Disclaimer: No ownership of Dragon Ball Z or Pokémon

Summary: A cave finds Ash and Georgia where a village on the other side is under siege by rogues.

Ki-Less Protectors

Chapter 1: Bustering Anguish

A mountainside overlooking a sea of trees. The rising sun to indicate the new day. On a trail was a raven-haired boy wearing a red baseball cap with a white front that contained a blue double-circle emblem which the outer circle was split in half. He also wore a blue and white spring jacket and jeans. On his shoulder was a rather large yellow mouse with a tail in the zigzag shape of a lightning bolt. They peacefully strolled down the path, not a care at what may lurk around the corner as the mouse looked back from wince they came. "I told you that I left a note," he reminded. "Iris and Cilan can wait for us."

("But still, Ash...") the mouse squeaked in some fear. Instead of answering, the boy moved on up the dirt path with a scaling degree upward.

"Looking at this, I wanna see the view from up there." No hesitation, the boy climbed the angled slope. He reached the top within two minutes and stepped to the edge where he viewed the scenery. He and his mouse awed the breathtaking sight in front of them.

("Amazing!") The squeak from the mouse told the boy how it felt.

"Right? My reaction, too." The two wouldn't be alone for long.

"I actually prefer you away from Dragon Girl!" a young woman scorned. Hearing the voice, they turned to a dark pink-haired girl wearing a puffy yellow hat. She wore a green vest over a turquoise shirt and skirt, while wearing green boots over turquoise knee socks.

"Georgia, what are you doing here?" Georgia strutted up to Ash but focused her attention to the mouse.

"Your looking a lot better since the incident at Ferroseed Research." The mouse cooed from the soft stroking. "Anyway, I'm up here training for any new Dragon-Type Pokémon." The boy understood Georgia's reason.

"I could say the same thing. After all, I'm heading to my next Gym." Georgia seemed content with the boy's motivation.

"Still aiming to get to the top, aren't you, Ash? The other reason is that I found a cave… though it may be a tunnel. I thought about going in but if I told anyone about what could be in there, no one would believe me, especially Iris!" The briefing of the discovery sounded interesting to Ash, and he quickly picked up Georgia's intention.

"Hold on… you want a witness to prove this tunnel's here?"

"Bingo! And since hearing from Bianca about some of your exploits, I figured you could help me out with this." The mouse squeaked in caution about Georgia's findings.

"It does sound like something Pikachu and I want to see. Why not? We have time before breakfast is done." The sound of food gave Georgia a sigh of relief.

"At least some real food. I've been on these protein bars and water when I don't reach town by sunset. It's kinda funny that my Pokémon have better food than I do and I can't help that cooking isn't part of my forte." Ash shrugged his shoulders in the same sense.

"Yeah, neither can I." Not wanting to stall any longer, Georgia began her walk back.

"The tunnel's this way." Ash followed Georgia down the back path where she originally came from. In a few minutes, they reached the entrance of a cavern. Ash looked inside, seeing nothing but the bedrock and limestone within. He sensed doubt at first sight.

"Are you sure it's a tunnel?" Georgia realized he began to doubt her word.

"Don't pull an Iris on me! I'm positive this is a tunnel."

"Okay, but you're with me. After all, you need two to prove a case." Georgia sighed at the incorrect wording.

"I don't think that's how you say it but I probably have no choice." With Georgia behind him, Ash led the walk through the darkening tunnel which wasn't big enough for a normal walk. Pikachu couldn't stay on Ash's shoulder and walked alongside. The humans crouched to avoid banging their head on the ceiling. The tunnel's length was about a mile long. Nearing the end of the long tunnel walk, light could be seen and Pikachu raced for it. They reached the end of the tunnel and discovered plenty of the same from back where they entered. Ash and Georgia's moods were of disappointment. "This is a lame letdown."

"Tell me about it." Pikachu heard water rushing and ran off to the sound. Both kids saw the mouse running off. "Pikachu, where are you going?" Chasing the lightning tail mouse, the kids found a river flowing at an incredibly rapid pace. Its dirt brown color made the water look unsanitary. "That's some current. Not even a Gyarados could handle the speed."

"For sure. You drink it!" Ash snapped his head back at Georgia to deny the dare.

"As if!" Suddenly, there was a splash upstream. The three looked toward the sound of the splash, finding a young brunette girl in trouble. Barely keeping her head above water, she began losing strength and had no control of her flow.

"Help me!" she cried out. Ash and Georgia needed to act and save the girl.

"Talk about good timing!" she gulped at the scene about to play out as she snagged a red/white ball. "Beartic, I need your help!" She tossed the ball and released a polar bear with icicles as a beard.

"Good idea!" thought Ash as he grabbed one ball of his own. "Snivy, I choose you!" His ball opened and out came a small green snake with tiny arms and legs. The group had to work fast to save the girl.

"Beartic, Icicle Crash into the stream!" The polar bear breathed out huge icicles and fired them in the river as the girl started submerging. The icicles pierced the river's speed, enough space to keep it flowing. The girl smacked on the protruding icicles and stopped as the pressure of the raging flow chipped away at the icicles. Ash had to act or the icicles would break and the girl would be lost.

"Snivy, use Vine Whip to lasso her in!" The tiny snake grew vines from its neck and flung them out to the girl, wrapping one around her waist and one on her arm. "Hang on!" Ash, Georgia and Beartic pulled the girl against the raging river's immense flow. The icicles finally collapsed, breaking apart and falling in the raging river. The girl was now near shore and Georgia rushed to pull her to dry land. The girl reached with her only available arm and grabbed Georgia's hand who pulled her up from the drink. Georgia knelt to the exhausted brunette girl, wearing pink overalls above a white t-shirt who collapsed on her.

"Relax! It's all over." Ash turned to the Pokémon.

"That was great work, you two." Snivy sighed with a smile across the beak while Beartic grunted with a nod and its arms folded in front. His next focus aimed at the girl they fished out. "How is she?"

"A little shaken but otherwise okay." The girl soon gazed at the boy who helped her.

"Hey, how are you doing?" The girl offered a slow nod.

"Did you come to save the town?" she asked. Ash and Georgia blinked at the request.

"What's wrong with your town?" she wondered. Snivy and Pikachu came over to get information on this problem.

"You mean you don't know?" Snivy spoke but its talk left the girl confused beyond help.

"We've been here for only a few minutes," Ash clarified. "So we don't really know what's going on here." Dumbfounded, the girl showed the look of hopelessness.

"I-I see… Well, thank you for rescuing me." On that praise, she scampered away at a fixed direction. This left Ash befuddled to why she ran off.

"What was that all about?" Not even Georgia had a guess to her sudden departure. That's when Pikachu's ears perked up again, its head turning the other way. Ash saw the head-jerk once more. "Now what?" Out of the wood was a wild-haired blond young man in a white Chinese long-sleeve shirt and black slacks. His green eyes spotted the unusual creatures.

"What's going on here?" he spoke up. Everyone now turned to see the young man. Georgia's eyes glared sheepishly to the boy slightly taller than her. "And what's up with these animals?" Ash stood up to clear any confusion.

"We came here through a tunnel nearby and saved a girl from being swept by the current." The blond looked perplexed. By their command, these "animals" helped pulled that girl from the brown wash. The blond knelt to Snivy, hoping his suspicion wasn't absurd.

"You guys saved someone?" Snivy bobbed its head with a smirk. The blond awed the effort this little critter gave to aid someone in need. He rewarded Snivy with a soft petting. "That must take a lot of training to become rescuing animals, huh?" Ash giggled to the compliment while Georgia remained silent.

"Well, we are trainers. I'm Ash, and that's Snivy." Georgia shrugged to Ash introducing himself and came to Ash's side.

"And I'm Georgia," she named herself. "We're Pokémon Trainers, though rescuing people is second nature to our real purposes." The blond blinked at the names Ash and Georgia spoke.

"Pokémon?" he repeated. Snivy squeaked to portray itself as one. "I'd like to know more on our way after that girl. Something doesn't add up, though I believe it's related to the Cell Games coming up." Information compiled from the blond's mentioning.

"The Cell Games?" The blond nodded.

"We have a lot to talk about. I'm Gohan. I was out on errands for my father and our friends." Ash and Georgia could use someone to guide them around. Ash faced the direction where the girl ran off.

"Anyway, she went this way," he reported.

"Then let's get going." Georgia turned to Beartic with her ball in hand.

"Not what I had in mind but you were helpful nevertheless," she praised as Beartic transformed to a ball of red light as it zipped back to its ball. One inside, Georgia trailed Ash and Gohan after the girl. Meanwhile back beyond the tunnel, a tanned violet-haired girl began to stir to the rising sun. She sat up, her eyes rubbed.

"Is breakfast ready?" she groaned. Also getting up was a tiny green dinosaur with tusks growing out of each side of its mouth. It also had a head fin.

"Just about, Iris," answered someone else. The violet-haired girl turned to a young green-haired man wearing a black waiter's uniform with a green bow-tie. Iris started crawling out of her sleeping bag, revealing a beige long-sleeve shirt with a pink collar and sweat pants. As she stood up, she found a paper under Ash's bag.

"What's this?" The paper had a note written.

IRIS & CILAN,

PIKACHU AND I STEPPED OUT FOR A LITTLE WALK. WE'LL BE BACK BY BREAKFAST TIME.

ASH KETCHUM.

Iris seemed perplexed with the note for them. From all she knew, he was merely visiting a friend. "Did Bianca stop by?" she guessed. Already, she developed an image in her head featuring a blond girl in an orange vest over a white shirt and faded yellow skirt over orange knee-socks knocking Ash into a pond. She vehemently apologized while Ash took most of his clothes off to dry. Seeing the near naked trainer made the blond fond over him to hugging and kissing his lips. Quickly, she stopped her train of thought before it had gone too far with her head shaking wildly. "That's a bit far for the imagination." The green-haired wasn't bothered by Ash stepping away… if only for the moment.

"Well, as soon as I apply the finishing touches to this breakfast treat, he and Pikachu will dash right back here," he acknowledged. "Maybe soon. I'm almost done." Unbeknown to these two, Ash would not be around for breakfast. Instead, he and Georgia have a tall task ahead of them.

TO BE CONTINUED...