//------------------------------//
// Freedom by Aura 
// Story: My Little Pokémon 
// by Amarvax 
//------------------------------//

Ponyville. Day.

Currently, there was a major problem. Most of the ponies here were under the influence of Pokemon Hunter J's Desire, only having one motivation and goal. Exacting revenge on Ash Ketchum.

And they won't stop until they crush him. The ones that were influenced by the Desires were searching for Ash in Ponyville, exploring every part they could.

All the while, Ash was hiding in Twilight's castle with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Their main hope was Princess Celestia and Passion, who can tap into the mind of the victim and interact with their Desires. But, they also knew that they had to conceal Ash for now.

"We're at the highest part of the castle," Twilight said. "Nopony will hear us from this distance."

"Sorry this is happening to you, Ash," Fluttershy spoke to Ash while Scorbunny was on her back.

"Scorbun."

"It's fine." Ash waved his hand. "This'll all be over soon when Celestia and Passion find J."

"Pika."

"So how long are we gonna stay here?" Spike asked as he was one of the few who hadn't been influenced by the Desire. Along with Sunset Shimmer. But Starlight was nowhere to be seen so she was left ambiguous. 

"Hopefully not too long. I'm not sure how Princess Celestia and Passion will interact with J. Her Desire might be very different from others. In which they're not so friendly." Twilight shook her head.

"Nopony's coming towards the castle yet." Pinkie peeked her eyes through the windows, seeing how everypony hadn't approached Twilight's castle and were still searching other buildings for Ash. "Maybe they think Twilight's influenced too."

"Maybe. But they don't seem to mind everypony else. They didn't even plan on attacking you or Fluttershy. Only Ash." Twilight noticed.

"J doesn't have any hate towards us since she's never seen us," Fluttershy replied. "So everypony else is safe. I just hope they don't get caught up in all of this trouble."

"Come to think of it..." Twilight thought about something for a bit. "Passion can release Desires because of her ability to read minds and connect with them. Can Aura do the same?" 

Curious about that, Twilight flew over to her bookshelf to see if Aura could help in this. It is somewhat identical to Passion's abilities after all. Besides, Cynthia's Lucario did help against the Desires with Passion back at Undella Town. But not mentally. That was all Passion.

It was already well-known that Celestia and Passion would be on this immediately since they have the power to break the Desires thanks to Passion's ability to connect with emotions.

But they still had to do something. It wasn't a 100% guarantee that they'll just avoid Twilight's castle. After all, even if they won't attack those who aren't Ash, they'll search all of Ponyville either way.

And right outside, sounds of Pokemon attacks being used could be heard. Mainly from Audino. She could hear attacks breaking through the buildings of Ponyville as the influenced ponies and Pokemon were planning on tearing the place down if it means finding Ash.

Noticeably, their actions and behaviours were becoming more violent as time went by. Mostly from J who somewhere out there right now. If this keeps up, they could reach a point where their violence will threaten more than just Ash.

Not just that, but J's Desire was actually developing like most Desires, to the point where it could speak to the victims it had influenced. And J wasn't even the one controlling it herself.

"Keep searching. Don't stop until you find that brat." The Desire of J spoke.

Adagio and her sisters looked out the window, witnessing the current situation. They had even heard the conversation between Ash and his pursuers. AKA most of Ponyville.

"Ash is wanted? When did this happen?" Sonata wondered.

"No idea. But they're gonna end up thrashing our home if they're so desperate to find him." Aria said.

"Hmph. Doesn't bother me." Adagio quickly put up a magic shield around the house to prevent anyone from ruining it. "As long as they don't mess with us, then it's not our problem."

But, even with Adagio's shield around the house, the same can't be said for everypony's homes instead. The ponies who weren't influenced weren't too pleased with their homes being destroyed all of a sudden.

Some were even stepping up to the influenced ponies, yelling at them and asking why they were attacking their homes. Quickly, conflict arose between those that were influenced and those that weren't.

And of course, Adagio's thirst for negativity enjoyed that very much. Quickly realizing that there was little progress being made in finding Ash, the influenced ponies needed to do something else.

"Nothing so far." Rarity's eyes flashed. "But...There's only one place left." She then looked over at Twilight's castle, knowing that it was the only building unchecked. Or as an alternative, Twilight's lab. That's where her sights were set on.

And the same went for the other influenced ponies as they all looked over at Twilight's castle. Some of the ponies who weren't influenced were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were more confused than anypony here.

"Sweetie Belle. Why is your sister destroying Ponyville with everypony else?" Scootaloo asked.

"I don't know." Sweetie Belle replied. "She just woke up today and started doing this. I think it's about Ash, right?"

"Something about that. But not everypony's affected. My family's still fine." Apple Bloom said.

"Maybe it's just a fun game they're doing. Even if...they're smashing stuff." Scootaloo gulped.

"But look. They're headed for Twilight's castle. You don't think it's legal to break a princess's castle is it?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"It shouldn't be." Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo replied to her. They poked through the corner of the building they were hiding behind, watching everypony approach Twilight's Castle and lab.



Out in the mountains.

And the saying of Celestia and Passion off to deal with this problem was 100% true. The moment Passion was able to sense that something was wrong and a Desire was spreading, she and her trainer got to work.

Celestia and Passion arrived at the mountainside, searching for whoever spawned the Desire so that they can revert them and obliterate the Desire.

However, when arriving here, Passion soon discovered that she could barely feel the Desire at all. As if it was very faint. Most noticeably, the Pokemon who had been hit by J's Desire were all searching for Ash by gradually leaving the mountainside. While they didn't know who Ash was, there was an eerie voice coming from the Desire that was telling them where to go.

Most of them had actually already left the mountainside. Now they were somewhere in Equestria, searching for Ash while driven by J's revenge. And the remaining Pokemon were close to leaving her.

"Hm. Passion. Do you sense it?" Celestia asked.

"Voir." Passion couldn't expertly track down the Desire. It wasn't as potent as the other Desires she had come across. Mostly because this Desire was only 1% instead of 99%. So in a sense, it was masking itself.

Not only that but there was another reason why.

J wasn't at her hideout right now. She had most likely gone to the Pokemon Black Market in Unova or Sinnoh by this point, so her presence with the Desire wasn't here, making it impossible for Passion to find her.

"Gardevoir."

"Nothing? That's odd." Celestia thought. "Then where's the Desire coming from?"

"Garde..." Passion was unsure for the first time. With the victim of the Desire nowhere to be found or sensed, the Embrace Pokemon was stumped and didn't know what to do.

However, it didn't mean that she and Celestia wouldn't have some sort of lead. Passion noticed one of the Pokemon's eyes were flashing purple while another pulsating cosmic energy.

That was a major red flag.

"Gardevoir!" Passion had spotted multiple Pokemon with those same pulses and flashes, showing Celestia. Not all of them had them, showing that only a select number of Pokemon from the mountainside had been influenced.

"Oh! Do the Pokemon have the Desires?! Multiple of them?!" Celestia gasped.

"Voir." It looked like it from what Passion had seen. But for multiple Pokemon to have Desires at the same time would be new and unexpected. But that wasn't the case. They were all being fueled by one source.

Passion, believing that all of these Pokemon had different Desires, decided to try and free them one by one. She wasn't sure if she could do it simultaneously. However, Passion then realized that there wasn't any sign of their Desire Manifestations.

It was just the Pokemon and nothing else. Their manifestations weren't showing themselves.

"Garde?" Passion, confused as to why no manifestations were showing up, pressed on either way. She decided to go after the first Pokemon she spotted.

A Sudowoodo that was searching for Ash was her first decision. The Embrace Pokemon flew over to the Imitation Pokemon, ready to tap into its mind.

"Sudo?" The Rock-Type turned around, spotting Passion approaching.

"Voir. Gardevoir." Passion kindly asked if she could tap into Sudowoodo's mind for a bit. She mentioned how she wasn't here to harm Sudowoodo or anyone here. It was just a quick checkup on something.

"Woodo." Much like everyone else, Sudowoodo had no hostility towards Gardevoir. Only Ash. Anyone else is essentially neutral. A bit of an odd contrast since that symbolizes that only Ash is the enemy and everyone else is fine. Especially if seen by a cute Pokemon that looks harmless.

So, Passion put her hands on Sudowoodo's head as she started to tap into his mind, expecting to find his Desire. But, she would end up finding something else.

As Passion's eyes flashed white while Sudowoodo closed his eyes, the Embrace Pokemon had already delved into the mind of the Imitation Pokemon, viewing his many memories. From his birth to his life experiences.

But, that wasn't the most important thing Passion found. What she ended up finding related to the events that transpired last night and led to today.

Passion saw this mountainside specifically since Sudowoodo lives here. By further tightening her focus, she wanted to know more and see if she could spot the moment the Desire appeared.

She could see that the Imitation Pokemon was resting behind a tree during the night. And while resting, a purple pulse of energy hit him from behind. Sudowoodo himself didn't know where the pulse came from since it was widespread in the form of a radius, of course.

The pulses could also be seen affecting most of the Pokemon here from Sudowoodo's point of view as well as them transforming into particles and scattering across the sky, heading towards different locations in Equestria.

Passion needed to know who those particles had hit. But, that was as far as she could go. Sudowoodo's memory of the Desire only exists in the mountainside.

However, before she could stop, she was able to see one last thing. Once Sudowoodo had been hit by the pulse, he had also seen the words Revenge on Ash Ketchum forming together with cosmic energy.

Passion had finally understood what was really going on.  Someone who hated Ash was the cause of this as she had put two and two together easily. A hatred so strong that they would desire revenge, promptly causing a Desire to find them.

After that, Passion took her hands off Sudowoodo's head.

"G-Gardevoir?!" The Psychic-Fairy-Type soon knew that right now, Ash was public enemy number one. And those particles in the sky also came from the same Desire that hit Sudowoodo and the rest of the Pokemon here.

"Passion! What did you find out?!"

"Voir! Gardevoir?!" Passion raised her arm into the sky before explaining what all these Pokemon were now aiming to do.

"Revenge on Ash?!" Celestia gasped. "All of these Pokemon? And the rest of Equestria?"

"Voir." Passion then listened to all the Pokemon and their cries, hearing them talking about Ash specifically and how they were trying to find him. And nothing else.

"So then...who did it come from? Ghetsis?" Celestia wondered. She thought that the Desire came from Ghetsis since he clearly hates Ash. If it was him, then that would be the hardest Desire to conquer. But, there are potentially others who hate Ash and Celestia was hoping that it would be someone new and not Ghetsis.

"Voir! Gardevoir!"

"Oh! We should check on Ash first?" 

"Garde!" Passion nodded.

"Hmm. If those particles have spread across Equestria, anypony would want to find Ash. And if it's Ghetsis who generated this Desire then..." Celestia held her breath in. She didn't want to deal with Ghetsis this early on. Especially with what her Cerebral Training had shown.

But, they also had to see what was currently happening with Ash since so many were about to exact revenge on him under someone else's desire for revenge.

However, Celestia decided to think ahead of the curve. Sudowoodo may not have their answer as to who caused the Desire, but with how many Pokemon there were here, someone had to.

"Passion. Before we leave, aside from Sudowoodo, there must be other Pokemon here who had seen where the pulse had come from via their point of view. Tap into their memories and see what you can find."

"Gardevoir." Passion understood as she got to work. She quickly teleported to the next Pokemon she saw while Celestia followed with her own teleportation.

Passion appeared in front of a Linoone who had also been influenced by this burning revenge. This time, Passion didn't want to wait to ask Linoone if she could tap into his memories. She just did it right away by putting both her hands on his head.

"Linoone?" The Rushing Pokemon's eyes widened after being held by Passion.

"Voir!" Passion looked into Linoone's memories, fast-forwarding to the night the Desire showed up, but from his point of view. 

During that night, Linoone was also resting like Sudowoodo and some of the Pokemon who weren't nocturnal. Until he heard the sound of the pulse going off which woke him up.

At that time, Linoone was at a higher location than Sudowoodo instead of being behind a tree. Linoone's point of view had actually witnessed the first few Pokemon who had been hit by the Desire, but not where the Desire originally came from.

However, now Passion had a lead on which Pokemon she should ask first. A Mareep, Doduo and a Bonsly. Those were the first few Pokemon that Linoone had seen being hit by the Desire.

"Voir." Passion took her arms off Linoone's head, quickly searching for those three Pokemon that had been hit. Not wasting any time, the Embrace Pokemon started teleporting all over the place, searching for either Pokemon, hoping that they hadn't left yet to find Ash.

"Ash will be fine," Celestia said to herself. "It will take more than an entire nation to stop him." She was sure that Ash could make it out of this. 

After all, he's been through worse.



Ponyville, Twilight's Castle.

It didn't take long for Rarity and the others to arrive at Twilight's castle. Especially her Pheromosa, who was the fastest Pokemon in Ponyville.

"Mosa!" Not wanting to ask questions, Pheromosa kicked the door down to Twilight's castle. Hearing the door being broken down altered Ash and the others who were all the way upstairs.

"Already?!" Twilight gasped. "It's only been 17 minutes! How fast did they search Ponyville?!

"Oh, dear!" Fluttershy yelped as she hid behind Audino.

"Pheromosa probably." Ash stood up, knowing that things were about to escalate once more.

"Pika...!" Pikachu and everyone could hear the sounds of everypony searching the inside of Twilight's castle, starting from the bottom.

However, Audino heard Rarity command Pheromosa to head upstairs and find Ash. Since she was the fastest, she could traverse the castle quicker than anyone here.

"Dino! Audino!" Audino quickly warned Fluttershy.

"Pheromosa's coming!" Fluttershy translated for everyone. "We need to do something!"

"No need to worry!" Pinkie Pie slid in with her own idea as well as Mew. "Mew and I have a really good plan!"

"Mew-Mew!"

"Well, what is it?" Twilight asked. "Hurry, Pheromosa could be here any second."

"Okay, Mew. Go!"

"Mew!" Mew nodded as he was ready to pull off this plan. He was going to transform into a Pokemon that could successfully hide Ash and the others from Rarity and the others.

And with his body glowing pink, the Pokemon he transformed into was a Cofagrigus. The Coffin Pokemon. "Cofagrigus!"

"Cofagrigus?" Sunset wondered how Cofagrigus would help with this? "Why?"

"Oh! Good thinking, you two!" Ash knew exactly why Pinkie Pie and Mew chose Cofagrigus.

"Go, Mew, go!" Pinkie Pie ordered.

"Grigus!" As a Cofagrigus, Mew used its ghostly hands to grab only Ash and Pikachu. Ash was the prime target and Pikachu was always by his side.

Mew then opened up the coffin of Cofagrigus's body, quickly pulling Ash and Pikachu inside of it. A clever action since it could act as a hiding spot that no other Pokemon could break into.

"Yeah. That could actually work." Twilight nodded. "Don't worry, Ash. We won't give you away."

"I know you guys won't. Pikachu and I will be right back." Ash gave thumbs up before sinking into the darkness of Cofagrigus along with Pikachu.

"Pika-Pika!"

"Cofa!" Afterwards, Mew closed the coffin, hiding Ash and Pikachu in there. But he wasn't done yet. Since he was taking the form of a Ghost-Type, he could mask himself in various ways.

Using Cofagrigus's intangibility and Ghost-like physiology, Mew made himself invisible while also phasing through the walls of Twilight Castle. Mew was going to get Ash out of here so that everyone would believe he wasn't in Twilight's castle.

Now they were truly hidden.

And at the right time too. Pheromosa came bursting in, smashing the door down with no remorse. It seemed that as time went on, the actions of Pheromosa and the others were growing more violent.

"Ah!" Twilight and the others gasped as Ash's Gengar also made himself invisible. 

"Axew...!" Axew stood in front of Spike, ready to protect him if he was to be threatened along with everyone else.

"Phero."

"Morning, Twilight." Rarity hopped off Pheromosa's back. "You wouldn't happen to have Ash in here would you?"

"Mmm..." Fluttershy shuddered as she kept hiding behind Audino while Chikorita and Scorbunny grabbed onto her hoof.

"No. He's not here." Twilight was ready to lie to the best of her abilities. "But I heard everything outside. You wanting to take revenge on Ash."

"Precisely. And you're sure he's not here?" Rarity's eyes intensified while looking at Twilight as other ponies were slowly approaching the upstairs of Twilight's castle.

"Rarity. You and Ash are great friends. Why would you want to suddenly take revenge out on him? Especially for someone you don't know." Twilight asked.

"I..." Rarity held her head. Twilight's words really hit her. In truth, only Ash and Twilight know about Hunter J and just recently Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, while the others don't. At least, not yet. "It's for her."

"But why? You've never seen her before?" Twilight walked forward. "There's no way you'd want to hurt Ash even after all we've been through with him."

"Kh!" Rarity scoffed as the intensity of the energy was increasing in colour.

"It doesn't make sense! Especially since the one you're being influenced by is a Pokemon Hunter!" Twilight exclaimed

"A Pokemon Hunter?!" Rarity's head started aching as she growled. The Desire that was influencing her was acting up. And that was for a good reason.

Because while 99% of it is J, 1% is Twilight. So in a sense, Twilight was combating her own Desire yet again but this time, it was a part of others.

"Is it working against the Desire?!" Fluttershy noticed. 

"I don't have time for this!" Rarity's tone became sharper as now her eyes were permanently surrounded by a purple aura. "Twilight. Tell us where Ash is."

"I said I don't know." Twilight kept hiding Ash from them.

"Tch. Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie. You were the last seen with Ash. Where is he?" Rarity asked.

"Um...Sorry. Not sure. We lost each other in the smoke." Fluttershy whimpered.

"You won't find any Ash's here!" Pinkie Pie let out a cheerful smile.

"Spike." Rarity looked to Spike, knowing that she could take advantage of him.

"Uh oh." Spike gulped as Rarity was approaching him.

"You're a dear, aren't you? Would you be so kind as to tell me where Ash is? You'd do it for me, wouldn't you?" Rarity questioned as the rest of the ponies had arrived upstairs after finding nothing downstairs. Many of them were coming through the broken door thanks to Pheromosa.

"Um..." Spike started sweating as Axew stood in front of him. "Sorry. I was here with Twilight the entire time. But you're really scaring me Rarity!"

"Hm." Rarity narrowed her eyes, doubtful about all of this.

"Xew! Axew!" Axew got in Rarity's face, essentially telling her to back away from Spike.

"Hm?" Rarity moved back.

"Axew!"

"Rarity. You're being controlled by Hunter J's Desire right now. You're not in your right mind." Twilight walked to Rarity. "You don't actually want to destroy Ash, do you? You can't let someone get in the way of your friendship for Ash!"

"I just need to, alright?!" Twilight's words weren't going through, unfortunately. J's Desire to take revenge on Ash was far too powerful. And more noticeably, Rarity was becoming more aggressive, much like everyone else. Very soon, it would be more than just Ash they would hurt if pushed further.

"No good." Twilight backed away. "It's not reaching her. I guess only Passion is capable of doing so. Please hurry, Princess Celestia."

"Perhaps he's gone back to Pallet Town." Rarity theorized as her aggression had reached another level. "But just to be sure...I'm sorry about this, Twilight. Pheromosa! Smash the castle apart!"

"Phero!" Pheromosa was about to do just that. She was going to break this castle apart just to find Ash as she raised her leg.

"Sol!" But, Absol wasn't having any of that as he rushed towards Pheromosa. When the Lissome Pokemon struck her foot down, Absol quickly used his horn to block Pheromosa's leg, preventing her from breaking the castle.

"Mosa?!"

"Absol!" Absol quickly pushed Pheromosa back by flipping his horn up which moved the LIssome Pokemon's leg away.

"I can't let you do that, Rarity." Twilight declared. "You're not in your right mind."

"You're going to get in our way?" Rarity narrowed her eyes while everypony turned their attention to Twilight and Absol.

"We sure are. Besides, you're not taking revenge out on us. Only Ash. You can't harm us can you?" Twilight smirked.

Little did she know, as Rarity grew more frustrated, her hostility did too. Since they were all being fueled by J's thirst for vengeance, becoming easily irritated was one of them.

"I might have to." Rarity growled which startled Twilight a bit.

"Absol!" And clearly, Absol wouldn't allow Rarity to harm Twilight. Neither would Eve.

"Espeon!"

"Come on!" Pinkie Pie got between Twilight and Rarity. We're all friends here, right? We can't let some Desire thing tear us apart like this."

"Right. Besides...we don't want to see Ash get hurt," said Fluttershy. "And we know that deep down, none of you actually want to really hurt him."

"I know that but...!" Rarity held her head. Somewhere, deep down, Rarity's true self could understand what Twilight and the others were saying. But, they were unable to tap into the Desires like Passion can.

What's worse, J's Desire, without even having J herself be in control, was speaking through Rarity and the others, further manipulating them. 

"Forget about your friendship. Destroy anyone who gets in your way and find Ash immediately." The Desire of J spoke.

"Ugh!" The more J's Desire spoke to Rarity, the more her head started to twitch. Somewhere, Rarity was still trying to fight against the Desire. "The rest of you can head to Pallet Town and see if Ash is there. This place is mine."

"Rarity. Don't make us do this." Twilight stomped her hoof. At this point, conflict was inevitable. 

Nothing was getting through to Rarity and the others and the search for Ash was imminent as everypony else were heading for the other world, expecting Ash to be there. In the meanwhile, Rarity still believed that Ash was somewhere in Equestria.



Speaking of Ash, he and Pikachu had been successfully driven away from everyone thanks to Mew. They had actually arrived at the Everfree Forest.

Mew turned visible as he released Ash and Pikachu from the coffin before reverting into his normal Mew self. "Mew!"

"Thanks a bunch, Mew!"

"Pikachu!"

"Mew-Mew!"

"But ya know, I'm still pretty worried." Ash looked down. "About everyone else."

"Pikapi..."

"I wasn't really ready for J to have a Desire. Especially one that's out to get me. Gotta do something."

"Mew-Mew."

"Let me see if Rainbow Dash knows." He quickly took out his Xtransceiver, calling for Rainbow Dash to alert her about the current situation. If she was available that is.

He turned on the Xtransceiver as the Rainbow Dash's Trainer ID was being called. Ash was waiting for a response while standing in the eerie atmosphere of the Everfree Forest. But he really wasn't scared of it at all.

Eventually, Rainbow Dash picked up Ash's call. But once the call had been answered, Rainbow Dash's face couldn't be seen. Only the blue sky and some rapid movement.

"Rainbow Dash?" Ash squinted at the screen. "Are you there?"

"Closer than you think!" The pegasus actually did respond to him but in a natural way. Her face still wasn't being shown on the screen.

Abruptly, with some warning, Ash could hear the sound of something moving at high speeds as he could also hear it from the Xtrasnceiver.

And then it clicked. Ash's Aura responded to this sound as Ash looked up to see that Rainbow Dash was actually approaching him with her hoof ready to smash into Ash.

"Oh!" Ash gasped as he, Pikachu and Mew jumped back with Rainbow Dash crashing into the ground, shaking it a small bit.

"Heh!" Rainbow Dash's eyes flared purple in the smoke as she had a devious grin on her face. Out of all the ones who had been influenced, Rainbow Dash was the most aggressive one so far.

"You too?!"

"Nothing personal, Ash! But you're going down!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Pika!"

"Mew?!"

"I don't wanna do this. I don't want to hurt you all, ya know." Ash refused to harm his friends. 

"Huh? Pssh! What, you're too scared?" Rainbow chuckled. "If you're not gonna fight back then you're better off as good as dust!" Rainbow Dash didn't use her Pokemon for this. Instead, she felt like she was enough to take out Ash.

The multi-coloured maned mare quickly flew towards Ash, aiming to crash right into him. Ash made sure not to harm Rainbow Dash as he made Pikachu stand back for this. Ash's Aura helped him to match with Rainbow's speed as he quickly swayed his body to the left, throwing Rainbow Dash off guard.

"Woah!" Rainbow Dash screeched as she almost crashed into a tree. But she ended up recovering easily in the air. "Why you...!" Annoyed by Ash's dodge, Rainbow Dash went for another attack.

"Pikachu! Don't attack her!" Ash already saw that Pikachu was eager to attack Rainbow Dash. When it comes to Ash, he'll do anything to protect him.

Ash kept dodging Rainbow Dash, not engaging physically as Rainbow Dash was moving so fast that she was breaking through trees and smashing the ground trying to catch Ash. No Pokemon were used this time.

Rainbow Dash swung her hoof towards Ash, trying to sock him in the face. But Ash held his hand out, catching Rainbow Dash's hoof. She then tried her other hoof before having it be caught by Ash's other hand.

"What happened to not fighting back, huh?!" Rainbow Dash growled as she was trying to push through Ash while her hooves were being held.

"I said I won't!" Ash replied. "Even if you attack me with all you have, I won't hurt you! I know you don't really wanna take revenge out on me deep down inside!"

"Tch! What do you know?!"

"A lot! I know that a Desire's controlling you!"

"Desire?"

"Hunter J's the one who wants revenge on me. Not you Rainbow Dash." Ash suddenly spoke in a calming voice. "Even if you do hurt me, you won't actually try and fully get rid of me, will you? And besides, there's no way I'm gonna let myself go down here."

Ash's Aura was clashing with the Rift energy coming out of Rainbow Dash. Aura is the only thing that can combat Rift energy at the end of the day and this was an example of two powerful universal forces going against each other.

But noticeably, Ash's Aura, being so immense, was starting to give off a familiar feeling. One that Lucario and Passion can also emit.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash looked into Ash's eyes as his Aura was interacting with her. One thing Aura Guardians and Lucario have in common with Gardevoir is that they can both sense emotions and essentially read minds. Whether with Aura or Fairy Magic.

It's why Passion can tap into the mind of anyone and connect with their Desires. And Lucario along with Aura functions similarly but with slight differences.

"Grr!" Rainbow Dash flew back as she could feel her head twitching. She then ascended into the air, figuring that she could have better results by hitting Ash at greater speeds. Speeds that even he couldn't avoid. "How would you like a Sonic Rainboom?!"

"Pikapi!"

"Don't Pikachu." Ash was remaining calm throughout this.

"Pika?"

"Mew?"

Rainbow ascended higher into the air, kicking up high amounts of wind. A Sonic Rainboom coming into contact with anyone would be a bit catastrophic depending on the target. 

Ash simply stood still, not engaging in any further conflict as his Aura was responding to this entire situation. Aside from Spiritomb, Aura Ataxia, battling Ghetsis and his Lucario, this was the most Ash's Aura has been active.

Years of spending time with various Lucario from different parts of the world had led to this moment. A moment where Lucario himself could sense Ash's Aura rising as he came out of his Poke Ball.

"Lu." Lucario emerged from his Poke Ball, crossing his arms and denying any contact with Ash. Rainbow Dash gained enough distance as she rocketed downwards, instantly creating a Sonic Rainboom while approaching Ash at high speeds.

Ash suddenly stepped in front of Lucario instead of allowing Lucario to be his shield. His Steel-Typing would definitely help in this situation. But, Lucario could sense Ash's confidence brimming from his Aura, so he trusted him. "Cario.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes as the last thing Pikachu, Mew and Lucario saw was Rainbow Dash crashing into Ash at ludicrous speeds. Afterwards, a multicoloured rainbow explosion happened on the spot, rupturing the entire forest as it could be heard even from Ponyville.

And that certainly grabbed the attention of Rarity and the others. They had seen the Sonic Rainboom outside, alerting them all. The voice of J then told them to head to that specific location where Rainbow Dash's actions were ongoing.

At least, they were.

After the explosion was clearing, a large crater could be seen. Pikachu gasped, believing Ash had been hit while Lucario remained adamant.

And he did in fact get hit. Rainbow Dash's hoof had smashed into Ash's face. But Ash was still standing on the spot, smack dab in the middle of the crater as if he hadn't even moved.

His Aura had caught Rainbow Dash in response to her emotions. Rainbow pulled her hoof back after the impact, surprised to see the result.

"What?" Rainbow Dash was shocked at what she was seeing.

"Told ya." Ash gave a thumbs-up as his Aura had protected him from the harsh impact. "I won't go down here." He adjusted his hat. "You know that yourself, Dash. You don't go down so easily yourself."

Unknowingly, Ash's Aura was connecting with Rainbow Dash, affecting her mind. The pegasus froze in place as Ash's Aura was actually fighting back against J's Desire via a sort of mental battle.

Ash's Aura was far greater than J's hatred for him. After all, a bit of Twilight was within the Desire, so Aura was capable of getting through to Rainbow Dash.

"Ugh!" Rainbow Dash held her head as two different forms of energy were currently going about in her mind. Ash's Aura had obliterated the Desire as opposed to Passion who can just release the Desire, causing it to fade away.

Rainbow's eyes then flashed blue as Aura started flowing out of her. An echoing cry and bright light came out of her. The Desire of J, at least one of them, had left her mind, causing Rainbow Dash to revert.

"Ough..." She groaned as she fell on the ground.

"Rainbow Dash!" Ash ran to her side, picking the pegasus up from the ground. "You doing okay now?"

"Mm...Totally." Rainbow nodded. "Sorry about that, Ash."

"Don't worry about it." Ash placed her down. "I don't know what all that blue stuff was but it worked."

"Duh. That was your Aura." Rainbow Dash pointed out. "You're the only one who gives it off after all."

"My Aura?" Ash then thought back to what Twilight said. "So Twilight was right...Aura can do the trick."

"Pika?"

A helpful revelation. Ash's Aura can act as a secondary way to get rid of the Desires. However, there were still so many influenced by J. Not just in Ponyville. But all of Equestria as Rarity and the others were approaching Ash.

When Ash's Aura obliterated a piece of J's Desire, the Desire made the other victims aware of this, telling them where to go if they want to find Ash.

Even if one of his friends had been freed, this was far from over.

As the journey continues.


Chapter 394 End.