Brothers In Aura
A soft, subtle breeze tousled my brown hair, the scents of grass and flowers wafted into my nostrils, I smiled. Today was a good day to relax, and I intended to enjoy it as much as I could. I'm a fourteen-year old boy, normal enough, considering I'm both a Pokemon Trainer and totally blind. The world was my Cloister, and I was happy to be in it. A sudden sound caused me to jump slightly, I tensed and focused my senses, a soft sort of hum ran through my body, and the four 'tails of my headband fluttered beside my ears. I stood, and a wave of blue energy rippled before me, the life force of all things in this world, the strange energy that was created by Arceus alongside this mystical world; Aura. I could sense something approaching, but I couldn't quite pick it out of the sea of other Auras that were pulsing around me. I clenched my fists, trying to concentrate, I heard a slight rustle behind me, and i jumped upwards, grabbing at the branches of the Sitrus Berry tree that i had been sitting under. I closed my hands around a sturdy-ish branch and swung myself up, crouching and waiting. I could feel a strong Aura nearby, whatever it was that had been running around a second ago was obviously close.
"Mark?" a voice echoed in my mind, I flinched and felt a short-lived sensation of weightlessness as I fell to the ground with a grunt. I felt a paw on my arm, a familiar padded palm brushing against my fairly light skin as my friend helped me up.
"Luke! Don't scare me like that, i thought you were that crazy Scyther from earlier!" I said indignantly, sighing.
"I'm sorry, but i didn't see you back at camp, i was worried!" He said, moving his paw from my arm to my back as I recovered from the scare. My best friend Luke was a Lucario, we had known each other for years, but sometimes he would do things like this, freak out because i had walked off somewhere to relax for a bit. I understood his worries, but he could be a bit… Overprotective.
"I'm sorry i wandered off, I just thought I would take a little breather, we've been training a lot lately…" I trailed off, shaking my head. The tails of my headband fluttered back down as i got back to my feet. "Let's get back, i want to grab some of these berries for the road." I said, taking Luke's arm as we began to walk back to our temporary base.
As soon as we set foot in our camp, I felt that something was… off. I don't know how to properly explain it, I just felt like something wasn't quite right with our campsite. I walked towards the sound of crackling and burning, the pot of Oran-and Lum Berry soup I had set up to cook was steaming, I could feel the light mist of heat tickling my face as I reached down to grab at the ladle-and yelped as my hand touched the hot metal. Luke was at my side at once, holding my hand and probably giving me a 'really?' look.
"S-sorry…" I said, looking down. Luke sighed softly, a little growling sound escaping him, not an aggressive growl, mind you. This sound was more… Parental, like he was telling me to be more careful without words.
"The stew looks about ready, let's put out the fire and let it cool for a bit." he said telepathically. I nodded, walking to my tent and reaching towards my bag, I moved my hand around in the pack until I felt my canteen's cool, smooth surface and pulled it out, it felt heavy, probably due to all of the water inside. I strode back over to the fire pit and doused the flame, sending up a cloud of foul smoke that made me cough and sputter. I stepped back and took a breath of clean air, shaking my head. A rustling in the bushes nearby made me turn, I sent out a pulse of aura, scanning the area for anything potentially dangerous. When my aura sight locked onto the form of a small creature, I gasped. It was a young Starly that was shaking in the brush, letting out feeble peeps of discomfort as it tried to free itself, I approached slowly, putting my hands behind my back and speaking to the Starling Pokemon calmly.
"Easy little buddy, you're hurt… i'm gonna help you out of there, okay?" i said, reaching out to touch the small Pokemon. It let out a weak tweet, not even trying to peck me as I carefully worked the twigs and brambles aside, flinching as a thorny bramble cut my hand. The Starly fluttered out of the bushes and landed with a cry of pain, I could feel the creature's pain, not like I just felt bad for it-which i did- it was more like I literally felt a stab of pain through my right arm, incidentally, the Starly seemed to have a hurt right wing, I reached out to touch it, receiving a startled peck on my hand, I drew back, just looking at the poor thing. I heard Luke walking over, and the Starly let out a sharp chirp as my companion glared down at it. I scooped the Flying-Type up in my hands, holding it close to my body and being careful to avoid moving its hurt wing. I felt its emotions as clearly as if they were my own, fear, pain, confusion, and loneliness. I looked at Luke, he let out another soft sigh.
"Fine, we'll keep her, just don't expect me to be excited about it." he said flatly.
We decided to leave the forest shortly after we finished dinner, i wasn't extremely keen on the idea of traveling at night, partly because I didn't know exactly where we were going, and partly because there were rumors of a pack of dangerous Houndoom that ruled over this specific forest at night. As we set off, I made sure that our new friend-who I nicknamed Stardust- was secure in the little basket/nest Luke had helped me make for her. She let out a little musical tweet, I held the nest in my arms as I jogged to catch up to Luke. Actually, let me rephrase; I tried to catch up to Luke, who would have made it all the way to the other side of the forest by now if he were on his own. I tried my best to avoid tripping and slowing him down, but even with my aura vision locked onto the naturally rough path, I still managed to find at least twenty different tree roots to trip over on the way. Somehow Stardust stayed with me the whole way though, She gave me a few annoyed pecks for almost dropping her, but I took them without any argument, after all, i probably should've handed her to Luke, at least he could see what there was to trip over. Finally, I managed to make it to the Sitrus Berry tree that grew on a hill at the forest's edge, I caught my breath, walking over to my partner and slumping against the sturdy trunk and letting out a sigh of relief.
"Are you alright?" Luke asked, sounding concerned, my earlier wounds still stung and burned, and I probably had several bruises running all over my body. I shrugged, taking deep breaths of cool, crisp night air.
"I'm okay, just a little winded from trying to catch up, that's all." I replied, sitting down on a thick root and using it as a bench of sorts to rest my shaky legs. I could sense Luke's unwavering gaze on me, and I could tell that he didn't really believe my words, but he didn't want to push me.
"We can rest here for a bit, but we need to keep moving soon, i can sense that something doesn't appreciate our presence here…" He sounded matter-of-fact, he knew what it was, but he didn't want to make me paranoid, I guessed. Stardust had fallen asleep in her nest, and I pulled a little blanket over her, gingerly touching her hurt wing, she seemed to be recovering nicely, but it would still be a good week before she could really fly, at the very least. I relaxed, sighing contentedly as a soft breeze tickled my face.
Soon we were back to traveling, running across the grassy plain towards a small town, similar to Floaroma town in Sinnoh, though unlike Floaroma, this town was covered with Berry Plants. I could feel the Aura of all those plants, thumping like a heartbeat. I felt my own pulse slow just slightly as my body tried to synchronize with the thrum and flutter of life in the little settlement.
"Branchburrow Town." Luke said, probably reading from a sign. I chuckled, the towns always had interesting names like that, i didn't know why, but they made me happy. We walked in casually and tried to stay close to one another, i knew i couldn't get too lost in a town full of people, but i didn't want to take any chances. Luke suddenly grabbed my arm, causing me to jump a bit and freeze, Stardust gave an indignant "Star!" and squirmed around in her nest until she was comfortable again. I heard a soft chuckle, then a new voice joined the myriad of others around us.
"Ah, travelers i see!" it was a male voice, a bit rugged, but kind. I smiled, waving in the direction his voice had come from. He seemed to be puzzled by my actions, i must've waved at the empty air where he had been, and i was proven right when his voice came from my left. "Uh, pardon me, but who are you waving at?" he asked, making my cheeks heat up as i dropped my hand.
"I-i'm blind, sir." i said sheepishly, i felt small.
"Hm? Wh- ah, i understand now!" he said, i blinked in confusion. "This Lucario must be a Service Pokemon!" i tensed, shaking my head as i heard a huff from my companion.
"N-no! Not at all sir! It's not like that!" i tried to explain, but the other man seemed not to hear me. Luke gave me a little tug, and we walked off, not looking back as i felt the strange artificial breeze of a Pokemon Center caress my skin. We strode up to the counter, and i smiled at the Nurse Joy behind the counter.
"Hello!" she said cheerily, her aura flashing with emotion. I supplied a 'hello.' and carefully set Stardust's nest on the cool counter in front of me, Nurse Joy made a sound of worry, then addressed me. "Where did you find this Starly?" she asked, sounding concerned, like a mother. I told her about my rescue of the little bird Pokemon in the forest, she nodded and hummed in understanding when i finished. "I see… do you have her Poke' Ball?" she asked, i just looked confused.
"Poke' Ball? Why would i want to put her into a Pokeball?" i asked, raising an eyebrow. Nurse Joy seemed to look between Luke and I for a moment, then sighed.
"I'm afraid i can't help you at the moment, this Pokemon Center was designed to treat Pokemon inside of their Poke' Ball, unfortunately we don't have the right technology to treat this Starly at the moment…" She was businesslike as i heard her rummaging around in a drawer, Luke snatched the nest from the counter, handing it to me, i looked at him, confused.
"Well… do you know where a Pokemon Center is that can treat Stardust?" i asked, crestfallen. I had hoped this Center could help my little buddy, at that point i was just hoping for a Center close by that could help.
"Possibly the one in Aurora City." the Nurse replied, i let out a wistful sigh. Aurora City was a long ways away… but if it was our only option, then i guess it would have to do. I thanked Nurse Joy and started walking towards the entrance. Luke followed close behind me, as soon as i stepped outside I sent out a scanning pulse, the aura i sensed was bright, pulsing with confidence and vitality. I could tell that the person was probably a new trainer, though it was difficult to discern, they moved to stand in front of me, and i knew i was probably weirding her out, just kind of standing there like that, so i extended my hand, smiling.
"Hi." i said, relaxing to let my Aura Sight fade. They shook my hand gingerly, like they were nervous.
"H-hello…" the new Trainer said, i guessed them to be a girl, from their voice. She must've looked at Luke, because he nudged me a bit, i felt my face heat up a bit, i wasn't used to talking to other people often.
"S-sorry… I'm Mark, and this is my partner Luke." i said, chuckling nervously. The girl shook her head, i could hear her hair rustling.
"No, no it's okay! I understand, you're new around here, you're probably on a Journey, right?" she inquired, sounding sympathetic and excited. I nodded, smiling a little.
"Yeah, actually we were on our way to Aurora City to help our new buddy." i gently patted Stardust's head. "I know this might be weird for me to ask, but do you maybe… wanna come with us?" i smiled uncertainly, hoping she would.
"Sure, why not?" her Aura pulsed energetically, i could feel it even without using my Aura Sight. I grinned, and Luke let out a grumbling sound, which i knew meant he didn't really like my idea, but he would go along with it. I felt Luke place a paw on my shoulder, and i started walking, our new friend followed with a sort of happy bounce in her step, from the almost musical way her footsteps sounded. As we got closer to the edge of town, I turned to her, thoughtful.
"So what's your name?" i asked, smiling.
"I'm Lauren." She replied, her voice tinged with a bit of embarrassment. "My dad was the guy who stopped you earlier, i wanted to apologize for him making you feel bad before, he can be thoughtless sometimes." she sighed. I let out a soft chuckle, patting her shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry about it, he was actually a lot nicer than some of the people we come across." I remembered several occasions where we had almost been mugged.
"R-really?" she asked, surprised. I nodded and she whistled softly. I smirked and kept walking, humming a little tune.
We finally reached the edge of a large forest, it wasn't one Luke or I were familiar with, and i certainly wasn't keen on entering it without some kind of plan. I know that sounds weird, but when it comes to my luck, i just knew we would either end up lost in a cave or surrounded by a pack of rabid Pokemon. We stood at the entrance, tense and worried about what we would find inside. After a long pause, i stepped into the forest, and i felt a sudden chill. Somehow i could tell there was no going back now…
And that's the first chapter up and running! I have no excuses for myself, i've been procrastinating about this for far too long, but now i'm finally doing it! I'm rewriting one of my first stories ever posted to ! I really hope i can make it up to all of you who were waiting for me to update, i'm going to keep writing until this story is done, i want to keep my stories alive, and this is how i plan to do it, by bringing them back from the dead and giving them new life! I hope you guys enjoy, and please do let me know what i can do to make it better! Thanks for Reading, and i hope you all have a wonderful day! ;D