Chapter 6

AN: This chapter is completely filler and backstory, seeing as I had quite the massive time jump between chapters 4 and 5. Enjoy though, I rather liked writing some more backstory.

Once upon a time, in the realm of ghosts, a very strong spirit emerged from the abyss. From the hordes of monstrous creatures, from the piles of death and despair, as well as from the stench of the afterlife, one single figure emerged, stronger than the others.

His power was volatile, and since he didn't know how to control it, monsters and dreams-since the two are inseparable in this plane-were caught and ripped apart by his very presence. Naturally, this figure became very lonely, and for the sake of those around him, isolated himself from the world.

But through dimensions his power could be felt, by a select few. Those that could feel this power felt afraid, even if they put on a calm façade. The power was raw, uncultured and dangerous. Every aspect of it was simply… dark beyond measure. Even Darkrai wouldn't go near the source, fleeing as soon as the figure got too close.

Ironically, the darkest shadow managed to attract one of the brightest lights. A Cresselia, one of the strongest, felt this absurd strength from her spot in the sky. Yet while all others only felt the strength and viciousness of the figure, she could feel the loneliness oozing from him. So she ventured out, into a realm exactly opposite of her own, to seek out this figure that was so lonely.

When the two met, the dark one spoke, "Why have you come, bright light? A sweet thing like you will be swallowed whole in a place like this." To which the Cresselia responded, "Because the dark cannot exist without the light. Just as the light cannot exist without the dark."

How long she stayed in the abyss, nobody knows. All evidence there is of their meeting was given through a single Gengar appearing in the realm of the living, with pitch black eyes, and a single pure white egg with him.

One might think that their story ends here. That the baby hatched, and the three lived happily ever after. Yet the happiest stories are also the most fake. For when the child hatched, born of both darkness and light, by two entities never meant to love, he was mute.

His muteness meant insanity, in the eyes of his parents and peers. Those that met him were terrified of what he didn't do. Yet though his eyes were insane, they only held intellect. He deduced his lineage within a moon, and grew stronger by the night.

His father was scared, and rightfully so. For even the darkest know to how to fear the darker. The child's strength grew, shockingly fast. But he was lonely, just like his father.

Until one day he met some people, who actually understood. They could comprehend every word he said. In a life full of people thinking he was speaking gibberish, having one that understood was a blessing he couldn't pass up.

So now he defends the one, who gave him a voice.

Zack and Tadewi grew up together hating each other, and always trying to outdo one another. It was understandable that they would act this way, with Tadewi not having any siblings and Zack being the oldest of his litter. Since Ariel and Venom still had their own duties every so often, they would often drop off Tadewi to live with her uncle's family.

One time, the two were adventuring around Mt. Moon. A strange thing that many don't know about Mt. Moon until they go there is that the caverns are normally lit. This is because a large amount of the mountain is actually open to the sky, or there are holes in the ceiling of the structure, allowing light to go through.

This is because originally, the mountain was apart of the ground. Due to erosion, the ground around it sunk, but the mountain itself was made from the tunneling of Onix's. When an Onix tunnels in a mountain, it leaves part of it's bodies minerals all over the dirt, strengthening it.

While Mt. Moon is lit decently most of the time, there are lower caverns of the mountain that are pitch dark, and inhabited by stronger Pokemon, as well as several groups of feral Pokemon.

Now all the hatchlings of Mt. Moon are told from a young age that if a hole opens beneath them, to avoid it at all costs, and tell an adult about the hole. They are definitely not supposed to decide to venture inside the hole.

Unfortunately, Tadewi was never warned about the mysterious holes, seeing as she wasn't really raised in Mt. Moon. One thing led to another, and a hole opened for Tadewi. Being the adventure-seeking little fowl she was, she ventured into the hole, despite Zack's warnings.

At that crucial moment of Zack's life, he could've left Tadewi to die in the hole filled with feral Pokemon. Since Pidgey's don't have the evolutionary abilities to see in the dark, Tadewi would've been defenseless. Zack likely wouldn't have even gotten in trouble, seeing as the two didn't always play together.

Instead, Zack dove head first into the pit, guiding a trembling Tadewi out of the hole a good thirty minutes later. The two never speak of the event, but that day solidified their relationship to being practically siblings.

As to why the mountain randomly creates holes? Well, if you were completely constructed by massive rock snakes leaving bits and pieces of themselves to create you, wouldn't you become sentient eventually too?

Dragons are immortalized in all tales of being strong, vicious and prideful. Of having quick tempers and not hesitating to bite you up and swallow you whole. In some cases, this idea of dragons is completely true.

Many a kingdom of the past was completely built upon a dragon being in the royal service, after all. Yet these creatures, while depicted so often as being extremely violent, can be some of the gentlest creatures as well, especially in their younger stages.

So should it be too surprising that when it came to time for our young group of Pokemon and children to have mock battles, that AuraGuardian was too timid to hurt her friends?

"Come on, AuraGuardian! Hit me!" Lion cried out, darting around the dragon. AuraGuardian gulped, barely managing to dodge the basic jabs Lion sent her way.

"I don't want to hurt you though!" AuraGuardian responded, slithering a bit further back. Ash and the others cheered her on from the side.

"Come on, AuraGuardian, you can do it!"

"Hit him senseless!"

"Knock him out!"

AuraGuardian steeled her courage, and channeled some of her energy to her tail as Lion changed into a defensive stance, arms raised to block. He nodded encouragingly to her, and AuraGuardian lunged forward.

Lion closed his eyes, expecting pain to come, but nothing. He peeked an eye open.

AuraGuardian had managed to stop herself right before her tail would've collided with Lion, and now moved herself into a ball.

"Wah… I can't do it I'm sorry everyone…" she cried. The others watched wordlessly for a moment, before Dawn moved forward.

"There there, AuraGuardian…" she said, rubbing her gently, her hand glowing. AuraGuardian sniffled, before crawling onto Dawn's shoulders and eventually, moving to Ash's shoulders.

That day, everyone in the group made a vow to never let AuraGuardian be in the front of a fight, and protect her from the fighting at any cost.

Ash woke up in the middle of the night startled, his entire body tensed as much as possible. He thought he had heard something weird, almost like a groan? Granted, living with a family of Pokemon tended to make weird noises a part of everyday sleep.

Regardless, Ash got up, stretching a bit before throwing off the covers and walking outside. He looked around for a quick moment, taking in the view and the stars, before noticing a faint light in the corner of his eye.

Through the clearing, he saw Lion on all fours, clenching the grass and glowing extremely bright. While Ash wanted to help… something told him not to, and he just watched, fascinated, as the glow around Lion slowly faded, leaving him panting and sweating.

"Are you okay, Lion?"

"Huh? Ash? What are you doing out here?" Lion asked in between pants. Ash sat down on the grass next to his fighting friend.

"I saw the light. Lion are you okay?" Lion nodded immediately.

"Yup! Nothing wrong with me, nothing at all!" A fake smile was plastered on his face. Ash hesitated before speaking.

"If something's wrong will you tell me?" he asked. Lion stared, before sighing.

"I can evolve right now."

"That's great! Wait, why haven't you then?"

"It's because… It's because I'm worried. I don't know what I'll be yet, and I don't want to be a Lee or Chan. I want to be a Top…"

"How can we tell what you'll be?" Ash asked. The small Tyrogue shrugged.

"I honestly don't know. It's just a gut feeling all Tyrogue's get. Memma knew she'd be a Hitmonchan. Papa knew he'd be a Hitmonlee. I don't know what I'll be, but I know that right now, I won't be a Hitmontop."

"… We wouldn't care if you were a Chan, Lee or Top, Lion."

"I know that. But still, I want to be a Top."

"Lion, let's go inside, okay?" Lion thought for a moment before nodding.

"Okay."

"Dears, we have great news! Dawn, we found your parents, and the league contacted them. You're going home in a few days!"

Dawn jumped for joy, hugged Ash then ran outside to tell Riolu and the others. Ash, meanwhile, slumped slowly.

"What's wrong, Ash? Don't you want Dawn to go back to her family?" Ariel asked, slightly bewildered.

"Well… I want her to stay! I'll miss her if she leaves…!" Ash said after a moment of thinking. Ariel sighed.

"Ash, she needs to be with her parents eventually. We'll meet her again, besides, you still have a few days before she leaves."

"…"

"You'll be fine sweetie. Why don't you go with her through the forest? Bring the others, too if you want. Or you can play tag with Dits, doesn't that sound like fun?"

"… Okay."

Ash walked outside slowly, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. Meanwhile, Dawn had found Riolu, who had been training with Kick and Punch. They bowed to each other before he left them to hear the good news from Dawn.

"Hi Riolu! I'm going home soon, isn't that great?" Dawn asked, giving a hug to the stoic fighter. Riolu seemed shocked, before slowly returning the hug.

"Have you told the others yet?" Riolu signed with his hands. Dawn stared intently, before thinking.

"I've told a few of them, not all yet. I don't know if Ash knows yet, for example. I'm going to miss you…!" she said hesitantly. Riolu nodded back, before looking at his hands. He then pointed to himself once, before making a sign for 'name'.

"What do you mean, name?" Dawn asked. Riolu just repeated the gesture.

"Oh, do you want me to name you?" she asked after a bit of thinking. Riolu nodded enthusiastically. Dawn tapped her chin. "Protector?" Riolu sighed, before shaking his head.

"H-hey Dawn!" Ash said, running into the clearing. Dawn smiled, before frowning when she felt the wave of sadness coming from him.

"What's wrong, Ash?"

"Eh? Nothing! Nothing at all, what's going on?" he asked. Dawn frowned further, but answered.

"Oh, actually it's great that you're here. Riolu wants me to rename him, but I don't know exactly what he's saying…"

"Tuitor. That's what I want to be called." Riolu told Ash.

"Tuitor? What does that mean?"

"Dawn wanted to call me Protector. In my species language, Tuitor means Protector too."

"Oh. Dawn, Riolu wants to be called Tuitor because it means Protector in Riolu.

"Twee… Twee tour?" Dawn asked. Riolu smacked his face, but then started nodding. Dawn and Ash laughed together, before Dawn gave Riolu another hug. "Tuitor. That works for me!"

"Oh yeah… you're leaving soon, huh Dawn?" Ash asked. Dawn nodded.

"I'll… I'll miss you," Ash said slowly, blushing and hiding his face. Dawn stared for a second in confusion, before smiling with a slight blush on her face too.

"We'll see each other again, Ash. Don't worry," Dawn said confidently, a smile on her face. Tuitor tugged her sleeve and signed. "You're coming too Riolu? Are you sure?" The Riolu nodded.

"Are you sure you have to go…?"

"Yeah, mommy and daddy are so hopeless without me," Dawn sighed. She and Ash stood awkwardly for a moment, with Tuitor slipping away quietly.

"Will you come to Kanto again sometime?" Ash asked after a pause. Dawn nodded.

"I'll definitely come back to see you. Friends, right?" Ash smiled sadly.

"Friends." Dawn thought for a moment.

"Come here and close your eyes."

"Eh?" Ash asked, doing what she said anyways. He felt Dawn's arms around him, then a small feeling on his cheek, a small weight on his chest going unnoticed.. He opened his eyes to see the two of them hugging, and her face a mere few inches from his face.

"Don't forget me."

"How's he been?" Ariel asked. Venom shook his head worriedly.

"As depressed as he was the first day. And the second. And the third. You would think the child could get over it sooner." Ariel sent a dirty look at her mate that made him flinch. "I mean… fine. I understand that he's still sad, and it's perfectly normal. But if what the Psychics predicted is true, he's going to need to be tougher than this."

"He's still a hatchling. He has time to get over it, but seeing his sad face every day still makes my heart twinge…" Venom rubbed Ariel with a wing.

"We can't really do anything outside of kidnapping another human for him to play with to fix this. Just give him his space, I guess." Ariel nodded, and the two sighed, one having always worried for the child, the other beginning to feel pain reserved for Tadewi.

"Speaker, are you sure this i-is safe!?" Timidfang gulped, addressing her worries to the human that was hanging off a branch on the top of one of tallest trees of route 1.

"Calm down, Timidfang! I'll be fine!" Ash laughed, swinging himself up another branch, branches of which were still barely thick enough to support the growing child's weight. He put his back against the trunk, and put his feet out, closing his eyes to relax.

Timidfang sighed, before jumping up onto another branch near Ash, and starting to groom herself.

"Where's everyone else? You hardly ever go anywhere without the others." Ash shrugged, glancing at the Rattata.

"I needed to be alone for a bit. To think." He closed his eyes again, sighing. Timidfang shook her head, before curling into a ball and trying to relax.

When Ash opened his eyes again, the sun was setting. He stretched for a second, yawning as well before sitting up. Timidfang was still where she had fallen asleep, but she was extremely tense and motioned for Ash to stop moving.

"What do you think you're doing in my tree, human!?" A voice startled Ash and Timidfang. The two turned slowly to see a massive bird with a long slender beak and brown coloration glaring at the two.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just taking a nap, I'll leave in a bit!" The bird cackled and cawed a few times.

"H-Hey Fearow! This is the Speaker, please don't hurt us, we'll leave quickly!" Timidfang interjected. The Fearow cackled again.

"As if, little Rattata! The two of you will make a fine meal!" The Fearow's beak began to jab at them, while the Fearow rotated it's neck, charging an attack. Ash's eyebrow twitched, before he began pointed a hand at the bird.

"Fearow, I'm really not in the mood. Please stop." Ash said. The Fearow ignored him, now rotating so quickly that it almost seemed like he was a drill. Ash growled, before charging an Aura Sphere and firing it at the Fearow, exploding in it's face and knocking it back.

"You've… You've done it now, human!" the Fearow cawed. Ash lifted his hand towards the battered Fearow, another Aura Sphere beginning to charge in his hand.

"U-Uh Speaker, maybe we should just leave him alone…?" Timidfang said hesitantly. Ash shook his head.

"He threatened to eat you. And nobody eats my friends!" Unbeknownst to Ash, his eyes started glowing a bright, fiery blue, the Aura Sphere growing rapidly.

"Ash, don't!" Ash faltered, Tadewi's voice appearing out of nowhere.

"Tadewi? When'd you get here?" Tadewi shook her head.

"You didn't think we'd just let you disappear without being near you, right? Don't fire that thing at that Fearow though, it's not fault he's an idiot. Come on, let's go." Ash sighed slowly, the fire dying in his eyes as he lowered his hand, the Aura fading as well.

"Hi, Fearow. My name is Ash Ketchum, I'm a Speaker. The two of us wouldn't make the best meal for you." The Fearow snapped a few times.

"You think I care you're the Speaker? And who said you were to be my food? The rest of my Flock is here now, you're birdfeed!" The three tensed, Ash looking out to see a huge flock on their way.

"Tadewi, Timidfang we've got to go." The two nodded, Timidfang beginning to jump down, much faster than the slow Ash, who stumbled a few times on his way down. Tadewi remained at his side though, and Timidfang waited a few times for Ash.

"Guys, I'll be fine don't wait for me!" he grunted, jumping down another branch. He was mid-jump, however, when a caw sounded and disrupted his concentration, making him land awkwardly onto the branch and begin to fall backwards towards the far ground.

"No!" Timidfang and Tadewi shouted at the same time. Tadewi grabbed onto his shirt from the front while Timidfang tried to hold onto his shoes, leaving him dangling upside-down.

"I-I'm fine, let go!" Ash cried out. The two tiny Pokemon ignored him, struggling to keep him up, while Ash watched the flock of vicious bird Pokemon coming closer. He lifted his hands and began firing shot after shot into the group, making them scatter and slowing them down in general. A bird fell onto Timidfang though, making her squeak and fall off the branch as well, making Ash fall as a result, the only one holding him up being the small Tadewi.

"Tadewi let go of me, I'm fine!"

"N-No!" She cried, trying to lower him slowly to the ground. There was still no stable branches underneath Ash and Tadewi, only ones small enough to support Timidfang, who was now unconscious. Looking up, Ash saw the original Fearow closing in, beak spinning and cutting straight through any branches in the way. Just as he was about to strike Tadewi, she began glowing.

When the glow faded, Tadewi was now much larger, wingspan having increased three-fold, and with a single flap of her wings, she sent many of the smaller, closer birds flying, except for the large Fearow who was merely shoved back a bit.

"T…Tadewi?" Ash asked. Tadewi sent him the equivalent of a smile before facing the other birds again.

"Let's go, Ash!" She threw the screaming Ash up in the air, before catching him on her back and diving upwards at the enemy flock. The enemy Fearow was in the front, and opposite Ash and Tadewi. Ash began charging an Aura Sphere as the two birds charged towards each other, and at the last second, Tadewi dived, sending the Fearow past them, just as Ash sent the overcharged Aura Sphere into the Fearow's stomach.

"Guh…" the Fearow plummeted to the earth, it's defeat making the rest of the flock flee. Ash grabbed Timidfang on his and Tadewi's decent, before the three appeared in front of the injured Fearow. It tried getting up, before wincing and falling to the ground again. Ash stepped forward to try to heal it, but was interrupted by Tadewi's now much larger wing.

"He tried to eat you and Timidfang. Are you sure you want to help him?" Ash thought for a moment, before shaking his head.

"It doesn't matter that he tried to hurt us. He's still hurt." He walked past Tadewi's wing, placing his hands above the Fearow's side. The Fearow's eyes were open the entire time, staring intently at Ash. Ash's hands began glowing green, and slowly, the bruises that had appeared on the Fearow disappeared, before he was fully healed.

The Fearow stood as soon as Ash finished healing him, staring wordlessly for a bit. Ash stared right back, showing no fear while Tadewi clenched the ground with her talons, preparing to dive forward to protect Ash.

After what felt like a lifetime, the Fearow nodded, before flying away, making Tadewi almost collapse in relief. Ash sighed as well, walking back to Tadewi and Timidfang, who he quickly revived to consciousness.

"Looks like you aren't one of the smallest anymore, Tadewi," Ash laughed. Tadewi perked up, not having thought of that. Later, Zack would spit out a Chesto berry after seeing how big his cousin had gotten.

AN: If you thought there was a lot of writing errors or whatever, please realize I posted this right after finishing it.

BTW a week from now, it'll be the 2 year anniversary of this story! (SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING THIS THAT MUCH)