Through Shadow and Lightning A Warrior Rises

Chapter 1

5 years later

Delia was standing in her garden watering the plants and watching her son run around after her late husband's Charizard. She felt sad and happy at the same time. Her son came running over to her.

"Mommy Professor Oak is going to have a summer camp can I go please?" Ash asked.

Delia thought about it. She was scared to let her son leave her sight but as she thought about it Ash was friends with Gary Oak, professor Oak's grandson, and professor Oak would also be there to keep an eye on him. Delia also remembered that he would help if she called. She hadn't asked him for help since she first met him that terrible night.

"Sure honey sure" Delia said.

"Yeah I'll go tell Professor Oak that I can go" Ash said happily.

As she watched Ash go, Delia she smiled but felt a twinge of sadness. She missed her husband very much and it always broke her heart having to tell her son that his father was away and couldn't come home. Delia looked behind and standing on the branch of a tree was X. He jumped off the branch and landed right in front of her.

"What do you need?" X asked.

"I want you to go to the summer camp the professor is holding and watch over Ash. You don't have to interact with him if you don't want to but please make sure nothing happens to him" Delia said.

"Of course, but I have to ask what will you do if he decides to go off and be a trainer?" X asked. "I can't keep my eye on him for a full journey. I have my job to do here as well."

"I know, think of this as my first step toward getting ready for that day" Delia said.

X nodded and had a feeling that something interesting was going to happen.

The next day Delia saw Ash get on the bus to go to the summer camp smiling. X stuck to the trees and the air following the bus unseen. They got to the camp a few minutes later and all the kids got off the bus. After that introductions were given and the kids were directed to their respective cabins, boys get one half of the cabins the girls get the other half of the cabins. Over the next few days nothing out of the ordinary happened just regular camp activities. X patrolled the perimeter of the campsite and surrounding forest looking for any signs of shadows. Most common signs of shadows included claw marks, random chills in direct sunlight (will happen even without wind or in over 90 degree Fahrenheit temperatures), and random spots of darkness that were cast off of nothing. Luckily, he had found none of those things and didn't have to worry about the children being harmed.  One morning Professor Oak had an announcement to make and assembled the kids in the middle of the campsite by the fire pit.

"Okay kids listen up I want you to go out into the forest and find a wild Pokemon and study its appearance.  Once you have taken notes on it you will present your findings to me and I will try and guess what Pokemon you found.  You have one hour to find a Pokemon and come back to describe what you saw.  For safety I will be assigning groups of 4 people so no one gets lost."

X decided that now would be a good time to get some sleep.  Sleep was a luxury to a demon that was at war never knowing when an attack would come.  X drifted off to sleep bracing himself for the nightmare that would ensue, it was always a nightmare whenever he drifted off to sleep.  As X settled into the branch of the tree he was in, he heard a small voice in the distance.  Demons had a few enhancements to their senses that humans did not, one of those being really excellent hearing.  X focused and could hear that it was a little girl's voice.  He stood on the branch and hopped from branch to branch getting closer to the voice.  He found the source in a deep part of the forest a little bit outside of the area where the cutoff point was.  It was little girl in a pink dress wearing a straw hat.  Her hair was honey-blonde and she was scared out of her mind.

"W-where is everybody?" the girl asked. "W-where did you all go?"

The bush next to the girl rustled and startled her.  She fell and twisted her ankle and scraped her knee.  X had his hand on his sword ready to strike if a shadow appeared.  A Pokemon appeared and looked at the girl.  It made a sound at her and then ran off.

"I knew I didn't want to come to camp, I knew it" the girl said shakily.  "MOOOOOMMMYYY".

The bush rustled again and this time the girl started to cry.  X had his hand on his sword again ready to strike.  What came out of the bushes was not what X expected.

"Poliwag?" A voice said.

Out of the bush stepped Ash in a yellow shirt with a red pokeball on it.  He looked around and saw the girl lying on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Ash asked.  "Hi I'm Ash.  Who are you?"

The girl looked at him still scared.

"What's wrong?" Ash asked.

"I hurt my leg" the girl said.

Her scrape was bleeding and her ankle was starting to swell.

"Don't worry here this will make it better" Ash said.  He took out a handkerchief and wrapped it to cover the cut.

It won't make it better stupid fool, X thought.  What are you trying to do?  The girl tried to stand up and winced back to the ground.

"Now watch this" Ash said. "Feel better feel better right away."

This is so bad to watch, X thought.

"It still hurts I can't stand up" the girl said.

"Hey don't give up till it's over ok" Ash said. "If you start to fall I'll catch and carry you."

Ash held out his hand and the girl took it and Ash pulled her up to her feet and she stumbled into him.  As X predicted the injured ankle couldn't hold her up and she began to collapse back to the ground.  In one swift motion Ash scooped her up in his arms and carried her cradle style.

"See I told you I'd catch you" Ash said smiling.  "I think we should get back to camp, once I figure out where to go."

This is where I step in, X thought.  He jumped down from the branch in front of them.  Serena buried her head in Ash's shirt hiding from him and Ash looked at X with a look of challenge, as if to say I will fight you if you try to hurt us.  It amused X and also he respected Ash for his determination to protect someone.

"The camp is this way" X said. "Follow me."

For some reason Ash felt like he could trust this person who was talking to him.  He looked at the girl.

"You never told me your name" Ash said.

"My name is Serena" the girl said.

X lead the way and Ash followed carrying the girl with him.  X snuck glances behind him and he could see that the girl's cheeks were red.  Normally, that would mean that a human is sick but when X scanned her vitals she was healthy except for the obvious ankle injury.  The other possibility was when a human's brain goes into overload and they have a strong feeling of affection for someone.  X remembered that it was something called love.  Well well Ash Ketchum it seems you have become a knight in shining armor for this girl, X thought chuckling.  Pretty soon X saw a light indicating they were close to the campsite.  X turned to Ash and put his fist to his heart and then pointed towards Ash's heart.  It was the demon salute and then X simply vanished into the dark of the forest.  Once Ash got back with the girl he was hailed as a hero seeing as they had been gone for a good hour.  After that Serena never left Ash's side and Ash didn't mind because he had made a new friend.  Gary joked around with Ash that he might as well be Serena's boyfriend with how obsessed she is with him.  Serena with blush hard and always deny this but Gary knew better.  When camp ended it was obvious that Ash and Serena were sad that they had to leave as neither wanted to say goodbye.  X had feeling that one day they would see each other again.  Fate has a creative sense of humor, he thought.