Awakening

Awakening

Chapter 41: Aura

Dragonite landed in the dragon temple and Lance jumped off his back. He thanked him for the ride and Dragonite left, he had a lot of things to think about and taking a break away from it all in the wild would do him good. "We were just about to go out looking for you," Ash greeted. He noticed the wound and immediately went to have a closer look. "You're hurt!"

"It's nothing serious," Lance insisted. "See? The bleeding has almost stopped. I can take care of it later, for now, let's proceed." Lance began down the stairs in the center of the ruined chamber before anyone could stop him. The stairs led to a long underground hallway with a more antique style to it, more dragon statues primarily from Dragonite's evolutionary line, and torches to light the way.

Ash, Lance, Comet, Pixel and the pokemon arrived at another set of doors that were carved with pictures of dragon type pokemon and adorned with golden details, they looked to be very old. Lance pushed the doors open and went inside. The next room was dimly lit with torches of blue fire and it contained seven throne-like seats arranged in a semi-circle. Only one of the seats was currently occupied, by a man with a long white beard, an elderly man and woman stood, looking very uneasy as they held ancient texts. "So you've come," the man in the throne spoke.

"I came for answers," Ash stepped forward. "I want to know how to save my daughter."

The leader of the elders who sat on the throne knew that Ash would not relent. "No matter the consequences..."

"If you had someone you cared about you would understand," Ash argued back, before the old man could voice any further critiques.

The elderly man and woman, also part of the council, stepped aside and remained silent, watching the exchange. The leader shook his head, "that is why such attachments are not good. Still, I will tell you all, it makes no difference. The evil of Team Rocket is trapped in your daughter, it will consume her soul if it is not vanquished. The sacrifice of her life will in turn kill the being that resides with her. It does not matter if you kill me as well. Her vessel is its vessel, the evil had become a living creature that must be slain. To save her soul, you must end her life, there is no other way."

"That's a lie!" Ash snapped. "Those texts you hold," he turned his attention to the other two elders. "Are they where you got this information? I want to see them." Ash didn't wait for them to react and snatched the ancient tattered books, looking through them feverishly.

"Where are the others?" Lance inquired in the moment of silence.

"They fled the temple," the leader of the council replied. "Though the choice was unanimous, after they realized what was happening, your betrayal, they left."

A long silence overtook the room, which lasted for a long time. Only the sounds of old yellowed paper being handled could be heard in the deafening quiet. "There is a way," Ash finally spoke. "A being of greater power than the host can remove the evil and carry it in her place, though both the new host and the evil creature would have to be willing."

"The evil would still need to be defeated and giving it a more powerful vessel would only make that harder," the elder cautioned. "That is if it even agrees. It will not go into a vessel it thinks it cannot control. It might not agree to go with you."

"I'll trick it, I'll force it, I'll do something..." Ash concluded. A noise was heard from outside and a familiar presence entered the range of Ash's senses. He considered hurrying out, but instead waited until the presence arrived. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you've found anything," Giovanni replied. He was a lone, a fact which surprised everyone. "For what it's worth, I'm not currently the leader of Team Rocket."

"The executives?" Ash assumed.

"I was in a hurry and left your mother in charge," Giovanni was a bit worried now. Last time he took the afternoon off and left Delia in charge she added a baking training course for field agents. Electro never got over the shock of having failed a field agent training, as he prided himself on his top scores. Though if Misty was with her, and still fuming, maybe this time he should worry about a high count of Rocket agent casualties by drowning.

"Oh... Well I found the answer, so I'll be going now," Ash began to walk away, giving his friends a quick glance that requested their silence.

He didn't get far though, as Giovanni blocked his path. "What did you find?"

Ash knew he wouldn't escape without answering, so he stopped going in circles and did. "I can take Ashimi's place, in theory, I'll find a way to make it work."

"There might be a better way than that," Giovanni eyed the three elders with fury. "I'm sure I can convince them to speak." Lance looked as if he was debating if he wanted to protest or not, but before he could decide, Giovanni paused as he received a call. It had to be an emergency, Maverick wouldn't allow any other calls to reach his cell phone at the moment if it wasn't. Giovanni answered the phone to hear surprising news. "Take her to Viridian, maximum security, I'm on my way."

"What's going on?" Ash asked suspiciously, there was a strange sort of uneasiness in his father.

"Ashimi has been found," Giovanni revealed.

Ash's eyes widened, "you mean she was missing?" He didn't question it further before rushing out on his way to Viridian.

"We'll go on the jet," Giovanni called out to Ash, who had rushed up the stairs with Charizard and Pikachu. Persian remained, glad to be back with his trainer, he was very tired and could use a bubble bath and some gourmet treats. Giovanni was about to say something more, but then he recalled he wasn't supposed to be in charge of Team Rocket for the time being, so he left.

Before anything more was decided, the elder leader pulled out a small bottle from his robes, the other two followed, drinking the liquid that was contained within. Comet and Pixel, who had been standing next to the stairs, and Lance who was closer to the middle of the room, tried to stop them, but it was too late. The three elders fell dead, as if they had agreed to escape the terrible fate that they were sure they would suffer in the most extreme way.

xoxox xox xoxox

Earlier, at the Viridian Rocket headquarters. "Looks like another dot on the radar," Jessie sighed. "Butch and Cassidy better be taking care of the pokemon, I can't believe they of all people were assigned to watch the daycare while we're here," she complained.

"It's the only way we can be close to the real action. What if something important happens and we can't do anything about it because we're stuck at the daycare? We can't leave it closed for too long, it's an important Rocket trading post," James reminded. "Besides, Meowth is there to make sure everything's okay."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jessie grumbled. They were not aware of Ashimi's disappearance and assumed she, Jonathan and the others were still safe at Pallet Town. "The machines are way too sensitive," Jessie complained as she walked out of the main surveillance center, towards the hanger area. "Every time some Abra teleports we have to investigate. We probably won't find anything this time either. Let's just check it out so we can come back and clock out."

"Sleep," James smiled at the thought. His caffeine rush had run out and he could certainly use a good rest.

xoxox xox xoxox

After Legend had teleported Ashimi away, she reappeared in New Island. There was no one there, nothing but old ruins. She could feel Legend trying to eat away at her consciousness. She wasn't going without a fight, she would weaken it as much as she could. She was there for some time, until none other than Sabrina herself teleported in front of her. "Sabrina!" Ashimi gasped in surprise.

"Your wish has almost been granted, with the evil energy that came from Team Rocket trapped within you, it will become a prosperous kingdom." Sabrina removed her hood, for the first time in a long time, willingly revealing her face. She had not visibly aged, but there was a glow in her eyes that spoke of great power. She was clearly not someone to cross, her intimidating presence made that obvious.

"Why did you do all this?" Ashimi shouted. "If you haven't broken the seal, then this wouldn't have happened!"

"I am not like those hypocrites," Sabrina stepped close to Ashimi, looking into her eyes. "Can you make a blade of aura?"

Ashimi shook her head. "I don't have enough control to make a blade, but I can make a small orb," she replied before she could stop herself. "It doesn't matter, I'll still fight back!"

"It might not be enough, but Ash will certainly finish the job. I think I've angered him enough for him to play his part," Sabrina decided.

Ashimi looked at the psychic with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I will take the evil from you. Once I am its vessel, you must kill it, kill me. If you cannot, it doesn't matter, your father will," Sabrina explained. "this way your wish comes true, the evil will be defeated. Team Rocket will still have its faults, but they will be easier to deal with. Do not let it become so dark again."

Ashimi stared at Sabrina for a long moment. "You're doing this for the good of the world... This was part of your plan all along. Is there no other way? Do you really have to die?"

Sabrina laughed, though there was surprisingly no bitterness in her voice. "You truly are like your father." That was all the answer she gave before moving on. "Concentrate now, you must channel the evil to me."

"I.. I can't.." Ashimi muttered unsure.

"Again, it doesn't matter... I'll just have to force it out." At Sabrina's command, Ashimi found herself unable to move.

Ashimi's whole body ached as she felt that she was being ripped apart, though she had no physical injuries. She screamed, but her voice was too far from anyone to be heard. Sabrina's power surrounded her and she felt a terrifying evil leave her. She sensed it as she never had before, as it truly was. It felt as if the process was endless, the energy moving from her to Sabrina. An eternity passed before the pain stopped, but Ashimi still felt the pull of Sabrina's energy.

"It is done..." Sabrina tried to let go of Ashimi's energy, she tried to entrap the evil within herself, but it struggled strongly against her psychic grip, then it slipped away. She had the being within her body, but it was not imprisoned. "Why..?" How could her power fail her?

'You fool!' Legend growled fiercely. 'Do you believe psychic energy can affect me? I am beyond such elements!'

Sabrina realized her mistake too late. She trusted that her power was stronger than the aura, and in a practical sense it could be, yet for the delicate matters from within, only the gentle influence of the aura could suffice. It was a different kind of power, a power that did not force things to happen, but gently prodded them to take a certain course. Sabrina tried hard to break the link with Ashimi, but she couldn't. A ghostly version of Ashimi began to emerge from her body, her spirit was being pulled out of the vessel.

Several cries pierced the air as Ashimi's pokemon landed. They rushed to her, but were stopped by a psychic shield unwillingly generated by Sabrina. It hurt to get close, but they pounded on it, trying to break through. Not long after, Jonathan, Dorme and Volt arrived. They too tried to break through the shield to reach Ashimi, calling out all their pokemon at once to help in the arduous task.

After several desperate moments, Sabrina pulled down the shield and everyone rushed to Ashimi, who was surrounded by a strange kind of energy. "Don't go near her!" Sabrina called out in warning. She forced her telekinesis to respond and tried to pull them back. Jonathan, Dorme, Volt and the pokemon, they were struggling so strongly, wanting so desperately to reach Ashimi, and Sabrina was exhausted from the ordeal. She couldn't summon enough of her power to hold them all back.

Lightning, Chari, Clefable, Furball, Crobat, Wartortle and Nidorino, who had Zero's data crystal, slipped out of Sabrina's psychic grip and reached Ashimi. As soon as they touched the ghostly glow around her, they two became as specters, leaving their bodies behind and fading away. Sabrina understood now that she severely underestimated her opponent, or perhaps more so she overestimated herself. Yet she would not give up, she would find a way to entrap the evil and vanquish it. She couldn't let it take control of her power, she needed to leave, go back to her secret home where she could concentrate without interference, where she was at peace, where she was at her strongest. Sabrina teleported away, her destination unknown to anyone but her.

When Sabrina disappeared, Jonathan, Dorme, Volt and their pokemon were freed from the psychic energy that held them back. They stared at their fallen friends unsure of how to help them. The energy around them was fading and the ghosts had all vanished. Jonathan stepped forward cautiously. "I think, whatever knocked them out stopped," he hurried forward and tried to wake Ashimi. "Ashy? Ashy wake up?"

"Is she? Are they?" Dorme gasped.

"She has a pulse, but it's very weak," Jonathan answered. "What about the pokemon?"

Dorme and Volt quickly checked for vital signs. "They're alive, barely," Volt replied.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the air, near New Island, "got it, we're almost there," James ended the call. Jessie had insisted on driving the helicopter, she rarely let him drive regardless of if they were traveling by land air or sea. He didn't mind too much though, as there were few close calls to be had in the open skies. "The priority of the alert we're investigating has been upgraded. Reinforcements are on their way. They want us to let them know right away if it's another false alarm so they can turn back."

"You mean another bunch of Abras and Kadabras having a wild party?" Jessie huffed. She had gotten excited about catching Sabrina too many times to think of this occasion as anything other than a false alarm. Even so, she would investigate just in case there was anything at all to be found. "I'm tired of going back empty handed. This time, if it's just a bunch of psychic pokemon making a ruckus, we're catching them." When the helicopter arrived at New Island, Jessie and James were very surprised at what they found...

xoxox xox xoxox

After Ashimi and the pokemon faded away, they found themselves in a strange place filled with endless swirls of color. Ashimi was surprised to see all her pokemon there and wondered just where they were. She was even more shocked to find Zero. "Chibi?"

"Aniki!" Nidorino rushed to his trainer and Ashimi was surprised to realize she understood him.

Zero hugged his pokemon and looked around in puzzlement, asking the question in all their minds. "It's good to be back and all, but where are we?"

"I don't know," Ashimi replied. "I was with Sabrina and Legend... It felt as if I died..." She looked around in alarm, the last images she recalled before awakening up there flooding her mind.

"Me too," Lightning admitted and was followed by more agreements from the other pokemon.

"I can understand you all," Ashimi voiced, "I mean, not just understand you because I know you, I can understand your words. Are we all dead?" She wondered in sad fright.

"You're not dead, come this way," a gentle voice called. Ashimi, Zero and the pokemon followed the voice and found a Gardevoir. "I am the keeper of this place, the space in between. I cannot let you go any further, if you move on to the afterlife without your vessels, you will lose your link to them and be unable to return."

"Vessels?" Clefable wondered.

"You mean our bodies?" Chari asked.

"Yes," Gardevoir nodded.

"Then we really are ghosts," Furball concluded.

"More so spirits, since you are not held back by unfinished business, but rather you have been removed from your physical forms," Gardevoir explained. "When living creatures come here before their time, they can enter with their bodies, that will be transformed into energy and be carried within their soul. When that is the case, their appearance changes, they could resemble any living being, except humans, though I'm not sure why no one seems to take that form here. The same thing happens when you pass away, except the vessel is left behind and the memories of the past life become locked deep within your soul. Your case is neither of those. You are here in spirit, without your vessels, but not because your bodies have perished. You are still linked to them, and that is why you reflect their current form. As long as you don't proceed any further, you will not lose that link. If you go beyond this point, the distance will be too great, you will become completely detached from your bodies and they will die." Gardevoir made sure to stress the warning.

"We'll make sure not to do that," Wartortle shuddered.

"Yeah, we'll go back right away," Crobat added.

"As soon as we know which way is back," Lightning nodded.

"Could you give us directions?" Ashimi inquired.

"That is why I'm here, but you need not be in such a rush. You are in no danger of dying as long as you don't go beyond this area. Plus we looked into that world and your vessels are being taken care of, they are in no danger. Before you return, there is someone who wishes to speak with you," Gardevoir explained. "Please, come with me."

Ashimi wondered who would want to talk to her in such a place. The group followed Gardevoir a short distance, though they weren't sure how to measure distance in a place that was an ever changing swirl of colors with no sky, ground or gravity, not even any air. They felt weightless and moved simply by willing themselves to float. They weren't even breathing, though it only felt strange when they stopped to think about it.

Gardevoir took them to a Lucario who was in mega form, though strangely that seemed to be his ordinary appearance, his only form. They thought about Gardevoir's words and realized the mega Lucario could be anyone, a different pokemon, or even a human who had lived in their world before. "I have brought them, like you asked," Gardevoir's soft voice informed.

"Thank you," the mega Lucario nodded. "I will take care of guiding them." It seemed that he already knew who they all were.

"Very well, I shall leave them in your care," Gardevoir agreed. She turned to Ashimi's group. "Please listen closely to sir Aaron's words." Gardevoir floated away, leaving everyone in shock.

"Sir Aaron?!" Ashimi gasped. "That Sir Aaron, from the stories? The aura master?"

Aaron laughed lightly, "everyone is used to calling me sir Aaron, but there is no kingdom for me to be knighted here. I'm just another soul, though I chose to stay in the afterlife, rather than rejoin the cycle of life, perhaps one day I will."

"Sir Aaron, I have to know, did you meet Lucario?" Ashimi asked. "My father told me the story of the tree of beginnings, did the two of you ever meet again?"

Aaron smiled, "yes, I was reunited with my dear friend, we studied the aura together for several years and mastered a technique to retain our memories at least in part when we reincarnate. After all, the memories of past lives are never lost, only locked away. I sensed something was happening in the world, it looked as if you might end up here sooner than expected. I thought the evil within you would overtake your vessel and expel your spirit. That is why I asked Gardevoir to direct you to me, so that I could help you return before you lost the link with your body and you could continue to fight the evil."

"Things took an unexpected turn when Sabrina trapped the evil in herself. Her soul struggles against it as we speak, but she will not surrender her vessel with ease. Lucario went ahead to the world of the living, hoping to help in the battle. Although, he knew that the form he might take was unpredictable, as was the place where he would appear. His past memories have not manifested yet, so I cannot recognize his aura at the moment. I could find him if I narrowed it down, but there are simply too many places to look and too many energies to sense as things stand now. If his memories awaken though, at least in part, his aura might resonate with mine and he would be easier to find," Aaron explained.

The aura master made an offer, "I wish to train you in the aura, I believe it can be of use to you in the coming battle. The flow of time will seek its balance one way or another as it always does, but the details of the journey, though only droplets in a giant river, may feel as floods to the individuals who live through them. Will you stay here and train?"

Ashimi's first thought was to agree, but then she remembered that these were not ordinary circumstances that she was in. She vaguely recalled seeing Jonathan, Dorme and Volt and their pokemon before fading away, if they were there, then their bodies would be safe. She wasn't sure where she had been, only that she was on an island, south of Cinnabar if she had to take a guess, because there were many small islands in that area. Their bodies were probably taken to Viridian City where they would be kept safe under maximum security, so that wasn't an issue, but that wasn't the only thing to consider. "I'm free of the evil and now Sabrina has it, in the end she didn't mean to let me make the sacrifice. I can't just leave her to face that thing alone. Besides, our friends and family will worry if they think we're all in a coma. Plus, even if I may not be able to do much, I think I will still be able to help at least a little, now that I'm free."

"I can contact Ash in a dream and tell him where you are," Aaron offered. "In time, you might even learn to do so yourself, though that particular technique isn't really of priority at the moment. As for being able to help, yes, you would be able to, and if it was vital, I would tell you to go, but Sabrina has a strong will. Her techniques cannot truly defeat the evil, but she can entrap it. I will not hide the fact that it will bring her suffering, but there is not much that can be done if she cannot be found. I know she is there in the world of the living and I know she is entrapping the evil, but I cannot locate where exactly they are, I don't think that's possible right now."

"In other words, even if I go, the help I could give isn't all that much," Ashimi realized.

"Not as you are now. It would be best if you remained here and prepared, then returned when it becomes time for the final confrontation. Either Sabrina will reveal herself, or the evil will emerge," Aaron explained. "Team Rocket is searching and I will continue searching as well. However, I will not keep you here if you do not wish to remain. I only hope that you will consider the option, you cannot change your mind once you decide to go back. The portals to the afterlife that could allow you to come here with your vessel have been closed for the past few years and show no signs of reopening in the near future. I can sense your souls are firmly linked to your bodies, but removing them again, without weakening the link would be dangerous."

"So another trip here is out of the question..." Ashimi mused.

"Not until the end of your life," Aaron nodded.

Ashimi thought about it for a moment longer and decided. She would miss her old life, but being here was more important, she could return to her life later as long as the link with her body wasn't lost. Besides, it would be amazing being trained by Aaron. Making up her mind, she communicated her choice, "I'm ready to start the training, Master."

Aaron smiled and nodded, glad to have gained a new student. "Very well, I will guide the rest of your companions back and we will begin training, but there is something I must do with Zero first."

"I'm not going anywhere," Furball protested.

"Same here!" Lightning added, they were followed by similar declarations by Chari, Wartortle, Clefable and Crobat.

"This training is for aura users, but I am not opposed to your staying if you wish, and I'm sure you can find other ways to participate," Aaron replied. "Your pokemon are very loyal," he couldn't help it but to smile, recalling the bond he shared with Lucario. They were apart for now, but he knew they would be reunited again.

"I'm staying too," Zero decided. "I'm not even sure how I ended up here in the first place."

"If aniki is staying, then I'm staying!" Nidorino declared.

"It seems we'll have more company than expected, but it is alright, maybe you can help me set up some tests for Ashimi," Aaron laughed. "As for how you ended up here, Zero, this is the space between the living world and the afterlife, your spirit is here because it became detached from its current vessel, a crystal I believe. In other words, it's the same circumstance as the others, you are no different. I admit I am not particularly experienced in what they call technology, but here you are not a... what's the word... program. Here you don't have that aspect of your physical form, you are only energy, a soul. Because of that, the flow of your energy can be restored by your will and the chaotic flow that plagued it can be healed. That is what I hope to help you do, with some meditation, you can restore your energy to its proper flow so that you can project your vessel normally in the living world."

"Like finding myself to debug, sounds deep," Zero mused. "But all the things you said, does that mean I'm not in danger of becoming a missing number? A virtual being that ceases to function because it can't handle being truly alive?"

"You are already alive if that's what you're asking. Your body will become technology in that world, just as the others will be encased by flesh. You will probably live a very long life, but nothing lives forever in that world, so you will end up here eventually," Aaron revealed. "Well then, since everyone is staying, let's head over to the space I've prepared for the training and continue our discussion there."

"I was wondering about that," Ashimi admitted. "It's kind of hard to do a lot of different training when there's nothing to train with except our imagination."

"The imagination is a powerful thing," Aaron led the group through the endless swirls of colors to a sort of bubble. The bubble was about twice the size of Chari, but the space contained within was much larger. Aaron faded into the bubble, followed by the others, who were amazed at their surroundings, vast fields, blue skies and a castle in the distance in the middle of a lake.

Yet the skies bent oddly, as if to remind them that though the space was wide, they were still inside a bubble and there were no other people to be found. The town and castle in the distance were like paintings on the inside of a large sphere. It was a place created by Aaron's memories, he could recreate any place he could remember, but if he tried recreating people they would not be real, so he preferred not to. None the less, the place did provide enough room to train and already had various contraptions set up with logs, ropes and boards like an obstacle course.

xoxox xox xoxox

Aaron managed to get in contact with Ash through his dreams and explained what had happened. The bodies of Ashimi and her pokemon were transported to Viridian City where they were kept safe. The search continued, but there was no sign of Sabrina anywhere. Tornado sometimes appeared to cause trouble and his powers seemed to be slowly growing. He wasn't as much a priority as Sabrina and Legend, but Team Rocket was keeping an eye on him too. Psychics were tricky to detect, especially since the equipment couldn't currently differentiate between human and pokemon psychic powers in use and the targets could teleport at will.

To counter that, new technologies were being developed that could block psychic powers from being used in wider areas. It seemed as if it would work given some time. Tornado still slipped away after his latest encounter with Team Rocket, but he couldn't do much before being forced to retreat. Ash suspected that he had been in contact with Legend and received a portion of his power. Tornado had changed, becoming more chaotic as if that drop of Legend's power was enough to corrupt him terribly. With the negative energy being so concentrated in one spot, it had mutated in a sense, become very powerful and more firmly its own entity.

xoxox xox xoxox

As time passed, Ashimi's training continued. A log attached to a rope swung like a pendulum towards her. She dodged and continued on, balancing on a long thin board. Another smaller log came, along with a larger one ahead. Feeling unable to advance, Ashimi pushed the smaller log and tried to get past the larger one. The large log moved much slowly and still stood in the way when the smaller one came back and pushed her off the board she was balancing on. "Ow..." The bubble simulated the living world all too well, gravity included. Ashimi removed her blindfold and pouted.

"If you try to force the flow of energy to go in one direction..." Aaron reminded.

"It will only return to take its course more strongly," Ashimi recited.

"Now tell me, what should you have done?" Aaron patiently inquired.

"Run faster?" A shake of the head of her instructor told Ashimi that was not the answer. "Step back, wait for the way to be clear and then move forward?"

"Yes," Aaron nodded. "Now try it again."

Ashimi knew that the pattern would not be the same, that was the convenience of having an imaginary training course, it could change any time. She practiced with exercises like that, developing her aura sight. Her favorites however were the active combat exercises that she could do with her pokemon. She could form orbs of aura as well as blades now and maintain them.

The obstacle courses and mazes weren't so bad though, her most challenging effort went into meditation, sitting still was still not her forte, but at least she had Zero to sit with her, since it helped him find himself or debug or rather both. Often the pokemon would sit with them too, or join in other aspects of the training in their own way. That was how it continued for endless days, as the passing of time blended together and became almost imperceptible.

To be Continued

There's a reference to the The Enigma Chronicles: Sedition, in the end of this chapter.

Awakening

Chapter 42: Legacy (Part 1)

"When's she going to wake up?" The three year old boy asked his daily question again. Ever since he was introduced to his sister, he had been curious about that, though no one could give him a real answer.

"Probably soon, since she's been this way for a while," Jonathan replied. At least he hoped it was soon.

Things had changed in ways that sometimes annoyed Giovanni. The world had recognized that it relied on Team Rocket whether they wanted to or not, so they mostly decided to do just that. Wherever, Legend was, it was gathering all the negative energy it could find. Team Rocket was still Team Rocket though, so when it wasn't being respected it was respected and feared, albeit that only happened on occasion lately. Giovanni found that a more aggressive empire where he was given a reason to put people in their place was easier to manage than this alliance of sorts where everyone was set on going to Team Rocket with their problems.

Just that morning, queen Ilene had been requesting an investigation to see if anyone had crossed the forbidden border and did something to cause the withering of the time flowers. They were a prized product and no fancy mansion was complete without a time flower centerpiece in its garden, showcasing a recording of the latest elite party. The flowers withered when they were kept too far away from the Tree of Beginnings and not even the best gardeners could come up with a solution, but that only meant that people would keep returning every few months to buy a new time flower, regardless of how expensive they were.

The Tree of Beginnings had been a difficult subject in the past, but in the end Ash managed to convince Giovanni that it was worth leaving it alone for the time being, since time flower revenues and the profitable alliance with queen Ilene were good deals. Plus a free legendary was better than a dead legendary anyway. While the tree itself was left alone, Mew wasn't, and anyone who spotted the rare pokemon would attempt a capture, just not when the pink feline retreated into the tree.

"Hey Johnny," the three year old looked up with a sparkle in his eyes and Jonathan knew that some odd idea was coming.

"Yes, Aaron?" Ash and Misty's son had been named after the aura master who was training their daughter. He had Ash's dark hair and Misty's eyes.

"Sis is a princess right? And she's sleeping, so she's like sleeping beauty. That means that if you kiss her, she'll wake up!" The little boy explained his logic as if it were the answer to everything.

"That won't really work in this case..." Jonathan attempted to reason with the boy.

"Try it!" Aaron insisted. "Or I'm telling mommy!"

"But I didn't do anything," Jonathan pointed out.

"That's what I'm telling her!" Aaron nodded in determination. "I'm telling mommy that you won't wake sis and that it's your fault she can't play with me!"

"It really doesn't work that way," Jonathan tried to explain. He heard someone coming and it was only a matter of time before they got past the last line of security. Depending on who it was out there, as there were only a handful of people allowed in that room, he could be saved or teased. "Because... because I'm not a prince!"

"Oh," Aaron frowned in disappointment, then his face brightened again. "I'm a prince, right? You can borrow being a prince."

"That's not something that can be borrowed..." Jonathan voiced.

Volt approached the pair, curious as to their conversation. Before he could ask anything, Aaron spoke first. "Volt! Where can we find a prince to kiss sis?"

"A prince?" Volt blinked in confusion. "Why does she need a prince? She can't date if she's asleep."

"Knowing Ashy, she'd sooner battle," Jonathan laughed and hoped the subject would drop.

"Good point," Volt nodded. "Anyway, I'm here to say goodbye to Ashimi before I head to Kalos tonight. It took some effort, but I finally cleared my schedule, being a gym leader can get busy at times." He approached the middle of the chamber where Ashimi slept, her pokemon were all around her in a similar state. Ash used his aura techniques to keep the energy flowing through them so that their physical forms would not deteriorate with the lack of movement, and Misty was Ashimi's personal nurse during her coma. "Hey, Ashimi, I finally got some time to go on another Rocket mission. I'll be heading off to Kalos tonight, maybe you'll be awake by the time I return and Zero will be back along with you and the pokemon."

Another person entered the room, having made it past the multiple locks, armed guards and various security measures. "Volt, you're already here, came to visit Ashimi before the trip? I had the same thing in mind." Dorme made it across the chamber to where Ashimi was. "That's a lovely kimono Misty got her, the cherry blossom theme is pretty, I think I'll do her hair." Sometimes Dorme came by and took care of Ashimi's hair, giving her various styles. She carefully worked on the long red strands, weaving two braids that went around her head like a tiara and leaving the rest down. "There, that's a style fit for a princess. Maybe by the time I get back you'll actually be able to thank me for keeping your hair nice during the past few years. Can't wait to see the Chibi, I'm going to hug that little guy forever."

That was what they always said, that the next time they saw each other, Ashimi would be awake, though so far, it had not come true. It had to happen eventually, when Legend revealed itself Ashimi would return, or when she felt that there was nothing more to learn from Sir Aaron, whatever happened first, though it would most likely be the former. At least Sir Aaron managed to contact Ash in his dreams, so they knew Ashimi was okay and Zero was with her.

"I haven't been to Kalos in such a long time, I think the last time I was there was before you even started your journey." Dorme continued talking to Ashimi, though she couldn't reply and probably couldn't even hear. "The good news is that Volt is coming too and he's really good at carrying shopping bags," Dorme smiled mischievously.

Volt gulped and took an involuntary step back. He gave Jonathan a look of distress, but he only grinned in return and reminded, "you're the one who wanted the mission." Volt couldn't deny that, at least he could take comfort in the fact that Dorme didn't get upset when he told her he would be going to Kalos instead of Jonathan as it was originally planned. She merely recited her plans to him as if she was just as happy.

"I'm going to check out the Tree of Beginnings and see if I can find any signs of trespassing. I'll be back before tonight, so I'll see you off then," Jonathan announced.

"Dorme," Aaron suddenly piped up.

"What is it, sweetie?" Dorme smiled at the little boy.

"If there are princes at Kalos, could you bring one for sis?" Aaron requested.

Dorme laughed, "her prince might be closer than we know."

"Really?" Aaron's eyes shone with anticipation. "Then he's coming here, and he'll wake sis, and we can play?"

"Don't worry, your sister will wake up soon, with or without a prince, I'm sure of it," Dorme replied. "It's a good thing too, because most princes, except you, are not smart enough to know when they like a girl and take years to figure it out. If she had to wait for a prince she'd be asleep for another five years." Dorme laughed as if it was some kind of private joke that flew over everyone else's heads. "I think I'll tag along to the Tree of Beginnings, if we take one of the new hovercrafts it won't take long."

xoxox xox xoxox

For the most part, things looked peaceful in the area surrounding the Tree of Beginnings. Save for the dried up time flowers, there was no indication of anything being wrong. Jonathan, Dorme and Volt got as close as possible to the mountain, without getting close enough for its defenses to activate. "Any ideas?" Jonathan inquired.

Dorme shrugged, "none."

"Should we get a bit closer?" Volt asked.

"I suppose," Jonathan agreed. "If we're too close I'm pretty sure we'll notice right away, or be made to notice, then we'll just get away."

The three quietly approached the mountain, but there were no signs of hostility, so they continued getting closer. "This is weird," Dorme finally voiced. "We should have been attacked by now."

"I agree, there's definitely something wrong here," Volt added.

"Let's check it out," Jonathan headed further in. He knew they weren't supposed to be there without official authorization and proper equipment, but nothing had happened so far. "You think Mew is okay?"

"If the boss had caught him, we would have heard about it. Maybe Mew stayed away for too long or something?" Dorme theorized, though none of them knew exactly how the Tree of Beginnings worked.

They venture further into the mountain, receiving no interference from anyone. They paused in front of a tunnel and, as they had gone that far without finding anything, they went in. "Do you think the Tree of Beginnings is..." Volt fell silent, but his friends were already looking at him expectantly, so he finished, "dying?"

"It does feel like a lifeless mountain," Jonathan observed. "Isn't this place connected to Mew? Can legendaries even die? I always thought they were so powerful that a natural death was not possible and who would have the power to hurt a legendary badly enough to kill it? Who would have the power without Team Rocket knowing about it?"

"Good question," Dorme let out a breath, she was starting to get impatient with the uneventful exploration, it further made her feel that something was very wrong. "This whole place is always being guarded and I didn't hear anything about intruders being detected, I'm sure the boss would have had a say in that."

"Yeah, and who could get past all the satellite security and all that stuff?" Volt added.

The situation reminded Jonathan of something that made him pause. "Legend..." he voiced in a small whisper, that did not go unheard by his companions. "Ashy was closely guarded and she was taken anyway."

"Are you saying that Legend is here?" Dorme gasped.

"Or used to be," Jonathan clarified. "If it were here now, it should have detected us and kicked us out, maybe in a way that we would think it's the normal defenses kicking in. There's no point in letting us go this far."

"Could Legend really intrude in a place like this undetected?" Volt tried to make sense of it. "It's made of negative energy and this place is..." The Vermilion gym leader suddenly reached a realization, "it's full of life and positive energy, if Legend was strong enough to keep itself unaffected, then it would be the perfect hiding place so Ash wouldn't be able to sense it."

"If that's the case then-" Dorme fell silent as she peeked into another tunnel past a close corner and drew in a sharp breath. "Look at this!" She pointed, unable to comprehend the sight before her.

"Regirock... Registeel... Regice... Statues?" Jonathan carefully approached the stones and observed their details. "I've never seen the real ones in person, but these are exactly like the holograms from the Rocket database, and that's supposed to be pretty accurate."

"Am I the only one who thinks it makes no sense for mere statues to be here?" Volt inquired, hinting at a theory that felt too much to be true, yet he had to wonder. "I mean, who sculpted them and why here? Unless..."

"Unless they're not rocks? Could Legend have done this to the actual pokemon?" Dorme stared at the statues, as if expecting them to show signs of life.

"That's what we'll have to find out..." Jonathan called headquarters, this was definitely something worth reporting.

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"Something's off..." Ash met up with the group at the Tree of Beginnings. "This place is definitely still alive, I can feel it, and it still feels powerful, but it's odd that it's not doing anything." Ash closely examined the stone statues.

"Are they...?" Dorme quietly asked.

"Yes," Ash confirmed. "They're real... Something definitely happened here, even if I can't sense it, it's so strange. It might be the work of Legend, but at the same time this petrified state seems familiar, as if it was done with a massive amount of psychic energy, like what happened to me in the past. Back then, my aura drew power from everyone around me, they gave me their energy without even realizing it, but for the longest time I didn't remember." Ash paused and stared at the petrified pokemon for a long moment. "I think I can free them."

Ash closed his eyes in concentration as a soft pale blue glow surrounded him. Jonathan, Dorme and Volt gave him some room and watched quietly. 'It's time...' a voice echoed in Ash's mind, but he didn't stop what he was doing. The soft glow surrounded the pokemon one by one as he focused on each individually. Several moments passed at that rate. 'You must be careful...' Ash continued his task, though the voice gave a warning, it was soothing and he felt like he could trust it. Finally, the three pokemon were free from the stone, though they were far too weak to take any action, they just laid there, fainted, but they were alive and would eventually recover if they rested. 'She'll be there soon...'

Ash's eyes snapped open as he got out of his concentration trance and recognized the voice. "Sir Aaron!" He tried to reestablish the communication. He had never spoken to Aaron outside of dreams and even then, it was very brief. Ash realized everyone was looking at him expectantly and he smiled as he understood the news. "Ashimi is coming back!" The mountain shook violently all of a sudden as if awakening from a long sleep, but it did not immediately attack them, instead what was really going on was revealed. Ash's sudden happiness turned to worry, "Legend..." he gasped.

"Here, now?" Volt looked around as if expecting the fiend to appear anywhere.

"The strength I feel isn't from the mountain, it's from Legend, it was hiding behind the energy of the Tree of Beginnings, that's why no matter how strong it got I couldn't find it! Mew must have been resisting this whole time, unable to communicate with anyone." Ash clenched his fists in frustration. "I should have come here, I should have checked in person."

"No one could have known..." Jonathan quietly voiced. "So what now? We find Mew?" Assuming the legendary was still alive.

"Yes," Ash agreed, "the Tree of Beginning is very weak, but definitely still alive, Legend is still partially hiding behind its aura. Mew should be here, and Legend..."

"What?" Dorme gasped, "Legend is actually still here? But we walked right in and you freed the pokemon!"

"It wasn't easy," Ash admitted. "This must be the reason why Sir Aaron is sending Ashimi back, it's time to face Legend. It must have known that someone would investigate if the time flowers were affected and I would likely end up coming here. It let me free the pokemon so I would use up my energy, but that won't be enough to stop me. Ashimi will probably come here, I can't help it but to worry about her, but I trust her and I trust Sir Aaron taught her well. She might even be able to teach me a few things later." Ash walked towards one of the tunnels. "I'll go on ahead and find Mew, you three meet up with Ashimi and return here, call for backup too. I want to welcome her, but I really can't wait another second before going after Mew." Without allowing any room for arguments, Ash dashed into the tunnel.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Ashimi, wait!" Misty called out from the bridge of the massive battle airship she was on. Giovanni was on the same vessel and the only reason Delia agreed to stay behind at headquarters, was because someone had to take care of little Aaron. The young boy didn't know exactly what was going on and why his sister had to leave so soon after waking up, but he knew there was a certain tension in the air that made him uneasy. His grandmother was very good at keeping him calm though, cookies were an excellent distraction for small children. Right now the commanding vessel was in pursuit of Ashimi, who had taken off on Chari, with her pokemon.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Zero materialized in the airship. He now had the appearance of a teenager rather than a child, having become able to change into a more suitable projection to his mental age after his code was completely debugged. He could move freely through the wireless signals and could basically teleport anywhere the signal reached by digitalizing. He was currently borrowing Prism's satellite for those functions, though he was sure he could get his own later.

'That's right, aniki and I will be there too!' Nidoking cheered. Like all pokemon, he could be digitalized, and when he was, Zero could take him along when he teleported through the wireless.

"See you later!" Zero disappeared again, taking Nidoking with him.

"Wait a minute!" Misty called after him, but he was already gone. "There they all go, rushing in, Ash is in there too," she frowned. Well she wasn't about to be left out. She looked at the mountain where Ashimi had landed, she would have to hurry if she was going to catch up, but suddenly the airship shook and was thrown slightly back.

In a split second the deck was in turmoil as Giovanni shouted orders and the airship tried to break through an energy barrier that now surrounded the mountain. The lasers bounced off dangerously and the missiles exploded on the surface of the shield, their force redirected outward. A multitude of shadowy creatures began to emerge from the mountain and pass beyond the shield to the outside world. They were identified as pokemon, though they were clearly being controlled by Legend. Misty watched the chaos unfold, wishing she had time to get inside the shield before it closed her off.

"They can be captured!" Butch and Cassidy's son informed. Misty focused on that new information, as Giovanni issued commands to his troops. Apparently the controlled pokemon were harmless if they were caught. Doing so required them to be weakened, but it would be significantly faster than attempting to get rid of them permanently, especially with how lifelessly they moved while under Legend's control. It was only a theory, but maybe they would fight beyond their very lives if not captured. They were not using ordinary pokeballs, but rather a special edition of Team Rocket made pokeballs that was more forceful with the capture and locking mechanisms.

The airships continued to blast at the shield, though they were now being careful of the energy that bounced off. The ships began to move further back to more effectively dodge the consequences of their attempts to break through the shield. "I'm going out," Misty ran off before Giovanni even had the chance to reply. She would get some of those Rocket pokeballs and capture as many pokemon as she could before they reached the town.

xoxox xox xoxox

The mountain's expected defenses activated, though they were being controlled by Legend. Ashimi's return was expected and now that Legend had gathered all the power it could, it was ready for a showdown. It would not hide any longer, it would have the battle that was inevitably going to happen. The mountain shook with tunnels opening up and a strange substance dragging Jonathan, Dorme and Volt in different directions.

xoxox xox xoxox

Volt struggled free of the odd goop that tried to restrain his movements. He was in a large chamber with multiple tunnels that opened up to give way to several pokemon and closed behind them. The pokemon were surrounded in a strange shadowy aura and Volt knew right away they had to be being controlled. There was no telling how many pokemon wandered into the mountain, or were possibly lured in discreetly, to serve as Legend's army in this moment. "If it's a battle you want, I'll show you the true power of the Vermilion City gym leader!" Volt wasted no time in summoning all his pokemon; Raichu, Electabuzz, Magnezone, and the two Electrode, Celes and Rodes appeared from the red beams of their pokeballs.

Volt realized that one of the shadowy figures was not a pokemon, it was a person, but their identity remained a mystery because of the heavy dark fog around them. At least the shadows around the pokemon were not thick enough to hide their identity, not that it made things much better: they were all ground types, or a combination of another type and ground, two Sandslash, two Marowaks and three Golems. 'Are you ready?' A confident yet empty female voice was heard telepathically and Volt assumed it was the shadowy person. 'Who am I you ask? It doesn't matter who I used to be, now and forever, I am part of the Legend.'

"You... can read my thoughts," Volt glared at the girl. This would not be easy if she could predict his strategy.

'The air here is thick with psychic energy, even a non-psychic like yourself can manage telepathy. Connect your mind with your pokemon and lead them in battle without words and without pause. May they move as fast as your thoughts...' The mysterious girl went on the attack. She voiced no commands and Volt could no longer hear her voice in his head, but the pokemon reacted as if they knew what she wanted them to do.

The three Golems rolled towards Volt's pokemon in a bulldoze attack. He didn't even have time to speak when his pokemon were already moving out of the way. That in itself was not strange, the peculiar fact was that they moved as he pictured them in such detail that Volt realized he didn't even have to think in full sentences for the telepathy to work, it was as if his pokemon could sense what he wanted them to do and understood his mental images and thoughts.

The Marowaks tossed their bone clubs like boomerangs and Raichu sprang up, spinning in the air to bat them away with his tail. The clubs were tossed aside and the Marowaks rushed to retrieve them. Celes and Rodes rolled at them with great speed and tackled them away from their weapons. Simultaneously, the two Sandslash went after Electabuzz. They slashed at him rapidly, but Electabuzz was fast and evaded their hits, looking for an opening to fight back wouldn't be easy, but after a while the Sandslash slowed down a little and Electabuzz took the opportunity to hit them both with brick break.

Magnezone released super sonic waves into the chamber, focusing on the three Golems. Two of them crashed against each other and took a moment to go on the attack again, but the third did not relent. Magnezone responded by attacking with flash canon. The affected Golem tried to evade and crashed into a wall as it rolled. The other two were back in the battle and attacked with explosion. Magnezone was thrown back unconscious because of the double point blank explosions. A terrible pain invaded Volt, all of a sudden when Magnezone fainted and he was temporarily disconnected from his pokemon, he suspected the girl had something to do with that side effect. All his team felt it too, as if Magnezone's pain affected them all. Rodes acted rashly in the desperate moment and rushed towards the remaining golem. They both detonated on impact and fainted.

Volt gasped and tried to regain his bearings. "Magnezone, Rodes, return!" He recalled the two fainted pokemon out of harm's way. No doubt about it, Legend was drastically increasing the strength of the pokemon he controlled. Usually not even an explosion or two could knock out his pokemon. "Don't give up!"

The two Marowaks had picked up their bone clubs and were ganging up on Celes. Volt willed her not to explode. Raichu hurried towards her with great speed in a wild charge. He tackled one Marowak throwing him into the other and pushing them both down. The shadowy energy around them increased and they threw Raichu off. Celes joined him and they faced off against the Marowak pair together, evading the swings of their clubs, which they didn't seem as willing to throw as before. Celes attacked with a thunderbolt, although it wouldn't be effective, it was a good distraction. Raichu took the opportunity to hit both Marowak with iron tail and Celes charged in to tackle them when their bone weapons were lowered. She ran over both, pushing them on top of each other and as they tried to get up, Raichu finished them off with giga impact.

At the same time, Electabuzz was fighting the two Sandslash. They had managed to injure him with their sharp claws, but Electabuzz didn't show any signs of giving up. The two Sandslash attacked at the same time with poison jab. Electabuzz dodged and responded with low sweep. Since Electabuzz was taller, the Sandslash were focused on attacks coming from higher and were thrown out of balance. Electabuzz quickly went on the attack again with focus blast. One of the Sandslash was hit, but the other one dodged out of the way and countered with x-scissor, Electabuzz tried to dodge, albeit one of Sandslash's claws still reached him. Electabuzz jumped back and used another focus blast, they weren't expecting him to recover so quickly, so both the Sandslash were hit and tossed back in a pile. Wasting no time, Electabuzz used giga impact and knocked them out.

For a moment it looked as if the battle was over. Electabuzz, Raichu and Celes went to regroup with Volt when without warning a Rhydon broke through the cave wall and crashed into Celes with drill run. Raichu and Electabuzz hurried after them, but were interrupted by a massive Onix emerging from the cave floor. Celes tried to roll away and position herself for a counter attack, but the Onix attacked with earthquake and Rhydon took the opportunity to attack with megahorn and knocked her out. "Celes return! Electabuzz, Raichu, be careful!" Volt knew that they had already heard his thoughts, but he said it anyway. These pokemon were massively strong and they just kept coming, the others were probably in a situation that was just as bad. Suddenly, a portion of the cave wall behind the mysterious girl collapsed and a tall man in a military style Rocket uniform rushed in. He tossed what looked like a grenade at the girl's feet, though instead of exploding, it produced an electrical current that knocked her out. "Electro!" Volt gasped at the arrival of his brother.

"Hey!" Volt grinned and gave a thumbs up, Pikablue, the blue pikachu, hopped on his shoulder and Electavire stood beside him. Onix and Rhydon looked confused and unsure of what to do. "This place is under lockdown with some strange shield, but a few of us made it close enough to get in before it activated. I saw a Charizard carrying a redhead girl land near the peak of the mountain, I'm sure she already made her way inside..."

Volt smiled, "Ashimi's here!" He didn't have much time to celebrate, as the shadows around the unconscious girl faded and he stared in surprise. "Janebelle? I thought she was dead."

"I feel bad about lying to you, little bro, but that was a cover so we could interrogate her without Ashimi trying to interfere. She was released when we made sure she had nothing more to say and kept under watch in case anything suspicious happened, or if she led us to discover anything," Electro explained. "She eventually slipped away and we never heard from her again. There were suspicions that she might have been kidnapped by Tornado, but I'm not sure how she ended up here." The shadows around Onix and Rhydon increased and a multitude of Dugtrio emerged from all around the cave walls, floor and even the ceiling. The chamber shook with many rocks falling down. Electro picked up the unconscious Janebelle and hurried towards his brother, "take her and get out of here!"

Onix and Rhydon, roared fiercely with a renewed will to fight, it all had to be Legend's doing. "I can't leave you here!" Volt argued.

"Do what I say, that's an order!" Electro shouted. "Besides," he added in a softer tone, "Ashimi's going to need all her friends by her side if she's going to win this."

"You're right..." Volt realized. "You better come out of this alive!" Volt recalled Raichu and Electabuzz then went on the retreat, taking Janebelle with him.

xoxox xox xoxox

In a different area of the mountain, Dorme was battling a mysterious unknown opponent. She had called out Pidgeot to face her opponent's Braviary. Braviary started things off with aerial ace. Pidgeot dodged the hits and responded with hurricane. Braviary flew high, close to the tall cave ceiling and dove down, defying the strong winds in a an air slash. Pidgeot had to cease his attack to dodge out of the way of Braviary's claws. The eagle flapped his strong wings and caught up to Pidgeot in mid air, they became locked in combat with slash and peck attacks. Neither pokemon had time to break away from the close combat to use a different attack. There was nothing more to do but to keep fighting, there weren't any openings and Braviary wasn't lowering his guard.

Suddenly the mountain shook and rocks fell from the ceiling, causing the two bird pokemon to separate to dodge the falling debris. "Go for it Pidgeot, hurricane!" Braviary didn't have enough time to recover from his frantic flying to dodge the falling rocks and the hurricane attack caught him off guard. He tried to regain his balance in the air and countered with brave bird, but he was met with a hyper beam from Pidgeot, which finally knocked him out. 'I think I'm getting the hang of this telepathy thing,' Dorme thought. 'Too bad it's only temporary while we're in the mountain... Though I'm pretty sure the mountain isn't supposed to be this way normally.'

The shadowy figure recalled Braviary, the mystery person had only spoken a few words. Dorme knew she was a girl and there was something familiar about her. The next pokemon she called out was Venusaur and Dorme knew right away who she was dealing with. "Daala!" The vigilante didn't reply, she only sent Venusaur on the attack. Dorme knew that if she focused hard enough, only her pokemon would be able to hear her thoughts, as it happened with Daala, who showed no reaction to her identity being discovered. Dorme thought it was odd that she was hiding her face in the first place. She had been rather inactive lately, but she never have trouble with people seeing who she was in the past.

Venusaur began with a storm of razor leaves, which Pidgeot blew away with hurricane, as a gust wouldn't have been strong enough for the massive amount of leaves. Following the leaves, Venusaur's vine whips extended towards Pidgeot with such speed, that the bird couldn't dodge out of the way. He was trapped and pulled towards the grass type that held her opponent captive and prepared to fire a solar beam. Pidgeot's wings took on a metallic texture as he broke free from the vine whips with steel wing and dodged out of the way barely on time. The solar beam still caught his tail feathers, though he was still able to fight, albeit he was feeling out of balance in the air.

Venusaur attacked with petal dance before Pidgeot could fully recover. The bird tried to blow away the petals, though he couldn't do it before taking damage. Pidgeot bravely dove in for an aerial ace attack, which hit the target, but at the same time he was hit with Venusaur's takedown. The two pokemon were tossed back by the force of the impact and Pidgeot fainted. Venusaur roared as Dorme recalled Pidgeot and sent out her next pokemon: Bellossom. The smaller grass type charged against the much larger pokemon with a leaf storm, Venusaur replying with the same attack.

Bellossom took advantage of her speed and agility to dodge the leaves and get closer to Venusaur. She attacked with two consecutive energy balls, but Venusaur released a solar beam she had been charging behind the furious curtain of leaves. The attacks collided, tossing the pokemon back, especially the lighter Bellossom. 'Don't give up, we can do this!' Dorme thought as she focused on finding an opening. Bellossom, got up and out of the way just in time to dodge Venusaur's tackle, which sent the larger grass type crashing against the cave wall. Bellossom didn't waste the opportunity and used grass knot before Venusaur could fully recover. She followed up with a solar beam, Venusaur tried to fight back with a solar beam of her own, but it was too late. Bellossom's powerful solar beam collided with the target and knocked her out.

Daala wordlessly recalled Venusaur. "I know we can talk to our pokemon with our minds, but the silence is really getting to me!" All that could be heard were the sounds of the battle and nothing more. Daala wasn't usually this quiet, which made Dorme conclude that she must really be being controlled. Remaining silent still, Daala summoned Donphan to the battle field.

Donphan went on the move immediately with rollout. Bellossom jumped out of the way to avoid getting flattened by the larger pokemon. Dorme knew that Bellossom wouldn't be able to get in for a close range attack, in fact it was too risky to even try. Her best chance was to put some distance between the two pokemon and use long range attacks. While Donphan hurried to roll after Bellossom, the grass type attacked with toxic, filling the battle area with a poisonous mist.

Donphan became inevitably poisoned, but didn't even slow down on his attack. He rolled across the cave chamber and partially up a wall with the momentum, then pushed off sideways and landed heavily with an earthquake attack. The cave chamber shook violently and rocks fell from the ceiling. The earthquake threw everyone out of balance, Donphan hurried towards the fallen Bellossom, running her over. Bellossom remained flat on the ground for several seconds while Donphan assessed the situation.

Suddenly, Bellossom jumped up and used venoshock, Donphan was hit hard, but Bellossom was in too much pain and could no longer fight. None the less, she gave it her best effort and released her stun spores before fainting. Dorme recalled Bellossom and released Hitmonlee from his pokeball. Donphan was kicked across the cave chamber before he could react and crashed harshly against the wall. He slid down and tried to get on his feet, but another solid kick knocked him out.

Daala recalled Donphan and released her next pokemon, Rapidash. The unicorn dashed into the battle without hesitation with a flame charge attack. Hitmonlee jumped out of the way and dashed around Rapidash. The unicorn turned and charged in with mega horn. Hitmonlee evaded the hits until he was up against the wall. Seeing her opponent was trapped, Rapidash went for the final hit, but Hitmonlee jumped high, flipped in the air and landed on Rapidash's back.

Hitmonlee jumped off the unicorn as her flames flared to cover her entire body. The fighter waited a moment while charging a focus blast, then released it as Rapidash approached. Rapidash simultaneously attacked with fire blast and both pokemon were thrown back by the explosion that resulted when their powers collided. The combatants were left barely able to stand. Rapidash went on the offensive again with fire blast, Hitmonlee quickly dodged and stomped his feet as he stayed on the move, while causing an earthquake just strong enough to throw the fire type off balance. Hitmonlee took the opportunity to finish the battle with mega kick. Just before the kick landed, in a split second Rapidash released the last of her fire and left Hitmonlee burned.

Dorme knew Hitmonlee couldn't go on like that. He was a step away from fainting, so she recalled him. Daala released her final pokemon into the battle, Houndoom. Dorme called out the last pokemon she had as well, but she didn't feel backed into a corner at all, because this one was her strongest and she was feeling confident about winning. "Go, my beautiful Ninetales!" Dorme grinned victoriously, she knew there was no way Houndoom stood a chance.

Houndoom growled threateningly and refused to back down, the dark canine dashed towards his opponent and tried to attack with giga impact. Ninetales jumped out of the way and retaliated with a strong hyper beam, that came so fast there was no way for Houndoom to dodge. The dark type was thrown back several feet, colliding with the cave wall. For a second it looked like a one hit knockout, but Houndoom got back to his feet surrounded by a bright glow. This was Daala's secret move, her final chance to win. Dorme stared in shock as mega Houndoom stood before her, now on equal grounds with Ninetales.

The power of inferno burned around mega Houndoom as he dashed in for a beat up attack. Ninetales didn't even have time to counter now that Houndoom was so much faster in mega form. The fox howled and tried to break free from the close combat they were locked in. She blasted him with fire and tried to use it as a distraction, but mega Houndoom remained unaffected and broke through the flames, attacking with fire fang. Ninetales howled in pain, the blood from the wound soaking her beautiful fur. "This can't be!" Dorme ran to her pokemon's side in desperation, but Houndoom jumped and stood in front of her. Dorme stopped, knowing that the dark fire pokemon could incinerate her in a few seconds.

Ninetales howled as if calling her opponent back to fight her, angry that he had threatened her trainer, her voice echoed with her power and the psyshock hit mega Houndoom hard. Before the canine could recover, Ninetales reached out to him with her tails as if to curse him. "Houndoom!" Daala reacted quickly and tackled mega Houndoom out of the way, in too much of a rush to even think of recalling him. The shadowy energy around her faded and her eyes became focused. Houndoom returned to his normal form, giving Daala a confused look. The worry she felt seeing her pokemon about to be cursed freed her from the trance and from Legend's control, at least for a moment.

The shadowy energy returned around Daala, also appearing around Houndoom. "Ninetales, psyshock them both!" Ninetales used just enough power to knock them out. Dorme looked at the unconscious trainer and pokemon, she didn't know what to do with them, but one thing was for sure, she couldn't just leave them there. She recalled Houndoom back into his pokeball and called back Ninetales to rest as well, then picked up the unconscious Daala, hoping she could regroup before running into any more trouble.

xoxox xox xoxox

Volt emerged from a tunnel into a larger cave chamber, at the end of which he saw light. He hurried out to the surface of the mountain and saw the shield that surrounded it, trapping them inside. He looked down over the edge as many shadowy creatures shaped like pokemon and actual pokemon covered in shadows emerged from the base of the mountain. The latter were brainwashed pokemon, no doubt, and if he had to take a guess about the former, they were probably manifestations of Legend's power, and if that was the case, they wouldn't be defeated until it was. He saw Misty outside of the barrier further away, she was with Jessie, James and several others, fighting off the shadowy creatures.

A laser blast hit the barrier and threw Volt back, but the shield remained in place. From the other side of the mountain inside the barrier, a dragon pokemon flew towards Volt. She landed and the rider jumped off her back. He didn't say anything before sending Salamence on the attack. Volt released Electrabuzz and Raichu from their pokeballs to defend against the dragon breath. It was two against one, but Salamence was well rested, while Raichu and Electabuzz were not, so it all even out in the end and the battle could go either way.

The electric pokemon worked together to counter with a massive thunder attack, the energy of all the combatants exploding in a colossal display of power. Raichu disappeared into the mountain with dig, while Electabuzz used another thunder attack. Salamence attacked Electabuzz with dragon claw, just as Raichu jumped out behind her and used volt tackle. Salamence was forced to turn her attention towards Raichu, giving Electabuzz some time to recover.

Dorme appeared from another tunnel and spotted the battle. As she approached, the intense noise of the fight woke Janebelle, who gave Volt a confused look. "Janebelle?" She seemed defenseless enough, so volt set her on her feet, with Dorme watching, unknown to him.

"Who are you? What's going on?" Janebelle stared in perplexity, then her expression turned almost panicked as she realized there was something else, more vital, that she didn't know. "Who am I?"

At a loss, volt could only reassure her, "it's okay, I'll get you to safety somehow."

"You're here to save me?" Janebelle gave Volt a long studying look, then stood on her tiptoes and stretched up her arm, reaching up just high enough to touch his hair. "You have such pretty golden hair."

Before Volt could react, Janebelle was suddenly on the floor, knocked out and a furious looking Dorme was glaring at him. "What do you think you're doing letting some suspicious girl touch your hair? I worked hard to make it as pretty as Johnny's!"

Volt jumped back, "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry! Wait a minute, why am I apologizing? I didn't do anything wrong!" Dorme growled and Volt gulped, "but I'm sorry anyway?" He offered unsure. "Aren't you more concerned about her being Janebelle, the girl who we thought was dead?"

"I don't care if she's the ghost of princess Aquamarine!" Dorme pouted.

"Ow..." Daala, who had been dropped by Dorme when she rushed out to get Janebelle away from Volt, had a rude awakening with the impact and dizzily got on her feet, examining her surroundings in confusion. "Arrow?" She looked at the shadowy figure on the opposite side of the battlefield. "Arrow!" She tried to approach him, but it was clear that he didn't recognize her or anyone else.

"Looks like you're awake, I mean really awake," Dorme observed. "What's going on?"

"Arrow and I had been tracking Tornado, or rather, Tornado was letting us follow him, I should have known it was a trap. The consequence is what you see," Daala explained with a tone of defeat, yet the promise of revenge. "Legend is controlling him, and it was controlling me too, wasn't it?"

"It looked that way," Dorme confirmed. She watched the battle progress, while also keeping an eye on Daala. There wasn't much she could do to turn the tides, her pokemon were not fit to battle Salamence, she was certainly a lot stronger than expected.

Raichu and Electabuzz landed another hit with a double thunder and it finally looked as if Salamence was close to fainting, but their electricity was drained and they wouldn't be able to fight on much longer either. The energy shield around the mountain flickered and one of the missiles from the Team Rocket armada went through. The barrier was back up quickly, but the damage from the missile was done and an avalanche of rocks fell down upon the ground. Volt recalled his exhausted pokemon before the falling rocks could further harm them and retreated. They thought Arrow would retreat, but he just stood there.

"Arrow!" Daala called out to him, but there was no way she could get to him on time. Salamence hurried towards him and shielded him from the falling rocks, both becoming buried under a big pile. Daala rushed over and started pushing the rocks aside, Volt and Dorme soon joined her. Salamence was injured and barely conscious, but alive. It looked like Arrow was unconscious, but he was still breathing and the shadowy energy was gone from around him. Salamence's actions must have somehow snapped him out of it at the last second. "It's okay, I'll make sure he's alright," Daala petted Salamence gently and returned her to her pokeball. Arrow woke with a start and stared wide-eyed at his surroundings. "That was fast," Daala returned the pokeball.

Arrow looked both shocked and in pain. "No..." He closed his eyes tightly as the shadows surrounded him again. The translucent black energy clung to him like armor and extended as a spear in his hand. His eyes were once again lifeless and lost.

"Arrow..." Daala stepped back in alarm. "Let him go, Legend, let him go!" She shouted in anger and frustration.

Arrow didn't reply, but he nearly stabbed her with his spear if not for the sky attack that knocked him off his feet. Altaria landed near the group and Stella jumped off her back. She had managed to get in when the barrier flickered earlier. "Daala, Arrow, Janebelle, I must detain you here, in the name of Team Rocket, do not resist. Dorme and Volt, you must regroup with Ashimi, she is somewhere in this mountain, find her and support her in this battle, that is your mission. Hurry up and go!" Not daring to question Stella when she was looking so ready for a fight, Volt and Dorme headed back inside the mountain through the tunnel.

xoxox xox xoxox

In a different area of the mountain... "Ashimi!" Zero looked around but found nothing that indicated where she could have gone. They got separated fighting off an ambush of shadowy creatures not long ago. "I guess it's just you and me, Nidoking."

'I'm ready, aniki, we'll fight through this maze and find Ashimi!' Nidoking replied with great determination, though it would take more than that, as the shadowy beings were coming back.

The shadows took on the shape of pokemon, though sometimes only partially and sometimes they were mixed up with the body of one creature, mismatching limbs and the head of another. "I could sense the satellite signal for a second, I'm pretty sure that was the force field flickering and now look at these creatures, Legend's getting sloppy. Ashimi mentioned she sensed her father moving closer to the core, he must already be there by now. Let's do our part too, Nidoking!"

Nidoking began by slowing the shadows down with earthquake and following up with thunder. He didn't stop there, releasing attacks in rapid succession. Two shadow balls, and then two more, collided with four shadowy enemies, but more were moving in fast. Zero zapped a few of them with his electrical powers, it was part of what he was meant to have, that he couldn't use before due to the bugs that used to plague his system in the past. The shadowy creatures kept getting stranger as they poured into the area. One had the body of a Drapion, Scyther arms and wings like a Flygon, another had a Heracross horn on a Reuniclus body with Barbaracle claws, and so on.

Focus blast, mega horn, fire blast, hyper beam, giga impact... Nidoking fought strongly and defeated many shadows, but there were simply too many and Nidoking was getting exhausted. "Sorry Nidoking, I can't do much without a satellite and even if I had one, all I could do inside here is..." Suddenly, Zero felt a wireless signal nearby and hurried towards Nidoking, then as soon as he reached him, they both disappeared.

Nidoking looked around in confusion, 'aniki?'

"I teleported us," Zero explained. He grinned over at Pixel, who had sent the signal to him, Comet was with her too. "It's okay now, hop into my data storage and rest."

'Okay, see you later aniki...' Nidoking faded away, he was digitalizing into Zero's own data, as he now had the capacity to carry data in himself, including pokemon data.

"You look even more like Comet now," Pixel ruffled Zero's orange and blue hair.

"You think so?" Comet observed, with an identical grin on his face.

"Yeah, you both definitely have the same cocky grin," Pixel nodded.

"Too bad we don't have much time to catch up now. You should be on your way to find Ashimi," Comet reminded. The shadowy creatures began to pour into the cave chamber they were at, having followed Zero. "Leave the rest to us."

"Right! Let's catch up after we win this!" Zero hugged them both then went to try to regroup with Ashimi.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash reached the core of the Tree of Beginnings, where he found a bright bubble of light forming a shield around a feline silhouette. The light came from a crystal blade, a Honedge. It was rare to see such a pokemon in Kanto, especially one with such an appearance. Ash had seen a crystal Onix before and heard of other crystal pokemon being discovered, though they were extremely rare, and he had never heard of a Honedge before. The aura that came from the sword was soothing and familiar. The shield faded to allow Ash passage, though the glow still surrounded the pink feline.

"Mew..." Ash knelt beside the legendary, he had been weakened considerably because of the state of the Tree of Beginnings. He looked at the familiar blade, "you're..."

"I have been trying to protect Mew," a calm male voice echoed from the sword. "Mew is still fighting, the Tree of Beginnings has not given up. I sense Master Aaron's pupil is already here, she seeks out the Legend to put an end to this."

"Ashimi..." Ash wanted to run to her immediately and his intention was clear in the flow of his energy.

"I cannot feed Mew's energy for much longer, you will be most useful here. I have become exhausted," Honedge admitted, "but there is still something I can do if I go. You are the only one who can help Mew. You must trust your daughter to defeat the Legend and help her from here, this is the task you must do."

It was difficult to accept it, but Ash knew that Honedge was right. "I understand... Leave Mew to me." He began to project his aura onto Mew, taking Honedge's place. The energy flowed through the Tree of Beginnings with renewed vigor, Honedge had truly been at his limit, which made Ash wonder what more he could do in such a state. "Are you really..."

"It is I," Honedge replied before Ash finished the question. "My memories are unclear, but I know what I must do. I leave Mew and the Tree of Beginnings to you, I must go and do all I can..."

To be Continued

Ash was petrified in the first movie during the battle of Mewtwo vs. Mew, those memories were locked away, but resurfaced years later due to Ash's aura abilities.

Awakening

Chapter 43: Legacy (Part 2)

Jonathan wondered through the dark tunnels of the mountain, trying to regroup with his friends. He saw a strange light ahead and went to investigate. Odd shapeless shadows were casted on the walls of the large cave chamber, making little sense in relation to what it held. One figure stepped forward, surrounded in a shadowy mist and Jonathan was shocked to see him. "You're... me?" To his surprise, he found himself staring into a face identical to his own, in every way, except for the evil reflected in his eyes. "What are you?" He demanded uneasy.

"I'm you," a twisted version of his voice replied. "And I have a very important thing to ask myself. What is it that you hope to accomplish?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Jonathan challenged, "we're going to defeat Legend!"

"That's not what I asked," the copy shook his head. "What is it that you intend to do? To be the ideal Rocket? What does that mean? What do you hope to accomplish? Aren't you bored? It's all pointless and boring isn't it? Your greatest fear is coming true. After this battle, it'll happen, what you fear the most."

"I don't fear anything!" Jonathan snapped. "Are you looking for a fight? Then why don't you just say it?"

"I wanted you to answer me first," the copy calmly insisted with a mocking air. "But I see that you won't, so I'll answer for you. All your life you've been a Rocket, it's all you know how to do. Your greatest fear is to lose your motivation, because then you'll have nothing. you've been going on missions and staying active, you've been training hard and climbing the ranks, but there's something missing, you've been bored."

"What are you, some kind of mind reader? If you are, then you should know I fully intend to defeat you. you should know I'm completely loyal to Team Rocket and that I'm happy with the life I live..." Jonathan paused, and glared at the copy. "It's true though, things have gotten a bit boring since Ashy's been asleep, but it's only natural to miss my best friend. That's about to end now, she's back and Zero came back with her, so things will be back to normal. Ashy will probably want to visit more regions and there's still so much of this world that Zero needs to see too. Maybe we can get Dorme and Volt to come too."

"That is your wish..." The copy grinned evilly. "It can never be, it will shatter sooner or later. You wait for the princess to return and restore things to the way they were, but that can never be. She has changed, she has mentally aged well beyond her years and mastered the aura after training non-stop for over three years. Her master, her pokemon and Zero are the only people she's had any direct contact with, she's grown out of being the little princess and is ready to take her place at the head of Team Rocket at any time. It's over, it's about time you were left behind, it had to happen eventually."

"Ashy wouldn't do that," Jonathan insisted.

"It would be better if she did, at least then it would be easier than to watch her fade away and become someone else..." The shadowy creature laughed. "It's sad, really..."

"I've had enough of you, Foxtrot, go!" The Flareon materialized outside of his pokeball and from the shadowy copy, another identical creature appeared, mimicking the form of the original. "So you copied me and now you're copying my pokemon. It doesn't matter, I'll show you the power of the original, fire blitz!"

The two Flareons, one real and one made of shadows dashed towards each other, their breath of fire flooding the chamber with light and dark light. The shadows reflected on the walls wavered strangely, like paper in the wind, still defying how shadows should normally function. The strange dark light tried to consume the flame, but the real fire shone too brightly and the false Flareon had to jump back. Foxtrot didn't relent, determined to finish the battle quickly. There was something in the atmosphere that gave him a sense of unease and he refused to be caught off guard. When Foxtrot attacked with overheat, the fake copied the move, the cave chamber once again filled with dark and light fire. It looked as if the real fire was victorious again, but the false Flareon remained unscratched. Foxtrot charged in and tackled the fake, he attacked with giga impact and was sure it was successful, but the fake remained the same, unharmed and unfazed.

'Something's not right...' Jonathan thought. He looked around and realized the shadows had grown larger reflected on the walls. A dark substance that move like water but had the consistency of fog mover from the walls to the ceiling and floor, threatening to swallow the whole area. Foxtrot didn't quite understand what was going on, but he quickly returned to his trainer's side. Jonathan watched him back down from the fight, it was as if Foxtrot had read his mind and moved before he could speak a warning. This had to be some sort of trap, the attacks were not having any effect and the shadows were growing. "Show yourself, show your true form!" Nothing happened, but the shadows continued to move unnaturally.

Jonathan recalled Foxtrot and tried sending out a different pokemon. Upon releasing Jolteon into the battle field, the shadowy Flareon took on her appearance and countered her thunderbolt with a dark light version of the same attack. The same thing occurred with Vaporeon. Jonathan recalled all his pokemon and tried to figure out the situation. When it looked like he was overpowering the shadow, it turned out to be all the opposite. "I guess there's only one thing left to do..." He approached the shadowy copy and walked past him.

"Wait!" The shadow began to walk along with the real one. "What are you doing?"

"I'm ignoring you, you're just an illusion after all, so there's no need to waste my time fighting you," Jonathan decided. "I'm going to look for the source."

"The source is yourself..." The shadow voiced.

"Myself..." Jonathan thought for a moment, then grinned victoriously. "Then this should be easy, thanks for the clue..." He focused and the shadows on the walls began to shrink and retreat, until the fake was gone as well.

The world turned into a blur and Jonathan found himself getting up off the ground. "You overcame it, that was faster than I thought." A glowing sword floated before him, a crystal Honedge.

"Who are you?" Jonathan got to his feet, staring at the rare pokemon in puzzlement. Something about him made him feel at ease.

"An ally," Honedge confirmed. "That illusion was created by a psychic, he's not too far from here. You were able to break free, which means you must have understood it."

"Yeah..." Jonathan nodded a bit uneasy. "I haven't been sitting around these past few years, I've trained hard and that includes a few courses on how to resist psychic attacks. I have no special powers of my own, so there's only so much I can do, but I can still fight. all I had to do was face my worries and remember that even if everything changes and nothing seems right in the future, I'd still do the same thing here and now..."

"But that's not really what you believe, you have hope for the future and surely it's not baseless," Honedge asserted.

"You're right..." Jonathan looked into the darkness of the tunnel ahead. 'I'm being silly thinking Ashy would change into a whole different person. Although, it still bothers me that I get so bored when she's not around, I suppose I'm just too used to being around her, yeah, that's it...' Focusing back on the present, he looked at the floating blade. "Can you tell where the psychic is? Is it Sabrina?"

"Up ahead, turn right, then left, then go down the middle, I see the source of the psychic energy there, a man covered in shadows," Honedge replied.

"Not Sabrina... could it be Tornado?" He had been spotted a few times but always slipped away, then eventually disappeared. Jonathan hurried ahead, determined to face the mysterious Tornado.

Following Honedge's directions, they arrived at another cave chamber inside the large mountain, a deep way in. They found the man covered in shadows, his expression empty and lost. "He is the one who attacked you. I wish I could help more, but I can only offer a thin layer of protection, as most of my energy has already been exhausted," Honedge explained.

"Don't worry, I can do the rest!" Jonathan called out his three eeveelutions and Fearow. Identical copies of them appeared made of shadows. Yet it felt different this time, it wasn't an illusion in a dream, this time, he would truly be facing Tornado's power. There were no growing shadows on the walls, but Tornado's power was instead drained with every attack the copies made, as they simultaneously fought.

The two Fearows circled each other in the air, the real one attacked with drill peck, the fake responding in the same way. Their beaks moved as swords colliding with each other. The real Fearow flapped her wings to gain the upper altitude then went down on her opponent with a flying attack. Seeing as copying the moves wasn't working, the shadowy Fearow tried to gain the advantage with u-turn. The attack was successful, but the real Fearow was far from defeated. She recovered quickly and dodged the incoming pluck attack with aerial ace, flying quickly to land another hit on the enemy.

The cave chamber was filled with fire from the lava plume attacks the two Flareon exchanged. Foxtrot moved forward, switching to fire blitz and pushing his opponent back against the wall. The shadowy Flareon sunk into the wall and emerged up from the floor behind him. The rock smash hit Foxtrot before he could turn around and the fake tried to finish him off with strength. Foxtrot recovered just in time to respond with fire fang. The shadow seemed to flicker to get free from the bite, but as soon as it became solid again to attack, Foxtrot was ready and swiftly attacked with giga impact, smashing the shadow against the cave floor.

Sparks flew across the arena, as Jolteon fought her shadowy twin. They both dashed into each other with wild charge, colliding in a bright light. Static collected in Jolteon's fur, while her shadowy counterpart remained the same. She hissed and attacked with rock smash, the shadow sinking into the floor to avoid the hit. Jolteon discharged a series of thunderbolt attacks all around, tricking the shadow into reappearing in one of the spots between her attacks. She reacted quickly with a charge beam, which took her opponent by surprise enough to make room for another rock smash, which that time hit the target full force.

Snow mixed with the static in the air and the flames all around creating a heavy steam all over the cave chamber as the two Vaporeon released their blizzard attacks. The fake tried to attack with hydro pump, which was frozen by the real Vaporeon's ice beam, the solid ice batted away with his tail, the pieces assaulting the shadow like knives. The enemy melted into a black watery substance then separated into two identical Vaporeon shaped shadows. The two attempted to tackle the real Vaporeon from both sides, but he dug into the ground to escape them. Vaporeon emerged a few feet away, releasing a shadow ball the second he jumped out of the tunnel. It hit one of the shadows, making it evaporate into nothingness, while the other retaliated with last resort.

The attack hit Vaporeon hard and tossed him back several feet. He got back on his feet as quickly as possible and dodged out of the way of the incoming shadow, who tried to reach him with strength. The shadow ran into a stray flame left from Foxtrot's battle, giving Vaporeon an idea. With a warning to his sister, he pushed the shadowy water type further back with an ice beam and Jolteon attacked with thunder. Leaving him to her, Vaporeon shot a hydro pump at the false Flareon and Foxtrot covered Jolteon's back with a powerful fire blast to the fake electric type.

Among the chaos the tree eeveelutions were creating by mixing up their battles, a shadowy Fearow fell, thrown out of the air by the force of the real Fearow's sky attack. Wind, fire, water and lightning flooded the battle field with the shadows sinking into the ground in retreat and not daring to appear in the same way anymore. A Gengar appeared next to tornado, as if she had been watching the whole battle go by, while keeping herself invisible. The shadows emerged from the ground again, but they were piled together into a shapeless form that wrapped around the ghost and took on the form of mega Gengar. "This ends now..." Her voice echoed, she was the same Ghastly who had accompanied Janebelle before.

"Together they will be powerful opponents," Honedge warned. He was glowing and shaking in mid air with the effort of trying to keep Tornado's psychic influence away. Jonathan and the pokemon could still feel a sort of pressure that made it hard to breathe and heard voices that rung out in their heads, trying to confuse them, but they knew it would have been a lot a worse without Honedge's protection.

"You're right about one thing... This will end!" Jonathan aimed his sword at the monstrous ghost, which was a lot bigger than a regular mega Gengar should be. "Nya, are you ready?" The purple feline emerged from her pokeball and perched on Jonathan's shoulder, meowing eagerly. She might have been trying to sound menacing, but in the end she only sounded cute.

Mega Gengar released a series of shadow balls in rapid succession. Fearow flew around them, her agility being pushed to the limit. The eeveelutions spread around the spacious cave chamber, dodging the attacks as well as the falling rocks. The mountain shook, as if vibrating in response to the ghost's dark pulse, which flooded the area and amplified the effects of Tornado's power. "I can't hold it any longer!" Honedge warned.

Jonathan's sword broke as it collided against another shadow, the blade being unable to take more of the colossal power it was being exposed to. The shadows surrounded him and tried to consume them in their darkness, but the pile of shadows found that it was on top of the empty ground and their target was several feet away. Nya tried to support herm allies with her psychic abilities, she knew little in the way of attacks, but had various abilities that could b used to assist, such as heal pulse. It wouldn't be enough though, Fearow, Foxtrot, Jolteon and Vaporeon were being overpowered. The dark pulse flooding the area made it hard and painful to even move, while the shadow balls didn't cease.

A shattering sound echoed and suddenly, the pain duplicated, causing Jonathan and his pokemon to collapse. He lifted himself up with difficulty and saw Honedge on the ground, the crystal pokemon's energy had been completely drained and they were now at Tornado's mercy. The world around him spun out of control, many frantic voices echoed in his head and it felt as if the very oxygen he tried to breathe was made of fire. "Honedge, lend me your blade... Nya, let's do this one more time, as fast as you can."

Jonathan picked up Honedge and faced mega Gengar. Nya tried to shield them with her psychic abilities, calm mind to try to focus and light screen to lessen the pain. She then teleported a short distance at a time, it was all she could do in the current conditions. Jonathan dashed forward between teleportations slashing at any shadows in his path, disappearing before the enemy could retaliate. He appeared right in front of mega Gengar and slashed at him with Honedge, Nya focusing her abilities on strengthening and protecting the blade. Mega gengar was cut as if it were a curtain covering the true pokemon inside, wispy black smoke came from within, "now!"

Four hyper beams entered the opening making the giant pokemon explode. Dark energy became smoke and few in every direction as the facade of mega Gengar melted to reveal Ghastly, in her true form without the forced evolution of Tornado's power. Tornado fell down on his knees, breathing heavily. The pain subsided and Jonathan looked at his exhausted pokemon. They give it all they had to make those powerful hyper beams and Nya was too tired herself to be able to heal them, she had given everything to empower Honedge and had nothing left. "Well done everyone, return." Having recalled, Nya, Fearow, Foxtrot, Jolteon and Vaporeon, Jonathan glared at Tornado, who remained silent.

Ghastly weakly floated towards him, "do you think this one is your greatest concern aside from Legend? He was weak in the end, so Legend left me in charge. This man is not my master, his power is mine to command!" Ghastly suddenly glowed brightly, pulsating with a force that threw Jonathan back several feet. Tornado let out an earsplitting wail as all his energy left him. He fell motionless to the floor, dead, while Ghastly once again took on the form of Gengar. She had been feeding off Tornado's energy the whole time and used the last of his strength to recover.

"Give me your aura, I will use it to strengthen my blade for the final blow!" Honedge urged.

"I don't have any aura powers," Jonathan replied, dodging the rays of dark light that Gengar shot at him.

"All living creatures have aura, even if they cannot control it. Do not resist and I will be able to project your aura on my blade," Honedge explain.

"Alright, do all you can, take my energy," Jonathan moved in for the attack, purple and black ghostly energy came at him, making approaching the target very difficult. He narrowly dodged, the rock formation next to him, in front of which he stood a second ago ignited into black flames and melted into ashes in seconds. He was feeling the exhaustion of the battle, plus Honedge was using his energy now too. He pushed the fatigue to the back of his mind and rushed forward, narrowly evading the attacks until he was so close he could only block.

The crystal blade shone brightly, empowered with his energy and it collided against a shield of shadowy power. Honedge vibrated with power as stones fell from the cave ceiling and Jonathan's boots dug into the ground by the force at which he was being pushed back. With one last burst of power, Gengar released all her accumulated energy, the shadowy power passing left and right of Honedge, cut apart by his blade, striking Jonathan like a thousand needles. He refused to give up and Honedge glowed brightly, cutting through the shadow power and into Gengar, who became Haunter and finally Ghastly again. The crystal blade cut all the way through in a fatal wound that could send even a ghost to its grave. Ghastly was no more, dissolving into wisps of shadowy energy and disappearing at last.

Jonathan fell to a sitting position, then fell back as the dizziness rushed to his head, exhausted, but victorious. "We won..." he breathe heavily.

"Ghastly was no longer of her own mind..." Honedge, his crystal blade now lacking light, spoke solemnly as he lay motionless on the ground, the handle of the sword still in Jonathan's hand. "She was corrupted into a tool of Legend and that man... He was had been truly dead for a long time now, a vessel that only carried power and not a soul. Restoring them would have been impossible. We cannot allow this to continue. I can feel Ash pouring life into Mew and the Tree of Beginning, if don't hurry his fate will be the same as Sir Aaron..." Honedge's voice turned quieter as he spoke, until he said no more. Jonathan made no sound or motion to reply, his fingers loosening their grip on the sword handle until his hand went limp.

xoxox xox xoxox

Dorme and Volt made their way through the cave as quickly as they could. They were filled with a strange mix of concern and anticipation for the coming battle, but most of all, they were looking forward to seeing their friend again. Volt found himself wondering about things he should not be wondering about at the moment, but figure he might as well get it out. 'Johnny said he didn't mind...' he reminded, recalling with the ease that the other boy had stated the fact.

"Of course I don't mind if you ask her out, I think you should!" A small protest with a reminder and all that Volt got in response was a laugh and a carefree reply. "Yeah, we did date, but it didn't last long and now I'm surprised either of us even thought it would. I think she said something about liking her idea of me more than me and I guess I liked being liked. In the end Dorme and I had to laugh at ourselves for it, but as you know, we're still good friends." Volt could almost feel the pat on the back and see the same encouraging grin on his friend's face. "She's not going to wait if you tell her an auction for a collectible just came up, she doesn't collect anything so she wouldn't understand. She expects a lot of attention, and can get annoying when she's in hair care mode, but then you must be used to that by now. If you can survive that, her shopping trips, and make sure not to... what did she call it... 'geek-out' about comics more than once a week, you'll be fine. Don't try to correct her when she talks about sparkly vampires and weird stuff like that, she can't stand not having her mythology her own nonsensical way. Just don't rush it, you'll know when the time is right to ask her."

"Volt!" Dorme called out again, this time getting a reaction at least. "Quit spacing out!" She snapped.

"Do you want to go out with me?" Volt blurted out all of a sudden.

Dorme stopped running, she looked at if she wanted to appear scolding, but couldn't stop smiling. "Idiot... "

"Is that a no?" Volt frowned. This was not the time and he knew it, but he couldn't take it back now.

"Actually, I was going to ask you out when we were in Kalos," Dorme revealed. "I had a romantic evening planned out and everything, though given the situation we're in, they'll probably send someone else to check on Kalos, which is fine by me, I don't want to leave Kanto just when Ashimi and Zero are returning. It's just too bad I'll lose my dinner reservations..." She went on about the restaurant she wanted to dine at and about how difficult it was to get reservations, especially on such short notice, noting that it would have been impossible if not for her Rocket connections.

Volt half listened to the speech about the restaurant as the realization hit him, Jonathan knew about this. That's what he meant by not rushing and waiting for the right time. He didn't say it because Dorme needed further convincing before she would consider the possibility, he said it because he knew of her intentions and tried to help preserve the occasion without revealing it. "Dorme..." Volt snapped back into reality, all too aware of their situation now that he got the question off his chest. "Maybe we should talk about this later. I mean I know I was the one who brought it up, and I'm happy you agreed, but..."

"But we need to go help Ashimi beat up Legend first?" Dorme supplied with a grin.

"Right!" Volt smiled back and they were on their way.

Dorme turned a corner into another tunnel, she wasn't sure where she was going, but she wouldn't get anywhere if she didn't move. She made it into a large cave chamber with clear signs of a recent battle and screamed. Volt appeared in a split second next to her, following her trembling finger to where she pointed at Jonathan's still form. "No! Is he dead?"

"Not unless your screaming can wake the dead, " Jonathan groaned as he sat up.

Dorme pouted, but couldn't help it but to smile in relief, "very funny."

"Looks like you had a rough time," Volt observed.

"Not as bad as Tornado," Jonathan glanced at where the dead body still lay. He stood up and picked up Honedge, "you okay?"

The crystal blade pokemon began to float, "I will recover," he assured. Volt and Dorme switched between staring at Jonathan, Tornado and Honedge with questions in their eyes. "I'll explain, but I'll have to make it quick..."

xoxox xox xoxox

The shadowy spear narrowly missed its target as Stella moved with amazing speed and gripped Arrow's throat. "Wake up, or I'll kill you!" She shouted at him with uncharacteristic anger. She was usually quite good at keeping her cool, but people who gave into mind control annoyed her. She was the daughter of an urban legend after all, yet she did not give into the need to murder needlessly and rejected her father's instinct. She was herself and anyone not strong enough to guard their own identity deserved a good beating. She heard Daala yelling, but paid no attention.

The helmet of black energy dissolved into smoke from Arrow's head to reveal his pained expression. "I'm trying..." he gasped. He was tossed aside by the mysterious woman whom he knew now couldn't possibly be an ordinary human.

"I feel it stronger than ever, the need to kill, the need to consume something delicious and forbidden." The white haired woman looked at him as if he were food. Her eyes were wild and hungry with the temptation of human meat. "Yet I will not give up... How long have you been here? How long did it take for Legend to use your own insecurities to break your mind? That won't happen to me... It won't..." Though she insisted on that, her look was increasingly wild.

"Stella!" A familiar voice called. Electro arrived at the scene, his blue Pikachu on his shoulder.

Stella breathe heavily, then relaxed. "I won't give up... Because the life I live now is precious..."

The armor that surrounded Arrow faded into smoke as he finally broke free from Legend's control. "I won't give up either... whatever was, whatever will be... I won't give up." If nothing else, he could at least count on Daala to be there for him as she had been for the past two years, and that was enough.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ashimi made it to the center of the mountain with relative ease. She knew her father was at the core several feet above. As for Legend, it awaited below, underground at the base of the mountain. It was allowing her to approach, no doubt feeling confident in its victory. Ashimi hurried to the battle, knowing that her friends were facing their own battles as well. She arrived in a deep underground chamber that lit dimly up with many crystals on the walls. A cloaked figure stood across it, a doll was a few feet away with an injured and weakened Gengar holding it protectively though he could barely stand. Ashimi could feel an invisible shield around them, she wouldn't be able to get near them. The doll held the vital energy of Sabrina, but she felt weak, drained of all her power. The vessel that was once hers was now under Legend's control along with most of her power.

"You do realize you're facing me on my own terms." Legend spoke and though the voice came from Sabrina's mouth, it wasn't really hers. It was a warped echo that couldn't really be called the voice of a human. "Not that I'm expecting you to give up." The chamber soon became flooded with brainwashed pokemon that made their way in through tunnels that opened and closed behind them.

The guardians of the tree where notably absent and Ashimi felt reassurance in knowing that there were some with a spirit so strong that Legend couldn't control them, though they were still unable to defeat it. Ashimi released all her pokemon at once, flooding the cavern with bright lights before it returned to its dim illumination. Her loyal Raichu, Lightning, jumped off her shoulder and joined the others. It was something that had happened when they returned, Lightning had trained hard and grown so strong in spirit that when he returned to his body, he evolved even without a thunder stone.

Wartortle had reached his final evolution as well and emerged from his pokeball as Blastoise. The others had increased their power too and would have evolved if they weren't already in their final forms, though somehow there was still a change in them, they looked undeniably stronger, especially Chari, whose tail flame was bigger and brighter than that of most Charizards. This was what they had been training for, and they didn't hesitate to begin the battle.

A multitude of Dugtrio emerged from the ground, shaking up the entire chamber. Blastoise resolved to cover the surface in ice with his ice beam. This significantly hindered the Dugtrio's attacks, as they weren't as effective trying to reach their opponents from the walls and ceiling. Blastoise kept the floor frozen, creating a constantly regenerating wall at their feet. If the ice cracked, it was smoothed out so quickly that the effects of the earthquake were inconsequential.

Chari coated the ceiling and walls with fire, keeping the flames going to rid them of the remaining Dugtrio threat. The small pokemon might not be too strong on their own, but when many got together like that, they were dangerous. The ice on the ground was no problem for the rest of Ashimi's team, they were used to making their way through more difficult terrain. The ice beam was strong enough to keep the ground frozen despite the burning walls and ceiling and the pokemon slid by, using the terrain to their speedy advantage. Taking control of the battle by creating a unique arena was part of the training Ashimi and her team had gone through.

Crobat filled the area with super sonic waves as more pokemon poured into the chamber. A dozen Arboks surrounded the group, their movements somewhat sluggish due to their lack of coordination because of Crobat's super sonic waves and the difficulties of the terrain. The Arboks began to attack with acid spray in every direction, but Ashimi's pokemon dodged the deadly liquid. Most of the Dugtrio had been knocked out by this point because of the fire and ice. Clefable's eyes glowed as she focused her telekinesis and lifted the Arboks in the air. They struggled against her mental grip, but a thunder attack from Lightning made them stay still enough for Clefable to cause their long bodies to be entangled in a mass of living knots. She flung them against a wall in an area where there were still flames left. They collided heavily and fell to the ground.

The cave swallowed up some more of the flames as it made way for another tunnel to open and close after depositing more combatants into the battle field. A group of five Parasect rushed in, but stopped abruptly when a breeze and blur went past them. They felt the shifting of air again, as it moved to give way to something that was moving very fast. The blur was accompanied by an odd sort of mixture of pain and relief as the parasitic plant that overtook them was cut off. They attempted to attack with poison powder, only to realize the mushrooms they intended to use for that purpose have been discarded. A smug looking Persian appeared in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere and the identity of the blur they had witnessed became clear. Furball swiftly swung his tail at them, with only one being miraculously fast enough to jump allowing it to pass under, though that was the one at the far end of the row. Before the Paras even hit the ground again, an electrical current from Lightning's thunderbolt made its way to the target and they were all knocked out.

The ground shook again as the stone walls, floor and ceiling swallowed up the fire and ice in them, in an attempt by Legend to get rid of the arena's obstacles. A group of varied pokemon entered the chamber next: Poliwrath and its younger evolutions as well as Muk and Grimer. The water types tried to flood the cave chamber with the Muk and Grimer polluting the water. Lightning and Furball were quick to release a powerful double electric attack all over the area while Blastoise hovered using his water canons as a sort of jet pack and Clefable floated with her psychic levitation. All the pokemon touching the ground were severely electrocuted and the plan to flood and poison the area was stopped. Chari gave the finishing touches by evaporating the remaining excess water, leaving only a few small puddles.

The cave chamber itself began to shrink, though Clefable interfered, willing it to remain large and wide with her own telekinesis. Blastoise followed up by creating strong pillars of ice to hold the walls apart. Crobat speedily zoomed by, barely perceptible to the naked eye, and threw a sludge bomb at Legend. It bounced harmlessly against the psychic shield, but it was still a daring move. A look of annoyance came across the face that was originally Sabrina's as the cloak was discarded. Her clothing were similar to what she would wear in the time when she first met Ash, but devoid of any bright colors, now gray and black, they were torn and dirty, as if the current inhabitant of the vessel simply didn't care.

Out of annoyance rather than a sense of danger, Legend raised the hand of the vessel it now commanded as if to snatch Crobat out of the air. Then its head snapped to the side where Ashimi now stood next to the Gengar that held the doll. She poured her energy into the doll, stabilizing Sabrina's consciousness within. Legend laughed, "was a distraction really needed to obtain that useless creature? I care not if you take it." The warped voice took on different tonalities as it spoke, as if people of different, ages, genders and regions, were each speaking a group of syllables from near and far in various volumes and tones.

Chari landed near Ashimi and picked up the Gengar who wouldn't let go of the doll. He was too weak to try to summon any of his ghostly abilities and could focus only on protecting his trainer. The Charizard quickly flew to the other end of the large chamber while Ashimi replied. "Then you won't mind if Sabrina watches from over there until I return her body to her."

Legend only laughed, "let us continue."

"No, not like this," Ashimi glared. "I know this mountain holds many pokemon prisoner, not only from the Kanto region but also many others. You're just getting started, but as you can see, this won't work. If you think you can tire us out, you are very wrong. Stop this and cut to the chase, if you won't fight for real, I will!" With great intensity, she formed a ball of blue energy in her hands and threw it at Legend who swiftly dodged out of the way, teleporting. Without missing a beat, Ashimi ducked out of the way of a punch that came from behind and spun, her hands shining with the aura, ready to shoot it at her opponent, yet she found nothing but empty air.

The brainwashed pokemon stopped pouring into the chamber, instead Ashimi could sense them being sent out where they found Team Rocket right outside the force field that surrounded the Tree of Beginnings. She focused on her own portion of the fight, trusting the others to take care of the mind controlled multitude that came from Legend's base. Lugia appeared, though Ashimi knew it was not real, only a manifestation of Legend's power. The pokemon let out a roar and began to freeze the cave chamber. Sword-like spikes of ice emerged from the walls and shot through the air. Crobat evaded them, Chari dodged some and melted other, while the other pokemon similarly found ways to keep themselves from being impaled.

Ashimi saw Legend standing upside down on the roof and began to run in that direction, she jumped and instantly Chari flew by, catching her in mid air and heading towards Legend, her breath aflame. Legend teleported again but was hit by an orb of aura that Ashimi shot before her opponent reappeared. With enough focus she could predict the location of the teleportation. She jumped off Chari, letting her join the others in the battle against the false Lugia, while she went in Legend's pursuit. Though all of Ashimi's pokemon were fighting together, their attacks never hit each other and often complimented each other, they were very attuned to each other after all their training.

The ice melted from the cave chamber to be replace by lava. Clefable held Lightning, Furball and Blastoise in the air along with herself and Gengar, while Chari and Crobat flew. electricity and a poisonous mist was shot from Lugia's mouth in powerful beams that were aimed at Clefable. Blastoise intercepted them with hydro pump, the electricity following the pillar of water and the poisonous mist diminishing. Clefable, despite her already present effort, dispelled the rest of the poisonous atmosphere with her healing and support abilities. Chari let out a series of fire blasts straight at Lugia, who was protected by an invisible shield, the spherical shape of which could be seen when energy collided with it.

Furball suddenly landed on Chari's back then fearlessly leapt towards Lugia, claws out. The false legendary opened its mouth as if to bite or even swallow the Persian, but was hit by a hyper beam from the feline, the force of which threw Furball back, landing on Chari's back again. Before Lugia could recover and put its shield in place again, Crobat zoomed towards it like a bullet and hit the target hard with fly, then released a series of shadow balls straight at Lugia. Lugia roared as spears of ice followed, stabbing it with their sharp points thanks to Blastoise alternating between hydro pump and ice beam.

The fire that flooded the chamber faded and Lugia was unable to remain in the air and landed heavily. Lightning dashed in with Volt tackle, knocking the false legendary back. Together, all the pokemon combined their power in hyper beams to finish the illusion of a legendary. Rayquaza suddenly appeared, materializing out of thin air as Lugia melted into black smoke. It spun and spiraled, it's body untouchable with the electrical currents that surrounded it, steam came from the false legendary indicating it's unusually hot temperature.

Legend landed on Rayquaza's back, running up the length of its body to its head. Ashimi shot another blast of aura energy but knew she couldn't be able to hit it from that angle. She jumped onto Rayquaza's body, fighting to keep her balance and coat her body, especially her feet, with the aura so as to not be affected by the heat coming from the illusion of a legendary. She hurried towards legend while Rayquaza shot beams of energy that seemed to change in element every time, water, fire, electricity, darkness and everything in between. Poisonous petals danced around the chamber, coming from everywhere and nowhere.

Legend attacked Ashimi with the psychic power stolen from Sabrina and she had to focus on blocking her influence, making her own aura flow as it should, preventing Sabrina from forcing it to move differently. Chari broke free from the battle and snatched up Ashimi, tossing her onto her back. She wouldn't need to dodge then since Chari would do it. That was the way the Charizard was, a sort of big sister to the other pokemon, always watching out for them and especially for her trainer. Legend tried to knock Chari off balance, but Ashimi shielded them both, they moved as one, their fire and aura orbs complimenting each other perfectly.

Chari dove in the air, her flames encasing Legend, who momentarily had to focus on defense. Rayquaza switched the attack on the other pokemon towards Chari as she passed. The split second was costly as a powerful Hydro pump hit Rayquaza in the face. Crobat was once again blasting Legend with shadow balls and sending super sonic waves to diminish the affectivity of the psychic energy concentration around it. Than Lightning fell from above with an unusual vertical volt tackle that knocked Legend off Rayquaza's head. The Raichu had hopped on Chari as she passed and jumped off when she was high enough. An iron tail to the head from Furball and it looked like Sabrina's body had been knocked out. An explosion rung out with Clefable's metronome, followed by several hyper beams from all the pokemon and Rayquaza was gone, melted in smoke.

There was a moment of silence in which only heavy breaths were heard. Ashimi and her pokemon could go for hours, though the atmosphere in the chamber was so heavy that it made it harder, none the less, they were still feeling very strong. Legend lifted Sabrina's form off the ground with an impatient expression. Ashimi frowned, "why don't you stop the act? You might have needed a vessel in the past, but now you don't, you have enough power to exist without one. Besides, if you truly wanted to destroy Sabrina for capturing you, you would have done it already. That body is only a hindrance to you." As if to prove the point, Lightning sent out very precise electric pulsations that invaded the vessel's nervous system and caused every indication of pain to flare up, well beyond the real extent of the injuries.

Legend cringed then laughed, "I suppose that's true." A dark shadowy mist emerged from Sabrina and form an orb of surprisingly bright light, though it was dimmed as it continued to come out, surrounded in darkness. It's aura, it's living energy, felt evil, yet not pure evil, Ashimi realized now that her senses were much more precise and harder to overwhelm. The other part that wasn't evil, wasn't good either, it was more so neutral, that was the only word she could assign to it. She thought of the energy as aura because it was indeed living energy, but it was strange, it didn't have any links to a personality. She had thought that after Legend manifested as a separate being, it would develop a personality of its own. She had been the magnet that attracted the evil energy, thus Legend turned out like this, but at its core it was neutral. It could have gone the other way, albeit if it drained the good energy from Team Rocket, then she didn't want to think about how the organization would become. It couldn't drain all the evil from it of course, the members would still be people who were not pure good or evil.

Then she realized it, Legend was not a being alone but a manifestation of many beings. It copied traits from all the members of Team Rocket, the strongest traits resurfacing, though the more powerful it became, the more energy was mixed in, the less unified those traits became, except for one thing, the need to plot and destroy. Legend was a time bomb, she realized, it would take as much as it could, then, when there was little left to take, it would explode, that's what it intended to do now, to explode in a massive wave of destruction. The core of it all puzzled her.

She knew of Legend's development, but if it had been only evil energy being attracted to her, she would have absorbed it, but she didn't. In the end, Ashimi grew out of her stage of a pure child and became a person with faults and virtues, who got angry, jealous or bitter as often as any normal human being, even when the good traits won out. Why during all that time had she been the magnet but not the core? What prevented the energy that once inhabited her vessel from merging with her own? It all spun around that core, that was Legend and she had to know what it was to defeated it.

Deoxys appear in attack mode, but its figure was warped and could hardly retain the Legendary's appearance. Sparks flew as Lightning and Furball combined their electrical abilities. Clefable played a defensive role for the time being while Sabrina reclaimed her human form. Blastoise' hydro pumps and Crobat's shadow balls blasted into the ceiling as Deoxys quickly moved. Chari was with Ashimi, trying to get closer to the dark orb that threw shockwaves at them that could not be seen but were sharp like knives. Ashimi had to sense them, guiding Chari to dodge by communicating directly with her aura, there was simply no time for words.

Deoxys' image wavered as if it wasn't even there, Lightning and Furball changed to a different strategy, letting a soft flow of electricity escape them, the energy moving as it pleased and revealing the true location of the energy that Legend had released to project the image of Deoxys. With Sabrina's aura having successfully transferred from the doll back to her body, Clefable joined the others, save Chari who was currently busy with Ashimi, in dispelling the energy with another team hyper beam. Deoxys disappeared, though the black smoke was several feet away, where the hyper beams had hit.

Furball scaled the rocky walls of the cave, then jumped towards the dark orb, releasing a powerful thunderbolt. Clefable gave Lightning a boost for another vertical volt tackle, though like Furball's energy, Lightning when right through, crashing into the ground below. The Raichu jumped out of the crater he created and looked up, wondering how that was even possible. It looked like Legend was making an effort to keep a distance from Chari, but why if their attacks weren't working. Blastoise's hydro pump further confirmed the usual situation, going through the orb and colliding with the cave ceiling. Crobat charged in with aerial ace but also went right through the target. They realized than that it wasn't Chari's fire blasts that Legend was paying attention to, it was Ashimi.

"Legend, you're not even pretending to have a physical form now," Ashimi realized.

"I don't need it, why waste energy emulating it?" Legend replied, "come, consume all your energy uselessly." Black smoke flooded the cave, Legend's strategy was to drain their power. Any pokemon that was not so well trained would have been brainwashed, but they were strong, yet putting all that energy into defense, into keeping their free will, would eventually take its toll.

"You say come, but you're trying so hard to keep me away," Ashimi glared. Chari finally landed next to the other pokemon and Ashimi jumped off her back. 'You don't want me to know what you are,' she thought. If that was the case, then she had to know, she had to resolve the inconsistencies. She knew for sure Legend had to have a core, hence why it didn't fuse with her in the past, or with Sabrina later on after the psychic was no longer able to hold it prisoner, she couldn't stop the energy from flowing towards Legend, only slow it. Ashimi needed answers, anything else would be a waste of effort if they had no real direction. She sat on the ground and closed her eyes in concentration.

Legend's shadowy energy moved as if in uneasiness and it attacked, but it found itself colliding with a shield that encompassed Ashimi and the pokemon, as well as Gengar and Sabrina, who could only watch at that point. The psychic had recovered her powers, but she would need a lot of rest before she could use them again. For a second Sabrina wondered how Ashimi could focus on finding her answer and protect everyone at once, then she realized there was actually very little thought flowing from her to the shield. The psychic couldn't do much with her powers except sense, so she did.

Sabrina realized then that the missing seal upon Ashimi's aura was indeed still missing, but she fashioned a sort of artificial one with her own aura, surely that was no easy task to master. She could allow other auras to flow into her, though those auras had their own core, her pokemon. Their will influenced her aura and she allowed it with full trust in them, receiving their energy and allowing them to focus her power for her while her mind was concentrated in other matters. The artificial seal of energy allowed access only to her pokemon, strongly blocking any other possible influences. They truly were as close to being one as they could be without entirely merging into a single creature. The trust and the bond between them was something beyond all possibilities.

The vision that Ashimi saw was an unexpected one, she could feel her father's aura as if he was nearby, though he was a distance away, above her underground location. The flow of energy was strong and she felt the answer lay with him, though not in his consciousness. Ashe felt his daughter's inquiry and focused on it, while still allowing his energy to flow out into Mew. The Tree of Beginnings wasn't as close to death as when he first began the process now. Ashimi saw her own father as a boy leaving Pallet Town. Her attention was caught by Ho-oh and by the burst of energy that occurred at that point in time.

The flow of Ash's energy indicated that he had not been aware that such a tremendous amount of energy was released at that very moment. He didn't realize that he had been an inch from death and that his aura, that he didn't even know about at the time, had partially healed him, enough so that his injuries were mere scratches in comparison to what could have been. Ho-oh had flown overhead then, the pokemon becoming caught in the invisible burst of energy that came from the chosen one, his powers suddenly amplified immensely. The legendary bird granted a wish, but it was a wish that was so strong, it could not normally be granted, not even by the power of Ho-oh and Celebi combined, yet with the great power of the chosen one, his aura refusing to perish so soon, the wish was granted, a wish of eternal happiness.

For years Ash was living in a waking dream, until one day, he was reunited with misty and they talked. He still had the same personality, the same thirst for challenges, even if he had matured in many ways, he was still a boy at heart and he was content with that. Yet during Misty's time apart from Ash, the haze of the dream had lifted slightly and she spoke of the future, of growing up and of things that teenagers often dream of doing when they become adults. Such hopes, such dreams, such challenges seemed unappealing at best for a the most part in the past, yet Misty spoke of growing up as an adventure.

Misty was filled with impatience, it seemed, as if adulthood couldn't come soon enough, yet Ash, had wanted to be a boy forever. He contradicted her, they argued and in the end, as they always did, they reconciled, and traveled together for a while. Then finally he let it go, his aura released the grip it had on Ho-oh and the frozen flow of time picked up again. The haze of the dream lifted and once again, Ash continued to age. Yet no one knew, no one was aware of the fact that a little over a month away from eleven, for ten years, he had been ten years old. He moved on with his life because of the curiosity Misty awoke in him, and yet to him, it seemed normal, like he had grown out of wishing to be an eternal child as soon as anyone else, those years, were forever sheltered in a dream-like haze that no one questioned.

The flow of time is a peculiar thing, the timelines are attracted to each other, seeking to merge. "Destiny is not a prewritten path, destiny is the influence of our other selves trying to reconcile their choices with our own." Master Aaron had once said. The timelines would try to merge, and when the differences between them were sufficiently blurred, they would. The acceptance of those years as normal was a part of it, the lack of awareness of the irregularities in time was ignored because everything else was as it should and in another timeline, those extra ten years didn't exist, so why should they be questioned? The merge blurred them away, yet they existed and only the aura of the chosen one could fuel such a powerful wish, with Ho-oh serving as the medium.

The question still stood, what did all that have to do with Legend? The ten years were extraordinary, but to the current situation, almost inconsequential. Another vision entered Ashimi's mind and she cringed at some parts of it but managed to remained focused enough not to lose the vision. Not everything that Giovanni had done in the past was noble, but there was a certain fire to it, a determination, an ambition, if he had been able to use the aura... Then the answer hit her. Ash's power was used to fuel the wish granted by Ho-oh, he could only project it on occasion in small portions after that because it had been drained. After that, he eventually recovered and was now able to use the power he possessed long ago without knowing it.

People's auras stirred during those years, some grew, other's diminished, but the changes were not much for people whose lives were not eventful, Giovanni's aura grew greatly. His seal was so tightly closed that he couldn't let it out, yet it was too much, a storm had started that increased the magnitude of the aura he was unable to release, the peculiarity of the timeline putting the weight of so many events into such a supposedly small period of time, though time was perceived normally for him in the moment, amplified the effect and began a chain reaction. It was a concentration of energy that serve to recharge Ash's drained power, to make most people's aura merely spin in circles with little changes, and to make Giovanni's aura more concentrated and volatile. Years later the effect culminated, long after the effects of the wish were gone. Ash was a grown man with a child of his own at that time, yet Giovanni's energy could no longer continue to accumulate and it almost killed him with the pressure. Ashimi didn't know of it, but Ash recalled it as the time when Giovanni retired from taking on both humans and pokemon in the ring, his tremendous power also explained by the aura contained within him.

The doctors linked the incident, akin to cardiac arrest, yet nothing like it, to high blood pressure, which was believable enough, but not at all the cause. What happened was the seal of his aura being broken with such force, that the burst of energy itself, fused the pieces together, expelling the excess energy and sealing up the aura once again. He recovered after a short coma of less than a day and lived on as if it was nothing. Ash had been in a far away region at the time and though he was aware of the aura enough to get an odd feeling of alarm, he was too far away to understand what it really was, and in the end believed the doctors, after all, the seal had been repaired and felt about the same. Yet Giovanni had no physical ailment, it was something that could not be understood by looking at the body's symptoms, because it was something of the aura. None the less, at Delia's insistence, he slowed his pace in life if only a little.

The process was not as simple as excess energy flowing out after the ten years accelerated it to grow too quickly as the many events and ambitions were crammed into a tiny space in the merging timelines. Something left along with it, a shard of Giovanni's own self, not a shard of his persona, but a portion of one of the concepts that formed it: ambition. Not all of it escaped, he certainly had enough ambition to solidify his hold on the world, yet he was more patient, less rash, able to wait instead of impatiently bringing out the heavy artillery immediately. Archer once said he never thought Giovanni would grow out of that almost boyish stubbornness he possessed to have his way immediately, he didn't, it had left him, yet he was truly strong to continue as if he had lost nothing.

Ashimi opened her eyes with understanding reflected in them. Ash's energy disconnected from their communication link after the vision was over and he returned to continuing his effort with Mew, focusing on that. This thing, this Legend, it called itself that because at its core it was formed from Giovanni's wish to be a legend. It was a concept though, it was not Giovanni and it was not any of the entities it had possessed. It was ambition and if she took away all that evil energy surrounding it, it would be that, neutral and pure.

She wondered what Team Rocket would be like without Legend to cleanse it in a way. She wondered what it would become without it. She wondered if Giovanni would have been more aggressive in his take over if this hadn't happened, though she knew the answer to that one was probably a yes. He might not approve of her plans, he might decide that having an heir that kept Team Rocket unified and in charge wasn't enough after all. He might disapprove of her ideals and think of her as too weak to make such ridiculous ideas work. Had his approval of her been only because he was missing this shard to further fuel his already intense fire?

Seizing on the sudden rush of questions and concerns that plagued her mind, Legend intensified the attack on Ashimi. She snapped to attention, realizing that the dark orb had been smashing into her shield with strong smoky tentacles. Her pokemon looked tired, Legend was a tremendous force and they were giving all they had to protect her while she searched for the answer. As a being of pure energy, knowing what it was would be vital to influencing it, now Ashimi had the answer, but her shield shattered and a shockwave tossed her pokemon aside as they tried to withstand the effects. The dark smoky tendrils wrapped around Ashimi, Legend's influence trying to make its way into her aura.

Legend understood, it focused on her doubt, her insecurity, it could force its way past the seal she made of her own energy, that was it's only true weakness. Master Aaron had assured her that regardless of what kind of seal she had, doubt was everyone's weakness, so this condition made her no different, it didn't make her weaker, but as she was invaded by a terrible pain, she found it hard to concentrate. Master Aaron had pushed her to the limit during training, yet his well meaning presence was always such a comfort even in the greatest challenges, now she was surrounded by a force so evil that no training could even emulate it.

Ashimi struggled to regain her focus, realizing that her pokemon had not broken the link with her and their energy flowed wildly, almost desperately into her as they tried to free her. They would exhaust themselves and be exposed to the danger of the atmosphere around Legend if they kept that up. The wall behind her fell apart, but it was not opening up into a tunnel summoned by Legend's will, it was torn down. Zero, Jonathan, Volt and Dorme rushed in, Zero was the most prepared having witnessed Ashimi's training, but it was clear the atmosphere was not good for any of them.

Sabrina had been tossed aside with Gengar doing what he could to protect her. They weakly watched the event unfold, unable to move, Ashimi knew she couldn't take much more of this and though her methods were harsh and not something Ashimi agreed with, she didn't hate Sabrina, who had in the end, tried to take responsibility for her actions. Her friends were calling her name, she had to go to battle so quickly, this wasn't the reunion she pictured. She had to protect them, she had to shield them from Legend, she refused to let them be hurt. Her aura flared with great determination, her energy making her friends and pokemon glow as her protection enveloped them. Her pokemon's wish to keep her safe and their deep bond made them take on their mega forms as they gave her their power.

The concept of ambition had driven humans and pokemon alike since the beginning of time. Facing off against it was no easy task, yet it was only that, a concept without a drive of its own. Ashimi felt herself becoming stronger with her own determination, she would reach her goal and nothing would stop her, she would protect those dearest to her and if they were there, she could figure out the rest. 'I know what you are, Legend. You wish to destroy because you cling to the echoes of will that reside in the energy that circles your neutral core. Without that direction, you are nothing, yet you have no will, you are but a concept, unfit to even be referred to as an entity. Release that evil energy, let it fade away and be purified and I will offer you a will, not an echo, but a true will. Come to me shard of ambition and I will be your new master!'

Ashimi reached out into the endless darkness that was Legend and finally grasped the light in its core. The evil energy broke apart from the cycle around the core and dispersed wildly, flying in every direction. A light of purity shone from above, as Mew's innocent and playful good will was empowered by Ash's aura and amplified to diminish the energy being released from the mountain, lessening its possible negative effects. The cave fell silent and all was stillness. The glow faded with the danger passed and Ashimi felt her senses fade, as the shard of ambition settled into its new home.

To be Continued

The scene with Jonathan and the copy was inspired by Persona 4 Golden. I've used the multiple timelines that seek to merge theme before in Don't Give Me Diamonds, though it is a minor theme used to describe a "what if" as links to the background of a supporting character who appears in later chapters. I also used it in the background of Loyalty, which is one such alternate timeline. I hope the concept wasn't too confusing, feel free to ask if you need clarification. I also realize I went all Puella Magi with Giovanni and his karmic destiny (though I just called it the flow of aura so as to not complicate things more), as well as with the whole 'concept' thing, just ignore this part of the notes if you're not familiar with Puella Magi.

Awakening

Epilogue: Ambition

Ashimi's Perspective

That day, when I woke up again I finally got the reunion I wanted. Everyone was there and the room was filled with joy. Dorme fussed a bit about how my hairstyle got messy, though I had no time to consider my hair when I left, I hardly had time to get out of that pretty but impractical kimono and into a much more easy to move in Team Rocket uniform. Everyone told me stories and asked to hear mine and whenever I said something I noticed that Johnny smiled as if reassured of something upon hearing me. I wonder if he thought I would be different, he seems glad I'm not all that different though. There are things I now know, things I understand, but I'm still the same person in the end. I spent time with my friends and family, caught up and rested.

My little brother, Aaron, loves creepy pasta stories, though I'm not sure mom would be too happy that I'm sharing them with such a young child. I learned a lot of stories from Master Aaron, he would tell them to me as rewards in my training. He didn't call them creepy pasta of course, as the concept was unknown to him until I explained it, but his so called Clefairy tales certainly fit the description. Clefairy tales were oddly dark and tragic in the past.

Mew was left weak, but will recover. Sabrina has gone off somewhere, I'm not sure how she managed to slip away, but she did. I feel that she is alright and she'll probably lay low and recover for some time. I have no intentions of going after her and wish for our next real meeting, because I know someday we'll meet again, to be peaceful. Team Rocket is recovering too in a sense and people are a little more reluctant to ask for help, wondering what they were thinking before. Yet their positive experiences are still there to influence them, even if the cloud of grudges was in part restored, Mew couldn't purify it all. It's okay though, this is more truthful, it makes more sense, it's how it should be and I'm not going to take any shortcuts in making Team Rocket a prosperous kingdom.

I heard that Lance has become the new leader of the dragon clan. Though he claims it's not like that, that he's only the leader of the council, people are calling him the dragon king. Arrow and Daala were arrested by Team Rocket for a while, but soon after handed over to Lance. He was basically told they were his problem and he would have to respond for their actions, but I don't think they'll cause him any trouble.

Janebelle's memories are not coming back. I examined her aura and found that they were not deeply buried but somehow stolen away along with her psychic powers. Legend probably took that at the same time she was released from the mind control. She has no powers now and no past she can remember, but maybe it's best that way. Jessiebelle was overjoyed to have her back and I think that this time she will be a good mother to her. I sent Butch and Cassidy's son to visit her from time to time. Try as I may I can never truly remember his name, but I'm somehow inclined to always guess, inexplicably sure that I'll get it right next time. Jessiebelle behaved well for the most part, save for the fact that she eventually caused a commotion trying to arrange a wedding for Janebelle and Johnny. Ironically, Janebelle flat out refused to marry a stranger, as she did not remember Johnny, and claimed to be in love with... What is that guy's name?

I've been traveling around, taking it easy, Johnny and Zero are traveling with me again and Honedge decided to come along too, though he pretends he's a regular sword sometimes and lets Johnny carry him so he doesn't attract too much attention. Volt joins us whenever he gets a break from the gym and we run into Dorme pretty often. I might try out the Indigo League again... Dad said it might not be a challenge as things stand now, but that it would be fun. I've been more involved in Team Rocket too, I think grandpa's relieved that people's attitude towards it makes sense now that Legend is gone, even if it means that keeping things under control might be more challenging at times. That'll be my job when I'm eighteen, but there's still some time left to prepare and I know grandpa will likely keep an eye on things after he retires, likely for the rest of his life, I'm kind of grateful for that, actually. We'll see how it goes.

That day... After things calmed down and I had a moment alone with grandpa, I told him about the shard of ambition. It had not melted into my aura yet, so I offered to return it to him. He looked thoughtful, as if picturing what he might be inclined to do if he had it. Then he told me to keep it as a gift. Sabrina contacted me by telepathy, she had been keeping an eye on things it seems, and somehow sensed that I had not returned the ambition shard. Only an exceptional psychic could have such a keen sense for matters of the aura, she's certainly one of the kind. She didn't expect an answer though, and broke the communication link before I could reply. I guess she simply wanted me to ask myself the question.

That shard was a precious treasure from my grandfather, I couldn't destroy it. It wasn't a matter of an easy way out of the battle. This sort of mutually beneficial agreement was my only possible course of action that I wouldn't regret, I think. Ambition in itself is not bad, and let's face it, if I am to fulfill my plans, I'll need plenty. I think Sabrina was warning me, telling me not to change, so I went to talk to Johnny about it. We're always around each other, just like before. I think he finds my presence particularly calming somehow, though I don't really understand why, since I'm not one to dwell in inactivity, but he's always been pleasant to have around. I told him to tell me if I was changing, though I suppose it might not be so obvious if he's around me all the time and subtly changes along with me...

To be Continued

As Dorme said, Jonathan will likely not even realize how he feels for a long time and Ashimi is, like her father, perceptive in everything except romance. Dorme's 'prediction' was actually a hint at the when. I'm purposefully leaving the ending open. Ashimi could have achieved her ideals, or she could have turned out similar to Giovanni. All that was established is that Team Rocket does rule in the future, but the specifics of how were left up to interpretation.

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