The Aurora Centre

by Bamsesvinet

Chapter One

Ash stretched and swung his legs out of the bed. The floor was icy cold, and he quickly threw himself under the bed cover again. He quickly found the warmth of his little yellow friend.
"Tell me again what we're doing here, Pikachu?", he shuddered.
"Pii-kaa". Pikachu wasn't too sure himself. As he spoke, a little cloud of coldness came from his mouth. But they both knew what they were doing here, after all.

Ash, Pikachu. Misty and Brock had taken the long and dangerous route up into the mountains to visit the Legendary Aurora Centre, high up beyond the snow line, where it is always winter, all year round. It had been a hard and dangerous journey, but they had finally found the mystical Centre, which was carved entirely out of the ice in a glacier descending from the mountains.
They had reached the Centre last night in a deadening blizzard, and none of the four friends really remembered what happened when they had reached the doors. All Ash could remember this next morning was that three people with cloaks had quickly opened the doors, given them something tasty and hot to drink, and put them to bed.

Ash tried the floor again. It was still as cold as ice, but since the floor actually WAS ice, it really wasn't all that surprising. He was grateful to finally see the pair of slippers standing by his bed, and he put them on and walked on down to the main hall, following the helpful signs someone had put there. Pikachu bounded after him, a little annoyed that no-one had thought of little slippers for him.

He reached the hall and saw Misty and Brock sitting around a large table, eating a magnificent breakfast. The hall was huge, and everything, from the enormous pillars holding the ceiling right down to the chandeliers were all carved from the purest, clearest ice. The hall was not exactly warm, but it wasn't cold either. It was comfortable in its coolness.

"Good morning, guys!", Ash said as he pulled up a chair, "can you believe this place?" Pikachu jumped onto a vacant chair next to him and happily dug himself into the breakfast.
"It's incredible", Brock said, "the Aurora Centre truly is the stuff dreams are made of."
"It's like no Pokemon Centre I have ever seen", said Misty enthusiastically. "It's almost magical!"
"Well, that's what the old guy in Viridian City told us!" Ash smiled, "it's completely unique. I just hope that the part about the special and rare ice attacks, that can be taught here."

A voice suddenly echoed through the hall. It was the small voice of a young woman, but it had force and majesty. "It is true", it said.
They spun on their chairs, a little frightened. What they saw was a beautiful woman wearing a long sparkling blue gown. She had clear crystal jewelry dripping off her, but the most amazing thing about her were her eyes. They were like two deep crystal pools. They didn't really have their own colour, but seemed to dimly reflect and collect the colours of her surroundings to make two beautiful, shimmering diamonds.

"Who are you?", Misty asked.
"I am Noseida, part of the Crystal Clergy here at the Aurora Centre."
"Wow!", Ash exclaimed, remembering what she had said. "It's really true?"
"Yes", Noseida said, "The Aurora Centre is rarely disturbed by visitors. Not many people have heard of its existence, and those who have - well... many of them choose not to return or tell people about us. But we are hospitable when visitors finally do arrive. Did you enjoy your breakfast?"
"It was cool!", Ash said.
"Yeah, I loved it. What did you think, Brock?"
"Brock?". Ash looked over his shoulder. But Brock did not answer. Brock was completely mesmerized.
"Your...your eyes", he said, "a guy could drown in your eyes and be happy for ever!"
Misty slapped her forehead. "Here he goes again", she said.
Noseida smiled, a coquettish and slightly wicked smile. "Now, now." She said and patted him on his head. Brock went bright red in his face and almost fainted into his breakfast.
Ash interrupted. "Is it true that water Pokemon can learn rare attacks at this Centre?" His voice was almost swimming over with enthusiasm.
"This is true. We have many rare attacks and special training methods here. Would you like a demonstration?"
"Would I ever?! Show us, please!"
"Pika-pi-ka!" Pikachu's little eyes shimmering with anticipation.

Noseida clicked her fingers - it made a sound like a flick of crystal in the great hall - and a dummy was glided out by two men in robes. It was a simple man-shaped doll, mounted on a pole and platform of ice. "Now, watch this," she continued and produced an ice-blue Pokeball.
"Dewgong, I choose you!" she shouted and unleashed the Pokemon.
The Dewgong seemed quite comfortable on the icy floor of the great hall. It scuttled up to Noseida on its belly and stroked its cheek against her dress lovingly. She reached down and patted it kindly with an elegant and slim hand covered with diamond rings.
"Dewgong, use your Borealis Attack!" she shouted, and Dewgong did. What happened was this: The air in the great hall suddenly seemed to light up in a glorious display of swishing light, moving and mixing around, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. The light was coming from Dewgong, but it was hard to see that. It just seemed that suddenly, there was this strange and beautiful light everywhere.
Over by the dummy, the light slowly became more intense. The doll started to vibrate slightly on its pole, and the light became beams, and the beams became balls of calm blue lightning that circled the dummy. Steadily and alarmingly quickly, the dummy was becoming encapsulated in a thick layer of ice. Pikachu lay his ears back in astonishment.
Misty and Ash were electrified by the beautiful display. When Ash saw that the dummy was completely frozen, he couldn't help exclaiming: "Wow! It's a totally incredible attack!"
"You haven't seen it all yet," Noseida said with a glint in her diamond eyes. She signalled to Dewgong, almost unnoticeably, but Dewgong slapped its fins against the floor, and suddenly all the beautiful, slow light in the room rushed towards the frozen dummy like water flowing rapidly down a drain. The light fired like gunshots into the dummy, which blasted the ice block and the doll inside to smithereens. Ash, Misty and Brock were covered in a fine snow of ice dust, and a few larger chunks of ice bounced across the hall floor. Noseida smiled. The dummy had vanished. It was completely gone.
"I can't believe it! It's the most powerful attack I have ever seen!". Ash said.
"No Pokemon can withstand that!" Misty exclaimed.
"Pika-pii!"
Brock said nothing. During the entire, mind-boggling, life-changing experience of the Borealis Attack, he had sat with his chin resting on his hands, staring with obsessive love at Noseida.
"Oh, Noseida...what a beautiful name," he murmured, as the ice snow continued to drizzle in the hall.

"Can you teach my Squirtle that attack? Please, Noseida, please please pleeeeeze?"
"It is a very difficult attack to learn. This is the only Dewgong in the world that has ever learned it, and as you can see, it is not easy for it." She pointed at the Dewgong, which now was lying motionless on the floor. "The attack always knocks Dewgong out himself, and Dewgong is a very highly trained Pokemon. There's a lot of strength in that Pokemon right there." Dewgong looked strong and healthy, that's for sure, but not as it lay there, Ash thought to himself that he had never seen a Pokemon look so knocked out before. It looked almost dead.
Noseida retrieved the Dewgong in her ice blue ball. "He'll be fine," she explained. "I'll heal him later in our Healing Room. It's an impressive attack, you must admit. Don't you think?"
"Oh yes!" Ash yelled.
"I've never seen anything like it," Misty grinned.
"Yes. Yes, Noseida, I will marry you. I will!" Brock sighed.
Noseida smiled again, that vaguely unsettling yet incredibly beautiful smile, and left.
"Come and see me at the Training Grounds, Ash," she said over her shoulder.
"I am there. Oh, I am just sooo there!", Ash shouted and raised his fists in excitement.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu copied.

High above their heads, looking in through a clear ice skylight, two humans and one Pokemon looked through down at the scene.
"Did you see that? I can't believe that attack!"
"I bet the boss wouldn't complain if he got a Dewgong like that one!"
"I think you're right, James. Wasn't it a good idea to follow those little warts up here in the icy cold?"
"Yep, it was good thinking, Jessie."
"It'll be tough to get that Dewgong out of here, though."
"We'll Seel about that!" Meowth joked. They laughed.

Chapter Two

Ash and Pikachu stepped into the training grounds and saw four Jynxes walking around the place. When they found a wall or something else carved out of ice, which was a little melted, they spewed a light blue beam, which quickly recarved the decorations.
"That's the Sculpt Beam," Noseida explained. "I taught the Jynxes that attack to keep this place looking as good as it does. The Sculpt Beam can carve anything in ice that the Jynx is thinking about at the time. Makes it a lot easier to keep the place looking as good as it does."
"Wow, these Pokemon Powers are so new and different. I had no idea you could train Pokemon like this!" Ash said.
"Pika-pi", said Pikachu a little hurt. It thought that Ash was a great trainer, anyway.
"We have many secrets in Aurora Centre. Some people who visit us think we have a little too many secrets, but maybe you'll discover what I mean in time."
Ash remembered that the old man had warned him about not going to the Aurora Centre - that he had seen trainers go there happy and come back sad. But Ash had decided that the only way to become a true Pokemon Champion was to do what no other trainers had done.
"What can you teach my Squirtle?" Ash asked, excited.
"I don't know," Noseida smiled. "Let us have a friendly match, so I can see what your Squirtle is capable of. But I warn you - I would not usually think that a non-evolved Pokemon would be able to learn any of our attacks."
"We'll see about that!" Ash shouted happily, "Squirtle! Go!" Ash's Pokeball flared, and out popped Squirtle.
Noseida was calm and didn't say a word as she unleashed a Wartortle from one of her ice blue Pokeballs. "Evolved versus Basic!" she finally said calmly.
The battle as such was over before it began. Squirtle launched an Ice Beam attack, which Wartortle elegantly avoided, whereafter a strong jet of icy water knocked Squirtle out. Pikachu turned away as Squirtle hit the floor, and then bounded over to him to lick his face. He hated it when one of his friends got knocked out.
"Nice try, kiddo," Noseida laughed, "but I'm afraid that your Squirtle isn't at all strong enough to learn our secret attacks."
Ash clenched his fists. He was angry, but he could see that she was right in what she said. He hung his head as she turned away, dragging her long blue dress across the cold ice floor of the Training Grounds. Just before she reached the door, however, she turned and glinted one of those smiles again. "On second thoughts, you can have fun trying to teach your Squirtle this!" She tossed him a small box. "It's a technical machine. You know how to use them, right?"
"Of course I do!" Ash shouted with an annoyed voice as she left. "Of course I do!"

"So, how do I use one of these things?" Ash asked Brock and waved the TM under his nose.
"It's pretty simple. To teach a Pokemon the attack in this TM, you just plug its Pokeball into it and press this button. It couldn't be simpler! Did you really say that Noseida has touched this TM?" Brock started to drool again.
"Oh, give it up!" Misty interrupted and snatched the TM from Brock. "Let's see if it works, ok, Ash?"
"Sure!" Ash said. Misty plugged Squirtle's Pokeball into the TM and hit the switch. The Pokeball shuddered slightly and then nothing else happened. A little electronic display on the TM faded into view: SLIP, it said. The word faded out again, and a little tiny green light Ash hadn't even noticed before flicked off.
"That's it," Brock said. "Squirtle has now learned the attack Slip, whatever that is. I've never heard of that attack before." He scratched himself roughly across his chin, and then suddenly went all gooey again. "You think Noseida invented this attack? Oh, what a glorious attack it must be!"
"Oh, get a goal," Misty huffed at him. "As if she'd ever look at you twice, Brock."
"Pika-aah".
"Oh, if she'd only look at me once I would rememebr those eyes forever. Aahh." Brock was a lost case, even by Brock's standards.
"Hey, did we forget that Squirtle just learned a cool new attack? Let's see it!" He snatched the Pokeball from the TM and threw it. "Go, Squirtle!"
Squirtle emerged and looked a little insecure. It felt comfortable enough in the icy surroundings, but Ash felt that something wasn't quite right.
"OK, Squirtle, let's see that Slip attack!"
Squirtle looked worried and shook its head quietly, but Ash could tell it really hated being disobedient.
"Come on, Squirtle, I'd just like to see what it does. Will you do it? For me?" Ash smiled.
Squirtle sighed with its nervous heavy breathing. As if to say "what the hell", it shrugged and blew a white wind out of it's mouth. The floor began to become covered in a clear layer of slippery ice.
"Oh, wow, Squirtle! That's sure gonna come in handy!" Ash said as he started slipping on the floor.
The white wind stopped. Ash looked up. "Keep going, Squirtle, there's still a few patches over there." He looked up and saw Squirtle passed out on the floor.
"Squirtle!" he yelled and ran towards his Pokemon, skidding and slipping like a Road Runner on a treadmill.
"Pika!" Pikachu squeaked with concern.
"It's been knocked out from using the attack!" Brock exclaimed.
"Yes, our attacks require a lot from the Pokemon," the crystal voice suddenly said again. Ash, Misty and Brock spun around. Brock almost had time to think to himself: "There she is! Oh Brock, try to impress her. Don't do anything stupid," before he slipped on the ice and fell flat on his face. He groaned and blushed all the way down inside.
"What have you done to my Squirtle?" Ash yelled with tears beginning in his eyes.
"Don't worry, little one. Your Squirtle will be fine. You just need to take it to Kori and have him healed back to health. This is a Centre, after all."
"But why did he pass out?" he asked.
"As I said, the special Aurora Ice attacks require a lot of effort and power on the part of the attacking Pokemon. That's why I usually say that only evolved Pokemon can use our attacks. Basic Pokemon simply don't have the strength."
Ash sighed. "I don't think that my water Pokemons are strong enough for the Aurora Attacks." He was deeply disappointed. "Come on, guys, let's go and get Squirtle healed, and then we can go home. Get up off the floor, Brock."
Brock picked himself up the floor, slipping a few times on the way up, dusted himself off, grinned an embarrassingly stupid grin to Noseida, who answered with a little smile at the corner of her beautiful mouth. Brock almost fainted again, when Misty grabbed a hold of him and dragged him away.

Meanwhile, in another part of the Aurora Centre, a slight whining noise like a dentist's drill could be heard. The sound floated over the roof of the Centre, whistling through the crisp, cold night. It was an electric drill, all right, boring its way through the icy roof of the Aurora Centre Compound. Or was it electric?
"I don't see why I have to do this, Jessie!" James complained as he pedalled a little motor until his legs were falling off. The motor was running the drill. Even with all the hard physical work he was incredibly cold.
"Shut up!" Jessie shouted, wearing the only fur coat Team Rocket had provided them with. "One of us has to do the hard drilling work. All you have to do is pedal. Or are you too stupid to do that?"
James kept quiet, but he still felt unfairly treated. "Is there a lot of drilling to do yet?" he asked.
"It'll be over before you know it, James," Jessie assured him, looking at the tiny drill hole in the very thick ice ceiling. "And then we'll be in the compound, ready to catch that Dewgong!"

Chapter Three

Ash walked into the Healing Room with a heavy heart. He felt that he had learned something from just the voyage - and just the fact that there existed an attack like the Borealis Attack made him want to train his Pokemon to become strong enough to use it. But still he was disappointed to have to leave the Aurora Centre without learning any new attacks.

The Aurora Healing Room was as different from other Healing Rooms as the rest of the Aurora Centre. It, too, was carved from ice by the Jynxes, but in the Centre there was an egg-shaped ice block, sharply carved in hexagonal forms and slowly revolving. A orange-yellow soft light flowed gently out of the facets from an unseen source in the middle of the oval block. Around the block there was a half-moon shaped bench with indentations designed to hold Pokeballs. Ash was amazed.
"I don't believe it!" Misty said,
"This is the weirdest Healing Room I've ever seen," Brock said.
"Pika," Pikachu said in amazement.
"Welcome, young Ash. Do you wish to heal your Pokemon?" Kori said. He was an old man with a long, floppy white moustache. He had a strange-looking ear-ring dangling from one earlobe, and he was hunched over, clutching a long rod with an egg-shaped crystal on top, which looked like the large one in the room.
"I guess", Ash said and reluctantly handed over the Pokeball containing Squirtle. He wasn't so sure about this Healing Room, it looked so different and somehow frightening. It was a little too calm. Like a frozen monastery.
"Aah, a little Squirtle, am I right?" said Kori as he weighted the Pokeball in his hand.
"Yeah! How did you know?"
"We are experts on Pokemon here at the Aurora Centre, more so than in the world down there at the foot of the Mountain. We have secluded ourselves here in the hills to pursue the deepest secrets of Pokemon life. Aah, young fellow, if you knew what we knew..."
"Tell me! Please tell me!" Ash was desperate to get something out of this visit.
"Let us heal your Squirtle, shall we?" Kori said, seemingly ignoring Ash. He placed Squirtle's Pokeball in one of the small holes on the bench and left it there.
"You will see, my young friend, that we have developed a healing method here at Aurora Centre called the Golden Gaze. It's a lot more effective and nurturing to the Pokemon. It's the next generation of Healing Techniques." The egg-shape suddenly focused the soft golden light on Squirtle's Pokeball, and a second after it switched off.
"It is finished," said Kori and hobbled over to Ash with the Pokeball in his hand.
"That's it?" Ash asked with disbelief. "That was almost too easy."

Over their heads, a little drizzle of ice fell, and nobody noticed it. Over the tiny little hole, where the ice was falling from, Jessie, James and Meowth were about to break through the ice ceiling. James was sweating now from the work, but the sweat was freezing to little ice pearls on his forehead and cheeks.
"Are...we...almost...done?" he puffed.
"Oh, be quiet," Jessie snapped. "I can see light now! We're almost there! Oh, James, it's a beautiful light. It's like Christmas and Summer Holiday all rolled into one!"
"I don't care if it's like Halloween! I just want to stop pedalling, pleeeease, Jessie. My legs feel like they're going to fall off!"

"This Golden Gaze can heal 156 Pokemon a minute. It's incredibly powerful." Kori explained. "It works on a completely different principle than conventional healing methods."
"How?" Now Brock was getting interested. For the first time since Noseida walked into the hall during breakfast was he able to think about something else.
"Temporary Evolution." Kori said matter-of-factly.
"Temporary what?!" Ash, Brock and Misty shouted with one voice.
"Pikachu?"
"The usual way to heal Pokemon is to use an atomic stabilizer. At Aurora Centre, we have discovered a method of forcing a Pokemon to evolve, using high-intensity beams from the Golden Gaze." Kito walked over to the egg-shape in the middle of the room, and his haggard features became bathed in the soft orange light.
"When a Pokemon evolves," he continued, "it gains a lot of fresh energy. Even if a Pokemon is completely knocked out, it has about half of its full energy when it evolves. Once the Golden Gaze has evolved the Pokemon, a devolution beam strikes it, devolving it back to its original form. But It keeps the fresh energy."
"Isn't that dangerous for the Pokemon?" Ash looked concerned.
"Not at all, as long as the devolution beam does its work. Your Squirtle was a Wartortle for half a second, and it didn't even know it." Kori smiled. It was a toothless smile, made scary-looking by the orange light he was standing in.
"That sounds amazing." Brock said. "What happens if you don't use the devolution beam? Would Squirtle have stayed a Wartortle?" A slithering smile slipped across Kori's old lips, lifting the base of his long moustache upwards. "Do you want to try and see for yourself?"
"Should I do it, Pikachu?" Ash wasn't too sure if he wanted his Squirtle to be evolved.
"Piika". Pikachu didn't quite know what to think either.
"Well," chirped Misty, "think about the cool attacks your Wartortle could learn. You saw for yourself the kind of stuff he would be able to learn here at the Aurora Centre!"
"It's up to you," said Brock thoughtfully.
"If it will make a difference, I can tell you that Noseida's Dewgong was evolved with the Golden Gaze. It was quite a weak Seel before it came in here."
"Noseida did it? Oh, Ash, do it! Please! Oh...," Brock said in a dreamy voice, "...we would have something to talk about, Noseida and I. Oh, those wonderful, wonderful eyes..."
Ash and Misty looked at each other and sighed. Brock was in it bad this time. Ash looked at Squirtle's Pokeball once more, and then back at Misty. She shrugged. "It's up to you, Ash," she said.
"I'll do it!" said Ash and handed Squirtle's Pokeball over to Kori's greedy hands.
"Good choice," said Noseida, who once again just suddenly appeared. She almost floated when she walked, that's how elegant she was, and on the ice floors her steps were almost impossible to hear.
"Oh - - - Hi, Noseida. I see you've got a um dress on and...um," Brock fumbled. "See we're going to evolve a Squirtle! Just like your Seel! Cool, huh?"
"Very cool, Brock," Noseida said. She planted a little kiss on his cheek. It felt cold, but Brock still back-flipped in excitement. "Oh! Noseida, my one true beloved!" he crooned. She ignored him and said: "Kori! Are you going to evolve that Squirtle or what?"
"Certainly, ma'am," Kori answered and placed Squirtle's Pokeball on a similar bench to the Healing Bench by the Golden Gaze. "See, Ash, all I have to do is flick this switch, and then..."

That's all Kori had time to say when the roof caved in. Down fell ice powder and large chunks of ice onto the ice floor, chipping it. And through the hole in the ceiling two humans and a talking Meowth dropped through. Jessie and Meowth landed on their feet, but James landed in a floppy pile on the floor.
"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie piped triumphantly.
"Make...uurggh...do we have to, Jessie?" James groaned on the floor. "I am too tired."
"To... protect... the world... from devastation!" Jessie growled angrily through her teeth at James.
"To unite the...", James began, and then just sighed.
"Oh, never mind!" Jessie laughed. "Meowth, do and drop these Pokeballs in the machine and flick the switch, will you? We heard what your little machine can do!"
"Catch me if you can," Meowth giggled and ran towards the Golden Gaze with two Pokeballs in his arms.

Chapter Four

"No!" shouted Ash, "don't let them do it!" But Kori didn't seem to want to try and stop them. So Ash himself ran towards the controls to try and stop Meowth, but Noseida lashed an arm out in front of him and stopped him dead in his tracks. She had a surprisingly strong grip. She grabbed Pikachu and held it if the scruff of its neck with a special grip. It couldn't move at all.
"Pika piii," it whined.
"What...what are you doing? They are going to evolve their Pokemon! It could be dangerous!"
Misty had also been caught by Kori. "Why are you holding me? You should be stopping them! They're the bad guys!"
Jessie laughed. "At last someone who can understand the true meaning of Team Rocket. Thanks for the help, guys!" she smiled and waved at Noseida. She just smiled one of her frighteningly cold and beautiful smiles.
"But the Pokemon are an Arbok and a Weezing! They are already fully evolved! This could be dangerous!"
"Hmmm," murmured Kori as he held onto a struggling Misty. "A Weezing. This could be interesting."
"Brock! Do something!" screamed Misty, but Brock was just standing there, red in the face, fascinated by Noseida. Just like during the Borealis Attack, he was completely unaware of what was going on around him. All he did was stare at her. Misty screamed with frustration. "When we get out of here, Brock! Oh, you are gonna get such a beating!"
"Listen to those kids bickering among themselves," Jessie smiled, "I would have thought that they would have had more interest in the radical improvement of our Pokemon."

Meowth threw the switch, and the Golden Gaze shot its orange light right into the Centre of the balls holding Jessie's Arbok and James's Weezing. It didn't last long at all. After half a second, they light went out, and everything seemed fine for another half a second.

Then the Pokeballs opened fiercely. Arbok and Weezing had evolved.

Everybody in the Healing Room gasped. Noseida and Kori least, and Jessie and James most, but everyone was shocked. Nobody had ever seen Pokemon like this.
"Excellent," Kori wheezed through his moustache.

What was standing in front of them was a huge, purple, snake-like being, but with small, stumpy legs protruding from its long, slithery body. What's more, the body cleft in two by the neck, ending in not one, but two heads. The creature who used to be Arbok spat and hissed.
Next to it three bags of smog, each with it's own angry-looking expression on its face and connected to the other, was the Pokemon that had been Weezing. The three voices spoke as one: "Hakking," it said.
"Oh James! Look at my Arbok! It's not an Arbok anymore, it's a... a... oh, I don't even know what it is, but it's magnificent! And your Weezing, or should I say, your Hakking! It's enourmous and bilious! I love it!"

And then they attacked.

They flew with great rage and passion directly at Jessie and James! The Hakking snarled with all three vicious mouths, leaving a black trail of muddy liquid spraying everywhere and caught James with a stinking jet of what could only be described as sewage water. James instantly forgot everything about being tired and started panicking.
"Oh my, Jessie! Something's terribly, horribly wrong!"
Jessie didn't answer. She was too busy running away from the gigantic two-headed snake-lizard that used to be her Arbok.
Kori and Noseida stood next to each other now, holding on to Ash and Misty.
"What's happening?" yelled Ash, "Why are Team Rocket's Pokemon attacking them?"
"I warned you, young friend," Neseida said. Her calm, solid voice used to have sounded so sweet and charming to Ash. Now it was like needles in his arms. "Some people discover that everything is not so rosy and wonderful here at the Aurora Centre."
"He-e-e-e-e-e-lp meeee!" screeched Jessie as she ran past them with the evolved Arbok after her.
"We have used the Golden Gaze to artificially evolve Pokemon for years here at the Aurora Centre." Kori said and grinned an evil smile. "We have never seen a Weezing get evolved before - quite intruiging. We have seen Arboks evolve like that many times. They're called Hydrax in that stage of evolution. Did you know that?" He seemed monstrously calm during the terrible spectacle. Ash and Misty, however, were not.
"When Pokemon evolve, they sometimes get new skills simply by evolving. These skills can be transferred to technical machines - TM's. The machine to do that is right in the next room. The Borealis Attack you saw my Dewgong perform is an attack that a Drabyek learns when it evolves from a Dewgong. We have never yet observed a Drabyek in the wild, nor a Hakking or a Hydrax. They only exist, so far, as results of the Golden Gaze."
"Brock! BROCK!" Misty was trying to get his attention, but Brock was, unbelievably, still standing as frozen. At one point the Hydrax passed straight between him and his beloved Noseida, and still he noticed nothing.
"Never mind your friend!" Kori spitted angrily at her, "just watch these beautiful Pokemon...aren't they wonderful? But enough is enough...Hydrax! Hakking! Come back!"
He produced two of those ice blue Pokeballs that Ash had seen Noseida had her Dewgong in. Obediently, the Hydrax and the Hakking stopped chasing Jessie and James and quietly went in the balls.
"What's going on?" shouted Jessie.
"Where's my Weezing?" whined James through a coat of sludge.
"I'm afraid that when you use the Golden Gaze, the freshly evolved Pokemon... hmmm..." Kori twiddled his beard, "shall me say, change their loyalties. They choose to obey only us from the Crystal Clergy. Is that a problem?"
Ash shook in Noseida's grasp with anger. "And you wanted to evolve my Squirtle! Would he also have attacked me?" He was red in the face with rage; he felt so betrayed.
"Of coursem," Noseida said. "That's the way we catch Pokemon here at the Aurora Centre. Now, if you'll excuse us..." She let go of Ash and Pikachu and slinkied away while cupping the two Pokeballs containing Hakking and Hydrax. "...some of us have work to do." Kori released Misty and followed her towards the door.
"My Weezing," shined James.
"Arbok! I can't believe I've lost it!" Jessie's eyes welled up with tears.
"Oh, Noseida," sighed Brock as she left. He still hadn't gotten the message.

"Not if I have anything to do with it!" yelled Ash suddenly. "Go! Squirtle!"
Squirtle emerged from his Pokeball, not a Wartortle, but definitely still Ash's own.
"Quickly, Squirtle! Use that Slip attack on Noseida and Kori!"
This time Squirtle didn't hesitate, but quickly spewed the white wind out of its mouth. The floor underneath Noseida and Kori became very slippery indeed, and they started slipping around like idiots.
"Huh?" said Jessie.
"I've never seen an Ice Attack quite like that before!" exclaimed Jessie.

Noseida and Kori quickly lost their balance and fell flat on their backs. The two ice blue Pokeballs dropped out of their hands, and Ash caught them. "Stop, Squirtle!" he yelled. He didn't want Squirtle to get totally worn out. He stopped in time Squirtle looked tired, but not exhausted.
Ash picked up the two blue Pokeballs and handed them to Jessie and James. "Here are your Pokemon back. I look forward to battling them." He gave the three startled members of Team Rocket a quck wave. "Now come on, if you want to get out of here before those two psychos get us! And Brock! Come ON!" He yanked the rock-steady Brock out of his Noseida coma and ran to the door.
They reached the main doors just as Noseida and Kori had found their feet. They were chasing after them, producing Pokemon after incredible evolved Pokemon none of them had ever seen before. This was going to be a battle it would be impossible to win, so they needed to escape.
"Squirtle! Use the Slip attack on the slope in front of the door, and let's get out of here!"
Squirtle pantingly puffed out a small cloud of white wind, before he looked so exhausted that Ash took him back in his Pokeball. The puff was enough, though, because on the hill there was now a very slippery slope.
"Everyone, follow my lead!" Ash shouted, and jumped on the slippery slope. He slid down the hill at an incredible speed, the rest following him. Once they got past the slippery patch Squirtle had produced, they already had gained enough speed to slide all the way down the mountain, leaving behind an angry Noseida and Kori and the terrible Aurora Centre.

Chapter Five

After a long slide down the mountain, Ash, Misty, Brock and the three members of Team Rocket finally started losing speed as the snow became patchy. After they had a chance to stand up and walk the rest of the way, Jessie and James turned to Ash.
"We need to go in another direction," James told him.
"Yeah, so...," continued Jessie.
"OK, we'll I'm sure I'll see you guys around." Ash said dryly.
"Hey, kid. Thanks for the help."
"No problem," Ash smiled. "What are enemies for? Even I can tell the difference between real bad guys and losers."
"Thanks!" grinned James, and they walked off. Ash smiled to himself as he overheard their conversation as they walked:
"How nice of him to call us real bad guys."
"Yeah, and those Aurora Centre guys losers."
"I didn't think they were losers, though. They were pretty bad guys too."
"Yeah. Hey, do you think he meant we were the losers?"
"Guys? We have a bigger problem," he heard Meowth's voice pipe up.
"What?"
"Didn't we leave the balloon right up there at the top of that snowy mountain?"
The last thing Ash heard was Jessie and James screaming in frustration. He laughed a lot about that all the way back to Pallet Town.

"I can't believe you tore me away from my one true love," Brock finally said as they stepped into Pallet Town. It was the first thing he'd said all the way, and Misty and Ash had almost forgotten he was even there.
"Who, Noseida?" Ash smirked.
"Oh, Noseida. That wonderful girl - when will I ever meet such a girl again?"
"Are you talking about the same Noseida who tried to steal our Pokemon and almost killed us?"
Brock paused for a long time. "She did?" he finally said. "But how?"
Ash and Misty laughed among themselves. "It's a long story. Brock. You can listen, when I tell the whole story to Professor Oak."
"Did I miss something?" Brock asked as Ash and Misty continued laughing.

Ash told Professor Oak the whole story, about the Centre, about the Healing Room and the evolved Pokemon that no-one had ever seen before.
"You're a very lucky boy," Oak said, "to have experienced such a thing. Not many people have made it to the Aurora Centre, and those who do, prefer not to talk about it. I have heard about the Golden Gaze before, however. If you forget about how the Crystal Clergy chooses to use it, it's still an incredible invention."
"But with that the Aurora Crystal Clergy could become the most powerful club in the world!" Ash looked horrified and offended.
"Thankfully, no. The effect of the Golden Gaze is not stable. Sometimes a Pokemon will stay evolved for days, sometimes it lapses back within minutes. I've even heard of a case where they tried the Golden Gaze on a Charmeleon. It evolved to a Charizard all right, but after a few hours it fell right the way back down to a Charmander!"
Ash gasped. "Poor Charmeleon! And what about that the Pokemon forget their owners and start serving the Crystal Clergy?" he asked.
"When the Pokemon devolve back to their normal self, they automatically remember their old masters."
Ash paused. "I guess it's for the best, that the evolution ray isn't permanent."
Oak smiled again. "Yes, it's not a safe procedure, but it's mighty as long as it lasts. And for healing purposes, it's just perfect! It's really designed for water Pokemon, so that's probably why it went so wrong for the Charmeleon. But even fire Pokemon can be healed with the Golden Gaze."
Ash smiled. "So, as long as it's not misused, it's very useful. But there's no substitute for hard work training your Pokemon, so they evolve the natural way!"
The sides of Professor Oak's eyes wrinkled as he smiled warmly for Ash. "You got that right, Ash," he said and patted him on his shoulder. He didn't tell Ash, but Professor Oak was worried. If the Aurora Centre really had TM's for all kinds of incredible attacks, they certainly were a force to be reckoned with. We haven't heard the last of them, he thought.

Meanwhile, far away, Jessie and James were nursing their wounds and trying to muster up enough courage to open up the two ice-blue Pokeballs that contained their Pokemon. Inside, the Hakking and the Hydrax had already returned to their original states - a Weezing and an Arbok. Jessie and James didn't know this, of course, and who knows when they got the guts to open them.

THE END

The legalese: This story is firmly in the public domain. It can be freely redistributed, as long as it is not altered in any way and that my e-mail address - bamse@imf.au.dk - always appears in the same document. Written 1-2 August 2001.