Going forward and beyond {Path of the Aura Ranger: Book I}

II Josh's P.O.V

I never thought I would say this, but I am so glad I did not partner up with Sarah during our last mission. Because while she was at the towers in Alamos Town, which honestly saved us all (who would have thought music would be the answer?), I was with Ash. And what he did... it was marvelous.

I think I should go back a little bit and explain what happened better. You see, our squad received some strange readings coming from Alamos Town. So, Ash decided we should check it out, and it was such a good decision. Palkia and Dialga... Palkia and Dialga people! I can't believe this is my life now.

Luckily, the first thing that happened was that we met with Darkrai and he decided to put that pompous Baron Alberto to sleep. Good riddance! That asshole afterward tried to have the whole town hunt down poor Darkrai, when he was only trying to help. Luckily, Darkrai recognized Ash, because it seems like Legendaries are capable of recognizing him and communicating with him via a dream. He warned us about Palkia and Dialga fighting and causing repercussions on our side of reality. So, we rapidly evacuated the people and told them what was happening. Baron Alberto had no leg to stand on.

We received help from a scientist, Tonio, and his friend Alice. Darkrai sent Ash a clue through his dream about Alice's grandmother and a song called Oracion. So, with this clue, while the rest of us dealt with the evacuation, he, Sarah, and Rose found the disks and figured out the order they should be placed in. Luckily, Ash had once already dealt with Legendaries that needed music to be defeated... well, to be calmed down more than defeated.

Some things I will never understand, this is a weird world.

But what took the cake, was Ash climbing on Darkrai and putting himself between Palkia and Dialga, rapidly stopping their fight and slowing down the disappearance of the town, giving Sarah and Rose the time they needed to power up the Space-Time Towers. Rodrick and I watched as he floated in the middle of them and then proceeded to scold them.

Scold them!

I never thought I would see the day someone would scold a Legendary. Least of it, two! And they weren't any type of Legendary. They were Palkia and Dialga! But Ash did. Even when everything was said and done, with Palkia's wound being healed and all, he continued his rant. I don't think he even knew it, but I honestly did not dare to interrupt him. He was quite scary.

I still shiver at the memory:

"Do you have any idea what you've done!?" I looked to the sky in shock, Rodrick stood by my side with his jaw dropped, neither of us believing our eyes. Our Pokemon were no better, Ash's, however, were shaking their heads. Some of them, even looking at Palkia and Dialga, sympathetically. As if... they understood. But what about any of this is capable of being understood?! Ash, marvelous but still human Ash, was scolding the gods of Space and Time! "You are Legendaries! Arceusdamn it! Look at me when I am speaking to you!"

"Is this real?" Rodrick whispered/asked, afraid of seeking any louder, as both Pokemon whipped their heads towards Ash, looking... scared and embarrassed?

"He is indeed The Slayer," I murmured back. "So, cool!"

"Aha," muttered Rodrick, gulping hard. "Should we tell him that the girls are done and he is stalling the end of the mission?"

"Do you want to get between that?!" I exclaimed. Was he mas?! "He is ranting about the code of acting to Legendaries!" I looked back at Palkia and Dialga, who, uh, were blushing. It seems that Legendaries can blush too. "If you want to, is your funeral."

At least to say, we let him continue his rant until he was satisfied. By the end, I felt quite sorry for Palkia and Dialga. I didn't even care about them almost erasing a town, no one should live through that. What was worse, was Ash laughing and telling us that it was nothing compared to his mother. That say I swore, that if there's anything I will never do in my life, is to end on the bad side of Mrs. Ketchum.

Luckily, Head Ranger Jared gave us a long vacation after that. Even if he was not aware of what the mission entailed. But now we were back and ready to deal with Team Galactic. Ash's contacts, the previously known members of Team Rockets, informed us that Saturn and some grunts were seen nearby the Solaceon Ruins. That can't be good.

"Pikachu looks quite happy," Sarah commented with a smile. We were all much more relaxed, we've been getting used to the intense and dangerous mission lately. By now, we all trusted Ash to keep us safe and in our abilities to pull us through. "Did something happen lately?"

"He became, for a short period, a mentor to a recently evolved Luxray," Ash commented amusedly. "He even called him, Master Pikachu and all."

We all laughed at the adorable image of a blushing Pikachu, but then sobered up when we saw Saturn and his henchmen enter the Solaceon Ruins. We rapidly followed them after Slowking used his powers on us. Stealth is a must while trying to catch a terrorist group. We silently followed them to a room full of Unown inscriptions. We watched as the three of them placed some kind of special plate into a triangular floor plate.

"The Splash Plate, Iron Plate, and Draco Plate," Ash murmured in worry. "Pikachu get ready..."

But whatever he wanted to say, was interrupted when the center of the triangular floor plate started to glow. Out of the blue, all of the Unown inscriptions become real Unown. Our Pokemon readied themselves for a fight, as a box was lifted from the ground.

"That's the Spear Key! We can't let them get away with it!" Ash exclaimed standing up, from our hiding place, aiming his weapon at the criminal trio before us.

A lot of things happened at the same time, Saturn took hold of the box, which angered all of the Unown and caused them to attack. Ash fired two shots at the same time which Saturn orders his Bronzor to deflect the Unown with Confuse Ray. The grunts fell to the floor paralyzed, a startled Saturn looked towards us in anger but still managed to getaway. We tried to follow but the Unown was not letting us through.

"Arceusdamn it!" I growled in anger. "We are trying to help here!"

"Pikachu, Go!" Ash commanded to his starter while releasing his Slowbro. "Everyone be careful with your attacks, the Unown are only doing their jobs. Rose secure the grunts!"

"Yes, sir!" We replied as one.

We released our Dark-type and Ghost-type Pokemon, while Ash's Psychic-types kept everything contained. It took a while but we were able to finally calm them down and return them to their sleeping mode. Luckily, none of them was able to get past Slowking and Slowbro, which kept the chaos contained in the room. Unluckily, Pikachu returned and informed us via Slowking that Saturn had escaped via a helicopter that was waiting for him.

"Arg!" Ash growled in frustration. "At least, we got these two." He turned towards the still paralyzed grunts. "Rose, Rodrick, I'll leave you both in charge of procuring they get to prison. Try to get some information from them."

"Yes, sir!" They saluted and got to work.

"Sarah, Josh, we will go to the Ranger Headquarters of Solaceon Town and have them secure the area." He nodded towards us, before leading us out.

We got out, but instead of finding Rose and Rodrick, we almost collided with Dawn, Riley, and another guy.

"Ash! Josh! Sarah!" Dawn exclaimed delighted, but then her expression grimaced when she noticed we were in a full ranger uniform. "Is everything ok?"

It still shocks me how fast Ash is capable of getting hold of his emotions. One second, he was angry and the other he was calm, as he smiled softly at Dawn and assured her: "Don't worry, we were just finishing. But I will need you guys to go back to town, this area at the moment is a crime scene."

"Of course," Riley replies seriously.

He rapidly stood beside Dawn, clearly ready to protect her if anything goes wrong. The red-haired guy, looked scared but angry at Ash, at the same time. What is wrong with him?

"Is that... Ambipom evolved?" Ash's face glowed in delight as he looked at the recently evolved Pokemon. "How did it happen?"

"I won a battle against Kenny!" Dawn exclaimed proudly, oblivious of the reddening cheeks of the red-haired guy.

"That's amazing! Congratulations!" He hugged both Dawn and Ambipom, before murmuring something at Riley, who simply nodded his head and guided the younger kids towards town. Once they were out of sight, he turned towards us and told us, seriously: "Let's get going. We have work to do."

"Yes, sir!"