One day Delia pushed in a number on the inn's vidphone and, when it was picked up, she said, "Ash, honey."
Ash grunted at the second name that she tacked on to the end of his, but said, "Heya mum, what's up?"
"You…wouldn't happen to have any new pokémon…would you?"
"Why? What's brought this on?"
"Well, you know how I've always wanted to go on a pokémon journey of my own, but I've always been too busy with the inn."
"Yeah, what about it?"
'Well, now that I've got Daisy all trained up, I've got the time to go on one."
"Oh?" Ash said, now realising what the call was about. "Wouldn't 'Mimey'," Ash shuddered, "do as a starter?"
"Normally, yes. But Mimey wants to stay here at the inn and help daisy look after the place."
"I see. Well then, in that case you're in luck."
"Really?" Delia perked up, knowing that her son didn't really have the time to go and catch new pokémon like he used to.
"Yeah," Ash said in a sour tone. "When I was at the P-One Gym a couple of weeks ago, Lucario decided to really slut it up, so now I have a bunch of low-level Riolu on my hands, and a headache dealing with Blaziken."
"Really? That's…nice…" Delia said, not quite believing the words coming from her son's mouth.
"It really isn't. Lucario is really hurting at the distance between them. In any case, go over to Professor Oak's Lab and I'll transfer one of them over to you. Alright?"
"Sure thing," Delia said, smiling happily. "Thank you Ash."
"Yeah," Ash said, hanging up his vidphone.
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After Ash hung up he sighed and said, "Well, here goes…" and went outside. When he was outside he thought, "Alright, all of you come out. I don't have time for games right now," communicating with every Riolu, and Lucario. Eventually they all came out from their hiding places and Ash said, "Right," aloud, "my mother wants to go on a journey and would like one of you to be her first pokémon."
One of the Riolu walked forward and communicated, "Master, why would you ask this of us? Since she's your Lucario, wouldn't that mean that she is weak if she hasn't started as a trainer by now?"
"Compared to me? Probably. But the only reason that she hasn't gone on a journey is because she hasn't had the trime, or opportunity, to do so before now. But thank you for volunteering."
"What?!" Riolu communicated, shocked at what he was hearing.
When some of the other Riolu started to point and laugh at the chosen Riolu, Ash communicated, "You know, the Pokémon League season is starting pretty soon. I could arrange for Nurse Joy to collect some alternative pokémon for the beginner trainers." That shut them up real quick.
The 'volunteer' Riolu let out a sigh, thinking, 'At least I am going to be going with someone that will let me see mother,' the distressed look fading from its face.
As Ash led it inside, he said, "It really won't be that bad you know." Riolu cocked its head at Ash. "I know that you won't get to see your brothers and sisters for a while, but going on a journey with a trainer will let you see and do things that you wouldn't have been able to had you stayed here with me."" Riolu blinked and started to think on what Ash was telling him. That's when they reached 'the vault'. That said, it looked just like every other wall in his Facility. He reached up to a painting on the adjacent wall and pushed a crystal embedded into the frame of the painting of Ho-Oh and the end wall slid to the right, revealing a hidden room. In the room, was an outfit that Riolu had never seen Ash wearing, hanging on a stand with a staff attached to the wall next to it. There were also a number of shelves on the sides of the room. Ash walked to the left side of the room and picked up a strange pokéball that was nothing like Riolu's normal one. The lower half of this one was black and the upper half was royal blue. The line separating the two hemispheres was yellow and the button was red. There were three small spikes spreading out about three millimetres away from the line surrounding the red button. But by far the strangest thing about the ball was the hinge. It was created from a strange blue crystal that, to Riolu, looked exactly the same as the one that Ash had pushed to open 'the vault'. Ash pushed the button, expanding the pokéball, causing the spikes to get bigger, and the gap from the line to the spikes to roughly triple in size as he turned back to Riolu and said, "Here, this is yours."
Riolu communicated, "It's…mine? But only mother has…"
"I've actually got one for every one of you. They just don't really serve much purpose until you evolve. Since you won't be here when that happens, I figure that now's as good a time as any."
"Thank you master!" Riolu communicated before it touched the button of the pokéball.
Ash communicated, "I thought I told you to cut that 'Master' rubbish out," the pokéball's hinge glowing the same blue as his eyes. Riolu tried to communicate an answer through the pokéball, but was annoyed when it found that it couldn't communicate through the ball. Ash released it and started to get berated for doing something so cruel. Ash waved his hands in front of him, saying, "Whoa whoa whoa. Calm down!" Riolu stopped its screaming into Ash's mind. "Apparently I need to explain something." Riolu cocked its head. "The way you and I communicate through aura is only doable at the moment because I am completely opening myself up to you and using my own aura to…amplify…your voice in my head."
"Eh? But…you and mother…"
"That's different. When you evolve into Lucario, your aura abilities magnify to a truly astounding degree, allowing you easier access to abilities like mental communication. The crystal used in the pokéball's hinges will actually serve to allow you to sense what is going on outside your pokéball and…also some other things," Ash finished communicating as they reached the transfer room.
"What things?"
Ash smiled and said, "If you haven't figured it out by the time you next come here, I'll tell you. Until then…" Ash paused as he turned to Riolu. "…Riolu return!" pointing the Aura Ball at Riolu, which shot a blue beam that sucked Riolu into it. Ash communicated, "Sorry Riolu, but time's up," to Riolu through the pokéball, which served to calm the agitated Pokémon.
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Half an hour after she had hung up the phone, Delia was holding Riolu's pokéball in her hand and rotating it. She said, "Professor…this pokéball…do you know why it's…"
"No," Professor Oak said, scratching the back of his head. "When I first got it, I did ask him about it, but he was really very vague about it. I was actually about to call a friend of mine in the Johto Region about it. I could do it now if you want?"
"No. If Ash wanted us to know, he would have told you when you asked."
"I see. If you say so Delia," Professor Oak said as he thought, 'IF its got anything to do with something dangerous, no matter how well-intentioned Ash leaving us in the dark is I at least need to know, so I'll call Kurt after Delia has gone.'
Delia though, saw the look on the Professor's face and sighed. She said, "If you are going to make the call anyway, you might as well make it while I'm here."
Professor Oak sighed and said, "Very well Delia," and moved to the vidphone attached to the transfer system before dialling Kurt's number. When the vidphone was answered, Professor Oak saw a teenage girl with her auburn hair in a high, wavy, ponytail. He said, "Hello, you're Maizie, aren't you? You sure have grown since the last time I saw you."
"Yeah, well it was four years ago now."
"Has it really been that long already?"
"Yeah. So, what do you want? Another custom job?"
"Actually, I would like to talk to Kurt if he's available."
"Sorry, Gramps is in the workshop right now. Maybe I could help you?"
"Well, I suppose that it's worth a shot," Professor Oak said, extending his hand to Delia for the pokéball. When she'd handed it over, he held it up to the screen and said, "What can you tell us about this pokéball?"
Maizie squinted at the screen, scrutinising the pakeball and thought, 'That's that Aura Ball thingy that Ash asked me to make for him! He wanted them kept secret. Telling these two about it now would…' she sighed and said, "Sorry, I've never seen anything like it before."
"I see. I'll call back later, when your grandfather isn't busy anymore."
"Sure thing," Maizie said and pressed a button next to the screen, ending the call. As soon as the screen was black, she punched in another number and pressed, 'Call'.
Back in the Professor's lab, Professor Oak sighed and said, "Well, that's that Delia. I'll try again tomorrow. Are you leaving now, or…"
"I think that it's a bit too late now, don't you Sam?"
Professor Oak sighed and said, "You might be right," only now realising that he had missed lunch by two and a half hours.
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The next day, at seven in the morning, Professor Oak called Kurt again, and this time got the man himself, though he seemed to be in the middle of stuffing his face. Kurt said, "Sam! It's been a while. What can I do you for? You don't have another strange pokéball for me do you?" laughing as he talked.
"As a matter of fact, yes."
"Seriously!?" Kurt said, half inclined to hang up, remembering all that hoohah that the GS Ball had unleashed with that evil Celebi.
"Yes. Don't worry though, this one doesn't have a cursed legendary pokémon in it."
Kurt let out a sigh of relief and said, "So, what is it then?"
"Well, I'm afraid that I only have some photos of it now, will that do?"
"I won't be able to tell everything about it without it being in my hands, but I'll do what I can."
"Thank you," Professor Oak said, getting the photos that he had taken off of his desk. He held them up to the screen and changed them out whenever Kurt asked him to.
Kurt hmm'd and ahh'd for a while before he said, "Give me some time to look into something and I'l get back to you."
"Did you see something that you recognised?"
"Maybe. But like I said, I need to look into it before I know for certain. Just don't get your hopes up too much."
"Alright," Professor Oak said, "and thank you," hanging up.
When the screen was dark, Kurt said in a loud voice, "Maiziee!"
"Yeah, what is it Gramps?" Maizie called from the kitchen. She gulped when she saw the look on her grandfather's face as he came back into the kitchen/dining room.
"I may be old Maizie, but I can still tell your works when I see them."
Maizie sighed and said, "It's about the Aura Ball, isn't it?"
"The Aura Ball? What the hell is an Aura Ball?"
Maizie sighed again. "Ash came to me with an order for some time ago and brought with him all the ingredients to make him a unique pokéball. Even I'm not sure why he wanted it, or what it can do, but he recently came back to me with an order for more."
"So, that's why you were in the workshop for so long."
"Yeah."
"If you knew all of that, then why didn't you tell Sam yesterday?"
"Ash swore me to secrecy. I don't know why, but I figured that it must be important, or dangerous, enough that he didn't want his friends and family involved. That being the case, why would I tell them?"
"I see," Kurt said, closing his eyes, considering his granddaughter's words. Eventually he sighed and said, "I take it that you kept a record of the design then?"
"Of course," Maizie said, as if it were the most basic thing in the world. Which, to both her and her grandfather, it was.
Kurt said, "Can you show them to me?"
"I guess," Maizie shrugged, "now that the Meowth is out of the bag." She then went up to her room and got out her design journal.
When she'd handed it over to him, Kurt read through the notes and studied the diagrams and said, "This is…" then he looked up at her and said, "How did you come up with a design like this Maizie?"
"Honestly?" Kurt nodded. "Ash and I hammered it out together. Why?"
"Because, it looks juyst like that GS Ball that I had to make for that Masked Imbecile after the Celebi Incident."
"Seriously?!" Maizie exclaimed.
"Yes. That said, the only truly abnormal thing about this is this crystalline substance that you include. Well, alongside with using multiple types of apricorn," Kurt glared at Maizie.
"Hey!" Maizie exclaimed, holding her hands up between them. "I said much the same to Ash as we designed the thing. I also told him that using a hodge-podge collection of apricorn like that would end up with the effects clashing against each other as they vied for supremacy, but he didn't care."
"He didn't…" Kurt trailed off. "In that case, maybe the purpose of the apricorns was purely aesthetical, and the real reason that he came to us" Kurt pointedly said, "was to include the crystal in the pokéball."
"I suppose," Maizie said, shrugging one shoulder.
"You called it an Aura Ball, didn't you?"
"Yeah. That's what Ash called it, why?"
"I remember reading about certain Pokémon that had the ability to use something along those lines. That might also have something to do with the mixed medley of apricorn that Ash had you using."
"Maybe. But like I said, it's probably better to just leave things alone. If Ash ever wants them to know, then he will tell them himself.
Kurt sighed and pushed himself up from the table and went back to the vidphone and called Professor Oak, who said, "Kurt! You're calling me already?"
"Yes."
"So…"
"Apparently my granddaughter made them for Ash, but even she doesn't know why, or what they do. As far as I can guess without having it in front of me, and running some tests, they are for holding Pokémon that can use something called aura, if the name's anything to go by. As to why he made them, or what for, I've no idea. Sorry."
"No. it's fine. Thanks for the help."
"No problem. Next time you're in Johto, why don't you stop by. Azalea isn't that far from Goldenrod after all."
"Sure thing, I'd like that," Professor Oak said, bidding Kurt farewell before hanging up. After the screen turned black, Professor Oak thought, 'Sorry Delia, I guess I couldn't learn anything useful aabout it other than it seems that Ash had it made specifically for Riolu.' He let out a sigh before an idea sprung into his head and said, "Well, I suppose that its not completely unrelated to Pokémon," and pulled out his keyboard and opened up a word processor and typed in 'Aura' in the centre of the first page. Below the heading was 'Version…1' and 'Researcher(s)…Professor Oak & Tracey Sketchitt', in smaller text, though still far larger than normal.
After that he skipped down to the next page and startted typing in a list of headings, including: 'What is Aura', 'Aura Sensitive Pokémon', 'Aura in History', 'Aura in the Modern Day', 'Links to the Ketchum Family' and a couple of others. When he was done, he called out, "Tracey! We've got a new line of research!"
"Really Professor?" Tracey asked, coming into Professor Oak's office. "What is it? Is it about the prevalence of regional variation?"
"No no. it's nothing like that," Professor Oak said as Tracey came over to him.
When he was close enough, Tracey read through the table of contents and said aloud, "…Links to the Ketchum Family and Aura & Technologe? Is this about that pokéball that Ash sent that Riolu here in?"
"That's right."
"If he didn't tell us anything about it, then there should be no reason to be concerned about it, should there?"
"No, and I'm not. I only included 'Links to the Ketchum Family' because Ash and Delia are the ones that gave me the idea to do this in the first place. Besides, it can't hurt to provide them with a bit of their family history, can it?"
"I suppose not," Tracey said, still not completely certain that he wanted to held the Professor in this endeavour.
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Meanwhile, Ash was thinking, 'Should I have sent riollu to them in that Aura Ball? Knowing Professor Oak's curiosity, maybe I should have waited and then given it to mum after it evolved. Although…if he does do some reseach, it will be interesting to find out what he discavers, and how accurate his discoveries will be.'