Sorry for the delay! Stuff happened and all.

Anyway, as it is the promised chapter 5, I have created a poll asking whether or not you guys want the DP Pokemon movies to be a part of the story or to be separate stories with around 5-10 chapters dependent on Movie length and depth. You can find that on my profile page so yeah, do that if you want. Also, this chapter marks the day in which Ash's BOA team will be known. Apart from Chimchar, we have one slot to fill and it will be filled in this chapter, don't you worry.

Anyway, review answering time!

AlphaDD: Well, I kinda didn't know Ash's Staraptor in the anime was a dude until after I had written the chapter. I read this fic with Staraptor in it where she was a female but I guess not. Anyway, female Staravia, sorry about that. Aww, thank you, I'm glad you liked how I wrote the battle!

Batguy2000: I'm happy I delivered in the battle and come on, the badge pose is Ash through and through, it wouldn't be him without one in there after a tough Gym Battle! Froakie will get used to it, eventually. Paul will be showing up soon so we will get the reaction you may want to see oh, and for Froakie, it will be a traumatic memory of the past seeing Paul's style, trust me.

Marcellasnow231: Froakie's new to the whole Gym system, so he would be confused. I agree, I like the way you think and more Piplup VS Froakie will be along the way in sense of comedic affect.

AmuraRAwesome: Thank you for your kind words!

Amourshiper35: They do have a connection, don't they? Yeah, I think the Forest Badge was deserved after their battle.

twilight sparkle: Glad to make someone happy with the no shipping thing. The reason I put my Author's Note at the beginning is so that people won't skip it since many people would just read the story and leave without realising I've answered their review or put something urgent down like a poll deciding how the movies are going to run. It's just the way I have always done it and it would be hard to change my pattern. Thanks for reviewing!

Yami-chan and Unrealistic: And don't we know it? Ash is all about turning a type disadvantage into a advantage. It's his style and kinda iconic with his character so I had to, I just had to.

Infernal Fox: Looking at your story update list, I would be in the right to say hypocrite. Some of my other stories aren't being updated because I have lost motivation on them, as many authors on this site have done before me. Look, if you have nothing positive or negative to say about the story then please don't review. It wastes your time typing it and my time replying to it when you aren't even looking at the story but judging it based on MY motivation on updating a series I love writing for over lost motivation stories. Please don't do this again or I will block you and I don't want to do that... that or report you either.

NinjaFang 1331: Bond Phenomenon's theory of Aura relativity is by Nerdy McNerdface, I take no credit in making it, thank them for that, they have their own stories on this site. Anyway, thank you for your kind words.

Mateusz: Thank you, the DP series/Sinnoh Arc has always been my favourite and I actually liked Froakie and the whole Bond Phenomenon thing from XYZ so wanted to merge it together with additional Aura knowledge and lore building to make an AU. Hmm, well I am not using every episode in the arc for batum. I am changing and taking out episodes as I want to spruce things up a bit. Plus, as you can see below, I am writing my own chapters/episodes that are completely different than from what the arc gave us. Froakie won't be the only one with development. Brock and Dawn will be getting more, so will their Pokemon and so will Azelf, Mespirit and Uxie, plus Hunter J will be having more appearances than usual and the Keystone Pops Episode will end on quite the cliffhanger... but I have to keep some of my secrets. I hope you enjoy what I have in store for this Au. :)

With that over, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Surprising Encounters

Considering that every need the group had to stay in Eterna was gone, they left the Pokémon Center they were staying at to head on down to Hearthome City for Dawn's next contest. The said girl was blabbering her head off about plans for her performances whilst her male companions were walking behind her sharing a smile over her enthusiasm, something Ash could relate to with his Gym Battle. She felt, at that moment in time, that nothing could stop her in her path to Hearthome…

…Except for the fact the only way to get to Hearthome was a Cycling Road and the bicycle shop was closed for the weekend meaning the group were stuck in Eterna for two more days at least.

Sure, there was a long road underneath the Cycling Road that would lead to the same place as the bike only way, but it would take three days to traverse due to the fact it was filled with hostile wild Pokémon that would attack and huge rocks that blocked the way. Oh, and the lake that had a ferry that only arrived once a day at a set time due to a lack of people using the route, meaning it was easier to wait for the shop to open on Monday. That left two days for Dawn to get extra training in, or one day and the first spent looking through a cave for rare Pokémon.

At the start of the long walking path under the road was a cave entrance which was rumoured to have the pre-evolution of a pseudo legendary being found in its area as a 'hidden floor' for the cave. Of course, it would be awesome if one of the team caught a rare Pokémon but the trip was also for training as a trainer's worst enemy, Zubat, was known to swoop down on trainers who were searching for the rarer finds. The three would be happy to leave the cave without any bites about their persons, thank you very much.

"So, what does your guide say about the place?" Dawn asked the eldest trainer, turning her head to face him as he flipped through the pages of his book.

"Well the cave is known as Wayward Cave and we're entering through the supposed 'hidden entrance' as obscured by the Cycling Road," Brock replied, not looking up from the pages as he walked. "However, the Zubat encounter rate seems slightly low, with Geodude are more available, Bronzor's as well."

"What about that pre-evolution?" Ash asked, his hands behind his head with his elbows pointed out at the sides, minding Pikachu from on his shoulder.

"Hmm… they don't show up all that much but they seem to be more common than Zubat, making it easier for us then." He put the guidebook back into his backpack as Piplup cheered from Dawn's arms, causing the girl to frown in worry.

"Urgh… I really should be training for my contest but the sound of this rare Pokémon really sounds exciting," she began to ponder her options, wondering what would be the best thing for her to do when a hand placed itself gently on her shoulder.

"Dawn, you've been training non-stop for a few days now since I gave you Aipom," Ash gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure one day of not practising won't kill you, and your Pokémon can enjoy the rest before you put them back on track tomorrow."

Dawn looked down at her Piplup, who nodded back at her, which in turn made her grin at her friends happily. "Okay, one day of break won't kill me."

"Great," Brock pointed ahead to curling sloped back cut into the side of a cliff face. "We have to follow that path which leads to the cave entrance. It only takes around ten minutes to get down it so we don't have to worry about any breaks along the way…" He secretly shot a glance at Dawn, who still wasn't entirely used to travelling around a region. When Ash and Pikachu began sniggering behind their palms, Dawn glared between the males with furrowed eyebrows.

"What…" When she didn't get an answer, she huffed and stomped her foot with Piplup pouting in her arms. "What's so funny?!"

"Nothing," Ash snorted as he passed her, having given up on hiding his humoured outlook at Brock's action. "Nothing that's too important. Unlike Brock, I would rather I don't suffer the female fist of fury!" He dashed off down the path after that, with the others right behind him for various reasons. Brock wanted to strangle his friend of three years whilst Dawn wanted to punch Brock's head in. Needless to suffice, neither male wanted to be caught in the chase so ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

~0~o~0~

Thanks to the run down the path, it took only a mere five minutes to reach the cave's entrance. Of course, the trainers needed to take a breather before entering the cave but that was only because they had been running like idiots after each other. Once regaining the air they needed to have a civil conversation, the three trainers made a last-minute check before they entered the cave, which was surprisingly light considering it was underground.

"So, what do we need to do to get this Pokémon to come to us?" Dawn inquired, Piplup having had jumped out of her hands to walk on the ground beside Pikachu.

"Making noise is one of the best options since Pokémon are naturally curious," Brock told her, slowing his walking pace to a stop. "Our voices will probably get a few reactions, especially since we're humans."

"Maybe shouting will get them to come quicker!" Believing that her thought process had given her an amazing answer to their dilemma, she began to raise her voice. "Hey, rare Pokémon! We'd like to meet you so come out to say hi… please!" Piplup copied her actions from the floor, ignoring Pikachu's deadpan expression that was sent directly towards him.

"Dawn, it doesn't work like that…" Ash groaned, slapping his gloved hand against his face.

"No, just throw Ash into the bowls of the cave and shiny legendries will be lapping at your feet by this evening." Brock said jokingly, only to realise that he shouldn't have done that. Dawn's eyes sparkled as she invaded his personal space whilst Ash sent him a murderous glare with his mallet spinning around in between rests against his shoulder. Yeah, definitely shouldn't have said that.

"Really, you mean it?" The eleven-year-old smiled sweetly, imagining having a rare and powerful Pokémon perform alongside her in her contests. "No joke?!"

"Well…" He never got to finish his sentence as Dawn had already turned around and was pushing the other boy deeper into the cave with a face that said 'determination' across every feature.

"Come on then, why didn't you say this earlier?" She continued to push Ash, who was dragging his heels into the mud-covered floor and thus was making her job harder. "I wanna see this for myself."

Having had enough, Ash's hot-headed side decided to show itself to stop Dawn from doing anything else. "Would you stop doing that?! Brock's exaggerating, it's normally a few legendries a region and none of them have been shiny at all! Huh…" His over excessive yelling had attracted a trainer's worse nightmare when inside a cave, a horde of the dreaded Zubat. "Oh great, just what we needed."

Dramatically multiplying in numbers, the poison bats began using attacks randomly at the invading human force, most of them missing thanks to a Thunderbolt from Pikachu or a Bubble from Piplup. Attacks flew through the air, hitting the wall of the cave, causing rocks from it to wriggle and crack from their positions up high, threatening to fall. Considering the fact that the Zubat would be around for a while, the trainers made a mad dash for the exit with hopes of coming back later. Just as they were about to leave, a stray Supersonic hit the rocks over their heads, causing them to loosen just enough to begin falling down on the three. With screaming dives, the dust rose from the ground as rock after rock affectively blocked the only way into the lowest level of the Wayward Cave.

Brock groaned as he pushed himself up from his lying position on the floor. Sure, his body didn't like suddenly being flung onto a rocky, solid ground but it was better than being crushed. Getting onto his knees, he was able to crawl over to Dawn, who was in the same state as he was, bruises and all. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" She winced as she spoke, only to gasp when she realised her legs were squishing Piplup underneath them. "Sorry Piplup, I didn't know you were there!" Piplup pouted at the thought of being forgotten, at the very least by his own trainer too. He huffed and raged at her with fire burning eyes of anger, however his rant was only one sided with the understanding of what was being said. "I have no idea what you're saying Piplup but if any of it is rude then I'm restricting your poffin allowance." The grovelling that followed, however, was easily understandable.

"That's great, hey…" Brock trailed off as he realised that there were only two of them outside with the entrance blocked off by the fallen rocks.

"Please don't tell me…" Dawn's hands covered her mouth as her irises shrunk at the horror of the situation they could currently be stuck in. The eldest trainer acted first, rushing towards the wall blocking them from the cave. He instantly began looking for a gap between the rocks that could allow him to see what was going on inside. Peering though, he found it hard to restrain the worry of seeing two downed figures inside, not moving a muscle.

"Ash! Can you hear me?!" Brock yelled as loudly as he could, hoping the sound of his voice could get through the tiny gaps of the recently made block. "Say something, anything!" Of course, he gained no response, which brought his fears sky high. The falling rocks could have hit the two as they tried to escape the Zubat, meaning there was a battle for life and death beginning at that very moment.

"What do we do, Brock? What do we do?!" Dawn cried out, freaking out at the idea that her friend could be injured and trapped inside of a cave with no way of getting him out.

"We need to remain calm and… wait," he peered back into the hole, watching as a silhouette of some kind of Pokémon neared Ash and Pikachu's still forms. The darkened figure looked between the two of them, hand to an excessively large jaw as a sort of thinking posture, before it grabbed the two and began to drag them away from the entrance. "No! Let them go!"

"What's going on?" Dawn's brain was on overdrive, thinking up all sorts of horrible scenarios that could be happening right now.

"Something's dragging them deeper into the cave," Brock explained, gritting his teeth together as he did so. "Either it wants to help or they're going to end up as lunch, but either way, both Pikachu and Ash seem to be out cold so I'm worried about their safety, now more than ever." He knew that getting the rocks down was going to be the only way to get inside, as the basement level wasn't connected to the other two in any way, meaning it was just one big floor plan with one 'door' so to speak. "Dawn, I want you to do something very important for me, okay?"

"What is it?" She asked with a stern expression.

"I need you to head into Eterna City as fast as you can to get the Police force's Search and Rescue team out here. I'm the slower of the two of us, even without my backpack, and I'm going to try and get this rock wall down before they show up to make their job easier for them, Crogunk and Sudowoodo are perfect for this job…" Making sure that the girl had absorbed everything she had been told, he continued. "Do you understand me?"

"Roger!" Dawn mock saluted him, Piplup copying her from on the ground. "I'll leave Piplup here with you so you can use his water type moves to soften the rocks, it may help with taking it down or something… I dunno but…"

"Thank you," Brock interrupted her rambling with a kind smile. "I'll need Piplup's assistance. Just be careful, okay. It's bad enough one of us is hurt and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"No need to worry, I'll be fine!" She turned and started running, half turning to wave in a reassuring motion. "I'll be back with help before you know it!" As she disappeared from sight, Brock shared a sigh with her partner as he pulled out his two Pokémon's Poké Balls.

"That's when I worry the most…"

~0~o~0~

A dulling pain throbbed through his forehead as the memory of rocks raining down on them was the first thing he woke up to after the Zubat encounter. Ash couldn't help but groan in pain as he began to move, his head was pounding and he really just wanted to sleep with all honesty. Fighting the urge to close his eyes, he reached for his forehead, wincing at the sticky feeling that seemed to flow from the pain source. Now more awake, he realised he was in some kind of dug out, like a home made by a Pokémon to live in whilst in the caves. Looking to his side showed that Pikachu was out as well, but not hurt like he was – maybe hitting the ground hard knocked him into unconsciousness?

Slowly, considering the surroundings were still a bit blurry, Ash began to shake Pikachu's body with one hand to wake him up. Unlike normal, the electric type didn't shock his trainer for doing so, noticing the trail of blood from a cut near the fringe to the chin. Pikachu instantly began fussing over Ash, licking his cheek to – hopefully – make him feel better whilst at the same time he began to act defensively in case another Pokémon attacked them from out of nowhere.

The two froze as the patter of footsteps rose from the depths, over the dugout and towards their position. Pikachu's cheeks sparkled with barely restrained electricity as a figure slowly appeared over them, that figure being a blue little creature with a wide jaw, sharp teeth and a red underbelly. Seeing them awake, it cheered gleefully through the pile of berries it was carrying, more specifically being Oran and Sitrus berries. Using his Pokédex revealed to Ash that the Pokémon was a Gible, the pre-evolution of Garchomp, a pseudo legendary. The same pre-evolution that Brock was talking about.

The Gible jumped down into the dugout and handed over a couple of berries to her – her fin didn't have a cut out on it like a male Gible – guests. Instead of eating, the trainer decided to talk to the ground and dragon type. "So you brought us here?"

Gible nodded with a curt usage of her name as a sort of 'yes' response, taking a Sitrus berry for herself to eat. Pikachu, taking by her example, but into an Oran berry and cheered cutely as he stuck in like a glutton.

"The berries are to help us recover, you're trying to help us?"

Once again, Gible nodded as she picked up another Sitrus berry to give to Ash, handing it over herself personally as she made sure he ate something. Berries were one of the few Pokémon medicines that worked on humans as well, doing the exact same things as artificially made remedies could with a better taste and less sting from the spray. Realising that the Gible wasn't going to stop glaring at him until he ate the berry, Ash took a bite and smiled as the blurriness began to fade away almost immediately.

"Thanks Gible, I think we both needed that." Pikachu nodded in agreement, having stuffed quite a few berries for himself. Gible clapped in praise and smiled cheerily at her guest, glad to finally meet a trainer that wasn't kept away from the Zubat and the Bronzor. "Brock and Dawn must be so worried about us, we need to find them and make sure they're okay. Hey, Gible, could you lead us back to the entrance? They should be around there if they are still in the cave."

He noticed her frown as she slowly nodded and sighed, jumping back up the side of the dugout. Getting to his own two feet, Ash realised the structure wasn't too deep and was a simple step up for a human, not so much for a Pokémon like Gible. Pikachu climbed onto his shoulder, refusing to let go as he looked worriedly at the cut on his trainer's forehead. Sure, the berries may have helped Ash somewhat but it was still at risk from infection and he could have concussion as well, although the latter seemed unlikely by this point.

Gible led them through the maze of the cave she had dragged them through to safety, not happy about this situation one bit. This trainer was grateful for her help, and seemed to be pretty strong – only those with Eterna Gym badges were allowed past the city down the cycling road as the wild Pokémon became stronger the closer a trainer got to Hearthome – with the League as an ultimate goal. She had heard of trainers with the exact same ambition enter the cave before, only to leave if the Zubat pestered them too much or another Gible had been caught. She was never caught, she had never reached a trainer in time from her secluded corner of the cave, her hideaway from the other wild Pokémon.

She had a chance now, a chance to be caught and to be trained into a majestic Garchomp, a powerful beast that could defeat the strongest of foes. As of now, she had trained herself as much as she could have, but only a trainer could get her to the heights she wanted to reach. Maybe if this boy saw her training rock, then he might get the picture. Leading the two to her training point, she stopped and pointed at it with a short huff.

"So, I'm guessing you use this to make yourself stronger, huh?" She nodded at the human's words, scratching at it to make a point. The rock was covered in scratch marks and was burnt in multiple places from the flames of a Dragon Rage attack. It was painfully obvious that there wasn't much else that the Gible could do there to improve herself and possibly evolve under these conditions. She jumped as the human knelt beside her, smiling at her. "I never said thank you properly, Gible. We owe you one for helping us, I'll repay you no matter what." The Pikachu agreed, giving her an idea. She pointed to the boy's belt where multiple red and white spheres were clipped on. "Huh, oh a Poké Ball… wait, do you want to be captured?"

Gible jumped up and down with joy, bouncing as the boy finally understood what she wanted. He chuckled at her display. "I don't know if being caught really is the best way to repay someone for helping you, but I can see you aren't reaching your full potential here and want to get out… okay then," he pulled an empty Poké Ball from his pocket, enlarging it before holding it out towards her. "Look, I want to win the Sinnoh League and become a Pokémon Master someday. I can make you stronger, but you're going to have to put the effort in too. So, do you really want to join my team?" She placed her stubby hand on the button, being sucked in as the device shook three times and flashed to show a successful capture.

Almost immediately afterwards, Gible was released from the device, remembering that she still had to get her new trainer and partner out of the cave she had called a home for a long time. The boy knelt down beside her, grinning from ear to ear. "Gible, I'm Ash and this is my starter, Pikachu, and from now on, we're going to work together to win the Sinnoh League, okay?" She jumped up and hugged him, being careful of her jaw on his clothing. "Right, glad to have you on board but first thing's first… we need to get outta here."

~0~o~0~

Brock cursed under his breath as Piplup, Crogunk and Sudowoodo lay panting on the ground beside his feet. Despite their best efforts, all they had done was merge the rocks together with now solidified mud. He thought his plan would work but sadly, it didn't and that meant his best friend of three years was still trapped inside the cave. Plus some kind of Pokémon had dragged him and Pikachu off somewhere, which meant breaking the rock formation was the first step into saving them. As he sighed, a voice cried out from behind him, making him turn to see Dawn running towards him, followed by a group of people with fluorescent jackets on.

"No luck with the rocks?" She asked, looking at the mess it had become with a downtrodden expression until she noticed her partner on the floor. "Oh Piplup, you tried your hardest, I'm proud of you." Piplup puffed out his chest proudly before falling asleep in her arms as Brock returned his two Pokémon, whispering words of praise at their Poké Balls.

"So your friend is trapped inside there and presumed injured, right?" One of the people in the bright cyan jackets asked as the others prepared for getting the rock formation out the best way they knew how, by blowing it up, of course. "Have you heard a word from him since the incident?"

"No, a Pokémon dragged him and his Pikachu off deeper into the cave soon after it happened," Brock explained to the man in front of them. "I sent Dawn to get you whilst I tried to use my Pokémon and her Piplup to get the rocks out of the way without damaging the cave's walls."

"At least you did something to try and help, but blowing it up is the only way for us to get rid of it." The man said after hearing the teen's recount. "We always shout a warning first but normally, most Pokémon live deeper in the cave and not right at the front of it. Considering we aren't using that big of an explosive, the Pokémon may be shaken a bit but they'll be fine. As for your friend, I suggest staying put until we find him, the cave can be a labyrinth sometimes and…" The three turned as one of the other rescue team members, a female this time, yelled at her boss to come over after hearing a kid's voice from the other side of the fallen rocks.

"Hey, Ash! Can you hear us?!" Dawn got as close to the wall as she could and shouted out to him.

"Yeah, and I'm okay!" She sighed in relief as a muffled voice responded to her words, a highly familiar voice at that.

"Okay, listen up," The man called out, hoping the kid could hear him. "We're a part of the Eterna Search and Rescue division, we're here to get you out but to do that, we need to blast down these rocks. I need you to get a safe distance away from here and find cover. If there isn't any, curl up into a ball as tightly as you can as these rocks will fly due to the small quantity, got that?!"

"Clear!" Footsteps, muffled ones, dimmed away from the wall, giving the man the signal to go ahead. The explosives were placed and everything was ready.

"Stand back, the rocks could fall towards you!" The last non paramedic member of the team told Brock and Dawn before he pressed a button on a remote that caused a small explosion which made the rocks either crumble or fly backwards from the entrance. Most of them disappeared overhead, some landed around them but luckily there were no additional injuries. With the entrance to Wayward Cave now opened once again, this allowed Brock and Dawn to sneak past the rescue services and over to their friend who was sitting up with Pikachu and Gible looking up at him with worried expressions.

"Ash!" Brock frowned as he noticed the trail of blood running down the teenager's face, signalling he had some type of head injury. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just a cut," Ash turned his attention to the Pokémon in front of him. "You two alright?" Pikachu nodded calmly, knowing that his trainer was telling the truth whereas Gible jumped into his arms, looking over him for any more cuts and bruises.

"Is that a Gible?" Dawn crouched down, noting that the blue sand dragon seemed pretty comfortable around her friend and mentor.

"You're right about that, and she's a member of my team!" Brock shook his head and chuckled as Dawn lost her jaw to the ground once again, Ash was never one to catch his Pokémon conventionally.

"Do I even have to ask how?" He asked when the thirteen-year-old began to rub the back of his head nervously.

"Nah, not really. You should know the drill by now Brocko, but Gible's joining us from now on, okay?" Brock wasn't allowed to respond as a person shooed them away, resulting in more members crowding around Ash to make sure he didn't have concussion and patch his cut up. As they were left ignored, hanging back behind the adults, Brock and Dawn gave each other looks of amusement that had crossed their faces before. It was just another normal day if you travelled around the region with a certain trouble magnet, Ash Ketchum.

Team Change

Ash: Pikachu, Staravia, Turtwig, Froakie, Gible