Italics bold = PokeSpeech

Italics = AuraSpeech

Hello to the few people who are still following me! I managed to fit in some time between exam studying to write this, and I hope you enjoy it. I'm going to be trying to write more often, but I just don't have the same enthusiasm I did when I first started writing here. Anyways, I'll answer some reviews and you can go on to the chapter! (Or you can just skip it all and start...)

Actually from now on I'll be answering ALL reviews by direct reply to email/fanfiction thingy, except the ones with questions, which I'll also put up in the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who sent in a review before now, I won't directly reply to those but any posted from this chapter onwards WILL get a reply. Thanks!

Disclaimer: Definite, "Fanfiction"

One week later

The two weapons made a dull thud as they collided together, the dull sound due to the fact that they were both made of wood and blunted as not to cause any real damage to their opponents.

Both wooden swords struggled together, each pushing against the other in a seemingly endless struggle, neither of them willing to give.

But as quickly as it had begun, the two weapons broke away, their owners breaking away from the fruitless struggle they had been entwined in.

The clash was made by two boys standing in the Fort training yard, and had been carefully circling each other a moment before, both with a wooden training sword held out.

One boy definitely looked older, and had spiky brown hair and green eyes. The look on his face was definitely arrogant, and it was debateable whether or not it was his usual face. For anyone who knew him well though, it was definitely his usual face.

He wore a simple black shirt with a purple vest on top, and wore similarly simple blue pants. Right now, however, he wore a thin layer of chainmail instead of his vest, and had another layer below his pants.

The second boy looked shorter and younger than the first, but what he lacked in size, he made up for in enthusiasm and cheerfulness. He had hair similar to the first boy's, except it was black, and he had brown eyes.

His face seemed cheerful and happy, and looked ready to cheer anyone up in tough times. He did seem a bit immature however, but that was inevitable.

His clothes were also similar to the older boy's; a black shirt with a vest, except the vest was blue instead of black. He also wore chainmail, albeit less. Whereas the older boy had it going down his arms and all over his legs, the younger boy's chain was more of a vest on top, and was split in the middle for more flexibility for the legs.

The elder boy seemed more experienced, and the moment the two of them broke off from the clash, he sensed a drop in his opponent's guard, and started a relentless barrage of offensive prowess, unwilling to give way to the other, smaller boy, who was now barely able to parry and dodge all the swipes in time, let alone get in a counterattack of his own.

The older boys strikes were fluid and flowed smoothly from the first attack into the second, into the third and so on; the result of rigorous years of constant exhausting training.

He slashed forwards; and the other boy quickly brought his own sword up to parry the strike.

He swept his sword in an arc, and the other boy stepped to the side, and the attack went wide, but he had no time to launch a counterattack as...

The older boy used the failed momentum from the previous strike, quickly changing the direction of the strike and slashing at the unprotected side of the younger boy…

Who barely brought up his own sword to stop it, tired as he was.

The younger boy wasn't just finished, however, and in a quick sweep he used his speed and agility to launch his legs into a sweep, knocking the older boy off his feet. He lunged forwards at his opponent, his sword appearing pointed at his opponent's throat a moment later.

"Admit it Gary, I defeated you this time!" The younger boy said, grinning madly as he did, happy about his victory over his rival.

"Sorry Ash… But here's one lesson you seem to have forgotten…" Gary's eyes pulsed blue for a moment, emitting a wave of Aura energy, which crashed into Ash, disorientating him and sending him stumbling, "It's that you should NEVER let your guard down."

Gary then kicked Ash in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground. Gary brought his sword downwards in an arc towards Ash's head, and it was only a moment away from colliding into his head with enough strength to decapitate him (If the sword wasn't wooden, at least).

The sword stopped only inches from his face, and Gary lightly tapped Ash on the forehead, grinning over his victory as he did.

"I win again, Ashy boy." He said simply, grinning as he helped Ash up from the ground.

"I would've won if I had two swords…" Ash grumbled in reply. After brushing the dust off himself, he gave a sharp, loud whistle.

Quite a few meters away, the ears of a certain yellow rodent perked up, and the Pokémon stood up, listening carefully to the foreign sound, before recognizing it and jumping off the branch it had been resting on, a berry in its mouth.

Ash turned around, as a figure burst out from the bushes, berry juice covering its mouth.

"Hey buddy, you ready for tomorrow?" He inquired, apparently talking to the Pikachu that had just answered his call. Pikachu, his partner, his best friend and practically his family; the only family he had left.

"Yup! I'm all psyched up for our first adventure! I can't wait! It's going to be fun and exciting and way more fun and exciting than the training we do every day!" The Pikachu said, with an enthusiastic and cheerful tone similar to its partner's. Although humans couldn't naturally understand PokeSpeech (It sounded like the Pokémon was just saying its name over and over again), Ash and Pikachu had been together long enough for them to know what each other was saying, and even if that failed, they could still communicate through sending Aura 'messages' through their linked Aura.

The 'messages' weren't exactly messages, they were closer to transmissions, but with the heart. Sending an Aura message was basically sending someone a bunch of emotions, and only people or Pokémon with an Aura linked to yours could decipher them into an actual message.

Back on topic however, the group of four (Ash, Pikachu, Gary and Blastoise) had been preparing to go on a mission (Newly knighted members were usually sent on a mission straight away to give them a taste of what was to come) for the last few days, and tomorrow was finally the day they were going to go.

Naturally all four of them were excited, although each of them showed in in their own way. Pikachu and Ash were excited and enthusiastic about it, while Gary and Blastoise were excited in their own, arrogant, stuck-up way.

A couple days later

Ash and Gary, along with Pikachu and Blastoise crept along the dusty dirt road ("Creeping" being a relative term in Blastoise's case). They had been assigned to investigate the Dark Aura sightings around a town that was rather out of the way.

The two boys found it reassuring that the Council was actually caring about towns that had absolutely no defences about all, unlike their town, which the Council had ignored, even though there were reports of Dark Aura moving about in the area.

Their progress was painstakingly slow, as they were tracking a set of footprints that had residue of Dark Aura, and if there were any left in the area, they didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention.

Ash had two sheaths on his belt, both with razor sharp swords in them. They weren't longswords, as they were slightly curved, but not curved enough to be a Katana or Scimitar, they were swords that had been custom smithed by the smithy at Fort Aurelia, especially for Ash.

Gary had a longer, sturdier sword in a sheath on his back, along with a medium-sized shield on top of it.

The two of them had been tracking the prints for hours, in the cold, not even stopping to take a rest as energy-sapping rain poured down upon them. They had to hurry, before the rain completely washed away the residue Dark Aura energy, which was the only thing they could follow now.

A sudden scream pierced the near silence; a scream that sounded distinctively feminine. The two Guardians looked up quickly in the direction of the sound, and sprinted towards it.

A concentration of Dark Aura Energy could be sensed in the same direction as the scream, but the two boys ploughed onwards, ignorant of the possible danger as they burst into the clearing, where a battered and bruised girl was lying unconscious on the ground. Ash was the first to act, and while Gary stood there trying to work out what was wrong with this situation, he ran forwards and felt the girls pulse.

"She's alive! We have to get her out of here!"

Gary knew that something was definitely wrong here; an injured girl lying in the middle of an open clearing was very obviously bait, and the fact that they had sensed Dark Aura in a place where Dark Aura had been sighted practically screamed, "AMBUSH", but Gary's mind was drained and tired from the cold.

By the time he realised what was wrong, they were completely surrounded and utterly outnumbered by Dark Aura, and approaching them slowly, was a Dark One.

The Dark one looked just like a regular human, but there was something just… inhuman about it. It just oozed evil and cruelty, and would easily pass off as an abomination if not for its human form.

It was dressed in long, flowing black robes that blended in with the forest and darkness, and wore a hood over its head, completely masking its face. Gary couldn't tell whether the figure was a male or female, and Ash was too occupied studying the girl on the ground to notice that they had been surrounded.

"Erm, Ash. You might want to see this." Gary whispered, tapping Ash on the shoulder.

Ash turned around, and his eyes instantly widened. There had to be at least a hundred, if not more Dark Aura surrounding them; far too many for rookies like them to handle.

Ash and Gary carefully moved, and stood back to back, with Pikachu and Blastoise flanking them respectively. The Dark One wasn't making a sound as it continued to approach them, walking slowly as if it had all the time in the world.

"You are Guardians; I smell it in your blood, flowing through your veins…. But all that can change" The figure transmitted, but it was unlike any other Aura Message. It crept into Ash and Gary's minds, poisoning from within… The darkness slowly taking root…

Before it was wiped out by a flare of mental aura from the two boys.

"If you're here to try converting us to your cause, you might as well kill us here and now! There's no way we'll join you!"Ash sent through his Aura, anger flaring through the message. He spoke for Gary, Pikachu and Blastoise all at once, all three of them looking grimly at the scene of certain death that awaited them.

The figure shook its head slowly, before removing its hood, revealing a female face twisted by darkness.

It wasn't twisted in the, "Demented and turned into a disgusting pile of flesh" twisted, but more like darkness was infused in it, and the face looked pure evil.

But more than that; the face radiated power, great power.

Ash recognized the face immediately, and gasped in surprise. Gary realising a moment later, did the same.

"Yes… I thought the same as you two did before, but the power! The power is unimaginable… This is all worth it for the sheer power I have now…" The girl said (Well, transmitted through Aura).

"No… We all thought you died but this… This is far worse than death. It makes me wish we never knew… What happened to you… Misty?" Gary Aurapathed (The Aura version of Telepathing, A.K.A. transmitted via Aura)

The figure laughed, and this time spoke with her real voice, the voice sounded as terrible and foreboding as the emotions that had made up the Aurapath.

"The power… IS INCREDIBLE. If you won't join us… I'LL HAVE TO FORCE YOU! UNITS ADVANCE!" She shouted, laughing madly as she did.

"Ash, grab the girl and get out of here, I'll try to hold the Dark Aura back… Jump away through the trees." Gary whispered to Ash in an incredibly selfless and… suicidal act.

"No! I can't let you Gary! You'll die if I leave now, and I can't just leave you here to be killed and maybe even corrupted! You're the only one left from my hometown!" Ash whispered, but in a tone full of emotion, compared to Gary's grim tone, as if he was resigned to his fate.

"No Ash. At least one of us must get away here and tell the Council, and you have the best chance of it… GO! NOW!" The older boy said, shouting the last word in Ash's ear.

"I'll never forget you Gary… You'll be known as a hero…" Ash whispered, as he picked the unconscious girl up, and with a mighty show of strength, he jumped up into a tree. Well actually, the jump was augmented by a blast of Aura energy, but it was still impressive nonetheless.

Gary nodded and looked solemnly at the large force of Dark Aura in front of him. With a mighty war cry, he charged into the mass.

Ash had been running through the trees for hours now, and even he was utterly exhausted and spent. He only gave a second glance back at Gary, before running off into the distance, muttering a prayer, hoping that his last remaining survivor from his town beside him would at least be granted a peaceful death.

The rain finally stopped, and the clouds parted to reveal a beautiful blue sky, as the sun broke the barriers of darkness, washing it all away.

An even more beautiful rainbow appeared on the horizon, but to Ash it was simply mocking him. Gary had made a great sacrifice, and the world mocked him with a beautiful sight? He shoved the thought away for now though, as he turned to look at the still unconscious girl lying on a hastily constructed campsite, and he was greeted with another beautiful sight.

Now that Ash got a good look at her, Ash could see that the girl was indeed very beautiful (Well at least in his mind), even though she was covered in scratches, bruises and had a few deeper cuts.

Ash got to work on the wounds, applying salve and bandages where required.

After a few more hours, the girl finally started to wake, and as her eyes and mouth opened, she managed to croak out a single world.

"W-Water…"

Waking up from his short nap, Ash was surprised by the sound and pulled out his swords, thinking it was another ambush. Not too soon after though, he noticed that the girl had woken, and quickly ran to fetch some water from the nearby stream.

Returning, he slowly gave her some, and her eyes seemed to wake up more, and she seemed just a little less pale.

"What's your name?" Ash asked softly, trying to find out who this girl was and what her link to the Dark Aura was.

The girl was exhausted from just drinking, but managed to get out one last word before falling unconscious.

"May."

I'll try get the next chapter up whenever I can, and just as a note, I will be writing out Gary's final battle. It just doesn't do him justice to do otherwise. Also, I plan to keep chapters around this size on average (2.5k words). Like it? Hate it? Tell me, please.