Hey readers. Here's the thing. I finished Chapters 11 and 12…on the same day. So you get double the reading to do! YAY! I kid of course; you don't have to read them both on the same day/night but I encourage you to do so. Note both chapters 11 and 12 were supposed to be one chapter until I found out that it would be too long for everyone. I prefer to keep chapters in the 2-4 thousand word range. Anyway, when I saw this I decided to break it off into two chapters. So with that, enjoy chapter 11!
Pokémon Journeys: Aaron's New Experience
Chapter 11: The Pendant of Arceus
Aaron stood still as the Lucario was putting a vision into his mind. Lucario have the ability to communicate through aura and they can even provide images from their past or present state. The Lucario was showing Aaron what happened the day he hid the pendant a month ago. Aaron then spoke through his mind 'Wait, this is the vision you sent this morning!'
'Yes,' the Lucario replied in his mind 'Now watch further.'
After Lucario had buried the pendant and left the area. A man showed up and dug up the pendant. Aaron recognized the man's face 'That's Richards!' he yelled in his mind. Richards was shown digging up the pendant, he looked at it and tried wearing it around his neck. Suddenly he screamed in pain but it appeared that nothing had happened around him to cause it. 'Wait, how is he getting hurt?' Aaron asked.
The Lucario explained in his mind 'That pendant is meant to be with the one connected to it. If someone else makes contact or tries to wear it, nothing will happen. However, if it makes contact with those with evil or greedy intentions, then it sends a shocking pain through their body until it is out of their possession. Because he was wearing gloves, it wasn't able to make contact with him until he tried wearing it.'
The vision moved on with Richards reburying the pendant in the sack with the note it also had originally. Aaron then realized something familiar about the next part which took place in a mountainous location. He continued to pay attention as he saw the Lucario was shot with a tranquilizer. 'What!'Aaron shouted in his thoughts.
The vision proceeded, this time it showed that the Lucario was awakening in a dark room as Aaron remembered seeing this in his nightmare. Lucario was restrained to a wooden chair by rope. His hands were tied behind the chair and he could barely move. Through this vision, Aaron watched a conversation between Lucario and Richards. "So, you buried the pendant" Richards said to the Lucario who was tied up in a chair. "Now tell me why it shocked me!" he demanded.
"You're a fool" the Lucario said still feeling a little disoriented, "That pendant is only for the one it is meant to be with, not for those with evil in their hearts."
"Really?" Richards asked "Now who is it meant to be with? I want to pay the fucker a visit."
"Even if I knew, I'd never tell you" the Lucario said strongly. "I don't know who it's meant to be with so you might as well give up on it."
The evil man laughed heartedly "That's priceless. You honestly think I would believe that?" Richards began beating the Lucario. He punched him repeatedly in the stomach and kicked him down while he was still tied up in the chair. Richards walked over and knelt down looking at the Lucario with an evil grin. "I'll ask once more" he spoke "Who is connected to the pendant?"
The Lucario was wheezing from the pain "I…told you…I don't know" he said "It…will only…be…revealed…when it finds…the one…"
Richards grew impatient "You disappoint me" he said "you can lie all you want, but you will stay down here and I will get the information I require from you." Richards grabbed a golf club and then whacked at Lucario's head with just enough force to knock him unconscious.
Throughout the vision, relived every bit of pain he received from his dream. 'That…nightmare…the pain…' Aaron said in his thoughts 'It wasn't me…it was you.'
'Indeed' the Lucario replied 'That nightmare you had was really a passive message sent from my aura, the same thing that happened to you this morning.'
The vision ended and Aaron's mind was back to reality as was the Lucario's. Layla was completely lost in what was happening so Aaron and Lucario explained it to her. Aaron turned his attention back to the matters at hand "So what happened after that?" he asked Lucario.
The Lucario then answered "Richards kept me in his basement for a whole month in his fruitless efforts to get anything out of me. However, his family was suspicious of his constant activity in the basement. As far as they knew, I didn't exist. After this and the fact that he couldn't get anything out of me, he knocked me out and abandoned me in the forest, further away from the pendant."
"Wait" Layla spoke out "If your former 'master' put that report on TV, how did his family not notice it?"
Aaron had a logical explanation "I bet he told his family that he caught Lucario then he lost him inexplicably. I'm thinking he made that report because you, Lucario, would most likely find the one connected to the pendant after he released you."
Lucario agreed with this scenario. "Your logic is most amazing, Aaron" the Lucario admitted.
Aaron scratched the back of his head "Uhh, I don't know about that. It seemed kind of obvious."
Lucario continued with his story "From Richards's last attempt to get information a couple days ago, he heated a ring on his hand and pressed it onto my right arm as a form of torture." The Lucario showed a scar on his arm that showed the letter 'R' that was formed by small circles assumed to be gemstones, which was surrounded by a circle "It left me with this burn."
"That had to suck" Aaron said. A question rang in Aaron's mind "About Richards, did he ever capture you in a Poké Ball?"
"A what?" the Lucario said confused.
"This" Aaron spoke showing him what a Poke Ball looked like.
The Lucario looked at the strange red and white sphere with curiosity. "I've never even seen anything like that. What does it do?"
"Well," Aaron started explaining "This is used to capture Pokémon. When people encounter a Pokémon in the wild they can battle them in order to capture them. The Poké Ball isn't foolproof though. If a Pokémon isn't weakened enough in battle or puts forth too much resistance to be caught, then the capturing process will fail. Once captured, a Pokémon can be called in and out of the Poké Ball at the trainer's will and, very rarely, the Pokémon will come out on its own as well."
"Hmm…" The Lucario was processing what Aaron was saying "I believe I understand but is there more to this?"
"Yes, but I won't bore you with much more" Aaron replied "A Pokémon that belongs to one trainer in a Poké Ball can't be captured by other trainers unless it is released by its original trainer. A Pokémon can only be released by its trainer by going to a computer terminal where the Pokémon is released and put into the wild by professionals. Also, if a Poké Ball goes missing, there's a way to track its very location through special means which I can explain later if you wish."
"Fascinating" The Lucario said "and the answer is no, Richards never caught me in one of those."
"Well if he never captured you in a Poke Ball then he technically can't put a missing Pokémon report" Aaron said "That might have worked before this week, but it was a timing error on his part."
"That being said" the jackal spoke "that won't stop him from trying to capture me or get ahold of that pendant. He will most likely come to this spot to find me or the pendant again."
"Hmm" Aaron thought for a moment. "Let me change the subject really quick," he said "You said that I gain powers from Pokémon I have a special connection with. What exactly does that mean?"
"It means the Pokémon you are destined to be with and to gain their powers," the Lucario explained "You are the one to use that pendant, the Pendant of Arceus as it is called, to receive the abilities of the Pokémon you are meant to receive special powers from. The day that I was placed on this Earth, I found that pendant in some mysterious ruins in the mountains where I was captured."
"Wait" Aaron got confused "You were 'placed on this Earth'? You mean you weren't transformed from one animal into another?"
"That is true" the Lucario confessed "Many of the animals in the world did transform into Pokémon while some did not. Pokémon like myself were created by divine circumstances. It may not make sense but the ruins can explain this matter and the Pendant of Arceus further."
"We'll worry about going up there in the summer" Aaron proposed "There's too much going on now and in the next few months for me to focus on that."
"Very well," The Lucario nodded "It would be better to go sooner but I understand that you wish to place your concern on other matters first."
"Okay" Aaron wanted to ask one more question "Now back to the Pokémon I'm destined to be with; is Layla one of them?" Both Aaron and Layla turned to the Lucario for an answer.
The Lucario was silent for a moment until he spoke "I'm not sure. The only way to tell is if she touches it. I can tell that she is not like the Zoroarks I have encountered who have dark and evil hearts; she seems to have a kind and caring aura about her. Just be warned that anything could happen with that pendant."
Aaron and Layla nodded to each other. The Zoroark walked in front of Aaron looking at the sapphire pendant. "Okay," the vixen said "here goes nothing."
Layla placed her paw on the pendant. At first nothing happened and she pulled her paw away. Aaron then began to say "Huh, I guess she isn't really…WHOA!" Aaron shouted the last part in surprise as the pendant began to glow brightly.
The pendant's color began to shift. It turned from a radiant sapphire to a dark red garnet. Layla's eyes glowed at the sight of the gem as she looked at it. "So do you feel different?"
"Not really" Aaron admitted. "So if it really did work, what powers did I receive from her?" he asked the Lucario.
"The power varies greatly on the Pokémon" Lucario explained "For me, you inherit the ability to use aura to communicate with me, sense and read the aura of others, and of course use Aura Sphere. Since Layla is a Zoroark, I assume you gain the ability to cast illusions but the attack you learn could be anything."
"So I can possibly use illusions, huh?" Aaron asked. "Let's try it out!" he shouted out loud.
Aaron stepped back and the pendant shined brightly once again. A vision of how to properly create an illusion showed itself in Aaron's mind. He regained control of his actions and had an idea of what to shift into. A shroud of black smoke appeared around him and out of it came a Zoroark. Layla looked at Aaron and saw what he had done. She was surprised by Aaron's new powers once again. "Aaron! You did it!" she jumped with glee "You created the illusion of a Zoroark!".
"I guess I did" Aaron said as he removed the illusion and showed his true form. "Layla, is there anything you can tell me about illusions? I get the basics of it but just tell me some tips or drawbacks. "
Layla then explained illusions "Of course Aaron, the powers of illusions are limited but making it seem like we're doing something is the key to mastering it. When one sees an illusion, they'll be convinced they see or feel it until they make contact with the real you."
"Wait a minute, remember the day we met, Layla? I tried to grab the little girl's hand and it actually felt like I was. Was it because the illusion is so convincing?"
Layla nodded "It's true. You felt like you were grabbing a human girl's hand because the illusion was convincing you were feeling that hand but you really weren't. There was a foot of distance between the real me and the fake hand you tried to grab. If you had actually touched the real me instead of the hand, you would have stopped the illusion. Also, your speech will not change when you create this illusion so be careful when coming into contact with others as you can create the illusion that a person or Pokémon is speaking, but your voice will remain unchanged."
"That's good to know" the trainer said "Thanks for explaining this Layla. You too, Lucario."
The Pokémon replied with smiles and said "You're welcome" to Aaron.
Suddenly, Lucario felt someone's presence through his aura and saw a man with a police officer from half a mile away walking in the direction towards them. "Arceus dammit!" the Lucario said in distress realizing one of them was Hugh Richards "It's him. He's coming this way to find the pendant!"
Aaron grabbed ahold of Lucario's shoulders to calm him "Listen, I have an idea of how we can get out of this whole situation but you have to trust me, okay?"
"Aaron" the Lucario spoke to the human "You have proved your worth and abilities today. Because of this and the connection we share, I trust you completely."
Aaron nodded and put his plan into action with Richards just minutes away.
End of Chapter 11
I know it's a little short but you should have seen this when Chapter 12 was still a part of this. It was a nightmarish 5k+ words in that thing. Anyway, two chapters in one day sounds pretty good don't you think? I hope you enjoyed this chapter and go ahead and read Chapter 12 if you want. I understand if you'll save it for another day but remember to keep providing the feedback and as always, have a nice day.