Welcome everyone to chapter 2 of Aura's Legacy! Let's get the show on the road, shall we?

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. If I did I'd make it so that trainers could carry more than six at a time and train a small army. Come on, you guys know you'd do it too if you could!

Chapter 2: Happier Times

Humans and Pokemon alike were baffled as to what this high speed object that was racing through the countryside exactly was. It was moving so fast that all anyone could see was a black and blue blur. This blur, however, was on a mission. A very, very important mission.

"I must find that man! I can sense that I am nearing his location... it is only a matter of time before I make him pay for what he has done to Master Barthold and myself! I swear it in the name of Aura that he will pay!"

Lucario's speed picked up a notch as he travelled down Route 1 in the Kanto region...

Pallet Town - Kanto

"Now... you're going to tell me why you're here and what you think you are doing... RIGHT NOW!"

The fifteen year old trainer scowled at his opponent with enough ferocity to make even his friend Misty, who has quite a temper in her own right, back off like a whimpering Poochyena. Ash had never been so furious in his entire life.

"Well well... it appears I missed one. Houndoom, remove this nuisance from my sight."

"Doom!"

Ash leapt away from Houndoom's oncoming flamethrower attack just in the nick of time.

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt!"

"Pi-ka-chuuu!"

Pikachu's thunderbolt made a clean hit on the Dark Pokemon, causing it to stumble and fall down. Both the masked man and the Houndoom itself were not expecting such a ferocious attack from just a little Pikachu.

"Intriguing... that Pikachu seems to have been trained well. I can see it has been through many a battle and emerged victorious. You might be a little more dangerous than just a 'nuisance'..."

"Hah! I'll take that as a compliment. Now, answer my question. Who the hell are you and what are you doing!"

"Foolish child, what I am doing is of no concern to you. There is no way that a mere boy can hope to understand what it is I am trying to accomplish by coming here. Be thankful that I have spared your life, and the lives of the researchers here, thus far."

"What do you mean? The last I checked, I was winning this little fight of ours. Maybe you should check if that mask isn't defective or something!"

"Oh, is that so? Houndoom, Mightyena? Would you mind putting this whelp in his place?"

Suddenly, the masked man's Houndoom sprung up from the floor and quickly performed another flamethrower on an unsuspecting Pikachu. It tried to fight it's way through the flames, but when it thought it was safe, Mightyena, who was making it's way behind Ash and Pikachu the whole time quickly clamped on to the electric rodent with a powerful crunch attack. Pikachu attempted to shock Mightyena while it was latched on, but before it could, the Bite Pokemon threw Pikachu into the wall on the far side of the room, knocking it out cold.

"Pikachu, no!" Ash cried out in desperation.

"Now isn't this funny, our situation seems to have reversed itself boy. Now I hold all the cards." The masked man chuckled evilly.

"Oh crap... this is bad. This is really bad." Ash said under his breath. "I don't have anymore Pokemon with me, since I just released everyone from my Sinnoh team out back."

The masked individual began walking slowly towards the raven haired youth. "While it has been fun dealing with you, I'm afraid I'm going to end our little game now." The man said cooly. "You have annoyed me and delayed my plans long enough boy. Prepare to die."

The masked man materialized a a glowing blue sword out of thin air, brandishing it as if it weighed no more than a feather. Ash was incredibly perturbed at the action. He would have been vocal about his shock that the man just made something appear out of nothing, but the fact that apparently his life was about to end took precedence.

Ash slowly started to back away from the approaching man. He, however, tripped on a pile of books that were thrown all over the room from the explosion earlier. Ash could now only look up in horror at to what would most likely be the last thing he ever saw.

"Farewell... boy..." The man began to swing his sword in a downward arc. Time seemed to have stopped for the young trainer as moments from his past adventures flashed across his mind...

- Flashback -

"Well... I guess this is goodbye then..." Misty said with a sad smile.

"Don't worry Misty! This may be the end of our adventures together, but this won't be the end of our friendship! You, Brock, and I will still be friends even if we're worlds apart."

"Yeah, Ash is right Misty." Brock reassured his red headed friend. "Though... I'm very touched that you'll miss me so much..." Brock than began to tear up and soon the waterworks were flying. "Oh to hell with it! I'm gonna miss you guys so much!" Brock grabbed his two traveling partners in a tight embrace.

"Whoa! Brock! Take it easy man, you're crushing me!"

"Ok, that's enough!" Misty decked Brock across the face causing him to fly backwards and land on the ground twitching in both shock and pain.

"Wh-why me...?" Brock groaned from his position on the ground.

"Well... because... you're gonna make me cry dammit!" Misty yelled. "I'm sad enough as it is, I don't need to cry now..."

Both boys looked at their crestfallen friend sadly. "Misty..."

"But... I'll be strong. I mean, what you said is true Ash, we'll still be friends forever." Misty said with a more heartfelt and determined smile. "Plus, it's not like we'll never see each other again. I'm sure we can all meet up at Ash's place whenever he comes back home between journeys."

"Yeah! You guys are always welcome at my house!" Ash put on his trademark grin. "And if you guys are ever free to, join me on my adventures. You are both more than welcomed to."

"Ha! I might take you up on that Ash." Brock said as he picked himself up off the ground. "Who knows, I might end up not having to do much at the gym back home."

"Maybe I'll find some free time too. I'd be thrilled if I could even just visit..." said Misty.

"Awesome! Well, I'm heading this way..." Ash said sadly. "See you guys soon!"

"Take care of yourself Ash... don't forget to call me every now and again! You know the number for the Cerulean Gym!"

"Good luck Ash. We'll see each other soon, I'm sure of it."

"Yep! Bye guys..." Ash turned around and walked off into the sunset. He touched the brim of his cap lightly for a second before pulling it down over his eyes. Despite what he said earlier, he was still greatly saddened at having to leave his two best friends. The tears just wouldn't stop.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu asked it's trainer in a worried tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine buddy... come on, let's go!"

.0.0.0.

Ash stared intently at his hand. In it was a ribbon, or more appropriately, half of a ribbon. It was his and May's new keepsake, a memory from their first battle together on the contest stage at, ironically, the end of their journey together.

He gave the ribbon another look over. He could tell that this item would become very near and dear to his heart.

"Ash..."

Ash spun around to see his other half smiling sweetly. She always smiled sweetly at him... or was he just imagining things?

"Hey May." The raven haired youth returned her greeting. "What are you doing over here?"

"Oh... nothing really... I just saw you standing here at the end of the pier and I was wondering why." She answered demurely.

"Ah I see. I was just standing here thinking is all.

"Thinking? What were you thinking about?"

"Well I was just thinking about when I first met you back in Hoenn." He smiled.

"Oh god... I was such an idiot back then. Please don't remind me." May said with a pained expression. Ash knew that May was furious with how her younger, more inexperienced self acted.

"Haha no don't worry about it. I was just glad to have met you at all. I came to a new region all alone with nobody but Pikachu at my side. You made it more bearable when you came with me. Then your brother Max joined and then my old buddy Brock came back to find me and join me on my adventure as well. I just wanted to thank you is all."

May went wide eyed. She had no idea that Ash felt this way! She put her hand over her heart, silently pleading for it to slow down it's beating and also hoping that the blush on her face was not too obvious. "Th-that's... well... you-you're welcome, Ash." May said, lost for words.

Luckily for her, Ash was one of the densest people on the planet, so her signs of embarrassment went unnoticed.

"Good luck in Johto May. Kick some ass in the Grand Fesitval!" Ash clenched his fist in determination. "And I'll be sure to kick even more ass where ever I go next."

"Hehe, I'm going to hold you to that Ash Ketchum." May smiled before the two were left looking at each other in silence for a few minutes.

Suddenly a boat whistle could be heard at a pier further down the dock.

"Oh, shoot! It's time already? I gotta go Ash."

"Yeah, later." Ash turned around to walk away when he was assaulted by a pair of hands grabbing him from behind. He then felt a body press itself against his back and hold him in a tight embrace.

"M-May?"

"Be careful... ok?

"Y-yeah, sure."

"Ok then... bye bye!" May quickly let go and ran off before Ash could say another word.

Ash noticed then a painful clutching feeling in his chest. He looked puzzled as to what it might be, but then chalked it up to being something unimportant. He then ran off to find Brock and Pikachu before setting off to home once again.

.0.0.0.

"Dawn, if you hold him that tightly, I think he might pop." Brock said with a sly grin on his face.

Dawn looked at the breeder confusedly before noticing that Ash was slowly turning blue and losing consciousness from her extremely tight hug.

"Oh my god! I'm so, so sorry Ash! Don't die!" She shouted franticly before letting him go like he had been diseased.

Ash coughed a little bit before chuckling slightly. "Don't worry Dawn, I've been through a lot worse.

"Ahaha... right." The coordinator let out a nervous laugh.

"Well Dawn, what are your plans now?" Brock asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're more than welcome to come with us back to Kanto."

"Yeah! I'm sure you'd love it!" Ash said excitedly.

"I wish I could, but I think I'm going to go home first and figure out what I want to do next then." Dawn replied. "I promised my mom I'd come home after this journey was done."

"Oh I see... Well, don't forget that if you ever find yourself in the Kanto region come find us. We'll show you all the sights." Brock said with a smile.

"Yeah! And I'll show you where all the contest halls are!"

"Thanks guys! Well, I'll let you both catch your boat now, so I'll see you soon. Stay in touch!"

Dawn gave another hug to Ash and Brock apiece before taking a couple of steps backwards and dashing off into the distance. While most would have missed it, tears were beginning to form in the corners of Dawn's eyes as she left. This, however, did not go unnoticed by Brock.

"... hey Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"You sure this is ok?"

Ash cocked his head at Brock in what could only be called an extremely confused expression. He didn't understand what his good friend meant by that.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ash asked quizzically.

Brock let out an exasperated sigh before shaking his head slightly and softly chuckling.

"Well, it's alright if you don't understand yet. Come on, we're going to miss our boat at this rate!"

Brock quickly spun around and bolted to the boarding ramp.

"H-hey! Wait up Brock!" Ash yelled after his companion.

- Present Time -

If Ash had a moment to, he would have stopped to laugh and look back on those scenes fondly. Unfortunately for him, an eerily glowing blue sword was hurtling towards his, open, exposed, and very vulnerable head.

'Oh shit...!" Ash fiercely shut his eyes to brace for the end.

CLANG

And thus it was that Ash Ketchum, experienced Pokemon Trainer, met his end at the hands of an unidentified masked intruder.

...

...

...

'Wait... why am I still alive?' Ash slowly opened his eyes to see why his life was not snuffed out.

"What the-?"

In front of Ash stood a glowing black and blue dog like creature with a metal spike in it's chest. A creature that Ash himself had had past experience with.

"A Lucario?" Ash exclaimed.

"So... we meet again... familiar of the Aura Guardian Barthold."

"Yes... I have finally found you, and now, you shall perish by my fists!" Lucario declared while adopting a battle stance. At that moment Ash knew that his life was no longer in his own hands anymore.

TO BE CONTINUED

Well there it is! What did you guys think? No big author's note this time around because I don't really have anything to say other than the usual. The usual being: please rate and review! I enjoy hearing feedback. We all do. It's a writer thing. You don't need to understand it, just accept it as a writer thing.

Well, that's all for today. InfiniteImmunity out!