9 Chapter 9 I am bone of my sword

"Are you Damian?"

The indicated boy paused in enumerating the virtues of his Pokémon collection to turn to the speaker. "That's me, why? Want a battle?"

Ash smiled. It had very little warmth. "Not me, no. I thought I'd make you aware of a few of the laws here in Kanto, that's all."

"What do you mean?" Damian was puzzled. He'd grown up here, of course he knew what the laws were.

Ash flipped open his Pokédex, accessing one of the pages of notes he'd made in preparation. "First up, an old law from well before the invention in Johto of the Poké ball. One that references the position of Pokémon that willingly follow a trainer, as – in fact – in a similar position as household members of a feudal lord, the initial intention being a comparison with hunting dogs and such but for more than just Houndour and Growlithe."

Damian merely looked confused. "So?"

"I'm getting to that. Second is a UN resolution from the fifties, defining the legal status of a Pokémon as being dependant on the tested intelligence of that Pokémon. Since the intelligence of Pokémon varies wildly within a species, ahem, 'In cases where the tested IQ and reasoning capacity of a Pokémon falls within the bounds of one standard deviation below the human average or higher, that Pokémon will be considered to be in an equal legal status as a human for all intents and purposes."

"Still not seeing the point."

"We'll get there. But in the meantime… I heard from someone that you had a Charmander. Where is it?"

Damian laughed harshly. "That weakling? I told him to wait for me on a rock out of town, a few days ago. He's probably still waiting, heh. Fool, I'm not coming back for him."

Ash glanced at his companions. "You two?"

"Heard and witnessed."

Damian looked suspicious all of a sudden. "What was that about?"

"Finally, a law from the Tokowuga shogunate that states: In case of a loyal retainer being betrayed unto death by a lord through no fault of his own, and he survive, he may make one return strike if the plot is proven."

Despite the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Damian tried to stay defiant. "And the point of all that is?"

Brock held out a Boulder badge, the special one that confirmed his post. "Gym leader of Pewter, fully accredited by the Kanto League."

Misty held up her own Cascade badge. "Gym leader of Cerulean, same."

Ash's smile was now positively arctic. "Gym Leaders used to be the courts in their areas of jurisdiction; their testimony still holds up legally thanks to the rigorous character tests involved in assuming the position. Your abandoned Charmander is intelligent enough to count as human, and hence a retainer; you left him to die in the rain with malice intent; he gets a return strike; he's behind you."

Damian froze, then turned jerkily, looking at about two feet above the ground.

When all he saw was a pair of enormous legs, he looked up. And up.

Charizard waited until Damian was looking him in the eye, terrified and about to pass out, before inhaling massively.

To Damian, there were comparisons to looking down the barrel of a gun. There was a gaping maw, a dark tunnel behind… there was a glow around the bend of the tunnel now, swelling in intensity and transiting from red to orange to yellow to bluish white…

Charizard bent down to bring his huge head to the same height as that of his former trainer… and blew gently, knocking Damian onto his backside with a painful thump.

Then he wrinkled his nose; apparently Damian's fear had loosened his… let us just call it his 'control' and leave it at that.

Ash strolled over to the thoroughly humiliated trainer and pointed his thumb at Charizard.

"He's a better person than you. How does that make you feel, that – if he hadn't been willing to forgive you abandoning him to die – you'd be a smear of soot?"

Damian choked out a whimper.

Ash looked down a moment longer, then turned his back. "Come on, guys, let's head over to route 9. I think that's where we have to go next."

And they left him in the dirt, not bothering to spare him even a backward glance.

"Ash… something I want to ask you to do for me."

Ash looked at Charizard, puzzled. They were stopping overnight in Cerulean City, and Misty was planning on picking up her future Gyarados the next morning. Her Aura training with Ash and Brock had progressed far enough that she could – just – manage a bastardized form of the Sight. It should be enough to tell which of the Magikarp she had a certain connection to… hopefully.

"What is it, then, big guy?"

"You know I trained for years at the Charicific Valley? Well… that's the thing. I'll have to approach this slowly.

Do you know what the most destructive elemental type is?"

Ash smirked. "I assume it's fire?"

"Right. The most powerful two fire type attacks really show this. Most potent of all is the one that won the last World War, used twice by a Pokémon that isn't just a user of fire but IS fire, in the purest sense of the world. Vinicti was ordered to use V-Generate… and an entire city was wiped away, just like that."

Ash was astonished. He knew that Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been destroyed, of course… but one attack…

"How do you know this?"

"I was taught it when I first learned the second most powerful of all fire attacks. It's one I had to submit to strict rules about – it's incredibly powerful. It's called Blast Burn, and it is one I absolutely cannot use under my own volition. I must be ordered to use it."

"I don't understand, I'm sorry to say… why?"

"Because if a Charizard is strong enough to learn Blast Burn, then a Charizard is strong enough that using Blast Burn will actually strip the atoms of the targeted material of their electrons, turning it into plasma. Much like I heard from Pikachu that his Volt Crash at double power from Charge actually evaporated a swimming pool at point of contact, Blast Burn destroys whatever it hits. There is essentially no exception – even legendary Pokémon do not generally have this level of fire power behind them."

"Tell you what. Can you show me?"

Charizard nodded. "I believe the peaks of the Rock Tunnel area are sufficiently uninhabited – and I can get there inside an hour."

"Okay, um. Charizard, Blast Burn!"

For a moment, it was to the eye as if nothing had happened – though Ash could feel his mount's Aura shifting and roiling with heat. Then…

The air tore as a cone of plasma, a foot wide at Charizard's mouth and focussing down to needlelike intensity at the target, smashed through it for a terrible fraction of a second. The area of impact didn't melt, didn't really vaporize. The energy transfer was too sudden and too fast for that. The entire area simply shattered into tiny chips of granite and rock mush. The heat of the initial attack, however, was still spreading through the shattered region by conduction, melting the entire area down to lava even as it shattered and continuing the process further out.

By the time the effects of the attack were fully visible, it was as a shallow, thirty meter radius crater on the rocky surface of the mountain, mostly full of lava still glowing with heat.

"…holy hell. I see why you wanted to tell me about it, that's practically unsurvivable!"

"Yes. And what I want is for you to tell me when it's OK to use. I had a mental block artificially created in my mind – all those who learned the attack did – that means we can't use it ourselves. And a good thing too, or we'd most likely use it in anger."

"I'd say it's unnecessary, but given what we face regularly… Don't hesitate to remind me of it when the fate of the world hangs in the balance."

"Freakin' brilliant. So we follow dem when dey leave Cerulean, and they go west, then north, then east, then south and end up right back where dey started. Sometimes it's not worth getting' out of bed."

Meowth sighed again, then lay back against Growlie's flank. The wolf's body heat had been essential during the cold nights outdoors, and the two had developed something of a truce. Meowth would try not to insult the larger Pokémon, and Growlie would warn him when he did.

"…wonder when James and Jessie are coming back…"

bink

Two humans, a cobra, a floating industrial disaster, a small dinosaur wearing a skull and a levitating fox all materialized in an instant.

"Gah!"

The humans promptly fell over, as they'd materialized at a forty five degree angle to the floor.

"Was that really necessary?" Jessie grumbled as she got up.

Yes, yes it was. Well, more amusing really, but it's all the same to me.

"Oh, hi, guys!" James sounded inordinately cheerful. Could be that he'd never again have to go through Rock Tunnel. Ever. "Er… any progress?"

"Dey caught dat Charizard and Bulbasaur again. Oh, and Ash blew da Cerulean gym roof off."

Jessie and James looked astonished. "You mean…"

"This happens to them even when we're not around?"

Jessie jumped into the air, punching it in exuberance. "Yes! It's not just us who are chew toys of fate!"

James looked morose. "Maybe if we stay away from him for more of the time, our own luck would increase?"

"Hey, dat's a good idea!"

I suppose we can use my Teleport to get to them whenever we need to, and do our own thing while they're lost.

Arbok sPoké up. "What about challenging gyms? They seem to enjoy it."

Jessie looked blank. Meowth sighed, muttering something about speaking lessons for the entire team, then translated.

"You know, that sounds like quite a good idea. Where should we go first?"

James leafed through the guidebook, a surprisingly comprehensive one by a company called 'Prima'. "Rock...no… Electric? Hell no, they're going there next… I think Sabrina's still bonkers… the Water gym is out of commission… Hmm, Grass is a possibility… aha! Koga of Fuchsia town is a Poison trainer. We've got a ground type, a psychic and two poisons – one of them with Dig. We have a chance. Oh, and he also uses some bugs. That's Growlie's role!"

Jessie nodded. "That's settled, then."

"Hey! Whaddabout me?"

Jessie thought for a moment. "I… got nothing. You really need a more varied set of moves."

Meowth grumbled, and resolved to buy the official guide to his species next time he was in a major city. Surely there was something he could learn…

"Well, since the tw- I mean, Ash, has such a sense of flair… we'll just go and do our thing and then wait somewhere for him. Not as if we could miss him, and we're way faster than him now. That okay with you?"

A snore came from Abra's Poké ball.

"Heh… right, we'll ask him tomorrow."

Jessie looked askance at the ball. When did he even get in?

Most of the newly enlarged Rocket cell turned in early, but not all of them. A single figure stayed up far into the night, running through combinations with her club.

I won't let you down… any of you.

Not after last time someone trusted me.

"So that's what's going on, Squirtle. You have the memories of the future back now… what I want to know is if you're going to be coming with me again."

Squirtle nodded contemplatively. After a few seconds, he flared his Aura (A trick that Ash certainly hadn't taught him yet – his training clearly hadn't been in vain) and struck a pose.

"The reputation of the Squirtle Squad echoes across the land! When people talk about their badass leader, they're talking about me!"

Ash, Pikachu, Riolu, Misty and Brock all facefaulted.

"Three years since he's seen you and this is the first thing he does?" muttered Misty.

"Of course I'm coming with you, Ash! I came of my own volition last time, and that's just not going to change!"

A smaller, goggles wearing Squirtle next to him started going on about his "bro" and how awesome he was.

Riolu shifted over to Pikachu, and whispered in his ear. "Was he always like this?"

Pikachu shook his head, but remembered seeing some anime or other on TV, when Ash was crashing out in a Pokémon centre after going uphill on a Cycling Road or something. "I believe he discovered an anime series or three since I last met him… mostly involving giant robots."

"Well, now that's settled… we better get moving. Where next?"

Best you travel by Pidgeot and Charizard. Your next appointment is Cerulean Cape.

Misty looked pissed. "What, we go the exact opposite direction to Vermillion again?"

Don't blame me, blame the fact that none of you could read a map.

Not willing to allow another argument to take over, Ash took out his two flyers' Poké balls. "Come on, guys, we've got a trip across water ahead of us."

As he formed, Charizard stretched his wings till they popped. "Aaaaah, that hits the spot. Gotcha, Ash – oh, hey, Squirtle! I see you've been training too!"

"We move beyond the people we were a minute before, each revolution of the Earth driving us to improve more than the last!" There was an audible ting of light off Squirtle's shades.

"…yeah, let's go with that."

Pikachu shook his head. "He's got it bad."

"Welcome to Fuchsia Gym. I am Koga, the leader, and I will ask you to perform a challenge before I will battle you."

Jessie, James and their Pokémon listened intently to the rules of the challenge. They were wearing tops with "J" on instead of the rocket R, but otherwise their getup hadn't changed. The gyms of Kanto allowed anyone to compete, and as long as it took people a few minutes to link them with Team Rocket they could battle the leader and be away with Abra. Well, that was the theory anyway.

There was one member of their group, however, who was less interested than the rest in the explanation being given.

"Jessie's right. I ain't no use against a serious battler…" Meowth muttered to himself as he wandered off into the rooms of the gym. "I ain't human enough, I ain't any use as a Pokémon… about all I'm good for is translatin' stuff."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance."

"Da hell? Is there another Meowth in here?"

"There is indeed." A female scratch cat seemed to phase out of the stonework, a headband with a stylized heart design on her brow.

Meowth, with his experience of being hit with nearly every attack in the book and some improvised ones, recognized the effect as a Faint Attack's precursor stage.

Not that he was paying close attention or anything.

"Er… ya said something about assistance?"

The other Meowth nodded, and stretched sinuously. "You're depressed, despite your unique skills. I can… remedy that depression quite easily. Come with me."

He nodded, but looked back almost as soon as he had. "What about da others?"

"They're taking the gym challenge, I know where they're going. You don't think we have to run an obstacle course every time we need a pint of milk, do you?"

"So, that is the basic layout. You have thirty minutes to complete the course, if you want to compete against me in battle. If you do not make it in time, you will have to try again later."

Koga made a few shapes with his hands and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Tch. Showoff.

James took out his Abra's ball. "What?"

That was a hidden Koffing making the smoke, he just ran off while he was obscured. Sure, he's good, but he can't teleport. Speaking of which…

Koga came out of hisbody flicker manoeuvre in the main battle chamber of the Fuschia mansion he had claimed as his gym. With a gesture, he activated the cameras hidden throughout the course. He may as well record their amusing antics for later.

bink

The challenging team materialized in front of him, the humans – strangely – upside down.

He'd really have to make sure to disallow Teleport in the future, but he couldn't deny that was ingenuity.

THUD

"Ow, that hurt! Get off me, James!"

"Not as if I can help anything…" James replied to himself as he righted himself.

"I am impressed with your speed around the course, challengers." Koga spoke up, reminding them he was standing right there. "Rest assured, it will not be a permissible method to complete the course again, though…"

Abra rolled his eyes. Brilliant…

"Be that as it may, I will now begin the battle. Send out your first Pokémon."

Koga put actions to words by sending a Grimer onto the field, starting small to gauge his opponents' mettle.

Jessie's Cubone walked forward into the centre field unprompted, and gestured to Koga, speaking rapidly in her own species' dialect.

"What's she saying? I only understand most Poison types, I'm afraid…"

Abra floated a little higher. She asks for all your Pokémon at once.

Koga stared for a moment. The little dinosaur wanted what?

She is most insistent.

Koga sighed. "Fine. If you want to lose that much, little girl…"

Cubone's eyes flashed. No one called her that, especially not in that tone!

Koga threw his other Poké balls, assembling his entire team. Venonat, Golbat, Muk, Koffing, and a Skuntank.

"Where did that last one come from?" James exclaimed.

Koga raised an eyebrow delicately.

Looking flustered, James replied shakily, "Er, well, they're Sinnoh native, right?"

Koga coughed. "A-herm, he was a present from my daughter last Hanami festival." He shook his head. "Now, are you ready?"

Cubone nodded, then cast aside her Thick Club and walked slowly into the centre of the arena. Raising her head high, she began to speak in what sounded like a chant.

"Bone bone cu Bone cu cu bone…"

Jessie looked befuddled. "What's that?"

After a few seconds in which Meowth did not volunteer an explanation, everyone noticed he was missing. Cubone carried on with her chant, and Koga's team watched in interest.

Abra eventually put everyone out of their misery. The first part means, 'I am the bone of my club…' but I don't know what that is supposed to mean, unless… he noticed the currents of energy curling around the arena. Oh, very good. Very good indeed. I didn't even suspect she knew how to do this!

"My bones are the earth, my skin is the sky.

I have wielded the past of thousands,

Serving life,

Understanding death,

Yet on the razor's edge between the two."

"What is it?" James asked in concern. "What's she doing?"

"My past and future collide on the grassy plain.

I ask for only, the Bones of the hills!"

Abra replied tersely. Reality marble.

And then there was no need to explain, as blue and red fire remade the world into a field of swaying grass, a field of bones, under a stormy sky.

Koga gasped. "What is this?"

Cubone ignored him, staring at her opponents. They looked less sure of themselves now, six on one clearly felt much less safe to them. Finally the Skuntank sPoké up. "What is this? Where are we?"

Cubone smiled, not that it could be seen with the skull in the way. "This is my soul. Tread lightly."

Then she charged, bones flying into her hand from the great assemblages all around – and back out again just as fast, as she preceded her assault with a series of flying bonemerangs.

"Holy crap!" several of Koga's Pokémon yelled, flailing desperately at the storm of bones – ribs, tibia, fibula, humerus, scapula and all manner of others.

Cubone was gratified at the effect her distraction was having – and it had certainly served its' purpose by now, she was in range.

She grabbed a thigh bone that looked like it was off a Snorlax, one that had seemed to just appear as she reached for it, smashed the Grimer into the Koffing, and both out into the edges of her Reality Marble.

"Two down."

Next she took the spine of some kind of sinuous creature, perhaps a Dragonair, and sliced Muk in half, before throwing it so it carried the discorporate goop into the distance.

"Three to go."

Venonat was next, and was simply bashed on the head with a long, thin bone club – a measured blow that merely caused unconsciousness. She was careful with those targets with skeletons of their own to break.

"Two left."

Golbat was high in the air by now, out of range of any throw she could manage with a heavy bone, and started laughing down at her.

"You think to defeat ninja with a single trick?"

Cubone nodded, and snapped her claws together. A storm of knucklebones flew into the air, and peppered the Golbat until he was dizzy. Then they all started sticking to his wings and dragged him down.

"This is my soul, remember? Did you think it would be that easy?"

She idly conjured a Bone Rush staff from thin air and threw it like a javelin, knocking him on the forehead and putting him out for the count.

"One left."

She looked around for any sign of her final foe.

The Skuntank burst from the floor next to her, having Dug underground to escape the bone blizzard, and captured her in his tail.

"You fought well, but now is the end." He gloated, moving his tailtip towards her and letting the pilot light flare up for a Flamethrower.

Cubone pointed over her captor's shoulder. "What is it?"

She simply pointed again.

Sighing heavily, he looked round – and saw an enormous skeletal Tyranitar, rearing back as it roared to the heavens.

"Oh, come on! That's just ridiculous!"

Skuntank made to flee, but was too late as the construct knocked him out cold with its' tail.

Cubone freed herself from the limp Skuntank's Constrict, and looked over her handiwork. She permitted herself a tiny nod of satisfaction.

"I won't be weak. Not ever again."

The flames came again, and the savannah grasses became a distant memory. All that was left was her team, the six unconscious poison types – and Koga, mouth open in shock.

"You fought… amazingly well. Here is the Soulbadge."

As Jessie accepted the badge on behalf of her Pokémon and James scooped up Cubone from the ground, a voice familiar to the Rockets cried out.

"Yes! Yes! My lady Mew, yes!"

Jessie and James cringed in unison. That was Meowth, but it didn't sound like they wanted to hear where he'd been for the last twenty minutes or so.

Less than a minute later, he walked in with a huge grin, right next to the female Meowth that had originally led him off.

"Guess why da cat's so happy!"

Jessie mumbled something about not wanting to know.

"Ya don't wanna? Fine, I'll show ya."

The Rockets' eyes bulged. Did he just say he'd show us?

Meowth drew back his paw, and flung three golden coins into the ceiling.

There was a pause.

"Did you… just use Pay Day, Meowth?" James asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, yeah! This friendly cat here," He indicated the ninja Meowth, "took da time ta show me what I was doing wrong!"

"Oh, so that's what you were doing!" Jessie exclaimed, with some relief.

Meowth looked puzzled. "What else would I have bin doing?"

James coughed. "N-never mind about that."

"Well, that was… strange?" Misty tried, the first to speak for fully ten minutes after they had left Bill's Lighthouse.

Ash snorted, and moved Pidgeot in closer to his friends on Charizard. "Yeah, strange doesn't begin to cover it. So apparently the Dragonite that Bill signalled was one of the Chinese Dragon Kings?"

Brock nodded. "Pretty much. Why are you going over all this?"

Ash ground his teeth. "I am trying to maintain my sanity. It's quite hard. So, to check I wasn't hallucinating. The dragon king was the dragon king of the south east?"

Misty grimaced. "Yes."

"And south east of China is…"

Brock covered his ears. "Stop, before I start having flashbacks and fall off, please!"

"I think I could have handled it were it not for the can of Foster's the size of a small truck."

After a few more seconds and an almost visible shudder, the travellers shook off the memory of the Australian Dragon King, and set course for Vermillion. Pidgeot was showing off her supersonic speed to the slower Charizard, further burdened as he was by two passengers – but declined when he suggested teasingly that they should swap loads.

She didn't fancy carrying two humans and their full weight packs, thank you very much!

At least Ash had remembered to catch Kingler before they went to the cape proper… she remembered the crustacean from their league challenge in Kanto, as a good battler. As he had more of a relationship with Oak than with Ash, he'd been sent to the lab until needed – most likely for the Cinnabar Gym challenge. Make no mistake, he was one heck of a battler, but not one of the easier ones to use – unlike most of Ash's Pokémon, he was a devoted specialist in his type.

Besides, Squirtle covered the Water type already.

A smirk chased briefly across the features of a silver haired woman, in an airship hovering over Verity lakefront. "Interesting… a job in the Kanto region, huh? I'm not impressed with the starting offer, but the second payment is most enticing. And to be able to catch an Arcanine, too… I notice the task is simply that the Pokémon be caught, not what happens to it subsequently."

She considered a moment more, before coming to a decision. Venturing in range of the skies protected by the Blackthorn clan would be… unpleasant, but she was confident her unique technologies would let her succeed.

"Helm. Change course, head south. Exec. All hands commence combat drills and switch to loadout D on the outer cannons. Remain in cloak until we are over the water."

Come to think of it… I wonder if the Beasts of Johto, or the Birds of Kanto might make interesting targets as well. It's been so long since I broke a legend to my will…