In the castle, things were like chaos. People were being evacuated because from the crystals that surrounded Cameran Palace, red Pokémon-like figures came out and moved through town, eating people.
The Aura Guardians were sent out to try and stop it, but every time they took one down another came out, and all it took was only one touch for them to get eaten and disappear.
People were sent to safety, but Queen Ilene, since she was the Queen and, just like her ancestor Queen Rin, didn't leave. She stayed even as people tried to persuade her to go. She stood her ground and held Sir Aaron's staff as the red Pokémon-like things entered the castle and approached her.
Just as they got into the room she was waiting in, the crystal near her room went from red back to blue as it shot a bright blue light into the sky, then another, and another, and another, as every crystal in the kingdom that had turned red went back to blue.
And as the crystals turned blue again, the red Pokémon creatures stopped. Then, seemingly from all the crystals, all the people who had been devoured got spit out one by one, civilians and Aura Guardians alike. Everyone was being brought back.
Then the blob-like red Pokémon went back and were absorbed into the crystals like they were never there at all. And as Ilene looked out the window toward the Tree of Beginnings, she could see it shining as well.
She smiled and hugged the staff closer, "They did it…"
—
Back at the Tree, May, Max, Kidd, and Sorrel were just in the middle of their fight. One of Kidd's Weavile was down and the other was on one knee. Meanwhile, Sorrel's Lucario was trying to catch its breath after pushing everyone out of the way, while Combusken and Vee were more or less fine, mainly thanks to Vee keeping the pressure on.
Regice's dots glowed as it raised its arms and was about to attack again when, at that moment, the crystals in the cave started turning blue again and shot beacons of light into the air. Regice stopped. It turned, seeing the light coming from the crystals, and seemingly stopped fighting.
"…What's happening?" May breathed, lowering her guard.
Max shielded his eyes from the sudden light as Sorrel looked around, seeing the crystals all slowly starting to turn blue again.
Sorrel's Lucario straightened slightly, ears twitching, as it felt more relaxed again.
Combusken tilted its head a little, wondering if she should hit the giant ice block again, but Vee sighed, realizing it was over, to be honest, in less time than he expected. He thought he'd get at least two more minutes.
Kidd blinked and saw Regice just standing there, not doing anything, "Hey...hold on...Regice isn't attacking…"
As they all looked at Regice, they heard someone calling out from the entrance, "Hey guys!"
From the entrance they saw Brock running in, waving at them, as Regirock was slowly marching behind him, following, but not attacking anymore.
Brock stopped in front of them and looked at Regice, "I guess Ash probably did Ash things and fixed everything, huh? Must have calmed these guys down."
"Yeah, but I suppose it makes sense, they are just guardians. They must have thought we were responsible for whatever was affecting the Tree," Sorrel explained, "Once they saw the Tree being healed, they should have realized."
"Well, I'm just glad everything is normal again. I didn't know how much more I could give," May said with a sigh of relief, slouching a little.
"Yeah, but wow, Vee, you were awesome!" Max said, looking over at Vee.
Brock noticed and inhaled sharply, "Mmmm...so, did Ash leave Vee with you, or…?"
"Yeah, he did. He told Vee to come with me, and then he pointed at Vee, and then Vee became a Flareon," Max explained, waving his arms around like that helped the explanation.
"Okay...and anything else?" Brock asked, really wondering if Ash had told them about Vee's thing or not.
"Well, he had to leave, but he said he'd tell us later why?" May asked as she walked over and picked up Vee by the back, dangling the fox-dog Pokémon since he was very fluffy right now.
"Weeeellll," Brock started when suddenly they heard the sound of footsteps.
They turned toward the area Ash and the others had run to, and there they saw Ash, Riley, and Sir Lucario limping out, supporting each other as Ash's Absol walked next to them helping steady them slightly while Pikachu rode on Absol's back. Riley's Lucario returned to its Poké Ball.
Ash raised a hand and grinned, "Yo, hey guys!"
For a second, nobody said anything as they limped closer, and from behind them they saw an injured Registeel walking along like it was escorting them back.
Then May's eyes widened, "ASH!"
She took off at a run, skidding to a stop just short of tackling him when she actually got a good look at him. He looked like a strong wind would make him fall over, and he was very obviously leaning part of his weight on Riley and Sir Lucario.
"…You look terrible," she said weakly.
"Wow," Max added, staring, "You look worse than after that time you fell off a cliff."
Ash laughed, wincing halfway through, "Rude. I prefer 'heroically exhausted.'"
"Eh, honestly, I've seen you worse after a few early mornings," Brock shrugged, though he still smiled and walked over to help Ash stand more normally.
Sir Lucario inclined his head respectfully toward the group, "The Tree of Beginning has been restored. The crisis...is over."
May let out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she was holding and slumped forward, hands on her knees, "So...it's done. We're actually done."
Sorrel finally let out his own sigh of relief, "Thank goodness. I swear, this was exhausting. I'm glad it's all over."
"So...okay, am I the only one who's gonna ask, Ash, since when do you have an Absol?" Max finally asked, making May and Brock realize, oh yeah, they never saw Ash catch that thing.
"He—well, I went for a walk," Ash started.
"No, stop that. What is with you and walks?! I swear, if you didn't look like you were about to collapse, I'd hit your shoulder," May sighed, finally starting to understand the danger of letting Ash go on a walk.
Ash chuckled before stopping, "Oh boy...yeah, I'm running on empty," he muttered.
"Ha, well, guess you're gonna need to rest for a while," Sorrel said, putting his hands on his waist.
But Ash noticed behind him that Sorrel's Lucario seemed a little too smug, so he smirked, "Maybe...but don't think I'm too tired to give some training~" The way he said it, no one could tell who he was talking about, but Lucario did, and he shivered.
Then Ash looked away from him and down at Vee, who jumped away from May and bounded over to Ash. In front of everyone, Vee went from Flareon mode back to Eevee mode and leapt up onto Ash's shoulders, "Hey, great job, bud. I bet you carried."
When he looked up, as expected, he saw everyone staring at him, and more specifically at Vee, with shocked expressions.
"Um...Ash…" May started.
"It's a long story, and honestly I just want to take a nap," Ash sighed, "So can we just go back to the castle? I can tell you guys on the way back."
"Um, hey guys, I hate to be that gal, but…" Kidd started as she pointed at Regirock, "They broke my Jeep, so unless we have another way, we're walking, and those guys look like they can barely stand."
"Oh yeah, that's a good point. Actually, how are we getting back?" Sorrel said, rubbing his cheek and nodding along.
"Oh, don't worry. We have a ride that owes us~," Ash said with a smirk.
Then, almost as if it had been waiting for the perfect time, which it probably had, Mew flew down happily toward everyone and waved, showing them it was completely healthy.
Mew spun happily in the air, doing a little loop before floating upside-down in front of Ash's face, "Meeew~!"
Ash smirked tiredly, "Yeah, yeah...you're welcome too."
May blinked, "Wait...you knew Mew was gonna show up like that?"
Ash shrugged weakly, "I mean...not exactly. But it likes dramatic entrances."
Mew puffed its cheeks proudly at that, then floated over to the rest of the group, waving its tiny arms like it was greeting everyone individually.
Max's eyes were huge, "Okay, nope, I'm officially done being surprised today. Apparently this is normal now."
"After everything we went through, I'm more surprised that you're still surprised."
"Speak for yourself," Kidd muttered, eyeing Mew carefully, "I'm still processing the part where reality stopped making sense."
Sorrel chuckled softly, though he looked exhausted, "Honestly...after everything today...I'm just grateful it's normal again and no one is trying to fight anymore," then he mumbled under his breath, "not like last time."
"What was that?" Kidd asked, not catching it.
"Nothing," Sorrel answered.
Ash rubbed the back of his neck and stretched, "So, buddy, you think you could help us out with a ride? Because I'm about five seconds away from sleeping on this rock."
Riley huffed a tired laugh, "Seconded."
Mew floated back a bit, eyes glowing softly. It clapped its tiny hands together once.
"…Uh," Brock said slowly, "Is it just me, or is it—"
He didn't even get to finish as they disappeared from the Tree of Beginnings, leaving behind Mew and the Regi trio.
When they reappeared, they found themselves in the throne room of Cameran Palace.
As they were trying to get reoriented, Queen Ilene stood off to the side of the room looking out the window, still clutching Sir Aaron's staff. Her eyes widened as she saw them, and then she smiled.
She rushed up to them and pulled Ash and Riley into a hug. When she pulled back, she wiped a small tear from her eye, "Welcome back...my heroes."
—
A few days passed since then.
Ash, Riley, and Sir Lucario were immediately taken to rooms to sleep since they were basically completely empty of all Aura. Sir Lucario chose to take Sir Aaron's old room, which Ilene didn't object to, in fact, she was happy, since she had been worried he still hated Sir Aaron.
After the first day, they had enough energy to get back up and walk into the throne room to talk to Ilene about everything that had happened. Sir Lucario finally explained that he had found the truth and that the legends of the kingdom weren't lies, Sir Aaron really was a hero.
As for Ash, since it was discovered that he was another direct descendant of Sir Aaron, and they hadn't been able to do this earlier, Ilene and even Riley both offered to share the land in Rota that had belonged to Sir Aaron, since it would technically also be his birthright.
Along with that, they offered Ash an official royal title. With Ash being 1) an Aura Guardian, 2) a descendant of Sir Aaron, and technically their cousin, and 3) ridiculously strong, they really wanted Ash to stay. Most people would have agreed. Even May and Max were worried they wouldn't get to be around Ash anymore if he became a noble.
But Ash is not most people, and Brock knew full well exactly what he was going to do. So Ash did the only reasonable thing in that situation and just said no.
Riley just closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, "…I knew you were going to say that."
Sir Lucario watched Ash carefully, ears twitching but a faint smile already forming, like he'd expected nothing less.
May's jaw dropped, "ASH, do you realize you just said no to being literal royalty?!"
Max stared at him like he'd just declined free infinite video games, "You said no to land...and titles...and probably unlimited everything."
Brock folded his arms, completely unsurprised, "Called it."
Sorrel also wasn't surprised. He may have known Ash the least out of his friends, but based on what he'd seen, Ash did not seem like the kind of person who would want anything to do with that.
Ash laughed weakly, "Hey, it's not like I don't appreciate it. Seriously, it's awesome. And I'm honored. But…" He looked around the room, at Ilene, at Riley, at Sir Lucario, and finally at his friends, "…I've still got places to go. Things I wanna do. And trouble to accidentally start and then fix. I mean, who will make everyone's blood pressure spike if I'm not around? Unacceptable."
"That is not reassuring," Riley muttered.
"Plus...if I stayed in one place too long I'd probably go crazy. I don't think I'm the 'princely' kind," Ash said, even though everyone knew full well that if Ash wanted to, he could act more like a prince than Ilene could.
Ilene sighed softly, a little disappointed she wouldn't get to have a little brother she could spoil, "Oh fine, we won't force you if you don't want to. But you'll always have a place here in Rota."
Ash smiled, "Thanks. That...actually means a lot."
May let out a breath she'd been holding, "Okay, good, because I was already trying to figure out how to sneak you out of the castle if they tried to keep you."
"Aww, why, would you miss me that much if I did~?" Ash teased with a smirk.
May's face turned bright red so fast it was almost impressive, "W-WHAT, I was not, I mean, someone has to make sure you don't wander into another legendary disaster on one of your 'walks'!"
Ash just grinned wider, "Uh-huh. Totally what I meant."
Max snorted, "Wow. Smooth, sis."
"Shut up, Max," May said quickly, elbowing him in the side.
—
After that, they spent a few more days in Rota since the festival was still going on.
Before anything, what about Kidd? Well, after everything was finished, Kidd admitted her glasses had cameras in them and that she had recorded everything. At first, her plan had been to come here and record the Tree and everything around it since no one had ever done it before. But after seeing the Tree, and fighting for it, she decided it was better if she didn't, otherwise people might come and ruin it. So she deleted everything right in front of everyone.
As for Ash, since he still said he was tired (even though he was mostly good to go), he told them they shouldn't wait for him. While the others went off to enjoy the last day of the festival, Ash went to the library.
There, he scanned the library with Aura, but he felt no books with any lingering Aura. So he did it the old-fashioned way and sat down to read, a lot. He even borrowed Hypno from D and Kirlia to help him read. And no, he couldn't find anything about Aura techniques.
That's when he noticed Riley had been watching him, not for long, only a few minutes, so Ash just asked directly if there were any Aura books. Riley just laughed and said there was no such thing.
And Ash had to agree that here there was no such thing, but he did know there was at least one: the one he read as a kid. He never got to see it again after that.
Back when he was younger, he had gotten curious and asked for it again, pretending he just wanted to look at the pictures, but the librarian, Theo, denied having it. And when Ash asked Oak recently, he also said he didn't have anything like that.
The strange thing was that by then Ash had learned to read emotions, and he could tell they were technically lying while also telling the truth. To this day, he doesn't know where it went. He had hoped to find something, but no, nothing.
It felt like every answer just gave him more questions. But honestly, Ash had learned to live with that. Still, he was curious, because he didn't believe everything they had told him back then, though for now, he just acted like everything was fine.
And that led to the last day. Everyone packed up to leave. Kidd had already gone, saying that since she gave up on this project, she was going to find something else to get a "first" at.
Sir Lucario, since he was still alive and wanting to honor Sir Aaron's last wish, decided to stay in Rota and train the new generation, since, in his words, everyone was unbelievably weak in this peaceful time.
As for Sorrel, he was going to walk with the gang at least to Mt. Moon since he wanted to head over to Pewter, and it was along the same route they were taking.
So that led to right now. Ash was zipping up his bag while Pikachu and Vee sat on the bed watching him finish, "Alright, come on guys, let's go," he said as Pikachu and Vee jumped up onto his shoulders again and nuzzled against him.
He also needed to deal with his newly evolved Pokémon, and he might want to evolve Slakoth one of these days. The thing with Slakoth was that he was already more than ready to evolve, he'd been ready for weeks now. The problem was that once he became a Vigoroth, he'd start wasting those Huge Power stockpile stacks.
So until then, Ash had given his Slakoth an Everstone and let him nap until he was sure he could get him to evolve straight into Slaking, which he was getting close to. But yeah, as soon as Slakoth let go of that Everstone, he was immediately evolving.
But that was for later. As Ash walked out of the room, he saw Riley and Sir Lucario waiting for him.
"Hey, figured we should walk you out since today's the day you're leaving," Riley said.
"Uh-huh, sure. I'm sure that's the only reason why," Ash said with a smirk. He knew full well what they were doing.
Seeing their plan wasn't going to work, Sir Lucario sighed, "Yes, well, we weren't lying. But are you certain you do not wish to stay in Rota and become an Aura Guardian proper?"
"Yeah," Riley added, dropping the act, "I mean, you still have a lot to learn. You haven't even mastered the basic Aura Sphere."
"Thanks, but I'm sure. Being a knight or some kind of royalty really isn't my thing," Ash said with a small smile, "And I've been self-taught so far, and I'm fine now." (And just for the people back home, Ash had already mastered Aura Sphere after a day of training. He just didn't say it, because if he did, it would be much harder to leave.)
"Well, okay. We'll respect your decision," Riley said, "But if you ever start feeling weird with your Aura, you better come here so we can save you."
"Deal," Ash nodded with a smile, and Riley returned it.
As they got to the entrance, Ash could see Brock, May, Max, and Sorrel talking while waiting for him.
May saw him first and smirked, "Well, well, well, look who's last to join."
Ash rolled his eyes and smiled, "Hey, I had very important packing to do."
"You mean you procrastinated and didn't start packing until the last minute again?" Brock asked with a smirk.
"…Details," Ash said, waving a hand.
"We were starting to think you snuck off on another 'walk' without telling anyone," Max said.
May immediately narrowed her eyes, "Don't even joke about that."
"Heyyy, she's learning, Brock, you hear that?" Ash laughed, putting an arm around Brock.
"Honestly, I'm surprised it took her this long," Brock nodded along, "I thought she'd understand after the third time."
Sorrel adjusted his bag on his shoulder, "Well, it looks like everyone's here. Is there anything else?"
"Nope."
"Nah."
"Nein."
Everyone answered, and you can guess who said which. But just as they were about to start walking, they heard footsteps.
"Please wait!"
When they looked back, they saw Ilene running up to them as Head Maid Jenny followed behind her, holding a blue egg.
"Oh, hey, what's up?" Ash asked, even though he could already guess based on the fact she was carrying an egg.
Ilene walked up and gave Ash one more hug. Since he was leaving, she didn't have to act like some overly responsible queen around them. When she pulled back, she smiled softly, "I may be sad that you have to go, but I understand. You will always be welcomed here as family, so I'd like you to take this."
Jenny walked up and held out the Egg in her hands to Ash. Riley immediately recognized it, it was infamous.
"What, you're giving him that one?" Riley asked.
"Why, what's wrong with this Egg?" Ash asked as he took it gently in his arms and rubbed it softly with his Aura.
"Well...nothing, but...it's just…" Riley scratched his cheek, not sure how to explain it, "That Egg's been here longer than I have. No one's been able to hatch it, but we know it's alive. It's a Riolu Egg, and we can tell it has a lot of potential...but again, no one's been able to hatch it…"
"Well, that is true, buuuttt—" Ilene cut in, "when you saved the Tree, the Egg shook!"
Ash blinked, "…It shook?"
Ilene nodded quickly, a little more excited than she was probably supposed to look as a queen, "Not just a little either. The moment the crystals turned blue again, it practically jumped out of its stand."
Riley's eyebrows shot up, "Wait...seriously?"
Sir Lucario stepped closer and looked at the Egg, "Huh...it's strange. It looks like it's reacting to your Aura, Sir Ash," he muttered.
"So I was right!" Ilene clapped her hands, "If anyone can hatch it, it's gotta be you!"
"Well...I can't really argue with that, can I?" Ash laughed as he gently rubbed the Egg. He knew what this Egg was, it was his original Lucario from the anime, the one no one could get to hatch. It looked like it came from here in Rota, and now he had it. Sweet, he could finally get a Lucario.
Ilene put a hand on Ash's shoulder one last time, "Farewell, oh, and don't forget to call. And if you need anything, just call me big sis and I can see what I can do~" Ilene said with a huge grin, and suddenly Brock, May, Max, and Sorrel could see the resemblance now, with that same big, dumb grin.
"Maybe I'll take you up on that one day," Ash chuckled. Then he took a step back, "Well, see ya. I'll come visit someday, and I'll definitely be here for the next festival."
So with that, the gang turned and walked off toward Mt. Moon, while Ilene, Jenny, Sir Lucario, and Riley waved as they left.
And honestly, Riley had some time to think. After meeting Ash, seeing how he acted, and watching him choose to keep adventuring, it made Riley miss the time when he traveled around and trained on his own with his Lucario.
So he turned and looked at Ilene, "Hey, Ilene...I'd like to ask for...well, let's call it some vacation time."
---
{You know what, if you guys hand over some power stones, i'll uplode one of the Omake stories, so hand them over🔫}