Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait but stuff in real life was distracting me. For starters I have school so that takes some time, but before that I had gotten very distracted with other stuff like steam and I also had a lot of issues with writers block. So sorry if anything seems a bit off or I miss anything by mistake. I will continue to work on this and my other stories when I have time. I hope you enjoy this chapter.


Chapter 24: From Bitter to Sweet

The sudden change of light burned their eyes as they stepped out of the dimly lit cave into the afternoon sunlight. Each of them lifted their hands to block out the sun as their eyes adjusted. "Damn that's bright!" Aura complained. He took out his phone to check the time, noticing his battery was almost dead as well. "Huh, we've been in that cave for about eight hours, so why is it still so bright out?"

Almost immediately after asking this to no one in particular, Aura had heard Diamond call to him in amazing awe. "Wow… Aura, you've gotta see this!"

Pocketing his phone and looking towards his mate, he waited for his eyes to adjust before seeing what had Diamond so excited. Walking up behind her, he stared off into the distance as the slowly sinking sun caused the shimmering ocean below to sparkle beautifully. "Whoa, I guess that explains it." They stood atop a lengthy plateau, looking out upon the ocean horizon, as the sun very slowly grew closer to sinking below the ocean. "Careful, Diamond. I don't want you to fall." Aura stepped towards the edge where his girlfriend stood, putting his hand on her shoulder and gently motioning her back a few steps.

She looked up at the human, an almost wishful look in her eyes before they returned to the setting sun, "Sorry, I've just never seen anything like this before."

"I can understand that, but I just don't want a repeat of what happened in Lumiose City." He looked over his shoulder, "Speaking of which. Dan, when do you think we'll reach the next town?"

The black-haired trainer chuckled, "If you haven't noticed, Aura, you can see Ambrette Town from here." Dan pointed along the path towards the distant rooftops of a town, "Judging by the distance I'd say we'd get there later tonight if we keep moving. But be careful, after a storm like the one yesterday these cliffs will probably be a bit unstable." Aura nodded and tapped the fox's shoulder, signalling her to follow closely as they traveled across the muddy plateau.

Aside from the partially unpleasant terrain, they were enjoying their time on the mountainous path, the ocean breeze was cool and calming, making the colourful flowers sway with a few pokemon relaxing within the waves of colour.

The group heard an aria of soft cries from overhead, looking up to see a flock of Drifloon and Drifblim slowly pass by along the calm wind. Lost in the relaxing quiet of nature, Aura began to silently think to himself, pondering whether they should try to get another member for their team. However, he was quickly brought back to reality when he heard Diamond let out a quick yip and fall against him, her white paws tightly clasped around his shirt as she hastily tried to avoid falling face-first into the mud. "Whoa, you okay there?"

With a quiet sigh, Diamond looked up to her mate, "Yeah, I'm okay. But could you help me? I'm stuck." Diamond looked to her feet, attempting to lift her leg which had sunk deep into the mud.

Adjusting himself to assist Diamond better, Aura instructed the fox not to move as he gently tapped the ground around him, making sure it was sturdy enough before making an attempt to free the Braixen. With one swift tug, he slowly managed to free the Braixen from her muddy shackle, placing her on a nearby stone. "There we go. Better?"

Looking at her mud covered paw, Diamond nodded with a sigh and a small smile, "Yeah, thanks for that..."

Diamond suddenly trailed off at she spotted something white hiding within the colourful waves behind her trainer, her ears perking up when a low growling resonated from the white mass before it quickly ran off through the flowers.

"Something up?" Aura asked, glancing behind him then back to the fox.

"I just thought I saw something, I think it was a pokemon."

Aura stood up, "Well if it was then we'd better stay on our toes. We can't say for sure what it wanted, but better safe than sorry." Glancing towards the setting sun and then to the town ahead, Aura let out a sigh, "Think you can wait until we get to town before cleaning your paw? There'd be no point if you end up sinking into the mud again." Diamond didn't argue, nodding in agreement before they continued on their way; keeping an eye out for whatever might be following them.


Nearly an hour had passed since Diamond had seen the white figure, and since then there hasn't been any signs of them being followed. The soothing sounds of nature left them feeling much more calm than before; however, the coming darkness still left them with a small bit of unnerve, fearing whatever might be following them would be shrouded in the darkness.

The small vixen shivered at the thought of them being in danger, glancing up to her mate's chest and thinking they might suffer from more than just scars if they get attacked.

Noticing Diamond's nervousness, Aura gently placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump a bit out of instinctual fear before quickly realizing it was only Aura's hand and relaxing. "It's gonna be alright, Diamond. If anything does attack us, I'm sure we can fend it off."

"I know, but I can't help it. I just feel uneasy knowing we might be in danger again, especially since we don't know what it is."

Aura pulled Diamond closer to his side, "I promise nothing will happen to you, let's just hurry to Ambrette Town so we can rest for the night, okay?" Diamond looked to the ground. She wanted to get to the Pokemon Center as fast as possible, and she knew being afraid wouldn't get them any closer.

With a sigh, Diamond looked back up to her mate, though before she could even mutter a word, they heard a twig snap in the thick foliage and watched as a four-legged figure suddenly leaped out at them, revealing itself to be an Absol. The moment it reached the peak of it's jump, the blade-like appendage on the side of it's head began to glow with a dark purple energy as it dove toward them.

As it drew closer to the group, a sudden flash of white light emerged from Aura's belt, arching to the ground in front of them with Prince soon coming into view. In one swift motion, the small Riolu raised his arms and steadied his feet, his fist glowing a bright orange hue as he swung it forwards. Both attacks collided into a flash of light and burst of smoke.

"Thanks for the help, Prince." The Riolu looked back to his master and nodded, though very quickly re-facing his foe with a focused gaze, not willing to let his guard down during a fight. Standing up, Aura stared at the Absol, "Why were you following us?!" He called, "We're just trying to-"

"Shut up!" The Absol barked, her voice filled with hatred, "I don't care what you have to say, human!" Without warning, a sphere of dark energy formed at the Absol's maw, and very soon it was sent rocketing towards the Riolu.

Prince leaped away before the Shadow Ball could make contact with him, creating an explosion of smoke where the Riolu once stood. The Absol growled again. Searing with anger, she opened her maw wide and began unleashing a barrage of Shadow Balls.

"Prince, Foresight!" The Riolu focused hard on the barrage, quickly dodging the attacks he could while countering others he couldn't dodge. A few rogue balls strayed past the Riolu and towards the other three, Aura just barely managing to create a wall of translucent energy to protect them, dispelling it only after the last ball had connected. "Why are you attacking us?" Aura shouted. The Absol leered at him with a scowl of true hate and malice.

The Absol bared her teeth as she snarled, "Grrrr-just shut up!" She barked violently, pouncing into the air as she prepared another attack, her blade-like horn glowing with the dark purple energy of Night Slash as she charged directly towards them.

Once again Prince jumped to intercept the attack, igniting a veil of fire around his leg while swinging it with heavy force directly at the Absol's head; successfully intercepting the attack and knocking her back.

Aura had had enough; he stepped forward and called to the Absol, "Look, just tell us why you're doing this! If something's wrong maybe we could help you!"

The anger and stress was catching up to the Absol, finally making her snap, "Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" She forcefully shook her head and glared at them, "I don't want to hear your lies! Just die already!" With a vicious roar, the Absol seemingly split into multiple copies of herself, each charging forward tailed by a streak of white light.

With how fast the horde of Absol moved, there was very little time for the Riolu to react; having less than a second to find and intercept the real one before it could reach the others. Relying on his instincts and prior training, he quickly jumped to the left, diving towards one of the Absol with his paw glowing bright orange, positive this was the real one, only for it to disappear as the Force Palm connected. Suddenly the rest of the Absol vanished as well, the only one remaining charging right past him.

As the dark-type swiftly approached the others, Aura's eyes quickly flashed blue for a moment before he suddenly pushed them all to the side. The Absol's claws narrowly missing the guardian as she passed overhead and landed behind them, slipping on the muddy surface and tumbling to the ground.

"You guys alright?" Aura asked, standing up and helping Diamond to her feet.

Diamond nodded, "Yeah, but how did you do that?"

Aura shook his head, "I don't exactly know, but we can figure it out later. Right now though," Aura turned to face the Absol, "we need to deal with her." Aura began walking towards the fallen pokemon, watching as she struggled to her feet clearly out of breath from the short yet intense combat.

Once she noticed Aura walking towards her, she growled and stepped back, "Stay away from me, human!" She barked, inching closer to the edge.

"Listen, I don't want to hurt you, I just want to know why you attacked us."

She took another step back, "I said stay back!" She repeated, slamming her paw into the ground in an attempt to intimidate the human, though this quickly lead to disaster as the cliff below her quickly began to crumble away. Absol wasn't even given a chance to save herself as the fragile dirt and rock broke apart under her weight.

It only took a moment for her to realize this was her end, almost feeling a sense of relief as she felt gravity pull her down towards her death, and in her mind she knew she deserved it. However, she was quickly jerked back to reality as she felt something grasp her ankle, looking up in shock to see the human she had just attacked.

Aura let out a sigh as he firmly held onto Absol's leg, "Don't worry. I got you." He grunted, struggling to hold up the Pokemon's weight.

Absol stared up at the human, waves of anger and confusion thrashing within her mind as she dangled in the air.

"I'm going to pull you up now, I just need you to stay-" Aura was suddenly cut off as the ground below him began to give way, dropping both him and Absol off the edge.

"Aura!" Diamond cried, rushing towards the cliff. The others following close. The Braixen peered over the edge, seeing her mate and the Absol lying motionless on a narrow ledge. "Aura!" Diamond called again, afraid for the worst. Her fears were quickly pushed away as she saw the guardian's arm move as he pushed himself up, swaying a bit before looking up in a daze.

"You alright, Aura?" Dan called down, standing next to Diamond.

Aura shook his head, "Yeah I'm okay, just a bit sore." That was an understatement, his whole body coursed with pain, not enough to cause alarm, but he didn't want to worry the others. He looked to the Absol laying a few feet away, crawling over to her motionless body to check on her as well; feeling relief as he saw her breathing. Sighing quietly, Aura looked back up the cliff, "Hey, Dan! Don't worry about me right now, just take the others to Ambrette Town and see if you can get some help! I'll see if I can find a way up in the meantime!"

"Alright, I'll try to get help as soon as possible," Dan agreed, stepping away from the ledge, though Diamond stayed peering over the edge.

"Diamond, I want you to go with Dan. I have some food in my bag and Stan is still in his ball. I promise that I'll be at the Pokemon Center as soon as possible." She silently nodded, backing away from the cliff out of Aura's sight. Sighing to himself, Aura turned his attention back to the Absol, "Might as well see if she's okay." Inching towards the canine Aura began to examine her body. He didn't know as much about medicine as Dan, but Alice had taught him a few basic things during their visit, along with some of the easier aura healing methods.

Following the steps he had been taught, Aura started looking for any physical injuries, not finding anything severe. It wasn't until he gently touched her ankle that he got a reaction.

Absol's leg quickly flinched away, enticing a loud gasp of pain from the Absol as her eyes shot wide open. It took her a moment to register where she was, but as her eyes laid on the human next to her she stared for a moment before scowling and trying to stand, only to quickly drop back down with another gasp of pain. "What the hell do you think you were doing?!" She barked through gritted teeth.

Aura spoke with a calm voice and kept a bit of distance as he briefly explained. "Don't worry, I was just checking to see if you were hurt." Still in her angered state, Absol had not yet taken in the fact that the human could understand her.

"I don't care for your help! Just stay away from me!"

"You will care for my help if you don't want your leg to get worse!" Silence surrounded them for a short while as Absol thought about what the human had said; finally realizing he understood every word she said. Aura sighed, all too familiar with this delayed reaction, "Listen to me, I don't want to hurt you, I just want to help; so you're going to have to trust me for now okay?" Aura tried to reach for Absol's leg, only for her to pull it away.

"Just because you can understand me doesn't mean I trust you!" Once again Absol tried to stand, yelping and stumbling to the ground like before.

"See? You can't even walk so let me help you!" Absol growled at him and all Aura could do was sigh at her. "Look, I don't know why you hate humans so much, but I promise I'm only trying to help you." She didn't respond, growling quietly as she faced away. "Fine, I guess we have no choice but to wait here until help arrives." Aura slid his backpack off his shoulders and set it against a rock as he picked a pokeball from his belt, enlarging it and popping it open to release the electric feline within.

Stan emerged from the white light with his usual cheerful smile, though it quickly changed to confusion as the Shinx noticed they weren't in town. "Um, Aura? Where are we?" Stan took a moment to look around, seeing they were stranded on a cliff with a strange pokemon laying near the edge. The curious Shinx looked to his trainer in question, "What happened?"

Aura kneeled down and pat Stan's head, "I'll explain it to you while I make supper, okay?" The Shinx nodded, glancing back at the Absol curiously before following Aura to gather a few branches for a fire.


The automatic doors opened as the trio entered the Pokemon Center, Prince walking close to Diamond as the Braixen quietly held her paws together and faced the ground.

Behind the counter the pink-haired nurse smiled at them as they approached. "Good evening, how can I help you?" She asked.

"I'd like to rent a couple rooms for the night? One for me and the other for a friend." Dan said, already pulling out his trainer card.

"Certainly, one moment." Nurse Joy typed at her computer and Dan quickly swiped his card through the scanner. The light turned green and Nurse Joy brought up a pair of keys from under her desk. "Here you are, Mr. Sanlow." As the pink-haired nurse handed him the keys, she noticed the two pokemon standing behind him, "Um, is everything alright?" She asked.

Dan glanced over his shoulder at Diamond and Prince, "Kind of. We had a bit of an incident with an Absol on our way here and their trainer got stuck on a cliff. He's okay but he sent his pokemon with me to get help."

Nurse Joy sighed and rubbed her head a bit, "Oh dear. Not again." She looked up to the trainer. "We've actually had reports of an Absol attacking trainers over the past couple months. And normally they rarely attack humans unless they are threatened."

"So do you know why it's doing it?" Dan inquired.

She sighed again, "Absol aren't all that rare around here, we don't know the exact reason but it's assumed it's because of how many accidents happen on those cliffs. Since Absol often appear as a warning of something bad coming, I guess some decided to make their home here so people will be a bit more cautious. But since so many of them lived here it was only a matter of time before a special one would be found."

Dan blinked and looked at her in confusion, "What do you mean by special?" He paused, "Do you mean a shiny Absol?"

Nurse Joy nodded her head, "That's right. It may have taken years, but a while ago a young trainer had actually found a shiny Absol while on their journey. Of course this drew lots of attention to them and Route 8, and it wasn't long until trainers came looking for another one. It was around then that the reports started about an Absol attacking trainers."

"That sounds horrible." Dan took another quick glance behind him. "Thanks for the info, Nurse Joy, but I think I should take these two and get something to eat."

"Alright then. I'll let you know if anything comes up. Have a good night." Dan nodded his thanks and lead the other two up the stairs and to his room for now.

Once they were in the room, Dan walked into the kitchen while Prince lead Diamond over to the sofa. Dan set his bag on the kitchen counter and began pulling out some bowls and a couple plastic containers of food. "Hope they don't mind having leftovers tonight." He said under his breath. Taking one of the large pots supplied by the Pokemon Center and setting it atop the stove, Dan began emptying the plastic containers into the cookware, adding some extra water and a few extra ingredients before turning on the burner.

As their supper slowly cooked, Dan took his pokeballs and released his pokemon one by one. Once he let Missy out of her ball, however, he noticed the tired look in her eyes as she sat with a sickly posture. Dan quickly asked if she was alright, squatting down in front of her. Missy shook her head a bit. "I don't feel too well," she groaned.

"Hmm. Maybe whatever Aura did to heal you is wearing off? I'll have to talk to him about it when he gets here. Think you'll be okay until then?" The Sylveon nodded. "Good. You go rest while I finish supper."

As the Sylveon started to walk away Nessa spoke up, "Excuse me, Daniel. But where is Aura?"

Dan rubbed his head and began explaining what had happened. Meanwhile, over on the sofa Diamond quietly stared at her paws while Prince continued to comfort her. "Are you doing any better?" He asked.

Diamond simply sighed. "Yeah. I know he'll be fine, but I can't stop thinking something bad might happen."

"Diamond. You and I both know Master Aura is more than capable of taking care of himself until he is rescued." Prince said.

Diamond looked to the window, her ears folding back slightly in concern as she saw the glass become steadily covered in water. With another sigh, Diamond quietly watched the rain fall as she mumbled under her breath, "I really hope so."


Back on the cliff Aura and Stan sat next to a small fire, Absol lying on the edge away from them. "Y'know, Absol. You can come and join us at any time," Aura said to her, leaning against the rocky wall of the cliff. Absol just looked in the opposite direction and mumbled under her breath. Aura sighed, "Listen. I don't know what happened that made you hate humans so much, but I really do just want to help you."

Absol didn't budge, staring off towards the ocean in silence. Within her mind she couldn't for the life of her understand what was going on; why this human is so persistent on helping her, a wild pokemon. A sudden cold drop of liquid hit her nose, making her flinch back a bit before looking up at the dark sky.

From behind, Absol heard the human begin to call to her. She glanced back to see him and the Shinx huddled in a small alcove in the wall. As the human ushered her over, Absol once again ignored them and laid back down. It wasn't too long until she heard more talking and soon she heard a voice close behind her.

"You know, Aura is a really nice trainer." The Shinx said. Walking up next to Absol's side and sitting down.

"I don't care." Absol sneered under her breath.

There was a short silence before the Shinx spoke again. "My name's Stan by the way." Absol said nothing. "Can you tell me yours?" Still silence.

Stan looked towards the ocean, a bit saddened that Absol wouldn't talk to him.

"Why don't you just go back to your human?" Absol asked with resent.

"Because then you'd be alone." Stan responded. It was silent again for a short while until the small feline spoke again, "Why do you hate humans?"

Absol glared at him, but sighed and looked back to the ocean. "Humans killed my family."

Stan just stared at her for a few seconds. "I'm sorry that happened. But that doesn't mean all humans are bad."

"I don't care what you think. You don't know what it's like."

"Actually, I do." Absol glanced over. "I never knew my family because I was sold after I hatched. The trainer who bought me would always put me through painful battle training, but I was never good enough so they ended up abandoning me. After a while I was captured by another trainer, and another, and another. My whole life I felt miserable, until Aura saved me." This peeked Absol's attention. "My previous trainer was the worst I'd ever had. He always beat me after I lost a battle and almost killed me in the streets in front of everyone. But Aura stopped him and saved me. After that I finally felt happy."

Absol looked away and thought about what Stan had said. "That does sound like a rough life. Maybe… maybe I was wrong."

Stan set his paw to her side, "Everyone makes mistakes." He told her. The two sat in silence as the rain came down.

"Tia…"

Stan turned, "Huh?"

"My name… My name's Tia."

Stan smiled at her, about to speak again before a bright light and shouting interrupted him. "Hey! Is anyone down there?" Poking his head out Aura looked up and saw some officers peering over the edge. The officer up front turned for a moment then called back, "Okay. Sit tight and we'll get you back to safety."

Aura nodded, "Looks like we're finally getting out of here." He turned and saw Tia staring at the humans above them. "Hey don't worry. After you're patched up at the Pokemon Center you'll be free to go. I promise."


After they had been rescued, the police took Aura and Tia straight to the Pokemon Center where they now sat in one of the many medical rooms. Once they had both been checked for injuries and Tia's leg was tended to, they were left alone as Nurse Joy went to inform the others of their return.

"I'm glad you decided to accept our help, Tia." The Absol suddenly went wide eyed as she looked over at the human.

"How do you know my name?" She asked.

Aura glanced away, "I overheard you and Stan talking… I'm really sorry about your family." Aura's fist tightened, "I can't stand those kinds of people."

Tia glanced over, surprised when she saw clear hatred in the trainer's eyes, hatred she hadn't seen before. She didn't want to admit it, but Tia had actually began to find trust in this human, even if only a little.

The two looked at the door as they heard voices behind it with the door quickly opening and Diamond rushing in with everyone else in tow. "Aura, are you okay?" She asked, holding onto the trainer's arm.

"Don't worry about it, Diamond. I'm perfectly fine aside from a few bruises." He assure. "And thanks for sending help, Dan."

Dan waved his hand, "No problem. I'm willing to help anytime."

Aura nodded in response and looked at Tia, "By the way guys. This is Tia." The Absol suddenly jerked as she heard her name.

Diamond glanced over, not realizing the Absol was even in the room when she entered, too focused on seeing Aura to care. The trainer turned his attention back to his mate, though he was a bit taken back when he saw the fox glaring towards the examination table in the middle of the room. "Diamond? Are you-"

Diamond suddenly pushed off Aura's side and stormed off into the hallway. Tia didn't know why, but she felt guilty as she watched the Braixen storm off. About to say something, Tia stopped herself and just laid back down facing the other direction.

"I'm sorry, Tia." She glanced back at Aura, "Diamond isn't normally like this, but I'm sure she'll come around." He stood up, "I'd better go see how she's doing." With that, Aura stepped out into the hall and spotted the fox sitting on a bench.

Aura slowly approached her and sat down, "Diamond? Are you okay?" He asked.

"I-I don't know… I just felt angry after seeing her." She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I'm sorry for storming off."

The trainer lovingly put his arm around her shoulders. "I can understand your anger. Tia did attack us and she had no reason to, but she has gone through a lot so we can't entirely blame her alone."

"What do you mean?" Diamond asked, looking up at her lover.

Aura wiped a tear from her eye, "When we were down there, I overheard Stan and Tia talking. Tia had lost her family to humans which is why she attacked. It doesn't mean what she did was right, but she was probably just scared and confused."

Diamond faced the wall, "So she lost her family too?"

"Yeah. But I think she's learned her mistake." They both sat in silence for a while longer. "How about you take tonight to calm down and think about this? Then tomorrow we'll see how Tia is doing. Okay?" Diamond nodded. "That's better." He stood up, "I'll go get the others, then we'll head upstairs for the night."

Getting a smile from the fox, Aura turned towards the room. "Aura?" He paused and looked over his shoulder. "I love you."

He smiled back, turning to kneel down at eye level. "I love you too, Diamond. I always will." After giving each other a quick kiss, Aura headed back to the room to fetch the others.


Finally this chapter is finished. I do apologize for the long wait but stuff has been getting in the way. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. It may be a while before chapter 25 because I want to write the next chapters for my other stories as well.