what they are doing and they wouldn't just give him some of their powers unless they know he deserves it.
"Besides, if enough of them give him their powers, then he will find out about this place much sooner, and I can't wait to see his reaction when he finds out about us."
As he said that, the man simply vanished from where he stood making it look like he was never there in the first place, leaving Celebi alone, who just sighed again, and also left the god-forsaken mountain of snow and ice.
XXX
When Ash returned to the Pokémon Center it was already early morning, and the sun has started to appear on the sky.
Because of that, he couldn't actually fly with Pidgeot back to his room, as if someone sees him, they might think his a burglar or something even worse, and he really didn't need to deal with Officer Jenny again, so he went to the front door, and hoped that Nurse Joy has woken up, and opened it, as it will be strange to stand in front of the Pokémon Center looking like shit from the lack of sleep last night.
To his luck, the entrance was opened, so he walked right in, and run into Nurse Joy and Chansey, who looked at him surprised.
"Ash, when did you get out, I haven't seen you, and I only opened the door 15 minutes ago?" Nurse Joy asked.
"I got out last night," Ash replied, and when he saw she was to ask another question, he interrupted her, and continued. "It's a long story, and I don't feel like telling you right now, as all I want is to go and get some sleep."
Nurse Joy nodded, and dropped the question. "Ok, Ash," she said. "But you must tell me later if something bad happened."
"You don't have to worry," Ash said, while walking toward the stairs. "Everything is ok now."
He then went on the stairs, and up two floors and then in his room, where he met Brock, along with Misty, Serena and Leaf, waiting to ask him where he was, and they did ask him when he walked into the room. But.
"I'll explain later," Ash said. "But now I need to sleep, so can you leave me alone for a few hours. I'm sure there is something in Azalea Town for you to do or see while I sleep."
They decided to let him rest, so the four of them exited the room, and went down to have breakfast, and then Leaf led them around Azalea Town for a while, and showed them everything she thought was interesting, while Ash was asleep all that time.
XXX
"Hey Leaf, you've been to the Azalea gym, right," Serena asked while they all were sitting in the shade in the park?
"Yeah, I went there right after I came here," Leaf replied. "Why do you ask? Do you maybe want to go and see it before your match?"
"Actually, I'm thinking about going there right now to have my match while Ash is sleeping," Serena said, and the others looked at her surprised.
"But why now," Misty asked? "Why not wait Ash, and then you can go together?"
"Well," Serena started her explanation. "I think to go and get it out of the way as soon as possible, because Ash probably won't wake up for a while, and then we will probably go to Kurt's house to see if he has found something about the GS Ball, which means we will have to be here the entire day tomorrow if we both have our battles tomorrow. But if I have mine now, Ash can have his in the morning, and then we can continue without wasting more time."
Serena finished her explanation, and the other three saw she has a point.
"Ok, I guess we can do that way, since we are all free now, and it would be a waste of time if we don't use this time for something productive, and just spend here waiting for Ash to wake up," Brock said, and Leaf and Misty nodded.
Then they stood up from their seats in the park, and Leaf led them to the Azalea Gym, which was about 15 minutes' walk from where they were.
XXX
When they arrived in front of the entrance to the Azalea Gym, they all stood and watched inside.
"This looks more like an indoor forest then the gym," Serena commented.
"That's because it is an indoor forest," Leaf said. "The place inside is huge, and there are trees and grass everywhere, and the glass roof allows the sun to enter, which is how this is all possible."
"Hey Leaf," Misty called Leaf, and when Leaf and the others looked at her, they saw her shaking. "Which type of Pokémon does the gym leader use here?"
When Leaf heard the question, it dawned to her why Misty was shaking like that. "Oh, it's a Bug-Type Gym." Leaf replied, and looked at Misty, almost waiting for her to start screaming and run for the hills.
Misty didn't run away, but she did start to back away from the entrance and the others, and when she was several meters away from everyone, she said. "I think I'll wait here until you finish inside."
"Come on Misty, you can't be serious," Leaf said. "You can't stay here alone while we go inside for Serena's battle."
"Leaf is right, Misty," Serena said. "Come on, we will all go inside, and will make sure nothing happens to you."
"Not that it's likely that there will be anything that we will have to make sure it doesn't happen to her," Leaf said, and Misty glared at her, because of the tone she said it in, which almost sounded like she was mocking Misty.
Eventually, Misty sighed, and decided to follow them inside, though she stayed behind Serena and Leaf, and in front of Brock, who was walking behind her, and all the time they were going through the enclosed forest, Misty franticly looked left and right, up and down, to see if some Bug Type will jump out and attack her.
While they were walking through the gym, the group noticed a large number of Bug-Type Pokémon, which almost made Misty run away, but managed to control herself, as none of them appeared to look at them, and they are minding their own business.
Few minutes after they walked into the gym, the group encountered a boy around their age sitting on the rather large branch of a tree, and sleeping.
"Is this kid the gym leader," Brock asked, looking at Leaf?
"Yes, that's him." Leaf said, and then walked ahead of them, and yelled. "Hey, Bugsy, wake up!"
The gym leader twitched a little, then he opened his eyes, rubbed them to take away the sleepiness, and then looked down at who was calling him.
"Aren't you that girl that challenged me about two months ago," Bugsy asked, while looking at Leaf? "Your name is... Leaf. Right?"
"I'm surprised you remember my name." Leaf said.
"Well, with your name being Leaf, and I'm surrounded by leaf's every day, it was not hard to remember." Bugsy said, and then walked down the ladder that were standing next to the tree.
"What are you doing here again," Bugsy asked? "You already won the badge from me."
"I've been here in Azalea Town since before our battle, and never left, since I've been waiting some friends to arrive," Leaf replied, and introduced the others. "And that's why we are here now, as Serena wasn't to challenge you to a gym battle."
"No problem," Bugsy said, and motioned for them to follow him. "Come on, the field is this way."
A minute later, Bugsy and Serena were standing on the opposite sides if the battle field, while the referee, who showed up right after them, was standing on the side of the field, and was ready to start the match.
"This is the official gym battle between the gym leader, Bugsy and the challenger, Serena," the referee said. "This will be a three-on-three battle, and lasts until one trainer loses all of his/her Pokémon. The gym leader can't substitute Pokémon during the battle, but the challenger can.
"Gym leader will choose his Pokémon first." The referee finished, and motioned to Bugsy to choose his first Pokémon for the battle.
"Spinarak, I choose you!" Bugsy said, and released his first Pokémon, and Misty shrieked in the back, from where she was standing and watching the match, and Brock and Leaf rolled their eyes at her.
Serena took one of her Poke Balls, and called her first Pokémon. "Come out, Pidgeotto!"
"Are you both ready?" The referee asked, and after both Bugsy and Serena confirmed, he started the match. "BEGIN!"
"Spinarak, use String Shot!" Bugsy start the battle, and is Pokémon shoot a white string from its mouth at the Pidgeotto who was in the middle of the air.
"Pidgeotto, use Wing Attack!" Serena said, before Pidgeotto could be hit by Spinarak's attack.
Both of Pidgeotto's wings glowed white, and she flew around the Strong Shot that Spinarak shot, and flew at it, with her wings glowing, and ready to hit him.
"Dodge to the side, Spinarak!" Bugsy said, and his Pokémon quickly moved to the side, just in time to escape from Pidgeotto's right wing, that was about to hit it. "Now use Poison Sting!"
Spinarak then fired multiple white needles from its mouth at the Pidgeotto, who turned around and was coming back at it.
"Pidgeotto, use Agility," Serena said, and Pidgeotto disappeared in an instance just before a bunch of stings were to hit her, and in the next instant, she reappeared behind Spinarak.
"Now use Gust!" Serena quickly said, to use the surprise in which Spinarak and Bugsy were.
Pidgeotto started flapping her wings at a high speed and created a miniature tornado to go at Spinarak, who didn't dodge it in time, and was lifted in the air, and swirled around by the winds.
"Great, now finish it off with Wing Attack!"
Again, Pidgeotto's wings glowed white, and she flew at Spinarak who was falling toward the ground after the tornado disappeared, and hit it straight on, sending it straight down, where it collided with the ground, and passed out.
"Spinarak is unable to continue," the referee said! "The winner of round 1, is Pidgeotto!"
"All right," Yelled Serena! "Great job, Pidgeotto!"
Pidgeotto hooted happily, and stayed in the air, as Serena didn't return her back, and waited to see Bugsy's next Pokémon.
Bugsy returned his Spinarak, and took another Poke Ball, and released his second Pokémon, which surprised everyone but the referee, as the Pokémon was Metapod.
"Are you really choosing Metapod as a second Pokémon," Serena asked, not expecting this?
"Don't underestimate my Metapod, or you'll regret it later." Bugsy said, and Serena looked at the two, and then a moment later, shrugged, and decided to stay with her Pidgeotto.
"I'm staying with Pidgeotto." Serena said, and the referee nodded, and started the round two.
"BEGIN!"
"Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!" Serena started, as she wasn't expecting Metapod to come to attack anytime soon.
"Metapod, Harden!" Bugsy countered, and Metapod glowed a greenish-whitish color and becomes hard as steel, while Pidgeotto dived down at a fast speed towards Metapod, and while diving, a white stream was being created behind her and she was surrounded by spirals of fire.
Pidgeotto was quickly down in front of Metapod, and hit it head on, but all it did, was one big, NOTHING, as Metapod didn't even move a little, and didn't appear to be damaged at all.
"What the hell?" Serena yelled surprised by Metapod still standing like nothing happened.
"Told you, don't underestimate Metapod, or you will regret it," Bugsy said with a smirk.
"Pidgeotto, use Gust," Serena said, thinking that if Pidgeotto can lift Metapod up in the air, it will be easier to send it flying with a hit.
"Use Harden, Metapod!" Bugsy said.
Pidgeotto again released a big gust of wind and created a tornado, by flapping her wings, and just like with Spinarak, Metapod was lifted into the air, and was flying around inside of the tornado, but it didn't appear to mind, as it looked as cool as ice, unlike Spinarak earlier, who was trying to break out, and was in pain.
"Use Wing Attack, again, Pidgeotto!" Serena said.
Pidgeotto flew inside the tornado, which lasted longer this time, with her wings glowing, and hit Metapod right in the middle of its body, and sent it out of the tornado, and right on the base of the tree, where it collided with it, and lifted the dust and dirt from the crush.
Pidgeotto flew back in front of Serena, and along with her, waited for the dust to clear out, and see if Metapod is down, or will it be able to continue.
"Metapod, Tackle!" Bugsy suddenly said, and to everyone's extreme surprised, Metapod jumped out of the dust cloud, and quickly Tackled Pidgeotto, who didn't move as both she and Serena were so surprised, they didn't react on time, and Pidgeotto was sent gliding through the air, and crush into the tree several meters behind Serena.
"Oh no, Pidgeotto," Serena yelled for her Pokémon, worried that she is hurt.
"Good job, Metapod," Bugsy sad to his Pokémon. "I think we've got this round in the bag."
"Come on Pidgeotto, can you stand up," Serena cheered and asked her Pokemon, who was slowly with a grimace of pain on her face, standing up.
Few moments later, Pidgeotto flew back to the field, but was covered in bruises, which she got from the crush and not from Tackle, which even though was strong, in the end was nothing compared to that crush.
"Ok, Pidgeotto, let's do something about that Harden," Serena said, and Pidgeotto nodded. "Use Air Slash!"
Pidgeotto's wings glow light blue and she flapped them, releasing multiple light blue glowing, disc-like energy blades from her wings, and they then went at Metapod, who was standing on the field, and glowing again, which meant he hardened, again.
When the bunch of disc-like energy blades hit Metapod, at first it didn't appear to be bothering it, but after first few passed and then next round continued, Metapod started feeling pain, and made grimace on its face, which Bugsy noticed.
"What the hell," he yelled? "How are those attack hurting him?"
Several seconds later, the attacks stopped, but Metapod was on lying on the ground, covered in bruises and cuts, just like Pidgeotto.
"Why did that work, and the attacks before didn't?" Misty asked
"Because there were too many attacks," Brock replied. "Quick Attack, Gust and Wing Attack hit once, and that's it, so harden, can stop them, but if a bunch of attacks hit all over its body for a while, Harden won't last, and will break."
"Great job, Pidgeotto, now use Wing Attack while it's down," Serena said, and her Pokémon quickly went with her attack, and landed a direct hit with Metapod, who couldn't build another Harden, and was blown back by Pidgeotto's attack.
"Metapod is unable to battle. The winner of round 2 is Pidgeotto!" The referee announced, and Serena and he Pidgeotto sighed in relief, and then Serena cheered for her Pokémon.
Bugsy sighed at his second-round defeat, and returned his Pokémon, which was now followed by Serena, who also returned her Pokémon, and waited for Bugsy to pick his last Pokémon, and then she will choose hers.
"That was a great comeback, Serena," Bugsy said. "I wasn't expecting Air Slash to work like that, and I got defeated, so congratulations on the move well planned, but, my last Pokémon is my strongest, so let's see what you do about him.
"Come on out, Scyther!"
Scyther came out, and got ready for battle, by warming up swinging his arms around, and the glaring at Serena trying to intimidate her a little.
"So, your final Pokémon is Scyther," Serena said, while she didn't allow herself to be intimidated by the glare Scyther sent her. "Ok then, I'll go with, Braixen, come out!"
Braixen also came out, and stood in front of Serena, and glaring back at Scyther as she saw the look on his face, and realized he was trying to intimidate her trainer.
"Are you both ready," the referee asked, and got two nods in return. "Then, BEGIN!"
"Braixen, use Flamethrower!" Serena started the third round with her attack.
Braixen pointed her wand stick at Scyther, and formed a red-orange flame at its tip. She then released a red-orange stream of fire from the tip of her wand at Scyther.
"Scyther, Double Team!" Bugsy countered Braixen's move after he was it coming.
Scyther's body glowed multicolored, then he creates several copies of himself, which spread in length next to each other, so when Braixen's Flamethrower hit, it destroyed several copies, but the real Scyther was not damaged.
"Good job, Scyther, now use Slash," Bugsy said, and went on offensive.
"Braixen, counter it with Scratch!" Serena said.
Scyther's scythes glow white, and he started to repeatedly slash at Braixen with them, while Braixen scratched back at Scyther with her right front paw, leaving a white trail of energy behind it.
Once the two Pokémon landed hits on one another, Scyther ended up with a big scratch mark on his face, while Braixen had few gashes on her body from Scyther's cuts.
"Well, this could have gone better," Bugsy sighed, seeing is Pokémon rubbing his slashed face, while Braixen was breathing a little harder, as she was also in pain.
"Are you ok, Braixen," Serena asked her Pokémon? "Are you able to continue, or do you want me to switch you?"
Braixen shacked her head, and stood ready to continue, with Scyther doing the same, after he stopped rubbing his face.
"Good, then use Fire Spin!" Serena said, and Braixen's sticks out her wand, and created a huge flame that then dissolved into multiple streams of fire that spin around, and went after Scyther.
"Scyther, defend with Swords Dance!" Bugsy countered.
Scyther crossed his claws across his chest and started to spin around rapidly, so when Fire Spin reached him, it bounced of off spinning Scyther, and went in the air toward the roof of the gym, where it dissolved after crushing in to the glass roof.
"Damn those defensive moves of yours," Serena shouted, getting frustrated from Bugsy's Pokémon being able to defend against her moves like they were nothing.
"I train my Pokémon well," Bugsy said with a smirk, and then continued with his next move. "Now, Scyther, use Fury Cutter."
"Braixen, try to dodged them, and then use Fire Blast!" Serena said.
Scyther then started to repeatedly slash at Braixen with his scythes, with the power of every next slash being higher, but Braixen jumped left and right, up and even kneeled down on the ground trying to dodge them all, and was mostly successful, if you don't count few small scratches here and there that grazed her.
After a minute of attacking, Scyther stopped, and started taking heavier breaths, as he was now tired from attacking so much, and the worst is, that the attack didn't do much damage at all, as Braixen was fine, if you don't count her being just as tired from dodging.
"Can you keep up, Braixen?" Serena asked, and Braixen took another deep breath, and then exhaled, after which she looked at Serena and nodded.
"Great, now use Fire Blast!" Serena said.
"Scyther, use Swords Dance, again!" Bugsy said.
Braixen took a deep breath, and fired a 大-shaped blast of yellow-orange fire from her mouth at Scyther, who, again started spinning, and again managed to deflect the blast, and remain mostly uninjured, though he was tired even more, and few burn marks were visible on his body.
Serena stopped and thought for a moment what to do next, as all of Braixen's Fire type attacks will be deflected with Swords Dance, and she doesn't know any other attack except Hidden Power and Protect, but those would not help.
After few moments, she came up with a plan, and went with it.
"Braixen, use Fire Spin, again," Serena said, and Braixen again sent her attack at Scyther, who started spinning, as the attack was coming at him.
"That's it, now Braixen, jump above Scyther, and use Flamethrower at him!" Serena said, finally figuring out how to get pass Scyther's defense.
"What the hell," Bugsy said surprised by what Serena came up with, and looked as Scyther stopped spinning as he deflected Fire Spin, and Braixen was already above him, and blew the most powerful Flamethrower she could, which hit directly at Scyther from above, and this time he didn't dodge or deflect it, and got burned pretty badly.
Scyther then fell on the ground after the fire disappeared, and passed out.
"Scyther is unable to battle," the referee announced! "The winner of round 3 and the match is Serena!"
"All right," Serena cheered again, and hugged her Pokémon, who hugged her back, while also wearing a big smile on her face that matched Serena's. "You were great, Braixen. That was one tough opponent, and you won, so congratulations."
"Congratulations to you to Serena," Brock said, and he, Misty and Leaf, approached Serena and Braixen. "That was a good battle, and great ending plan."
"Thanks guys," Serena said, and then Bugsy came as well.
"Well done Serena," he said. "You won three-to-zero, that doesn't happen often, so you should be happy with yourself. And that move on the end, brilliant. I admit I wasn't expecting that.
"So, as a proof you have defeated me, I give you the Hive Badge. Congratulation's again, Serena."
"Thank you, Bugsy," Serena thanked him, and took the badge from him, and looked at it for a second, then placed it in a badge case along with the other two.
After that, Serena and the others said good bye, and left the Azalea Gym, though they knew they will have to return again, most likely tomorrow for Ash's match.
XXX
When the group left the gym, Misty asked. "Where are we going now?"
"I don't know," Leaf replied. "There isn't much left to see, but it's already a launch time, so we could go back to the Pokémon Center."
"I agree," Brock said. "We can also see if Ash woke up, so he can tell us what happened last night."
"Ok then, let's go," Serena said, and the four of them walked away to Pokémon Center.
XXX
They arrived 15 minutes later, and were about to go to Ash's room and see if he was there, but Nurse Joy called them. "If you are looking for Ash, then he is in the cafeteria." Nurse Joy said.
"So, he woke up," Brock commented.
"Good, let's go and see him," Misty said.
When they entered into the cafeteria, they saw Ash sitting on the table in the far corner of the place, and there were also few other trainers, who were staying in the Pokémon Center, also eating.
"Hey Ash," Serena called as they approached him. "When did you get up?"
Ash looked up at them, and said. "Oh, hey guy. Come and seat." He offered them, and they all set down, and looked at him, waiting for him to answer the question, and then explain what he did last night.
"I got up about half an hour ago," Ash said. "What about you, where have you been?"
"We went around Azalea Town the entire morning," Leaf replied. "After that, Serena wanted to go to the gym, so we went there."
Ash looked from his plate, at Serena, with surprised expression on his face. "You went to the gym," he said. "But why didn't you wait me? We could have gone at the same time."
"Well, we had a free time, so instead of wasting it, I thought to go to have my battle, and get that over with, so we also won't have to stay the entire day tomorrow, and can leave right after your battle," Serena explained.
"But I could go right now, and finish the battle, and you would also have time, and we would be able to leave in the morning," Ash said.
"But don't we have to go and visit Kurt about the GS Ball?" Misty asked.
"Yeah, about that..." Ash said, and the he started to explain everything that happened last night, ever since he woke up because of the tremor until he came back to the Pokémon Center.
"You've got to be kidding me," Leaf said, in disbelief. "Celebi was inside of the GS Ball the entire time, and we didn't know!"
"Yeah," Ash replied.
"B-But how," Leaf asked again? "Why was Celebi inside the Poke Ball that couldn't be opened?"
"I don't know," Ash said. "I thought about asking Celebi that, but then I give up, maybe it wouldn't tell me, and it would be a waste of time. Besides, it's not that important now, since it is free again."
"I can't believe that guy was here, and almost caused so much damage without us even knowing," Brock said.
"Yeah, that's the bad thing," Ash said. "He had Celebi captured, and if I didn't show up, he could have potentially gone back in the past to change something, and we wouldn't even know it was changed."
"You are right," Misty said, with a shudder. "He could have killed us all."
"I don't think he would have gone back in time to just kill us," Ash said. "But no matter what he did, it wouldn't be good."
There was a silence for a few moments after that, until Serena asked. "So, what is your new Aura like?"
"Well, the color is green, instead of blue, and I can also affect and control plants and trees, like Celebi can," Ash said. "Though I still didn't try it out."
"I've got to see that," Leaf said, excitedly.
"I'll try it out later," Ash said, and then asked. "But what are we going to do now? Do you have some plan, or will we go back in the Azalea Gym for my battle?"
"It's all the same to me," Brock replied.
"I agree with Brock," Leaf said.
Ash though for a while, and then said. "Let's go to Kurt's house, I want to ask him something. We can go to the Gym in the morning, and then we can continue our journey after that."
The others shrugged, and agreed. Then they all took some launch, and after they finished, they went to Kurt's house.
XXX
When they arrived at Kurt's house, Ash knocked on the door, and after several seconds, Kurt opened.
"Oh, Ash, it's you," Kurt said after he saw Ash. "Come on in. All of you, come in."
Ash and the others followed Kurt inside his house, and he led them inside of the leaving room, where they saw Kurt's granddaughter, sitting on the bad, and reading some book.
"Ash, everyone, this is my granddaughter, Maizie," Kurt introduced them to his granddaughter, whose eyes almost widened after she saw Ash. "Maizie, this is Ash, and his friends... I'm sorry, I don't know your names."
It's ok," Ash said, and introduced his friends to Kurt, and his granddaughter. "This are Misty, Serena, Leaf and Brock."
"It's nice to meet you, Kurt, Maizie," Leaf and the others said.
After that, they set down on the bed, and chairs, and Kurt asked. "So, what can I do for you Ash?"
"Yeah, about that," Ash started. "I wanted to ask you to make some balls for me and my friends from different types of Apricorn's. I'll pay for all of them, of course."
"Well, I do have some balls made out of Apricorn already made, so I can just give them to you, free of charge," Kurt said. "I mean, you did save me in the Slowpoke Well, and caught that guy last night, so I'm in debt to you."
Maizie heard this, and asked. "What guy, grandpa? And what happened to you in Slowpoke Well?"
"I'll tell you later Maizie." Kurt said, and looked back at Ash, while Maizie pouted, which the girls in the room though was so cute.
"Don't worry about it," Ash said, to Kurt's words. "Besides, I couldn't take so many Poke Ball's from you, and not pay anything."
"When you say 'so many'," Kurt started. "How may do you think?"
"There are 7 types of Apricorn's, right," Ash asked, and Kurt nodded. "Well, I want all of them. One of each type, for 8 people, that's 56 balls, right."
Everyone's eyes widened at that, and Misty said. "But Ash, that's too much. Do you know how much that's going to cost?"
"Money is not an issue, Misty," Ash said, and Misty stayed quiet.
"But who are the other three, if the five of us are five," Serena asked?
"Amber, Cynthia and Diantha," Ash replied, and Serena nodded. She heard about Cynthia and Diantha being two more girlfriends of Ash's, but was quiet as she didn't want to bring that up in front of Kurt and Maizie.
Kurt then started thinking, and after a minute he said. "Well, I can make some of them right now, but there are some I have to wait for a while until the Apricorns are ready."
"It ok," Ash said. "I'm not in a hurry. Once you finish them all, just give me a call, and I'll come for them, or you can send them to me, depending where I'm at the time."
Kurt nodded at that, but Ash asked another question. "When do you want me to pay you? Now, or after you finish them."
"There is no rush, you can pay me when I'm done, and you see if you are satisfied," Kurt said, and Ash nodded.
After that, Ash and the others stayed a little longer, and talked with Kurt and his granddaughter about their journey, and about Ash's job as Aura Guardian, which was very interesting to Kurt, and especially his granddaughter, whose eyes were sparkling while Ash was talking about his training, and about things he can do. He also tried his new ability, and was able to completely revive an almost dead Apricorn tree behind Kurt's house, and everyone was amazed by this ability.
After the group spent few hours in Kurt's house, and when it was getting close to the end of the day, they said good bye, and went back to the Pokémon Center.
XXX
The next morning, the group awoke, and after they had breakfast, went to the Azalea Gym, so Ash can have his gym battle against Bugsy, after which, they will continue their journey toward the next gym.
Right now, they all are in the gym, with Ash and Bugsy standing on the ends of the field, while the others are watching from the side.
The referee announced the match, and told Ash and Bugsy to choose their Pokémon.
"Ariados, you are up," Bugsy said, and his first Pokémon came out.
"Ariados ha," Ash said, and took one of his Poke Ball's and let his first Pokémon out. "Bagon, I chose you!"
As the two Pokémon stood across from each other and glared at one another, the referee started the match. "BEGIN!"
"Ariados, use String Shot!" Bugsy started.
Ariados shoot multiple white strings from its mouth at Bagon, trying to tie him up.
"Bagon, use Protect!" Ash countered, and a turquoise force field appears in front of Bagon's body, and the strings from Ariados's attack just bounced of off it.
"That's an interesting way to defend," Bugsy said, and then continued with his next attack. "Ariados, use Venom Drench." Ariados created a purple ball of liquid poison, and then threw it at Bagon.
"Bagon, jump up to avoid and then use Dragon Breath," Ash said.
Bagon jumped up above the field just in time before the ball of liquid poison hit the place he was standing at, and spread around.
Once he was up in the air, Bagon released a white beam from his mouth at the Ariados, who could do nothing along with Bugsy, but watch as the beam hit it, and sent it rolling on the ground for a few meters from the hit and explosion.
Once the Ariados stopped rolling around, everyone saw it has passed out.
"Ariados is unable to continue," the referee said. "The winner of round one is Bagon!"
"Damn, that was quick," Bugsy said, not believing how quickly he was defeated, before he returned Ariados and called his next Pokemon. "You are up, Metapod!"
Metapod came out, and stood on the field, without moving or blinking, just like yesterday against Serena.
"BEGIN!" The referee said, after Ash confirmed he is staying with Bagon.
"Bagon, use Dragon Claw!" Ash started the second round.
"Metapod, use Harden." Bugsy said.
One of Bagon's hands become surrounded in a light green, claw-shaped energy. He then strikes at Metapod with it, and sent it flying all the way out of the field and several dozen meters in the forest.
After Metapod stopped bouncing off the ground and trees, Bugsy called it. "Hey Metapod, are you ok?"
Metapod raised and jumped back on the field and stood there glaring at Bagon, but also breathing hard and was covered in dust and there were some bruises on its body.
"Can you continue?" Bugsy asked, surprised by how much damage Metapod received from that attack even with Harden protecting it.
Metapod nodded, and just then it started glowing, its skin cracked, and instead of Metapod, there in front of everyone floated Butterfree.
"Butterfree, you evolved," Bugsy said, excited, and Butterfree nodded. "Great, now let's win this! Use Stun Spore!"
Butterfree flew over Bagon and released an orange mist comes from its wings, which then started falling on Bagon, and several feet around him.
"Bagon, use Protect," Ash said, and Bagon again protected himself from Butterfree's attack, by causing the spores Butterfree released to be spread around him on the field, but not fall on him.
"You really like that move, don't you?" Bugsy asked, and Ash smiled.
"It one of the best moves, and I teach all of my Pokémon, Protect." Ash replied, and Bugsy sighed.
"You know, yesterday Serena defeated my Scyther by finding a weakness in his defense, and by doing that gave me a job to find a way to deal with that weakness, and now you are giving me even more job, as now I have to find a way to get pass the Protect, as I never know when some trainer who loved that move as much as you, will come again." Bugsy said, but it looked like he was whining.
"Well, I can't help you with Scyther," Ash said. "But I will tell you, that the best way to get pass the Protect, is to overpower it, as a powerful enough attack will break it."
"Why are you telling me the weakness of your favorite move?" Bugsy asked, and Ash's friends were also interested in the answer.
"I don't know," Ash shrugged. "Maybe I want this battle to continue a little longer, or maybe I'm telling you because it won't help you at all unless you have a Pokémon that is powerful enough to break Bagon's Protect."
"We'll see," Bugsy said, and restarted the battle. "Butterfree use Gust and try to lift Bagon up!"
Butterfree's eyes glowed purple, and then it started to flap its wings and created a gust of wind from them, which then spread around the field, and tried to pull Bagon in the air, but it didn't work, as Bagon just stood there, while shielding his eyes from the dust that was flying around because of the wind.
"Bagon is too heavy for that move," Ash said. "You will need much stronger wind attack to lift him. Now Bagon use Dragon Rage!"
"Butterfree dodge and use Psybeam!" Bugsy yelled.
Bagon opened his mouth and fires a turquoise ball of energy from his mouth at Butterfree, who managed to fly away and avoid the orb that would have been its end in this battle, judging by the blow that it saw on the ground where the orb fell outside of the field.
"Bagon, use Dragon Claw!" Ash suddenly said, and Bugsy not expecting attack right away, just looked up at his Butterfree and saw it struck down by Bagon's glowing claw, and then it fell on the ground outside of the field and passed out.
"Butterfree is unable to battle, the winner is Bagon!" The referee said.
"Well done, Bagon," Ash said with a smile. "You seem to be on a roll. Do you think you can take on the last one?"
"Of course, I can!" Bagon said, while punching his fist against each other, and looking eager.
"Ok, then I will stay..." Ash started to say, but then Bagon started to glow, and his body started changing, as it grew a little.
"Look, Bagon is evolving," Misty said to the others, while looking at Bagon's sudden evolution.
"Yeah, it's surprising to see two Pokémon on opposite sides to evolve in the same battle," Brock said, also a little surprised.
Once the evolution was over and the glow was gone, in Bagon's place, now stood Shelgon.
"Congrats, Shelgon," Ash said, while smiling at is Pokémon's evolution. "You are now just one step away from your dream."
Bagon nodded, and looked back at Bugsy, who has returned his Butterfree, and took his final Poke Ball.
"Well done, Shelgon," Bugsy said. "But this battle is not over yet. Come out, Scyther."
Scyther came out, and was ready to battle instantly, wanting to prove that he is strong, and he won't allow yesterday's defeat to damage his reputation of a Pokémon tough to defeat by any trainer and Pokémon.
"I'm staying with Shelgon." Ash said, and the referee started the battle.
"BEGIN!"
"Shelgon, use Dragon Breath!" Ash said.
Shelgon formed a green ball in front of his face, and released a thick, green beam from at Scyther.
"Scyther, Double Team, and then Fury Cutter!" Bugsy countered.
Scyther's body glowed multicolored, then he created several copies of himself. And managed to evade Dragon Breath, while some of the copies were destroyed.
But then, all the remaining copies disappeared, and Scyther quickly flew toward Shelgon, and started to repeatedly slash at him.
"Shelgon, use Iron Defense!" Ash said, right before Scyther was about to strike, and Shelgon's body become outlined in light blue and then briefly shines, increasing Shelgon's defense, so he was able to take all of Scyther's attacks without any damage.
"Another defensive attack," Bugsy said, after his Scyther backed away as he was unable to cut through Shelgon's defense, and got tired from trying. "God damn it, how many defensive moves do your Pokémon now?"
"Quite a few, actually," Ash said. "But that's not important now, let's finish this Shelgon, use Dragon Pulse."
"Scyther, Swords Dance!" Bugsy said.
A turquoise ball appeared in front of Shelgon's face, and he then fired it at Scyther, who crossed his claws across his chest and started spinning around rapidly.
When Dragon Pulse collided with spinning Scyther, there was an explosion, and a moment later, Scyther flew backwards, much to the horror of Bugsy, and surprise of Serena, Misty and Brock, who expected it to bounce of him, like most of the attacks Serena used yesterday.
The only ones who wasn't surprised were Ash and Leaf, who knew why it happened like this.
"That might work against most fire attacks, but it won't work against Dragon Pulse, which is much more powerful," Ash explained to Bugsy.
Bugsy looked at Ash for a moment, and then sighed and looked at where Scyther flew, and was now standing back, but very slowly, as he was hurt, and was close to finished. Most likely he can go for one more move, and that's it.
"Come on Scyther, let's not give up until the end," Bugsy said to his Pokémon, trying to motivate him to fight a little longer, and it worked, as Scyther nodded, and stood back on the field. "Use Slash!"
"Use Iron Defense again, Shelgon, and then finish this with Dragon Breath!" Ash said.
Scyther's scythe's glowed white, and he flew at Shelgon, to try and slash him at least once in this battle, but, in the end, it was not meant to happen, as Shelgon glowed with blue color again, and then shined a little, so when Scyther started slashing at him, all the slashes just bounced of off Shelgon's body, without making any damage to Shelgon, and instead, only brought pain to himself, as it was like hitting at solid steel.
Once Scyther got tired, and pulled back, Shelgon followed Ash's last command, and fired another Dragon Breath at Scyther, which hit him head on, and caused another explosion, which led to Scyther's defeat.
"Scyther is unable to battle, the winner of round three is Shelgon, and the winner of the match is Ash!" The referee announced, and Ash's friends cheered for him, and approached him to congratulate him.
"That was a great battle, Ash," Serena said. "You won with only one Pokémon. Bagon really has become strong Pokémon."
"He really did," Ash said. "And he will become even stronger from now on."
Bugsy then approached him and the others. "Congratulations, Ash, you really are great trainer, and have earned this badge." Bugsy congratulated, and gave Ash, Azalea Gym Badge.
"Thanks, Bugsy," Ash said, and took the Hive Badge from Bugsy's hand.
After that, the group left Bugsy and the Azalea Gym behind, and went back to Pokémon Center to pick their stuff, and then continue their journey.