Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon. I would have animated Pokemon Specials instead.
"Max, we'll become great Aura Guardians one day." A girl with violet hair not older than 5 held out her pinky. "When we do, let's promise to come back here, all right?"
Maximillion Failnaught, 6 years old, nodded, and entwined his pinky with hers. He looked her in the eyes and smiled. "Promise!"
"Hey!" A male voice shouted from afar. "What are you doing?"
"Ah, you join too!" The girl exclaimed. "We're going to be Aura Guardians, and we should all come back here when we're the best!"
The boy was in the same age bracket as they were, his smile far brighter then theirs. Soon, three pinkies were intertwined in covenant, witnessed by the sky and trees and flowers and Pokemon. To come back to this place, and do what? That was an unspecified part of their promise, but to children, the promise to see each other again was what mattered. They can discuss what they will do when they finally meet up, after all.
Max woke up, shaken by the dream, or rather the resurgence of the memory. 15 years had passed since that day, memories within his mind had changed, some were forgotten, but the promise was something he was unconsciously looking forward to.
The question was... to who did he make that promise?
His green eyes surveyed the dark shade of the forest he was undergoing training in. Auras were calm, from trees, to flowers, to Pokemon. The wind wasn't particularly strong either. Today was another peaceful day in the Hearth Region, a perfect day for his initiation as a true Aura Guardian.
"Why do I feel such a strange disturbance, then?" He asked himself. He adjusted the customary head covering of the Guardians to better see. His emerald eyes flashing blue for a moment, then returning to emerald once again. Still there was nothing wrong. Which meant that something was very, very wrong.
He quickly ran to the village where the the great tower called The Sanctum was located. Sierra Village, the village he called his home. The village was mostly filled with stone houses, a few were still wood, but that was chalked up to personal preference. The tower itself was made from stone, but there were no seams to be found.
Stone buildings are built by cutting stone into the desired shape, then built up with the use of bonding agents. The cut stones have seams where they are joined to other rocks. A seamless structure must be made out of a single piece of rock, but a skyscraper high structure like the Sanctum is almost impossible to have been made that way.
Max walked closer, as it was customary for the Aura Guardian-to-be to visit the closest Sanctum and touch the seamless surface for good luck. When he was within 5 feet of it, he heard a cry. It wasn't human, so it must be a Pokemon. His eyes flashed blue once more. He ran to the entrance of the Sanctum.
There he found the source of the cry. "A Ralts? Here?" he wondered. The Ralts in question seemed adamant on trying to open the large stone doors of the building with their psychic powers but failing miserably. He approached it.
"Hey." He waved at the Pokemon. The Ralts' head crest glowed. At the same time, Max's eyes flashed blue, and with a split second to react, he dived to cover Ralts and rolled into a ball. An explosion was heard by the entire village.
The spot where the Ralts was a second ago was gone, replaced by a deep crater.
Max uncurled himself from the Pokemon and glared in the direction of the attacker. "Show yourself!" He did not realize he shouted.
"Request acknowledged." A deep voice echoed across the smoke. A Spiritomb preceded the owner. A large man, no less than 6 feet in height, a mop of white hair under a black cap. His clothes were tattered black under a dark green overcoat.
Max took the time to stand up and dust himself off. The Ralts' crest glowed once again, unconsciously. She sensed such a strong fear from Max, but his voice did not waver, and his stand was solid. Inside, he was shaken to the core, but he was good at hiding it.
"Who are you?" Max asked the man. He clenched his fist.
The large man gave a silent command to the Spiritomb, which caused it to hurl a Shadow Ball at Max. Max answered with an Aura Sphere of his own, which simply diverted the ball of ghost energy from its path. Even if he could replicate a Pokemon move, it wasn't as strong as one. Diverting it was the best he could do, and it was draining him quickly
"An Aura Guardian, here?" The man asked, confused. He brought his wristband near his mouth and spoke quietly. The man's earpiece crackled to life as he caught the answers of his comrade, then he turned to face Max again. "I thought the Strike Team killed all of the Aura Guardians in this area. You must be new, a trainee."
Max stepped back. The man grinned widely, followed by a hearty, mocking chuckle. "I'm right. Then you're no threat to me. Shadow Ball!" The Spiritomb complied, throwing another sphere of ghost energy at the two of them.
Another Aura Sphere from Max collided with the Shadow Ball, but this time, it was easily overpowered. "Shit!" he cursed. He didn't have enough energy to dodge. There wasn't much time either, as the attack whistled through the air. He looked behind him to urge Ralts to move, but it wasn't there anymore.
Ralts was in front of him.
"What are you-" his sentence stopped in shock. The Shadow Ball was inches from them, frozen in its track. They exchanged looks, and a silent understanding crossed between them as the Shadow Ball exploded mid-air.
"That's not possible..." The man stared in disbelief as his attack was countered by such a weak Pokemon. "Again!" The Spiritomb launched another Shadow Ball, this one much larger than those before.
"Ralts, Dazzling Gleam!" Max ordered, to which the psychic Pokemon obliged. She released a bright light from her crest filled with Fairy energy. The light dissolved the Shadow Ball and hit Spiritomb's true body. "Again, Dazzling Gleam!"
The man grit his teeth. He was still in a state of disbelief. "This is why Sergay should have killed your kind. Spiritomb, Shadow Ball, at the ground!" Max covered his eyes as the dust flew towards them. "Ralts, Confusion to clear the dust." Ralts' crest glowed once more as the dust gained a pink shimmer and cleared.
The man was gone.
Max sighed a sigh of relief. His vision blurred as stress and exhaustion washed over him. He fell to his knees, breathing heavily. He tried to focus his vision on his hands, but even they shook. "He's gone. We won." He spoke to Ralts in-between ragged breaths. Ralts walked towards him, and they both fell to unconsciousness in front of the gates of The Sanctum.
"Max..."
"Max..."
"We can't..."
"Fulfill our promise anymore..."
Blood covered the girl's violet hair and the boy's smile. Max watched them fall to the ground, staining the grass and flowers is thick scarlet. The man he fought stood between their colorless, lifeless, auraless bodies. "The Strike Team killed all of the Aura Guardians. Soon, I will come for you too."