I'm driving to... somewhere... A van drives beside me with a gunman in it. I'd seen him before, but this was the first time he was a threat. I knew why he was after me, every one wants to kill the guy with my job. This was the way I had been living for quite some time now, and I had gotten used to escaping death. The only difference was that this time: I didn't escape. I tried to get away, to bring him down, but he got me. Four shots in the gut. I knew I was done for. I rolled to the side of the road, certain to die, wishing that I had never accepted the job.
"Wake up...
Hey...
Get up..." a voice? But I'm sure I'm dead... or was I dreaming...?
"WAKE UP!"
At this I snapped to and, to my surprise, realized that I was alive. Cold, uncomfortable, and badly hurt, but alive. Getting over my astonishment, I lift my hand to rub the inevitable sand from my eye. Their was something that didn't make sense about my hand, but I blamed it on disorientation. I open my eyes to find that I was in a very large cage, and there were two others next to me.
"HEY!"
Ah! To the voice! I looked over to my right to find that the calling had come from a meowth. I had never knew Pokemon to talk before- aside form the occasional psychic type- and that he could even talk was a shock. I of course responded with "Yes?"At that moment I didn't realize it, but my voice was different.
"do you know what happened to you?" The Meowth asked "just look and see what these so called 'peace keepers' did."
Being absolutely dumbfounded by all that just happed in the last minute, I raised my hand to my head to think. With a shock, I realized that it wasn't a hand at all.The revelation hit me like a brick. I lowered this... whatever it was to my field of view, and to my horror: it was blue. Being throughly freaked out at this point, I decided to take a deep breath and approach the situation logically. I looked at what used to be my hand more closely. It had three fingers, each with a leathery pad in the middle, as well as another pad where my palm used to be. I turned it over to find that there is what look like bone coming out of the back. The oddest part however, is that it was covered in blue fur, and so was the rest of my arm. This day was just getting weirder by the minute.
"that's right, take it all in" said my cell neighbor. "I's called the dungeon affect. It's what happens to humans when they get killed by Pokémon. Ya see: Pokémon can't technically 'kill' anything, so a very unusual thing happens to humans when a they lose to a Pokémon. Can you even guess?"
Collecting my wit, I thought about it... and gave up. "What?" I asked? "What happens?."
"Something,"he replied with a chuckle "that some consider a blessing, and others consider a curse."
Not wanting to think so soon after the being brought back from the dead I asked him "Please just come out and say it. Solving riddles hurts my head."
"Fair enough," he said "but let me warn you: it's not something that you can just take lightly."
"For all I know, I've just been resurrected." I replied "I think I can handle just about anything at this point."
"Well: first you pass through the eye of Aruseus, but being human he rejects your kind and..."
I interrupted his clearly very long speech with "Please get to the part where you explain why my hands are blue"
"Oh!" he replied "That's easy. Your a Riolu, and you have lost most, if not all of your memory."
"A What?" I shouted "How did this happen? What is a Riolu? This doesn't make any sense. I was shot in the gut, not attacked by a Pokémon. I doubt the dungeon affect applies to bullets."
"If you will calm down and listen for one minute," he went on "I can explain everything up to now. For starters, my name is Mitchelland I am a conspiracy theorist. I had been following the events that lead up to this for months now. What happed to you, me, and a good chunk of the upper government is what is known project 10962. It is a specialized way of 'killing' someone without leaving a body. They use conventional weapons to bring you within an inch of your life, than finish you off with any Pokémon they have handy. The person turns into a Pokémon, and forensics cant find a body to work with."
His speech seems to make sense, and I began to wake up, so I tried to see what was new about myself. I explored every part I could see, and found that like my hands my feet were covered in fur, and resembled the hind legs of a dog. The difference was that the toe part was allot bigger, probably to support my weight. Having reached what I could see in this dark room, I tried to remember what a Riolu was. What anything was for that matter. I could only remember the events leading up to my "death", and that's foggier than a dream. I turned away from him to collect upon what had just happed.
I sat there and tried to remember why I was "killed" in the first place. I came up with nothing, nothing at all. All I could remember was the moment before I blacked out. Having realized that I couldn't remember anything, I began to panic for about the fifth time in that day. I hopelessly looked through my mind. Tried to remember ANYTHING, but it was all blank. The only thing I could dig up was the word "John". That being a name, I could only imagine that it was mine. I began to settle into the hopelessness of the situation when I felt something odd.
It was like a light born of feeling. I knew for a fact that it was behind me, but their was nothing there but Michell. I focused on this "light" and somehow, I knew that it was afraid. I could feel it's fear as clearly as I could feel my own. I was about to blame this sense on paranoia, but than I noticed my fur. It looked like it was burning with a blue flame. It didn't feel hot at all, but it was definitely there. Noticing it made me lose focus on the sensation behind me. The moment I lost focus on the light, the flame went away. "Huaaa?" I exclaimed, in utter confusion.
"It's called aura," said Michell "Riolus, Lucarios, and very few humans can feel it. Aura is life force of all living things in the form of EM waves. It works the same way a radio system does; the only difference is that my heart the transmitter, and those things on the side of your head are the antenna."
"These?" I said, as I noticed that, sure enough, their were black, tear shaped appendages hanging off the sides of my head.
"It's kind of sad that you know more about me than I do..."
"Yea, but you'll get it eventually. Try focus on my aura,but this time see past the fear."
I turned away again. Intent on mastering this "aura" thing. Once more, I focused on the light behind me, knowing now that it must be Michell. It still shined bright with fear, but their was just a twinkle of hope buried within. I focused on that hope and again I began to burn bright blue. I ignored the flame this time and kept focusing on the hope. As I did so, I began to noticed other life forces around me. Very faint and far away, but definitely there. Could they be other living things? I decided to ask him "Michell? Is there anyone near me besides you?"
"Not that I know of," he responded "but your the one with the sixth sense. You tell me."
I sat against the side of my cage, and closed my eyes. Focusing only on the aura around me, I reached out as far I could. I focused on the closest light and saw that It was in fact another living thing. It felt bored, with just the slightest hint of anticipation. "I've got something" I said to Michell.
"What?" he asked.
"It feels like a guard." I said "Just to the left of the door." I realized with a pleasant shock that I was getting better at this aura thing already.
"you are getting good at this," he complemented "but their's more to aura than just a sixth sense. Try focusing all your energy into your hand."
I took a deep breath and concentrated every feeling I had and everything that I was into the palm of my hand. Just then, the oddest thing happened. I began to burn bright blue again, but that I was getting used to it. What was odd was this: A bright sapphire shine appeared in my palm. The harder I focused on it, the bigger it got, until I sat there holding a blue sphere of pure energy. I stopped focusing on it, but the sphere remained in my hand as if it were a blue ball. " I don't mean to bother you again, but what the heck am I holding?"
"That," he responded with a grin "is what is known as an Aura Sphere. It is your own life force, focused into a solid thing. It thing is part of you, and you may control it however you wish."
"So it's like a fairy or something?" I asked, puzzled.
"No. It goes away once you stop giving it energy. It's not a pet."
"Then what can I do with it?"
"It's a ball: you're supposed to throw it."
"I don't really see how that would benefit anyone here."
"Just throw it against the door and see what happens."
I thought to myself "Hell, why not." and I tossed it against the door. It hit and exploded with the force of a good punch. I think that was the point when I began to understand what the Aura Sphere was for. I just had one question: "Where did the energy for that come from?"
"The power needed to make an Aura Sphere," Explained Michel "comes form your soul. You put a certain amount of energy into an Aura sphere, and you can do with it whatever you could do with that much energy. Punch a door, pick up some keys, move a knob. Very similar to the move Psychic, except that it must start with the energy you intend to use. Keeping this in mind, let's use it to get out of here."
OK... thanks for reading chapter 1. I know you have doubts that aura can really do this, but this is my interpretation on the powers of spiritual energy and I am entitled to an artistic license. Plus, in the anime they are only used for attack. Maby more docile Lucario and Riolu CAN use them as an extension of their hands. You don't know. lol :) also: sorry to the 25 people who are about to get messed up by the change in chapter.