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Heroes After All

Sike Saner

Peace to the Mountain
Aaron was staring down the dummy. It seemed to stare back. Desperate, he sized it up, looking for a weak point. The dummy did not yield.

Keep staring at it for a few more turns and it'll float away.

She grabbed Aaron's arm and started pulling him along, Aaron looked on worriedly as Munchkin snickered. They eventually reached a dark, musty room of the monastery that smelled like... wait, what was that smell?


"Now where is it..." said Callie, rummaging around.


"Where's what?"


Callie eventually pulled out a bottle of swirling black liquid.


"It's my special Necrozma tonic! Made it myself."

Oh god. Yeah there's... there's pretty much no way that isn't actually something nasty.

Aaron opened the bottle, tasted it... and immediately gagged.

"What's in this thing?"


"Oh, ground up Beedrill thorax, Goodra slime, essence of Oddish leaf, eye of Sobble... you know, the works!" said Callie, grinning and displaying her unusually pointy teeth.

YEP, NASTY. :p God, and with the goodra stuff in there, you KNOW it's probably all gross and viscous on top of everything else.

"Hey loser!"


Gabriel stood up, glowering, then turned to the source of the voice. There, standing proudly, was Aaron. With a pile of pebbles.


"You... You smell! You're the smelliest! Yeah!"

QUICK, TO THE BURN WARD

"Shut up before I Psyshock you again."

Why did I read that as "psyduck". DON'T PSYDUCK AARON, BRO.

Before his eyes Aaron watched the boy transform into a large, blue shrimp-like Pokemon that blasted a pulse of pink energy at his wounds. Within an instant, they healed, and the boy reverted to normal.

For some reason I always forget that clawitzer has heal pulse access. Gosh that thing's cool.

"I shouldn't have to ask twice!" Mithos repeated mockingly. "Fine, fine." He turned to Aaron. "You owe me one toy."

Okay, I know he expressed a fondness for human toys, but I fully suspect he digs cat toys, too. :B

Veronica prepared her dark magic spell, but since the author of this segment forgot what her personal tome is, let's say she left it at home and cast Fenrir instead.

Heh. I wonder if that's an upgrade or a downgrade from her usual spell...

Demon King Fomortiis

Aaaand yep, totally read that as "Fomantis" at first. :B


Also! The Mountain Keeper is a badass and I love her. :D
 

Chibi Pika

Stay positive
Yooo, I've only been saying I'd review this for like, what, a year? Gah! Time to fix that:

Chapter 1:
Umbramatic said:
Somewhere in Johto, around 2005 After Skybreak (around 1000 years before the present)
Ooh, now there's a cool way to refer to the Ultimate Weapon firing. (Also I'm amused because my Rayquaza in PoGo is named Skybreaker.)
Umbramatic said:
The boy grinned, and bounced up and down excitedly. "You have powers like I do! And you're big and strong and that means I'm not a freak! Like, I can do the talaplethy thing too!"
He's... precious...
Umbramatic said:
"She... did?" said the boy.

He looked up at the woman in wonder. "You can talk to Pokemon?"
Just a quick heads up, since I noticed you do this a lot with dialogue, but since these two lines a have the same speaker, you can combine them. It's totally fine to have small actions come between spoken word and still have them in the same paragraph if they're the same speaker. Splitting them kind of prepares the mind for a new speaker, so it can be a bit jarring for it to be the same person then.
Umbramatic said:
His eyes lit up. "You're a wizard!"

The woman blinked. "I'm a what?"
oh my god. xD
Umbramatic said:
"Wha-"

The woman shook her head. "When we need to yes, whenever they threaten the peace of civilians or those on the Auri-"

She threw her hands up in the air and groaned.

"Kid, I'd already been on patrol duty long enough both time and distance-wise before I found you. I can answer all your little questions later. Right now I've got a question for you - where the hell are your parents?"
A longer example of what I mentioned above, but these four lines would all work fine as one paragraph. The only time I'd put a paragraph break between two lines of the same speaker is if the stage directions go on for a few sentences and we need to 're-establish the speaker, if that makes sense.
Umbramatic said:
She rolled up her sleeve to let a pink, scythelike blade of energy extend from a slit in the middle of her glove around her ulna.
Oh cool, I hadn't thought about the idea of aura being used for more moves than just the Aura Spheres we saw in the movie.
Umbramatic said:
It exploded. The house rattled, the mother flinched and yelped as a pot fell off a table and shattered right next to her. The boy was blown back, knocked to the floor and lay there breathing heavily
maaaaaybe they should have tried this example outside. xD
Umbramatic said:
"Mom... I... I want to."

The boy's mother turned to see him getting to his feet.

"If they're gonna accept my powers... Make me stronger... I want them to help me.
Ooh, I think it'd be cool if we got a bit more description on Aaron here. This is a big turning point for him, so seeing his expression/body language could really show off his determination.
Umbramatic said:
"I know, Ginji," said the female Lucario, "I just wanted to check in."
Oh! It's Ginji! I might've mentioned it before since I did read this chapter last year, but I really like that you brought him into this.

Chapter 2:
Umbramatic said:
She held up her palm and conjured a pink orb. "But sometimes, certain humans, like me and all of you, can tap into those same forces. The only known ways they crop up correspond loosely to the powers of certain Fighting, Ghost, Psychic, and Dark types. Now can anyone tell me what the terms for these powers in humans are?"
Ahh, I see, I like the fact that you've expanded on this, and I think it'll be cool to learn more about how these powers work in humans.
Umbramatic said:
"Anyway, that is your first lesson," said Polly, removing the staff from Aaron's throat. "Go find Vince and he'll show you to your dormorotories."
She is... not even in the remote area of messing around, is she? xD (also, typo on dormitory)
Umbramatic said:
Ginji shrugged. "On the immediately visible end, not much. Weird two-legged apes that aren't even Pokemon and only rarely even know any attacks of like... Four types. Some more cynical Pokemon say Arceus messed up some perfectly good monkey mons."
"You messed up a perfectly good monkey mon. Look at it. It's got anxiety."
Umbramatic said:
Ginji grabbed a stick and started drawing in the dirt. "Long ago, humans first came to this world, and they and Pokemon were divided. Then one day, in the Sinnoh region, there was a great meeting! One where humans and Pokemon came to terms, and decided to help and not hurt one another."

By now he had drawn a circle in the dirt.

"This agreement was known as The Vow; a promise to work toward humans and Pokemon being stronger together than apart."
Ah, I love it when fics go into the balance between human and Pokemon, and I'd love to learn more about the Vow later on.
Umbramatic said:
"The Vow's not perfect, son. My old Trainer, he... He died trying to protect me from another Pokemon."
Huh! So is he not the Ginji I was thinking of, or is this just a cover story for him being a human-turned-Pokemon?

Chapter 3:
Umbramatic said:
"Alright kids, single file line while I sort you into your dorms, and no funny business! I've got enough bullshit to deal with."
These kids are gonna be talking like sailors within days. xD
Umbramatic said:
"Atta! Stabby! He's just the new kid!" said Louis.
"stabby" sahjfghfskgfds
Umbramatic said:
"Huh? I can't be a freak! I was always a freak at home! I came here to not be a freak!"
The funny thing is that he was a freak at home because of his powers, but everyone here has powers, so like... he hasn't actually done anything out of the ordinary here.
Umbramatic said:
Aaron was knocked to the ground. His food was sent flying. Everyone stared.
Okay, this on the other hand kinda stands out. xD
Umbramatic said:
"There is a Buneary denning further into these bushes. You must kill it and bring it back to me."

Riolu looked over hesitantly to the bushes in question and headed in.
Ouch, he doesn't even get a demonstration first.
Umbramatic said:
Riolu gasped and panted, clutching his body from the amount of feedback aches he felt. It was a while before he had recovered enough to slowly drag the Buneary out of the bushes.
Oh! So he actually felt some of the damage physically. I was expecting him to feel the emotions of the prey which, uh... would be a lot more rough. I'm kinda surprised he handled this as well as he did! Is it just that he hasn't really gotten a chance to consider that the prey is just as thinking and feeling as he is?
Umbramatic said:
"Your overgrown pile of feathers you call a mate can't protect you two forever! Someday judgement's gonna come down! Hell, it may very well be from me! Ha!"
idk but Lucario vs Blaziken doesn't seem like the best matchup. :V

Kinda surprised Ginji's family hasn't gone off on their own by now! Seeing as there pretty much doesn't seem to be anything in it for them by staying with this pack.
Umbramatic said:
Claws and teeth dug in, rending limbs in spurts of blood. Fire burnt into flesh, loosening it from bone.
welp. Rest in pepperonis. :T Although something tells me that if the others see signs of fire they're gonna blame it on Ginji, even if it obviously couldn't be him...

I should be able to get to chapters 4-6 later this week!

~Chibi~
 

canisaries

sometimes i get a deadache, yeah
Hi there! I was itching for something new to read, and since you've replied to a couple of my fics, I figured I may as well return the favor by checking this out. I was hesitant before given I don't follow the anime and have never seen the movie starring the character in focus here, but after some googling, there doesn't seem to be any super complex lore that would get in the way of my understanding. Anyway, I've read up to Chapter 3 now, and I think I wanna give some thoughts.

The beginning picks up very quickly, and the pacing continues to be quite fast. I'm a fan of fast beginnings as they're more successful in hooking me, but from there onward, I feel like the story could benefit a lot from stopping and smelling the flowers, so to speak. There's quite little description when it comes to the environment. I'm not saying you should list every detail in each new setting or anything, but I think just a little description would help make the scenes more vivid and the world more alive. Things like what material walls or floors are made of, where the lighting comes from, what the weather is like, what plants there are, what sounds can you hear, so on. An advantage of describing scenery is also being able to show how the protagonist and other characters react to it, building character at the same time. For example, this was done when Aaron arrived at the monastery and felt small before it.

Regarding the characters, we've gotten a few so far, though haven't had a chance to get to know them too well in this little time yet. From what I've seen, though, they appear consistent and distinct, so props for that - well, Polly's behavior changes dramatically when she's teaching the children, but as this is acknowledged in-universe it feels intentional and that there's an explanation we just don't know yet at this stage. However, Louis' introduction did give off a more aggressive vibe than seemed to fit his behavior later. It might be due to the capitalized YOU making it seem like he shouted the word instead of simple emphasis, which I'm used to seeing italicized.

Anyway, I have mixed feelings about the Aura Guardians - they don't really seem too into their jobs as herding and teaching children and whatnot. This could be because they've been forced into that position out of duty or lack of actually willing staff which would be a case of subtle worldbuilding, but if it's not that, it really makes one question why they're hired.

Speaking of worldbuilding, though, I'm interested in there being multiple types of Aura like that. I don't know if that was a thing from the movie Aaron is from or if it's an original idea of yours, but it's got me curious to see just how those types manifest and what techniques they offer. There's also the yet unanswered question of what exactly these Aura Guardians are guarding, and what they're guarding it from. Also I love love love the origin of the pokéball symbol.

Then for some technical notes and quote-specific commentary:

"Kid, no no no, not really, I'm an Aura Guardian. A group of people with powers like us. This outfit - the hat, the coat, the boots the staff the cape - that's our uniform.

Closing quotation mark is missing.

Poly Pteryx of the Genesis Mountain Aura Guardians.

Polly misspelled here? Unless Polly is a nickname of Poly?

Dear, are you OK?!

Mmm, may be better to write it out as "okay" in speech. Fits better in the setting, I think.

She rolled up her sleeve to let a pink, scythelike blade of energy extend from a slit in the middle of her glove around her ulna.

aaaaa its kars oh gosh oh frick

blue-green energy

Small note - when the word "blue-green" is used, does it mean there's both blue and green distinctly in there, or does it mean a hue that's midway between the two? Because if the latter, words like "cyan" and "teal" or even "azure" may be what you want. If the former, just ignore me lol

In chapters 2 and 3, I noticed that instead of just one empty line between paragraphs, there's two. I'm guessing that's an error, as I know that occasionally happens when copypasting to the editor. It's not too bad in the end, but I think that formatting like italics and so on also tend to be lost when that error happens, so you probably ought to double check if it does that. What I actually do myself to fix this issue is open up a blank text document (.txt), paste my chapter there and then copy and paste it back. For whatever reason it gets rid of the extra line breaks (I think it has something to do with old invisible ASCII characters being misinterpreted?), but it also does definitely get rid of formatting. However, to be able to recover from stuff like this at will, I mark each italicized or otherwise specially formatted sections with asterisks, which I then CTRL+F for and remove as I reformat the sections. Somewhat of a hassle, but it does have the advantage of always working. And luckily, asterisks or whatever I use for the markings are easy to remove inside a Word document with Find and Replace All.

Granted, we can't really go it alone...

Word missing or typo here?

"Now hit me," said Polly.

This scene was a little weird given she's an adult and the students are just kids, so it was pretty obvious Aaron would get his ass handed to him regardless of training. Also, it was here that I realized that there actually hasn't really been any word on how old these children are? Maybe I missed it, but I currently don't know whether these kids are like 13 or 9, and it's a pretty big difference, so it'd be good to know.

She jammed the butt of her staff onto Aaron's throat.

ow that sounds quite painful

"Woah, that's so cool!" said Aaron, eyes sparkling. He paused, then looked in the direction Polly went. "Why was Polly so mean to me? She was nice before..."


~Polly's like that. I've known her since she was a child.~

well boy lets just say her scythe aint the only thing thats psycho huehhuahuaha

Anyway, I like the choice of tildes to mark telepathy. Makes it distinct from the private thoughts in italics.

In the forest, the trees swayed, the branches shook. On a clearing the Riolu stood with his father.


"Alright, then!" said Ginji. "Today I'm going to teach you some important things, things the rest of the pack would rather I not."


The Riolu shuffled nervously. "What, Dad?"

Oh, wow, that Riolu grew up pretty quickly? Hard to say since there's no clear indication of how much time passed between these first two chapters.

Inside he found a pale. black-haired boy

Accidental period in place of comma.

"In case you're wondering," said the boy. "Callie was raised by Necrozma cultists."

ohhhh huh. I never played USUM, so I don't know if that's actually a thing, but regardless... strange.

Aaron groaned, and the Gligar chuckled at him further."Cut it out, Iuroidea,"

Missing space before the opening quote.

Right, Aaron thought. Everyone has powers here. I'm at least not alone in that sense. Though...

Italics missing from these thoughts?

Eve sent a telepathic message of ~You already know.~

Well... not really? I mean, Aaron was somewhat able to telepathically talk to Polly, and he had Fighting Aura. These kids already have two Fighting users among them, so it doesn't seem to be a rule that there's one of each in a room. Given all this, I'd say Eve could technically be of any type with the current knowledge.

Lewis muttered obscenities in his sleep.

Louis?

Riolu recoiled from the empathic feedback,

Only put together on my second read that this was a kind of Aura recoil and what Ginji was talking about earlier. Anyway, it seems "empathic" was used here but "empathetic" was used later instead. It should probably be just one or the other for clarity's sake.

The Buneary suddenly gave a kick

Regarding the word "suddenly": it usually only takes the punch out of an action rather than giving it more kick.

Riolu recovered from the empathetic shock and wondering what it was he'd even done before dashing over and giving a Force Palm straight to the Buneary's neck.

Something's off about this sentence, like a missing word or a wrong verb form?

Riolu stared down at the dead Buneary. Then at his mother. Then at the dead Buneary. Then at his mother. Then at the dead Buneary. Before finally digging in.


It was... Good. Better than the dry scraps he usually got, or even his mother's milk. He had blood all over his face but he was enjoying it.

I was expecting the Riolu's hesitation over killing to come more into play, but he kind of seems to just get over it on the spot. Maybe have something about instincts taking over, or some other introspection?

Riolu gasped and panted, clutching his body from the amount of feedback aches he felt. It was a while before he had recovered enough to slowly drag the Buneary out of the bushes.


---------------


Eventually Riolu managed to drag the dead Buneary out to his mother. She smiled.

I've noticed the scene changing lines are pretty frequent. If there are too many in quick succession, it can make the flow seem choppy, so when there are parts like these that can pretty much work without a scene change, I'd leave them out.

Claws and teeth dug in, rending limbs in spurts of blood. Fire burnt into flesh, loosening it from bone.


The old Lucario screamed.

good riddance lol

Well, that's it for my thoughts for now. Despite my many criticisms, I think I like what I've read so far, and expect to continue sometime in the future. For now, good luck, and feel free to ask for elaboration on anything I've said, either on here or the writers' Discord.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
REVIEW REPLY TIME! Chibi I will get you elsewhere


ahahahaha

Oh god. Yeah there's... there's pretty much no way that isn't actually something nasty.



YEP, NASTY. :p God, and with the goodra stuff in there, you KNOW it's probably all gross and viscous on top of everything else.

You don't want to know the contents of Callie's stomach are like on a regular basis.



QUICK, TO THE BURN WARD

wee woo wee woo



Why did I read that as "psyduck". DON'T PSYDUCK AARON, BRO.

psyduck could totally be a verb and i hate this

For some reason I always forget that clawitzer has heal pulse access. Gosh that thing's cool.

Yep! I was like "hmmm, what would be an unusual choice of healer"

Okay, I know he expressed a fondness for human toys, but I fully suspect he digs cat toys, too. :B

you know what i'm just going to say this is canon

Heh. I wonder if that's an upgrade or a downgrade from her usual spell...

Dowgrade, but thanks for asking!

Aaaand yep, totally read that as "Fomantis" at first. :B

I am imagining a Fomorrtis/Fomantis hybrid now and I hate it

Also! The Mountain Keeper is a badass and I love her.:D

Thanks! You may or may not see more of her down the line. ;)

Hi there! I was itching for something new to read, and since you've replied to a couple of my fics, I figured I may as well return the favor by checking this out. I was hesitant before given I don't follow the anime and have never seen the movie starring the character in focus here, but after some googling, there doesn't seem to be any super complex lore that would get in the way of my understanding. Anyway, I've read up to Chapter 3 now, and I think I wanna give some thoughts.

Oh hey! Nice to see you here. Yeah the fact this is based on a very specific part of Pokeani canon has made this fic a bit niche, but I'm kind of rebuilding the lore from the ground up partially so people like you don't get lost.

The beginning picks up very quickly, and the pacing continues to be quite fast. I'm a fan of fast beginnings as they're more successful in hooking me, but from there onward, I feel like the story could benefit a lot from stopping and smelling the flowers, so to speak. There's quite little description when it comes to the environment. I'm not saying you should list every detail in each new setting or anything, but I think just a little description would help make the scenes more vivid and the world more alive. Things like what material walls or floors are made of, where the lighting comes from, what the weather is like, what plants there are, what sounds can you hear, so on. An advantage of describing scenery is also being able to show how the protagonist and other characters react to it, building character at the same time. For example, this was done when Aaron arrived at the monastery and felt small before it.

Pacing and description are... weak points of mine. I'll try to work on it going forward (and am already adjusting some scenes in Chapter 7 based on this)

Regarding the characters, we've gotten a few so far, though haven't had a chance to get to know them too well in this little time yet. From what I've seen, though, they appear consistent and distinct, so props for that - well, Polly's behavior changes dramatically when she's teaching the children, but as this is acknowledged in-universe it feels intentional and that there's an explanation we just don't know yet at this stage. However, Louis' introduction did give off a more aggressive vibe than seemed to fit his behavior later. It might be due to the capitalized YOU making it seem like he shouted the word instead of simple emphasis, which I'm used to seeing italicized.

Thanks on the character stuff! Yeah the thing with Louis was a mistake.

Anyway, I have mixed feelings about the Aura Guardians - they don't really seem too into their jobs as herding and teaching children and whatnot. This could be because they've been forced into that position out of duty or lack of actually willing staff which would be a case of subtle worldbuilding, but if it's not that, it really makes one question why they're hired.

They're forced into the position out of duty, which I should probably... elaborate on.

Speaking of worldbuilding, though, I'm interested in there being multiple types of Aura like that. I don't know if that was a thing from the movie Aaron is from or if it's an original idea of yours, but it's got me curious to see just how those types manifest and what techniques they offer. There's also the yet unanswered question of what exactly these Aura Guardians are guarding, and what they're guarding it from. Also I love love love the origin of the pokéball symbol.

It's an original idea! One that originated from some RP shenanigans mind, but. You'll see more of how they work later. And hehe, I've always been proud of the Pokeball symbol lore.

As to what the Aura Guardians DO aside from herding children with superpowers... I need to get to that.

Then for some technical notes and quote-specific commentary:

(I'm gonna skim these in this reply unless I have something in particular to say)

aaaaa its kars oh gosh oh frick

Jojo's Bizzare Pokefic

This scene was a little weird given she's an adult and the students are just kids, so it was pretty obvious Aaron would get his ass handed to him regardless of training. Also, it was here that I realized that there actually hasn't really been any word on how old these children are? Maybe I missed it, but I currently don't know whether these kids are like 13 or 9, and it's a pretty big difference, so it'd be good to know.

8-12, Aaron's about 8 0r 9



well boy lets just say her scythe aint the only thing thats psycho huehhuahuaha

fear her

Anyway, I like the choice of tildes to mark telepathy. Makes it distinct from the private thoughts in italics.

also FFnet doesn't eat them! Yet.

Oh, wow, that Riolu grew up pretty quickly? Hard to say since there's no clear indication of how much time passed between these first two chapters.

Oh, uh, it'd been a few months, but Pokemon progress toward maturity way, way faster than humans in my setting.


ohhhh huh. I never played USUM, so I don't know if that's actually a thing, but regardless... strange.
There are Necrozma people in USUM, but Callie's cult was a completely separate entity more like (greatly) toned-down versions of the Chaos cults in Warhammer 40k (i don't think you will get that reference so just google it)

good riddance lol

7IlzNtL.jpg


Well, that's it for my thoughts for now. Despite my many criticisms, I think I like what I've read so far, and expect to continue sometime in the future. For now, good luck, and feel free to ask for elaboration on anything I've said, either on here or the writers' Discord.

Thanks for the feedback, and I hope to see you back before too long! I'll definitely ask you if I need you to elaborate anything down the line, and I'll keep your feedback in mind for later chapters.

Anyway, Chapter 7 is soon. Very soon. Impending soon. See you then.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Oof, five months. Worldbuilding June and Artfight ambushed me and made me lose track of fic stuff. But I've got a chapter here anyway! Hope you enjoy:

Chapter 7: Encounters


Aaron had taken some time to himself to explore the monastery. Partially because he was bored, and partially because the monastery was just that huge - there were various facilities and nooks and crannies, spiraling towers and sprawling courtyards, that he was certain he hadn't uncovered all of yet.


It wasn't long, however, before he got a bit lost.


In his hapless wandering he turned a corner and bumped straight into a Scyther. The Scyther let out a startled buzz and brandished its scythes as Aaron yelped. A pale, dark-haired boy quickly approached.


"Easy Rook it's just the dweeb."


Rook blinked and then shrunk back from Aaron sheepishly, clacking his scythes together.


"Er, sorry about that," said Aaron.


"It's not you, for once," said Louis. "Rook's startled pretty easily."


"Don't worry," said Aaron. "I... I wasn't scared."


Louis raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"


"Positive!"


A mischievous smirk appeared on Louis' face. "Is that so? Well then, why don't you take a gander at... Him?"


Lewis pointed dramatically over to a patch of grass by the greenhouse. Upon that patch of grass sat a snoring Rhyperior.


"See him? That's Andalas. Legendarily grouchy Rhyperior. If you're not afraid of a Scyther surely giving him a poke isn't too scary."


Aaron gulped. "That's... That's diff-"


He shook his head. "I can do that! Just you watch!"


"Good luck," said Louis, snickering. "You're gonna need it."


Rook just nervously looked between Aaron and the sleeping Andalas.


Aaron looked at Louis again, then to Andalas, then started slowly creeping toward the latter.


He eventually got close enough that he could see the fine details of the massive creature. He was still sound asleep, his rocky body subtly heaving with each breath.


Aaron reached out a finger. It would be OK, he thought. The Rhyperior's rocky hide probably wouldn't even feel it.


He touched it. It felt like rock yet somehow... warm, and alive. He quickly drew the finger back. Andalas was still asleep. He looked backward. Louis and Rook were gone. He looked back to Andalas. Still asleep. Aaron almost sighed in relief, but held his breath to avoid waking the Rhyperior up.


Then Andalas' eyes snapped open anyway.


A rocky paw lunged itself in Aaron's direction. Aaron instinctively yelped and raised up his hands, an Aura barrier forming. The paw bounced off the barrier harmlessly, but Andalas' other paw swung around and grabbed him from behind. Aaron screamed as Andalas yanked him upward and brought him close to his face, dangerously close to his two horns. Aaron whimpered.


"I'm so sorry mister Andalas! Please forgive me!"


Andalas opened his mouth. For a second Aaron thought he was going to swallow him whole.


Then Andalas started making Pokemon noises at him - a careful mix of "rhy"s, "perior"s, and strange high-pitched whinnying bleats. Aaron almost felt as if the massive Pokemon was scolding him.


~Put him down.~


Andalas turned, pulling Aaron around with him, letting Aaron see that Polly's Metagross was standing next to the both of them. Andalas gave a bleat and a "rhy" at Metagross.


~He's my responsibility.~


Andalas grunted in annoyance, tossed Aaron in front of Metagross, then stomped off. Aaron lay on the ground in shock for a few seconds before picking himself up.


"T-Thanks..."


~Don't mention it. Andalas wouldn't have hurt you but he probably would have kept lecturing you for several hours.~


"...Really?"


~He's like that.~


"...Huh."


~Anyway, I'm not just here to save your ass from Andalas. Class with Polly is soon.~


"Oh! I forgot! Thank you for reminding me!"


He made to move off, then stopped and turned back to Metagross.


"Which way?"


There was a long, drawn-out mental sigh.


~...Follow me.~


And Metagross led Aaron off.


----------------------------


Aaron was sitting at the back of the class. As usual. People were less likely to notice and pick on him back there.


Polly arrived at the front of the class and looked around at the assembled students. "Alright. Today's lesson... well, let me get something out real quick.


She dug within a desk drawer and pulled out a strange, crystaline flower. Aaron leaned over his desk, curious.


"This... Is a Time Flower," said Polly. "It actually gives the monastery its name."


Aaron raised his hand. "This place has a name?"


Polly gave him a look. "Yes. This place is called the Time Flower Abbey. You didn't pick that up?"


Aaron did not reply, just lowered his hand sheepishly as the other kids giggled.


"Anyway," said Polly. "Ought to show you how these things work..."


She waved her other hand over the Time Flower as her palm glowed with Aura. The Time Flower immediately responded, projecting an illusion of Polly giving a similar lecture to a different class. The class oohed and aahed.


"Time Flowers are crystalline life forms that bud from a bigger crystalline life form, the Tree of Beginning. They grow through this whole area and are a major export - precisely because they can generate Obscuric illusions that record sound and images. At least, if you have a human on the Auric spectrum or Pokemon to activate them."


Callie raised her hand. "Are the illusions like a Zoroark's?"


"Yes, precisely. Why they react this way to Aura is still unknown. But they take root anywhere there's rock and their illusion abilities are useful for messages, so they're worth a lot of money."

Polly chuckled.

"In the old days me and Metagross used to go on Time Flower runs."


"How did you meet Metagross anyway?" asked Eve. "He seems so strong..."


Polly thought a bit.


"Metagross has been with Time Flower Abbey as long as I can remember. His species lives a very long time. I... I didn't actually choose him as my partner Pokemon. He chose me. After-"


She shook her head. "We're getting off-topic. Right, we were on the Tree... It's not just a resource. People make pilgrimages to see it in the name of Xerneas and Mew, though they never go inside for... reasons I mentioned before."


Aaron gulped.


"You see, the people of Kalos and Galar and nearby nations had their own Tree, not too far away. They made pilgrimages to that instead. Then the Demon King AZ came into power and fired his Ultimate Weapon. The weapon devastated that tree to the point most thought it was dead, and so refugees headed off across land and sea to this Tree, as I mentioned before eventually forming Rota. Eventually a band of heroes found the old Tree still clung to life and saved it, but the Rotans remained, and the Genesis Mountain Aura Guardians made this monastery to aid them, as well as..."


Polly looked around and sighed. "Alright kids, time for the awkward part. Which of you are Obscurics?"


Dead silence. Then slowly kids started raising their hands. Aaron did not - he was a Fighting Auric apparently.


"Right," said Polly, "I'm not gonna ask you all to share your stories just yet. But you all know about discrimination. Aurics, Psychics, it depends on the place but most of us can at least survive. Obscuirics... They're hunted. Executed. Slaughtered. And that's why we're here. To protect all people on the spectrum."


Aaron was taken aback. He had dealt with enough being an Auric, but apparently the Obscuric kids had it even worse? As Polly changed the subject to the abbey's architecture Aaron resolved to ask his Obscuric bunkmates about it.


-------------


After class, Aaron looked around for two people in particular. Eventually he found them - Callie and Atta, talking with each other about lunch. Munchkin and Stabby were arguing about... something.


"Hey? You two?" he asked.


Both girls gave Aaron puzzled looks.


"Yes?" said Callie.


"This better be good," said Atta.


"Remember what Polly mentioned in class about Obscurics having a hard time?" said Aaron. "What was that like for you guys?"


"Oh! The Necrozma cult loved Obscurics!" said Callie. "They were good vessels for the Blinding One because they canceled out the Psychic energy!"


She frowned. "But... Some mean people... They killed most of the cult... Took me... The Aura Guardians had to rescue me..."


"Same here..." said Atta. "Parents abandoned me because I was Obscuric. Bisharp took me in, raised me with his Pawniard pack. Aura Guardians found me, Bisharp sent me and Stabby with them."


Munchkin and Stabby, overhearing all this, lowered their heads sorrowfully.


"O-oh," said Aaron. "That's... not good."


"What happened to you Aaron?" said Callie.


"My dad died... I don't wanna talk about why," said Aaron. "But other than that I've mostly been bullied."


"Chump," said Atta.


"Atta you can't just say that!" said Callie.


"N-no, it's fine," said Aaron. "You both have been through a lot..." He gulped. "We should probably go get lunch now."


"Sure!" said Callie.


The three, as well as Munchkin and Stabby, headed off to lunch. Even so, Aaron thought to himself.


Guess I'm not the only one who wanted to escape... but... things haven't changed much...


-----------


Polly was winding down at the end of the day, heading to the back of the kitchen to get a snack. As she did, however, she noticed a rustling in one of the bags of apples. Sighing, thinking it was probably a Ratatta or a Bidoof, she grabbed a broom and lightly thwacked the moving lump.


What emerged from the bag, however, was decidedly not a Ratatta or a Bidoof, but a smal purple creature with a large pointy head, which buzzed and sprayed sticky goo in Polly's direction. Polly, just barely stepping out of the way of being sprayed, gaped in shock.


"Hey! You're one of those portal varmints!"


The purple creature snickered at her distress and flew off.


"Oh no you don't!"


Polly gave chase, running after the creature until she emerged in an open courtyard, the setting sun barely illuminating the scene.


"Damn it... where did the little brat go?"


She saw a flickering.

"Aha!"


She swung the broom at the flickering.


With lightning speed, Polly's broom was knocked out of her hand and she was pinned to the ground. She could make out a cloak, a mask, something almost... tasting her.


Then the being let go, faded from corporealness, and was gone. Polly lay on the ground gaping for breath.


"That... Definitely wasn't one of the portal varmints."


After a bit she got up, grabbed her hat, and booked it to Ryan's quarters. This could be a lead on the killers. But she wondered.


If that was the case why did they let her live?


--------------------


Riolu walked down the streets of the busy human town, the roofs and bricks seeming to stretch far beyond what he expected. His Aura feelers flared and eyes peeled for any sign of danger. So far there were none, but the humans and Pokemon here alike sometimes gave him funny looks.


Speaking of the latter, Riolu was astounded by the variety of Pokemon on display, countless species he had never seen in the mountain forests. One Pokemon that seemed to be a chunk of solid ice with a head and limbs trudged by him, giving him a chill.


That chill gave way to a rumbling stomach. Riolu realized he needed food. Looking around, he saw some apples sitting at a bazaar. Surprised they were just laying there, he reached out to grab one.


"Hey!" said a human. "You gonna pay for that?"


Riolu paused. The food was right there. But apparently he had to do... Something for it.


"Pay? What is pay?"


"Don't yap at me!" said the human. "Pay up!"


The human couldn't understand him? Weird. Different Pokemon could understand each other, apparently humans were an exception. How could he communicate with this human?

Then he had a realization. His kind could communicate via Aura... Maybe if he tried that with a human...

~What... Is... Pay?~

The human jumped a bit. "You can talk? You don't look like a Psychic type. Anyway pay is money. You got money?"


~N-o?~


"Then you can't take the apple."


Riolu paused, looked at the human, then at the apples, then at the human, then at the apples again. Then he grabbed one and ran.


"Hey!" said the human, giving chase.


Riolu ran through the streets, dodging left and right as if that Charizard was still chasing him. That said, that human didn't look too tough. No claws, no fangs, what could it even do to him if it caught hi-


"Maurice, get him!"


There was an unholy screech of "Hey! That's my human's apple!" as a Staraptor swooped in from overhead. Riolu's eyes widened as he booked it further. The Staraptor lunged as Rolu ducked out of the way, just in time, taking cover under a shop stand. Crawling desperately while still clutching the apple, he emerged on the other side and kept running.


"Hey! Over here!" said a voice.


Riolu noticed a strange orange lizard Pokemon gesturing to him from an alleyway. Riolu ran toward him, ducking behind him. The lizard grabbed him and pulled him inside a barrel as the Staraptor flew past. Seconds passed before Riolu punched and kicked at the lizard, trying to get out of the barrel.


"Woah woah woah buddy," said the lizard. "I'm not gonna eat you, or your apple. Looks like you came straight from the woods."


"...I did," said Riolu.


"It doesn't work that way around here. No predator-prey stuff. Pokemon help each other, and humans take care of food and shelter."

"They... do?"


"Yeah! Listen, you did a good job nabbing that apple. I know some folks who'll like you."


"Oh?"


"Come on."


The two climbed out of the barrel and headed off.


----------------


Eventually, Riolu and the lizard reached an abandoned building. It was crumbled, worn, with eaves falling inward, and a door hanging ajar. The lizard slipped in, Riolu following.


Inside were an assemblage of different Pokemon; a froglike Pokemon counting Berries, a green and white biped cutting vegetables with his scythes, a monkey with a flaming head reading a book, and a smaller monkey with a flaming tail watching.


"Hey!" said the lizard. "I found someone interesting!"


The others turned to look at Riolu. The large monkey in particular scrutinized him with his green eyes.


"Aww, it's a little puppy!" said the frog.


"Meh. Do we have to clean after it?" said the biped.


"H-hi," said the smaller monkey."


"Hmm. And you are?" said the big monkey.


"I'm... I'm Riolu. What are you all?"


"I'm Grog! I'm a Toxicroak!" said the frog.


"I'm Vallant, the Gallade," said the biped.


"I'm Shifty the Scrafty!" said the lizard.


"I'm... I'm Nicolas the Chimchar, nice to meet you," said the small monkey.


"And I am Koba the Infernape, the leader of this little band. We call ourselves... The Wonderful Fighting Thieves."


"The humans provide and we take anything we want!" said Shifty.


"And we work together to do it!" said Grog.


"It's a good gig, I suppose," said Vallant.


"Dad makes sure everyone's taken care of..." said Nicolas.


"This Riolu was doing some nice work nabbing an apple from old man Victor and his Staraptor Maurice," said Shifty. "He could do some nice work for us!"


"Hmm... He probably has a lot to learn, but I'll allow it," said Koba. "Riolu, you'll get food, shelter, company for your services... If you're willing to stick with us of course."


Riolu stared at the others, feeling their Auras carefully. He took a moment to look down and think to himself, clutching the apple, before looking back up.


"...Sure."


***
 
Last edited:

Venia Silente

[](int x){return x;}
I've had pending commenting on this story since like, forever, give or take a couple years; apologies for that. But I did get to the catching up part which is good because this is one of the most interesting premises for a canon character centric stories I've seen in a while. Take one of the best Pokémon movies and hold on to one of the best characters it has and then start asking more questions. Backstory! I'm a sucker for that to my own detriment.

And I'll be commenting more on that as I give out a deeper reading since the first time I was in HURRY UP CATCH UP modo aka "easy modo". I have some things I really want to give commentary on if no one has beaten me on that, like for example I like what you have done with the Aura Guardians as a context thing and how they socially seem to function like the Phantom Menace Jedi Order except they are much less known it seems...? And then this reflects with Aaron's early character. In particular the scene with the dummy seems to be either foreshadowing or meta commentary on how sometimes you are not fit to be eg.: a cop, but it's the only thing that's there where your abilities can flourish anyway.

Anyway, I'm expecting to catch up more on the Adventures of Aura Doge and their Future Human Companion. Good job on getting to write this, I know I've said this elsewhere but it deserves more repetition.

Yay! Two cakes!
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
I've had pending commenting on this story since like, forever, give or take a couple years; apologies for that. But I did get to the catching up part which is good because this is one of the most interesting premises for a canon character centric stories I've seen in a while. Take one of the best Pokémon movies and hold on to one of the best characters it has and then start asking more questions. Backstory! I'm a sucker for that to my own detriment.

And I'll be commenting more on that as I give out a deeper reading since the first time I was in HURRY UP CATCH UP modo aka "easy modo". I have some things I really want to give commentary on if no one has beaten me on that, like for example I like what you have done with the Aura Guardians as a context thing and how they socially seem to function like the Phantom Menace Jedi Order except they are much less known it seems...? And then this reflects with Aaron's early character. In particular the scene with the dummy seems to be either foreshadowing or meta commentary on how sometimes you are not fit to be eg.: a cop, but it's the only thing that's there where your abilities can flourish anyway.

Anyway, I'm expecting to catch up more on the Adventures of Aura Doge and their Future Human Companion. Good job on getting to write this, I know I've said this elsewhere but it deserves more repetition.

Yay! Two cakes!

Thank you! Glad you're such a big fan of the premise.


Anyway I was able to motor it and produce Chapter 8! This one is BACKSTORY HO, plus some new peeps:


Chapter 8: Stories


It had been a few weeks since Polly was attacked.


The other Aura Guardians had organized squads to find the perpetrator. There was no luck. Polly herself was fine. Fine. She'd dealt with worse.


She was idly sipping some tea, Metagross and Dunsparce by her side, when Carol and Lovegood approached.


~Are you OK dear?~ said Carol.


"Don't call me dear. And I'm fine."


"~Well you've been kind of... sulking.~


"It's because our potential culprit to those murders was literally right in my face and we still haven't gotten any further than that!"


~Polly, calm down,~ said Metagross.


Dunsparce hissed worriedly.


"I'm fine," said Polly.


~No you're not,~ said Carol. ~Come on, hang out with the rest of us. It's staff luncheon day!~


Lovegood nodded. ~Socialization may help with aggravated mental states, depending on the person.~


"Hrm. Fine." said Polly.


She got up, and she and her Pokemon followed Carol and Lovegood out.


------------


There was a party going on at least. With refreshments - double good.


Even so Polly wasn't feeling particularly up to socializing with anyone other than the food. Regardless Carol approached her.


~How's it going?~


"Okay."


~That doesn't sound convincing.~

"It wasn't meant to be."


Carol gave a telepathic sigh and sat down next to Polly.


~Look, I know you're frustrated about the lack of leads. But don't beat yourself up. We've been through worse. Way worse. Remember how I lost my voice?~


"...Yes. You were born to a noble house. A rival lord's Pangoro beat you. You survived, but lost your voice and much of your hearing and your family disowned you for it. You've had a hatred for the rich since."


~Well I hate them for a lot of reasons! That was just the catalyst. Point is, I've been through ****, you've been through ****... together some murder mystery is no big deal.~

"Alright, thanks." Polly sighed. "I... I miss Eliot. And Sir Donovan."


~We all do.~


"This is kind of getting depressing for party conversation."


~Agreed. Let's go find someone else.~


The two got up and started looking around the party - as well as sampling food - before they found Vince.


~Vince! Hey!~ said Carol.


"How are you doing?" said Polly.


"...What do you two want?" said Vince.


"Someone better to talk to than each other."


~It's better in threes, you know.~ Carol winked.


Vince winced. "No thanks."


"What, are you too good for us?" said Polly.


"N-No. I mean yes. I mean gah."


Carol telepathically snickered. Vince sighed.


"Honestly I wish I was too good for you guys. But I know I'm not."


Polly raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"


"I've been put down all my life," said Vince.


~Is this about the "terrible wizard" thing?~


"No. Or at least. Your little nickname isn't the worst of it."


"I think I know what you're getting at." said Polly. "Didn't your parents try to keep you away from the outside world because you were an Obscuric?"


"Not even because that," said Vince. "Because I wasn't even a very good Obscuric. Even after I finally ran away and found the monastery it took years for me to get to where I am today. And in the meantime... everyone picked on me. Except you two. And... I still don't feel like I'm good enough."


~Ah, yes, I remember now...~ said Carol.


"I feel sorry for that Aaron kid," said Vince. "He was in the same boat I was."


"I've been keeping an eye on him," said Polly. "So has Metagross."


"That's good."


"Guys! Guys! Hey!" said another voice.


"Not her," whispered Vince under his breath.


A redheaded woman with a red, white and pink uniform approached the three. "Whatcha guys talking about?"


~Our lives, Hannah,~ said Carol. ~It involves lots of suffering. Join us.~


"Ooh, uh, well, I stubbed my toe earlier if you're talking about suffering!"


Vince rolled his eyes.

"You guys should probably cheer yourselves up!" said Hannah. "Have you seen any cute Pokemon around?"


"My Dunsparce is probably hiding from you again," said Polly.


"Aww, too bad! She's wonderful. I love Dunsparce - so buzzy and sweet!"


Polly chuckled. "Take it easy on her."


"I will!"


"What are you all yammering about?" This time Nightjar approached the growing gaggle of gossiping Guardians.


"Cute Pokemon!" said Hannah.


"Our lives," said Vince.


"Hmph," said Nightjar. "Sounds trivial."


"Well, it's better than sucking up to Ryan constantly," said Vince.


"Ooh, burn!" said Hannah.


"Y-you take that back!" said Nightjar, eyes widening and taking an aggressive posture. "Ryan- he- you plebeians don't understand!"


"Plebeians?" said Polly. "You're the one who-"


"Enough."


Everyone stood at attention when Ryan showed up.


"Er, Ryan, lovely to see you," said Nightjar. "I wasn't arguing on your behalf again I swea-"


"I said enough, all of you."


Everyone grew quiet. Ryan turned to Polly. "Polly. I need to talk to you about a few things."


Polly raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"


"I've gotten a bit of help for our case."


Polly was now paying full attention. "Go on."


---------------


Two Aura Guardians walked into a bar.


Polly looked around as she and Ryan took their seats. "Are you sure he's here?"


"He said that's where he'd meet us. Hard to overhear in this place."


Polly looked around. There were various humans and Pokemon in the bar, in varying states of drunkenness. A man was passed out in his chair. A Gardevoir was drunkenly floating around hiccuping. A Spinda was actually walking straight for once.


Then Polly saw a slim man and his white Florges approach. Polly noticed the man was wearing a white cloak and robes, and had green hair, purple eyes, and a pretty, cheerful-looking face.


"Hello! You two must be the Aura Guardians I'm looking for."


Polly immediately scanned the man's surface thoughts. She couldn't get much further than that but what she did pick up was friendly, warm, inviting.


"...Yes. Yes we are."


"Nice to meet you, Beo," said Ryan.


"My pleasure!" said Beo.


"Polly, Beo is the head of the Blue Wave Society. Another organization that protects those on the Auric Spectrum." He gestured to his Florges. "This is Madam Sprout."


Polly stared a bit and nodded before telepathically addressing Ryan.


~...Why do we need more than one?~


~The Aura Guardians have a wide reach, but are scattered and divided into separate factions. The Blue Wave Society is more concentrated, precise.~


~Okay, but why do we need their help for a murder and a dissapearance?~


~Beo will explain.~


"So, Beo," said Polly. "What do you know?"


"The murders and disappearances you encountered were far from the only ones," said Beo, frowning. Madam Sprout hung her head.


Polly's eyes widened. "There have been... more?"


"Yes. Aurics found dead or, more often, missing in very specific ways matching your description all over this region. And mentions of suspicious activity beforehand for each. This has included Aura users under the Blue Wave Society's care."


"This... This is concerning," said Polly.


"Which is why we're joining forces with the Blue Wave Society. They have valuable resources to help," said Ryan.


"Very well then, Beo. What can you provide us?"


"People! More eyes and ears to figure out who's doing this... Ooh, ooh, and we can share supplies too!"


Madam Sprout chittered in response.


"I ought to help," Beo said. "After all..."


He held up one of his hands. A tiny pinprick of Fighting Aura light shone before disappearing.


"I'm an Auric myself!"


Polly thought. She didn't entirely like getting outside help but if this guy was one of them and could help then...


"Alright!" said Polly. "Welcome aboard."


"Yay! Drinks on me then!" He turned to the bartender. "One scotch on the rocks!"


Polly and Ryan stared. Beo gave them a quizzical look.

"What?"


------------


Two Aura Guardians walked into a completely different bar.


"Why are we doing a different bar?" said Polly.

"Easier to cover our tracks," said Ryan.


The two sat again. This bar was much the same as the last, albeit with different people and Pokemon.


The person that approached them, however, was new. A young man, around Polly's age it seemed like with dark blue and black clothes, icy blue hair and eyes, and glasses, and a Corviknight approached.


"And you are...?" said Polly.


The man stared at her and Ryan for a moment before nodding, as did his Corviknight. "Terrence Morendo, at your service. I'm here on a mission. This is one of my Pokemon partners, Zawisza" His Corviknight gave an affirmative "cor" and a squawk.


"And that mission is..."


"One of my friends and his Pokemon partner are missing. I've tracked whoever did it here, to the Genesis Mountain range, and now found you Aura Guardians. And I could use your help. In return I will lend you my services."


Polly raised an eyebrow. She scanned Terrence's surface thoughts and found she was being suppressed, even harder than with Beo. She didn't like that.


"...What kind of services?"


"I don't have powers like you do. But my Pokemon and I are good fighters. And good at tracking down the kinds of people who'd do such a thing."


Zawisza cawed and nodded.


"Terrence contacted me about our current crisis," said Ryan. "Thought he could help. Thought he ought to help. We'd provide him with lodging at least."


Polly gave Terrence a look. Beo she could tolerate, but this guy just waltzing right in with his mental reinforcements and making himself at home?


~Are you sure about this guy Ryan? I can't read him. That's bad.~


~As far as I can tell he means no harm and is just as invested in this case as we are. Give him a chance.~


~...Fine.~


"We will gladly accept your help, Terrence.

Terrence nodded and bowed. "Thank you, Aura Guardians. I suppose we celebrate with a drink."


He turned to the bartender. "Give me a mixed berry drink for me and my Corviknight please!"


Polly and Ryan stared again.


"What?" said Terrence.


------------------


It had been a month or two. Riolu had gotten used to life with his new companions. Even if said life was a bit... hectic.


He and Shifty had just commandeered a pile of bananas (which were apparently different from Nanab Berries) and going to town on them.


"Man, this is great!" said Shifty.


He slumped back.


"Reminds me of the old days..."


"Old days?" said Riolu.


"Uh, yeah! You don't think I just crawled out of the egg and ended up where I am now, did you?"


"...Really?"


"...Okay I kind of did. But then it got complicated I swear."


Riolu raised an eyebrow. "How?"


"Now, see I was born a street Rattata, like I am now, in a faraway land! But then, a band of pirates found me! We went on all sorts of pirate adventures! We even saw Kyogre!"


"Wait, really?" said Riolu.


"Yeah!" said Shifty.


"...What are pirates?"


"Thieves like us but on a boat!"


"...A boat?"


"It's... I'll explain later. Just know it was awesome."


"Then how did you end up here?"


Shifty frowned. "One of the pirate adventures went wrong. A bunch of nasty humans started cracking down on piracy. Our whole "steal from the rich" policy came back to bite us. I woke up in a cell in a bar with no memory of how I got there. My crew was gone. I eventually escaped and wound up with the others by chance."

"Oh. I'm... I'm sorry I guess..."


"Nah, not your fault. It was those asshole humans." Shifty pat Riolu on the head. "Heh... You kinda remind me of me back then. Nowhere to go until you found the right peoplemons."


"...Heh. Were... were the others pirates too?"


"Huh? Heck no. You know what, you should ask them. I'll save you some bananas."


"...Sure."


Riolu trotted off, leaving Shifty to idly munch on bananas.


-----------


Riolu found Grog scrubbing himself with a towel.


"Wha- Oh, hey Riolu! Was just giving myself the old wishy-washy!"


"I thought you said Wishiwashi was a Pokemon."


"It's both, silly!"


Riolu sighed. "Anyway. Shifty said to ask you what you did before the Fighting Thieves?"


"Oh, uh." Grog shifted worriedly, clacking his claws together. "I... I killed people."


Riolu stared. "You mean, like, killed other Pokemon for food?"


"No, I... Killed humans. I was an assassin. It was awful."


Riolu's eyes widened. "You what? My dad said- my dad said the Vow forbade Pokemon killing humans!"


"Apparently these humans didn't care! I had to do it or they'd kill me!"


"That's... that's awful!"


"The good news," said Grog, perking up. "Was that I wasn't very good at it. I was too polite. I would always yell "Sneak Attack!" before I struck my foe."


"What happened after that?"


"Eventually they got fed up with my poor performance and I got fed up with them and I escaped here! I've been much happier without them!"


"Hm. I see."


"...What's wrong?"


"...Nothing. Do you know where Vallant is?"


"Oh yeah! Over that way."


"Thanks."


Riolu headed off. Grog looked at him in confusion before scrubbing himself again.


--------------


Rilou found Vallant cutting firewood with his arm scythes.


"Vallant?"


"What do you want, kid?"


"What happened to you before you joined the Fighting Thieves?"


Vallant sighed. "Okay, why do you want to know?"


"I was curious."


"...Fine. I was a knight."


"...A knight?"


"See there's this human that's arbitrarily in charge of all the other humans in a given area right? Sort of an... alpha female or alpha male, I haven't heard of humans having any alpha enbies except in like... Unova, long ago, and that was a Pokemon anyway. They call them a king or a queen. Knights work for the king or queen."


"Oh. So you worked for the alpha human?"


"Yeah! And it was glamorous. I got all the food and attention and, hehe, attractive boy mons I could ever hope for."


"...But then something happened."


"Yeah. This asshole human knight got jealous of me. Framed me for a crime I didn't commit. I was exiled. Now I'm stuck here, committing actual crimes to survive."


"Oh... I'm sorry."


"Meh. I never needed them."


"...I'm going to find Nicolas now."


Riolu trudged off. Vallant shook his head.

"Weird kid."


-----------


Riolu found Nicolas studying a tree stump.


"...What are you doing?" said Riolu.


"Science!" said Nicolas.


"...What?"


"It's how you learn how the world works!"


Riolu raised an eyebrow. "...How do tree stumps tell you how the world works?"


"Well, I'm trying to look at the rings on trees! See how they age!"


"...That's how you tell?"


"Yeah! Human scientists figured that out!"


"They did? Neat..."


"Yeah! I've been learning to be like them!"


He frowned.


"Humans probably won't let a Chimchar do science with them though..."


"They won't?"


"Yeah! What I hear is they only let other humans do it! At least in the Rotan and Kantonian courts..."


"Really? That's no good..." Riolu looked around. "Where's your dad?"


"Oh, he went that way," said Nicolas, pointing.


Riolu headed off in that direction as Nicolas continued investigating the tree stump.


---------


At last, Riolu found Koba sitting, meditating. Riolu moved to tap Koba on the shoulder when Koba spoke.


"I know you're there."


Riolu stopped. Then sat next to him.


"Koba?"


"Yes?"

"Your whole deal is being a leader to the Fighting Thieves... Why?"


Koba was silent for a moment.


"They're all like me. Did you speak to the others before coming to me?"


"Yes. Why?"


"Did you notice a common thread in their stories?"


''...Humans?"


"Yes. humans always let them down, disappointed them. I too, was like them when I was young."


"How?"


Another pause.


"There was a human I loved very much, who I aimed to please, both out of the ancient laws of the Vow and out of sheer desire for friendship. But he did not love me back. He beat me, berate me, told me I wasn't strong enough. Eventually, heartbroken, I fled."


"O-oh..."


"You see, Riolu... Humans can very well make Pokemon stronger, smarter, greater. But the human always wants something out of the bargain. If you are to make a pact with one you must know the risks."


"I... I see."


"And even if it succeeds... the relationship is always one of master and servant. Nothing more, nothing less."


Riolu paused. Then shambled off, leaving Koba to his meditation.


Now Riolu too was lost in thought.


***


Some art:


Hannah by Daydre

Beo by Lidjia


Beo by Zakuru


Terrence by Enduro


Terrrence by yubakeme
 

Chibi Pika

Stay positive
I have returned! With chapters 4-6 this time~

Chapter 4:

Umbramatic said:
He hesitantly got back up and rushed the dummy again. This attempt was more successful, doing decent damage to the dummy. Smiling, he looked around for his companions. Louis and Rook were slicing up a dummy, Callie and Munchkin were pelting one with Obscura bolts and fire, Atta and Stabby were gnawing and stabbing at one
Given that we get to see what kind of damage all the other kids are doing, It's be neat to mention exactly what kind of damage he did.
Umbramatic said:
"She's mute," Louis said, whispering. "Can't speak with her mouth. Can't hear that well either. Something about an incident with a Pangoro. Don't know the rest, don't really care."
Ahh, makes sense that telepathy would be really useful for folks who can't speak, for whatever reason.
Umbramatic said:
"Long ago, the people and Pokemon of Kanto and Johto suffered a great famine. They begged the gods for help, and their calls were heeded by a Legendary from another land, who created the Tree to ward off famine and pestilence. Its crystals absorb energy from sunlight, and its roots as a result fertilize Kanto, Johto, and beyond. The ecosystem around here depends on it."
Ooh, I like this, more worldbuilding about the tree is always welcome.
Umbramatic said:
~Legendaries in general aren't to be trusted.~
I approve of this. :p
Umbramatic said:
The other child turned his head toward Aaron, holding a finger to his lips and winking. Aaron blinked. A Pokemon made a noise in the forest, causing Aaron's attention to turn to it briefly; when he turned back the other child was gone.
Oho I see where this is going.
Umbramatic said:
Right. By the time anyone sees or Aura Senses it it's too late, but scorch marks on the remains it leaves behind indicate it's a Fire type. Therefore..."
He pointed toward Ginji. "You're probably our best bet for taking it down."
Oh hey, I was worried that the killer being fire-type would cause them to be even more terrible to him, so this is a nice surprise.
Umbramatic said:
Riolu, naturally, waited a bit before following.
Okay this is a playful bit of narration, I'd like to see more instance of this. ;)

Chapter 5:

Umbramatic said:
There before him, with massive wings, crooked talons, and sharp beak, was her. The dread Yveltal, death and destruction goddess of Kalos.
Well then~ This is an unexpected treat. (Also nice touch bringing in Kalos legendaries since the kingdom is from Kalos.)
Umbramatic said:
~One of the murderers had powers like your own.~
One of. Hoo boy. Multiple killers and one of them is an aura user?
Umbramatic said:
~After seeing what you did I don't blame you. That said you probably should eat. Not eating's hell on the anxiety, I should know after knowing Polly all her life.~ He paused. ~Don't tell her I said that.~
Is Metagross the Mom Friend.
Umbramatic said:
The small purple creature watched the small biped and large quadruped head off from their hiding place. It couldn't understand the words of the creatures of this dimension, though was starting to pick up a few. What they did know was that the place the two were going had food.
Oh! I wasn't expecting that we'd get to see the Poipole from the MMM extra in the main body of the fic.

Chapter 6:

Umbramatic said:
Aaron was staring down the dummy. It seemed to stare back. Desperate, he sized it up, looking for a weak point. The dummy did not yield.
You talk to the dummy. It doesn't seem much for conversation. :V
Umbramatic said:
Lewis stormed off. Rook turned to Aaron and uttered a "Scyther scythe..." in an attempt to tell Aaron something, then chittered sadly and loped off after his human companion.
Wholesome bug is wholesome.
Umbramatic said:
"Oh, ground up Beedrill thorax, Goodra slime, essence of Oddish leaf, eye of Sobble... you know, the works!" said Callie, grinning and displaying her unusually pointy teeth.
"...Why?"
"For Necrozma!"
...I. Really shouldn't be surprised.
Umbramatic said:
"Not literally. Just... Be more assertive."
"Insertive?"
You get the brick.
Umbramatic said:
"Anyway..." said Eve. "You could probably start by standing up for yourself?"
Ahaha, it's funny, I was just thinking to myself "okay the past like four scenes have all ended in Aaron getting shot down and just saying "okay" and leaving, so this is perfect timing.
Umbramatic said:
"You... You smell! You're the smelliest! Yeah!"
Oh boy, he's terrible at this. xD
Umbramatic said:
"Uh, I'm not sure Transform is a move you Auric humans can cover."
ahahah he basically came right out and said he's not human and Aaron didn't notice. xD
Umbramatic said:
A massive shape lunged out of the depths of the cavern, past Riolu and right at the Charizard. Riolu could just make out the form of the Charizard being clutched in the massive jaws of a huge creature, before the Charizard was dragged screaming into the darkness, its tail light winking out.
Riolu stood completely still as the mincing of flesh and the crunching of bone grew quieter and quieter until it faded to silence. He stayed completely still even after that until a booming, feminine voice echoed throughout the cavern.
I know you've struggled with description and scene setting so I just wanted to call this out for being a really good passage. Chilling and atmospheric without being too gratuitous.

So, I know that Chapter 5 was the one that had to get edited, and overall I think it works well. Riolu struggling with feeling like he doesn't fit in the pack without his father, and his mother encouraging him to find his own path--it's believable given that we've seen Riolu being a more active character in his parts, in contrast to Aaron (though I can tell Aaron's trying to change that!).

Hopefully shouldn't take as long before I get to the next few chapters!

~Chibi~
 
Last edited:

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Chibi I will get you either later or later and elsewhere! Anyway...


AT LAST. I have been wanting to get to this chapter for a LONG time for REASONS and now it's finally here, so please, enjoy:


Chapter 9: Separation Anxiety


A few months had passed. Aaron was slowly starting to get more adjusted to life at the Time Flower Abbey.


There was just one problem.


"What do you mean you still don't have a Pokemon partner?" said Louis incredulously at the lunch table.


"I... I..." said Aaron.


"At this point, everyone but you has one..." said Atta.


"D-don't rub it in!"


"Hard not to when it's true," said Eve.


"You should make a sacrifice to Necrozma so they can send you one!" said Callie. "Light for the light god! Crystals for the crystal throne!"


"...No thanks," said Aaron.


"I guess you could, you know," said Eve, "try harder to find one?"


"Er, yes, I will do exactly that!" said Aaron, rushing off.


"...He didn't finish his lunch," said Louis.


"More for me then," said Atta, shoveling it all into her mouth.


--------


Aaron was just outside Time Flower Abbey, looking around. He knew any Pokemon he found inside probably was the partner of someone already, so out here was his best bet of finding one for him.


Then, he spotted one. A Wynaut, foraging for Berries - Aaron still didn't understand the difference between them and regular fruit even in class - and blissfully unaware of his presence. This small creature would do.


"Hey there?"


The Wynaut froze, then turned toward him.


"Do you want to be my friend?" said Aaron.


"Wynaut!"


"Really?! Oh this is great, I finally have a Pokemon par-"


"Wynaut." The Wynaut followed this up with a wobbling noise.


"...Wait, right, that's part of your name. Do you still want to be my partner?"


The Wynaut made another wobbling noise as it waved their headfeelers in Aaron's direction.


"Do you still want to be my partner?" said Aaron. Wait. He'd already said that. "Do you still want to be my partner?" Oh no, not again. And he was frozen in place too. Aaron realized he had been hit with the Wynaut's Encore.


The Wynaut snickered and headed off. Aaron was stuck in place parroting himself for a few minutes before it wore off and he collapsed with a moan.


-------


Aaron had since moved into the forest, where he was looking around wildly at any noise. Then, in the dappled sunlight of the treetops, he saw it: A Weepinbel, curled around a tree branch and swaying in the breeze.


"H-hey!" Aaron shouted up at it. "Do you want to be my partner?"


The Weepinbel glared at Aaron and pointed their leaf toward some rustling in a nearby tree.


"Uh..." said Aaron. "Is that food?"


The Weepinbel nodded.


"Uh, I guess... No, Metagross says all Pokemon are intelligent like people," said Aaron. "I can't help you."


The Weepinbell just rolled their eyes and kept staring.


Aaron looked at the Weepinbell. Then at the rustling. Maybe if he helped the Pokemon the Weepinbel was trying to eat then they'd help him?


He concentrated, sending an Aura blast at the other tree, knocking him back. There was a crack, then splinters everywhere, before a swarm of angry Beedrill emerged and headed straight for Aaron. His eyes widened.


"Oh no."


He exited, pursued by Beedril.


------


A few stings later, Aaron stumbled back toward Time Flower Abbey, rubbing himself. It was then he noticed a sleeping Munchlax.


"Maybe them..."


He approached the Munchlax and poked it. "Hey! You want to be my friend?"


The Munchlax kept snoring.


"Hello?"


The Munchlax rolled over. Aaron scowled and pushed the Munchlax, attempting to move them. The Munchlax raised a finger and waggled it, resulting in a wave of sludge that promptly washed Aaron away.


-------


Now sore, stung, and with sludge stains in his clothes, Aaron stumbled to a patch of grass a bit away from Time Flower Abbey. It was then he saw a Mareep. Aaron thought to himself for a bit. If asking directly didn't work maybe he could catch it...


He snuck closer to the Mareep. They kept grazing. He leapt to tackle them, and immediately got shocked, stumbling back. Aaron was now staring down a very angry Mareep.


"Uh, hey, hehe, I just wanted to be friends..."


He bolted, the Mareep chasing after back to the monastery.


----------


Several other children were hanging out, chatting and playing, in the courtyard, when a screaming Aaron burst in pursued by an angry Mareep. Aaron tripped and fell, and the Mareep zapped him one last time and stormed off in a huff.


Aaron slowly got up, sore, covered in stings, sludge, and electrical burns, and noticed the other kids were staring at him.


"Uh... Hi?"


The other kids started laughing, and pointing.


"Wait, no, please, stop," said Aaron, cowering and hiding his face. "I just wanted to- "


They kept laughing. Aaron ducked and cowered.


"Hey! Leave him alone! Shoo, shoo!"


Things got quiet. Aaron looked up and saw the other kids were gone and Hanna was standing over him. "You OK?" she asked.


"...No."


"Aw, come here," said Hannah, pulling Aaron into a hug. Aaron yelped and squirmed.


"Ow, that hurts!" Aaron said.


"Oops, sorry," said Hannah, putting him down.


"What's going on?" said a voice. "I heard a commotion..."


A strange blue-haired man in glasses approached. Aaron recognized him as the man who had been hanging around Time Flower Abbey for quite some time but had never gotten the name of.


"Oh, Terrence!" said Hannah, solving Aaron's problem in that department, "Poor Aaron here was being teased by the other kids for... What was it again?"


"I tried to befriend a bunch of Pokemon but they all attacked me."


Terrence leaned down to inspect Aaron, looking him up, down, left, and sideways, before standing back up and nodding.


"Yep, he got ****ed up pretty bad."


Hannah gasped and covered her mouth. "Watch your language around the children!"


"I think what's important here is he gets medical attention," said Terrence.


Hannah nodded and picked Aaron up, causing Aaron to yelp in pain.


"...We need to get it to him carefully," said Terrence.


Hannah put Aaron down, and the two led him off to the infirmary.


----


Aaron's injuries had been patched up. His wounds bandaged. But his feelings still hurt.


He wandered around outside Time Flower Abbey, not wanting to be in contact with anything or anyone. He thought to himself.


He had come to Time Flower Abby as an escape. But it had changed nothing. He was still unwanted. Still singled out.


He let out a scream of frustration, sending a blast of Aura at the ground. It kicked up a lot of dirt and dust, and made a loud bang as bird and bug Pokemon scattered. Aaron panted from the exertion in the aftermath, hunched over.


Eventually, he stood up. And that's when he saw something approach.


--------


The Fighting Thieves were all gathered together in their, Koba standing on a platform a bit taller than all of them.


"Friends, partners," he said, "I have a lead... on the ultimate heist."


There were gasps and murmurs among the group, except Riolu, who kind of just raised an eyebrow, and Vallant, who scoffed.

"Ultimate heist? This oughta be good," said Shifty.


"Ooh! Ooh! What are we stealing?" said Grog.


"Is it a fun thing?" said Nicolas.


"Please don't let it be something stupid," said Vallant.

"Easy, easy," said Koba. "As for what it is... I have located a monastery to the north of here, up the mountain, known as Time Flower Abbey. There is a stash of strange crystals there that the Aura Guardians there use to transport their Pokemon servants. Those crystals are worth quite a lot of human money."


"So we break into the monastery, grab the crystals, then sell them to some other humans for a wagonload of cash?" said Vallant. "I like the sound of that!"


"We'll never go hungry again!" said Grog.


"What about security?" said Shifty


"It's... Tighter than usual. But I know a workaround. Follow me."


"Let's do this!" said Nicolas.


The group headed out of the hut. Riolu remained silent the whole time. Yes, this would be good for him and his friends, but... he had a bad feeling about this.


----------


Eventually, after traversing a forested mountain outside the village, the group came to Time Flower Abbey. It was huge, built into the mountain, forested and grassy plateaus extending from the parts that weren't, its spires stretching up into the sky, its structures laid out like a miniature city, decorated with stone sculptures of time flowers. The group looked on in awe.


"Damn." said Shifty. "How the hell are we gonna break in there?"


"I'll show you," said Koba.


He led the group around the side of the monastery across one of the forested plateaus until they found a series of bushes nestled around one of the walls. Koba parted the bushes to reveal a tunnel.

"A secret entrance," said Vallant. "Of course."


"Hey if it works it works!" said Nicolas. "I knew Dad would figure something out."


"Well..." said Riolu. "I guess we're going in."


"Of course, Captain Obvious!" said Shifty.


They entered.


-------------


It was dark in the tunnels, but not completely dark due to the fire on Koba's head and Nicolas' tail. The two of them lead the others through the winding cave. Riolu kept eyes and Aura feelers out for hostile Pokemon.


Finally, they emerged in an empty room, filled with boxes of food, including a bag of apples that had been recently ripped into, a sticky glue-like substance left behind.


"Look at all this food!" said Grog.


"If we stole this too we could eat like kings!" said Vallant.


"We need to keep our priorities straight," said Koba." The coast is clear... For now. We need to hurry."


The group grabbed some sacks from the room and hurried through dark stone back hallways, hiding at any peep of human and Pokemon activity. Eventually, they got to a large, vault-like door.


"This is it," said Koba with visible excitement. "This is the place!"


"Shiny." said Grog.


"Sounds great," said Shifty. "But how do we even get in?"


"Simple, we break it open," said Vallant.


"And make noise? That tells peoplemons we're here?" said Nicolas.


"Wait," said Riolu. "I have an idea."


He moved his Aura senses over the structure of the door until he found the gears and mechanisms inside. Carefully, he placed a paw on them and then Force Palmed what he saw as a weak point.


The door creaked, murmured. Koba pushed it. It opened.


"All right! Nice lockpicking Riolu," said Shifty.


The Fighting Thieves headed inside, and within were exactly what they came for - a veritable pile of the strange crystals, and other gems. Atop the pile, however, was something Riolu noticed was different from the others - a strange, pulsating crystal orb that Riolu could sort of feel was alive.


"Take as many as you can carry, but be careful - they can suck unwary Pokemon inside of them," said Koba.


The others started gathering up gems carefully, placing them gently in the sacks. Koba grabbed the orb, treating it extra-carefully. The sacks started bulging with loot.


Then they all heard a voice mentally sigh in their heads.


~I don't know how the hell you got in here, but you need to put those back please or there will be consequences.~


Everyone turned to see a Musharna floating in the doorway.


"Oh no, the living bong is here to stop us, I'm so scared," said Vallant.


The Musharna sighed again. ~Your funeral.~


He telekinetically flung one of the staff gems at Vallant. He yelped as he was sucked inside and the gem was pulled to the Musharna's side as it shook wildly.


"Oh shi-" said Shifty before the same to him. Grog screamed loudly as he was also ensnared. The Musharna threw another at Koba, but he threw up a Protect, shielding himself, Riolu, and Polly.


"Nicolas! Riolu! Go!"


Nicolas paused. Riolu promptly grabbed him and bolted out of there. The two ran and ran down seemingly endless stone hallways until-


"Hey, watch it!"


Riolu tripped over the Aura Guardian's shoe, sending him and Nicolas sprawling. In confusion and panic the two ran in separate directions until they lost track of each other completely.


-----------

Shifty, Vallant, Grog, and Koba were all restrained in a dungeon cell as Nightjar and her Musharna companion looked them over.


"Raiding a vault full of gems? Thankfully for you our penalty for petty thievery isn't death or tourture or anything, but you're still staying her a long while." Nightjar turned to the Musharna. "Thank you for apprehending them, Lazy Bones."


~Not a problem, miss Nightjar,~ said Lazy Bones.


"Anyway," said Nightjar, "I will be reporting this to Ryan. Don't get too comfy."


She and Lazy Bones headed off.


"What are we going to do?!" said Grog, rattling his Aura-reinforced chains.


"Simple!" said Vallant. "We escape and blow this joint!"


"Not just that..." said Koba. "Nicolas and Riolu are still out there..."


"Yeah! We can't leave without either of them!" said Shifty. "Not on my watch!"


------


Eventually, Riolu made it outside, through the courtyard, out the front gate until he was a fair distance away from Time Flower Abbey. He gasped and panted before turning back to the massive building, panicking.


He had only had a short time with the Fighting Thieves, and they had already been torn away from him. Flashbacks to his parents, his father, filled his mine. Everything happy in his short life felt ephemeral, meaningless... He...


No. He would not accept this. He would free them. But how?


Then he heard a noise. A flash of bright light he recognised as Auric out of the corner of his eye.


He turned. A human boy had kicked up a cloud of dust with that display. That human had done it? Riolu's Aura feelers flared - indeed, that human had a rare spark of Aura that he rarely saw away from here.


Then he had an idea. Humans were the masters and Pokemon were the servants. But humans were willing to work with Pokemon. Could this human... help him find his friends? If he made a pact? It was risky but...


Riolu approached the human. The human slowly looked up from his lurching position and his expression turned from one of anger to one of wonder and curiosity. Riolu gulped. He should probably keep this formal...


~...I ask of you. Will you be my master?~


***
 

Sike Saner

Peace to the Mountain
~What... Is... Pay?~

The human jumped a bit. "You can talk? You don't look like a Psychic type. Anyway pay is money. You got money?"


~N-o?~


"Then you can't take the apple."


Riolu paused, looked at the human, then at the apples, then at the human, then at the apples again. Then he grabbed one and ran.

Looks like he can take the apple. Looks like he can take it just fine. :y

"What, are you too good for us?" said Polly.


"N-No. I mean yes. I mean gah."

I think there comes a time in nearly every person's life where one means gah.

Two Aura Guardians walked into a bar.

Couldn't resist, could ya?

(I couldn't have, either. :B)

"Wha- Oh, hey Riolu! Was just giving myself the old wishy-washy!"


"I thought you said Wishiwashi was a Pokemon."


"It's both, silly!"

Just make sure never to get them mixed up. Never wash your nethers with a fish!

Then, he spotted one. A Wynaut, foraging for Berries - Aaron still didn't understand the difference between them and regular fruit even in class - and blissfully unaware of his presence. This small creature would do.

:D A wynaut!

"...Wait, right, that's part of your name. Do you still want to be my partner?"


The Wynaut made another wobbling noise as it waved their headfeelers in Aaron's direction.


"Do you still want to be my partner?" said Aaron. Wait. He'd already said that. "Do you still want to be my partner?" Oh no, not again. And he was frozen in place too. Aaron realized he had been hit with the Wynaut's Encore.


The Wynaut snickered and headed off. Aaron was stuck in place parroting himself for a few minutes before it wore off and he collapsed with a moan.

Wynaut you little ****...

He concentrated, sending an Aura blast at the other tree, knocking him back. There was a crack, then splinters everywhere, before a swarm of angry Beedrill emerged and headed straight for Aaron. His eyes widened.


"Oh no."

BEES, BOY

BEES!

The Munchlax rolled over. Aaron scowled and pushed the Munchlax, attempting to move them. The Munchlax raised a finger and waggled it, resulting in a wave of sludge that promptly washed Aaron away.

That munchlax gave basically no fricks and still managed to own him. This is decidedly not Aaron's day.

Riolu approached the human. The human slowly looked up from his lurching position and his expression turned from one of anger to one of wonder and curiosity. Riolu gulped. He should probably keep this formal...


~...I ask of you. Will you be my master?~

That he'll eventually accept is a foregone conclusion, of course. But will he accept right away, even after all he's been through today--or maybe because of all he's been through? Those are the questions.
 

auspicious-clouds

wandering, lost in dreams
~Chapter 1 review~

Hello! Interesting start, I really like the premise of this!

some notes, made as i read:

Love is a spectrum, one that kind of thing is a bastardization of an itty-bitty bit of!
- this sentence is a little bit hard to read and understand, maybe change the phrasing a bit?

What kind of breed?
- maybe "what kind of love" would work better?

The platonic, friendship-y breed, so sit and stay for the fine details!
- yay, platonic relationships!

Since the version you've likely seen before told you pretty quick how those kids and their Pikachu got into their world's version of this story, I'll be straight up telling how I got roped into mine's...
- "mine's" seems a little awkward

Sticks. Rocks. Dirt. All of them battered and bruised the boy's body as he tried to shield himself from the blows.
- poor kid

But the pain and fear caused a strange power to build in his lungs and throat, enough for a distinct blue-green glow to emanate from his mouth.
- psychic distance? is this really close to the boy's mind, or is it farther away, like an omniscient narrator? (mentioned this to you already, so you can ignore this)
- is this any specific move? or is the boy just kinda screaming and channeling power through that?

The woman was blonde with green eyes and was wearing strange clothing unfamiliar to the boy, a uniform with what seemed to be a two-part coat and a wide-brimmed hat with a spiky end and decorated with a symbol resembling three claw marks arranged in a triangular fashion. Upon further notice she also carried a staff of some sort in her left hand, both hands being gloved.
- good details, let's us visualize her very well, very specific
- I would add a "," after "green eyes" though, but that's mostly just a style and opinion change. strange also implies that it's unfamiliar and different, so having both of them in there seems a little odd. it works, but maybe there could be a different way to phrase this? "a strange style of clothing that was unfamiliar to the boy".

He yelped as the Dunsparce from earlier slithered up from behind him and up to rest at the woman's feet.
- you don't have to say the second "up to"; cold just leave it at "behind him to rest at"

The boy jumped, looked at the woman in bewilderment, then looked around wildly. That was her voice, but her mouth hadn't moved at all, where-
- just only having "jumped" here is a little strange, maybe "jumped back in surprise" or "jumped in surprise"?

The woman gave a small smile. "Kid, you aren't the only one out there with 'magic powers'."
- where did she get the "'magic powers'" phrase from? it sounds like she's quoting the boy, but he never says that

"Kid, no no no, not really, I'm an Aura Guardian. A group of people with powers like us. This outfit - the hat, the coat, the boots the staff the cape - that's our uniform.
- missing a few commas in there. I don't think you really need to have the woman list out every thing she's wearing because you already described it to us in detail earlier.

"...Well on my end, I had to convince them to make the cape an extension of my coat since it suited my fighting style better..."
- this sentence doesn't really make sense for the woman to be telling a kid - maybe mention that she was talking to herself?

"Me and my mom live further in the village. I used to have a dad but..."
- comma before the "but"

A different woman with blue hair and blue eyes like the boy's was tending to her house when she heard a knocking at her door.
- I don't think it's necessary to add the "different"—the reader should be able to pick up on the fact that it's a different person than the earlier woman with your description of "blue hair and blue eyes"

"Dear, are you OK?! Did something happen?!"
- maybe this is just a pet-peeve of mine, but "OK" seems too...slang-y and informal, and improper for this time period too. maybe "okay" spelled out would work better

She rolled up her sleeve to let a pink, scythelike blade of energy extend from a slit in the middle of her glove around her ulna.
- i like that you're being specific, but "ulna" just...doesn't quite seem to fit. plus, the fact that i had to look it up might hinder a few readers. (although my knowledge of human biology is spotty at best and probably worse than the average reader)
- maybe you should change that?

The boy, enraptured, moved a bit closer to the blade. Polly quickly noticed and dissipated it.
- maybe switch the "quickly" to before the "dissipated".

The boy beamed, and cupped his hands, only to notice all three of his mother, Polly, and Polly's Dunsparce moving back noticeably.
- change "all three of his mother..." to just "all three of them" or just "his mother, Polly, and Polly's Dunsparce"
- or "all three of them - his mother, Polly..." although that might be a little redundant

The boy concentrated, grit his teeth as a ball of blue-green energy formed between his hands and grew larger and larger until-
- should be "gritting"

It exploded. The house rattled, the mother flinched and yelped as a pot fell off a table and shattered right next to her.
-...yeah, maybe practice this outside next time, kid
- "flinching" and "yelping" might work better than "flinched and yelped"

"Your son has the most potential with the brand of Aura closest to that of Fighting types I've ever seen in someone his age; that would've been a damn good approximation of a Focus Blast if he'd managed to fully charge it."
- this confused me the first time i read it—i thought Polly was saying that the boy had the most potential with fighting-type aura. or is she saying that he is the most potentially-powerful kid she's seen in fighting-type aura?
- maybe make this clearer

"I..."

The boy's mother paused. "I... I'm not sure what to do... After we lost Issac..."
-maybe make this one paragraph; if it's the same character speaking, but with an action between the two sections of dialogue, especially since they're not very long, you can combine them into one paragraph
there are a few other instances where you do this in the chapter, too

"Though... Geez, sorry it slipped my mind until now, but what's your name, kid?"
- "geez" is a very modern slang word that doesn't quite seem to fit with the setting

"It's Aaron!"
- nice that you withheld the boy's identity until the end of the scene; most of the audience who watched the eighth movie will probably recognize him and have a moment because of that

The forest was dim at sunset; the Pidgey and Starly were retreating to their roosts as the Hoothoot and Murkrow were emerging from theirs.
- not sure why these two sentences were conjoined together; they don't have much to do with each other.
- try removing the "were" from the second part

Amid it all, however, in a small clearing, one avian Pokemon stayed groundbound and vigilant - A Blaziken with an X-shaped scar on his forehead watching over a small, blue-and-black egg nestled in a shallow burrow.
- make the "A" in front of "Blaziken" lowercase
- nice PMD reference!

The source of the voice, a second, male Lucario, entered the clearing and sneered at Ginji.
- something about this doesn't seem right; he entered and immediately sneered at Ginji?
- the dialogue beforehand seems to indicate that he didn't know Ginij was there, but this sentence implied that he entered while sneering at Ginji - the two don't quite match up

"You nepotist canines can literally dogshit on me anytime you want normally, but me and my mate are having an important moment here. So **** off, unless you want all that Taurosshit about me being a threat to the pack to not be such Taurosshit for you specifically."
- try "elitist" instead of "nepotist", or "purist"

The second Lucario backed away, stooped with raised haunches, and gave a defiant snarl before dashing off.
- "raised haunches" doesn't seem quite right - hackles, maybe?

"Eh, they always come up with something, this makes zilch difference," he said.
- "zilch", again, doesn't quite seem to fit the setting

The two rushed over just in time for the egg to fall apart and reveal a small, undeveloped and yipping Riolu pup, its eyes closed.
- "undeveloped" implies the the riolu is only half-developed, not yet fully developed into an embryo at all, maybe switch it out
- was it yipping after the egg fell open?

The female Lucario smiled and looked up to Ginji. "Will he have a human name like yours?"
- is there a different system of naming for wild pokemon?
- so far of the wild pokemon, only Ginji has a name and that's because he had a trainer

All in all though, this was a great start!

I really liked the characters - Aaron with his timid unsureness and status as a bullied outcast, and Polly's rough affection and mentor/older-sibling-ish interactions with him. Ginji was also a nice character, although maybe flesh out the female Lucario and Aaron's mother a bit more.

This does go by a little fast, so maybe slow it down a bit? Like, take a bit more time to flesh out Aaron's situation, and th edecision his mother has to make. (Because that is no easy decision at all, and so you should show her hesitating a bit more, even when Aaron says he wants to go.)

The Riolu scene was also a bit short - maybe embellish a bit more on the pack and such? The reader still doesn't quite get a hold of the situation because of how brief the interaction between Ginji and the other Lucario was.

Add more sensations. The feel of the dirt when Aaron was lying on the ground, the smell of his house (maybe his mother was cooking), the sound the teapot made when it shattered. What the house felt like when the faux-Focus blast tore through it, the rumble that went through it as it groaned and shook from the force. And etc.

One thing that threw me a off bit is how modern all the characters sounded for having lived a thousand years ago. A lot of the vocabulary and sentence structure is very modern, things you would hear today. Expressions like "evildoer," "geez," "buddy," for example.

It would be good to try to make the story to feel a bit more like it's taking place a thousand years ago, so be careful of the way characters talk and the expressions they use.

The way Polly interacts with Aaron is also very casual. Like a mentor figure, but also a lot like an older sibling, rather than someone who's a lot higher-ranked. It might be because Aaron's another aura-user, and there's an understanding of how he feels, and she's trying to hlpe him out, but it's just a thing to note. It might also just be her personality, and I like her character the way it is.

My apologies if this was rather nitpicky - my reviews can be like that, though I'm trying to tone it down.

The character interactions were nice, and this chapter got things started nicely. I'll enjoy seeing how Aaron develops from a shy, nervous, outcast to the hero we see in the movie. :)

I'll try to get Chapter 2 soon!
 
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Chibi Pika

Stay positive
Chapter 7:

"See him? That's Andalas. Legendarily grouchy Rhyperior. If you're not afraid of a Scyther surely giving him a poke isn't too scary."
Some really great, believable kid behavior here. :p
He touched it. It felt like rock yet somehow... warm, and alive. He quickly drew the finger back. Andalas was still asleep. He looked backward. Louis and Rook were gone. He looked back to Andalas. Still asleep. Aaron almost sighed in relief, but held his breath to avoid waking the Rhyperior up.

Then Andalas' eyes snapped open anyway.
I really like the tension you got out of slowly ruminating over this moment. A good instance where slowing things down really added something.
Aaron raised his hand. "This place has a name?"

Polly gave him a look. "Yes. This place is called the Time Flower Abbey. You didn't pick that up?"
This is a really great way to mask the fact that you hadn't come up with the name until now. xD
"Time Flowers are crystalline life forms that bud from a bigger crystalline life form, the Tree of Beginning. They grow through this whole area and are a major export - precisely because they can generate Obscuric illusions that record sound and images. At least, if you have a human on the Auric spectrum or Pokemon to activate them."
Ooh, I like that you're going into detail on these things because as cool as they are, it was pretty obvious that the movie only had them because it was the only way to reveal what happened in the past. So like... actually developing how they work and how that would impact the world, having something like that around... that's gonna be really nice to see.
"You see, the people of Kalos and Galar and nearby nations had their own Tree, not too far away. They made pilgrimages to that instead. Then the Demon King AZ came into power and fired his Ultimate Weapon. The weapon devastated that tree to the point most thought it was dead, and so refugees headed off across land and sea to this Tree, as I mentioned before eventually forming Rota. Eventually a band of heroes found the old Tree still clung to life and saved it, but the Rotans remained, and the Genesis Mountain Aura Guardians made this monastery to aid them, as well as..."
As is getting some actual backstory on why the heck there's a medieval faux-european kingdom in the middle of Kanjoh!
"Right," said Polly, "I'm not gonna ask you all to share your stories just yet. But you all know about discrimination. Aurics, Psychics, it depends on the place but most of us can at least survive. Obscuirics... They're hunted. Executed. Slaughtered. And that's why we're here. To protect all people on the spectrum."
Ah, this is another interesting detail. It makes sense that there'd be varying biases and prejudices when it comes to people being different like this, but it hadn't occurred to me that some Aurics would have it worse than others.
Riolu paused, looked at the human, then at the apples, then at the human, then at the apples again. Then he grabbed one and ran.
Lotta great bits of narration in this one. :p

Chapter 8:
"What are you all yammering about?" This time Nightjar approached the growing gaggle of gossiping Guardians.
A+ alliteration.
Polly looked around. There were various humans and Pokemon in the bar, in varying states of drunkenness. A man was passed out in his chair. A Gardevoir was drunkenly floating around hiccuping. A Spinda was actually walking straight for once.
This is. The best mental image.
He turned to the bartender. "Give me a mixed berry drink for me and my Corviknight please!"
Just so long as he doesn’t plan to drink and fly ;P

So we’ve got some progression on the murder plot! Along with two new characters brought on to investigate the case. The scenes with the Guardians were fun, and a good way to give some character to the ones that hadn't had much spotlight until now.
"The good news," said Grog, perking up. "Was that I wasn't very good at it. I was too polite. I would always yell "Sneak Attack!" before I struck my foe."
We must protect Grog.

It was nice to get a look into the other Pokémon’s lives and learn how they wound up in their position. In particular Koba, since his words are no doubt where Riolu got his views on master and servant, ones which I expect will persist for a very long time, even after he meets Aaron.

Chapter 9:
"Do you want to be my friend?" said Aaron.

"Wynaut!"
asgdhfsjaf

I think it's really cute that Aaron never actually was taught how to go about finding a Pokémon partner. :p
The Fighting Thieves were all gathered together in their, Koba standing on a platform a bit taller than all of them.
Word missing after their?
"Easy, easy," said Koba. "As for what it is... I have located a monastery to the north of here, up the mountain, known as Time Flower Abbey. There is a stash of strange crystals there that the Aura Guardians there use to transport their Pokemon servants. Those crystals are worth quite a lot of human money."
Ahh, I really like that their plot is to steal pokecrystals. Of course those'd be valuable. Plus I feel like the fact that crystals were used before Pokeballs is an oft-overlooked part of canon. And this is a fun way to connect the fighting thieves to what's going on in the abbey.
Finally, they emerged in an empty room, filled with boxes of food, including a bag of apples that had been recently ripped into, a sticky glue-like substance left behind.
uh oh, not you again.

I wasn’t expecting the band of thieves to be apprehended via being captured! But then, of course that'd be the fastest way to neutralize troublesome Pokemon. Throughout the story thus far, I've been trying to guess how you were going to have Aaron and Riolu meet, and I totally wouldn't have guessed that they'd meet though Riolu wanting to rescue his friends! But of course, it's the perfect followup to the the things that Koba told him.

But yeah.The main duo have finally met! Looking forward to seeing what comes next~

~Chibi~
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE


I will respond to reviews later maybe i just want to make this chapter finally happen its been so long i'm so sorry


Chapter 10: I Just Met You And I Love You


Aaron stared. And stared. And stared some more. Until he was finally able to reply to the small Riolu in front of him.


"You can talk? Like a Psychic type can? Are you a Psychic type?"


Riolu raised an eyebrow. ~What? No. I'm a Fighting type. Anyway you didn't answer my question.~


A big smile sprouted on Aaron's face. "Wait, you really want to be my partner?"


~Well, yes, but only to-~


He was interrupted by Aaron hugging him.


"That's great! We'll be best friends!"


~Wait but-~


"We can train together and show bullies who's boss and play games and - oh! I've got to show you to the other kids and their Pokemon! They'll love to meet you!"


It was then Riolu realized his mistake. The human was clearly desperate for the partnership to be a permanent affair.


~Um, I-~


"I'm Aaron, it's so nice to meet you! Do you want a human name?"


~No.~


"That's okay! Come on!"


He grabbed Riolu's paw and started dragging him to the monastery. Riolu thought quickly. If Koba had ditched his human couldn't he do the same with this one? But there was what his dad said about human-Pokemon bonds being special and having a Vow around them... Why did this have to be so hard?


---------------


Eve, Louis, Atta, and Callie, along with Iuroidea, Rook, Stabby, and Munchkin, were passing a ball around - though Rook and Stabby were just watching due to their increased ability to cut the ball open. It was then Aaron dragged Riolu in.


"Guys! Guys! I found a Pokemon partner!"


The kids and their Pokemon froze. The ball dropped to the ground and rolled away. Everyone stared at Aaron and the Riolu inexplicably next to him.


"Callie?" said Louis. "Did you sneak something funny into our lunch again?"


"It wasn't me I swear!" said Callie.


"Then... He did it!" said Eve.


The group gathered around Aaron and Riolu.


"A Riolu?" said Atta. "Isn't that cliche for an Auric?"


"I mean it's a cliche for a reason," said Eve. "Aren't Lucario Fighting-type Aura powers the most similar to humans usually?"


"Why the bloody dogs got it I don't know," said Louis. "Aaron, where did you even find him?"


"He just walked up to me and asked if he could join me!"


"Doubt." said Atta.


~It's true though.~ said Riolu with a sigh. The others jumped back.


"He can talk! Cool!" said Callie.


"So he's like Polly's Metagross then..." said Louis.


"Yeah!" said Aaron. He then shifted a bit. "So, uh, any tips for like... Taking care of him?"


"Well..." said Eve.


The kids went into a huddle; meanwhile Riolu was pulled away by the other mons.


"Well the dweeb finally got a partner!" said Munchkin. "Did he give you a name?"


"No," said Riolu, shaking his head.

"Regardless, Riolu," said Rook, "It is a pleasure to meet you."


"Don't be so formal, Rook, the guy doesn't seem like the type," said Iuroidea.


"He seems... Stoic! Like some kind of gruff loner mon!" said Stabby.


"I'm fine, really," said Riolu, shaking his head.


"Well welcome aboard!" said Stabby. "The human kids are happy to see you, and we're due for some action!"


"Please no action today," said Rook.


"By the way," said Riolu, "Have any of you seen a Chimchar around?"


"No?" said Munchkin, scratching his head. "Someone as canny as I would remember seeing one of those here."


"You could try asking some of the other Pokemon around," said Iuroidea. "Knowing Aaron he's probably going to show you off to everyone anyway."


Riolu nodded. "I'll do that."


-------------


Polly was sitting quietly with Metagross and Dunsparce, enjoying some tea, when Aaron dragged Riolu before her.


"Polly, look! I have a Pokemon now!"


Polly spat out her tea, causing Dunsparce to recoil and hiss. If Metagross had movable eyebrows he would raise one.


"How- Er, yes, Aaron, that's lovely! A Riolu huh? Did you name the mutt?"


~I'm not a mutt.~


"No, he didn't want one."


"Some Pokemon don't," said Polly. "I never gave Metagross or Dunsparce one. Felt weird."


"Huh..." said Aaron. "That's a big thing for Pokemon, so I guess it's okay."



"Yep."


"But I have him now and it's great!"


Ignoring Aaron for the moment, Riolu approached Metagross and Dunsparce.


"You two seen a Chimchar anywhere?"


"Nope!" said Dunsparce. "I would know if I saw a monkey with its butt on fire."


"I haven't seen one." said Metagross. "Why do you ask?"


"...They're a friend."


"I won't pry. And I don't read people's minds without permission anymore. I hope you find them. Maybe ask Aaron for help?"


Riolu paused. Then sighed.


"Maybe."


Once again Metagross would raise his X-shaped metal eyebrow if he could.


---------------


Aaron walked, - no strutted toward Gabriel, Riolu in tow, as Gabriel slumbered on Patricia's back.


"Hey Gabe! I got a Pokemon! How about that!"


Gabriel's eyes snapped open. He quickly looked over at Aaron.


"Wimp? What do you wa-"


He caught sight of the Riolu and just kind of stared.


"...Whose Riolu is that?"


"He's my partner!" said Aaron, puffing out his chest and placing his hands on his hips.


At this Gabriel visibly panicked and almost fell off Patricia.


"You got a Fighting type?! If you got a fighting type then-"


He shook his head.


"No - even with the type advantage you're a wuss! The wussiest wuss to ever wuss! You'll see!"


There was a pause.


"...Patricia, could you move us elsewhere? We need to hi- prepare for a showdown against this twerp."


Patricia gave a "s-sorry about him" only Riolu could hear as her individual segments rotated in tandem so she could roll away, Gabriel running in place on top of them as his purple eyes locked on Aaron with a glare until they vanished.


"Oh yeah! You have a type advantage against Onix! I didn't even think of that!"


~Well now you know.~


"We really will make a great team!"


Riolu paused. And sighed.


~Yeah. Though... Have you seen a Chimchar around?~


"Uh, no, why?"


~I came here to look for him. And I figured one of the humans could help me.~

"Oh really? Sure thing! Anything for my new buddy!"


Riolu looked left and right. ~Yeah...~


"Come on! We'll check the cellars first!"


The two ran off.


---------------


Polly had finished her tea and was walking to Ryan's office when she saw Terrence approaching, along with a Duraludon.


"Polly!" he said.


"Yeah?"


"You available? I have some things I wanted to ask you."


"Sure?"


Terrence looked around. "This place. It's huge. And It seems like it's been around a long time. How'd it get here?"


Polly raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"


Terrence gave her a look and shrugged his shoulders. "I mean. I've been staying here long enough and I ought to know more about this place. Plus I'm just curious."


His Duraludon made puffing noises and nodded.


"Rohe would like to know too."


Quick brain check. The Duraludon was indeed named Rohe and would indeed sincerely like to know. Polly sighed.


"Alright. This place... you can probably tell, but it's old. Real old. At least 200 years old, and that's probably undershooting it."


"Wow... You Aura Guardians built it I presume."


"Yeah! So people with Aura powers can have a place to be protected and socialize with people like them and taught to use their powers for good!"


"What about fighting evildoers?"


"That ****'s dangerous. Only when absolutely necessary."


Rohe made a disappointed noise.


"Oh come on you get what I mean."


Terrence chuckled. "Okay then, seems like we've mostly gone through the obvious. So next question... How did YOU get here?"


Polly blinkled. "You mean in like a metaphysical sense, how I got here on this planet, or..."

Terrence rolled his eyes. "To the monastery."


"Right, right. I was brought here, along with some of the other senior Aura guardians here, mainly Vince, Carol - though she didn't call herself Carol back then and everyone thought she was a boy - and-


She stopped.


"And who?"


"...Elliot."


"I haven't seen him around."


"There's a reason for that. He's... He's gone."


Terrence's eyes widened behind his glasses. "Oh, oh... I'm sorry... Didn't mean to go there..."


"It's fine. You aren't a Psychic. You couldn't have known."


Rohe placed a reassuring stump on Polly's side and gave a "dur" of reassurance.


Terrence paused. "I... I have a reason I'm here too. I'm looking for a friend."


"A friend?"


"Yeah. One that went missing. And I think it has to do with the disappearances you all were investigating. Hence why I signed up to help."


"Oh. Oh that makes sense.'


She then squinted at him.


"...Why didn't you say so in the first place?"


Terrence shrugged. "Personal info. This was a professional job. Most employers don't wanna hear a sob story."


Polly rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine."


"Anyway, wanna head over to the mess hall? They've got Watmel berries."


"Ooh, I love those."


Rohe thirded them with a trill of excitement, and they headed on over.


----------


It was late evening. Vince was patrolling the Time Flower Abbey grounds. It was then he saw Louis, with Rook beside him.


"Hey! Kid! You and your Scyther! What are you doing out so late?"


Louis yelped and practically jumped out of his pants before Rook put a reassuring blade on his shoulder.


"Uh, um, I-"


"What is it?"


"...I needed some space. To think."


"About what?"


"...What it was like. Before I came here."


Vince's expression softened. "Oh. Yeah. You were... With that abusive family right?"


Louis flinched. "Yes."


"The Cains?"


Louis flinched harder. "Also yes."


He pulled down his collar to reveal a tattoo on his shoulder. One of two Corvinight mauling each other.


Vince scowled. "Damn Kalosian noble families. Pieces of work, all of them." He blinked, shook his head, and shrugged. "No offense of course."


"...None taken. I'm... I'm glad I'm here."


"Same. I know I was-"


Suddenly Rook perked up, pivoted his entire body in a direction, and snarled. Vince and Louis to look. Something nearby was flickering.


The flickering lunged.


"Get down!" Vince yelled as he summoned both a Night Slash blade and Henry. Both lunged back at the flickering as Rook lunged as well and Louis jumped back. The three of them tackled the flickering, revealing it to be someone in a strange red and white cloak and mask, who was quickly overpowered and knocked back. Vince acted quickly, binding the person to the ground with dark Obscuric whips, which the person attempted to turn intangible again and phase through to no avail. Vince turned to Louis.

"Get the others, quick!"


Louis nodded, then scrambled off. Vince turned back to the strange figure.


"Now... Who the hell are you?"


***
 

Sike Saner

Peace to the Mountain
A big smile sprouted on Aaron's face. "Wait, you really want to be my partner?"


~Well, yes, but only to-~


He was interrupted by Aaron hugging him.


"That's great! We'll be best friends!"

I'll take that as an affirmative. :B

"I'm Aaron, it's so nice to meet you! Do you want a human name?"


~No.~


"That's okay! Come on!"

Points for not imposing an unwanted name on him, at least.

Polly spat out her tea, causing Dunsparce to recoil and hiss.

I like it when dunsparce do extra snakey things.

Also I can't help but wonder how close Polly came to spitting the tea AT said dunsparce. :B

I won't pry. And I don't read people's minds without permission anymore.

Anymore, huh. Sounds like Metagross was naughty once upon a time.

Polly had finished her tea and was walking to Ryan's office when she saw Terrence approaching, along with a Duraludon.

Pez dragon! :D

Louis nodded, then scrambled off. Vince turned back to the strange figure.


"Now... Who the hell are you?"

Who indeed...


Riolu certainly seems to have gotten swept up in a current, heh. Barely a chance to explain himself and no clear sign of an exit. Of course, it's kind of a foregone conclusion that he'll warm up to Aaron down the line, and they'll be in it for the long haul. It's just a question of when Riolu finds himself on board with permanent partnerhood, I suppose, and how.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
I'm sorry I'm slow as ****, but I muist perservere, like a Magikarp riding up a waterfall to become a Gyarados. HERE IT IS, THE LONG-DELAYED:

Chapter 11: Impressions

"Now, Riolu, let me introduce you to an old nemesis!"

The two were standing before Aaron's "favorite" training dummy. Riolu raised an eyebrow. ~This thing?~

"Don't underestimate it!" said Aaron, waving his arms wildly. "That dummy's a menace! I swear it's out to get me!"

~...Sure.~

"Listen if you don't believe me why don't you hit it yourself?"

Rolu nodded, walked up to the dummy, and smacked it with a Force Palm. It wobbled and settled itself without incident. Aaron blinked.

"...It never doies that. Let me try!"

He advanced toward the dummy and promptly tripped. Riolu snickered as Aaron got up.

"Look- maybe we don't do the dummy for now. Maybe we fight each other!"

~...Each other? I'll kick your butt.~

"I'll kick YOUR butt!"

~If you insist.~

Riolu instead rushed at Aaron with a Force Palm. Aaron attempted to counter with one of hios own but missed and was hit in the chest, falling over backward."

~...Maybe it's just you."

"Is... Is not!":

~Mabye you should change your approach.~

"...Change...My... Approach... Uh, got it, I guess."

He slowly got back up and stood at the ready.

Riolu charged him again. This time Aaron extended his palms and created a large barrier in front of himself, which Riolu promptly bounced off of and skidded back from.

~Wow... You're actually pretty good at THOSE.~

Aaron blinked and dissipated the barrier. "I... Am? I've never tried using them much..."

~Well start now. Those Aura barriers of yours are surprisingly strong.~

"Wow..." said Aaron. He grinned. "Hey! Me and you! This proves we can be a great team! We'll be a sword and shield! Like Zacian and Zamazenta!"

~Like who and what now?~

"I mean we make a great offense-defense combo! You offense, me defense! It'll be great!"

~Oh, uh. Are you sure? As like a long-term thing?"

"Of course! Isn't that how Pokemon and humans work together?"

~Right, yeah...~

"Come on, let's do some more!"

They kept sparring well into the afternoon, a sinking feeling forming in Riolu's gut the whole while.

---------

Aaron and Riolu approached the other kids and their Pokemon, who were doing slime sort of knights-and-Dragon-Types game with each other. Aaron turned to Riolu.

"You remember the plan?"

~Are you dure about the plan?~

"Of course! You just gotta trust me!"

~...Trust you, huh.~

"Yeah! Now come on!"

He turned to the other kids and Pokemon and yelled.
"HEY LOSERS!"

Everyone stopped. A few dropped their props.

:What?" Atta said, finally, grumpily.

"Watch this!" said Aaron.

Aaron threw up an Aura barrier as Riolu jumped atop it and backflipped into a Force Palm that Aaron blocked. They separated into a coordinated hand-to hand display of Auric energy before dissipating their powers and bowing.

The other children and Pokemon paused. Then Callie and Munchkin started clapping. Slowly, but surely, all the other children joined in.

"Not bad, I guess." said Louis.

"Pretty good," said Eve

"Fancy." said Atta.

"That was great!" said Callie.

"We... we did it!" said Aaron. "We impressed them! I never do that!"

He turned to Riolu. "It's all thanks to you buddy!"

Rioolu grimaced a bit. ~Uhuh, sure...~

----------

That night, Aaron and Rioluu sat outside the monastery looking at the stars. For whatever reason Aaron had insisted on it, even if it meant sneaking out past the senior Aura Guardians - not an easy feat when many of both they and their Pokemon can sense thoughts and auras.

"Hey Riolu?"

~...Yeah?~

"I'm glad you're here with me now."

~...Thanks.~

Aaron paused. "It hasn't been the same since. "

~Since what?~

"...Since my dad died."

~...Your dad died?~

"...Yeah. It was a few years ago when.. When he got very sick, and..."

He stopped.

~...Oh.~

Riolu also paused.

~My dad...~

"Did he...?"

~Yeah. A Charizard killed him. Left my old pack because of it.~

Aaron frowned even harder than he was already. "I'm so sorry..."

~It's. It's fine.~

"No it's not. I can tell. It's OK for it to be not fine."

He touches Riolu's paw.

"I've got you."

Riolu paused.

~...Thanks. I appreciate it.~

They went back to looking at the stars.

--------

Atta was chewing on something of indeterminate origin when Callie approached her.

"Hey there!" said Callie.

Atta spit out the Thing and snarled. "What?"

"Well I ws thinking-" Callie started to say.

"You think?" said Atta.

"Callie scoffed. "Of courrse I do! Anyway, what IS life with Pawniard and Bishatrp like?"

Atta paused. "...Hazardous."

"Oh, because they're sharp and pointy?" said Callie.

"That and the hunts."

"Ooh, what are those like?"

"We chase something. Usually it fights back. Sometimes we manage to kill it. But it's very dangerous."

"Ooh, exciting!" said Callie.

"...Exciting?" said Atta.

"Yeah! It sounds adventuresome!"

"It was scary and we just did it to eat." She shook her head. "Was it 'adven-toor-some' with your Necrozma cult?"

"Well um." Callie paused. "How do I phrase this? Yres and no!"

Atta raised an eyebrow. "That is contradictrory."

"No, no, I mean - we had a set chill routine, but some fun stuff happened with said routine!"

"Like what?"

"Like we would make these big sacrifices to Necrozma!"

"Human sacrifices? Pokemon sacrifices?"

"What? NO. It was always offerings of things that gave light."

"Light?"

:"Yeah! 'Cause Necrozma lost its light long ago see? And we're trying to help get it back!"

"Ohhhh, right. That makes sense."

:Atta paused.

"Getting to know you more made me... Happy Is that that friendship Aaron talks about?"

>...Huh I guess it is! Nice to get to know you too!" said Callie.

She extended a hand.

"...What?" said Atta.

"You're supposed to shake it!"

"Oh."

And so she did.

--------------

Nicolas was rummaging around in a dark corner of the Abbey, scrummaging for... whatever he could grab really. It's what he'd been doing ever since he got stuck at this place.

He basically had to learn quickly how to survive on his own. Especially since he had not located where his father and his compatriots were being kept. The Abbey was a scary place.

But he had to conquer it. He had to.

Though if only he had allies...

---------

Meanwhile the Fighting Thieves Nicolas was seeking were idling about in the Pokemon-proofed cel they were stuck in.

Shifty tossed a rock at a wall and it clanged and clattered as it fell to the ground.

"Be quiet in there!" said the Aura Guardian standing guard.

Shifty paused, smirked a little, then did it again.

"I SAID be quiet!"

The guard stood up from where he was sitting to glare at Shifty.

Shifty outright grinned and did it yet again.

The guard came very close to the bars. "How many times do I-"

Shifty suddenly lunged with a Sucker Punch and slammed the guard headfirst into the cage bars, causing him to collapse in a daze and drop his keys, which Shifty promptly scooped up.

"Guys, horry!"

The others rushed over, and Koba used his nimble hands to reach through the bars, unlock the door with the keys, and swing said door open.

"We're FREE!" said Grog.

"About time," said Koba

"Go go go!" said Vallant.

And they all rushed out and away just as the guard slowly started to recover.

-----------

Elsewhere, further and deeper in the dungeons, several Aura Guardians had gathered around the masked, cloaked figure, who had been tied up with cords charged with Obscura so they couldn't phase out and escape, their Pokemon contained in crystals to the side.

"All right gang," said Vince. "Let's see who's really behind that mask."

He quickly removed the mask and hood to reveal a woman with dark skin and long, swirling purple hair.

~Hm, no one we know.~ said Carol. ~Time to take THAT off the conspiracy board.~

The tied-up woman snarled, revealing unusually pointy canine teeth.

"****," said Polly as she and the others started backing away. "She's an Aura Vampire!"

"Yes, you got that right." said the woman angrily. "Now where is she?"

"Where is who?" said Vince.

"Medea. My girlfriend. She went missing in this region. Thought you Aura Guardian ****s were responsible."

"We're not ****s." said Vince, clutching a hand to his chest.

~I'm a ****,~ said Carol, her eyebrows wiggling.

"So wait, you weren't here to suck us all dry of Aura in our sleep?" said Polly.

"Only if you did kidnap my girlfriend. Which you don't seem to have, so you don't deserve it," said the woman, shrugging her shoulders as best she could in her binds.

"Reassuring," said Vince.

~Say," said Carol. ~We're investigating a murder and a bunch of dissapearances. Maybe this Medea of yours is related.~

"Really now?" said the woman, raising an eyebrow.

"...Yeah, probably," said Polly. "Whoever's responsible for those probably took your girlfriend."

"If that's the case then I'll help," said the woman.

The trio of Aura Guardians stopped and stared.

"You want to help?" said Polly.

"But you're an aura vampire," said Vince.

Carol nudged him. ~Don't be an ableist.~

"How is not trusting an Aura Vampire ableist?" said Vince.

:"It's like a chronic illness, isn't it?" said Polly. "By various means you wind up with a continued deficiency in your Aura, and need to turn to external sources to replenish itt."

Vince paused... "**** you're right."

He turned to the wioman. "Still though. If I untire you so you can help ujs do you promise not to murrder us all?"

"I promise," said the woman playfully.

Vunce removed the cords.

Everyone stayed stock still for a minute.

"Boo," the woman said finally.

The Aura Guardian trio yelped and jumped. The woman laughed.

"Olivia Hallow. Pleasure to work with you all."

***
 

REomus

New Member
I'm sorry I'm slow as ****, but I muist perservere, like a Magikarp riding up a waterfall to become a Gyarados. HERE IT IS, THE LONG-DELAYED:

Chapter 11: Impressions

"Now, Riolu, let me introduce you to an old nemesis!"

The two were standing before Aaron's "favorite" training dummy. Riolu raised an eyebrow. ~This thing?~

"Don't underestimate it!" said Aaron, waving his arms wildly. "That dummy's a menace! I swear it's out to get me!"

~...Sure.~

"Listen if you don't believe me why don't you hit it yourself?"

Rolu nodded, walked up to the dummy, and smacked it with a Force Palm. It wobbled and settled itself without incident. Aaron blinked.

"...It never doies that. Let me try!"

He advanced toward the dummy and promptly tripped. Riolu snickered as Aaron got up.

"Look- maybe we don't do the dummy for now. Maybe we fight each other!"

~...Each other? I'll kick your butt.~

"I'll kick YOUR butt!"

~If you insist.~

Riolu instead rushed at Aaron with a Force Palm. Aaron attempted to counter with one of hios own but missed and was hit in the chest, falling over backward."

~...Maybe it's just you."

"Is... Is not!":

~Mabye you should change your approach.~

"...Change...My... Approach... Uh, got it, I guess."

He slowly got back up and stood at the ready.

Riolu charged him again. This time Aaron extended his palms and created a large barrier in front of himself, which Riolu promptly bounced off of and skidded back from.

~Wow... You're actually pretty good at THOSE.~

Aaron blinked and dissipated the barrier. "I... Am? I've never tried using them much..."

~Well start now. Those Aura barriers of yours are surprisingly strong.~

"Wow..." said Aaron. He grinned. "Hey! Me and you! This proves we can be a great team! We'll be a sword and shield! Like Zacian and Zamazenta!"

~Like who and what now?~

"I mean we make a great offense-defense combo! You offense, me defense! It'll be great!"

~Oh, uh. Are you sure? As like a long-term thing?"

"Of course! Isn't that how Pokemon and humans work together?"

~Right, yeah...~

"Come on, let's do some more!"

They kept sparring well into the afternoon, a sinking feeling forming in Riolu's gut the whole while.

---------

Aaron and Riolu approached the other kids and their Pokemon, who were doing slime sort of knights-and-Dragon-Types game with each other. Aaron turned to Riolu.

"You remember the plan?"

~Are you dure about the plan?~

"Of course! You just gotta trust me!"

~...Trust you, huh.~

"Yeah! Now come on!"

He turned to the other kids and Pokemon and yelled.
"HEY LOSERS!"

Everyone stopped. A few dropped their props.

:What?" Atta said, finally, grumpily.

"Watch this!" said Aaron.

Aaron threw up an Aura barrier as Riolu jumped atop it and backflipped into a Force Palm that Aaron blocked. They separated into a coordinated hand-to hand display of Auric energy before dissipating their powers and bowing.

The other children and Pokemon paused. Then Callie and Munchkin started clapping. Slowly, but surely, all the other children joined in.

"Not bad, I guess." said Louis.

"Pretty good," said Eve

"Fancy." said Atta.

"That was great!" said Callie.

"We... we did it!" said Aaron. "We impressed them! I never do that!"

He turned to Riolu. "It's all thanks to you buddy!"

Rioolu grimaced a bit. ~Uhuh, sure...~

----------

That night, Aaron and Rioluu sat outside the monastery looking at the stars. For whatever reason Aaron had insisted on it, even if it meant sneaking out past the senior Aura Guardians - not an easy feat when many of both they and their Pokemon can sense thoughts and auras.

"Hey Riolu?"

~...Yeah?~

"I'm glad you're here with me now."

~...Thanks.~

Aaron paused. "It hasn't been the same since. "

~Since what?~

"...Since my dad died."

~...Your dad died?~

"...Yeah. It was a few years ago when.. When he got very sick, and..."

He stopped.

~...Oh.~

Riolu also paused.

~My dad...~

"Did he...?"

~Yeah. A Charizard killed him. Left my old pack because of it.~

Aaron frowned even harder than he was already. "I'm so sorry..."

~It's. It's fine.~

"No it's not. I can tell. It's OK for it to be not fine."

He touches Riolu's paw.

"I've got you."

Riolu paused.

~...Thanks. I appreciate it.~

They went back to looking at the stars.

--------

Atta was chewing on something of indeterminate origin when Callie approached her.

"Hey there!" said Callie.

Atta spit out the Thing and snarled. "What?"

"Well I ws thinking-" Callie started to say.

"You think?" said Atta.

"Callie scoffed. "Of courrse I do! Anyway, what IS life with Pawniard and Bishatrp like?"

Atta paused. "...Hazardous."

"Oh, because they're sharp and pointy?" said Callie.

"That and the hunts."

"Ooh, what are those like?"

"We chase something. Usually it fights back. Sometimes we manage to kill it. But it's very dangerous."

"Ooh, exciting!" said Callie.

"...Exciting?" said Atta.

"Yeah! It sounds adventuresome!"

"It was scary and we just did it to eat." She shook her head. "Was it 'adven-toor-some' with your Necrozma cult?"

"Well um." Callie paused. "How do I phrase this? Yres and no!"

Atta raised an eyebrow. "That is contradictrory."

"No, no, I mean - we had a set chill routine, but some fun stuff happened with said routine!"

"Like what?"

"Like we would make these big sacrifices to Necrozma!"

"Human sacrifices? Pokemon sacrifices?"

"What? NO. It was always offerings of things that gave light."

"Light?"

:"Yeah! 'Cause Necrozma lost its light long ago see? And we're trying to help get it back!"

"Ohhhh, right. That makes sense."

:Atta paused.

"Getting to know you more made me... Happy Is that that friendship Aaron talks about?"

>...Huh I guess it is! Nice to get to know you too!" said Callie.

She extended a hand.

"...What?" said Atta.

"You're supposed to shake it!"

"Oh."

And so she did.

--------------

Nicolas was rummaging around in a dark corner of the Abbey, scrummaging for... whatever he could grab really. It's what he'd been doing ever since he got stuck at this place.

He basically had to learn quickly how to survive on his own. Especially since he had not located where his father and his compatriots were being kept. The Abbey was a scary place.

But he had to conquer it. He had to.

Though if only he had allies...

---------

Meanwhile the Fighting Thieves Nicolas was seeking were idling about in the Pokemon-proofed cel they were stuck in.

Shifty tossed a rock at a wall and it clanged and clattered as it fell to the ground.

"Be quiet in there!" said the Aura Guardian standing guard.

Shifty paused, smirked a little, then did it again.

"I SAID be quiet!"

The guard stood up from where he was sitting to glare at Shifty.

Shifty outright grinned and did it yet again.

The guard came very close to the bars. "How many times do I-"

Shifty suddenly lunged with a Sucker Punch and slammed the guard headfirst into the cage bars, causing him to collapse in a daze and drop his keys, which Shifty promptly scooped up.

"Guys, horry!"

The others rushed over, and Koba used his nimble hands to reach through the bars, unlock the door with the keys, and swing said door open.

"We're FREE!" said Grog.

"About time," said Koba

"Go go go!" said Vallant.

And they all rushed out and away just as the guard slowly started to recover.

-----------

Elsewhere, further and deeper in the dungeons, several Aura Guardians had gathered around the masked, cloaked figure, who had been tied up with cords charged with Obscura so they couldn't phase out and escape, their Pokemon contained in crystals to the side.

"All right gang," said Vince. "Let's see who's really behind that mask."

He quickly removed the mask and hood to reveal a woman with dark skin and long, swirling purple hair.

~Hm, no one we know.~ said Carol. ~Time to take THAT off the conspiracy board.~

The tied-up woman snarled, revealing unusually pointy canine teeth.

"****," said Polly as she and the others started backing away. "She's an Aura Vampire!"

"Yes, you got that right." said the woman angrily. "Now where is she?"

"Where is who?" said Vince.

"Medea. My girlfriend. She went missing in this region. Thought you Aura Guardian ****s were responsible."

"We're not ****s." said Vince, clutching a hand to his chest.

~I'm a ****,~ said Carol, her eyebrows wiggling.

"So wait, you weren't here to suck us all dry of Aura in our sleep?" said Polly.

"Only if you did kidnap my girlfriend. Which you don't seem to have, so you don't deserve it," said the woman, shrugging her shoulders as best she could in her binds.

"Reassuring," said Vince.

~Say," said Carol. ~We're investigating a murder and a bunch of dissapearances. Maybe this Medea of yours is related.~

"Really now?" said the woman, raising an eyebrow.

"...Yeah, probably," said Polly. "Whoever's responsible for those probably took your girlfriend."

"If that's the case then I'll help," said the woman.

The trio of Aura Guardians stopped and stared.

"You want to help?" said Polly.

"But you're an aura vampire," said Vince.

Carol nudged him. ~Don't be an ableist.~

"How is not trusting an Aura Vampire ableist?" said Vince.

:"It's like a chronic illness, isn't it?" said Polly. "By various means you wind up with a continued deficiency in your Aura, and need to turn to external sources to replenish itt."

Vince paused... "**** you're right."

He turned to the wioman. "Still though. If I untire you so you can help ujs do you promise not to murrder us all?"

"I promise," said the woman playfully.

Vunce removed the cords.

Everyone stayed stock still for a minute.

"Boo," the woman said finally.

The Aura Guardian trio yelped and jumped. The woman laughed.

"Olivia Hallow. Pleasure to work with you all."

***

I have read holding my breath. Will you write a continuation to your story?
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
I have read holding my breath. Will you write a continuation to your story?
Yes! Starting RIGHT NOW!

Ahahahaha! Happy Hallolween, one and all! It's time for a spooktacular bonus episode of Heroes After All, featuring a very special guest star! Who is it you ask? Find out in:

Bonus Chapter 3: HAAlloween

It was Murkrow season again.

Every year, in the fall, the Murkrow descended upon Time Flower Abbey. Every year they were impossible to get rid of. They infested every corner of the abbey - rooftops, courtyards, even getting inside from time to time. After multiple attempts to get rid of them, the residents of the Abbey had learned to just deal until they eventually went away.

This Murkrow season was a particularly bad one. Aaron, Riolu, and friends were moving through a flock of them trying to get back to their rooms for the evening from class, and they keept screeching at them and delivering sudden pecks.

"I hate these thi-OW!" said Louis. He brushed away a Murkrow jabbing at him.

<They can hear you....> said Rook.

"I for one think they're cute!" said Callie.

<I DON'T,> said Munchkin.

Aaron shook his head. Riolu scowled in the Murkrow's general direction.

"We, uh. Probably shouldn't irritate them..." said Aaron.

He looked over to Vince and Terrence nearby, who weretrying to communicate as best they can with Henry and Zawisza.

"Are you SURE you can't get them in line?" said Vince to Henry.

Henry simply gave a squaky laugh.

"You can't either? Seriously?" said Terrence to Zawisza.

Zawisza just shrugged her wings.

~The adults aren't having any luck either, human OR Pokemon...~ said Riolu.

"Can we eat them?" said Atta.

<I can poke them to death!> said Stabby.

<I doubt that...> said Iuroidea.

"Then what DO we do?" said Eve.

Aaron put his hand to his chin and pondered a bit. Then a large open-mouthed smile crossed his face.

"I've got it! If I make a large enough bang with my Aura powers it'll be sure to scare them off!"

"Wait, Aaron, that's crazy!" said Eve.

Too late. Aaron was already charging a ball of aura.

~Aaron, don-~ Riolu started to say.

Too late. Aaron had generated an exceptionally loud bang.

The Murkrow initially responded by all flying up in the air and cawing raucously. Then they all started divebombing and attacking Aaron and Riolu specifically. Aaron and Riolu screamed as the Murkrow started chasing them further and further away from the others.

-------------

Eventually, after much running and screaming, the Murkrow dissipated, flying off in various directions. Aaron and Riolu swerve left to tend to sore peck spots and brush off feathers.

~What were they chasing ME for?~ said Riolu. ~YOU made the noise!~

"Maybe they could sense our strong friendship?" Aaron said with a sheepish grin.

~...Yeah, sure. Whatever,~ said Riolu.

He looked around. ~Where ARE we anyway?~

Aaron looked around. They seemed tyo be in some heavily wooded area. "I... Don't know."

~So you mean we're lost?~

"...Yes."

~This is your fault you know.~

"...Yes, I know.~

Riolu huffed. ~Well we'll just have to find a way back I GUESS.~

"Y-You're right. I-it can't be far!" said Aaron.

The two started searching through a path in the woods.

------------

A couple hours passed. It had gotten dark out at this point. The two had made no headway.

~Gah,~ said Riolu. ~I can't find anything, even with my Aura sense...~

"Me neither..." said Aaron.

Riolu kept scanning and scanning for traces of something that could lead them back. But then he picked up something. Strange.

Reaching out further he was able to tell it was big. -

And it was moving.

Moving this way.

~Aaron we should get moving,~ Riolu said frantically.

"I thought we already we-" Aaron started to say.

~We need to do it FASTER,~ Riolu said with growing panic.

"Uh, okay, okay!" said Aaron.

They started moving through the woods faster. It was then the two could hear the rustling of something very large.

Not too far behind them.

Aaron opened his mouth to scream but Riolu immediately covered it with a paw.

~Just run,~ said Riolu.

Aaron immediately did, Riolu not far behind.

The rustling continued to follow them.

-----------------------

The two kept running. And running. And running. Until they finally ran out of breath, panting and wheezing from their efforts.

"Do you think..." Aaron said, gasping for breath. "...We lost it?"

More rustling.

~Apparently not!~ said Riolu in a panic.

"What do we do?!" said aaron.

Riolu looked around until he spotted an embedded tree hollow, sticking out of the earth.

~In there!~

Aaron and Riolu ducked into the hollow and peeked out.

It was dark. Very dark. But the two could see pointy blue feet sticking out from the underbrush. They pierced into the earth in front of the two's hideaway, moving around as if they were in search of something.

The pair quickly realized it could be them.

Eventually, the creature left. Aaron and Riolu waited, and waited, until they were sure it was gone. Then they removed themselves from the log.

"What WAS that?!" Aaron said in a panicked whisper.

~I don't know,~ said Riolu.~But I suspect it wants to eat... Us~

"EAT US?!" said Aaron.

~Whatever you do., don't scream. It'll just come back.~

"R-right..." said Aaron.

~Listen, I've been in this situation before,~ said Riolu.

"You have?!" said Aaron.

~Yeah. And what I've found is you have to keep running until you find someplace safe... Or a place with something stronger and tougher that won't also eat YOU.~

"...So we gotta get back to Time Flower Abbey then?"

~...Right, before that thing gets US.~ said Riolu. ~The adults can handle that thing hopefully maybe.~

"Right! To-"

More rustling.

~Oh no! It's coming back! Move it!~

And the two bolted for it.

--------

Eventually the trees started thinning. More moonlight started peering through the leaves.

But the rustling in pursuit continued.

Aaron and Riolu were running out of breath. Their steps were faltering.

Finally, Aaron tripped. Collapsed.

~Aaron!~ said Riolu.

It was then the creature emerged from the bushes. It bore a vague resemblance to a Wobuffet, but with a long, spindly form and a strange tail. Its mouth briefly opened., showing massive pointy teeth.

"N-No...." said Aaron. "I... don't want to die...."

Riolu froze, looking between Aaron, then the strange Wobuffet creature. Then determination set in his eyes and he charged forward, putting himself between Aaron and the monster.

~If you're going to eat him then you're going to have to get through me!~

The Wobbuffet creature leaned in closer. It opened its mouth to show its teeth again, then closed them. Its faced scrunched up into a look of... Concern?
~...Are you two quite all right?~

~...Huh?_ said Riolu.

"You... Don't want to eat us?" said Aaron.

~Of course not,~ said the creature with a distinct Galarian accent. ~I may be a Kwazai but I'm not so uncouth!~

~Kwazai?~ said Riolu.

~Yes! Said the creature. ~We're a rare evolution of Wobuffet, that happens in a region far from here, I was born in Galar before moving there... We come in two forms! Anyway, my name is Eustace Francisco Kwazaichum, Esquire.~

"Nice to meet you Eustace!" said Aaron, getting tol his feet.

~My pleasure as well.! I am here because I was looking for directions to Rota, my Trainer is there... but all the local Pokemon are too scared of me to help!~

~We were trying to get back to Time Flower Abbey. Maybe the peoplemons there can help,~ said Riolu.

~A marvelous idea! Let us go posthaste!~

"Let's go then!" said Aaron.

And the very unusual party continued onward.

-------------

Eventually they encountered not the monastery but certain people and Pokemon from it.

"Aaron! Riolu! All the Aura Guardians have been looking all over for you" said Polly."Thank Lugia you're allri-"

She noticed Eustace.

"Behind you! Duck for cover!"

~You won't touch them, Kwazai. Remember the Vow.~

<Yeah they're no lunch!> said Dunsparce.

~Guys, relax, he's with us,~ said Riolu.

"Yeah he helped us find you!" said Aaron. "Eustace is great!"

~Oh dear, sorry to startle you...~ Said Eustace.

"....It's all right," said Polly. "Thank you so much for bringing these boys back to us... Especially after those damn Murkrow chased them into the woods."

Eustace immediately perked up.

<Murkrow? Why I love the taste of Murkrow! Gamey but with just the right amount of juicy tenderness!?>

Polly paused, then looked at Metagross with a snide grin.

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

~Of course I am, we're psychically in synch, said Metagross~

<Uh... yeah, Polly, but where are we going to find rubber pants our size?> said Dunsparce.

"Good. Let's escort this Kwazai to the Abbey," said Polly.

-----------------------


The Murkrow were up to their usual mischief at Time Flower Abbey. Pecking, shrieking, stealing, the works.

Eventually, however, a contingent of Aura Guardians emerged from the mountain forest near the abbey.

Followed by Eustace.

The Murkrow stopped to stare at this new visitor.

Eustace bared his teeth in a wide, hungry, grin.

And lunged.

----------------

The Murkrow never bothered Time Flower Abbey again.

***

And there you have it! The Kwazai species belongs to Sike Saner! You should check out her fics! They have more Kwazai in them! Yaaaaaaaaay!
 
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