Warning: This is not standard Pokemon fanfiction. It contains scenes of
violence and some inappropriate language.

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                           Pokemon Master 

Fanfiction by Ace Sanchez.

All parts of this story may be found at the following address:
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/acey/pokemon.htm

Note: Pokemon and its associated characters are copyright by Nintendo,
Game Freak, Creatures Inc, and 4Kids Productions.

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Part 4 - Rebellion


Shining down brilliantly, the full moon was bright through the cloudless 
night sky over the Rebel's campsite just east of the Pewter Settlement. 
The grassy plains were populated with over a dozen large green tents and 
in the spaces between them, the Rebel Trainers and villagers alike, 
walked, discussing the repairs to the small town or the battle that had
just taken place several hours ago. The sound of men and women working 
to rebuild parts of the town to the west was loud and the night's air 
was cool and clear, a distinct contrast to the screams, heat and smoke 
of the earlier battle.

Inside a tent to the far south-east of the camp, Misty was sitting down,
cross-legged, in conversation with Erika, whose side was being tended to
by a nurse.

Erika's green eyes were flashing at her friend. "You're crazy! What is
*Ashura* the Forbidden Master doing here?" She winced briefly as the
nurse, a young red-haired girl, continued stitching her side with a
needle and thread. "Why get involved with him again?"

Misty wore a stubborn look on her face, and  brushed her long red hair
off her shoulders with her hands. "He's helping us against the League.
Didn't you see how he drove off those Fire Trainers while we were busy
with Blaine and Rapidasher?"

"And that's what I'm puzzled about," Erika said with a frown on her face.
"Why should he help us? Him especially. Even though he's not exactly
chummy with the League any more, last time we saw him he was fighting
against us!"

Misty looked away and closed her blue eyes. "I've blood-bonded him."

Erika began to rise, shocked, but then winced again as the young nurse
held her firm then began to bandage her side. "You didn't," she said,
aghast.

Misty looked back at the horrified look on her friend's face. She nodded.

"How long has he got then?"

"Less than a week." Misty's face was serious.

"You're going to let him ..."

Her blue eyes watered and she slumped forward with her hands in her face,
her strong facade breaking down. "You know I can't do that."

Erika gentled her voice to calm her. "Funny. I thought you hated him.
Ever since that day. You do remember the only thing that will let you
stop the deterioration of his system don't you?"

Misty nodded again.

The young nurse finally finished bandaging Erika's side. The Grass Master
looked at her and smiled. "Thanks, Joy. Even though you haven't seen ten
summers yet, you are just as good as your mother was. You may go now."

The young girl smiled back. "Thank you, Mistress Erika. I do my best."
She looked at Misty. "Do you need anything Mistress Misty?"

Misty lifted her arms, lowering the blue sleeves of her cloak, and showed
that the cuts she received on them had already been tended to.

"By your leave then," Joy said. And with that, the young nurse stood up
and walked out of the tent, her medical bag clutched in one hand.

Erika looked back at her friend as she put her favourite red hair-band
back in her dark hair. Misty seemed to have recovered herself and now
sat, smiling sadly, as she looked through the open tent flaps at Joy's
back as she walked among the the other tents. "By the way, thanks
for saving my life."

Misty nodded absently as she played with a fold of her cloak. "Ditto."
Then her eyes narrowed as she turned her head slightly.

Erika followed her field of vision. It was Ash's tent.


<><><>


"So how have ya been Ashy-boy?" Duplica said as she leaned back against a
cushion and twirled a long strand of dark-blue hair around her little
finger. "I haven't seen you since before the Dark Wars."

Ash kneeled as he poured her a cup of hot chocolate from a thermos then
turned around and handed it to her. "As well as could be expected I
suppose." He turned back and went to pour himself a cup.

"Pika!"

Ash sighed, and poured Pikachu some in his cup. "Now what am I going to
drink from?" Ash asked him, exasperated, putting the cup on the floor,
where Pikachu could lap from it.

"Here, Ashy," Duplica said as she raised her free hand. From her palm a
lump formed outwards, then formed into a mug. Not a plain one either, but
a white one with a little cute picture of a violet Ditto on it, its
amoeba-like body holding a smiley face. 

Ash looked at it, shrugged, then picked it up from her hand. "Thanks,
Duplica." He poured himself some chocolate, then sat back, setting down
the thermos, and sipped. He looked her over. She was still wearing the
black dress that hugged her slim, curvy form to perfection. When he came
to her face, he saw that she noticed his inspection. He smiled
unashamedly. "Well you're certainly looking well. That body real?"

Duplica huffed good-naturedly. "Of course its real! I can't stay in
a different form for *too* long, otherwise I get tired." Then she smiled
devilishly at him, her red lips tilting at the corners. "Of course, if
you'd rather I looked like this ..."

Ash watched, enthralled, as her body seemed to re-mould itself. Then he
fell backwards, face turing red as when she was finished, it was Misty
who was sitting there in the sexy black dress. On Misty's all too
familiar face, she wore a petulant look, ice-blue eyes staring sultrily
at him over a pert nose.

"Oh, Ashy-boy!" she said in Misty's voice, but voiced low and sexily. She
shook her head once, flapping her long red hair loose over her shoulders
then licked her lips at him and blinked long dark lashes.

"Pi-ka-chu," Pikachu said, amazed. But then the small, black electric
mouse lost interest and went back to lapping from up hot chocolate from
the cup.

Ash's face was still red as he sat back up. "That's not funny. Misty and
I aren't together any more."

The Misty look-alike got a shocked look on her face. Then it blurred and
morphed back into Duplica, who still had the shocked look. "What do you
mean? You two were inseparable back then!"

"Well, obviously not now. I'd rather not talk about it," Ash said looking
down into the bubbles in his drink.

Duplica looked sadly at him. Then she smiled, hoping to cheer him up.
"Okay, but you know you always have me. I can be the woman of your
dreams!" she said, laughing. "You just have to tell me what she looks
like."

The corner of Ash's mouth tilted ironically and he brushed the black hair
that fell in front of his eyes away with a hand. "Well, then you don't
have to change at all," he said, joking with her. Then he felt a tugging
on his cloak and looked down.

"Pika?" Pikachu said, lifting the empty mug up at him.

Ash groaned. "You need more already?" He put down his mug and got up on
his knees to refill it.

Duplica looked at Pikachu and smiled bitter-sweetly. "You and your
pokemon remind me so much of me and Ditto." She took a sip out of her mug
and shook her head. "I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad
thing." She got a sad look on her face. "He died back in the Dark Wars."

Ash finished refilling Pikachu's cup and put it down before Pikachu could
lick his finger off accidentally in his haste to have it. "Yes, I noticed
that he wasn't with you and that you've gained ... certain powers."

Duplica was silent for a moment, reminiscing. "Back then I swore I
wouldn't get into any more world events. Just me living peacefully in my
house of imite, and hopefully, some day, find a man to settle down with
and marry." She crossed her legs in front of her. "Now look at me. Back
in the action all over again."

Ash sat back down to finish his chocolate. "Yeah, now that you've brought
it up, just why are you here? Where are you going?"

Duplica seemed to stare in the air blankly as if feeling something that
was not physical. "You don't sense the disturbance in the Astral Plane?"
She paused, considering. "No of course not, you're not part pokemon like
I am." She looked at Pikachu who had just finished his second mug and was
now watching them curiously. "I'm betting that your pikachu feels it
though."

"Feels what?" Ash asked, curiously.

"A sense of foreboding. Incoming danger. A wrongness in the air."

Ash closed his eyes. "Let me guess. The centre of that feeling is coming
from the Cerulean City ruins, right? I feel a slight weight coming from
there as well and is one of the reasons I didn't put that much of a fight
when Misty forced me on her mission to investigate them."

Duplica looked at him hard with her brown eyes. "Yes. The Cerulean City
ruins exactly." She seemed to study him.

Ash opened his eyes and noticed her looking at him with a serious look on
her face. "What is it?" he asked, a puzzled look in his golden brown
eyes.

"Nothing," she said, still considering him.

Ash looked away, unnerved. He skulled the last of his hot chocolate with
one quick gulp and placed the mug on the floor of the tent. "Well,
perhaps you can join me and Misty on our way there when we leave tomorrow
morning." He stood up on his feet, smoothed his long black cloak down,
and loosely secured it at the waist to keep the wind from blowing
it around too much. "I'm going to go for a walk before I turn in for the
night. I'll be back later. Pikachu, you keep Duplica company and guard
our things."

"Pikachu," Pikachu agreed, and saluted him with one dark paw.

Ash nodded at Duplica, then covering his head with his hood, he opened
the flaps of the tent and stepped outside into the night.

Duplica was silent for a few moments more, thinking, before she picked up
Ash's mug and absorbed it back into her hand. She looked at Pikachu.
"Looks like it's just me and you, big fella. So what do you wanna do to
kill some time?"

Pikachu gave her a mousey grin and scampered over to Ash's backpack.
After rummaging through it for a second he pulled out a pack of cards and
presented them to her. "Chu!" His cobalt blue eyes shined hopefully at
her.

Duplica put her hand on her forehead and groaned. "Oh no! Not Pokemon
cards!" Then she smiled as she took out her own collection. "Do you have
a Ditto? I'll trade you a Pikachu for it."


<><><>


Ash walked among the tents ignoring the frightened looks that villagers
and Grass Trainers gave him alike. Maybe he should have went in his
civies, he decided, as yet another green clothed man took one look at
him and darted behind a nearby tent, making a warding symbol at him with
his hands.

Slight steam came out of his mouth as he breathed and he noticed that it
was getting colder. As he picked his way north to walk out in the open,
he sensed someone following him. He turned around and just caught whoever
it was slipping behind a tent. He smiled and shook his head.


<><><>


The girl scolded herself as she crouched behind the tent. He had almost
seen her! That guy must have some kind of weird sixth sense or something,
she thought. After all, hadn't she been the best in her reconnaissance
class? She had made sure she stepped in time with the noises of the camp
so that her footsteps wouldn't be heard and stayed back a respectable
distance hadn't she?

She combed her long dark brown hair back with her fingers and peeked
around the corner of the tent. He wasn't there any more. He must have
turned towards the forest at the north of the camp. She got up and was
about to follow, when a deep voice startled her from behind. 

"I suppose I should ask why you're following me."

She whipped around, her heart beating fast and noticed a shadow that
hadn't been there before. It stepped into the light and revealed itself
as the man dressed in the black cloak that she had been following. How
did he get there so quickly? She thought fast. "Remember me? I'm the girl
you saved back in the battle by taking out that Arcanine. I-I just wanted
to thank you..."

The man threw his hood back finally revealing his full features to her.
Her heart got caught in her throat as golden-brown eyes regarded her
over a fine featured, handsome young man's face. His longish black hair
was ruffled by his hood and stuck out a bit on his head giving him a cute
look. She hadn't expected him to be so young. Anyone that was that
powerful and with that deep voice she would have expected to be older,
not this man who only seemed to be in his early twenties or even his late
teens.

"Oh is that all," the man said, smiling at her. Her stomach turned
flip-flops at that smile. "In that case, you're welcome. I don't think we
got properly introduced in the battle, so ..." He held out his hand. "I'm
Ashura. But you can call me Ash."

The girl returned his smile gratefully. She took his hand and shook it,
noting his strong, rough grip. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Laselle, but
you can also call me Lass - but only if you want to die young." She let
out a light laugh as she dropped her hand from his, suddenly shy. "So
where were you going?"

Ash smoothed away a strand of hair that fell down to cover his right eye
with the fingers of his hand. "Just for a walk. Sometimes I get the
feeling that I have to be by myself just to think. Not even with my
pokemon with me." He noticed her sudden sad look. "Oh sorry, to remind
you about your Bulbasaur. I've really put my foot in it haven't I?"

She sniffed. "That's okay. At least you avenged it for me."

"Well I'm sure you'll get another pokemon soon and train it to be very
powerful." He turned to go, lifting the black hood over his head to cloak
his face in shadows again. "Well I better go now."

"Do you think I could walk with you?" Laselle asked hopefully.

He turned around and seemed to think about it. Then he shrugged. "Sure.
Why not?" He waved her over to his side, "C'mon young-un."

Laselle made a face at him as she went over by his side before they
began to walk off between the tents again to the north. "I bet I'm not
that much younger than you. I'm fifteen after all."

"Wow. That's mighty old," came his amused voice from next to her.

"Well aren't you going to tell me?" she asked, exasperated.

"Tell you what?" he asked, obviously playing dumb.

"How old you are, silly!"

"Oh ..." he said as if he just realised what she was fishing for. "I'm
twenty-one." Then in a different tone of voice, "Going on one hundred, it
seems."

She sensed his sadness about something, but she didn't say anything
realising that he needed the quiet. They walked for a while in
companionable silence until they reached the outskirts of the camp.
Another man noticed Ash and quickly walked away.

"Why are they afraid of you?" she asked curiously. "You're on our side
right?"

His black-cloaked shoulders shrugged. "Maybe it's because they realise
that maybe, just maybe, some of the old legends are true. The legends
that their parents scared them with as they went to sleep."

"Old legends?"

Ash stopped walking and it took Laselle two steps before she realised it
and turned to look at him. His eyes abruptly flared golden, lighting the
shadows within his hood, and startling her. He suddenly looked very
sinister and she couldn't help but feel a sliver of fear enter her
throat.

"The legends of the forbidden elements." Even his voice sounded sinister.
"The Light." He paused. "And the Shadow."

She took a step backwards, afraid.

Then the golden light in his eyes winked out, and he laughed. "Just
kidding!" he said taking a step forward. "Hey, argh." He tripped over a
tent peg and fell flat on his face in front of her.

Laselle burst out in laughter. "Hah! You deserved that, Ash, for
scaring me like that."

She watched enthralled as Ash lifted himself up with his hands and did a
handstand, then flipped over forward to land on his booted feet
gracefully.

"Yes, I suppose I did," he said meekly. "But you should have seen your
expression."

"Oh, you." Still, that had been pretty convincing. Perhaps there had been
some truth to what the other trainers were saying. Maybe he really *had*
been once the Champion of the Pokemon League of all things. Then she
shrugged it off as rubbish-nonsense. He seemed too nice.

Then a screaming came from one of the larger tents in front of them. Ash
turned his head, then darted off. Laselle gasped and followed as best
she could. That guy could run like the wind, she thought, as he reached
the tent quite a ways before her and slipped inside.

When she finally caught up and dashed inside the large tent, she saw that
this was where they kept the League prisoners. There were just under half
a dozen of them inside and they were all tied up, back to back and
sitting on the floor. However, one of them, an older Fire Trainer, was
laying by himself on the floor on his back. He looked to be terribly
beaten, bruises and cuts all over his face as well as tears on his
clothing, indicating that his body had also not been spared any
punishment.

"What is the meaning of this?" a tall gruff man dressed in a maroon,
muscle shirt and trousers said. And he sure was dressed appropriately as
his chest and arms seemed to bulge with strength. On his thick fists he
was wearing a wicked-looking pair of brass knuckles. The Fight Trainers
must have just arrived, Laselle thought.

Ash stood before him in his black cloak, but had thrown back his hood.
"Perhaps I should ask the same of you," he said, pointing at the
beaten-up prisoner with one hand.

"Those orders came from Master Bruno himself," the Fight Trainer said. "I
was to interrogate these League scum by any method I deemed fit to find
out just what is happening over at the Cerulean ruins."

"Any method you deemed fit? A nice way of saying torture?" Ash said in a
low dangerous voice. "I may seem cruel to you, dealing out death and
destruction as easy as that, but at least the men and women I fight have
the honour of being in a battle. Torture on a captured prisoner is
intolerable." He narrowed his eyes, and for once, Laselle was not scared
when they began to glow golden. "I see Bruno has not changed a bit, even
being an ex-league member."

Suddenly a deep growling voice from behind them, startled her.

"ASHURA! I heard you were here."

Laselle turned around to see a massively muscled man, at least more than
half a foot taller than Ash who was already quite tall at six feet, enter
the tent. He was dressed in a maroon hooded cloak, the type Pokemon
Master's wore, full-bodied and reaching to his ankles, but loose-fitting
so that it could float with the wind. Just like Ash's. The only thing
that differed from the norm was that the folds over his arms had been cut
short close to the shoulders to show off the man's thick, corded arm
muscles. His hood was removed, revealing brown hair worn in long spikes
and a rugged face that could have been handsome were it not for the signs
of strain and the perpetual look of anger on his face.

Laselle stepped backwards, away from him. She had always been a little
afraid of Bruno, the Master of Fighting.

Ash frowned at him. "One reason to dislike the grape-vine I think."

"Don't give me your smart-ass shit, Ash, because I still owe you one, the
last time we fought! I challenge you to a Circle of Masters. No pokemon,
so you can use that blasted, level infinity Pikachu, just us two. Hand to
hand combat." He smirked, showing a white-toothed smile, and turned
around to leave the tent. "You're just lucky that Erika convinced me that
we have nothing to fear from you, and that we just may need you,
otherwise you'd be dead already." He closed the flap of the tent, ripping
it in half from his anger. "I'll be waiting for you outside."

Seconds passed with the tent in silence. Then the Fight Trainer laughed
as he studied Ash's slim physique, no match to the Master of Fighting's 
immense strength in his opinion. "Sorry, Lass, but looks like your new 
boyfriend here isn't going to be so pretty any more, come later tonight." 
Then he kneeled down and lifted his fist. "Now old man, are you going to 
tell us all you know? ... No? Well then, here's another - hey what are 
you doing?" he asked as Ash roughly pulled him up by the neck then 
lifted him high in the air, off his feet, with one hand. No mean feat 
since the Fight Trainer was taller than Ash. Even the trainer was
surprised, his eyes wide.

"I said, no more torture," Ash said calmly. Then he quickly jerked his
right arm inwards and gave him a massive head-butt with a loud crack,
then threw the unconscious man through the wall of the tent like excess
garbage, with a loud rip as the green canvas tore. The body rolled about
a dozen meters in the grass before it was stopped by a tree. 

The old League Trainer on the floor said softly, "I was going to tell him
not to underestimate you. One with the forbidden power should not be
underestimated. I don't know why I'm saying this, Shadow Master, but I
feel I should tell you the little I know." He coughed. "Master Blaine
said that our mission was to flush this area free of any, or most, human
settlement and to prevent any Rebel Force from approaching the ruins of
Cerulean City. I also heard Blaine receive orders from the League
Master himself and that 'the day' was coming in less than a week. I don't
know what they meant by that though."

Ash frowned deeply as he listened to what he was saying. "That is dire
news indeed, old man," he said, wiping the hand he had used to hold the
Fight Trainer's neck with a tissue. "Thank you deeply for telling me
this." He looked over at one of the unconscious women Fire Trainers. "And
take care of Belle. Everything that's happened lately has been reminding
me why I swore to keep out of Rebellion and League business, but it seems
trouble always seems to find me when it comes looking." He looked at
Laselle, his light brown eyes serious. "Maybe you'll want to head off to
your tent for the night? What you'll see outside will probably just be
more senseless violence with that jerk trying to shove his superiority
down my throat."

Laselle looked at him with wide eyes. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss
this for the world. You're so cool!" Then she frowned. "Wait. Shadow
Master? Forbidden elements? You mean what you were saying out there was
*true*?" she said, aghast.

He smiled unashamedly at her then blew that pesky strand of hair that
always fell in his eyes away with an upturned lip and a gust of breath.
"What can I say? I'm not a very good liar. Mostly."


<><><>


Joy excitedly ran into Erika and Misty's tent. "Mistress Erika! Mistress
Misty! Come quick! It's an emergency!"

Erika quickly stood up and summoned her green cloak over herself in a
flash of energy. "What is it? Has someone got hurt? Are we under attack?"

"No, Master Bruno and Master Ash are going to fight in a Circle of
Masters! Hand to hand combat - no pokemon!"

"Oh," Erika said. "I was sort of expecting that anyway. Silly me."

Misty sighed. "Boys will be boys. Come on, let's go see Ash win."

Erika looked at her as she covered her head with the hood of her cloak.
"What do you mean? Aren't we talking about Master Bruno here? The Master
of Fighting? Ex-member of the Elite Four? That big ridiculously
muscle-bound, six feet-six or so guy? That Bruno?"

"Yes, but I've seen Ash fight. Ash will win. That Pikachu isn't his only
strength." Misty walked outside the tent, covering her own head with her
hood. "Care to bet on it?"

Erika followed her. "You're on!" she said confidently. "What's the
forfeit?"


<><><>


Laselle looked on, breathless, as a circle of stones, about two-dozen
feet in diameter, were placed on the grassy field next to the camp. Then 
a Grass Trainer and a Fight Trainer stepped around the circle placing
lighted torches on each stone. The ring was part of the duel between
Pokemon Masters. The main rule of the match was that if one were to walk
outside that ring of stones and fire, or was thrown out, then
that one was the loser. The combatant who was still conscious or inside
the ring was the winner. What was extraordinary about this 'Circle of
Masters' though, was that it wouldn't be pokemon fighting, but the
Masters themselves. However rare, such battles were allowed in the rules.
And Bruno had called for just such a match. A literal Match of Masters.

As word got around the Rebel camp of the duel, groups of villagers and
trainers began gathering around the edges of the circle, ready to watch
the oncoming battle. Although there was many of them, the crowd was
silent as they knew the ritual importance of the challenge.

Inside the circle, on opposite ends, Ash and Bruno stood silently staring
at each other, their cloaks being blown to the side by a slight wind.
There was an air of tension to the air that was almost physical as the
two men waited. The two of them were highlighted by a harsh glow from the
flaming torches surrounding them, which flickered, dancing their shadows
around. The moon's glow only added to the atmosphere of the night.

Finally Mistress Erika and Misty arrived and assumed their positions
outside the circle, one at each end with Misty on Ash's right side while
Erika stood at Bruno's.

"Pika, pika," a cute voice said interrupting the relative silence.

Laselle turned her head and saw that Ash's night-black pikachu had
arrived along with that strange woman with dark-blue hair worn loose, who
could somehow change her shape. She also saw that she was still wearing
that scandalous black dress that all the other girls in the camp had said
was *too* daring. What was really weird, though, was that the woman was
not shivering at all in the cold night air, where people's breaths would
turn to steam as soon as they touched it, even though the dress showed so
much skin. 

"Yeah I know, Pikachu, Bruno is going to be like a one-legged man in an
ass-kicking contest," was all the woman said as she settled down to watch
the fight.

Finally, Erika and Misty raised their right arms in the air, then brought
them down in a quick jerking movement. "Begin," they both said
simultaneously, their voices formal and serious. "He who flees the circle
or lies unconscious shall forfeit." 

Ash and Bruno both rose their arms into the sky and a glow began to
surround each of them. In Ash's case it was a dark, blue-black glow,
which surrounded him, distorting his features. When it cleared, Laselle
saw that his black cloak and boots had been removed, leaving him barefoot
and with loose-fitting, long, flowing black trousers that was worn
underneath the mantle as well as a slight black shirt, cut short at the
sleeves close to his shoulders, and hugging his athletic but muscular
form. He lowered his raised, bare arms, then lifted his hands to the
ready. She saw that he was now wearing a pair of dark, fingerless
fighting gloves. His fine black hair which was worn in a slightly longer
than average length was tussled by the cold wind and his eyes began to
glow golden in the night like points of shifting burnished gold.

Respectively, it was a maroon glow which surrounded Bruno's huge
six-feet-six frame and when it cleared, it left the huge man's truly
muscular form for all to see. He wore long maroon trousers but no shirt,
leaving his huge smooth chest bare. His arms looked like tree-trunks,
brown and scarred, and as thick as could be, which he lifted to the
ready, opening and closing his huge bare hands in anticipation. He was
the most muscular man Laselle had ever seen. But those types of bodies
sickened her. She much preferred the athletic looking, but muscular type,
like Ash was. Bruno was also barefoot revealing large, square feet,
again, not at all like Ash's which looked small and even kind of cute.
Bruno's hair did not move at all in the wind as it was in a hardened,
spiky style, which probably used too much hair-spray, Laselle guessed.
His eyes began to glow too, but a dark-red colour, the colour of rust.

The two of them inched closer to one another so that it was now only half
a dozen feet separating them. They slowly stepped sideways around in
preparation, circling, eyes glowing and alert. Adjacent to each other,
the true contrast in their sizes was obviously apparent. Ash's head only
reached up to Bruno's chin and his body seemed only half the width of
Bruno's ridiculously muscled torso. 

Then it was Bruno who struck first. It was faster than the eye could see.
But Laselle had quicker eyes than average and she discerned it as a feint
for the true strike, which was a blow with his right fist the size of a
small boulder, aimed directly at Ash's middle. However, she didn't even
see Ash move, he was so quick. One moment he was in front of Bruno, the
next he had somehow twisted around his back and had grasped the giant
man's shoulder with both hands. Then in an overhead swing which looked
impossible for a person of Ash's size, he threw Bruno over on to the
ground, face first. Then he did a backward hand-flip away and resumed
position.

Bruno flipped back on to his feet, and spat out some grass. "That was a
good move," he acknowledged. "But it will take stronger hits than that to
take me down."

Ash turned sideways and beckoned him with his gloved hand held to the
ready. "That was just a test to see how much you weighed, Master of
Fighting."

"Arrogant aren't we? You want to throw me out of the ring rather than
render me unconscious." Bruno said, hopping lightly over to close in the
distance, his head and fists moving in quick jerking movements. "I'll
admit that's your best chance. I have never been KO'd before."

"Well I don't want to chance causing you an injury," Ash said as he
stepped lightly sideways, gracefully and smooth as if in a dance.

Bruno fists began to glow a dark red colour. "Well I don't have any
recriminations about doing so!" he shouted as he swiped at him, causing
the energy on his hands to flare.

Surprisingly, Ash blocked the powerful strike rather than dodge it.
Immediately Bruno began to hammer at him faster, with complicated, but
immensely powerful, hand and arm movements. But Ash blocked those too,
almost lazily, using his forearms and elbows to parry, moving so fast
that they were blurring as red sparks flew and crackled at each contact
of their arms.

Then Ash suddenly stopped parrying the hits and twisted inside Bruno's
circle of offence, striking him in the stomach with an open-handed palm
blow with his left hand. Blood flew out of Bruno's mouth at the powerful
blow as Ash continued the sequence with a right-handed palm blow to the
face, then a roundhouse spinning double-kick, first with the heel of left
foot striking Bruno's feet from under him, then a rotating kick with his
right heel catching him in the chest this time, launching the huge man
into the air.

As Bruno took to the air, spinning around in a half twist, Ash flared
with a glow of blue-black energy for an instant, then completed the combo
with a rising, spinning punch which hammered Bruno over a dozen feet away
backwards and was just enough to knock him out of the Circle of Masters.
The crowd moved as Bruno landed on the grassy ground with a loud thump,
bounced once, then continued rolling until a small boulder stopped his
movement. 

A young nurse with red hair ran over to the still body and examined him.
"He's unconscious!" she shouted.

Erika and Misty jerked their arms up and down in one quick movement. The
circle was over.

Normally there would have been a crowd cheering at the victor, but it was
silent, the only sound being the noises of people breathing and the
slight wind which ruffled people's clothes.

"Sorry," Ash said, blowing the hair out of his eyes. "I didn't mean to
knock him out."


<><><>


Ash wasn't even breathing hard when Misty walked over to him within the
circle to ask him if he was all right.

"I'm okay," he responded as he rubbed his sore arms. Then he looked at
her and combed his fingers though his hair. "I'm sorry about this duel,
but he challenged me and no Master can refuse the challenge."

Misty smiled, looking back at the annoyed looking Erika for a brief
moment. "That's okay, thanks to you I profited a little."

He looked curious at that, but then his expression changed to utter
seriousness. "Misty, before this senseless display of violence, I just
acquired some information that might be important from one of the League
Fire Trainers."

"Indeed?" She looked at him with her blue eyes. "Well I'll call a
midnight meeting as soon as Bruno regains consciousness. I was going to
call one anyway because we need to decide what to do from here on
tomorrow."


<><><>


It had just struck midnight around the large campfire when the meeting of
Masters took place. In a four-seated circle, with the fire in the
centre, the Masters sat, cross-legged with Ash and Misty at opposite
ends, while on the corresponding sides, sat Erika and Bruno.

"This better be good, Ashura," Bruno growled as he adjusted the ice-pack
on his head. He also had some white bandages wrapped around his chest
which were visible underneath his cloak. "Just because you've beaten me,
it doesn't mean I'm going to let off on your back." However, Ash could
sense a new feeling of respect towards him that hadn't been there before
the fight.

Ash warmed his hands over the fire. "I'm aware of that, Master Bruno," he
said dryly. He was about to speak out his news when he sensed something.
He looked behind himself into the trees towards the camp. "Wait," he
cautioned. "Someone's coming."

A short while later, a shadow walked into the light given off by the
campfire. It was Duplica. "Oh, Ashy," she called, her brown eyes shining.
"So this is where you people got off to ..."

Erika frowned, her green eyes reflecting the light of the fire. "This is
a strict meeting for Masters only."

Duplica stopped by Ash's side and blinked. She waved her hand over her
body and violet glow surrounded her black dress and skirt for a few
moments before it blurred and extended to cover her whole form loosely
over her body. When she was finished, she was also dressed in a long
cloak, but this one violet in colour. "Well aren't I the Change Master?"
Duplica asked with a wink.

Bruno folded his muscled arms and studied her. His eyes glowed darkly. A
second later, he motioned her to sit down. "She speaks the truth."

Duplica stuck her tongue out at Erika, much to the Grass Master's
annoyance, and sat down next to Ash. This time Misty frowned at her.

"I felt I had better listen to what Ashy has to say too," Duplica said,
ignoring Misty's disapproving look, as she crossed her legs and settled
the folds of her violet cloak over them.

Ash then proceeded to tell them what he had learned. "It seems the League
is clearing away all the human population around the Cerulean ruins," he
said. "They've probably sent squads of Trainers and pokemon to each
settlement around that area, just like this one, to kill everyone off."

Misty was shocked. "But that's inhuman. What reasons have the League got
for doing such a thing? There's hundreds living around that area!"

Bruno thought about it. "One reason is probably to keep any curious
people away. Another may be that they need the supplies for their
trainers and pokemon, for whatever project they may be working on over
there."

"And another may be that they just enjoy it," Erika said, shaking her
head.

Duplica looked on, thoughtful. "Go on, Ashy. I can tell you have some
other things to say."

Ash nodded. "Well aside from being ordered to do that and drive off any
Rebel interference, my source also said that he overheard the League
Master himself. Something about 'the day' that should be coming within a
week or so. He didn't know what he meant by that, though."

"Sounds ominous," Bruno said. "It looks like there's a time limit we're
working with then. This 'day' thing seems like it would be a very bad
thing to happen."

"I wonder what Lord Garick has in mind, and just what the Cerulean City
ruins have to do with this," Erika thought aloud.

Ash narrowed his eyes and stared hard at Erika over the flames of the
fire. "Gary is dead," he said flatly. "The title of League Master should
have passed down to Lance, the Dragon Master, and second in command."

Bruno, Misty and Erika looked over at him puzzled. "What do you mean?
'Gary' is still the League Master," Erika said. "He is still very much
alive."

Ash stood up, startling Duplica who had been silently thinking. "But
that's impossible," he growled. "I killed Gary myself. I sent him a
one-way ticket to the Astral Plane with the point of my sword." Ash could
distinctly remember that day. It seemed it had been filled with the blood
that he had spilled. It was also the day he had left the League for good.
Aside from dismembering the League Master through the middle and removing
his limbs, he had also been forced to kill many League Trainers on his
flight from the Palace of the Elite Four. It was not a day he liked to
recall.

Misty frowned. "If that were true, and no doubt it is, then Lord Garick
somehow has the power to recover himself."

"But only psychic pokemon have that power," Erika pointed out. "Us
Pokemon Masters may have extraordinary powers, but that is due to a fine
attuning with the sense of our life-born element and the bond we share
with our pokemon. The recovery ability is an ability that is out of reach
to us even if we were *Psychic Masters*, like that damn Sabrina, let
alone the power of magnitude that must be needed to recover from the
*dead*. We're talking about resurrection here. Just how is that
possible?"

Duplica suddenly spoke up, breaking her own silence. "We don't know *how*
it's possible, just that we *know* it's possible." She looked up at Ash.
"Ashy, please sit down before I go on." 

He looked at her and nodded, sitting down and crossing his legs
underneath him before smoothing his cloak over his thighs.

"Now then, like I've already told Ashy here, the reason I'm here is that
I sensed a disturbance in yes, the Astral Plane. And surprise, the centre
of that disturbance is at the Cerulean ruins. Now an interesting, but
hardly known fact to note is that, at that point in the world exists one
of the stronger links to 'the Plane of the Dead' or as it is commonly
known as by some people, 'Hell' due to its almost perfect position to the
north-west of the old Pokemon Tower. I'm guessing that the other two
points that correspond to the tower, at Cinnabar Island and the Palace of
the Elite Four, have also been deluged by League activity. Of course,
we'd never know it since those two places are heavily under control by
the League anyway. Heck, Lord Garick lives in the Palace of the Elite
Four."

"So the League is interested in the spirit world, somehow," Bruno stated.
"But why is that?"

"That's a thing I don't know," Duplica said, shrugging her shoulders. 

Misty spoke up. "It's obviously something to do with coming into contact
with the other side. But how that would help them, your guesses would be
as good as mine."

Ash closed his eyes, feeling a sliver of fear enter his stomach for the
first time in over five years. He opened them and stared into the
crackling hot fire, desperately trying not to show anything outward on
his face or eyes that might reveal he knew something. Something dreadful.
"This is all fine and good," he said. "But we now know our top priority.
And that is to head off to the Cerulean ruins as fast as possible and
stop whatever the League is planning before time runs out."

"What about helping the settlements that are sure to be under attack by
the League?" Erika asked. "We can't just leave people to be murdered like
that."

Ash thought that if they didn't stop whatever it was the League Master
was most probably planning - he still didn't *really* believe it was Gary
- then the whole *world* would be murdered, not just the people living in
the settlements around Cerulean. "Then we'll split up," he said. "Erika
and Bruno, and their forces of Trainers can take the old Diglett's cave
south of here, to end up by the ruins of Vermillian City. From there,
they have the best position and the numbers to protect the settlements.
Meanwhile, me, Misty and Duplica can head through east of here through
the old haunted Mount Moon, and go directly to Cerulean. Misty because
... well, she has me on a leash so to speak, while Duplica has some
knowledge about the Astral Plane that I'm sure we'd need."

Bruno looked at Misty and then frowned at him. "I still don't trust you,
Ashura. You may be strong, but you do have a reputation. Damn it, you've
even fought against us a number of times while you were still in the
League. Here's what we'll do. I'll send a Venemoth to carry a message for
Koga and his sister, Aya, to meet Erika at Vermillion, as well as bring
his Poison Trainers. That means I'll be able to bring a couple of my men
and go with you."

Ash looked at him and considered. "That's fine with me, as long as your
men don't slow us down."

Erika huffed, exasperated. "You mean no one wants to go with me? Fine,
hurt my feelings why don't you!" she said, tightly.

Misty laughed at her friend. "Look at it this way, at least you'll get to
have the time of your life kicking League butt with Koga and his sister."

"True, true," Erika said, feeling better already as she cracked her
knuckles in anticipation.

"What about Brock?" Ash asked, suddenly curious about the rock trainer
that had been his best friend in the past.

Everyone fell into silence. Misty looked at him, her blue eyes suddenly
beginning to moisten for some strange reason. "You mean you don't know
that either?"

"Know what?" He looked dumbfounded as all pairs of eyes focused on him,
save for Duplica who didn't know either.

"Brock was killed. In a battle with the League."

Ash clenched his fist and looked at it hard. "Who killed him?" he
whispered.

Bruno said flatly, "It was apparently Master Garick himself. That is how
we know he is still alive. We saw him struck down before our very eyes
before we had to retreat." His voice cracked, showing a sign that he had
cared for the Rock Master as well. "It was the battle of Celadon City."

Misty got up and walked over to Ash to put her hand on his shoulder, but
he did not notice. He was dead to the world. When he looked up, his eyes
were glowing so golden that even the other Masters were afraid of him at
that moment. "If Gary is still alive, then when I meet up with him, he
will be worse than dead. He won't even have a spirit to return to Hell
when I am through with that bastard."


<><><>


By morning, with the sun shining brightly overhead but with a cloudy sky,
the camp had packed and Ash, Pikachu and the others had already said
their goodbyes to Erika and the other Rebel Trainers. Laselle had given
Ash a tearful goodbye kiss on the cheek which got him a red face and a
dirty look from Misty. Bruno's two men had been introduced to them. One
was Gambit, an older man, but one who had certainly not lost any strength
with his age. He reminded Ash of that old Christmas legend, Santa Claus,
complete with white hair and beard, but with muscles instead of fat. On
his face he wore a pair of circular sun-glasses and covering his large
body was a long maroon coat. 

The other Trainer to come with them was, strangely, a young boy who was
not at all muscular, but was instead, slight and kind of short. He was
wearing a maroon cap, with jeans and a maroon vest over a white shirt. In
fact, he kind of reminded Ash of himself at that age, although Ash was
sure he had been taller. The boy's name was Junior.

Ash, with Pikachu riding inside the backpack he wore, as well as Misty,
Duplica, Bruno and his men all stood on the grassy plains just east of
where the camp had been. In front of them stretched out long green hills
and grass as far as the eye could see, with old Mount Moon on the
horizon.

"Seeing as how we have all these plains free from trees and so," Misty
said, "Let's take a more efficient method of transport." She detached
what looked like a star-shaped black badge, with a red jewel in the
centre, from her cloak, that Ash hadn't noticed before.

Then she spun around one rotation, her blue cloak flapping around, and
threw the badge out on the ground in front of her. "Misty chooses
Starmos!"

The 'badge' grew in size, flat across the ground, till it was about six
feet in diameter, and when it had finished, it had formed into what
looked like a starmie except its skin was a glossy black, aside from the
large red jewel in its centre, and that its ten pointed limbs seemed
razor sharp.

Starmos then began to hover a foot above the grassy ground. "Let's
surf!" Misty said as she hopped on to the star pokemon and then flew it 
over to Ash as if it were a hover board. "Come on, Ash, you can ride with 
me. Just mind the points, they're very sharp."

Ash looked down at it. Starmos seemed to be the evolved form of Starmie.
He had never seen one before. He was tempted to take out his old pokedex
out of his pack and record it. Then he shrugged. He could do that later.
He leapt on to it, behind Misty. But he almost lost balance when she was
about to surf forward. She stopped and chided him. "You're supposed to
hold on my sides," she said, "as I'm the only one who has balance here."

"Pika, pika!" Pikachu also chattered at him from his backpack,
exasperated. He had been scared of the near fall also. Ash was heavy.

Ash's heart got stuck in his throat as he reluctantly grasped the sides
of her small waist. Through her cloak, her body was still as soft and
firm at the same time, just as in the past. Time passed since then, but
it seems she hadn't changed much. The memories assaulted him. Then he
forced them away. At least Misty's backpack was keeping his front out of
contact with her back.

Gambit and Junior, promptly threw out their poke-balls, a Ponyta emerging
from each one of them in twin flashes of red light. It looked like they
had scored some from the left-over pokemon that belonged to the Fire
Trainers back at Pewter, Ash thought.

Bruno, however, had an embarrassed look on his face. "Uh, I have nothing
to ride. I forgot to get a pokemon that was rideable back at the camp."

Duplica laughed at him. "Don't worry Bruny-baby, if you want you can
*ride* me!"

Junior laughed out loud, while Gambit hid the smile on his bearded
face with a hand.

Bruno's face turned even redder if that were possible as Duplica fell
down on her hand and knees in front of him. Then her shape shifted into
an elegant Rapidash, the final evolved form of the ponyta fire horse, its
mane of fire burning brightly in the air. 

Ash noted her form with appreciation. He hadn't ridden a horse in a long
time. Though he preferred to go mostly on foot, other means of transport
were interesting once in a while.

Misty noticed him looking and elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to
expell a breath. "I can sense *you* want to ride her, but you'll just
have to be content with *me*, Master Ashura," she hissed.

"But she looks so rideable," Ash said jokingly.

Meanwhile, Bruno reluctantly tried to get on the new horse's back, but
Duplica-Rapidash danced away, making him fall flat on his face. Then she
turned around and neighed a horse laugh at him as Bruno got up on his
knees, his face burning red, but in annoyance this time.

He feinted to the left, causing Duplica-Rapidash to dart to the right,
but then he leaped high into the air, twisted and somehow managed to land
successfully on her back. "Ha! Enough foolish games, Duplica, please. We
have no time to waste."

That ended the silliness and the five of them sped off across the
grassy plains and hills towards the Mountain of Moon, Misty in the lead
with Ash hanging on to her waist for dear life, while Bruno did likewise
to Duplica's mane of fire. In the rear, Junior and Gambit rode, their
Ponytas galloping along keeping up the pace easily. It had seemed that
despite the Fire Trainers' faults, they trained their pokemon quite well.

As they flew along, the wind speeding past them, Ash turned his head to
the side and spat out a mouthful of Misty's hair. Pikachu laughed at him.


<><><>


By afternoon they had reached the light forest at the base of Mount Moon,
and just in time as the fine weather had taken a turn for the worse and
the dark grey clouds overhead had already started to trickle down some
wet uncomfortable rain. Thankfully the cover of the forest trees 
overhead calmed the ponytas that Junior and Gambit were riding somewhat, 
as they trotted along.

Ash and Misty stayed in the lead with the hoods of their cloaks thrown
back, as they continued east, both of them hovering along slowly atop her
star pokemon, while Bruno, still riding Duplica-Rapidash, and his men
brought up the rear.

A drop of rain managed to fall down though the cover of the trees and
fall down on Duplica's back. It hissed, and she neighed in pain. She
looked up at the sky, red eyes annoyed.

"Don't worry, looks like we're almost at the entrance at the base of the
mountain," Misty said, concentrating as she controlled her pokemon like a
hover-board over the forest debris scattered along the ground.

As they advanced, Ash began to sense a number of people coming from the
south of the forest and heading directly towards them. "Ssh!" he
whispered, tightening his grip upon Misty's waist. "People are coming ...
and also some pokemon." He concentrated. "They seem to be having a
battle."

Bruno looked around for cover. "There." he pointed at a large stone
boulder at the base of a grove of bushes. "Behind that. We'll see if they
are friend or foe before getting involved. If we even choose to get
involved that is. We have to remember that our priority is the mission,
first and foremost."

"Agreed," Misty said softly. She guided Starmos over to the boulder, with
Ash still riding along behind her, while Duplica suddenly morphed back
into a woman, wearing her violet Master's cloak, surprising the hell out
of Bruno as he had still been riding her.

"Mind letting go of me?" Duplica motioned to Bruno's hands, which were
grasped on to the sides of her chest and just touching the base of her
breasts.

"Oh, sorry," Bruno said, red-faced. 

When they were all hiding behind the boulder, with Misty and Ash still
hovering upon her pokemon so that they could peek over the top of the
stone, it wasn't long before four men, dressed in clothes with the 'L' of
the League emblem emblazoned on them, came running out of the trees,
breathing hard. Then they suddenly stopped in the clearing to catch their
breath.

"They got two more of our men," one of them said, resting his hands on
his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He had short blonde hair and
though his grey clothing was roughened up, he otherwise looked like a
typical League grunt.

"Do you think we lost them?" another one asked, looking behind them into
the forest as if searching for something. Surprisingly, he looked
familiar to Ash and Misty who were silently watching. He had brown hair
and was wearing a cheap, tattered-looking cloak that matched his hair in
colour.

"I hope so, otherwise they'll get us next!" the third man said. He also
had brown hair but looked younger than the others, perhaps about
seventeen. There was also something familiar about him.

The last was a man dressed in a weird-looking samurai outfit, complete
with black helmet and yellow fins attached to its front and dark-blue
armour. At his belt was attached a poke-ball and a long sword in a
sheathe, while on his feet, he wore a pair of wooden thongs. He reminded
Ash of that boy he met more than a decade ago, when he had just started
his journey, who had been dressed up in a similar outfit. The samurai man
remained silent, alert, as he too watched the forest behind them.

For a seemingly long moment the four of men studied the trees and bushes
for any signs of life. Then the blonde grunt sighed in relief. "I think
we lost them."

How wrong they were.

Suddenly a flash of silver blinked from the high branches of a tree and a
knife was sticking out of the blonde grunt's shoulder. He screamed and
fell over on to his side, clutching the hilt of the small dagger.

"Prepare for annihilation!" a feminine voice shouted from up above. From
the upper canopy of the trees a slim woman dressed all in black, with
baggy trousers and a tight short-sleeved tank-top open at the mid-riff,
somersaulted down into the centre of the group of men. Her head was
covered by a ninja's tight hood, face hidden by a dark veil, only showing
her frosty blue eyes. Through an opening at the back of her head, her
hair was worn in a long, single red ponytail which streamed along like a
ribbon of silk. Her athletic figure spun into a frenzy of martial arts
moves, a spin kick knocking away the younger man, then a rising splits
kick which caught the brown-cloaked man on the chin sending him flying
backwards into a tree.

"You bitch!" the samurai said as he unsheathed his long katana and 
charged her. But from behind him, a shadow emerged from the bushes. 

"And make that double!" It was another figure dressed all in black, with
matching baggy trousers and tight shirt showing off a lightly muscled
chest indicating this one as male. On his head, he also wore a ninja's
hood, the only features showing were his emerald green eyes.

The male ninja dived forwards in a somersault roll, then rose upwards in
flying kick, catching the swordsman in the back and sending him colliding
into another tree.

However, the tattered brown-cloaked man sat up and recovered, shaking his
head. He removed a poke-ball from his belt. "You are no match for the
Farfetch'd Master! Go Farfetch'd! Sword's dance!"

From the ball emerged a brown goofy-looking bird pokemon holding what
looked like a stick of celery for a weapon. "Far!" it squawked as it
began to flap forward and attack the ninja man with it.

Then a loud cat's growl came out from behind a tree and a large
panther-like, white cat with a red jewel in its forehead and black
rounded ears with sharp whiskers leaped out and caught the unfortunate
bird pokemon in its sharp teeth. "Pers-ian! Dinner!" it growled as it
began to chew and crunch the bird pokemon in its powerful jaws.

Suddenly chaos emerged as a ponyta exploded from the west, bucking
wildly, and creating confusion in the battle. On its back rode a young,
dark-haired girl dressed in a light-green cloak. She was screaming in
fright, obviously having lost control of her horse.

Ash recognised her. "Laselle!" he called out in alarm over the boulder.
What was she doing here? He let go of Misty and leaped into the air over
the stone, turning a somersault, cloak whipping around, and throwing
Pikachu in the air as he did so. "Pikachu! Shadow Blade!" As he landed,
Pikachu complied, shifting into the long black katana that seemed to
absorb light. Ash caught it in one hand, spun it in one full circle,
then continued to sprint towards the battle.

"Ash!" Misty shouted, as she directed Starmos to follow, flying in
the air after him.

The younger, brown-haired man saw the black-cloaked man running at them
with a wicked looking sword and panicked. He ripped out a poke-ball from
his belt and threw it. "Eeverion! Antipode attack! Stop that guy!
Please!"

From the red ball emerged what looked like an Eevee, a small fox-like,
rabbit creature, except it had flame red ears, long yellow spines across
its back and a blue fish-fin tail. "Eev!" it growled as it shot a red and
blue ball of ice-fire from its mouth directly at Ash.

Ash leaped high into the air, but the antipode attack seemed to follow
him, somehow having some homing properties. So in midair, using the
shadow blade like a baseball bat, he knocked the sphere of powerful
elemental energy away into the sky. "Pikachu, Darkness Illusion!" he
called as he pointed the sword downward as he passed over them, at the
Eeverion and the brown-haired young man. From the tip of the sword shot a
black spear of shadow which streamed out in a dark mist all around its
target.

The Eeverion Trainer shouted, "I'm blind! That bastard blinded me!" as
Ash landed with a thump and ran towards Laselle and the Ponyta who was
being chased by the samurai man.

The 'Farfetch'd Master' in the tattered brown cloak breaking out of the
shock of the death of his pokemon at the hands of the Persian, screamed
in anguished loss, then turned to run off towards Mount Moon.

"Persian, stop him!" the woman ninja called out.

"Perr!" the large cat pokemon growled, spitting out the stick of celery
it had been using to pick its sharp teeth with, then loped quickly after
the fleeing man on all fours.

Meanwhile, the samurai had cornered Laselle atop the Ponyta against a
grove of trees. The fire horse snorted and rose up on its hind legs as
the swordsman approached. Then Laselle screamed as she fell off the
horse on to the ground and lay on her side. The Ponyta shrieked at the
surprise and jumped over the samurai's head and sprinted off into the
forest. 

At the samurai's distraction, Ash slashed the air in front of him with
his sword and a gust of knife-sharp air pressure rocketed forward,
parting the ground in front of him like a bullet, dust and leaves flying
to the sides. He continued to run forward as the blade of air struck a
stony boulder nearby the samurai and it shattered, the shrapnel striking
the man with sharp bits of hard rock.

The samurai turned around, angry and bleeding in several places from the
explosion and noticed Ash running directly at him, black katana held
horizontally at his side, the point facing backward. The samurai lifted
his own silver katana to the ready.

"So, another who practises the art of the sword!" the samurai said in
anticipation, his helmet gleaming damply from the light rain. "And one
who has the look of a Pokemon Master! But you will be as a novice in
front of a true Master! A Blade Master!"

Ash didn't hesitate, his eyes gleaming golden, as he shifted his run into
a sidestep, black cloak whipping behind him. The samurai twisted at his
movement and struck the first blow, a powerful swing of his katana, but
as if he were testing him. Ash countered easily, letting the blade slide
against his and out of the way, before spinning the sword around and
lopping off the samurai's left hand as easy as cutting thin air.

The samurai screamed and fell backwards, clutching his sword unsteadily
in his remaining hand, as Ash shifted his feet and twisted, preparing the
final blow. A Blade Master indeed, Ash thought sarcastically. He would
show the folly of that empty title. 

But the samurai ripped his poke-ball from his belt and threw it at him.
"Pincer! Kill him!"

Ash knocked the ball away with the flat of his blade and it exploded open
in the air front of him, the brown, bipedal, insectoid creature with huge
venom-dripping spiny horns, lunging at him as it dived out.

But he was prepared and kicked the large pincer in the stomach, knocking
the breath out of it, before slashing his katana horizontally across the
creature's head. The huge spiny horns detached themselves from the
pincer's head a split second later and flew off, dark blood spurting from
the cleanly sliced stumps. The pincer vomited in pain and Ash sweeped its
stumpy legs out from underneath it with an advancing low kick. It fell
flat on its back and he finished it off with a thrust to the head, the
black light-absorbing katana feeling as if it met no resistance at all,
as it easily pierced through three feet of skull and into the hard
ground.

Ash smoothly removed his hissing blade from its forehead with one hand,
blood splattering out, and spun back to the samurai, the folds of his
cloak whipping around.

But sensing his opportunity, the samurai had run over to Laselle and
now stood lifting his sword over her threateningly with his one remaining
hand. He glared at him with fierce dark eyes within his helmet. Yet, now
they seemed more afraid of him than angry.

"Stop novice! Or I will be killing this girl!" the samurai shouted,
desperate now.

Ash was wondering about whether a dark shock would kill the man before
the man could do anything, when suddenly a thin stream of silk shot out
from the opening in Laselle's backpack. It wrapped all around the
samurai's ankles and he tripped over, shouting as he did so, and dropped
his sword out in front of him. Unfortunately for him, the silver katana
fell hilt first, and the man fell on top of it, the sharp blade piercing
his armour and through his chest. The man gurgled a death cry and
twitched pathetically along the ground before he lay still, blood leaking
from his chest and mouth.

Ash ran over and kicked the body away before kneeling down and picking up
Laselle in his arms. "Are you okay?" he asked, dropping his sword on the
floor, where it promptly changed back into a dark coloured electric
mouse.

"Pika?" Pikachu said worriedly, jagged tail twitching.

"I-I think so," Laselle sniffed. Then, puzzled, she unstrapped her
backpack and opened it up fully.

"Pii!" The head of a green caterpillar pokemon emerged out from it.

"A Caterpie?" Laselle said, surprised.

Ash's eyes widened. If he wasn't mistaken, this was that same caterpie
who had scared Misty stiff, and that he had failed to capture, back in
the Viridian Forest. "It looks like you have a new pokemon, Laselle," he
said, smiling as the caterpie began to hug Laselle's side.

Then behind him, two throats cleared. Ash turned around to find the two
ninjas in front of him. Pikachu growled.

"No need for alarm," the male ninja said, his green eyes gentle within
the slit over his black mask. "The damsel has been rescued and all is
right with the world."

The female ninja with the red hair tied in a long ponytail, smacked him
on the back of the head with her hand. "James, you fool! While we were
gawking at the rescue, we let two of the outlaws escape! We have to catch
them all or we won't get paid the full amount!"

"Sorry, Jessie," the male ninja said apologetically, rubbing his head.

Then the white Persian came loping back. "Perrrsian ... don't worry, they
ran into the entrance of old Haunted Mount Moon," it growled. "They're
like two mice caught in a box in that place."

They turned to go off. "Wait. Jessie, James?" He looked at the Persian.
"And Meowth?"

The two ninja's turned back and looked at him with shocked looks in their
eyes. The woman removed her veil and the black covering on her head
revealing a sinister-looking but familiar beauty with red hair and blue
eyes, while the man removed his mask, uncovering a girlishly handsome
green-eyed man with blue hair worn in a longish style on his head.  The
Persian looked at them, its feline slitted eyes narrowed in
contemplation.

"You know us?" the man and woman asked simultaneously. "Have we met
before? You look familiar."

"Ash, Laselle, you're okay!" Misty's voice came from behind them, as she
hopped off her pokemon and ran up to stand over Ash and the young girl.
"W-What's that?" she asked alarmed. "A-A bug! I hate bugs!" she screamed
and turned to run back the way she came, red hair flying behind her.

Ash sighed.

"Perr ... I know them now," the Persian said, as it eyed Pikachu.
"They're the brats from years ago when we were still in Team Rocket!"

Bruno, Duplica and the others came up from behind, but had to dodge Misty
as she ran past, blue cloak flapping wildly. "A surprise every second,"
Bruno stated as he turned to watch Misty run away into the forest before
she bumped into a tree and fell down on her back in a silly daze.


*** End Part 4

_________________________________________________________________________

                                POKEDEX
_________________________________________________________________________

SHADOW PIKACHU
Type 1 - Shadow
Type 2 - Electricity

Attack : Darkness Illusion 
Type   : Shadow

A thick mist of darkness is generated which is impossible to see in or
through. Can also cause hallucinations upon contact with eyes.

_________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

Those of you who play Street Fighter Alpha 3 may recognise Ash's combo in
the circle of Master's as a slight variation on a coolness combo
belonging to one Miss Karin Kanzuki ^-^.

And no. Laselle, Junior and Gambit aren't made-up characters. They're
actually plays on those annoying trainers (Lass, Junior Trainer, and
Gambler respectively) you have to fight in the game ^-^. One of my
pet-peeves in a fic is a lot of ANC's (Annoying New Characters) so I'm
trying to only limit myself to only one - Valdera. Then again she's a
baddie so she may not count ^-^. The other baddies like the Farfetch'd
guy, the samurai and Eevie guy came from the anime. The grunt doesnt
exist, but then he was disposed off quickly anyway so I hope you'll
forgive me ^-^.

Oh yes, Starmos, the evolved form of Starmie also doesn't exist. I don't
like making up ANC's but I don't have any worries when it comes to
making up pokemon ...

Comments & Criticisms would be much appreciated!


Ace Sanchez
Emails : jsanchez@bigpond.net.au
       : aceywacey@hotmail.com
       : acey@i.am
WWW    : http://i.am/acey
       : http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/acey