The chapters following this one have yet to be fully revised and updated to my current writing style, but as I do wish to actually continue progressing the story and avoid losing interest by doing these rewrites, I will possibly try to revise at least five or ten chapters for every couple newer chapters I publish. It should hopefully not take too long as I would estimate up to chapter 20 or 30 might be the farthest I need to go with revising, so hopefully new readers can bear with the slightly lesser quality and some inconsistencies for the sake of progressing the story.

That being said I appreciate those who are sticking with my story despite the varying wait times between chapters.


Chapter 11

Aura stirred from his sleep and let out a long yawn. He sat up and looked at his sleeping mate with feeling of great joy knowing she had enjoyed herself. Though he would have considered them official the day they confessed their love, he was happy to prove just how much Diamond meant to her by fulfilling her wish and officially "claiming" her as his one and only mate.

He carefully moved the blanket off himself and slipped out of bed without waking Diamond, tiptoeing to his backpack and pulling out some clean clothes to wear after a much needed shower.

Eventually Diamond could feel something press against her forehead, making her stir and slowly open her eyes to find Aura warmly smiling down at her. She moaned and stretched her arms as she sat up, happily smiling at her mate with half-lidded eyes. "Good morning, Aura." She said, leaning forward and tiredly licking his cheek affectionately.

Aura laughed and wiped her drool off his face as Diamond flumped back against the pillow with a yawn. "Morning? I'm pretty sure it's after three." He joked.

Diamond slumped forward and pouted. "Well I just woke up so it's still morning to me." She said, trying her best to sound grumpy.

"Haha! You are adorable, you know that?" She struggled to hold her scowl and eventually started giggling cutely from the compliment. "Now that you're up, care for some "breakfast"?" Aura said, gesturing with air quotes and chuckling.

Diamond moved to get up but flinched as she felt something uncomfortable scratch between her thighs. She lifted the sheets and recoiled in disgust as the black fur around her groin was heavily matted and covered with something white and crusty. Aura quickly bit his lip as he realized the issue, and he didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that he wouldn't have to explain it to Diamond.

She pinched at some of her crusted fur and grimaced from the unpleasantly dry flakes she picked off. Diamond didn't take long to realize what it was and leered at Aura. "This feels disgusting. Why didn't you wake me up sooner so I could wash it off before it got so… ew…?" She winced. Diamond scrambled out of bed and awkwardly waddled to the bathroom.

Aura smacked himself in the face and groaned, totally ashamed of himself for neglecting to consider this outcome. "I'm really sorry, Diamond… I didn't think it would end up like this after I did, er, wipe up the mess…" He said awkwardly, feeling flustered from all the embarrassment from this whole unusual ordeal. He sat on the bed and growled as he hit his head a few times and calling himself an idiot under his breath, soon letting out a deep sigh and looking at his mate who was surprisingly still stood in the doorway. "I really am sorry. I just never thought about it because, well, it was our first time and all, a-and…"

Diamond crossed her arms and sighed. "It's fine…," she nervously rubbed her arm and frowned at the floor, "it isn't just your fault, Aura… I didn't know this would happen either so I shouldn't have gotten upset," Diamond looked back at her trainer and forced a calm smile, "at least we know this can happen now." She lightly snickered and grabbed the bathroom doorknob. "I'm going to take a bath now…" Diamond trailed off for a moment as she had slowly closed the door halfway only to slowly re-open it and sheepishly peer at Aura. "Uhh… Could you help me get the water ready…? I still don't know how it works."

Aura snorted as he burst into laughter, Diamond puffing out her cheeks in a scowl before loosely relaxing herself and giggling in turn. With the tension gone and the cheerful atmosphere back to normal, Aura followed Diamond into the bathroom to show her how to operate the shower.

While Diamond was busy getting cleaned up, Aura sighed as he walked to the couch and peered over it at the napping Shinx quietly snoring with a line of drool running down his cheek. He had fallen asleep earlier watching TV and thankfully he didn't seem to even notice Aura and Diamond's discussion. Aura reached over the couch and poked Stan's cheek until he finally batted his hand away and opened his eyes.

"Have a good nap?" Aura asked him jokingly as he casually leaned forward. Stan rolled over onto his paws and stretched. Aura noticed him sniffing the air and chuckled. "Yes, lunch is ready."

Stan's tongue hung from his mouth as his stomach quietly rumbled. "So can I eat now? It smells delicious."

Aura snickered and scratched the feline's head. "Just a little longer, bud. Diamond's just having a quick shower and I need to go get Prince." The Shinx rolled his eyes as another low growl came from his belly. Leaving the peckish Pokemon for a minute, Aura went over to their room's balcony door and gently tapped on the glass to get Prince's attention. After receiving no response from the Riolu, Aura delicately slid the door open and stepped out behind the meditating Pokemon. "Not to disturb you or anything, but I just wanted to let you know lunch is ready." Aura told him respectfully.

Prince let out a deep breath and relaxed his arms, straightening his back and removing the cold wet cloth from his forehead. "Thank you, Master Aura." He calmly said as he slid off of the flimsy, plastic patio chair and extinguished an almost completely melted candle.

As they stepped back inside, Diamond had just come out from her shower with a towel much to large for her wrapped around her body while her thick fur was still dripping water. Aura sighed as he ushered her back into the bathroom to help her dry off. "Alright, make a mental note to buy her a hair dryer." He chuckled, apologizing to the guys for making them wait another ten minutes for their lunch. Finally Diamond was mostly dried off enough to join the others at the table, and as they started to eat, Aura told them how he was thinking of looking for other trainers to spar against so long as everyone was okay with it. A collective nod from all three Pokemon was his answer and the trainer smirked confidently, jokingly raising his fork into the air like a triumphant soldier leading his army to battle, though he forgot about the chunk of gravy-coated meat skewered onto his utensil until it had slipped off and splatting atop his forehead.

Diamond held her paw over her lips to hide her smirk while Stan had burst into a hysterical fit of laughter, spitting some of his food on the table without realizing it.

"It might not be the wisest thing to play with your food, Master Aura." Prince said stoically as he handed his trainer a napkin.

"Heheh, whoops." Aura chuckled as he wiped the gravy off his head, taking the chunk of meat off the table and grinning slyly at the still laughing Shinx. Only letting out a brief whistle to get his attention, Stan looked up and jerked as he just saw the cube of meat gently tossed towards him. Now it was Aura who was laughing as Stan made an attempt to catch the food in his fangs only to slip on a napkin and have the gravy splatter across his haunches.

Prince quietly sighed and shook his head at the childish behaviour, although the young puppy within him did coax out a small smirk as Aura and Stan proceeded to goof around leaving both the table and their faces covered in globs of warm gravy. They did eventually stop as Aura groaned when he realized the mess they made, taking responsibility for it and promising to clean it up before they left. After they had all finished their meal, Aura brought Stan into the bathroom to wash off in the sink before taking care of their childish food fight across the table, meanwhile Diamond and Prince patiently sat on the sofa watching TV until they were ready to leave.


Before they had gone down to the lobby, Aura wanted to pay Dan a quick visit to invite him to come along, although he had to decline as he was spending time with Spyke and Nessa teaching them some basic medical procedures. So with their friends absent for the afternoon, Aura and his team headed out to the back of the PokeCenter for some training.

The doors slid open and a crisp, humid breeze wafted over them. Scanning the battlefields before them, they were all a bit surprised to find the yard completely barren of life, save for a few wild Rattata and Zigzagoon gorging themselves on leftovers from the trash bins.

"Where the heck is everyone? The lobby was almost completely empty too." Aura wondered as they took a few steps outside to see if they might have just overlooked someone.

As they thought over different reasons for the sudden lack of people around them, the star at the tip of Stan's tail began to quietly crackle and pop from small sparks dancing around the glowing star.

He looked up at the sky and flicked his tail. "There's a storm coming this way, and it's moving in super fast!" Stan somewhat happily exclaimed as the sparks around his tail flickered much more violently with some sparks beginning to spit out of his fur from the approaching mass of static electricity. The Shinx giggled as the sparks were actually tickling his skin as they discharged, slowly becoming more sporadic from his still damp fur.

Prince and Diamond looked up and sniffed the air moments before a distance rumble echoed through the sky. "I can certainly smell the moisture around us. It might be best we head inside now." Prince said as another loud rumble had boomed into their ears and the quickly approaching dark clouds were now flooding the grayed sky.

The two canines jogged inside while Aura tried to pick up the tittering feline, but the rapid sparks orbiting him made Aura recoil from the abrupt shock it sent through his fingertips. "Ouch! Come on, Stan. I know you like the static and all but you're pretty much a lightning rod out here, and I don't know how well you could handle taking a direct lighting strike."

Stan silently groaned as he got up and followed Aura inside moments before rain started pouring down and the sparks surrounding Stan's body slowly disappearing.

"At least we know why barely anyone is around now." Diamond shrugged as they walked down the hall back into the lobby.

"Are you looking for other trainers?" Nurse Joy asked as they walked by the front desk. "Our Electric type Pokemon in charge of weather forecasts all sensed the giant storm coming earlier this morning, didn't you see the notice?" She leaned forward and pointed to a screen nearby displaying a very cartoony Rain-forme Casform joined by an equally cartoonish Pikachu, below them was a written notice describing the day's upcoming weather followed by multiple factors related to the current storm like its intensity and the estimated duration until it passes.

Aura shook his head. "Guess I didn't notice it. But even with the storm outside, where is everyone?" He asked a bit more seriously.

Joy pointed across the room to wide hallway that seemed to lead downstairs. "Pokemon Centers all have an underground arena for such occasions as this, so whenever there are issues with the outdoor battlefields we open the arena up for use. You should be able to find plenty of trainers to challenge down there."

Thanking her for the tip, they hurried to the basement where they immediately heard loud cheers echoing through the halls. The basement looked quite similar to the main lobby with a few different shops lining the walls. Following the cheers through the main area, they passed through a large glass door to find themselves standing in the arena with six standard sized, raised battlefields across the floor.

"How did we not know this place existed?" Aura asked himself as they headed to the bleachers and took a seat to watch one of the ongoing battles.

On one side of the field stood a boy wearing a plain yellow shirt and blue shorts, while across from him stood another boy around Aura's age, his dyed red hear was messy and cut short, and on top of his pale skin, red trimmed black jacket, black skinny jeans and black shoes, this guy practically screamed edgy antagonist. However, contrary to his dark appearance, the trainer was using a cute little Eevee to battle the other trainer's Zigzagoon.

"Go for the neck, Colton!" The edgy trainer ordered, and suddenly the cute little Eevee went to ferocious as it wickedly sneered at his foe with a sadistic glint in his eye. The little brown fox took off across the field in a flash with his teeth glowing white and a large pair of astral fangs took form in front of his face.

The Eevee known as Colton had already reached Zigzagoon before its trainer could even speak with the side of its neck tightly locked in the jaws of its opponent, the audience gasped when it cried out in pain as Colton bit down harder causing large drops of blood to seep through its fur and begin to pool at their feet. After Zigzagoon's struggling had slowly weakened, Colton began to violently shake its body around like a rabid dog before tossing its unconscious body at its trainer's feet.

"Zigzagoon!" The boy shouted as he dropped to his knees and cradled his fainted partner.

The other trainer crossed his arms and scoffed, leering at his opponent with a sadistic smirk. "Ha! Your pitiful Pokemon wouldn't even last a minute in the real world! No wonder you don't have any badges, you're not cut out to be a trainer at all so you may as well just quit before you get your little pets killed!" The young trainer scowled and quickly returned his Zigzagoon before running out of the stadium. "So who else has the guts to take me on?!" The red haired boy shouted.

Diamond could see Aura tightening his fists enraged to the point they turned white. "What's wrong?" She asked.

A low growl resonated from the back of his throat. "That asshole is the same guy who almost killed Stan." All three of his Pokemon could practically feel the rage pouring out from Aura as he silently stepped up to the empty side of the field.

His team quickly followed him up to the trainer box as the cruel teenager stopped his laughter upon noticing them. "Ha! Well look who it is. How's that worthless Shinx you took off my hands? I bet it fits perfectly with the rest of your pathetic team."

Aura sneered. "These three are far from pathetic, and Stan is much better now that he's not with a scumbag like you!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it then, three rounds against me right here right now."

Diamond, Stan and Prince knew Aura was reluctant to accept the challenge, but feeling the soft grip of Diamond's paw over his hand, he looked down at her giving him a reassuring nod. "I know you want to teach him a lesson for what he did to Stan, we all do. Nobody makes fun of our family." She told him confidently, the other two nodding in agreement.

Aura smirked and nodded in return before looking back at the trainer seriously. "Fine. Let's do this!"

After a few minutes of preparation and finding someone to referee the match and set the rules, namely to prevent any sort of foul play like during the previous battle, the two trainers stood across from each other ready to begin.

The young woman they got to referee their battle raised her arms and recited the standard introduction speech. "The match between trainers, Aura and Tyler, is about to begin. Both trainers will only be permitted three Pokemon and will substitute after each round. Furthermore, by request of the trainers there will be no unethical or life-threatening moves allowed and the winner will be awarded ten thousand Pokedollars by the loser! Battle begin!"

As Aura's team was still outside of their balls, he pointed to the field and called out Prince while Tyler had tossed a Greatball into the air calling out a Zangoose. Tyler didn't hesitate calling out his first command. "Hone Claws, then Slash!"

Zangoose loud out a fierce screech and banged its claws together, its pupils constricted slowly while a faint purple hue coated each claw once it had started rythmicly razing them along one another to sharpen them and increase its focus. With its claws now glimmering in the stadium's light, Zangoose charged forward and made its claws glow white with a flick of its wrists.

"Dodge and Force Palm!" Aura didn't have much time to think about their actions as Zangoose was moving too fast to leave any breathing room.

Luckily Prince was able to match his opponent's agility and dove to his right, rolling to his feet and lunging back with one of his strongest moves; although, before he could land the attack, Prince was stopped by Zangoose swiftly pivoting on its heel and narrowly avoiding the Force Palm, immediately jabbing its claws into his back and surprisingly not piercing any farther than a couple centimeters into his flesh, but the would still make Prince howl in pain like never before as Zangoose retracted its claws and harshly punted the Riolu across the field.

The crowd booed at the unethical treatment Zangoose had shown his opponent which didn't even faze Tyler or his Pokemon. "Oh shut it you wusses! Zangoose didn't kill the mutt!" Tyler scoffed, his Zangoose staring at the audience and grinning as it tauntingly licked the tips of its claws, tasting the blood of his foe with misguided excitement.

Aura clenched his fists as they watched Prince cough and force himself to stand. He shook his head and smacked his cheeks to regain his focus before glancing back at his master ready to continue. He grit his teeth and scowled, "Show that bastard what it means to fight with honour! Blaze Kick!"

Prince narrowed his gaze and slammed his heel into the ground, manipulating the air particles around his leg to drastically increase in temperature and spontaneously combust. Tyler leered at Aura, not expecting to see his Riolu using that kind of attack, but as Prince closed the gap between the two Pokemon, the sadistic trainer grinned. "Take the heat and retaliate with Close Combat!"

Nothing could be done to anticipate the incoming assault as Prince was already in too close to do anything, so accepting the only choice he had and at least managing to land a solid kick against the Zangoose, it wasn't enough to stop Zangoose from delivering a violent barrage of swift punches and kicks against the shorter Pokemon. Aura's breath caught in his throat as he could do nothing but stand there and watch his beloved partner get beaten to a pulp, Zangoose eventually delivering one final blow that sent Prince harshly tumbling across the field, falling off of the elevated battlefield and crashing against the solid barrier protecting the audience and leaving a small crater.

The girl acting as their referee groaned as she raised her hand. "As much as I hate to say this, Aura's Riolu is unable to battle, so Tyler's Zangoose takes round one…"

Despite how badly he wanted to just run over and check on the unconscious Pokemon, Aura begrudgingly returned Prince to his ball and pressed the engraved emblem to his forehead, thanking him for doing his best and assuring him he would get them healed the second this was over.

Placing the Pokeball back into its socket on his belt, Aura felt someone poking his shin and looked down to see Stan sharply staring back up. "Let me fight next, I want to teach that jerk a lesson for everything he put me through and for all the times he almost killed our opponents!"

As Aura stared back into Stan's unwavering eyes, he could clearly see the unstoppable drive he had to do great things in the world that can't just simply be put into words; but Aura understood that drive more than enough to put his trust in the young lion cub to prove all the doubters wrong.

Diamond lightly took Aura's hand and adamantly nodded, receiving a smirk and a thumbs up in return before the trainer gazed upon their foe. "Alright then. Time to show that arrogant asshole what he's missing! Prove them all wrong, Stan!"

"Ha! You're using that worthless Shinx?" Tyler laughed.

"His name is Stan, and he is not worthless!"

The referee raised her arms. "Round two, begin!"

"Start off with your Tackle attack!" Stan charged at the small fox and crashed into him fiercely, sending it sliding back along the ground.

"Right yourself, Colton and use Swift!" The Eevee leaped into the air and began to somersault as he fired out a wide shower of stars at his opponent.

"Dodge it!" Stan quickly strafed to his left and watched the stars shoot past him, immediately correcting their path and spiraling back towards him. Stan tried to run away from the trailing projectiles, but as only a few of them had actually missed their mark and were destroyed against the ground, Stan was still unable to avoid them entirely and took the rest directly.

"Pfft, this should be an easy fight if you didn't know it's practically impossible to avoid Swift!" Tyler mocked.

"And what's so wrong about at least trying to dodge it? Stan did avoid most of the attack after all!" Aura pointed forward and scowled. "Use Flash!" Stan widened his stance and whipped his tail straight up as the star at its tip suddenly let off a blinding flash of light, forcing Colton to cover his eyes and allow Stan the perfect opportunity to rush him with Spark. His body popped and crackled violently as sparks rapidly darted through his fur to envelope the Shinx in a fierce electrical current. He took off towards Colton and roared upon colliding with the Eevee, expelling his built up electricity to inflict Colton with a massive shock that left him screaming in agony.

Colton's body seized up as he fell to the floor twitching sporadically. "What the hell?! How could Colton lose to such a weakling?!" Tyler spat as he furiously returned his Eevee while the referee called out Aura as the victor of round two.

"Great job, Stan!" Aura called as the Shinx scurried back to his side. Since he hadn't really sustained much damage at all from his fight, Aura allowed Stan to sit out and watch the final round.

Tyler snarled at Aura as he took his third Pokeball from his belt. "You're lucky to have even lasted this long against me, but you're still going to lose! Tear them apart, Druddigon!" Tyler hurled an Ultraball onto the field and released the large Dragon Pokemon within.

"GRAAAAAH!" It roared angrily, forcing most of the audience to cover their ears.

"Damn. That Druddigon really looks powerful, are you sure you want to do this, Diamond?"

Diamond looked up at Aura and shook her head. "No. Just like you, I want to teach that jerk a lesson about real teamwork!" She said before cracking her knuckles and walking onto the field.

As soon as the referee called for round three to begin, Aura gave the first order. "Start this off with Cut!" Diamond gracefully drew the stick from her tail and twirled it like a baton, abruptly swinging it forward as it flashed white and changed shape to look like a short blade before lunging forth at the large reptile like a graceful samurai.

"Counter it with Slash!" Druddigon's claws flashed white and extended out as it charged forward as well, the two attacks colliding and sending out a shower of sparks as they seemed evenly matched for a brief moment, although Druddigon quickly managed to overpower Diamond and force her to stumble back to give it an opening to deal a direct strike to her chest.

Diamond screamed as Druddigon's claws raked across her flesh and left a mighty gash that spilled her blood while sending her spiraling through the air, landing with a painful smack right before Aura's feet.

He dropped to his knees and cradled her head, blood seeping from her nose and mouth as she struggled to even open her eyes. She coughed violently and sent another splash of her own blood across her chest. Aura bit his lip and was about to raise his hand to forfeit, but Diamond gripped his wrist tightly with her claws and scowled. "We are not quitting! We are going to finish this battle and we are going to win!"

"But what if-" he was suddenly cut off as Diamond pressed her finger to his lips.

Her eyes briefly shimmering with a violet hue as she stared into Aura's eyes with determination. "I am fine. Never forget that we will always be stronger when we are together."

Aura smiled, tears welling up in his eyes before blinking them away and looking up at their opponent seriously. A thin veil of energy began to envelop the pair just like in Santalune City. Aura helped Diamond to her feet and they walked back to their positions. Their eyes faded into identical shades of purple moments before flashing white and revealing their left eyes were now both scarlet red while their right eyes had shifted to a deep, royal blue.

"Hhm. I don't know what kinda tricks you're trying to pull with that little lightshow, but it's not gonna change anything! Druddigon, use Focus Blast!" A bright orange ball of energy formed between the palms of the dragon's claws, rapidly expanding within seconds until it was launched toward Diamond at blinding speeds.

"Light Screen!" Diamond's eyes momentarily flickered into a bright pink as a transparent veil of energy overlapped around her body moments before she took the Focus Blast directly which caused a huge explosion and clouded the area in dust.

"Ha! I'd like to see your little pet handle that…! What the hell?!" As the smoke cleared, Diamond stood completely unphased by the powerful attack. "How the fuck could that puny thing withstand my Druddigon's Focus Blast?! Gah! It doesn't matter! Druddigon, use Dragon Claw!"

A veil of green draconic energy encased Druddigon's arms as it barreled towards Diamond. "Cut!" Aura shouted. Diamond's stick glowed white like before and changed its shape to resemble a sword once again as she tightened her legs and braced herself to endure the incoming pressure. It didn't take more than a couple seconds for Druddigon to close the gap and lash out with his claws, however Diamond had skillfully swung her blade and almost effortlessly deflected the dragon's assault in a matter of seconds.

"Come on, Druddigon! My father didn't spend a fortune on you so you could lose to a worthless Braixen! Metal Claw!" The green energy around its arms quickly compressed around its claws and shifted into to a solid metal coating.

Meanwhile, the energy surrounding Aura and Diamond instantly grew in size. "No one calls Diamond worthless! End this with Psybeam!" Diamond could physically feel Aura's rage, and she used that feeling to give herself strength. She dismissed the white blade and started to rapidly twirl her stick like a baton, building up her energy for a few seconds before stopping while the end of her stick ignited with a purple flame pointed directly towards Druddigon. In the blink of an eye, Diamond let out a high-pitched cry as she fired off a thin beam of psychic energy that blast Druddigon off of its feet, pushing it off the stage over its trainer and crashing into the wall behind them.

The crowd was silent for a moment before exploding into a roar of applause. The referee happy to announce Druddigon was unable to battle and declaring Aura the winner.

Diamond spun around as the light disappeared from around them both and their eyes returned to normal. Diamond ran to Aura and leaped into his arms, the two holding each other in a loving embrace. "We did it, Aura! We won!" Diamond cheered happily. Stan excitedly running around the two cheering for them as well.

In the heat of the moment, Diamond couldn't stop herself from pushing her lips against Aura's for a deep and passionate kiss that earned some mixed reactions from the crowd, a majority now cheered for the couple even louder while a small portion had quieted down significantly and looked on with disgust seeing the interspecies relationship.

Tyler fell to his knees after returning Druddigon to its ball and violently punched the ground. "How?! How could I lose to some disgusting Pokephile and a pathetic cocksleeve!"

Aura's gaze snapped to the trainer as his pupils immediately constricted into narrow slits and almost seemed to produce a ghostly purple smoke as the colour drained from his skin. He set Diamond down and stormed across the battlefield. Now standing merely a foot apart, Tyler looked up and immediately regretted it as he witnessed nothing but pure torment in Aura's soulless eyes. Aura reached down and harshly grabbed his shirt by the collar and hoisted him to his feet before snarling at the crude human with an almost demonic tone. He silently reeled his fist back and let it become shrouded with dark energy before hatefully sending his fist crashing into Tyler's face, throwing him to the ground and earning shocked gasps from everyone who watched. Aura roughly pushed his foot down against Tyler's chest and stared into his eyes. "Call me what ever the fuck you want, but never, I repeat, NEVER say anything so fucking terrible about my girlfriend, or any other Pokemon for that matter!" Aura looked at him with one last scowl before turning and walking away, the dark energies instantly vanishing as he returned to normal. He gently pat Diamond on the head and smiled as if nothing even happened. "Come on, let's get you guys all healed up. After a fight like that I think you deserve some time to relax."

Diamond nodded as Aura returned Stan to his ball. The very small amount of fear she felt upon witnessing this new violent side of Aura did not last long at all. She somehow knew the ominous power Aura had used was not dangerous at all, rather she could feel the only purpose it truly held was to protect those he loved. Although as she looked around the stadium expecting those who had witnessed to feel terrified by this surely misunderstood power, it seemed as if not a soul had even noticed as the air around her felt no different than normal.

Strangely enough, she was actually happy to accept this fact as an inner voice softly assured her everything was going to be all right.