"w, there's a Sharp Beak in your nest. Get it out for Will," the Tree of Beginning's voice echoed in Will's mind.
"w?"
"(Don't play dumb. I know you have it,)" the Tree said, a little annoyed.
"w..."
w pitifully flew into a hollow in the Tree and pulled out a shining bird beak.
'A Sharp Beak!' Will's eyes lit up. He imdiately recognized the item. It increased the power of Flying-type moves by 20%. Since he knew a few Flying-type moves this life, he could definitely use it.
"(Don't hesitate. Give it to him,)" the Tree urged.
w gritted its teeth and, with great reluctance, tossed the item to Will. It really liked that beak. It was so pretty.
"Thanks." Will grinned and accepted it without ceremony.
He knew saving the Tree and w had been the right call. See? The rewards were already rolling in.
"Tree of Beginning, can you help keep an eye out for more of these Plates?"
"(I can. But I advise you not to get your hopes up. Arceus doesn't just lose its Plates for no reason.)"
"You sure know a lot," Will remarked.
"(Yes. I was born with this continent, so I naturally know more. For example, that Dread Plate in your hand...)"
"Oh? What's its story?"
"(Giratina knocked it off Arceus.)"
"...Huh?" Will was incredulous.
He wasn't surprised that Giratina, that "great filial son," would fight Arceus. After all, Arceus had banished it to the Distortion World. Given Giratina's hatred, it would never pass up a chance to take a swing. Just like when the creation trio tried to stop Arceus's avatar from destroying the world, Giratina was always the first one to attack. While Dialga and Palkia were still hesitating, Giratina had already spat a beam right in Arceus's face.
But the question was... how did Giratina hit Arceus so hard it dropped its loot?
"(It is hard to believe, but it is the truth.)"
"...Mm. Not our problem."
It was probably just an avatar of Arceus, Will mused, maybe one that wasn't even holding many Plates. He just couldn't imagine Giratina actually beating Arceus.
"(What are your plans now? Your human companion has arrived at Caran Palace. Also, the fact that you can use Aura has been exposed.)"
"Exposed is exposed. It's not a big deal. I'll stay in Rota City for a few days and then leave, probably heading east," Will replied, unconcerned. Then he asked, "What's the deal with that forest outside? The humans say I left it."
"(You did... well, to be precise... you and Celebi.)"
"What happened?"
"(When Shadow Lugia attacked, the acid rain destroyed this land, leaving it dead. All the plants and animals perished, leaving only your fallen leaves to cover the earth.)"
"w!" w suddenly jumped in.
"Fine, you tell it."
"w w~" w continued the story.
At that ti, Will's power (as ga Sceptile) had reached its absolute peak. The leaves that fell were saturated with terrifying life force and a dense temporal aura. This aura mixed with the surrounding aura of death and lingered. A few days later, it attracted a Celebi from a different ti period.
That Celebi turned Will's leaves into seeds and used its power to restore life to the land, saving the entire surrounding environnt. If Celebi hadn't intervened, the area around the Tree of Beginning would have beco an eternal wasteland.
"Celebi... I wonder if it was the sa one I knew."
"w." w shook its head. It rembered asking that Celebi if it sensed a familiar aura on the leaves. The Celebi had replied that it sensed the aura of its own kind, but that it wasn't connected to it.
"Oh, then it's not important. w, take back to that little girl. You were too reckless. You shouldn't have revealed yourself to humans like that."
"w." w nodded and, with a poof, transford into a Dragonite. It then picked Will up and flew toward Caran Palace.
Inside Caran Palace, Queen Fulin was listening to Solana's description, a puzzled look on her face.
"A Piplup awakening Aura Power... that actually doesn't surprise ."
"? Why? Have other Pokémon awakened it before?" Solana asked.
"Of course." Fulin nodded and pointed to a large mural on the hall's wall. It depicted a ga Sceptile standing under the Tree of Beginning, with a w on its shoulder.
"The Leaf God?!" Solana's face was full of shock. The Indigo League's records never ntioned that the Leaf God could use Aura.
"Yes. Do you know of Queen Ilene? My great-grandmother."
"Of course. I heard she personally witnessed the battle between the Leaf God and Lugia."
"She did." Fulin nodded, looking at the Aura staff in her hand. "Back then, not long after the Leaf God saved the Tree of Beginning, the Aura staff lit up. My great-grandmother guessed that the Leaf God possessed Aura Power, just like Sir Aaron a thousand years before, and had used it to save the collapsing Tree."
...
Lorelei stood to the side, tapping her foot anxiously. Normally, she would have loved to hear these stories. But right now, she just wanted to know when her Piplup was coming back.
"So, the Leaf God was posthumously nad the 'Eternal Aura Guardian' and 'Protector of the Tree of Beginning' by Queen Ilene."
"No, no, the title had nothing to do with whether he had Aura," Fulin quickly corrected. "He saved the Tree of Beginning, and he was also a chosen Aura Guardian of that era. Whether he had Aura or not, my great-grandmother would have granted him the title. Why should soone with ability but no action receive such an honor?"
"Those titles don't seem very well-known?"
"Only those who have visited Caran Palace know of them."
"Then do you know why w took the Piplup?" Solana asked.
This finally got Lorelei's attention. She pricked up her ears.
"I do not." Queen Fulin shrugged decisively. "w occasionally cos to the palace to steal small toys, but I've never seen it steal a Pokémon. It probably just wanted to play with Piplup. You needn't worry."
"Will w bring him back?" Lorelei pressed.
"w itself might not think to, but if your Piplup asks to co back, w will bring him," Queen Fulin said, holding up a hand to calm her.
Just as Lorelei was about to ask another question, she heard a sound. She turned to the window.
A Dragonite was flying over, holding her Piplup.
"Piplup~" Lorelei waved excitedly.
Fulin and Solana exchanged a glance, both secretly studying the Dragonite. They both knew that w could transform. There were no wild Dragonite clans living near Rota City.
"I'm back."
Will jumped out of w's arms and was imdiately scooped up by Lorelei.
"Piplup, they said you have Aura Power!"
"Mhm, I do." Will nodded. He'd never hidden it from her; she'd seen him training and heard him use telepathy.
"You're amazing!"
"Of course."
"Raaar~" The w-Dragonite called out, getting everyone's attention.
"You're w, aren't you?" Fulin asked directly.
"Raaar." w nodded simply. The concept of lying wasn't really in its programming. But it didn't change back, because Will wouldn't let it.
"w, Dragonite is too conspicuous. Change into sothing smaller, about my size," Will thought.
"...Vui~" w poofed and turned into an Eevee. An Eevee is only 0.3 ters tall, exactly the sa size as Will's Piplup.
"Wow! An Eevee! So cute!" Lorelei used her other arm and scooped w up too.
w, seeing it was so close to Will, imdiately snuggled in, rubbing him with its big ears.
"Wait, how can you transform?!" Lorelei's eyes suddenly went wide with delayed realization. She stared at w, dumbfounded.
"w has the ability to transform into any Pokémon and also use their abilities," Fulin explained.
"What?! That's so strong!" Lorelei was floored. Even though Ditto existed... compared to w, it was the difference between heaven and earth.
"w seems to really like your Piplup." Fulin looked at the Eevee in Lorelei's arms, her expression puzzled. According to her family's records... in all of history, only the Leaf God and a owscarada had ever been this close to w.
Is there sothing special about this Piplup? Is it because of its Aura?
While the Queen and Solana were lost in thought, sothing new happened.
"Lord Aaron..." a young man's voice suddenly sounded.
Will and w both looked up at the Aura staff in Queen Fulin's hand.
"Hm?" Fulin noticed their gaze and looked at her staff.
"Ah, Lucario..." Will frowned. He'd completely forgotten about that.
And... history had already been changed. Sir Aaron's Aura had been infused into his body. Even if Ash released that Lucario in the future, it would no longer be able to sense Sir Aaron's Aura at the Tree.
Should he do sothing about that?
~~~
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