"Will our Aura Guardian please step forward and accept the staff," Queen Ilene said, holding the traditional scepter. As Will walked up, she handed it to him.
Hmm, the staff that sealed Lucario, Will thought, taking it. In his hands, it looked like a short-handled hamr.
"Thank you all for coming. And now, let the ball begin!"
After the announcent, the old maidservant led Will to a seat below and to the side of the Queen. In the grand hall, people began to pair up and dance.
"ow?" owscarada ca to his side, tugging on him. She wanted to dance too.
"No! The Guardian must not leave his seat," the old maidservant quickly said, shaking her head. This was the rule, and she couldn't let it be broken on her watch.
"ow!" owscarada huffed in annoyance. She snatched the staff from Will's hand and started swinging it around.
Smack!
Will slapped her on the head, took the staff back, and then bopped her on the rear with the round crystal on top. "You're a big girl now, stop ssing around!"
"ow," she turned her head away, pouting.
"Look, there's a Lucario sealed inside here," Will said, patting her and pointing at the crystal.
"ow?" That got her attention. What's a Lucario?
"It's a dog Pokémon. You're more likely to see them in Sinnoh, but even there, they're very rare," Will said, stroking the crystal.
"ow," owscarada said, nodding. They had been in Sinnoh for a long ti and had never seen one.
"ow? (Do you like cats or dogs more?)"
"Huh? Why are you suddenly asking that?" Will was baffled. "They're both fluffy animals, what's the difference? Besides, can't I like lizards, dragons, and bees?"
"ow!" she insisted, patting his leg.
"Fine, I like cats, I like cats, happy?" Will said, rolling his eyes. "You just don't understand the value of a Lucario."
Their species' ability to use Aura was a top-tier ability among all non-legendary Pokémon. That's what he ant by "value."
"ow," she huffed, uninterested.
...
Ti passed. owscarada got bored and fell asleep on Will's lap. Will, too, was getting bored, but the old maidservant was watching him like a hawk, so he couldn't sleep.
Finally, the ball ended. Will tossed the staff back to Queen Ilene and imdiately left with owscarada.
"Hey~ Sceptile~ Co with us! We rented a house in Rota!" Shigeru called out from the distance.
Will just waved his hand, rejecting the offer. It wasn't that he was being rude; he just found Shigeru's three sons to be too noisy.
"? It really is you, Sceptile! And owscarada!"
Just then, three n pushed their way out of the crowd. One had long blue hair and a large belly. The other two, one with sky-blue hair and one with fiery red, were middle-aged. Will recognized the two in the back. They were from the Dragonite Clan.
"Haha! I knew you'd recognize ! That's right, it's , Leaf!" the portly man said, pulling Will into a hug. "I just arrived this afternoon and heard the winner of the tournant was a Sceptile! I thought it might be you, and it really is!"
Leaf, now in his thirties, was thrilled to see his old companion again after twenty years.
"It really is you... Ti really does a number on people," Will said, poking Leaf's large belly. This guy's proportions were starting to look like his own had been in his past life.
"ow?" owscarada woke up, looked at the man, and had no idea who he was.
"Haha, owscarada's different from before, huh? Back then, she was such a proud little tomboy, and now she's sleeping on your back in public," Leaf laughed. He then pulled the blue-haired man over. "Look at this, familiar?"
"Jace, I know," Will nodded.
"Hehe, yeah, the sa kid you beat up. This is his older brother, Ken. He's been a trainee for two and a half years."
"How many tis do I have to tell you, it's 'Coordinator'!"
"Hello, Sceptile. I've heard a lot about you. When you visited the holand, I was traveling in Hoenn," Ken said, shaking Will's hand.
After chatting for a few more minutes, Will left. He had a feeling that if he stayed, the three n would try to drag him to a place where he could "experience the passion of the Rota maidens."
He carried owscarada and headed north. Their goal was clear: The Tree of Beginning.
...
The next morning, Will woke up to find a woman with long black hair sitting beside him, smiling.
"...owscarada, what did you do now?" Will groaned, instinctively reaching out to grab the big cat's ear.
"ow?" owscarada woke up, confused.
"You don't recognize ?" the woman smiled. "It's . The woman who drew a lot of your blood."
"Platane?!"
"ow?!"
Will and owscarada were both stunned. They couldn't connect this graceful, mature woman with the crazed girl from the lab.
"Hehe, I knew my guess was right. Sceptile, you've already begun to leave your own story in this world," Platane said, pulling a syringe from her black dress. "By the way, it's been so long. How about a little blood as a welco-back gift?"
"..."
"Oh, and if you can, I hope you can find the ti to... produce so essence of life. It would be a sha for such a powerful bloodline to be extinguished. I'll do my best to select a worthy..."
Smack.
Will clapped his hand over her mouth. If he let her keep talking, who knows what shocking things she would say.
...
After chatting, they found out that Platane was also heading to the Tree of Beginning. She had heard rumors that unknown Pokémon lived inside, and she was hoping to find ancient Pokémon to study.
"ow?"
"Don't worry about them, let's go. We're also heading to the Tree of Beginning... to visit a friend," Will said, getting up.
"A friend? Ah! That's wonderful! Then let's go together! I've already chartered a blimp, we can be there in two days!"
"Blimp? That's great!"
This was a surprise. He had thought they would have to walk. With a blimp, they would save a lot of ti.
"ow!"
"Yes, we'll go with her."
Will and owscarada followed her onto a large airship.
Two days later, they arrived at a platform near the Tree of Beginning.
"Wow, this is the Tree of Beginning? It's so much bigger than the pictures!" Platane was in awe.
"It's just a rock."
"Hm? Sceptile, what did you say?"
"I said, be careful. This place is not as simple as it looks. And, there are guardians here," Will said, his eyes scanning the area.
"Guardians? Like the Regis?"
"Let's go, I'll take you... to find the 'friend' I was talking about. Whether we can go in or not, that will be up to her."
Will led the way, with Platane and owscarada following close behind.
They were about to embark on a new journey.
~~~
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