Awakening

Awakening

Chapter 36: Battle Royale

Ashimi found herself at Mount Silver, standing at the summit across her grandfather. "This time we battle for real, I expect that you've trained enough to bring a better challenge than last time. There's no need to hold back here. The rules are up to you."

Ashimi was surprised by the opportunity, and thought about what kind of rules she wanted. Nothing too complicated, she had enough to watch out for as it was. "Six pokemon," she finally replied, that should maximize her chances of victory. Though Giovanni would also have the same number of pokemon at his disposal at least she had more choices and the chance to come up with a long term strategy. Then an idea occurred to her. "At the same time."

Giovanni considered her words and a grin spread across his face. "A battle royale," that would be interesting indeed. "Very well then, go," he signaled for the female Persian that stood beside him. Purry stood between the two trainers and was soon joined by five others who emerged from red beams of light out of their pokeballs. The male Persian, who was Giovanni's lifelong companion yawned and sat comfortably at his master's feet to watch the battle. A Rhyperior, a Machamp and surprisingly a Porygon-Z materialized, but that was just the beginning. Aerodactyl appeared, followed by a pokemon that seemed to be a cross between Kabutops and Genesect. It was Giovanni's version of the armored pokemon, which retained noticeable features from the original form, such as the scythes.

'No digging,' Ashimi thought. She had seen what Giovanni's earthquakes could do outside of the gym and this was no ordinary gym battle, the tunnels would collapse too quickly, crushing the pokemon inside. She'd have to come up with an effective defense though, and having all her pokemon out at once made that a little easier.

"Rhyperior, poison jab on the Pikachu," Giovanni began the attack.

"Clefable, telekinesis, Lightning, volt tackle Kabutops!" Ashimi responded. Clefable lifted Lightning over Rhyperior and set him at a course with his target.

"Kabutops, flash cannon!" Giovanni defended.

"Telekinesis! Smoke screen!" In her rush, Ashimi didn't specify who the orders were for, but she didn't really need to. Clefable hurried to get Lightning to safety, while Chari covered his retreat. The beam from the canon was massive and Lightning just barely got out of the way.

Kabutops still retained his original appearance for the most part, but he had the power of Genesect. "Icy wind!" At Giovanni's command, Kabutops called forth a freezing wind that blew away the smoke and chilled his opponents.

"Heat wave!" Ashimi countered. Chari tried to warm the area, while Kabotops continued to chill it. "

"Persian, shadow ball, on all of them," Giovanni commanded. Purry let out a series of attacks in rapid succession. The male Persian sitting beside Giovanni grunted from the sidelines, a bit jealous of his mate. He was supposed to be Persian, she was just girl, as Giovanni never called her by her original nicknamed of Purry from when she was Pixel's pokemon. Albeit the male Persian could understand the reason for the distinction, Aerodactyl was a girl too after all, it still bothered him.

Ashimi knew that simply dodging would be useless. Purry's ruby horn was glowing and the shadow balls flew around in unusual patterns as if homing in on their targets. It was time to increase the defenses. "Everyone, fall back, Clefable, light screen!" The pokemon retreated to surround Clefable and become enveloped in her protection. "Lightning, thunder wave! Golbat, super sonic!" The pulses of electricity disrupted the shadowy projectiles and the super sonic waves interfered with their signal source, Purry. "Clefable, hang back and alternate between light screen and reflect as needed."

So far Ashimi had put on some very good defenses, but Giovanni was determined to break through them. There were several Porygon-Z in Team Rocket's control that were linked to satellites. They all had different code names for distinction. This one was made for battle, "Maverick, satellite beam!"

Ashimi's eyes widened as the skies lit up, "everyone, charge!" She shouted, pointing across the designated battle area. All the pokemon rushed forward and chaos broke loose. Yet it was the only way to keep them safe from the satellite. A large laser beam crashed into the mountain top, leaving a crater in front of Ashimi, where her pokemon stood not long ago. She had to take out that Porygon-Z, and until she did, she had to stay close to the opposing team, so that the weapon would backfire if it was used.

"Machamp, close combat! Persian, night slash! Rhyperior, stone edge! Aerodactyl, iron tail! Kabutops, super power! Maverick, gravity!" Giovanni called out in a hurry, as Ashimi's whole team rushed forward to avoid the hit from the satellite's laser beam.

Being the strongest physically, Chari didn't think twice before charging towards the imposing Machamp. She didn't need to be told what to do, as she had practiced it before. She moved closer, and as the Machamp attacked, she used her wings to quickly propel herself in a back flip and hit Machamp with an iron tail uppercut that made the fighter stagger back.

Furball saw this as an opportunity to prove himself. He had battled his mother before, but she always won with ease and kept telling him to train harder. Yet the Meowth knew he had no advantages. Purry, being a Persian, was bigger, stronger and more experienced, with sharper claws and a ruby horn, rather than a flat gem like Persians normally had. "Furball, toxic and don't stop moving!" The feline took off at his trainer's voice, releasing purplish toxic mist as he went. Purry was quick to give pursuit.

"Double thunderbolt on Purry!" Furball released his electricity just as Purry caught up and tackled him. She was hit with a double charge of electricity, the other attack coming from Lightning, but resisted, yet it was enough to weaken her stance. "Hydro pump!" Wartortle shot a strong beam of water that freed Furball from Purry's grasp and threw her a few feet back. "Keep using toxic, Furball!" With no worries about who got caught in it, Furball continued to spread his poisonous mist.

As sharp stones began to protrude from the mountain, those who could fly took to the air. Clefable scrambled to dodge despite the gravity slowing her movements. It wasn't so bad, since they had trained in high gravity before, but due to the speed of the powerful attacks, Clefable was still unable to dodge and fight back at the same time among the chaos.

"Golbat, shadow ball Rhyperior!" The bat did so continuously until Rhyperior's attack ceased and Clefable caught her breath. Due to the proximity of the combatants, Furball's poison inevitably reached everyone, but he knew that wouldn't be a problem, since Clefable was there to heal their allies. "Clefable, heal bell! Golbat, back her up with shadow ball!" Clefable began to heal her allies of the poison, leaving only the opposing team to suffer its effects.

Aerodactyl dove into the heat of battle and swung her massive tail, which had taken a metallic texture as she attacked. The pokemon on the ground tried to move out of the way of the incoming attacks, but the heavy gravity that came because of Maverick, made it require more effort that it normally would. Even if they were doing alright for now, Ashimi knew that it would all pile up.

"Wartortle, hydro pump and ice beam, on Maverick!" The water pokemon alternated between the attacks, aiming at where Ashimi was pointing, though the Porygon-Z was not in his line of sight, due to the chaos that separated them. With the water being rapidly followed by the freezing beams, sharp shards of ice were formed. The cold projectiles traveled across the battle field, opening up a path towards the target. It was a small opening, but it was enough.

"Golbat, aerial ace!" The bat speedily rushed forward, dodging stray attacks from the chaotic battle royale until he reached Maverick. "Acrobatics and steel wing!" Golbat remained continuously on the move with his fast acrobatics, his wings were covered in a metallic texture as he continued to attack Maverick.

Giovanni shifted his focus to the Porygon-Z. "Maverick, defense curl!" The battle royale was more challenging than he thought, and to top it all up his pokemon were poisoned. Ashimi's pokemon were clearly used to training together and she never really changed her main team, which made them get used to each other. That minimized accidental attacks on allies among the fast paced chaos and increased their opportunities to successfully help each other. Giovanni knew that he had the advantage in power, but Ashimi's defenses had certainly improved.

Since Clefable had finished her part of using heal bell and no longer needed Golbat to watch her back, she could defend herself and contribute to the battle. "Clefable, meteor mash! Chari, smoke screen!" The smoke Chari produced covered not only the area where she fought Machamp, but also where Clefable had rushed in to face Kabutops as he chased after Lightning, rapidly swinging his scythes. Kabutops didn't see the attack coming and it was a direct hit. The prehistoric pokemon angrily blew the smoke away with an icy wind, but went on the attack at the first hint of movement before the smoke had cleared enough to actually see what it was. The sharp tip of his scythe reached Machamp, who angrily fought back. Above them, Chari flew, holding Clefable out of reach as they both chuckled.

"Kabutops, Machamp, stop this instant!" Giovanni's scolding voice made the two pokemon back away from each other. He continued ordering attacks among the chaos.

"Wartortle, spin and use aqua tail!" The move cleared the space around the water pokemon, making the attackers back away momentarily. "Hydro pump, spread it out nicely!" The strategy may seem puzzling at first, as spreading the attack would diminish its power. "Furball, water pulse! Watch his back Lightning." Pretty soon the combatants were all wet. "Retreat!" The pokemon backed away, back towards the crater where the satellite struck before.

Giovanni thought that the opportunity was too easy, but he tried to take it anyway. "Maverick, satellite beam!"

"All out super sonic and double thunderbolt!" Ashimi called out in a hurry. Before Maverick could activate the weapon in the atmosphere, Lightning and Furball went all out with their electric attacks. Golbat joined in with super sonic waves to which the opposing pokemon were more susceptible while being electrocuted. Ashimi sent more pokemon on an all out attack before the opposing team could recover. "Chari, fire blast! Golbat, gust!" Chari's flames blanketed the battle field as she released a series of powerful fire blasts. Golbat's gust fanned the flames, making the attack inescapable.

Through the flames and all, Giovanni's pokemon were still following his orders, attacking relentlessly and charging into the crater. "Satellite hologram!"

The satellite activated again. The pokemon were all too close to each other for the laser attack to be effective without hitting both sides, but it could still be used as a distraction. Holographic images of Maverick, Purry, Rhyperior, Aerodactyl, Kabutops and Machamp appeared, creating confusion with the fake doubles.

"Golbat, super sonic, give it all you have!" Golbat released his super sonic waves as per Ashimi's counter strategy. The holographic images flickered with the interference. The pokemon could tell apart the fakes, but Golbat was kept busy in his efforts.

Giovanni decided that keeping up the hologram wasn't worth it just to keep Golbat busy and Maverick could be put to better use joining the battle along with the other pokemon. "Maverick, electro web!" The Porygon-Z shot electrified nets to try to entrap the other pokemon. He didn't have a clear path to all of them from the ground and Golbat was still disrupting the satellite signal. Accessorizing pokemon with satellites and advanced armor was seen as illegal in official battles, but this wasn't as much an official battle as it was a test, though a badge could still come out of it.

Maverick's electro web shot out towards Golbat, who speedily dodged it. The virtual pokemon then shot at Wartortle, who was too busy fighting off Kabutops to dodge, and instead withdrew into his shell and used iron defense to minimize the damage of the electric web wrapping around him. Kabutops tried to pound on his shell to make him come out, though Giovanni saw a better strategy. "Kabutops, flash canon!"

The armored prehistoric pokemon aimed his canon at the opening on Wartortle's shell. "Lightning, give Wartortle a light shock to free him! Clefable, telekinesis on Kabutops!" Clefable jumped back and focused her psychic powers on Rhyperior and Kabutops at the same time, defending Wartortle and herself. Lightning and Furball had stayed close to compliment each other's attacks. Furball faced Purry, who had been chasing them, to give Lightning some time to free Wartortle. The delay in Kabutops' attack thanks to Clefable was enough for Wartortle to regain his bearings. "Hydro pump!" His head popped out of his shell and he assaulted Kabutops with a strong hydro pump point blank, that pushed him back several feet.

Furball had become trapped and was squirming to escape Purry. 'I can't go easy on you,' she reminded.

'I know,' Furball replied, 'and I'm not asking you to.' He was just as feisty as his mother, though he hadn't been through the battles she had. Dark pulse, water pulse, thunderbolt, nothing worked to free himself.

'Train harder,' Purry advised. She released and electric attack that overtook Furball's senses, but he refused to faint.

Furball heard Ashimi saying something, but he couldn't make out her words. Lightning was there, aiming his thunder attack at Purry. The Pikachu was getting closer in an attempt to free his friend, who remained pinned to the ground. Purry batted Lightning away with an iron tail attack. Ashimi looked across the battle field, everyone was busy, but she couldn't be the first to lose a pokemon, numbers and complementary attacks with team work were her only chance.

"Golbat, use shadow ball, then steal wing and aerial ace on Purry!" The bat hurried off on the attack. The shadow balls were little more than a distraction, then Golbat flew in combining steal wing and aerial ace to collide with Purry with great force, despite the thunderbolt she released as a counter attack. It was enough to make her lose her grip on Furball, and the Meowth hurried to escape.

Golbat dizzily landed, sore and unable to take off fast enough. Purry recovered quickly and used night slash. Golbat was hurt badly, and though Ashimi was urging Lightning and Furball to help him, she knew that reaching him among the chaos was no easy task. "Double thunderbolt!" Lightning and Furball released their full electrical power on Purry, who responded with the same element. Golbat took the opportunity to snap out of the pained daze and take to the air.

Seeing this as an opportunity to get rid of the interfering bat, Giovanni commanded, "Persian, horn attack on Golbat!" Hearing her master's voice, Purry ceased the counter attack despite the electricity still directed at her and jumped to an impressive height that Golbat couldn't have anticipated. Her ruby horn stabbed into the center of the bat's body, glowing with a light water pulse that Ashimi didn't think made sense.

The energy was pushing outward, the water softly rippling out with gentleness that didn't match the attack. Then Ashimi realized what it was. Purry was lethal, but this wasn't a fight to the finish. She was purposely dulling her attack, to make it effective, but not deadly. Golbat fell in defeat, fainted. 'No...' Ashimi thought, she had lost a pokemon and had not been able to eliminate any from the opposing team yet. "Golbat return!" She recalled him before he was trampled in the chaos. "You did well, your efforts won't be in vain."

Purry looked quite at home in the chaos. That was how it was in her time as a Meowth. She was left scarred with even her coin-like charm being broken on one side and sharpened. Yet what past injuries didn't kill her made her stronger after she met Pixel and followed her for the sake of being closer to her secret crush, the Rocket boss' pokemon. Evolution left her looking regal and flawless, except for the deformity of the ruby on her forehead that was a horn instead of a gem. A freak by the standards of a wild Persian, but a rare beauty by human standards and also in the eyes of a more refined pokemon of her kind.

Furball was shocked to the point where Lightning had to nudge him to get him to react. The Meowth wanted to prove to his mother and to everyone that he was strong. Yet his mother's level seemed so unreachable as she fought among the chaos looking like a mythological combination of lioness and unicorn. 'I know it's a high goal to reach, but you can do it,' Lightning encouraged.

'Right, I won't give up,' Furball was determined. He knew that Lightning could relate to him, given who his parents were, and if his friend wasn't giving up, neither was he.

"Maverick, holograms! Aerodactyl, dragon claw!" Giovanni continued the attack. The flying prehistoric pokemon clawed at the combatants below. Lightning and Furball dodged left and right, but Aerodactyl was relentless.

Ashimi was thinking about how she should respond when she realized she shouldn't. She couldn't just fight back, she had to take control of the battle and lead the effort. First she would take out the satellite's controller and get rid of those confusing holograms. The real pokemon were so close to the projections that it was hard to determine which was giving off the living presence, as her aura sense wasn't that precise yet. "Lightning, quick attack on Maverick! Furball, shadow ball on Aerodactyl!"

The Meowth tried to keep the flying dinosaur busy by shooting a shadow ball whenever he wasn't too busy dodging the predator's claws. At the same time, the Pikachu slipped away and dodged the other fighters as he progressed towards the Porygon-Z, making good use of his speed.

"Maverick, zap canon!" The Porygon-Z shot several beams that Lightning speedily dodged. Even the holographic double was shooting and the Pikachu wasn't taking any chances on miscalculating which attack was real. He could figure it out by attacking, but he didn't want to slow his pace.

"Thunder wave!" As Lightning got closer to his opponent, he released his electricity and disrupted the hologram, while creating an opening to attack the real Maverick at close range.

"Zen headbutt!" Giovanni reacted quickly, calling for a change of tactics. Maverick fought back, trying to hit Lightning.

"Careful, Lightning, keep dodging!" Ashimi had seen her grandfather battle before and watched many videos with her pokemon, so his pokemon's movements in close combat were not unknown. She watched for an opening as Lightning made good use of what he had learned in his recent training. "Thunder iron tail!" Lightning flipped suddenly and simultaneously released his electricity while hitting Maverick with his now metallic tail. The attack was very strong and the Porygon-Z was thrown back and didn't get up.

"Aerodactyl!" Giovanni called out. The fossil pokemon noticed what had happened and ceased her pursuit of Furball. She picked up Maverick and set him on the sidelines, then returned to the battle.

'Why not just recall him?' Ashimi quietly wondered in confusion. She didn't have much time to dwell on it though, as the battle was still progressing and she had to decide what her next target would be.

Kabutops was a danger, Ashimi knew he had not shown his full power. It would take all her remaining pokemon to take him out, but if they had to deal with the others at the same time that would make the task even more challenging. Aerodactyl had the air advantage, flying high and low at intervals to attack while staying out of harm's way. Chari could battle her in the air one on one. "Chari, air slash up to Aerodactyl!"

The Charizard took to the sky when Aerodactyl's altitude had increased. The fossil pokemon went higher trying to dodge. "Dragon claw!" Both Ashimi and Giovanni called out at the same time. Chari and Aerodactyl began to claw at each other wildly, the battle was truly fierce!

'I have to be the one to make the first move, to control the pace of the battle, it's the only way I stand a chance,' Ashimi thought, but it would not be easy. "Wartortle, hydro pump and ice beam at Machamp!" The water pokemon's first two attacks didn't quite make it through the chaos of the battle field to hit the target fully, but he now had an ice spear that he could break into a rain of shards or use as a weapon. "Charge!" Using the ice spear to open a path, Wartortle made his way forward to Machamp.

Giovanni switched between looking up and to the area in front of him. Though the pokemon fought and dodged constantly, it was those instances of directly guided battles within the war that made a big difference. "Kabutops bubble beam and scald!"

The arena was flooded with bubbles that made dodging and even seeing beyond them difficult. Then the boiling water attacks came. "Clefable, reinforce the light screen, focus on that! Lightning, watch her back!" By then Wartortle had made it to Machamp, but nothing was left from his ice spear.

Ashimi was taking the lead and soon Giovanni realized that controlling so many pokemon at once wasn't so easy when he had to counter, rather than just make a move. "Machamp, dynamic punch!"

"Wartortle withdraw and hydro pump at the ground!" The turtle pokemon went flying like a rocket and hit Machamp on the face. "Aqua tail!" He turned around in mid air and his tails emerged from his shell, spinning to hit Machamp again. "Chari, fire blitz!" Up in the air, the Charizard began a series of fast fire attacks combined with fighting moves.

"Aerodactyl, iron head!" Aerodactyl went on the offensive again, trying to knock Chari out of the sky.

'That's it, divide your attention, don't focus too much on Kabutops,' Ashimi thought. If she kept up the battle in the sky, Giovanni would be compelled to look up every now and then, and she could use that time to overwhelm with a series of quick strategies on the ground. "Chari, smoke screen and dragon rage!"

"Aerodactyl, blow that smoke away and use aerial ace!" Giovanni called out, but when the smoke cleared, Chari was nowhere to be seen, then in a split second the Charizard dove from above and attacked with a relentless force.

The battle in the sky was the perfect distraction. By all logic the pokemon that was alone would need the more help from the trainer, but the way Ashimi saw it, all of Giovanni's pokemon were fighting alone. They were on the same team and working towards the same goal, but they weren't used to battling together and didn't know how to complement each other like her pokemon did.

"Furball, regroup with Wartortle!" That meant that Purry would go along, since she had mostly been chasing Furball, trying to push him to battle harder, while he mostly dodged. "Lightning, thunder on Aerodactyl!" The electric bolt flew up and caught Aerodactyl, who was kept quite busy by Chari. "Chari, fire blitz!"

"Aerodactyl, giga impact!" Giovanni tried to end the sky battle as quickly as possible, so he could focus on what was happening on the ground. "Rhyperior, hammer arm on that Pikachu! Kabutops, flash canon the Charizard!" Giovanni ordered in a rush.

As Furball charged in, Machamp was still a bit dazed from Wartortle's attack and tried to punch the Meowth away. Furball jumped higher than the Machamp expected. "Iron tail!" Furball spun in mid air, his metallic tail hitting Machamp on the face. The fighter still threw punches at random though the Meowth was landing behind him. Purry ducked to dodge the incoming attacks, though Machamp still cut his knuckles as the punch reached the tip of her ruby horn. The fighter growled and the feline hissed. "Night slash!" Furball didn't give Machamp time to recover before attacking again.

"Lightning, quick attack on Kabutops!" The Pikachu was on the move again, speedily crossing the battle field towards the armored fossil pokemon. "Volt tackle!" Lightning sped up even more, surrounded by electricity and tackled Kabutops just as he was using a flash cannon. The electric mouse scurried between Kabutops' legs and dashed off. Rhyperior tried to chase after him, but Lightning was faster.

The flash canon was thrown off course and hit Aerodactyl instead of Chari. She was knocked out of the sky and crashed into the chaos below. 'The sky battle was a good distraction, I didn't mean to end it so soon, but I guess I might as well.' "Finish Aerodactyl! Chari, fire blast! Lightning, thunder!" Aerodactyl was further assaulted before she could recover and finally knocked out.

"Machamp, get Aerodactyl!" Machamp immediately stopped his current feud and hurried to follow Giovanni's command. He placed Aerodactyl on the sidelines and rejoined the battle.

'Why?' Ashimi wondered in confusion. 'Why hasn't he recalled any pokemon?' She didn't get it, but she had a feeling that it wasn't done in vain, nothing Giovanni did was without a purpose. "Furball, toxic!" Ashimi reinforced the poison to continue weakening her opponents. Again, inevitably some of her own pokemon were caught in the poisonous mist as well, but that was quickly resolved. "Clefable, heal bell!"

Giovanni couldn't believe Ashimi was in the lead, and that poison wasn't helping him either. He needed to end this fast. 'Focus,' he thought, he couldn't allow the chaos to distract him, or the fact that a part of him was proud that Ashimi took to it without being overwhelmed. 'My next target is Clefable,' he reminded himself. Clefable was boosting the others' defenses, with her gone, the rest of the team would be easier to take out. "Kabutops, flash canon at Clefable!"

"Keep the defense up, Clefable! Lightning, thunder at Kabutops!" Ashimi called out in a rush.

"Machamp, focus blast on Clefable! Rhyperior, earthquake!" The ground shook violently, making it difficult for Clefable to stand and lowering her concentration. Machamp's blasts came at random, though Lightning tried to defend his teammate.

"Wartortle, hydro pump on Kabutops!" Ashimi knew that losing Clefable's defensive boost would be very bad, so she tried to defend the psychic pokemon. As Lightning and Wartortle attacked Kabutops from each side, the revived and upgraded fossil took to the skies with a jet pack that emerged from the back of his armor.

"Flash canon!" Kabutops crashed into Clefable's psychic shield after being missed by Lightning and Wartortle's attacks. The fossil cyborg attacked relentlessly until Clefable's shield couldn't hold out anymore.

'I can't allow myself to lose another pokemon!' Ashimi thought. Chari was flying, shooting fireballs at Machamp and Rhyperior. Furball was busy trying to evade Purry's attacks as if they were having a private mother son training session. "Lightning, Wartortle-"

"Explosion!" Giovanni's voice echoed across the battle field, drowning out all other sounds. The flash of light and subsequent release of sound waves and chunks of metal was massive.

"Clefable!" Furball was far enough to take cover and not suffer damage beyond scratches, minor burns and a pounding headache accompanied by ringing ears. Chari retreated high up at the last second and managed to escape the blast unharmed. "Lightning! Wartortle!" Clefable would surely have fainted when the smoke cleared, maybe even Lightning and Wartortle since they were so close. Yet when the smoke cleared out only Clefable was unconscious. Lightning and Wartortle were several feet away from where they had stood, looking refreshed.

Clefable was bruised, beaten and bloody. Ashimi soon realized what must have happened. "Clefable, return! You really made a big difference with your quick thinking." Clefable used her telekinesis to push Lightning and Wartortle away. Then in her final moment of consciousness, she used healing wish to sacrifice what little energy she had left to heal the teammates within her reach, splitting the energy between them. That left her even more exposed to the attack, but she knew she wouldn't be able to resist it anyway, so she gave the last bit of her strength to her companions.

'Kabutops used explosion, so I'm still ahead,' Ashimi tried to focus on the positive. To her surprise something emerged from the rubble next to where she had recalled Clefable. 'Looks like I don't have the number advantage after all.' Kabutops stood up without his armor. There was a certain glow to him that indicated he had used a strong version of harden right before the explosion. The explosion itself had been produced by the armor, which he could fight without, although he would lose the moves exclusive to Genesect.

Giovanni had used a strong move that he wouldn't be able to repeat in the remainder of the battle, but he had substantially weakened Ashimi's defenses and brought the match back to a draw. His pokemon were still weakened by the poison, but they were strong and could resist it. It would be too risky for Ashimi to reinforce the poison again in this close combat, since she didn't have Clefable to heal her own pokemon if they got caught in the toxic mist. "Machamp, brick break on the Wartortle!" The water pokemon had tough defenses that Giovanni thought he better break through as soon as possible.

"Wartortle, withdraw and use hydro pump from inside your shell!" It was a seemingly perfect counter strategy, but thing were never simple.

"Rhyperior, hammer arm!" Rhyperior knocked Wartortle's shell away, causing the hydro pump to miss. "Kabutops, night slash!" The prehistoric pokemon leapt on the attack slashing nonstop with his scythes to no avail, as Wartortle's shell protected him.

"Chari, fire blast!" The Charizard flew over the other combatants, using her fire to defend her teammate.

Giovanni glanced at Purry. "Get in there, girl." She ran towards the intense battle, leaving a tired Furball to wonder what she was planning to do. Surprising Ashimi, the daring Persian charged right in with a horn attack, except there was something different about it, the horn was glowing.

"Wartortle, hydro pump!" Nothing happened and Purry dashed right into the shell, squeezing inside in a way only a cat could. Ashimi's eyes went wide as Wartortle's shell rolled around due to the battle taking place within. She realized too late what the ruby horn's glow meant, 'she can use disable.' It was unusual, but then so was the horn and there were ways to teach pokemon moves that their kind could very rarely learn. "Try a different move, water gun, ice beam, anything!" Purry jumped out of the shell and Wartortle didn't come out. Ashimi could sense his low energy as if he were asleep, but she knew what it really meant, he had fainted. "Wartortle, return! You put up a good fight."

Giovanni didn't waste another second, this battle had gone on long enough. "Machamp, rolling kick on the Pikachu."

"Dodge it, Lightning! I'll tell you when to use volt tackle." Ashimi watched for an opening.

"Rhyperior, rock wrecker, on the Charizard!" Rhyperior continuously threw boulders at Chari, who dodged them in the air and responded with fire blasts. Giovanni knew he had to get her to come down, but she had no reason to at the moment, unless the rest of the team was in danger of being knocked out and she went to defend them. "Cross chop! Brick break! Rolling kick! Dynamic punch!" Giovanni coached Machamp move per move, but Lightning kept dodging as if he knew exactly what was coming. Then Giovanni realized it, of course he knew, Ashimi put his notes to good use after all.

Lightning felt like he was back in the hologram room, training with Ashimi. He knew her voice would come even before he heard her, "volt tackle!" He tackled Machamp with everything he had, throwing the larger pokemon back several feet. "Furball, shadow ball Rhyperior!" Furball was flailing around in the air, Purry had used her own tail to pick him up by the tail and hold him out of reach, but he still managed to shoot a shadow ball in Rhyperior's direction.

The attack bought enough time for Chari break away from the battle for her next attack. "Seismic toss!" Before Machamp could recover, Chari picked him off the ground and gained altitude again.

"Kabutops, hyper beam, knock that Charizard out of the sky!" Giovanni was losing his patience. He had to put that Charizard out of the battle. "Rhyperior, rock wrecker!"

Chari dove full speed, dodging the boulders and beams of energy while Machamp struggled to get free. The seismic toss left the fighting pokemon in a crater on the ground as dust flew up in a thick cloud. Ashimi knew she couldn't take any chances. "Furball, shadow ball at Rhyperior! Lightning, thunder at Kabutops! Chari, fire blast at Machamp!" Ashimi knew there was a very good chance that Rhyperior and Kabutops would dodge, but it would still work in her favor, as her true intension was to keep them busy, so they wouldn't get in the way of Chari's attack, which Machamp wouldn't be able to dodge. The smoke and dust cleared, and sure enough Machamp had fainted.

"Quit playing around!" Giovanni snapped at Purry. She immediately smashed Furball against the ground, still holding him by the tail with her own tail. The Meowth was dazed, but he still continued to flail. He attempted to shoot a shadow ball at his mother, but she shook him in the air so much he missed.

'Machamp is still in that crater, but there are less combatants now, so he's less likely to get caught in the battle,' Ashimi thought. 'I still don't get it, why haven't any of them been recalled?'

"Rhyperior, mega horn on Pikachu!" Giovanni continued on the attack, refusing to give up the lead of the battle. They were at a draw once again, with three pokemon each. Rhyperior went on the attack, Lightning was faster, but he was tired. "Kabutops, sand storm!" Kabutops began to spin as he ran his scythes through the ground in tornado patterns. The dust began to fly until it covered the arena. "Kabutops, hyper beam on the Charizard!"

"Be careful, Chari, go higher!" Chari couldn't see where the beams were coming from on the ground, but at least if she gained altitude, she had more time to dodge. That also meant having a harder time trying to hit any targets on the ground with her fire, but she couldn't see them through the sand anyway, so they were relying on luck and instinct.

Purry smashed Furball on the ground again and yawned. The effects of the poison were getting harder to resist and she was feeling lightheaded. None the less, she withstood it. She knew the poison always felt worse when it was about to fade away, so if she could resist it, she would feel better soon. 'You're really stubborn, aren't you?'

'Almost as much as you,' Furball dizzily replied.

'I bet your father would have already been long since knocked out,' Purry teased.

An indignant hiss came from the sidelines next to Giovanni. 'I heard that!' The male Persian protested. He made a mental note to start training again. He couldn't deny that he had become lazy over the years and he had to remedy that.

"Kabutops, stone edge on Pikachu!" Giovanni shifted tactics.

"Chari, dive!" Ashimi called out in a rush.

"Rhyperior, fire blast on Pikachu!" Lightning was trapped between the two attackers. Chari dove into the area and grabbed Lightning, protecting him from the stone edge attack. The fire blast came from the other side, behind her. She blocked it with her tail and though it still hurt, her flame burned very brightly.

"Night slash!" Kabutops charged at Chari with his scythes at the ready.

"Iron tail!" Chari swung her tail at Kabutops, it was covered by a metallic texture that glowed red as it burned. "Lightning, iron tail Rhyperior!" Kabutops was knocked off his feet and fell back. Lightning went on the offensive, preventing Rhyperior from interfering. "Blast burn!" Chari went all out attacking Kabutops point blank until her tail flame was dim and the prehistoric pokemon had fainted.

Purry continued smashing Furball against the ground. 'Get knocked out already, you stubborn kitten,' she grinned at how strong her son had become, even if she was relentless in her attack.

'No way! I won't give up!' Furball struggled with everything he had, just to remain conscious.

'Looks like Rhyperior's alone against those two, I better join in.' Purry harshly smashed Furball against the ground one last time and ran off to join Rhyperior.

Furball was barely conscious, too dizzy to do much at the moment except lie there. "Furball, I knew you could keep Purry busy, well done!" Ashimi commended. "Stay there and try to recover for now." She turned her attention to the other combatants. They were all tired, Chari and Lightning had just made a great effort, but Rhyperior and Purry had been suffering from poisoning for most of the battle, but it had diminished and faded away by now. Ashimi knew she needed to buy some time for Furball to recover and join in, then it would be three against two. "Smoke screen and retreat!" Chari gave them some cover and they ran off.

"Stop stalling! Persian, Rhyperior, finish this!" Giovanni called out impatiently. "Rhyperior, blizzard!" The cold wind and snow began to blow the smoke away, but when it cleared, there was no one there. Giovanni automatically looked up, guessing that the pokemon would take to the sky. Sure enough, the Charizard was hovering overhead with the Pikachu and Meowth on her back. She was fast to have time to pick them both up. "Rhyperior, throw Persian up there!" Purry jumped, landing on Rhyperior's arm and he threw her as high as he could. "Thunder!" She released a powerful electric attack in the air, which Chari tried to dodge, but wasn't able to. The static clung to her wings and rendered them paralyzed. It was hard just to keep them open to soften the landing. "Rhyperior, stone edge!"

"Chari!" Chari stepped back and jump trying to dodge the attack, but it all came too fast. "Lightning, Furball, double thunder!" They jumped towards Rhyperior and attacked together.

"Persian, night slash!" Purry jumped towards the attacking pair, claws out.

"Fire blast!" Though Chari had not yet fully recovered, she shot a strong flame that knocked Purry away from Lightning and Furball, leaving her with burns. "Dragon rage!" The fire pokemon charged forward full force, unconcerned for the dimness of her tail flame, though Ashimi was certainly worrying. Yet it was now or never, "fire blitz and another double thunderbolt!"

"Rhyperior, hyper beam!" Chari didn't deviate from her target despite the direct hit. Smoke came from her tiny tail flame and she fainted, but Purry had fainted as well.

Giovanni's male Persian watched the intense fight from the sidelines. 'I really do need to start training again,' he quietly thought. He didn't realize just how far behind he had fallen.

"Chari, return, you did great, super brave as always." Ashimi recalled her. She realized that the battle could go either way at this point.

"Earthquake!" Giovanni went on the attack again, not wasting the opportunity to make the next move.

The ground shook violently, preventing Lightning and Furball from making any moves. "C'mon, focus!" They tried to regain their balance with great difficulty. "Lightning, give Furball a boost." Furball hopped on Lightning's back. The two were about the same size, but this way Lightning would withstand the earthquake so that Furball could gain enough balance to jump on Rhyperior. "Water pulse!" Furball landed on Rhyperior's head and attacked with all he had. He was tired, dazed, and barely registered what was going on around him. By the time Rhyperior managed to pry him off, Furball had already fainted. "Furball, return! Lightning iron tail! You did great, Furball, you've gotten very strong." Lightning charged in before Rhyperior could fully recover from the water pulse and hit him with every bit of strength he had left. Rhyperior stumbled back and fell, exhausted and barely conscious. "It's almost over, one more attack!"

"Everyone hyper beam!" Giovanni's sudden command took Ashimi by surprise, as all the pokemon got up shakily to attack one last time. They had rested for a while, so it wasn't all that unbelievable that they would wake up from their fainting, the shocking part was that they were attacking despite their weakened state. Rhyperior struggled to get up and joined in.

Lightning tried to dodge the hits, but there were too many and he couldn't dodge them all. The effort made Giovanni's pokemon faint again as they had not recovered enough to battle. However, Lightning also fainted. "Return!" Giovanni finally recalled all his pokemon.

Ashimi recalled Lightning as well, as he would be a little more comfortable in his pokeball due to its standard healing mechanism that all pokeballs had by default. "You fought to the very end Lightning, it was a great battle." She sighed and walked across the mangled terrain of the battle field. "I guess I wasn't strong enough after all. I should have trained harder during the holidays..."

"Yes, you should have, but you still earned this." Giovanni gave her an earth badge.

"But it was a draw," Ashimi only stared at it unsure.

Giovanni placed the badge in the palm of her hand. "It was only a draw because I used illegal tactics to see how far I could push you. Take it, you've earned it."

"Thank you..." A smile formed on Ashimi's face. "My final badge... I'm going to the Indigo League!" She cheered.

To be Continued

Though Giovanni isn't one to usually name his pokemon, it's kind of a necessity with the Porygon-Z, since there are several that interact with the Rocket virtual systems and it makes it easier to identify them, plus they might need a 'filename' for some of the more technical stuff. Maverick was named after the term used in Megaman X for a rogue robot, though he is in fact well trained and loyal to Giovanni.

Awakening

Chapter 37: The Indigo League (Part 1)

Ashimi couldn't contain her excitement as the helicopter flew from Mount Silver to Viridian City. "The Indigo League may disappoint you," Giovanni warned.

His words took Ashimi by surprise. "The Indigo League is every trainer's dream. It's the most famous of all the regional pokemon leagues, how can it disappoint me?"

"No battle royales, minimal unexpected tricks, lots of rules. It won't be like our battle and pulling a stunt like what you did at Cinnabar Island would just get you disqualified." Giovanni was referring to her rampage rather than the badge battle.

Ashimi laughed nervously, "I'll be careful." When the helicopter landed, Ashimi's friends were waiting for her. She had gotten used to her link with Zero and the distance had been no problem, though it was still relatively short. She started telling them about the battle, not skipping a single detail.

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The remaining days were spent both training and relaxing, though there didn't have time to do too much before it was time to head to the Indigo Plateau. Her friends were allowed to tag along and they all rode on a large comfortable helicopter with two propellers. Though the transport was able to move fast, it chose to move slowly through the sky, alongside several small helicopter pods carrying cameras from various channels. They were all moving at the same pace as the people below, who were traveling on foot, following the trainer holding the torch.

The last stretch of the road was reached and the boy carrying the torch handed it over to a girl with lavender hair. "Doesn't she look kind of familiar?" Jonathan asked.

"You're right..." Volt looked at the TV rather than the window to get a closer look when the camera zoomed in. The camera focused on the girl and he recognized her. "It's that girl from the Vulpix contest. If not for Johnny she might have won or tied with Ashimi."

"Don't remind me," Jonathan groaned.

"I wasn't paying attention to the details at the time because I was focused on the contest, and everyone looked different with all that makeup on anyway. But now I feel like I've seen her face somewhere other than the contest," Ashimi voiced in thought.

A silent pause passed before Zero suggested, "Daala?" They all stared at the TV waiting for the aerial view to switch to a close up again.

Then they finally saw it, she had changed her hair, but she was the same person. "Why is Daala carrying the torch?" Dorme inquired, though she didn't expect anyone to know the answer.

"Looks like the Indigo League might be more exciting than we thought," Ashimi mused aloud.

"In any case, we'll have to watch our backs," Volt cautioned.

"Right, we won't let Daala ruin the Indigo League!" Jonathan agreed.

"Does that mean you're going to use that sword you're carrying?" Dorme half joked.

Jonathan retrieved the sword, pulling it out over his shoulder from the sheath on his back. "If I have to."

"It is a cool new sword," Volt observed the shiny weapon. "A replica of the Master Sword, right?"

"It is more than just cool," Jonathan grinned, "and yes, I always wanted a legendary video game sword and last year I got it."

"Last year?" Dorme blinked in surprise. "How come I haven't see you with it if you've had it for that long? Did you forget it at the bottom of your locker or something?"

"I had my reasons not to take it with me right away..." Jonathan vaguely replied.

"It's because he could barely lift it when he got it," Ashimi revealed.

"Hey, this thing's heavy!" Jonathan pouted, "besides, I can use it just fine now," he defended.

"Can I?" Jonathan handed the sword to Volt, who started making heroic poses with it. "It's not really heavy."

"You don't think anything is heavy," Jonathan grumbled.

"I'll have to agree with Johnny on this one," Dorme nodded. "Which is why you're so good to have around in shopping trips."

"That's an inconvenient... compliment?" Volt breathed unsure.

"It's pretty convenient to me," Dorme smiled.

They finally made it to the stadium and remained in the air. They gathered around a glass floor panel and watched as Daala lit an arrow, the archer, a boy around her age, shot the arrow into the large torch that ignited with the fire that signified the start of the Indigo League. The crowd cheered and music played and several people put on a show in the stadium. The helicopter landed and Ashimi went to join the other trainers to march through the stadium in a few minutes, while her friends and family went to take their seats.

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Ashimi had filled the moment with excitement in her mind, so walking across the stadium felt like so much more than a simple motion. She was filled with joy, as if she had been born for that very moment, until... 'A victory shall be claimed.' It was that voice again. That ominous echoing voice in her head spoke to her again after a long silence. It was evil and mocking, she knew right away it wasn't saying she would win the Indigo League.

Ashimi felt that the victory it mentioned would be her loss. 'Legend...' She tried to stay focused and follow the pace of the people around her. 'I won't let you ruin this for me. I won't let you win!' Darkness enveloped her and she knew nothing of the world as her senses faded away.

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Ashimi felt as if she had fainted, but when she woke up, she wasn't on a bed in her assigned room at the plateau or in the infirmary, or anywhere where she could have been placed to rest. She was standing in the trainer's platform across from an impatient boy and the announcer told her to call out her first pokemon. She didn't know how she got there and it worried her that she couldn't remember.

She knew that the crowds' eyes were on her as she tried to regain her bearings, but one gaze stood apart from the others. Despite the distance Ashimi found herself staring into her father's eyes. She forced a smile and tried to pass her odd behavior as nerves. All her pokemon were in their pokeballs, the rules didn't allow trainers to march with their pokemon during the opening ceremony ever since a battle broke loose a few years ago. Without any time to give it any further thought, Ashimi called out a pokemon. "Wartortle, I choose you!" That made sense to her, since her opponent's pokemon was a Magmar. Yet it didn't excuse why she took that long to make such an obvious choice.

"Finally!" The boy huffed. Ashimi finally took a moment to recognize him and noticed he was the one who shot the arrow earlier. He must be a talented trainer, so type advantage aside, this was no time to space out. She didn't know his name, she assumed that the announcer must have introduced them, but she wasn't quite there to hear it.

The archer said something, but his voice came out distorted to Ashimi and she didn't understand. Then something very unusual occurred. Magmar began to wave a pair of fluffy pon-pons around like a cheerleader. Ashimi stared in confusion, when did Magmar even get the pon-pons? She was sure she didn't have them a few seconds ago. Wartortle was looking uncomfortable and covering his face. "Wartortle, hydro pump!"

The water pokemon obeyed, but the attack didn't have as much of an effect as Ashimi hoped. The announcer was saying something, but she couldn't make out the words. The voices of the crowd mixed into disruptive murmurs that were both loud and impossible to decipher. When Ashimi tried to focus, one thing stood out to her, Magmar was attacking with seeds. How was that even possible?

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In one of the private VIP balconies, Giovanni was throwing a fit, yelling at several people through his ear piece. "Do we have an intruder? Sabrina? Anyone suspicious at all?"

"No sir, nothing to report," Comet's voice replied.

"Nothing on my end either," Pixel added.

"Check the equipment," Giovanni insisted. "Something is definitely wrong with her but nothing is touching her, this has to be some kind of psychic attack!" He looked at the trainer's platform where Ashimi stood. Jessie and James were inspecting the area surrounding the base of the platform, but they didn't look like they found any sort of suspicious device that could be interfering with their psychic sensors. Sabrina could stay hidden if she kept her power suppressed, but not if she was using it on Ashimi. Jessie and James made a final check of the area and went back inside the round stadium building to search the rest of the surrounding areas along with many other Rockets.

"No..." Ash gasped. Misty, Delia, Jonathan, Dorme, Volt and Zero stared at him expectantly. "The attack is coming from the inside. This doesn't make sense, the earrings should have protected her. What could be strong enough to get through? This is... What is this?!" His senses felt clouded, drowned in darkness.

"Ashimi, I'm coming!" Zero began to concentrate, surrounded by a blue light.

'Be careful, aniki!' Nidorino called out as Zero reverted to his default form and began to fade, until he was gone completely. He didn't return to the data crystal though, instead he followed the link of energy straight to Ashimi.

"What's that little glitch doing?" Giovanni growled impatiently.

"He's... He's connected to Ashimi somehow," Ash couldn't really explain it, but if there was one thing he realized, it was that there was a lot his daughter needed to tell him. "He's trying to help her... I think he's taking over so she can focus her energy at a subconscious level and fight whatever it is that's attacking her."

"Possession?" Giovanni didn't like the sound of that. "Can a program even do that?"

"He's not just a program..." Ash whispered. "But I didn't expect something like this. It's because her energy extends out and links to him that this is possible. What I can't explain is how Ashimi even did that. Not even I can link myself to another living creature for an extended period of time, certainly not one as different as Zero."

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Ashimi suddenly went limp and looked as if she would fall over. She slowly lifted her head and blinked her eyes into focus, except it wasn't she who was doing any of that. "Wartortle, use hydro pump gently, straight up." It was Ashimi's voice, as it was her vocal cords that were in use, but it wasn't she who was speaking at all. She moved somewhat stiffly, as if on puppet strings, like a possessed doll, or as being possessed by a doll. The water went up softly and showered down on Wartortle. 'That should wash off some of the stun spores from before,' Zero thought.

Wartortle looked up at the platform with concern. "It'll be okay," Zero assured. The water pokemon knew this wasn't his trainer, the look in the eyes was so different, but the turtle also knew who it was that stepped in, someone he could trust. Zero could see the truth, as the attack to the senses was only reaching Ashimi. Wartortle's opponent was Jumpluff. "Jumpluff, use poison powder!" The archer called out.

"Wartortle, rain dance!" The move wouldn't be very effective against Jumpluff, but it would help wash away the spores in the air, now that Wartortle had recovered enough mobility to do the dance. 'He's using long range attacks because he knows Wartortle is stronger, it's time to charge in,' Zero thought.

"Jumpluff, energy ball!" The grass pokemon began to form a powerful sphere of concentrated energy, ready to fire it in a split second.

"Withdraw and hydro pump, charge in!" Just as Jumpluff released the energy ball, Wartortle retreated into his shell and shot his hydro pump at the grassy ground of the arena. He shot into the air, but Jumpluff was quick to avoid the collision.

Now that they were face to face at close range, the archer immediately tried to recover the distance between them. "Solar beam!"

"Iron defense and brick break!" Wartortle charged in, he was hit by Jumpluff's attack, but delivered a devastating blow and Jumpluff fainted.

The announcer attributed the round to Ashimi. The rules of the Indigo League varied over the years and sometimes they came up with special rules to keep things interesting. This year the trainers battled with four pokemon each, with a fifth pokemon to be called out only in the case of a draw. Once a pokemon was recalled, it couldn't be called out until the next battle. However, if a pokemon was knocked out, it couldn't be called out for the remainder of the league. Ashimi didn't like to catch more pokemon than she could carry because of her concern for pokemon being abandoned and forgotten in suspended animation in a digital storage.

Ashimi could send her pokemon to Gary, but he already had his hands full trying to give Team Rocket's pokemon a chance to go outside, run and play every now and then, and those were a lot of pokemon to take turns visiting him. Ashimi wasn't even sure how many Team Rocket kept in storage, and how many were not even allowed to visit Gary, but she wasn't about to add to those numbers. She could only hope the dream world project was completed soon, so that pokemon could interact with each other and their trainers in a digital world, rather than remain in a frozen dreamless coma.

This year's rules were not favorable to Ashimi, but she was still determined to do her best. She reasoned that if her pokemon started to look tired, all she had to do was recall them before they fainted and she could send them out to battle again in the next round after they recovered. For the trainers that adopted that careful strategy, it technically meant that they would be down one pokemon as well, albeit they could still use it in the future. It made for an interesting twist and the opportunity to come back from behind.

The archer recalled Jumpluff and called out his next pokemon. "I won't underestimate you again, go Dragonite!"

'I better be careful,' Zero thought, he didn't want to let any of Ashimi's pokemon faint. "Well done Wartortle, you can rest now, return!" After recalling Wartortle, he called out the next pokemon, the best choice he could think off to face a Dragonite, especially that Dragonite. Even if it might be a bit mean, he couldn't let Ashimi lose. "Chari, I choose you!"

The Dragonite growled in recognition, while Chari huffed as if proudly justifying herself. The Dragonite was missing an antennae from the last encounter with the fierce fire pokemon. The dragon had lived with Gary for a while, who received a visit from Lance and the dragon trainer had taken an interest in the Dragonite. Gary had contacted Ashimi about it and she said to go ahead and give the Dragonite to Lance. This boy must be someone Lance trusted for the Dragonite to have ended up in his hands.

Then Zero remembered why the cyan haired boy looked familiar. Evazan Embo, as the announcer had called him, was known in Johto simply as Arrow and sometimes acted as a vigilante, but he was smart enough to stay away from Team Rocket. He was rumored to help pokemon in the wild too. "Chari, be careful, don't get cocky," despite the warning, the Charizard was ready to do just that.

Chari blew a smoke ring as if to show her superiority and indifference. Dragonite frowned but didn't make a move until his trainer indicated. "Dragonite, use aqua tail!" The dragon pokemon went on the offensive, swinging his tail strongly at Chari.

Chari swung her own tail recklessly, to bat away the dragon's watery tail. A veil of steam emerged from her tail and covered the arena. The fire pokemon couldn't help it but to cringe at how strong the attack was, but she fought not to show it.

"C'mon Chari, try to be careful!" Zero insisted again. Chari flew up to the trainer's platform and perched on the railing, looking into the eyes that were physically Ashimi's with a look that wasn't her own. The perceptive pokemon had realized right away who this was and assumed Zero had a good reason to possess Ashimi. She extended her claw and ruffled Ashimi's hair. "You're treating me like a little kid, aren't you?"

'It's okay chibi, I can handle this,' Chari replied before hopping back into the arena. Dragonite was waiting at the ready and received her with another aqua tail. That time Chari dodged then shot an oversized stream of flames non-stop. Dragonite was quick to get out of the way, but Chari kept up the breath of fire, trying to hit him.

"Stop showing off, you're wasting your energy!" Zero warned fruitlessly. Chari continued until she had to pause to catch her breath. Dragonite was flying overhead.

Chari growled and took to the sky, clawing and kicking in the air, but her movements were so desperate for superiority and so impatient that they came out clumsy, until Dragonite managed to knock her down. "Dragonite, use hyper beam!"

"Chari, get up! Get out of the way!" Zero prepared the pokeball, but at the last second Chari rolled out of the way, dodging the red recall beam and mostly dodging the hyper beam.

Chari didn't escape without a scratch, as her right wing was caught by the hyper beam and it was evident that she wouldn't be able to fly until she took a trip to the infirmary. 'You... you'll pay for that!' The Charizard roar ferociously.

"Chari, let's try this one more time," Zero tried to reason with her. He knew that as long as she had even an ounce of strength left, she would resist being recalled into her pokeball.

Chari nodded, 'fine, I'll listen to you this time, but you better have some good ideas, chibi.'

Zero's first idea was quite simple, yet necessary, "watch out!" Another hyper beam flew by just barely missing the target. 'Okay, so Chari can't fly and her tail flame isn't doing too great. I'll have to lure Dragonite to the ground,' Zero thought. "Use smoke screen and dig!" The smoke screen covered her retreat, as the Charizard dug into the grassy arena. She kept her injured wing flat against her back so as to not further damage it.

"Dragonite, use hurricane!" The smoke screen was easily blown away along with chunks of grass and dirt from the arena. Thankfully, Chari was buried deep enough to stay hidden. "Hiding like a coward, come out and face me!"

"Stay where you are, Chari, we don't take orders from them!" Zero hoped that she wouldn't listen to the taunts.

Seeing as there was no other choice, Arrow sent Dragonite down to the ground with a new plan of attack. "Use earthquake!"

The Dragonite dove to initiate the attack on the ground. "Dragonite is going towards the center of the arena!" Chari surfaced just as Dragonite approached. "Fire blast!" Before the dragon could attack, he was received by a massive blast of flames. Chari didn't have a lot of fire to waste, but this was an emergency.

Arrow made a quick change of tactics that could result fatal if Chari was hit at such a close range. "Hyper beam!"

"Fire fang!" Dragonite had backed up in reaction to the fire blast. Chari quickly pushed herself up with her tail and batted her good wing to jump before he could go further out of reach in the air. However, Dragonite was already too high up and she only managed to bite onto his tail, though it was enough to force him to land. "Dragon claw, just like you practiced!" Chari began a rapid succession of slashes, though it looked more like she was boxing while stabbing with her claws.

Arrow wasn't sure how to counter, so he called for the only attack that might be able to break through the fire pokemon's fighting style. "Dragon rage!"

'Big mistake,' Zero grinned. Dragonite had been lured into fighting how he wanted and now Chari stood on equal grounds. "Keep going Chari, concentrate on dodging and keep him busy. Don't lose the rhythm and don't get impatient, an opportunity will come up!" The exchange continued like a boxing match with claws until finally, Zero saw an opening. "Focus punch!" Chari's stance and delivery were perfect for maximum strength. She bent her knees and stretched them as she brought her fist up to Dragonite's jaw in a solid hit. The dragon staggered back dizzily as a trickle of blood went down the side of his jaw. "Finish him! Giga impact!"

Chari tackled Dragonite with everything she had. He was knocked to the ground harshly, but Chari didn't know if he was knocked out or not, she did know that she was finished, she wouldn't be able to exert herself any longer. With the last of her strength she slashed at Dragonite, too dazed, desperate and fearful of losing to realize what she was doing. There was the red beam of a pokeball, but Chari didn't know it was for Dragonite and tried to block it with her good wing, focusing on resisting it. "Chari! Chari, that's enough! Stop!"

The Charizard finally came to her senses and stumbled back in a daze. Dragonite was finally recalled and Arrow was glaring daggers. 'Is it over?' Chari breathe desperately. 'Did we win?'

"Yeah... We won, you can rest now..." Zero recalled Chari and let out a breath of relief, she was exhausted, but didn't faint, so she could be called out to battle again later. Ashimi wouldn't be happy to find she got an official warning for use of excessive force on a fainted pokemon. One more display like that and she would be disqualified. That Dragonite was certainly unfortunate.

Despite having lost two rounds, Arrow knew that he still had a chance if he won the remaining two, plus the tie breaker, but he wasn't really expecting that to happen. Even the pokemon he had borrowed from Lance failed and the experience in the league was supposed to help Dragonite adapt to battling again. Arrow felt that he had disappointed Lance, whom he had a lot of respect for and he couldn't get himself to focus on the remainder of the battle. "Go Yanmega!"

The bug pokemon buzzed around speedily and it was difficult just following his movements. "Golbat, I choose you!" At least Golbat seemed ready to listen. "Super sonic!"

"Super sonic!" Yanmega responded with the same ability and the super sonic waves seemed to cancel each other out.

"Aerial ace!" Golbat began to fly rapidly, trying hard to hit Yanmega.

"Double team!" The dragonfly's movements sped up even more, enough to create the illusion of there being two. "Quick attack!" Yanmega went on the offensive, but without his pokedex functions, Zero couldn't tell which one was real. Golbat was trying to dodge them both, but it was not easy. "Don't stop moving Golbat, use super sonic!" The waves didn't affect Yanmega too much, but the false image rippled. "Get ready to use air slash... now!" The attack hit the right target, slowing Yanmega's speedy movements and making the double disappear. "Air slash again!"

The dragonfly reacted quickly and dodged. Arrow knew he couldn't allow Golbat to continue getting ahead. "Ancient power!" Yanmega dove from the sky and flew close to the ground before pulling up in a fast fluid motion. Stones and clumps of dirt rose up from the ground after him. The earthly projectiles flew at Golbat from every direction.

"Be careful, Golbat, go higher!" Golbat tried to gain altitude to make the dodging easier but the rocks and dirt were coming fast from all directions and he was inevitably hit. "Golbat!" Golbat fell down to the grassy field. Zero looked down from the trainer's platform, worried that he had fainted. Golbat saw worry reflected on Ashimi's face, though because of his bond with her, he knew the consciousness wasn't her own.

The worry suddenly turned to pain as Zero felt Ashimi slipping away. He looked up just in time to see Ash exchange a few rushed words with Giovanni, Misty and Delia, before leaving the balcony, Jonathan, Dorme and Volt went after him. Zero knew that he sensed Ashimi was in danger, "she can't hold on, we need to finish this." Golbat's sensitive hearing picked up Zero's quiet words. He couldn't get knocked out.

Golbat wasn't as physically strong as Ashimi's other pokemon, but she always encouraged him to take pride in his speed. He couldn't let her down, the battle wouldn't last another round and even if she was ahead, if Ashimi was pulled out of the battle, a forfeit was still a forfeit. Golbat pulled himself off the ground and took to the air again as the announcer expressed his surprise, having initially thought the bat had fainted.

"Golbat, we need to finish this quickly, acrobatics!" Golbat pushed himself beyond the limit to fly faster. The speedy Yanmega kept up with him, but was unable to do anything other than dodge. "Toxic!" A toxic cloud began to form while Golbat continued his impressive flying. The cloud grew in size, but Golbat didn't stop.

"Yanmega!" Arrow called out to his pokemon in concern. The way Golbat attacked while moving so quickly was really something. He had heard that Ashimi never rotated her pokemon, having the same team constantly with her must have made them exceptionally strong. 'If I had known about this...' If he lost now it wouldn't matter, he would never get the chance to call out his strongest ally.

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At the entrance to the battle arena in the center of the stadium, Ash had made it past the guards with the use of his Pokemon League connections, or at least that was one theory. Jonathan, Dorme and Volt thought they were scared of his 'get out of my way or else' glare, especially since his well known massively powerful Pikachu was on his shoulder.

"Wait!" Dorme called out. "The battle is still going on. If you take Ashimi away now, she'll be disqualified!"

"She's in danger!" Ash snapped. "The thing possessing her is evil. Zero is making it so that Ashimi can focus on fighting it without worrying about consciously controlling her body or battling, but it's not enough!"

"She's possessed?" Volt and Dorme stared while Jonathan was left in silent thought. "But she worked so hard to get here and the battle is almost done," Volt pleaded.

"Step aside," Ash ordered and it took everything they had for Volt and Dorme to remain still. Ash still pushed past them though, only to find Jonathan blocking his path ahead, "move."

"No..." Jonathan refused. "A risk is better than an assured loss. I think Ashimi was talking about more than just the Indigo League. I don't know the full details, but I understand a little more now and I intend to keep my promise. Give Zero a little more time to win the battle."

"There is no time!" Ash went to push past Jonathan as well, but found himself facing Foxtrot. "Thunderbolt!" There was nowhere to run, Pikachu's immense power filled the hallway and left the Flareon barely standing. "He didn't faint right away, you've trained him well, but you can't beat me in a pokemon battle."

Foxtrot could barely stay on his feet and that was just one thunderbolt. If it had been thunder it would have been enough to make him faint. "You're right, I can't win in a pokemon battle." Jonathan recalled Foxtrot. He unsheathed his sword, holding it in front of him. "How about a sword fight instead?"

"I know you think you're helping Ashimi, but I don't have time to make you understand." Ash charged forward, light accumulating in his hand. A blade of pure blue aura with a white glow sliced the master sword replica in half, but Jonathan didn't move out of the way.

"We all trust Ashimi," Dorme stood on one side of Ash.

"And we know she can get through whatever it is that's happening to her," Volt added, standing at Ash's other side.

"Pikachu..." Ash whispered with a tangible tinge of guilt. The yellow mouse paused for a second, but soon released his electricity, paralyzing Dorme, Volt and Jonathan with his static. Ash walked a few steps forward before Jonathan stopped him again, though he could hardly move. "You're really stubborn..." A sense of danger invaded Ash and he panicked for a second. He projected a sphere of aura to push Jonathan out of the way, sending the boy to crash against the wall, before dashing down the hallway.

xoxox xox xoxox

Golbat's toxic cloud covered the whole arena and the bat kept flying through it trying to hit Yanmega, they were both poisoned. "Venoshock!"

"Hidden power!" Yanmega released a mysterious power, glowing and focusing his energy despite all that was happening around him.

Golbat screeched as if in pain, though Yanmega had not physically touched him. "Use hidden power too!" Struggling to concentrate, Golbat focused on what he needed to do. He didn't want to be the first to get knocked out, he didn't want to cost time that they didn't have. He had to be strong, his trainer and friends needed him and believed in him. The glow surrounding Golbat became brighter as the toxic cloud dissipated to give way to the battle of inner strength. With a fierce battle cry, Golbat took on the form of Crobat and finally succeeded, Yanmega fainted.

"Three straight wins despite all the difficulties..." Arrow whispered under his breath. It was true what they said about Ash's daughter being in a class of her own. Most people wouldn't recognize her before this, but after the Indigo League, Arrow was sure that everyone would know who Ashley was. She wasn't like Ash though, not from Arrow's perspective anyway.

As much respect as he had for Lance, the champion was wrong about his fellow champion's daughter being a lot like her father in anything other than talent. She was cocky, he couldn't believe she was actually nervous and chose a type disadvantage on the first round by mistake, she had to be showing off. Then her Charizard was so cruel it got her an official warning. Yet her pokemon were without a doubt very strong and the final round puzzled him.

How did Golbat, now Crobat, overpower Yanmega with hidden power? The mysterious ability was something that was often claimed to be empowered by the bond between the trainer and the pokemon. Perhaps she did care about her pokemon, but maybe only her pokemon and not others.

Honey colored eyes glared suspiciously before the sixteen year old Johto vigilante exited the arena. If there was one thing Arrow knew for sure, it was that he would have to keep an eye on her.

Zero recalled Crobat, "That was amazing!" Then he whispered to the pokeball so only Crobat could hear, "Ashimi will be very proud of you." The last thing he wanted was to, on top of everything, make people think Ashimi was crazy for talking about herself in third person. Zero went down from the trainer's platform, guiding Ashimi's body to leave the stadium and saw Ash a few steps into the stadium.

Ash had rushed out and stopped cold just as Golbat used hidden power. Though she was buried in her subconscious, Ashimi somehow sensed her pokemon's unbreakable spirit at that moment and it gave her the strength to fight against the evil force possessing her. Ash let out a tired and stressed breath, then walked out of the stadium with his daughter, towards the trainers' rooms.

To be Continued

Giovanni calling Zero a glitch is a reference to Vanellope from Wreck it Ralph, since Zero was in part inspired by the Sugar Rush racers and in part by Megaman. The rules of the Indigo League were partially based on the Nuzlocke Challenge. Zero's line "finish him!" Was a reference to Mortal Kombat.

Awakening

Chapter 38: The Indigo League (Part 2)

Ash, Ashimi, and by extension Zero, entered the room where Ashimi was staying for the Indigo League. Zero sat Ashimi down on the bed and materialized next to her. Ashimi went limp, but slowly reacted, lifting her head as if her body felt heavy. "Thanks chibi, I couldn't have done it without you," she smiled weakly.

Ash sat down beside her while a very uncomfortable silence invaded the room. Ashimi refused to look at him as a million inexplicable worries ran through her mind. She knew her thoughts were being influenced, yet she felt helpless to stop them.

"I'll be going back to the crystal," Zero finally announced. "Permanently, or until the technology exists to get me out, and you'll cut the aura link."

"No!" Ashimi protested. She stood suddenly and the dizziness that rushed to her head made her sit down again. "Your energy is even more mixed up now. This is the only way to keep you here. I'm the only one who can-"

"It's not you!" Zero snapped, raising his voice in a way he never had before. "It's that thing that's keeping me here and I don't want anything to do with it! If you refuse to let me go I'll ask Giovanni to order my deletion. It's for your own good, so he'll definitely do it!"

Ashimi felt her eyes water with desperate tears. "Do you hate us that much?" She whispered. "Do you hate me? Do you hate our friends? What about Comet, Pixel and the others? Why do you want to leave us?"

"You're being selfish," Ash interrupted sternly. "Don't you see you're causing him pain?"

"He's right," Zero admitted. "I'd rather cease to exist than hurt you, this is much worse for me."

"I'm sorry chibi," Ashimi cried. "I guess I have been selfish, I wanted to keep you with me, but you're not my living doll to keep, you're your own person and I should consider what you want... It's just so hard." She understood that things couldn't go on as they were, but she wished she didn't have to face it.

"It'll be okay, I know I'll see you again someday, just try to be patient," Zero smiled sadly.

"Do you want to go say goodbye?" Ashimi finally asked after a long solemn pause.

He did, but not if it meant giving that evil thing the time to influence Ashimi and make her backtrack. "No, I don't need any goodbyes, just tell everyone I said see you later."

Ashimi nodded and watched as Zero faded away back into the crystal. Her eyes were blurred with tears and she didn't see the virtual boy exchange a meaningful look with Ash, as if asking him to make sure the link was cut off completely, so that Ashimi wouldn't strain herself with it again. Once the process was complete, Zero was back in the crescent moon shaped clear data crystal, his previous link with Ashimi's aura gone completely.

"You can't bring him back..." It was a statement more so than a question.

"No," Ash confirmed. "I'm sorry, but I don't have the power."

"Neither do I..." Ashimi admitted.

Ash lifted his daughter's chin to look into her eyes. "Tell me what happened."

"I don't know exactly," Ashimi admitted.

"Just try," Ash encouraged her gently.

'Don't do it,' a voice in Ashimi's head called to her. 'Don't you see he's holding you back? He wants to take away your power! Your pokemon are strong because of me, I push your aura out and make it flow to them. How else would you progress so quickly?'

"Stop it!" Ashimi closed her eyes tightly and held her head. "Shut up Legend, shut up you liar!"

Ash focused his aura to calm Ashimi and sensed something evil retreating into the back of her mind. He would have to coax it out and remove it, but it wouldn't be easy. Maybe if he knew of its origins, he would know where to start. He examined the earrings. During her inner battle the cracks became deeper and the pearls were becoming gray with the loss of their power. "Tell me, please," Ash tried not to show the worry in his voice, but on the inside he was at the edge of panic. It took everything he had to stay calm and keep his relaxing aura influencing the atmosphere.

"I don't know when, I don't know how and I don't know why, but some strange power is in me," Ashimi began to explain. "It talks to me sometimes, it's evil, I know it, but it offered to bring back Zero. It betrayed me, but I thought I could tame it, learn to control it."

Ash sighed, that wasn't a lot to work with. "Let me try to sense what it is." He focused his energy on Ashimi and tried to look for the presence that didn't belong. It was bad alright, bitter, vengeful and angry, but Ash couldn't imagine what it was or where it came from, though it felt strangely familiar. "I'll have to do some research..." He finally concluded.

"It's not a pokemon, is it?" Ashimi inquired.

"No," Ash confirmed, "at least I don't think so. It's more like a spirit, but not really a ghost. Did it give you any clues?"

"Legend, that's what I usually call it. At first I hoped it was a legendary pokemon. The legendaries have always been attracted to your aura, so I was hoping that having these abilities would make them come to me too."

Ash bit his lip, there was no way a legendary would go near her in her current state. Any legendary would be repulsed by the thing possessing her. Maybe if she was completely clean of it, they would approach her some day, or maybe the stigma would remain long after the evil energy was cleansed, but he didn't have the heart to tell her of that possibility. He got up and tried to look optimistic. "Get some rest, I'll be back soon, let all your pokemon out."

Ashimi nodded, kicked off her shoes, let her pokemon out and laid down to rest. Ash exited the room to a worried Misty in the hallway. Jonathan, Dorme and Volt were behind her. Ash talked quietly with Misty for a few minutes, she had been giving the father and daughter a few moments alone.

The news wasn't good, the fact that the thing that had invaded Ashimi was unknown made it even more stressful. Misty went into the room and found it to be crowded since Ashimi had let all her pokemon out to keep her company. The young trainer was vaguely aware of the battle, and Chari seemed to be apologizing for her behavior, though Ashimi was very understanding and told her it was okay, she did feel sorry for Dragonite.

Ash looked at Jonathan, Dorme and Volt, who seemed to be waiting for him to step aside so they could go into Ashimi's room too. "I'm sorry I was so harsh on you three." Pikachu echoed the sentiment, but the three teens didn't make a big deal out of it, since they were focused on Ashimi's well being, plus they would soon find they also had Zero's absence to deal with. Ash and Pikachu disappeared down the long hallway.

Jonathan, Volt and Dorme entered Ashimi's room, it was so full they could hardly move. Dorme held Nidorino, who seemed to already know this was coming. 'Aniki knew he would have to leave. He thought it would be best this way...' Even so, Nidorino would still miss him very much.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash needed to have a word with Lance. He stopped as he spotted a young woman down the hallway, "Scarlett, do you know where your father is?"

"He went somewhere with Arrow, to the conference room, I think." Scarlett made an uncomfortable pause. "Is there something wrong?" She already knew the answer.

"Yes..." Ash couldn't deny it, "I just don't know exactly what it is yet."

"I hope this can be solved soon. Sorry, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I need to go now, I'm the mediator between the league's security team and Rocket security," and making then work together would definitely be a challenge. Giovanni already had the stadium in lock down, ready to arrest anyone who looked suspicious. No one went in or out, snipers blend in with the crowds, and the general public wasn't even aware that it was happening.

xoxox xox xoxox

Walking towards the elite conference room, Ash passed Giovanni down the hallway. He was yelling into a cellphone while Delia worriedly walked beside him. He shut the phone off angrily and looked at Ash, "what did you find out?"

"Not much..." Ash admitted with worried frustration. "I have some research to do."

Giovanni stood in his way. "You know something you're not telling me." He glared.

Ash couldn't help it but to look down. "In the past, I had a good reason not to tell you. As for now... Now I've come to realize that what I thought I knew might have been wrong, so I have nothing accurate to say." He paused than added, "but it might be linked to Team Rocket, maybe it was Sabrina or someone else who caused this. There is some evil thing residing in Ashimi, I just don't know what it is, so it's very hard to pull it out... It's powerful, very powerful. Right now, I just don't know..."

"I'll increase the guard even more," Giovanni finally concluded. He had more questions for Ash, but now wasn't the time to argue.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash arrived at the door to the elite conference room. There were two people inside, one whom he recognized as Lance. It took Ash a moment to recognize the other presence, since he wasn't too familiar with it, it was the boy known as Arrow.

"Are you saying she acted that way by accident? How is that even possible?" Arrow questioned. "I admit I underestimated her, but..."

"I feel bad for Dragonite too, but I can't help it but to think there's more to this," Lance insisted. "I know Ash and I know how he must have raised his daughter. Even if she is the heir to Team Rocket, I just can't believe, she'd be purposefully cruel. She was acting strangely and there was... an issue I'm not at liberty to discuss. I need to talk to Ash, I'm sure he'll shed some light in all of this."

Ash took that as his cue to knock on the door. He announced himself in that way, but didn't wait for a reply before entering the conference room. Arrow nodded with stiff politeness and excused himself, closing the door behind him as he left.

"I was about to go talk to you," Lance sat down, feeling that this would be a long and complicated conversation.

Ash dropped into the next chair, placing his elbows on the polished round table and sighing into his palms before looking at Lance seriously. "I think my interpretation was wrong... This is bad, very bad..."

The way Ash sounded so tragic made Lance give him a look of alarm. He remembered when Ash confessed his vision to him, determined not to let it come true. Ashimi was only a toddler when Ash told Lance about the prophetic dream, which he had the night after Ashimi was born. Ash had tried to tell himself it was all in his head, a product of fatherhood nerves, but it eventually sunk in that it had to be a lot more than just a blurry nightmare. He applied himself to his studies more, albeit there was little left to be found about the aura.

The dream, the warning, had been blurry and hard to interpret. What Ash could gather from it was that Ashimi would inherit the power of Team Rocket and it would bring either great prosperity, or a terrible disaster. Seeing that Giovanni had become rather fond of his granddaughter and that he intended to make her his heir where Ash wasn't quite up to the task, Ash began to fear that his daughter would grow up to be corrupted by power.

Ash's solution was to make sure that power didn't go to her head. Ashimi was always around talented people since she was born. She was tutored by well known professors and researchers, including Gary Oak, until she became old enough to go on her pokemon journey.

Given her upbringing, it was to be expected that she turned out to be strong. Yet winning the Indigo League on her first try and moving on to her more official Rocket training at such a young age was something that Ash thought shouldn't happen. She wasn't ready, and he thought it would be best for her to continue pursuing her journey until she was more mature, until who she truly was became so solidly cemented, that her situation could not change her.

The champion of each Indigo League tournament was chosen from the previous champions. They could battle if a consensus wasn't reached. Ash would make sure that Ashimi didn't lose interest in traveling just yet, by providing her with a challenge. He stepped up to take his place as champion that year, ready to defeat his daughter for what he was sure was her own good.

Lance knew about Ash's plan and took the spot of the highest ranked elite four. His daughter would come before him and two other well known past champions before them. The elite selection of that year was the talk of every region. Volt was sure Ashimi would have a much harder time than he did, since the elites of his year were not all past champions as they were this year. Some people where even calling this year's Indigo League impossible to win.

Ash pushed forward with his explanation. "The power that the vision pointed to wasn't Team Rocket, it was something else, some evil spirit that's already in Ashimi. She doesn't know how she got it, but the fact that Sabrina made it so that her aura was exposed couldn't have been a coincidence. I don't understand this at all, if something so evil was lurking around, how did I not sense it?" Ash's frustration and worry was immeasurable.

Lance took in all the information, he paused, thinking about it with perplexity. "I don't know," he regretted to reply. "This has caught me off guard. The prophecies of the dragon masters, they fit in with your initial interpretation and I truly thought that if your daughter could be kept safe from corruption, then Team Rocket could be purified in a sense. I need to contact the elders about this."

xoxox xox xoxox

When Ashimi woke up from her long sleep, she hardly had time to shower, change, eat with her friends and hastily head out to the arena. A lack of battling wouldn't slow down the process of her aura being consumed, in fact, it was Crobat's, then Golbat, energy which momentarily woke her up when she subconsciously perceived it. Ashimi stepped on to the trainer's platform. Her deep bond with her pokemon should help her regain some of her aura's strength.

Jonathan stood at the door to the center of the stadium behind the platform where Ashimi was. Dorme and Volt were watching from other similar doors left and right, just in case they had to rush in to tend to any kind of emergency. The boy whose name no one could remember was there as well, at the door on the opposite side on the arena, behind Daala.

Ash approached quietly. "Johnny... I'm sorry about before, I was especially hash on you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, and I should be the one apologizing," Jonathan quietly replied. "I know what's going on now. Ashy told us everything over lunch, but back then I wasn't sure. I told her I would take her side and I thought that if I kept my word she'd tell me what was going on. Sorry for being so stubborn."

"Even a princess needs to be told no every now and then." Ash reminded.

"I can tell her no..." Jonathan pouted. "It's just that the occasion to do so doesn't come often."

"Right and if she told you to jump off a cliff, you probably would, and I'm not sure if that's good or bad anymore," Ash laughed lightly.

Jonathan shrugged, taking the statement out of its metaphorical context. "Sure why not? I mean, it's not like jumping off a cliff is such a big thing to ask for and if whatever is supposed to happen to stop me from dying doesn't happen, then Nya can teleport me to safety, sounds simple enough to me."

Ash sighed and shook his head, though Jonathan didn't seem to understand the reason behind the expression. "Either way, you might have helped more than you know. Ashimi took a turn for the better after being close to her pokemon for a while. Stopping the battle abruptly wouldn't have been a good idea after all," Ash concluded. "Upsetting her makes her aura more vulnerable, I know that, but I was so worried I panicked."

"Ashy has a strong will..." Jonathan looked at the trainer's platform where she stood. 'I hope that's enough to get through this...' They quietly stood at the entrance, watching the battle take place. 'This will certainly be an interesting match,' Jonathan thought. With the instinct of a Rocket, he could pinpoint the location of the snipers in the crowd. The transparent energy shields that protected the public from stray attacks were in place, but they wouldn't stop the snipers' lasers.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ashimi was surprised at who her opponent was, though she guessed they might be facing each other at some point. The girl in the trainer's platform opposite to hers was just standing there glaring intensely, so Ashimi decided to make the first move. "Clefable, I choose you!"

"Go Braviary!" Daala's newest pokemon emerged from his pokeball. The powerful eagle immediately took to the skies and wasted no time in commencing the attack. "Brave bird!" Braviary dove towards Clefable, starting the battle with a strong attack.

"Telekinesis and dodge!" Clefable jumped aside, focusing her power on slowing Braviary to have enough time to dodge. After the attack missed, Braviary took to the skies again. "Use gravity!" Clefable focused hard and the eagle began to lose altitude, struggling to stay in the air. "Focus blast!"

"Land, Braviary!" With some difficulty, the bird landed, losing only a few feathers to the attack. "Hyper beam!" No time was wasted before going on the offensive again.

"Watch out!" Clefable looked like she intended to dodge, but she suddenly stayed still, a shadowy aura surrounding her. She used a light screen so powerful that when the hyper beam collided with it, it broke apart into smaller beams that faded away. "Clefable?" Ashimi gasped in worry.

Clefable's telekinesis grasped Braviary's form and smashed him against the rocky terrain of the arena. She repeated the motion a few times while the bird cried out unable to escape. She held him in place, feathers flying everywhere with his constant struggle, and finally finished the battle with a powerful focus blast point blank.

"Braviary, return!" Daala recalled her injured fainted pokemon. "It seems you've decided to show your true colors all the way in the league. I'm not about to let that stop me though. Go Houndoom!"

xoxox xox xoxox

While the battle took place, Arrow passed by the exit where the boy whose name no one could remember stood. The green haired teen looked back and went to investigate, purposely heading down the opposite hallway. Arrow returned to the now empty hallway leading to the center of the stadium, bow in hand. The green haired boy, returned, appearing behind the cyan haired archer. "Want to take a shot at the princess?" He released Gyarados from his pokeball, "he might want to take a bite at you."

Arrow chuckled dismissively. "I know very well it wouldn't be that simple. I just want a better look at the battle."

"Fine, but no funny business. The league guards might have let you come this far because you know Lance, but I won't give you any special treatment. Gyarados and I are watching you and this Gyarados was trained by Ashimi herself," he proudly declared. Arrow raised an eyebrow at the announcement, but didn't say anything.

xoxox xox xoxox

"It's happening again, but its different this time," Ash realized. "The bond between Ashimi and her pokemon protects her, but it also exposes the pokemon in a similar way to her, it's getting stronger. C'mon Ashimi, balance things out..." Ash hated to admit it, but until he could figure out how to get that thing out of Ashimi, all that could be done was to try to diminish its effects. Stopping the battle wouldn't do any good either. Legend could attack at any moment anyway, and simply chose to have inconvenient timing.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ashimi was more concerned about Clefable than about what pokemon Daala just called out. "Clefable! Are you back to normal? Clefable!" She felt her father's aura nearby and allowed it to soothe her. 'I won't let you use me as a link to my pokemon,' she focused until Legend's influence left Clefable.

"Are you okay?" Out of her trance, the pink pokemon nodded and gave a thumbs up to reassure her trainer, though the look in her eyes made it clear the experience was disturbing. "Take a break now, you'll be alright, return." Though Clefable could still battle, Ashimi couldn't leave her out there after what she went through.

"Are you going to battle or not?" Daala asked impatiently. She would rather express herself beyond words at that point, but with all the snipers around, it was best to show polite patience. Besides, even if Arrow didn't live up to her expectations, she still owed him her promised good behavior for getting her into the league last minute. Badges were not a problem, she still had her old set from Johto, but she didn't have the best track record legally speaking with the twists her vigilantism took at times.

"Lightning, I choose you!" Ashimi sent out her Pikachu to the battle. 'You leave him alone, Legend!' She warned in her mind.

'Don't worry, I will,' Legend's distorted reply echoed in Ashimi's mind. She was surprise it was even talking to her again. 'But only if you fight hard. If you don't win quickly, I'll have to interfere. Why don't you show that move your little Pikachu tried so hard to master, now he's strong enough to do it right. The lightning laser, a move developed by Team Rocket, not found in the wild, only a skilled few electric pokemon get to master it.'

'You want to see it? Fine, I'll show you we're strong without you!' Ashimi focused on the battle again. So far Lightning had been doing little else than dodging fireballs. "Sorry for the wait, let's win this! Thunder wave!" Static flooded the arena, making it hard to move.

"Fire blast!" Houndoom continued shooting flames, struggling against the static that clung to him and hindered his movements.

"Double team!" Lightning dashed around Houndoom speedily, creating the illusion that there were two Pikachus. Ashimi watched for an opportunity and finally called out, "lightning laser!"

'Don't for get to aim for the heart...' Legend mocked.

Houndoom's fire blast hit the false image, while the real Lightning's attack reached him. The canine stumbled in pain that seemed inexplicable given the thin point of light that had hit him. He fell in agony and remained on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Wait, don't make another move yet, Lightning, just keep your guard up." Ashimi took this as an opportunity to show she wasn't the bully everyone assumed she was after her previous battle. Houndoom was conscious, but he wasn't getting up.

xoxox xox xoxox

Arrow took a step forward, and was blocked by Gyarados. "Let me pass, I need to see what's wrong with Houndoom."

"You can see just fine from here," the green haired boy snapped.

Arrow clenched his teeth in anger and frustration, but he didn't back down. "Salamence!" The massive dragon emerged from her pokeball, providing Gyarados with an opponent other than her trainer. The two beasts growled, clawing and biting at each other. Arrow took advantage of the distraction and dashed into the stadium.

The green haired boy couldn't chase after the archer with Salamence in the way. Gyarados was very strong, but struggled against the powerful dragon and there wasn't enough room in the already terribly cramped hallway to call out Milotic for backup. "Snipers!" He yelled into his phone, which was set on a communication channel private to the Rockets on security and broadcasted the message to all of them. "Watch out for Arrow!"

Arrow froze as the boy's alarmed shout reached him beyond the growls and roars of the battle. He dropped his bow and arrows and proceeded slowly, keeping his hands where they were clearly visible.

Daala watched as Arrow stepped into the arena while the announcer couldn't help it but to comment his perplexity. She knew something must be terribly wrong. The hit didn't appear to be that bad and she was giving Houndoom a moment to recover when Arrow walked over to the fallen pokemon. Daala held Houndoom's pokeball to recall him, but Arrow shook his head. With growing worry and confusion, Daala stepped down from the trainer's platform and joined Arrow. "What's wrong with him?"

"It looks like Houndoom suffered a minor heart injury. He should be okay, I think, but needs to be kept in observation just in case. This isn't just a ripped muscle or a broken bone, it's internal, so it's sensitive. It's best not to recall him now," Arrow explained.

"But recalling him will help him heal," Daala petted her pokemon gently, wishing she could take away his pain. "The mechanism in the pokeball can speed up tissue regeneration and even slow internal bleeding."

"He's not bleeding," Arrow clarified, "and the last thing you want right now is for his heart tissue to regenerate too fast. Trust me," he insisted. Daala finally nodded quietly and helped Arrow carry Houndoom away.

Ashimi watched in disbelief. "What just happened?" The announcer gave her the victory because her opponent forfeited the match, but she didn't feel victorious at all.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Ashimi ran into the medical facilities at the stadium with Lightning in her arms. Houndoom was on a bed. Laiki was there, Daala glared angrily and Arrow stood in a corner leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed and eyes closed as if in deep thought. Salamence was back in her pokeball and his bow and arrows were on his back.

Daala glanced at Ashimi with a hateful look then continued what she was about to say, as if the redhead wasn't even there. "Why can't Joy do this?"

Arrow sighed, as if he was tired of trying to reason with her, but couldn't find it in himself to blame her for her worries. "She's a Rocket, but she's also a skilled doctor who knows a lot more than any Joy."

"More than all the Joys put together," Laiki grumbled in annoyance. Yes, she was a Rocket, no she didn't have the obligation to help Houndoom. If Scarlett had not stopped by earlier and personally requested her help, Laiki would have told them to take their precious Houndoom and go fish. Yet she did help them, even if it was for someone else's sake, so they could try to be civil, they were the ones that needed her after all, not the other way around.

Arrow didn't acknowledge the doctor's comment and continued. "Furthermore, she knows exactly what this is, most Joys wouldn't have experience dealing with this kind of thing."

"You know," Daala interrupted.

"I've only heard about it," Arrow clarified. "Plus I'm no doctor, all I know how to do is basic first aid and this is well beyond that."

Ashimi left the vigilantes to their conversation and turned her attention to Laiki for the time being. "What happened?"

"Nothing too serious," Laiki smiled. "Lightning laser was developed to be used on machines, though it has peculiar effects on muscles. It can internally burn tissue to fuse it together, cause superficially invisible, but quite annoying internal scarring, and it can even damage vital organs. If the heart tissue had fused together completely, it would be very hard for the heart to pump blood and it might stop all together."

"Since the attack wasn't maintained for long, the tissue was pushed apart by the natural flow of blood before it could be forced to fuse," Laiki explained. "In other words, the pipes of the valve, were not narrowed or blocked. Houndoom will make a full recovery, provided no unnecessary troubles arise." By that she referred more so to Daala's behavior than to Houndoom's possible health issues.

Ashimi felt her eyes water, but she didn't allow herself to cry. Lightning looked up at her with pained discomfort. "It's not your fault," she assured him. "I shouldn't have asked you to use that power. I'm sorry," she hugged the Pikachu tightly. "Daala, Arrow, I know you may not believe me, but I didn't mean for any of your pokemon to be seriously hurt. I'm sorry, I really am."

"I don't believe you," Daala growled coldly. Arrow remained silent, as if he had not heard, but everyone knew he had.

"Don't waste your breath, princess, these ingrates are not worth it." Laiki walked to the door. "I think I've done enough to accomplish Scarlett's request. If anything comes up, call Joy," the doctor left the infirmary.

Ashimi knew that no matter what she said, she wouldn't be able to change what happened or convince them of her sincerity, so she quietly left.

After Laiki and Ashimi were gone, Daala inquired. "What's your angle, I still don't get you. You help people and pokemon but you don't mess with Team Rocket. I thought you were just cowardly, but you put your life on the line back there for Houndoom. You challenged a Rocket guard and you knew there were snipers ready to kill you at any second when you stepped into the center of the stadium."

"I don't mess with Team Rocket because it's too big and it can't be taken down without an organization on its level to counter it. Of course, Team Rocket won't allow such an organization to form. I had my hopes set on Ash's daughter changing things, just as Lance did. Lance still has hope, but I lost mine. Dragonite is in Scarlett's care now. I'll go back to the way things were, training pokemon for a while, then releasing them so they can take care of their comrades in the wild. I'll return the Exeggutor you left in my care if you want, but you can keep Braviary. I'll release Jumpluff and Yanmega, then it'll be just Salamence and me again, just like old times, yet different."

"You can release Exeggutor, he belonged to a friend and keeping him would only bring back memories. You caught your other pokemon, for the league, didn't you? I suppose you were always more so a vigilante than a pokemon master hopeful. You should have used Salamence in battle from the start. She's on a whole different level than the rest of your pokemon." Arrow made no reply and Daala looked at him with intense curiosity as she continued. "You said you lost hope in Ash's daughter and what do you mean by different?"

Arrow looked at Daala, she already knew what he was talking about, but he answered anyway. "I'll take her down and end Giovanni's bloodline."

xoxox xox xox

Ashimi returned to her room where her parents and friends were waiting. She had wanted to check on Daala's pokemon by herself and apologize. She had been meaning to apologize to Arrow as well, though she wasn't truly expecting either of them to accept her apologies. She couldn't really tell them the full story. It would complicate things too much if too many people who didn't need to be involved knew.

"I apologized," Ashimi announced. "They were mad at me," she petted Lightning gently, "but I expected it. Anyway," she let out a tired breath that was very unlike her. "I've decided to quit the Indigo League." She watched as everyone reacted with surprise, but remained silent to let her finish speaking. "I know you didn't expect me to decide that, but you were going to suggest it, right dad?" Ash could only nod in affirmation. "Being with my pokemon helps me stay strong, so battling wouldn't be a problem, if not for the possibility of my pokemon being taken over. Now that we know that can happen, I understand that it's best not to take the risk."

To be Continued

Lance's daughter, Scarlett, is named after his daughter from Nafatali's fanfiction series, The Inheritance. "This is bad, very bad..." is a reference to Bob from Reboot.

Awakening

Chapter 39: Legend

After leaving the Indigo Plateau, Ashimi visited Pallet Town to try to relax. Misty had temporarily left the Cerulean gym in the care of Daisy's eldest son, while Ash attempted to find a way to free his daughter. At the living room in Gary's house, Ash and his childhood friend were discussing the happenings over coffee. "Your coffee is always amazing," Ash put down his cup and sighed, wishing that the warm liquid could ease him more than just momentarily.

"It comes from years of practice doing research late into the night," Gary replied. "Speaking of which, you look like you haven't slept in days."

"Not since the league..." Ash admitted. The Indigo League was still going on, though Gary knew what he meant.

"That was four days ago, you won't be able to do much like this," Gary frowned. "Take my word for it, after the second day, the brain turns to mush and doesn't recover until you sleep, no matter how much caffeine you have in your system."

"I know, but..." Ash trailed into silence, if he was just going over the same scarce ancient texts that he had already checked before, maybe he should instead use that time to recover his energy and be refreshed enough to perceive every detail of the material Misty went to get. "You're right, I should take a nap, wake me up when Misty gets back from Viridian."

Giovanni had continued the research missions and whenever the Rockets discovered something that could be related to the aura, they would report it to him. The Rocket boss would then call Ash to have a look and figure out if the artifact in question was genuine, rather than just old, and how useful to his studies of the aura it could be.

Misty had volunteered to get the new material, though it took longer than she thought. What was recovered turned out to be degraded pieces of yellowed paper that had to be pieced together and scanned, as the original articles were too fragile to be handled without the proper tools and care.

"Sure, you can-" Gary fell silent as he realized that Ash didn't even try to make it to a bed and was already sleeping while sitting on the couch.

xoxox xox xoxox

Outside, Ashimi looked over the vast land of the Oak research lab and pokemon reserve. She brushed Furball, grooming his shiny coat to perfection. "You didn't miss much, really, the battle with grandpa was way better than the Indigo League." Gary's young son, petted the feline cheerfully. "Soft like a plushie, isn't he?" Ashimi smiled.

She noticed something in the sky, a Salamence with a human rider. The dragon was intercepted by a Fearow, Pidgeot and Magnezone, all three carrying their respective trainers. The Salamence landed and was recalled, the trainer let at sword-point towards her. Ash felt bad about Johnny, so he got him another sword to replace the one he broke.

"Arrow," Ashimi voiced unsure. She wasn't expecting to see him again, let alone so soon. She could ask her friends to relent, but she knew they wouldn't.

"What, no tanks?" Arrow asked sarcastically. He felt the cold edge of the sword against his neck, but refused to acknowledge it.

Ashimi wasn't in the mood for a back and forth, so she went straight to the point. "Why are you here?"

"I had to see you for the final time, to see what kind of person you are," Arrow replied in a critical tone.

"I am... unavailable right now, maybe some other time..." Ashimi turned away and continued brushing Furball.

"You heard her," Volt half growled.

"Time to get lost," Jonathan added.

"What are you hiding?" Arrow insisted.

"Your corpse if you don't leave." Dorme held on to his temporarily confiscated bow and arrows.

"I should have known that coming here was useless. Farewell, Rocket princess, may your loyal bodyguards watch over you," Arrow walked away, his goodbye wasn't just sarcasm, it was a warning. He knew the lasers in the atmosphere must be active, along with satellite surveillance. He knew he was locked on the second he got close to Pallet Town, even before Ashimi's trio of guards stopped him. But she couldn't live like that all the time, there had to be a moment when the Rocket empire lowered its guard and he would cease the moment, even if it cost him his life. He paused for a moment and looked back when Ashimi's loud voice echoed.

'The Rocket princess, that's all you are, if not for your heritage they wouldn't give you a second glance,' Legend mocked, the twisted voice echoing in Ashimi's mind.

"Stop it!" She yelled, "that's not true you liar!" She breathed heavily as rage mixed with fear that it was right overtook her.

The little boy beside her cried out and Ashimi returned to her senses. "It's okay sweetie, I'm not mad at you. I wasn't yelling at you, I'm sorry I startled you." The boy quieted, but doubt and distrust filled his big green eyes and he dashed away. "Wait, don't go!"

"I'll get him," Dorme handed Volt the bow and arrows then ran after the young toddler, she caught up to him and picked him up. He seemed to be okay now.

Ashimi sighed, now even children would be afraid of her. Furball rubbed against her legs to comfort her while the rest of her pokemon arrived from playing with the other pokemon in the Oak land, having rushed over when they heard her scream. "I'm okay everyone, really..."

"Move," Jonathan ordered.

Arrow kept walking, he has seen enough anyway and now he found an explanation for Ashley's strange behavior. He was escorted by Jonathan and Volt out of Pallet Town. The vigilante didn't try to turn back, he knew he wouldn't make it far if he did. Salamence could take on Fearow and Magnezone to knock his escorts out of the sky, but the lasers in the atmosphere would take him out. If it was night time, he could probably see them, glimmering overhead like strange stars. He wondered what Daala would say if she knew the truth, that the direct descendant of the Rocketto mafia was insane.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the living room, Ash found himself in a vast darkness in the world of his dreams.

"The mission was a success," a young man with brown and blond hair spoke to a regal woman. A Persian and a Vulpix stood by his side.

"Barely," the woman pouted lightly. "But it will do, even if you go back again, the rest is out of ours hands."

The blurry vision faded. Ash recognized the boy who once called himself Skye. Now that he was well versed in the aura, he not only remembered him, he knew him, the boy was a descendant of his. The glimpse of the future warned him of a turning point in destiny that not even time travel could resolve should it proceed badly, because if it did, the force would be too strong to be erased by time.

Seeing that dream again, the same dream he had when Ashimi was a newborn, felt different from simply remembering it. Now he could look deeper into it, in ways that a mere memory wouldn't be sufficient to allow. Why would something as powerful as time travel fail? What was the origin of that evil creature known as Legend?

Another series of images came, blurry and fast. A baby glowing with pure white energy, swirls of black surrounding her. The same girl appeared again as a young woman standing on a hill. A large crowd surrounded her, shadowy faceless figures with glowing red Rs on their chests, they raised their hands as if in salute, and the darkness they possessed flowed towards the woman. She received it all and the now dim white that shone around her faded into nothingness. She became a shadow and her eyes glowed red.

Ash stirred in his sleep, but didn't wake up. The second and third parts of the dream replayed, with him noticing more detail each time. The baby, the white light that grew around her, the way the darkness accumulated. Then the woman he knew to be the baby as a young adult, his daughter. Her light faded, consumed by the darkness and Team Rocket was all around. He could only think of his original interpretation, but it couldn't be right, it wasn't Team Rocket that would corrupt Ashimi, it was Legend, but what was Legend?

xoxox xox xoxox

Dorme exited the Oak residence, rejoining her friends outside. Ashimi had sat on the grass absentmindedly staring into the distance. "Our little friend is napping," the blond announced.

"Looks like we have another visitor," Volt looked at the fence that separated the Oak land from Pallet's main road.

Ashimi wasn't really listening to the conversation around her. Jonathan tried tapping her on the shoulder, but she didn't notice. 'You're nothing without your birthright, they'll never see the real you and they wouldn't care if they did. You're Giovanni's granddaughter, you're Ash's daughter, but you're nothing on your own.' Legend wouldn't shut up and Ashimi didn't know how to stop it. Worse yet, she couldn't bring herself to complain anymore because she kept thinking that it was telling the truth this time.

A Gyarados climbed over the fence, his body stretching and dropping to the other side, then moving forward like a snake. The boy on his back hopped off and thanked the pokemon for the ride, then recalled him into his pokeball. He rushed over to join the group around Ashimi. "Hey everyone!" He went down on one knee in front of the spot where Ashimi sat. "Lady Misty, Lady Delia and Lord Giovanni himself will be arriving here very soon." Seeing as she made no response, he continued. "Is there anything you need, princess?"

"Don't..." Ashimi's blank face suddenly gained an expression of anger. "Don't call me princess!" A burst of shadowy energy emerged from her and went into the pokemon closest to her at the time, Furball. The feline's form grew larger, but this was no ordinary Persian, his eyes were glowing red, his fur turned pitch black and his claws and fangs grew much larger than normal.

A helicopter landed nearby and Giovanni exited, his attention caught by the spectacle. Furball tackled the green haired boy, but only to get him out of the way as he dashed towards Giovanni. "Stop this at once!" Giovanni shouted in his most commanding tone, with a fiery fearless glare that left no question about who the boss was.

Furball stopped cold as the swirls of shadowy energy left him and his fur regained its natural light shade. His fangs still protruded from his mouth and his claws were still very long, but his eyes looked normal, genuine, conscious. The shadowy energy retreated into Ashimi, causing her to yelp in a mix of surprise and pain. She shook as if assaulted by a sudden fear, then a terrible burning rage.

Ashimi closed her eyes tightly, shutting off the world around her. When her senses refocused, she could perceive whispers of comforting words and the familiarity of her mother's arms. "Mom... Grandma... Grandpa..."

"What was that?" Giovanni questioned. His two Persians were with him, though Purry thought the evolution was pretty cool and was more likely to congratulate her son than to worry.

"Furball!" Ashimi gasped. She broke away from the protective embrace and held her now evolved pokemon. "Does it hurt? Are you okay? I think it left you... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" She held him with tears in her eyes, petting his soft fur. Furball tried to comfort his trainer, to tell her that everything would be okay and that he wasn't hurt.

Ashimi slowly lifted her head and met Giovanni's questioning eyes. "It was afraid for a second, Legend... Then it was as if it remembered that it no longer answered to you and it was angry."

"No longer?" Misty questioned with sudden urgency.

"I don't understand," Ashimi admitted. "It just felt that way."

"How is that even possible?" Giovanni thought aloud, "they've found nothing..."

"Let's see what Ash has to say..." Misty breathe. The possibility of Legend being something linked to Giovanni's past was a point she brought up, though that conversation ended abruptly due to unexpected circumstances.

xoxox xox xoxox

Earlier, Misty had arrived at the Viridian Rocket headquarters to personally pick up deliver the top secret documents related to the aura to Ash, or rather, the information retrieve from them. While they were being prepared, she went to see Delia.

Misty found Delia at the hall in front of Giovanni's door, with a cell phone, just finishing a call. "Thank you, Lance, I'll let Ash know." Though there was nothing new to say, as the elders insisted on blaming Team Rocket, albeit they said, 'the evil of Team Rocket' rather than simply 'Team Rocket' and Lance pointed out the importance of that phrasing, indicating that Team Rocket, even if it did control the world, didn't necessarily need to be seen as a force of evil.

Delia hung up and turned her attention to Misty, sharing the information Lance just gave her, which was more so a recap of what Ash had been told long ago. "I'm going to check on a few things, you go right in, make yourself at home, there's cookies and tea."

Before Misty could protest, Delia had opened the door to Giovanni's office and gently guided her inside, closing the door after her. Misty's ears were assaulted by the Rocket boss loud voice, which culminated with the slamming of the phone accompanied by a sickening crack that meant it was now broken. Misty stood frozen, rooted to the spot with a deerling caught in the headlights expression.

"What is it?" Giovanni growled impatiently. "Do you have something to say?"

Misty swallowed hard, Giovanni always made her nervous. He was her father-in-law and that perhaps concerned her more than the fact that he was the boss of Team Rocket. "Yes," Misty summoned her courage and asked about something that was bothering her. She had not planned to confront Giovanni, but she was there, so she might as well make use of the opportunity. "Do you know anything about Legend? Something related to Team Rocket, something supernatural?"

"I haven't messed with the supernatural in years, not since before Ashimi's birth," Giovanni replied with little patience. Ash had explained why he never told him of the prophecy until now. He thought Giovanni might let it happen if it made Team Rocket more powerful. "I have paranormal researchers on the job just in case anyway. Is that all you wanted to say?"

Misty's head was pounding. She already had a headache when she arrived, but now it was at a point where it was impossible to ignore. She had gotten no rest since the Indigo League incident and had little appetite. She felt a wave of dizziness hit her, but it wasn't the first, so she ignored it as she had before. She wanted to say something else, but her thoughts were muddled by the ache in her head and the numbness in her limbs, so she could only think of sitting down. "I... Can I..."

Giovanni noticed something was off. He stood, walking around his desk with a look of questioning impatience. If she was just babbling, even if she was his daughter-in-law, she was about to get an earful. "What?" He snapped, tired of the sudden silence, and she promptly fainted.

Giovanni caught Misty and deposited her into the nearest chair as carefully as possible. He reached for the phone on his desk to find a broken mess, which he threw across the room. Misty woke with the noise and looked around disoriented. She recalled where she was and struggled to her feet. "The documents..." She shook her head in an effort to clear it. "Excuse me," she stumbled for the door, gripping the handle for support.

"You're obviously ill," Giovanni observed sternly, but he wasn't yelling anymore.

Misty shook her head, "it's just exhaustion, but right now there's no time to-" another wave of dizziness assaulted her and she clenched her teeth as she fought it off. She gripped the door knob tightly and let herself out.

"Go to the infirmary," Giovanni ordered.

Misty shook her head, suddenly feeling stubborn, her mood wasn't any better than his after all. "I don't have time for that. I'm going to help, I'm going to make sure Ashimi is okay."

Delia return with a case holding a small data chip inside. "The documents are ready... Misty, are you alright, sweetie?" She frowned and eyed her husband, "Giovanni didn't yell at you, did he?"

"She fainted," Giovanni informed. "Take her to a doctor."

"Of course!" Delia placed a gentle hand on Misty's arm, "let's go, dear."

Misty pouted and glared. Giovanni knew that if he sent anyone else to escort her, she would slip away, but she didn't have the heart to disappear on Delia and leave her to worry. "I'm fine, really," the redhead insisted. "I should be taking the data to Ash." It wasn't to be transmitted wirelessly due to its rare nature, not that many could interpret it anyway, better safe than sorry. Besides, Giovanni had his suspicions about a certain group, who would be best left in the dark if they truly didn't already know. Ash didn't want to be far from Ashimi and he didn't want to take her out of the calming environment of the Oak land.

"Sweetie, if Giovanni of all people is sending you to see a doctor, then you're going to see a doctor," Delia's voice was gentle yet she spoke with finality. "Besides, I didn't have the chance to take a good look before, but you're clearly more than just tired. Have you been eating properly?"

Misty sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "No," she admitted. "I've been very stressed and it's making me nauseous."

"You can't take care of Ashimi if you don't take care of yourself," Delia reminded. "She doesn't need to worry about her mother's health on top of everything."

"I know..." Misty massaged her temples. "Let's just make it quick."

xoxox xox xoxox

In the Oak living room, Ash was submerged in a deep sleep. The woman in his dream was Ashimi, but she was older. That part of the dream didn't correspond to the present and it wasn't exactly the future either, but a possible future. He began to realize that the two portions of the dream that took place in the future, near and far, were indicative of the same thing. The future would come, it was inevitable. The light... The darkness... There was something more about that, he almost had it... Then he jolted awake.

Ash saw Gary as he went out, though the researcher was focused on the helicopter and didn't notice Ash was awake. Ash saw the change in Furball and how the evil energy retreated from Giovanni, but only the small portion that was in Furball. Then it hit him, he had the last piece of the puzzle. The dragon elders had been right, it was Team Rocket, the evil of Team Rocket, and it was inevitable.

Ash rushed out, he accompanied his daughter inside, with Misty on her other side, Delia not far behind and her pokemon all around. He calmed Ashimi's aura and suggested taking a nap. Though Ashimi wasn't normally the type to nap, she agreed, just to get away from everything in slumber. Her pokemon crowded around her in Gary's guest room and her friends were there as well.

With a bitter silence, Ash received the new information and studied it. His findings provided the final clarification and that only made him feel worse.

xoxox xox xoxox

That night... "Of all the places to sit," Giovanni looked up out the window of what once was Ash's room.

"I'm not coming down," Ash called back stubbornly, he needed to be alone to organize his thoughts and Pikachu's quiet presence beside him was the only company he was willing to tolerate. Giovanni responded by retracing his son's steps and climbing onto the roof of the small house. Ash sighed, "you expect me to talk."

"After coming all the way here, you better," Giovanni confirmed. "Misty asked about Team Rocket's involvement in the super natural even if we had already talked about it after the league. Delia spoke with Lance and got a repetition of what you told me after the league, but there's more to it and something tells me you just solved the puzzle."

"I did," Ash admitted, "but I can't blame you, because if I do I'll have to blame myself too. I don't think Sabrina was trying to be evil, but she did choose the sacrifice that would be made and I can't accept that. Maybe we really are alike. I mean, I've never thought about ruling the world, but if I must choose between the world and my loved ones, I wouldn't play the hero, I'm not that noble. Sabrina set things up for the evil to be slain and I'm worried she'll come back to finish the job."

"Details," Giovanni insisted, "explain it so that it makes sense, no more missing pieces."

Ash nodded and took a deep breath. "Team Rocket has done many things. All the consequences, all the negative energy, it will stay until it is balanced out, and while it stays, it will serve as a negative influence. Don't you think it's strange how Team Rocket has developed? You'd think we should have more than a handful of vigilantes protesting. The general public has accepted Team Rocket and the fear is fading. Team Rocket's rule is beginning to be perceived as normal, why isn't there more bitterness? Where has all the negativity gone?"

"Legend..." Giovanni realized. "Legend is the legendary Team Rocket, or the consequence of it. It's a supernatural manifestation... That's why that power retreated from that furball, it responded to me when it was in a small quantity, but the amount that resides in Ashimi won't listen to me."

"Exactly, while it was spread out in the hearts of many, I couldn't sense it because it's normal for some darkness to reside in the hearts of people, no living creature in this world is pure good or pure evil. Then when it got to Ashimi, it hid behind her own presence. That explains my dream," Ash briefly went over the three parts of the dream briefly, then elaborated.

"The people of the far future can't do anything about this with time travel, because this is destined to happen as long as Team Rocket exists. They wouldn't want to get rid of Team Rocket, plus even if they did, the world would meet a worse fate, since Team Rocket did contribute to many things that turned out to be vital, including Pokerus. It's ironic, but in one way or another, without Team Rocket's influence, pokemon could be extinct, the world could fall under the rule of a different force, who knows what could happen..."

"At least we agree that Team Rocket is necessary, albeit for different reasons," Giovanni voiced.

"The negative energy is still an issue though. If it got out of hand Team Rocket will be so hated it wouldn't be able to maintain its rule. That's the third part of the dream, an older Ashimi rising to power, a possible future that will never be, because she won't obtain that evil from Team Rocket in the future, she has it now. That part of the vision indicates that facing that evil is inevitable." Ash fell silent, the next part was very hard to explain.

Giovanni ended the silence and prompted, "and the part with the baby?"

"No one is pure good or pure evil... Except a pure good newborn child or a pure evil supernatural manifestation, but neither remains pure for long." Ash continued with difficulty. "The vision, if I had interpreted it correctly from the start, would have given me a choice. The first part told me that I had to choose or destiny would choose. The second and third parts were the options. Do nothing and have the evil fade through the generations. Team Rocket could still be salvaged then, possibly by a future leader, but each leader would have to do their part, a reminder that facing this was indeed inevitable. The Rocket rule would be filled with battles and wars. Negativity and positivity are attracted to their opposite, but only in hopes of consuming it. It would have been hard, and both the Rockets and the world would suffer through the generations, but in the end, I think things would settle into a prosperous kingdom."

"The other option was to make Ashimi remain pure good for a period of time longer than normal. Even children have mischief, the smallest specks to balance their purity. Yet Ashimi was always so innocent, if she got into mischief it wasn't out of real mischief, but because she was playing and honestly didn't think she was doing anything she shouldn't. She never lied, she always trusted. I thought she was just a little sheltered, but that it would be okay because she would mature at her own pace through her journey."

Ash's voice caught in his throat. "I thought the dream was telling me, do this or suffer the consequences, but it was actually telling me to choose a consequence and I chose the worse one. I studied the aura, I tried to protect Ashimi, to purify her energy. She was filled with so much goodness that she connected with pokemon easily and attracted success. But because she was imbalanced, she was also a magnet for evil. Yet as long as she remained pure good, it couldn't touch her."

"It was inevitable though. No matter what I do, kids grow up, they get angry, jealous, frustrated and that's normal. But the darkness hiding in all the hearts connected to Team Rocket, directly or not, had already been attracted to her light. When that insignificant little bit of darkness appeared, it opened the door. Don't you see?" Ash snapped in self directed anger.

"This evil could have been diminished through the generations. But I used my aura to purify hers, I told her they were just relaxation techniques, but I thought I was saving her. Instead of saving her what I did was choose to sacrifice her. Instead of the evil being diminished through the generations, it all collected in her. If it takes over completely, the evil side of Team Rocket will be personified through Ashimi, her very soul will be consumed with no hope of reincarnation, and Legend is clinging to her so much that I can't remove it."

Ash's voice almost failed him as he confessed, "I don't know what to do." Tears rolled down his face. "If only I knew about those documents sooner, they held a warning related to the text I studied years ago, about balance and the consequences of extremes."

As Ash went on, several details stood out to Giovanni. "Team Rocket is destined to rule the world as its kingdom with what you just explained in the first part of your dream. It'll be easier for the world if it's purified now, rather than through the generations. In any state that it may be, I will not dissolve Team Rocket. Yet that future doesn't guarantee Ashimi's survival because she is not your only descendant."

"I'm so terrible, I was so caught up in thinking I failed that I didn't realize Misty wasn't taking care of herself." Giovanni could point out that Ash was in the same state, but he remained silent and didn't interrupt. "When Misty told me she was pregnant I just about fell apart, but I couldn't tell her I doomed Ashimi, so I put up an act and avoided her. When I realized what I had done, I held on to the future for hope. If those people, the woman and her son, were my distant descendants then Ashimi had to have lived. But now I don't know, there's no way to tell, they could be the distant descendants of Ashimi's sibling. If that's the case then there would be no paradox even if she..." Even if she died, though he dared not voice the word.

"I find it peculiar that the documents containing the warning resurfaced now, as if to provide some kind of clue on how to defeat Legend by knowing what it is," Giovanni pointed out. His suspicions about that certain group resurfaced. There was no use in trying to keep them in the dark, they already knew, they knew so much more than they pretended to know. "How could my agents missed such an artifact for so long, how could everyone miss it? Who gave you the first portion?"

Ash's eyes widened as his train of thought let him somewhere dark. "Lance... But he wouldn't purposely give me incomplete information. Even if Ashimi's sacrifice might be better for the world, he has a daughter too, he would understand." Before Giovanni could present an argument, Ash reached another realization. "The elders!" He could feel his heart beats quicken as he reached conclusions. "I've never spoken to them, they always communicate through Lance. If they tricked Lance, he would believe he's being honest and I wouldn't sense any traps from him."

"They knew Team Rocket's rule was inevitable, so they sped up the path to a prosperous kingdom by gathering all the negativity in one place and setting things up for a showdown," Giovanni concluded in anger. "They're giving you clues expecting you to slay the evil, because they know you're the only one strong enough to do it. If her soul is consumed she will not reincarnate, but it has not been consumed yet."

Ash's expression became horrified, "they want me to kill her. They want me to sacrifice her life to kill the evil and save her soul. No two lifetimes are the same, I can't just throw her to the afterlife and hope next time goes better. Plus her soul might be injured in the process and I don't even want to think of what consequences that would bring, consequences that could last for countless lifetimes."

"I'll order an expedition to the dragon temple immediately," the fire in Giovanni's eyes was fierce. This would not be a mere investigation, in would be a severe punishment.

"No," Ash ordered darkly. "Don't make Team Rocket's deeds worse, it'll all go back to Ashimi. Team Rocket can't be involved, you as it's leader can't be involved. I'll be the one to carry the consequences. Misty's sharp, I managed to make her drop the questions because she was tired, but tomorrow she'll be full of energy and ready to squeeze every drop of information out of me. I don't want her to do something crazy and your secrecy is about impossible to crack, so I know she won't get anything out of you. Please watch over Ashimi and tell mom to make sure Misty doesn't strain herself, she'll listen to her, mom has her ways to make people listen. I'm going to get some answers, I'll be back soon."

"You'll need back up." Before Ash protested with the same Team Rocket argument, Giovanni specified, "not in the name of Team Rocket."

"You and those who are Rockets are too closely linked to Team Rocket," Ash argued.

"So are you," Giovanni pointed out. "Besides, if the primary reason to do this is because they want to, rather than for Team Rocket, it'll be each individual's karma to carry, not another of Team Rocket's deeds. Plus it's all for the sake of saving Ashimi."

Giovanni's male Persian emerged from the window and climbed up to the roof, declaring his willingness to go on the mission. Furball's evolution and the way everyone kept pointing out how much like Purry he was, further contributed to his determination to get back into the action like he decided after Ashimi and Giovanni's pokemon battle royale. "You want to go?" Giovanni patted the feline's head, "you've been more stubborn than usual lately."

"I'd rather not involve the pokemon," Pikachu protested and Ash had no choice but to add, "except you."

"No pokemon? That doesn't make sense," Giovanni argued. "There are other weapons, but pokemon power will be useful. There will be a lot of security, there won't be much of a chance of getting too far undetected. So basically, you're going to break into the temple and force your way to the elders' chamber, that will require power."

"I'm also going to hold a bunch of old people hostage and extract information from them, by force if necessary and I don't want to ask my pokemon to assist me in torturing the elderly, or anyone for that matter." It felt so strange to say it, but Ash knew that though the way of the aura taught him otherwise, he would lose it when he faced the people that decided sacrificing his daughter would be worth it in the long run. His attention was caught by a light above and he realized he had been so lost in thought he didn't notice Charizard until he was in hearing distance.

The fire pokemon landed and communicated with Ash without problems despite not speaking the human language. "You saw the Indigo League on TV and came to give Chari an earful? I think she learned her lesson... And what do you mean you want in, you weren't even here to hear the whole conversation." Charizard insisted and Ash finally agreed. "We should leave right away, before they start to expect it."

Before anything more could be said, Ash's phone rang as he received a call from Lance. "Ash, sorry to call so late, but I really need to talk to you," the dragon master sounded very worried and angry. "I started to have suspicions and... We've been tricked."

"I know," Ash frowned. "Listen," he spoke seriously. "I'm going to get some answers from the elders. I'll beat them out if I must. Don't get in the way, tell your family to stay away from the temple and get the innocents out. If anyone gets in the way..." Ash didn't finish, but he didn't have to.

There was a long tense silence until Lance finally replied, "I understand."

After hanging up, Ash climbed on Charizard's back along with Pikachu and Persian. "We'll be back soon," he told his father before taking off.

Giovanni watched him go and when he was out of hearing distance he looked into the skies, his eyes locked on what appeared to be a peculiar star, "make sure of that."

xoxox xox xoxox

When the morning came, just as Ash expected, Misty was looking for him. She was planning to dust things off at the house where Ash grew up, so they could get settled in and stay in Pallet for a while, since the town had such a peaceful atmosphere. Delia insisted on helping, filled with the nostalgia of her home of many years.

Giovanni excused Ash, saying he had gone off to discuss a few things with Lance, and hoped the topic would be dropped before everyone gathered for breakfast. Delia, Misty and Laiki, who had arrived late the previous night, had already prepared it. Mostly Delia and Misty, since Laiki was used to buying food and never really cooked.

"Did Ash have a sudden burst of inspiration last night? I woke up in the middle of the night and he wasn't there, so I thought he might have gone out to clear his head. You went after him didn't you?" Misty inquired, already knowing the answer. She began to set plates on the table, handing a bunch to Giovanni.

"Yes," Giovanni replied simply. It made sense that she would think that he was the last to speak to Ash, since he was the only one who knew where he had gone. Yet Misty's attitude seemed different today, rather inquisitive. Giovanni made a note to escape back to the Viridian headquarters before Misty and Delia somehow dragged him into cleaning duties, he had already been half-tricked into helping set the table.

Misty went on about looking forward to hearing Delia's stories about what happened at each corner of the house when Ash was a little boy and about her plans to tell Ashimi, who was currently sleeping in, about her future sibling. Giovanni gave her a questioning look that made her smile, though it was only a half smile weighed down by her worries despite not being aware of the whole situation. "What Ashimi needs right now is to be surrounded by positivity. It's not easy, but I know I need to be strong for her. I also wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" Giovanni questioned.

"Yes," Misty explained. "I thought I was just nervous because of the Indigo League, but I was meaning to get a pregnancy test just in case my symptoms where more than that. With all that happened I had so much to worry about that I forgot. I know the doctor was just giving me a full check up by standard procedures, but if you hadn't sent me there, I still wouldn't know about the baby. A baby's aura is very small, it hides behind the mother so to speak, so Ash wouldn't notice unless he was specifically looking for it, and even then it's hard to sense. I've been so worried about Ashimi that I disregarded my own health. Pregnant or not, it was going to catch up with me, I might have gotten myself bedridden or maybe lose the baby if I kept that up." She paused a took a deep breath, "so thank you, I know we don't talk often, but I hope to change that."

Giovanni couldn't help it but to wonder if Ash was really exaggerating when he claimed that Misty had the ability to smell secrets. Laiki's green eyes were watching him like a Staraptor and he knew for a fact that she did have a mysterious ability to sense secrets. If he ordered her to do something at headquarters during her day off, she would know for sure something was up, and find out even faster. So instead he waited for Misty to look away as she peeked out of the kitchen to see what was taking so long, and shook his head at Laiki. The blond gave a quick nod, acknowledging the order to remain silent, but it was clear she was dying to know what was going on.

She didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it, as Gary rushed in. "She's gone," everyone's attention immediately focused on the researcher. "Delia went to get Ashimi for breakfast, but she wasn't there. Jonathan, Dorme, Volt and Ashimi's pokemon were on the floor of her room as if they had sleepwalked and fainted. Delia's trying to wake them, they're a bit lightheaded, but otherwise alright."

No sooner had the explanation finished when they all rushed into Ashimi's room. Jonathan, Dorme and Volt were still dizzy, but had managed to sit up, Ashimi's pokemon were in the same condition, along with Nidorino. They were disoriented and could only go on about a strange dream, yet they had no idea where Ashimi could have gone. Jonathan, Dorme and Volt's pokemon had been sleeping inside their pokeballs, which were found on the floor next to their trainers, their condition was no different than the pokemon that were outside.

Giovanni began to question the security team immediately. The satellite surveillance showed no indication of Ashimi leaving and no psychic energy was detected. Then a thought occurred to Giovanni. Legend was immense, it had to be, yet it could hide behind Ashimi's aura. It's powers were clearly growing as Ashimi absorbed more energy, what if it could teleport? It technically wouldn't be psychic energy, it was a type of negative energy that they didn't have the equipment to detect.

To be Continued

Some parts of Ash's dream were inspired by a certain dream sequence in Blessed Defiance by Rocketlord.

Awakening

Chapter 40: Friends

When Misty had woken up in the middle of the night to find that Ash was gone, she got a glass of water and went back to bed, too tired to figure out where he ran off to. She stopped by the room Ashimi was staying at and she was still there, asleep in a living cocoon formed by her pokemon.

Ashimi must have been taken in the very early morning. Why her friends were unconscious in the room when they were discovered was probably connected to the strange dreams they had, of which they could only remember bits and pieces. The boy whose name no one could remember was found in the same conditions, though he had the poor luck of somehow sleep walking in the wrong direction and ending up outside, he had a slight cold to show for it.

The dreams had all been part of the same one, which put things into perspective for Ashimi, with an unexpected yet intended result. She didn't doubt her friends, but she willingly and knowingly walked into the trap thinking it was best that way.

In the world of dreams, Ashimi's doubts resurfaced. She was nothing but a name, not her own person. Yet in the endless darkness she found several points of light. "My pokemon..." Lightning, Crobat, Clefable, Furball, Chari and Wartortle were all there. "You really don't care about where I came from or what I am, just who I am... Thank you... But do the others feel the same?"

'Why don't we ask them?' Legend's warped voice echoed in the endless nothingness. "Answer the question, Volt, you were never fond of Team Rocket. You never liked the elusive Ashley either, you couldn't wait to beat her if she ever dared to set foot in your gym."

Volt heard the voice in his dreams and couldn't help it but to answer with his true thoughts. "I hated Team Rocket and its heir... But I don't anymore. Team Rocket is inevitable and even necessary, we need to make it the best it could be. I misjudged Ashimi like I misjudged my brother. I didn't know them, but now I do. Since our battle, I've realized Ashimi is different from what I thought, different in a good way."

"You had no choice but to put up with her, the same as Team Rocket and Electro!" Legend argued.

"That's not true!" Volt defended. "I have a choice and I choose to see past what people are, I choose to look at who they are!"

"Volt... I'm very happy to hear that, thank you," Ashimi smiled and her dream didn't seem so bad anymore. "It looks like you were wrong, Legend."

"Genesis, tell us why you are even here. It is to serve your precious princess and climb the ranks, isn't it? That is the only reason why you acknowledge her!" Legend taunted, sure that it would work this time.

"I can't be called by my real name even in dreams..." The green haired boy sighed. "What is this voice in my head? It can't be my own thoughts because I know my own name. But it does kind of sound like my thoughts except it's not like that anymore. Ashimi is a kind person, right now I could be at headquarters continuing my training and signing up for missions. I would probably make more progress that way, but I would rather be standing by at Pallet because my friend Ashimi is there. I didn't think the Rocket princess was capable of such kindness to someone like me, but she's different from what I expected. I don't have to bend backwards serving her to climb the ranks and I don't care about that anymore. I'm here to make sure my friend is okay."

"You really don't care about rank anymore?" Ashimi was a bit surprised. "Thank you, Ceodore, though that's probably not your name either, I still appreciate that you're here. What are you trying to prove, Legend?"

Legend didn't reply and instead moved on. "Dorme, why don't you tell us how much you despise Ashley. She was always treated in a special way because she's Giovanni's granddaughter, she's your rival even if you're so much better than her. You don't have to tolerate her here in the world of your dreams. You can show your true feelings, you hate her, don't you?"

"Not anymore..." Dorme's voice was quiet at first, then became stronger as she went on. "I thought Ashimi was a pest and I wished she would just go away. But she didn't even try to become my rival, I was the one who declared her as such. We've become true friends now. She's not a spoiled brat, I just didn't know the real Ashimi before, she's actually very nice. If she wasn't the Rocket princess we might have become friends sooner, but I guess we were simply meant to be good friends because it happened anyway."

"Thank you, Dorme, you're a true friend. It's over, Legend, you're not going to make me doubt. Your plan backfired," Ashimi tried to push Legend's influence away, but there was still one more left.

"What about your dear knight? He met you all those years ago only because his parents dragged him off to see the princess. If you weren't the Rocket princess, he wouldn't be so loyal to you. He'll never see you for who you are, he'll only see the princess and nothing more," Legend mocked.

"That's..." Ashimi wanted to say that it wasn't true, but she couldn't find her voice.

"That's not true at all," Jonathan replied instead. "When I was a small child, I was taken to see a princess and I had a very childish view of what the princess would be like. I waited for a while for the princess to fulfill my expectations, but then I realized that she never would. I got over that first impression years ago. Then I left, I told myself I was being silly to waste my time playing with that girl who was just like an ordinary girl more so than a fairytale princess," Jonathan recalled.

Ashimi found herself remembering that time as well. She didn't see Jonathan for a long time and wondered why he didn't play with her anymore. Then he came back one day. "Where did you go? I missed you! Don't you want to be my friend anymore?" She could almost hear the words from her younger self.

"Then I went back because I realized that I had fun hanging out with Ashy just the way she was. I went back because I wanted to and I stayed because I wanted to. The whole princess and knight thing is just an inside joke between two close friends. Even if she had been someone else, even if we haven't met all those years ago, we would still somehow get to where we are today, I just know it."

"Johnny... Thank you for always being there for me, I'll never have these doubts again!" Ashimi focused on fighting off Legend and shattering his hold on her pokemon and friends. Her friends' pokemon were there as well, giving her their support.

Ashimi woke up from her sleep to find her friends and pokemon fainted on the floor. The green haired boy was missing, but she imagined that he should be in the same conditions as the others. Their life aura was stressed. "I'm hurting you all..." Ashimi removed Zero's data crystal and placed it in the fainted Nidorino's paws. "I'm sorry Zero, I understand now how I was hurting you. I don't want to be used as a hostage either. If I was out of the way, Legend could be defeated."

Legend's presence once again crept up from the depths of her mind. 'Do you really believe that?'

'Legend...' Ashimi made a choice. 'You wanted me to think my friends didn't care, you wanted me to doubt them and run away. I still have a hold on this vessel, you can't move it with complete freedom without my permission. I will leave, but not because I doubt my loved ones, it's because I trust them. If I'm out of the way, they'll defeat you, so go on, kick me out of my own body, leave me as a ghost.'

'I'd much rather consume your soul,' Legend hungrily replied.

'You never will,' Ashimi shot back. 'You're underestimating them again, my friends, my pokemon, my family, I won't be a hostage anymore and they will defeat you.'

'We can at least agree on one thing,' Legend voiced in its usual distorted tone. 'There is no reason to remain here.' With an energy that wasn't quite psychic and didn't truly belong to any element wielded by pokemon, Legend's shadowy power surrounded Ashimi and she disappeared.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the morning, everyone was in a rush looking for Ashimi. As soon as Chari was awake enough to fly, she dashed out with Lightning, Wartortle, Clefable, Furball and Nidorino on her back. It might have been a lot to carry, but she was strong and filled with unbreakable determination. Crobat flew beside the group, all of them heading into the distance, following their instinct to try to find Ashimi.

Jonathan, Dorme and Volt rushed outside, calling out Fearrow, Pidgeot and Magnezone respectively. "Wait for me!" The green haired boy called after them.

"Where are you going? You haven't answered my questions!" Giovanni shouted after them.

"Sorry boss, but we don't have the answers!" Jonathan took off on Fearow.

"We'll report it if we find out anything!" Volt added, taking off on Magnezone.

"Reno will stay here and do whatever is needed!" Dorme left as well.

"Who's Reno?" The green haired boy asked. "Wait, you mean me? Don't leave me with the boss when he's angry!"

"I don't know where they're going, but I have some things to look into." Giovanni spoke into his cell phone, Maverick, the jet." A small and fast jet descended from the skies, controlled by the Porygon-Z who had been transferred to the satellite after the battle. "Delia, take care of Team Rocket and don't do anything I wouldn't do." Giovanni boarded the jet and took off.

"Where are you going?" Delia's question was left without an answer.

"Can somebody tell me what's going on, why everyone is leaving and where they're going? Where is my daughter? Why isn't anyone telling me anything?" Misty fumed. "Answer me, Fratley!"

"I don't know!" The boy whose name everyone always got wrong, cried out as he backed away.

"I don't know why Giovanni left me in charge all of a sudden, but if I'm the boss for now, I might as well go to the Viridian headquarters and ask some questions," Delia decided. "Misty, I'm making you my second in command, let's go!"

"Right, the main surveillance team is at Viridian, we should be able to get some answers there." Misty agreed, "and they better have answers!"

Laiki sighed and shook her head, "there goes my day off. Team Rocket is sure to end up with a shortage in both human and pokemon doctors when they're through."

xoxox xox xoxox

As Ash approached the dragon temple with Charizard, Pikachu and Persian, he was intercepted by Lance, who rode on his Dragonite. "Were you just planning to charge in?" The dragon master inquired.

"Pretty much," Ash admitted. He could tell by the aura that Lance was not there to stop him, but he would likely want to keep an eye on things.

"I can only imagine how you feel right now," The dragon master spoke quietly. "But because of Scarlett I can understand in a way. I misled most of the trainers that were at the temple. The place has few guards now. No doubt about it you will be refused an audience, so..."

"Less people will get in the way, which means less will be hurt," Ash finished.

"Is anyone else coming?" Lance cautiously asked.

"No," without another word Ash headed towards the temple and landed in front of it. He didn't recall any of the pokemon, Pikachu never really went into his pokeball, Charizard didn't technically have an official trainer and Persian was Giovanni's pokemon.

Upon approaching the temple they found two people already waiting there. "Took you long enough," Comet greeted.

"Comet, Pixel, what are you two doing here?" Ash asked in surprise. "Team Rocket wasn't supposed to be involved!"

"It's not," Pixel replied and Ash noted that neither of them was wearing a uniform.

"This is, shall we say... family business," Comet added.

"We were waiting for you and I see you added one more to the party," Pixel observed.

"Ready to go in?" Comet asked.

"Let's do this," Ash agreed, he didn't even bother asking how they got there first, they were Rockets, they had their ways, even if they weren't there as Rockets today. The four of them proceeded inside, along with the three pokemon, though Lance recalled Dragonite for the moment.

Most of the temple was clear, but it was only a matter of time before a confrontation occurred. They approached a large hall with marble statues of several dragon type pokemon. At the end of the hall there were double doors adorned with gold that led to the inner chamber. "This is as far as we can go without facing any guards." Lance warned as he entered a number into the keypad next to the door and slid in a card. The doors did not open. "I guess that shouldn't surprise me."

"Not a problem," Pixel stepped forward. "Prism, do you read me?" The Porygon-Z replied from the satellite though only Pixel heard her. "Just barely... Okay, time to do some hacking."

"I thought that Team Rocket wasn't going to be so directly involved," Lance observed.

"It's not," Comet assured. "We're just borrowing some equipment, but the boss didn't give us any orders."

"Then how is it that you're here?" Ash inquired.

"Prism overheard a certain conversation and told Pixel about it," Comet explained. "No one else knows, no one whose only reason to be here might be Team Rocket, we have stronger reasons to be here."

Despite his earlier arguments and the logic about not involving Team Rocket, Ash didn't feel uneasy about their presence. "That's true, if your reasons to be here for yourselves are stronger than your reasons to be here for Team Rocket, then your energy won't link back to it in the same way," Ash mused aloud.

Lance knew there must be an explanation for all that, but this wasn't the time to ask for additional clarifications. He got the basics and knew enough to decide to take Ash's side. He was conflicted because he knew the elders meant to do what was best for the world, but when he thought of his own daughter in Ashimi's shoes, he couldn't justify their actions.

The doors opened and behind them waited two guards in a platform in the middle of the chamber, where the stairs were concealed, surrounded by water. Two Kingdras were swimming in the water, but the real challenge would be the guards and their pokemon. They were dressed in dragon-like armor, warriors as much as their pokemon were. Yet two guards couldn't be all there was, surely there were more hiding in the shadows.

"Meteor," Comet released his Absol from his pokeball. "How many?" The pokemon sniffed the air and signaled a reply. "Really?" Comet grinned, "only seven?"

Seeing as it was useless to remain hidden, the armored dragon trainers stepped out from behind the dragon statues that adorned the elegant temple. One of the guards next to the platform in the middle of the room stepped forward. His armor was dark red, rather than dark blue and it had golden details. It was impossible to tell what he really looked like under the dragon shaped helmet. "Dragon master Lance, this is your last chance to join us."

"I refuse," Lance replied without hesitating. His family could only keep the others busy for so long in a wild Zangoose chase that would lead to nothing. "The ends don't justify the means. You can't hope to do the world a favor by sacrificing and innocent life. Do you not understand? If you wanted Team Rocket to be purified, why fill it with bitter sadness?"

"The elders miscalculated," the leader of the dragon warriors admitted. "They thought Ash could save her and when they realized he couldn't, they hope he would do what was best and never know the truth." He turned his attention from Lance to Ash. "If you must be angry, hold a grudge against the us and not against the world, we will respond accordingly."

"I've had enough of this!" Ash shouted. "You think you're noble sacrificing yourself for the sake of the world? I'm not the boss of Team Rocket, I'm not the future king. The one who wanted to turn Team Rocket into a prosperous kingdom was Ashimi. My father will have his revenge and even if it is unfair, I don't think I will be able to bring myself to stop him!"

"But the aura-" the dragon warrior leader began to argue and was cut off.

"You know nothing of the aura!" Ash formed a ball of energy in his palm and shot it. That was all that was needed for the battle to begin.

The two Kingdra emerged from the water and each dragon warrior released their own companions, Haxorus, Garchomp, Flygon, Hydreigon, Goodra, Tyrantrum and Dragalge. Haxorus' materialized in the path on Ash's attack and deflected it. The pokemon looked very strong and appeared to be wearing some kind of metal cape on his back.

"Peachy, Pyro, show no mercy!" Pixel released her Pikachu and Charizard from their pokeballs.

"Meteor, Shenlong, let's win this!" Comet already had his Absol out, he called out Gyarados as well.

"Dragonite!" Lance's strongest pokemon reappeared once again out of her pokeball and ready for action.

"Pikachu, thunder!" Ash called out.

"You too, Peachy!" Pixel sent her Pikachu to join in as well. They were a very powerful pair, but the Kingdra resisted their initial attack.

The dragon warriors didn't need to give their pokemon directions, they charged into the battle with their companions already knowing what to do. Comet caught the spear before it could strike him, holding it as the dragon warrior pulled it back. "Meteor, perish song!" The Absol began to sing a solemn tune that was hypnotizing. Comet let go of the spear and dodged as Flygon swooped by and started a sand attack. Though the temple looked clean, sand began to emerge out of the hallow statues, floating towards Flygon, and surrounding him in a tornado that spread all across the room.

Pixel's shield of magnetic light could be seen and another of the dragon warriors made it her target. Her Garchamp rushed ahead, claws outstretched, he was met with a powerful fire blast point blank. Pyro batted his wings to blow the sandstorm away while he breathed fire and with help from Ash's Charizard the battle field once again became clear of that obstacle. Peachy dashed in from the side and focused her energy on Garchomp, it seemed to have no immediate effect, but it would in time. "Peachy, watch out!" The dragon warrior had realized what was going on and attempted to defend her pokemon. Peachy tried the lightning laser technique on her, but her dragon-like armor prevented it from being effective.

A volt tackle from Ash's Pikachu halted the warrior's advance, 'I don't like it when you do that,' he complained about the technique.

'There's no need for mercy, these people want our boy's trainer dead,' Peachy reminded. 'Not even Ash is holding back.

Pikachu glared at the battle and clenched his paws. 'This once... for Ashimi...' The two electric mice charged in together and dodged Garchomp.

The Kingdra twins targeted them with hydro pumps, but the electric duo was faster. They dodged the hits and attacked them with volt tackle and thunder, close enough so that the Kingdras couldn't help it but to succumb to their power. 'Garchomp won't see it coming now!' Peachy focused her energy along with Pikachu.

This was a technique he would rather not use, but this was a desperate time. 'Lightning laser!' The thin but deadly lines of light hit Garchomp's heart from opposite directions and the pokemon fell, twisting and turning on the floor in pain. 'That should be enough,' Pikachu decided.

'I know, I know, no overkill,' Peachy rolled her eyes, 'I mean no unnecessary kills,' she corrected. 'I better get a big cake after this!' Gluttonous as ever, the thought of a celebratory meal was always a good motivation to battle harder.

Garchomp's partner was dodging all of Pixel's electric charges and her spear was starting to overload the shield. She was sure one more simultaneous hit from her spear and Garchomp's claws would shatter the cyborg's shield. Just as she was certain her opponent would be defeated, she heard her pokemon cry out in pain and fall. "Garchomp!"

"You'd best leave the battle field if you care about your pokemon," Pixel warned. 'Prism,' she called out in a message. 'Recharge me... Prism? I just lost my last bit of signal in here. Oh well, I'll have to make what I have last.'

The cyborg thought that she was rid of one dragon warrior at least, but Garchomp soon went back on his unsteady feet and his trainer pointed her spear at Pixel. "This is our last stand, three have left us, but the remaining seven dragon warriors will stay loyal to the elders!" She charged in, shattering the energy shield and readying her spear for the kill. Pyro had flown to chase after Flygon, but broke away from the battle and released his fire upon Garchomp's trainer to defend his own. She screamed, trapped in the armor that had suddenly become very hot, but realized it wasn't as hot as it should be if it had been a direct hit. Garchomp had jumped in front of her to shield her from the blast. "Garchomp!" She gripped her spear as tears flowed from her eyes for her fallen comrade. Determined, she charged recklessly, right at the fire pokemon, who retaliated swiftly, sending her flying across the battle field.

Flygon gave chase to Pyro and attacked with dragon claw, but was blasted out of the way just in time by a hyper beam from Shenlong. Pixel glanced at Comet with a smile then focused her mechanical sensors on the dragon warrior woman, scanning for vital signs. "She's alive, just knocked out, at least she landed out of the way of the battle, but it's over for Garchomp, she should have taken the warning... No, she was ready to sacrifice both of them."

Comet looked towards Meteor, who was still using his power to weaken the consciousness of all those who heard his song. His own pokemon were trained to resist it, as were Pixel's. His earpiece and Pixel's integrated cyborg components would protect them and he trusted Ash' was strong enough with the aura. Surely someone like Lance would be unaffected as well, but even if the dragon warriors and their pokemon tried to resist the enchantment, their insecurities and doubts would be their downfall. He punched a dragon warrior in the face, he had been Hydreigon's trainer and now that he was out cold, Comet could focus on Hydreigon. "Keep at it, Meteor!" Making sure no one got too close to the dark pokemon, he rushed into the fight again.

Flygon took to the air, only to be batted down again by an iron tail from Ash's Charizard. He landed, right next to Persian, who was clawing at Dragalge and badly poisoned. Charizard landed next to them and blasted Dragalge away with his fire. 'Finish him off, I'll take care of her!'

'I don't want anyone's seconds!' Giovanni's Persian protested, though he did knock out Flygon with night slash.

The temple suddenly shook violently once, twice, three times. The ceiling began to cave in, forcing the combatants to dodge falling debris and exit the structure via the opening on the ceiling. 'That's enough Prism, you don't need to go all out with the laser just because we lost contact,' Pixel communicated. 'Another blast like that will be too much, we can't have the lower levels collapse, we need answers from the people hiding there. Play support instead.'

'Affirmative!'Prism chirped in relief, she was in the atmosphere, thus only Pixel heard her, via their wireless communication.

'You'll have to tell me how you talked him into that later,' Pixel grinned. Prism's laser wasn't that strong, she recognized this weapon as being Giovanni's personal defense satellite, controlled by Maverick, whom Prism seemed to like on some days and dislike on others. Prism did however have support capabilities in her satellite and soon put them to good use.

A bright light shone upon Persian, he left as if the gravity around him was lighter and the air heavier. The light faded and he felt much better, his poisoning was gone. He hissed at the skies where he saw an odd star, threw his head back in a prideful gesture and ran off to find another target, since Charizard had stolen his.

Four of the dragon warriors had surrounded Ash since the beginning of the fight, all of them wearing blue armor, as the one in red went after Lance. He had no time to command his pokemon as he dodged their spears, focusing on the aura to predict their movements. He finally saw an opportunity and cut the end of one of the spears with his aura blade, taking the opening to jump out of the middle of the circle they had formed around him. His breaths were heavy and the weight of the situation was taking its toll, but Ash refused to give up.

His blade turned to a ball of energy which charged at the four warriors, breaking apart and crashing against them. One held his spear in front of him and it was broken by the force of the attack, the defensive stance proven insufficient, he was thrown several feet back. Another rolled out of the way, dropping her spear in the process as debris fell from the collapsing ceiling. Now only one of the four was armed, but the others, though tired, were not out of the battle yet.

They dodge the falling pieces of the ceiling and jumped to escape from the collapsing structure, some climbing on their own and others holding on to their pokemon. When the dust settled, they jumped down from what was left of the ruined walls and resumed their fight. Ash made his blade of aura larger and charged at the dragon warrior who was still armed. The other three came at him from all direction. He broke the spear of his opponent, but the others were too close. He ducked out of the way of a punch, jumped to dodge two simultaneous kicks and with the long blade of energy outstretched, her spun to hit all four of the warriors that surrounded him.

The aura cut through their armor as if it was butter, but only lightly burned their flesh as it exploded into bolts of electricity on contact until the blade was no more. The warriors were tossed aside, static still clinging to their forms, alive, but knocked out. Breathing heavily, Ash looked at Comet and Pixel, shaking his head. "Garchomp is dead," he frowned at her, then looked at Comet with the same expression. "Did you see where you threw that guy you knocked out?"

"No," Comet admitted, "I was busy beating up that Hydreigon," he pointed to the unconscious pokemon. "Oh wait, there he is," he pointed, spotting the dragon warrior.

"He's alive," Ash sighed. He wondered if the dragon warriors were just being used and felt bad for them. He knew his friends were trying to do this with as few casualties as possible, for his sake, but it was still hard to think they were storming the dragon temple.

"I was more concerned about Hydreigon biting my head off, but yeah, I was careful" Comet replied.

"And I wasn't the one who ordered the satellite canon to be shot," Pixel added. "Prism went and convinced Maverick all on her own. Charmed him or something." Prism protested at what she perceived as teasing.

"I know, I'm just stressed. We need to," Ash's words were interrupted by Tyrantrum attempting to eat him.

"Focus on the battle?" Comet completed for him.

Ash jumped back, "yeah, that!" He dodged Tyrantrum's tail as it swung towards him and tried to call out his blade of aura again, but he put too much power into his last attack and it wouldn't respond. Yet he felt as if he could do more than that. 'The perish song!' He realized. It's sweet melody lulled the targets into thinking that they wanted nothing more but to escape their present. It prayed on their insecurities and had significantly weaken the dragon warriors and their pokemon, for they must have known about the truth of the elders' actions and even if they chose to be loyal, they might still feel bad about it. But why did it affect him too? He thought the aura would protect him...

"Ash? Ash!" Pixel called out in alarm.

"Hey you overgrown lizard, back off!" Comet jumped on the pokemon's tail, running up her back until he reached her head. "The twerp is not a meal!" He jumped and kicked the center of the pokemon's skull and she lost consciousness.

Ash chuckled, "you've been hanging out with Jessie and James too much lately," he joked.

"Now I know what to call you when you space out," Comet countered. Shenlong came up next to him after having finished his business with Goodra. The other pokemon were all done with their battles as well. Meteor ceased his song since every enemy was knocked out, or not found in the case of Haxorus and the red armored dragon warrior.

Ash didn't really want to address it, but he couldn't ignore it. "It was the perish song, I shouldn't be affected by it, but I was because I don't know what's right anymore. I want revenge so badly, but I know that won't solve much, that's not the way of the aura. I... I just want my daughter to be safe."

"We'll find some answers here..." Pixel voiced quietly.

"That's true," Ash breathe, "but they might not be good. I'm sorry Zero was targeted too, his data..."

"Will be fine," Pixel interjected. "I didn't think I could become a cyborg years ago and here I am, technology will get better and he'll be restored." Ash didn't reply, it wasn't really a matter of technology anymore.

"That's right, Zero will be okay and Ashimi will be saved, if you don't think it's possible you can't make it possible," Comet voiced.

"Right, I can't let despair get to me," Ash nodded. There was one thing that he still didn't understand... "Where did Lance go?" They all looked around, but the dragon master was nowhere to be seen and Ash was too tired to extend his senses to a distance beyond his immediate surroundings.

xoxox xox xoxox

When the ceiling collapsed Haxorus extended the metal on his back to reveal a pair of mechanical wings, that he used to take off from the area, carrying his trainer with him. Lance had gone in pursuit, riding on Dragonite. Haxorus landed in the mountains near mount silver and the red armored dragon warrior got off. Dragonite landed in a peak nearby and Lance got off as well. "What do you hope to accomplish with all this, Abeloth?" The champion demanded.

The dragon warrior removed his helmet, casting it aside, his yellow eyes glaring coldly at Lance. His dark hair was cut short, contrasting with the bright red of Lance's hair. "You were supposed to be our leader, you were supposed to be an example. But you ran off with that outsider, that traitor who left the dragon clan, and yet the elders still welcomed you and even made your daughter one of us. Where are they now? Serving as part of a distraction so you can attack our elders. Traitors, all of you!"

"Do you really think everyone was tricked?!" Lance argued back. "The elders have made many mistakes, they have grown out of touch with reality and many of our clan finally had enough!"

"So they're letting Ash decide? He should pass judgment on our people?" Abeloth shouted in indignation.

"He's the chosen one by the legendaries..." Lance reminded.

"That doesn't mean anything! He is just as selfish as everyone else, otherwise he would have agreed with the elders!" Abeloth continued to argue.

"Ashimi is innocent in all of this, a true dragon master can't stand by and let an innocent person be sacrificed," Lance firmly replied.

"I see there's no way we can understand each other," Abeloth concluded. He separated his double spear into two, forming two weapons of equal length out of it, and he tossed one half to Lance. "The one who should be wearing the red armor is you, but you didn't even look surprised when you found me at the temple, as if you didn't care. You dishonor your heritage, you think you're doing the right thing by saving that girl and sacrificing many?"

"There has to be a better way, but you were right about one thing, there really is no way we can understand each other," Lance stood defensively, holding the spear at the ready. "Especially if you insist on claiming you're sinless after abandoning your closest companion!"

"That Dragonite was weak, Haxorus is strong, strong enough to defeat your Dragonite! The victor will be the one who's right!" Abeloth charged at Lance. At the same time Haxorus extended his mechanical wings and hurried towards Dragonite. The two dragons let out fierce battle cries as Abeloth's spear collided with Lance's. The men struggled against each other until their weapons broke contact, but not for long. They jumped from one mountain peak to another, running close to the edge, their spears often colliding, attacking and blocking.

The two dragons were in the air, their trainers far too busy to guide them, the beasts were left to their own devices, to apply what they had learned. Dragonite attacked with hurricane, but Haxorus blocked with his metal wings, then faced the currents, propelling himself forward with his powerful mechanical enhancements. He crashed into Dragonite, dragging her down towards the ground with ever increasing speed. Dragonite struggled to get free before the deadly giga impact hit, just barely escaping with a thunder wave at the last second.

Albeit the force of the crash was greatly reduced, Dragonite still hit the ground with a cloud of dust picking up around her. She got up as fast as she could, knowing that her rival would be relentless. The force of a dragon pulse slowed her down and she just barely dodged Haxorus' claws. Dragonite knew that she couldn't compete in the air, Haxorus' metal wings were too powerful and no matter how fast she tried to move her own, she couldn't match his speed. She couldn't stay on the ground either, she was an easy target to be hit from the air, so she gained altitude.

Determined not to give up, Dragonite attacked with Aqua Tail, as Haxorus came closer to slash at her. She managed to land the attack, and Haxorus was forced to back away. He shot a hyper beam, which Dragonite dodged. She was going to take the opportunity after the failed attack to fight back with a hyper beam of her own, but she was assaulted by a multitude of sharp knives that were shot from Haxorus' wings and couldn't fight back. Dragonite felt her senses blur, realizing the knives were poisoned. She struggled to fight back, but her dragon rush missed the target because of her numb senses and Haxorus countered with outrage.

Dragonite fell, she breathed heavily, holding on to her consciousness with all she had. "Dragonite!" Lance's voice made her eyes snap open and she weakly lifted her head to look at him. She cried out in warning, causing him to turn at the last second to defend himself from Adeloth's attack. She couldn't be a distraction to him, his worries for her would cost him his life. She tried to push herself up, but Haxorus wouldn't allow it. He shot a focus blast which badly injured her right wing, and partially damaged her left. She cried out in pain, knowing that she would be stuck on the ground for the rest of the battle that she could only hope wasn't her last.

Lance's Dragonite could hear the odd sound of Haxorus' wings above her. She turned on her side and looked up in time to see him charge another hyper beam. This was it, he was preparing to finish her off, like his trainer no doubt told him to. The poison continued to circulate through her body, weakening her along with her injuries. Even then she wouldn't give up. From the corner of her eyes, in that split second she could see Lance struggling to get away from Adeloth, trying his best to run to her. His cape was ripped to shreds and there was blood pouring out from a wound on his side, next to the rips. A little higher and to the side and the enemy's spear would have pierced his heart.

The brightness of the hyper beam overtook her senses, but other than the hotness of the attack, Dragonite felt no pain. Her wings throbbed and her whole body ached, but she had not been slain, that last attack had been redirected by a brightness that could have only been another hyper beam. Another Dragonite landed beside her. She gasped in recognition, he had been Adeloth's pokemon once, though he traded him in search of a stronger partner and ended up with an enhanced Haxorus, that no doubt cost him more than the price for which he sold his Dragonite. He somehow ended up with Lance later on, the same Dragonite no doubt, though he was short one antennae.

Haxorus roared in anger at the newcomer that interrupted him, he flapped his wings again, knives shooting out of them at the two Dragonites. They tried to stop the projectiles with hurricane, as they shot in all directions and were nearly impossible to dodge. Alone neither could have done it, but together the knives fell short of hitting their target. The female noticed that the newcomer was carrying something in his front paws, which he gave her before quickly stepping forward as if to create a distraction. She knew what that liquid was, a rare elixir developed by Team Rocket, which they didn't share with just about anyone. Lance had obtained one, which he entrusted to Evazan, alias Arrow.

Lance's Dragonite didn't want to use all the elixir for herself, it was rare, even within Team Rocket, but she knew she needed to drink a portion at least, so she did. She quickly rushed forward with a hyper beam and gave the other Dragonite the remainder of the elixir. He had gotten hurt keeping Haxorus busy. He didn't want to drink the elixir, so she had to practically shove it at him. By then Haxorus had recovered and the two Dragonites had to dodge left and right out of the way of his focus blast. Haxorus positioned his wings to shoot poisoned knives again, as Lance's Dragonite was no longer poisoned thanks to the elixir, but nothing happened, he was too wasteful with his ammunition and had run out.

The Dragonite with one antennae was shocked that the other of his kind could recover so much of her strength with only a portion of the elixir. He fought Haxorus for less time and took just as much elixir, but wasn't as refreshed as her. Lance's Dragonite was truly on a class of her own, a class that he thought he could never reach. He tried to focus as she told him they would have to work together. Two against one wasn't fair, but she didn't care at the moment, she was more worried about Lance. Haxorus went on the attack with hyper beam, but couldn't keep up with trying to hit the two targets at once. With an angry roar, Haxorus caused an earthquake that shook even the duel happening in the peaks nearby. To his surprise, both Dragonites took to the air in response.

The male Dragonite noticed then that Lance's Dragonite wasn't completely healed after all. Her right wing was still hurt, albeit useable, but painful. He realized that it wasn't that the elixir was especially effective for her, but she was simply more determined to make the best of the situation. She had already been trying to get up when he arrived, even if all logic dictated that she was about to die. There was no way she would abandon her trainer, she fought for Lance and that made her stronger. It was a bond that he had never known.

Haxorus was getting angrier, losing his concentration. He attacked with outrage, switching his targets because when he attacked one, the other would attack him, he was getting tired though. Lance's Dragonite nodded at her ally, they needed to finish this quickly, she wanted to check on Lance. Enraged, Haxorus shot one hyper beam after another, not taking the time to aim and letting his anger get the best of him due to his poor training. The two Dragonites took the opportunity and aimed from opposite sides with hyper beams of their own. The dual attacks were a direct hit that finally sent Haxorus crashing to the ground, fainted. Lance's Dragonite landed, unable to go on with her injured wing. The other Dragonite helped her up, so they could fly towards Lance.

The two Dragonites arrived on time to see the end of the duel. Lance demonstrated his superior skill and knocked Abeloth's spear out of his hands. Exhausted, the red armored warrior's legs gave out and he could no longer stay on his feet. His breaths were heavy and angry, yellow eyes glaring with loathing. It only got worse when he saw the two Dragonites behind Lance. "You!" He snapped at the Dragonite who had been his pokemon. "I trained you from the start, I made you evolved, and this is how you repay me? You were always weak, no matter how hard I tried to make you strong, but now you are a traitor!"

"That's enough," Lance reprimanded. "You betrayed him, you abandoned him when you should have been supportive and caring. You can never understand the bond between a true dragon master and pokemon. You've lost, admit defeat and never return to the dragon clan!"

"Very well..." Abeloth turned around, and looked at his fainted pokemon down below. It was only a distraction though, he turned again, pulling out a gun that was hidden in his armor and aiming at Lance. A flash of light blinded him momentarily and a sharp pain invaded his senses. His limbs went numb and the gun slipped out of his hand. When his eyes refocused he saw red, an endless sea of red from the hole that the hyper beam had cut clean through his chest. He fell back and died before he even hit the ground.

Lance turned around, startled. He stared with wide eyes at the one who had broken the unspoken golden rule. His own Dragonite turned her head to look at the culprit. She had began to move and was already several steps ahead from where she landed, intending to shield Lance, but she would have been too late and even if she still tried, she knew it. The male Dragonite looked at the ground in shame. Lance gently reached up and placed his hand on the dragon's shoulder. "You are strong, you just needed to find your strength, but this is not the way. Don't fight in hatred, fight to protect those you care about. You are free now, and so you will remain. Find your happiness and know that you're always welcome in my home."

The Dragonite nodded. He was hurt and tired, but it wasn't anything life threatening. He would heal well enough in the wild. He did want to give Lance a ride back though, since Dragonite really needed to give her wings a rest and heal. Lance accepted the offer, recalled his Dragonite into her pokeball to rest and got on the male Dragonite's back.

xoxox xox oxox

Hidden in the rocky terrain, two people witnessed Lance's battle. "I let him go and he ended up coming here. I guess he had unfinished business with the trainer who hurt him," Arrow voiced.

Daala scowled, "I knew it, those were just some random pokemon you caught last minute for the league, your true power lies fighting with a spear by Salamence's side. She hid her power when she fought that Rocket's Gyarados, but she could have won at any moment."

"I was a dragon warrior once, there were ten of us then. Lance's wife was qualified, regardless of what the elders said, but she never joined. Lance was our leader, Scarlett was there as well, one of the ten chosen. Abeloth was always jealous of Lance, as for me, I felt trapped in that life and wanted to go out there and do something that felt like I was making a difference. I put down my spear and picked up a bow, Salamence has been with me through thick and thin, I can't imagine even being alive without her. But even if I care about Salamence more than for my own life, I've never been able to truly connect with any other pokemon in the same way, not even close," Arrow confessed. "I try to help them in the wild and I've even caught many pokemon and trained them for some time, but I always let them go. I guess it was simply meant to be this way, just Salamence and me, doing what we can to help the world."

"Well, now that you've seen this, you can truly put your past behind. I know you were torn between your loyalty to the elders and to Lance. Now we both know the truth," Daala fell silent, lost in thought.

Arrow nodded, "the whole truth, revealed by the elders themselves. I guess they thought they could convince me to join their side. What do you think?"

"I'll have to side with the elders on this one. Although, now that I know what happened at the Indigo League really wasn't Ashimi's doing, even if I'm still upset about it, I feel that I can accept her apology," Daala admitted.

Arrow sighed, "I can see both sides of the argument and that's why I couldn't bring myself to join either. So I just..."

"Let things happen on their own, but you still had to keep an eye on your idol," Daala finished for him. "Either way, that evil inside Ashimi is, ironically, Team Rocket's enemy too, even if it was born from it. They'll try to save her and if they can't do it, I doubt anyone can. As much as it pains me, Team Rocket is the most powerful force in the world. I still don't like the idea of having anyone rule over people, sometimes I think it's best for people to just rule themselves, albeit I see how that can get out of hand too. As things stand now, my priority is the evil not running wild..."

"You want to sacrifice her..." Arrow concluded. "I won't stop you, I don't disagree with your logic to put the majority first, but I can't go against Lance or Ash or... or even Giovanni himself if he's truly trying to save his granddaughter as his granddaughter, rather than just his heir. We don't know that, there's no way to know, but I know Ash must be sincere, because Lance trusts him and I trust Lance. I'm still on the fence, if there's a way for both sides to win, I'll pick that, but for now... I guess I'll be busy figuring it out." Arrow called Salamence out of her pokeball and climbed on her back. She was once again his only pokemon, the others had been set free to live in the wild.

Daala stood in thought until he disappeared in the distance and finally realized that standing there thinking wouldn't bring her the answer she so desperately wanted. She couldn't change Arrow's mind and if they met in opposite sides of the battlefield he would be her enemy and a formidable opponent. The sooner she came to terms with that the better. She called out Braviary, regretting the fact that the only pokemon who could carry her out of the remote mountains was that one, yet she knew she could never bring herself to part with him.

To be Continued

I borrowed some more names, as per the usual references: Genesis and Reno are from Final Fantasy VII, Ceodore is from IV and Fratley from IX, Abeloth is from Star Wars. What Abeloth was going on about Lance's family was an alternate universe reference to a certain someone in Nafatali's fanfic, The Inheritence. Ash using the aura to fight was inspired by The Enigma Chronicles by Rocketlord.

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