Beast-Master is kind of like a pokemon trainer, right? I think so anyways… it probably fits Ash the best…
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Chapter 4
Lance calmly reached into her pack, a black-and-silver item appearing in each hand. The goblin blinked brown eyes in puzzlement, but then charged forwards, its squat green body bouncing with each step.
Her clarinets came together to form an X block in front of her body, and then while the goblin tried to free its spear from between them, she swung on forwards and shoved the sharp mouthpiece into the goblin’s chest. With a shuddering groan, the creature flew back a few steps, not bleeding, but bruised at least. Not much had been done, as it was wearing hard leather armor…
However, the armor did not cover its entire aspect, and its eyes were exposed… and it was temporarily stunned, so she put down one of her clarinets, hand diving into a small pouch on her belt, coming up with a handful of reeds…
Four of the sharpened bamboo pieces slammed into the goblin’s face, one in each eye. Blinded, it howled in pain and tried to tear the offending objects out. Lance now took out her reed knife and slit its throat, putting it out of its misery.
After the goblin had bled its last, she cleaned her weapons off, wincing at the broken reeds, and began to fix them.
She stowed the goblin’s leather armor and spear in her pack – it could hold seemingly vast amounts of items, and she could sell them later. She continued walking, following her compass…
A few more hours passed peaceably enough, with no interruptions. She vaguely remembered that the Master temple was located atop a snowy mountain, to test the devotion of the Minstrels and Singers, the Painter and Potters, the Craftsmen and Musicians who attempted to reach it….
Singers relied solely on their voices, musicians solely on their instruments. The others didn’t fight.
That was why only three of the Jigglypuffs chosen people ever tried to reach the Master temple. Oh, there were the occasional craftsmen, but overall, nothing much else. The craftsmen never made it anyways.
Ash walked through the forest, occasionally looking at rare flowers and picking them. He was about to pick a large, dull red flower, when it hissed at him!
It wasn’t a flower! It was one of the grass element beasts!
“Charizard!” Ash called. He clasped his hands in front of his chest, almost in an attitude of prayer. Instantly, a dark red dragon materialized. Seeing the beast, it flamed it without listening for further orders.
Ash watched as the grass beast twitched and fell over, smoldering. Excellent! From his pack, he removed a clear glass sphere, and opened it into two halves.
“Spell of binding!” Ash shouted as he threw the sphere forwards. Virulent blue lightning crackled over the glass ball as the creature was sucked inside.
Once, twice, three times, the ball shook, before it quieted.
“Great!” Ash grinned. Inside the ball, the creature was put into a healing sleep. He smiled at Charizard as it vanished. Although he carried the glass balls containing the creatures he captured with him, to summon them, all that he needed was some concentration.
He walked on.
“Ow!”
Ash ducked as three odd projectiles shot over his head.
“Hmm? You’re not a goblin…”
The beast-master looked up. A woman with dark red hair in black clothing stood there. The harp on her back stated her occupation quite clearly.
“No, I’m not!”
“My apologies. I heard a rustling in the bushes and assumed…”
Ash sighed. “It’s all right. You’re a Minstrel, right?”
“Correct.”
“Have you ever heard of something that can cure the Black Flu? You must have traveled all over these lands.”
The woman frowned, and Ash now noticed that her eyes were a peculiar golden shade. Perhaps there was some elf in her or something. “Not offhandedly, no. I know that the golden pears that grow in the Valley of the Shadow before the Temple Mount of Jigglypuff are supposed to cure anything though.”
“Really? Where is that?”
She smiled wryly. “I wish I knew. I am currently heading there myself.”
“Well, we can – can I travel with you?”
“I have no objections.”
“Great! I’m Ashura, apprentice to the great Beast-Master Steven Stone!”
“Oh… I’ve heard of his name. Is it true that he can bring forth beasts of metal?”
“Yes! I have one too!”
“Interesting. I’m Lance.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
With that, a partnership was formed and they began walking together. Not much was spoken, as they hardly knew one another, but after an hour or so of this, Ash got bored.
“So how long have you been a Minstrel?”
“I completed my training four years ago.”
“Cool. So you play the harp?”
“Harp and clarinet.”
“I see!”
“You’re awfully cheerful. You don’t have the Black Flu do you?”
“Me? Oh no. It’s my Master who does.”
“Ah…”
“Why, is something wrong?”
“No, I was just wondering why you needed such a herb. The golden pears are only for emergency use.”
“I see.”
“I’m not sure where the exact location of the temple is though,” Lance warned. “I only know that we continue heading into the north. Soon, we will come to the Valley of the Shadows and then the Temple Mount.”
“It’s fine. It beats wandering aimlessly anyways.”
“Do you have provisions?”
“Me? Not really…” Ash said sheepishly. “I was planning to go to a village and get lodging there tonight.”
“Yes, that would be amenable…”
They didn’t speak much more as they walked on. Luckily, the stretch was relatively free of monsters, so it was all right…
End Chapter
Completed 7/9/05
Lance: So we meet
Phantomness: ^^
Ash: You look like a wreck
Phantomness: Been working for 5 hours at sales tends to do that to ya…