Chapter 7
Finally returning to Lumiose City after their unexpected adventure during the last few days, Aura lead them along the South Boulevard towards the Pokemon Center they first stayed at. Although, as they walked past a public park, Aura noticed a large crowd gathering in a field. He brought it to the others attention and they made the collective choice to at least see what the commotion was all about.
As they pushed their way to the front of the crowd, Aura froze in place as he felt his blood boil in his veins and his anger overwhelm him like a rampaging Gyarados.
"I can't believe I spent so much money for such a worthless piece of shit!" A boy in the center shouted as he violently kicked a small Shinx covered in countless bruises and cuts.
The feline sobbed hysterically as blood seeped from his mouth. "Please, Master! I-I'm so...hurk…so sorry...ghugk!" It screamed as every harsh blow to his broken ribs cause more and more blood to spit from his throat.
"Unique my fucking asshole! If I ever see that damn breeder again I'll force your useless corpse down his fucking throat!" The teen hollered again while a Druddigon and a Zangoose stood nearby as if to prevent the crowd from stopping this madman. Of course it wouldn't stop Aura.
With pupils narrowing like a demon and eyes glowing with shadowy energy, Aura pushed Diamond into Dan's hands as he stormed out of the crowd as if lusting for a river of the trainer's blood. Moments before another blow could be dealt to the poor Shinx, a mysterious transparent blue wall appeared between them to protect Shinx from further harm.
"Gah! What the fuck?!" The trainer yelled in pain from kicking the wall full force. "Who the fuck did that?!"
"I believe that would be me." Aura said with a somewhat distorted voice. He slowly stepped forward with the crowd muttering amongst themselves at the sight of the blue veil surrounding his body.
"Hm. And who the fuck are you?"
"Someone as disgusting as you doesn't deserve to know who I am. But I will say that I am going to be your worst… fucking… nightmare!" Aura spat with acidic venom in his demonic tone, and without even realizing, Aura had summoned a sphere of dark blue energy in his right palm and pointed it towards him. "Now, you can step away from the Shinx peacefully, or do I have to use force?!"
"And what are you gonna do? Huh? Dazzle me with your bullshit lightshow?"
Aura launched the glowing orb and in the blink of an eye it crashed into the trainer's chest with smoke erupting from the impact, forcing the trainer at least twenty feet away from the blast leaving him gritting his teeth and holding his chest in excruciating pain. He stumbled backwards as Aura suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Hand over Shinx's Pokeball! NOW!" Aura demanded.
The boy spat out a tooth and scowled. "And why should I? It's my Pokemon to do whatever I want with…" He cut himself off as Aura summoned another ball of energy and glared directly into his eyes, melting away the mask that hid his true fear. "Fine!" He reached for his belt and hurled the Pokeball to the ground behind Aura. "Take that piece of trash! He's just a slab of meat at this point anyway!"
The abusive trainer stood up and quickly hobbled away just as the veil of light dissipated from around Aura, leaving him confused on what just happened as if it felt like he were just dreaming.
Dan hurried over with Diamond still in his arms. "What the hell was that?! It's almost like what happened during your gym battle!"
Aura held his head and nodded. "I don't know. I just remember feeling myself lose control as I wanted to almost murder that fucker for hurting the… Shinx!" Aura pushed past Dan and scooped up the Pokeball as he scrambled to where Shinx lay in a small pool of his own blood. Aura saw he was still breathing barely and felt his heart race as he hastily pocketed the Pokeball and cradled Shinx in his arms, he didn't even look back as he had begun to sprint towards the Pokemon Center with Shinx barely holding on in his arms.
Within only a few minutes Aura arrived at the PokeCenter and hurried inside to the front desk. "Nurse Joy! Get this Shinx to urgent care immediately! I'll explain everything afterwords!"
Nurse Joy swiftly slammed down on a red button and from the nearby doorway hurried another nurse with a pair of Wigglytuff pushing a gurney. Aura set Shinx on the white cloth and watched it immediately begin fading to red as they carted him away. Aura handed the Pokeball to the nurse as well before finally feeling his legs about to give out.
Using the counter as support, Aura stood and explained the reason behind Shinx's critical condition. Soon enough Aura's attention was brought towards the front doors as Dan rushed inside carrying Diamond. Upon seeing Aura, the fox jumped away from Dan and hurried to leap into her trainer's arms.
Dan slowed to a stop and bent over panting heavily. "Man, you are fast when you wanna be."
Aura apologized before Diamond asked him if Shinx would be okay. He shook his head and told her they couldn't say for sure yet, but they'd still pray for his recovery.
Dan took initiative and booked them a room while Aura brought Diamond with him to a waiting area. While Dan went up to their room to make lunch, Aura only left the waiting area to change his bloodied shirt before spending the next two hours watching through a glass window as multiple nurses worked tirelessly on the fatally injured feline. Diamond had fallen asleep on Aura's lap as he couldn't take his eyes off the window and lost track of how many more hours passed until Shinx was eventually left alone in the room wired up to countless life support machines showing almost no vital signs.
Aura could hear footsteps walking closer and looked up to see one of the nurses standing with a clipboard, and judging by her expression, she didn't have great news.
"Are you the boy who brought in the Shinx?"
Aura nodded and shifted Diamond to the cushion beside him so he could stand up. "Please tell me he's gonna be okay."
The nurse let out a sigh and showed Aura the clipboard which held multiple medical graphs and a few x-rays. "We have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that your Shinx suffered massive amounts of blunt trauma that nearly caused one of his lungs to collapse and one of his broken ribs had almost pierced his heart." She showed Aura the x-rays more thoroughly and pointed out all the shattered bones and damaged organs. "As you can see, he's in danger of having kidney failure and has also been suffering from a serious bladder infection for what could be around three months due to improper sterilization."
Aura felt his body grow heavy as he slumped back down into the chair and covered his face. "I was too late…" He whispered as Diamond sadly pressed her paw against his arm.
The nurse bit her lip and sighed. "Most of these problems were caused by constant incomplete recovery. However there is still hope for him." Aura looked up at her silently. "He has to undergo a very delicate operations by tonight to have any chance of survival, otherwise he'll be gone before sunrise."
Aura clenched his fists and jumped to his feet. "I'll pay everything I have for this surgery! Just save his life!"
The nurse nodded and handed Aura a pen. "Here. We already have the forms ready so we just need your signature and we'll begin the…" Before they could even finish, Aura had already signed the form without even glancing at the costs.
"I don't care if I go into debt! Just save his life!"
The nurse cleared her throat. "I'll have them file this right away and begin the surgery, but you should know that if the surgery goes well enough then his recovery rate will return to normal and with a few weeks of rest and proper precautions he should be able to battle again in no time." She told Aura it would be best for him to go to his room and that he would be the first to know how everything went, but before he left, Aura was given a paper of everything this surgery would cover.
Aura took one last look into the window before heading upstairs for the night.
The next morning, Aura was frantically shaken awake by Dan. He had trouble sleeping last night from worrying about Shinx, but Dan had some incredible news for him once he finally got up.
While he was asleep, Nurse Joy had come to ask Aura to meet her at the front desk to talk about Shinx, so after hearing this Aura wasted no time jumping into his clothes and hurrying downstairs with Diamond at his heels.
"Nurse Joy?! Is Shinx gonna be okay?" Aura asked as he skid to a halt in front of the desk.
Nurse Joy smiled and brought out a clipboard. "You'll be happy to know the surgery was a complete success and the Shinx you brought in will make a full recovery." Aura felt all the pressure in his chest lifted instantly as he held back tears of joy. "But we do have to talk to you about some other issues. If you'd follow me to Shinx's room." She said as she took the clipboard and a pen. Once they had entered the room Shinx was recovering in, Nurse Joy handed Aura the clipboard and pen. "It appears the Shinx you brought in isn't actually yours, is it?"
Aura hesitated before shaking his head. "No, but I don't regret taking him away from that bastard who almost killed him."
Joy raised her hand sternly. "I don't think you understand your situation fully," her expression softened, "because the police had multiple witness reports on the scene, Shinx's previous trainer is being charged for Pokemon abuse and will be billed for most of the surgery as well, all while Shinx is officially unregistered as his Pokemon and his Trainer License suspended for a month."
Aura felt even more relieved knowing Shinx was now free from the abuse and could actually live happily. "So how much do I owe you for the surgery then?"
Nurse Joy nodded. "Actually, because Shinx is technically now a wild Pokemon, the rest of his operation costs were funded by the Pokemon League." Aura wiped his eye and looked at the unconscious feline lying on the bed beside him. "There is one last thing you should be aware of though. As he no longer has a trainer his Pokeball is no longer registered. So seeing as you were the one to rescue him and signed to pay for the medical fees, you are the only trainer they will allow to legally keep Shinx."
Aura flinched as he was suddenly given such a huge responsibility over a Pokemon that has probably never even seen him, but another glance at the hurt feline was all he needed to make his decision. "I'll gladly accept him as a part of my family."
Nurse Joy sighed happily and gave Aura a legal document to sigh before handing over his Pokeball which was apparently already in the process of being registered under his name. "It seems the Shinx had also been given a name by his original owner as well." Aura looked over the form and saw that Shinx was registered under the name Stan, but Aura was given the choice to rename him if he liked; a choice to which he quickly declined and left the cat's name as it was.
As Aura was just finishing signing the papers, the slow beeping around them sped up and Nurse Joy swiftly turned to check his vitals. Her excited smile was all Aura needed to tell a miracle was happening as Stan the Shinx had somehow recovered from many of his problems in a matter of seconds and he slowly began to regain consciousness. And the first thing Stan did with his renewed life, was look over to the man who saved him and showed a weak smile and spoke slowly with a soft and raspy voice. Although in hindsight, he must have been loopy from whatever medicine he was under as he had just gone through surgery.
"Thank you for saving me…" He whispered as he delicately lifted his paw as if asking for Aura to hold it, and he did. Aura took Stan's paw and gently squeezed it as if watching a loved one return from the dead.
"This is uncanny. Most of Stan's most vital injuries are almost completely healed already. We might need to do some additional tests to find out what caused this."
Aura sighed. "I'd like to know too, plus he still needs to rest. Would it be okay if I came back here this afternoon to meet him properly? I think he's still under the effects of whatever medicine he was given for the surgery."
"Of course. We'll let you know immediately when he's ready for a visit." Joy affirmed before pressing a button near the bed and leading Aura back to the lobby.
For the rest of the morning Aura felt amazing as he played a big part in saving Stan's life, as soon as they returned to their room Aura told the others all about what just happened. Eventually the time came when Aura was allowed to meet his newest teammate properly.
At almost five in the afternoon, Aura quietly entered Stan's room with both Diamond and Prince beside him. "How are you feeling, Stan?"
The Shinx appeared much more full of life this time around. "I feel better now… Thank you again for saving my life yesterday."
Diamond tilted her head as this was the second time he had thanked Aura. "How do you know Aura saved you anyway?"
Stan's smile widened. "I was awake long enough to see Aura take my Pokeball from my trainer, but then everything went white and the last thing I remember is seeing a bright light that let me watch everything that was happening around my body… It also told me about Aura and Diamond and Prince…"
"That must have been what healed you this morning." Aura thought.
Stan chuckled lightly before suddenly coughing up a small glob of blood. "Oow. I would like to think that light was actually Lady Arceus. Imagine how cool that would be if I was given another chance at life by an actual Legend." Stan started laughing as if he was never facing death in the first place before starting to cough up some more blood, catching everyone off guard when one of his cracked fangs suddenly fell out of his mouth.
Aura felt he was about to panic as he quickly looked around for some tissues or cotton balls to help stop the bleeding. Prince finding a small jar of cotton sitting on a nearby shelf and pointing it out to the trainer.
Now with a cotton ball between his teeth, Stan almost looked happier as he poked the ball of fluff with his tongue. "You are really taking this whole thing well." Aura chuckled, jokingly blaming the young lion for his contagious laughter.
"Shorry. Ah jusht fehl amashing!" He cheered.
Aura held up Stan's Pokeball and glanced over the many cracks and scratches littering its surface. "Stan. I know I made the choice of taking you with me, but really it should be your decision." Aura felt around the damaged Pokeball until finding the button to release its inhabitant, pressing it without hesitation and finally snapping the ball in two.
"My Pokeball?" Stan gasped, spitting the cotton from his mouth.
"That was never your Pokeball. That was your prison. Your Pokeball is right here." Aura reached behind his back and took out a freshly polished Pokeball engraved with a four pointed star above the button. "Even if you don't want to come with us. You deserve something a little better than a junkball. In fact, I think you two do as well." Aura looked at his other two partners and suddenly brought out both of their Pokeballs which were now engraved with a coat of arms for Prince, and a fiery heart for Diamond.
"Aura… These are wonderful." Diamond choked as he held them closer for the two to examine.
"This is a truly generous gift, Master Aura. I am honoured you would do such a thing for us."
"Like I said. None of you are just my Pokemon, you're my family too. So what do you say, Stan? Want to come with us and take on the Kalos League…? Huh?"
As Aura turned to the bedridden Shinx, he was stunned to find Stan hunched over and covering his eyes as he cried tears of absolute joy. "I would be so happy to be your Pokemon, Aura."
Aura nodded and leaned over to wipe away one of his tears. "I shouldn't put you in the ball until you're unhooked from these machines, but I promise the moment you are," he set the Pokeball on the table next to the bed, "we'll be here to give you a proper welcome." Aura scratched Stan's head as he suddenly began to feel very lightheaded and tired.
"Must be the pills they gave me." Stan said with a yawn.
"Well then we'll visit you again in the morning. Sleep well, partner." Aura told him with a dramatic wink.
Stan snickered and thanked Aura one last time, although before they left, Diamond asked him why he wasn't surprised from Aura being able to understand him. He responded with another chuckle and tiredly told her it didn't matter to him as he was just happy to be alive.
Walking back out to the lobby, Aura realized they barely spent half an hour with Stan and had plenty of daylight left. "Well I guess we'll be in Lumiose City for a bit longer than planned, and I think we can wait to train for the gym until after Stan is recovered… Anything you guys wanna do?"
"If we won't be training then maybe we should at least go for a walk?" Diamond suggested.
"I wouldn't mind some exercise, and perhaps we could make sure we have enough food for our extended stay." Prince added.
Aura crossed his arms and nodded. "It's settled then. Let's go let Dan know we'll be heading out for a bit first." Prince and Diamond followed their trainer back upstairs, making a list of what they could buy and informing Dan of their plans before the three of them headed out to the cool evening streets of Lumiose.
For the next two hours, Aura, accompanied by Prince and Diamond, walked along the streets taking in the sights of Lumiose City. But eventually they all started feeling a bit hungry and figured it was time to head back to the PokeCenter; although, Aura had something else in mind for the three of them.
"You guys feeling like eating out tonight?"
"Eat out?" Diamond questioned.
Aura pointed over to a building on the street corner with a large outdoor dining area. There were already a few people sitting outside, and most of them had at least one Pokemon by their sides that looked rather happy to be there. "I saw that restaurant when we came this way earlier, I'm thinking it may be one of those special Trainer Cafes."
"What's a Trainer Cafe?" Diamond asked. Aura gave her a simple answer as they were exactly what they were called, a cafe meant for trainer. Now Prince was starting to get confused as he wondered why there needed to be a cafe specifically for trainers.
He briefly explained how some places don't allow Pokemon inside for certain reasons, and most places that do allow Pokemon aren't large enough for the bigger species, so Trainer Cafe's were built with almost every possible Pokemon in mind and tries to cater specifically to trainers who would like to eat alongside their team. The two of them seemed impressed by the concept of these special places, and Aura was happy to see they were so interested. So after asking them once more, Aura took his team inside through the massive front doors that might have extended all the way to the ceiling.
A waiter approached and greeted them. "Welcome to our trainer cafe, will it just be you and these two tonight?" Aura confirmed this and the waiter nodded. He turned to a short feline Pokemon with blue fur. "Meowstic, could you bring one trainer menu and two Pokemon menus?"
Seeing the Meowstic wearing a similar uniform as the waiter was pretty adorable as its green eyes glowed from its Psychic to levitate the requested menus over its head as the waiter lead them to a table. Aura was seated in a regular chair while Diamond and Prince were given taller stools. Meowstic levitated the menus onto the table, Aura's being a standard menu and the other two being given menus with pictures instead of words as most Pokemon are unable to read.
The waiter clicked a pen while Meowstic did the same. "Can I get you anything to drink?" The waiter asked as Meowstic seemed to ask Diamond and Prince the same question. Aura looked over the menu and simply asked for a soda. Meanwhile Prince and Diamond were new to the concept of menus, so Meowstic took some time to explain how they worked through his natural language which Aura understood.
The psychic cat Pokemon explained all he could about each helpful detail on their menus, ranging from their foods to their drinks, and even some small symbols to help know what is in the food they order.
Finally after a few minutes of patient explanation, Meowstic took the Pokemon's orders and relayed the information to the waiter and they left to fetch their drinks, a simple glass of water for Prince and some Pecha juice for Diamond.
After a delicious supper out on the town, the trio hurried back to the Pokemon Center upon realizing just how late it had gotten. Upon their arrival to their room, Dan questioned where they've been all day and feigned jealousy after learning Aura had treated them to a nearby cafe. But as it was getting later into the night and Aura had difficulties sleeping before, he felt they should turn in early for the night as he set their groceries on the counter.
As midnight slowly approached, everyone was in a deep and peaceful slumber, though it sadly wasn't going to last much longer as they were all suddenly awoken by a very bright light beaming in through the window along with the deafening sound of uncomfortably close helicopter blades.
Everyone got up and collectively wondered what could be going on, and they quickly got their answer as the wall was suddenly blown apart by a large explosion. The dust and smoke made each of them violently cough as they struggled to see through the debris and blinding lights, unfortunately not realizing someone had come into their room until it was too late.
Diamond suddenly shrieked in horror but was quickly muffled. Aura called out for her, but after receiving no answer he could feel his muscles tense as he heard the psychotic laughter of some men. Aura quickly demanded for whoever they were to show themselves or else.
The lights began to dim and the smoke slowly began to clear, revealing a pair of men wearing identical red suits standing inside the helicopter. The man on the right began to laugh. "Who we are isn't important, what matters is that you come with us."
"Why the hell should I go with you?!" Aura demanded, however his heart dropped and his mind went numb as the man on the left snickered and lifted a mass of yellow and red fur. "Diamond!" Aura cried. He tightened his fists and looked over to see Prince already standing ready to fight. Although just as he was about to call a command, Aura heard a distinct click that made him freeze as the man on the right pointed a gun in his direction. "Ah-ah-aah~, I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said in a taunting manner, suddenly pointing the gun to his left and poking the barrel against Diamond's temples. "Unless of course you'd love to watch me blow this bitch's brains out."
Aura could only stand and watch as the man smiled and aimed the gun into the air before releasing one of it's shots to prove it was loaded. Diamond curled her tail between her legs and quivered in absolute terror, so with no other options, Aura had Prince step back with tears rolling down his cheeks.
"That's much better. Although our little chit chat here kinda brought some heat on us already. So here's the deal, kid!" The man on the left said as he holstered his gun. "Meet us at the top of Lumiose Tower alone and unarmed, otherwise little miss foxtrot here better be able to fly!" The two of the started laughing maniacally as they shook Diamond by the scruff of her neck. "You've got one hour." The door slammed shut and the helicopter took off into the sky.
Aura clenched his fists until they were about to bleed. "Dan! Call the police and tell them what's going on and to stay the fuck away from the tower."
"You're seriously going up there alone?!"
He spun around and wiped the dust from his glasses. "I can't risk Diamond getting hurt! Now please just do as I say!" Without another word, Aura sprinted out of the room and hurried through the crowded street of onlookers. As soon as he reached the tower he noticed countless police cars surrounding the structure and holding the crowd back. Silently hoping Dan did as he asked, Aura didn't stop as he forced his way through the crowd and past the police line.
"Sir! Please keep your distance!" One of the officers said as they managed to grab his shoulder.
Aura turned back and a literal fire seemed to burst from his eyes. "Let go of me! Those fuckers want me and if I don't get up there soon they're going to fucking kill her!" The officer suddenly felt his hand burning and was forced to let go as Aura ran off towards a maintenance ladder and swiftly began to scale the tower. Even though he nearly slipped off multiple times, Aura pressed onward.
He no longer cared if he survived so long as Diamond was safe.
Reaching the top of the ladder, Aura climbed onto the ledge and stood face to face with the two men, Diamond still being held by the scruff of her neck.
"Good, you did come." One of the men said. "Now be a good boy and get in the chopper."
Aura took one step forward before he was stopped by Diamond calling out for him to not follow them. He looked at the fox with tears in her eyes. He violently shook his head. "No! I promised I would keep you safe, that I would always be there for you." Aura walked closer and allowed the men to cuff his wrists. "There, you have me so let her go!"
The man holding Diamond smirked. "As you wish." He laughed as he swung Diamond over the edge and let go, sending her plummeting to the streets below.
"Noo!" Aura began writhing in anger trying to escape their grasp, suddenly his body had begun to shine a bright blue that forced the men to step back.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Argh! This must be what the boss was talking about!"
The light grew brighter as Aura started to feel more and more power build up, suddenly causing an invisible shockwave around him that shoved both men to the floor and shattering the handcuffs. Aura did not even have to think about his actions as he threw himself off the tower and hurdled down towards Diamond. He managed to catch up to the flailing fox and reach out to grasp her, shocking the Fennekin as Aura suddenly pulled her tight against his chest.
"I told you, so long as I'm breathing, you will never be alone again."
Diamond's heart pounded within her chest as Aura would literally jumped to his death just to spend his final moments with her. All of the emotions she had felt when they first met suddenly forced their way out, and Diamond finally knew what they meant. She didn't know what caused them in the first place, but she did know they were her true feelings, and always will be.
"Aura! I… I…" Diamond's body started to glow as a powerful energy coursed through every fiber of her being. She closed her eyes and accepted this sudden occurrence. The world around them felt slower as Diamond's figure began to change through evolution. "I love you!" The moment she spoke these words, the light suddenly burst from her new form. Aura was in awe as he no longer held the cute little Fennekin he had chosen as his starter, but instead a mesmerizing, beautiful Braixen that swiftly took his breath away.
Suddenly Aura could feel his heart pounding as well, he recalled the exact moment he first laid eyes on the stunning vixen in front of him. The unusual feelings he so easily brushed off, yet for some reason could never truly rid from his mind. This must have been what Arceus meant by the one he loved the most being so close. Aura suddenly couldn't care where or why these emotions had appeared at all, he could not deny how he felt towards Diamond any longer. His care for her was much deeper than just partners, they were soulmates.
His realization of his true feelings caused memories he didn't even recognize to rapidly flash before his eyes, revealing to him who, and what, he really was.
Aura raised Diamond's chin and stared into her sparkling red eyes. He knew it right then and there…
This was it…
He pulled the fox closer and locked lips in a deep, tender kiss…
A kiss that marked the beginning of their future…
The beginning of… their destiny!
The instant they pulled away, Aura's eyes suddenly faded to a vibrant purple hue as a violet energy enveloped them both. Aura's body practically moved on its own to adjust their positions with Diamond held in a tight embrace above him and his back towards the ground.
Moments before crashing into the streets below, Aura tightened his grip around Diamond and saying the one phrase that would once and for all bind them to their fate… "I love you too."
