Hey everyone, I want to mention that I am trying out slightly different writing styles and methods. I am doing so partially because of what I have planned for the near future as well as to hopefully improve the quality of the story.

Sorry for the long waits between chapters, there is a lot of IRL stuff going on that has been making it very hard to focus properly, plus I have not had much motivation. So if chapters are sloppy, I'm sorry but I am getting to a point where if I want to get them done then I'll have to resort to shorter chapters or less than ideal quality. I will do my best to make sure the quality isn't too bad, but I will probably be overlooking some things.


=Reviews=

Timberwolfst: To be honest I have thought about the Pokemon Centers serving food and such, so I decided that yes they serve food but the reason each suite has it's own small kitchen is because some trainers prefer to cook for themselves and their Pokemon. Pretty much everything else will most likely be explained in the story. Also, I have realized the lingering issue with Aura's name sounding odd in certain situations, but too late to change it now. This is one reason why I'll refer to "aura" as "energy" or other words.


Chapter 27: A battle in the Void

It was nearing nine in the morning as Aura and Diamond were following a nurse to Tia's room. Earlier that morning another nurse had come by to inform Aura of Tia's rapidly improving condition.

They stopped in front of the door as the nurse unlocked it and turned to Aura. "Remember, she's recovered enough to walk on her own now, but please make sure she isn't on her feet too much for another few days. Okay?"

Aura nodded, "I'll make sure of it. Thanks."

"Of course. Have a nice day." With a small bow, the nurse walked back the way they came as Aura and Diamond entered the Absol's room.

Tia looked up at the sound of the door opening, giving a timid yet content smile as she saw the two of them. She sat up as Diamond came to the bedside while Aura calmly stood back with a smirk. "So, Tia. I heard you're doing better?"

The Absol shyly ducked her head, looking at her hind leg which was wrapped in a black splint. "Could be worse I suppose." She sighed, "So, what are you doing here?"

Aura stepped closer and gently pet her head. It felt a little odd to Tia, yet soothed her as well. "Well, since we heard that you've recovered enough to walk, we came to see if you wanted to join us all today."

She looked at the human as if asking for an explanation, which Diamond soon gave with a smile. "We're going to be taking the day off today, and since you've been cooped up in here for a while, we were hoping you'd also come for some fresh air."

Tia visually paused. She had already experienced Diamond and Aura's kindness, though it still came as a shock to her that anyone would be so friendly towards someone who attacked them with malicious intent. She felt touched, with a single tear building in her eye. Tia glanced away and nodded, "I… Yeah, I'd love to join you." She said.

"Great. Everyone else is outside waiting for us." Aura told her. Him and Diamond helped her off the bed and down the hall to the back doors of the Center.

As soon as they exit the building, the three headed to the table everyone else was sitting at with Tia shyly walking behind Aura.

"Hey. Hope you don't mind but we already started digging in." Dan said, popping a berry into his mouth.

Aura waved it off, "No big deal, I wouldn't have wanted to keep you all waiting."

Sitting on the wooden floor beneath the table, Stan paused with a mouthful of Pokemon Food as he spotted Tia, quickly swallowing and smiling at her. Seeing the small Shinx's kind smile made Tia feel a little better, giving a shy smile of her own.

"Here you go, Tia." They heard Aura say as he set down a bowl of food for the dark type.

"Uh… Th-thanks." She meekly said as Aura nodded and sat in his seat next to Diamond. Looking down at her bowl filled with a mixture of berries and Pokemon Food, she looked up as a pair of light-blue paws stopped next to the dish.

"I'm glad you came out here." Stan said, smiling at Tia. "I was getting a bit worried."

Tia felt flattered that, even after attacking them, they still somehow accepted her and cared for her well-being, although she still couldn't get over the guilt she felt. Feeling herself about to tear up from her emotions, she managed to push them back and respond with a small smile. "I'm glad I was invited." She quietly said.

Glancing down at her food, Tia hunched down to sniff it before taking one of the pieces into her mouth. It was delicious. Like nothing she had ever tasted before.

Seeing her face brighten up a little from the food, Stan looked back at his own bowl under the table and trotted over to it. With a little struggle Stan managed to pick up the bowl in his maw and carefully bring it back to Tia's side.

Setting down the bowl with a clunk, Stan smiled at Tia as the Absol looked at him, "Wanna eat together?" He asked, tilting his head cutely like a child asking permission.

Tia's smile grew slightly as she began to feel a bit more comfortable being around the small Shinx. Nodding her head, Tia watched Stan excitedly plop down next to her and take a bite of his food, soon looking back up at the occupied battlefields.

As the two sat in the warm sunlight watching trainers battling out on the fields, Tia felt a certain serenity that she hadn't felt in quite a while. The way everyone treated her like a close friend, she remembered the offer Diamond gave her the other day.

She looked back at Aura sitting at the table with Diamond by his side. Then she turned to the deck's edge to see Prince and Spyke sitting peacefully as the battles went on. Finally she looked at the Shinx sat beside her. Even when she was stubborn and rude towards him back on the cliff the night she attacked them, he acted kind and refused to leave her alone. And with Aura, she'd never have to feel that emptiness again.

With her mind made up, Tia let out a sigh and turned to face Aura. Clearing her throat, she opened her mouth to speak, but sadly nothing could come out before a booming explosion erupted nearby. Everyone covered their eyes as dirt blasted in every direction, shrouding the entire area in a plume of smoke.

"What the hell was that?!" Aura shouted, lowering his arm as the air cleared.

Standing not too far away was a single man wearing a long black cloak with his face hidden by a mysterious shadow that seemed to envelope his entire body. The man in black stepped forward, "Greetings, Grand Guardian!" He said in an ominous voice.

Aura quickly stood up from his seat and glared at the strange group. "Who are you? And what the hell do you want?!" He sneered.

The man laughed, "Who I am doesn't matter! I'm just here to bring you back to the boss!" He told him.

Able to clearly sense that things were getting dangerous, Diamond, Prince, and Stan all jumped in front of Aura ready to defend their trainer at any moment.

Rather than being intimidated by their efforts, the man simply grinned as if it were a big joke. "Tell you what. You can either come peacefully and spare your Pokemon the pain," the black energy around him intensified, "or I can take you by force!"

"We're not going to let some freak like you take Aura!" Diamond barked, swiftly unsheathing her stick and igniting it. Following Diamond's lead, Prince rose his fists while Stan began letting out sparks showing the two felt the same way as Diamond.

The wicked grin on the man's face grew even bigger. "You asked for it!" He laughed. Raising his hands from under his cloak, the man conjured a sphere of purple energy that soon burst into a wave of total darkness that quickly spread outwards. Despite the lack of light, it had left them all momentarily blinded as they heard the screams of terror abruptly stop with a sudden coldness engulfing them all.

Opening his eyes, Aura looked around in shock as the whole area seemed to be encased in some kind of black dome, every trainer and Pokemon trapped within seemingly frozen in time. Panic began to set in as Aura saw the motionless figures of his Pokemon before him, though somehow Diamond seemed unaffected as she glowed a very faint red.

"Diamond?"

The Braixen quickly turned around, almost tearing up as she noticed Aura was also somehow unaffected by the darkness. "Aura?" Even though she desperately wanted to jump into Aura's arms for comfort, she knew they were still in danger and did her best to stay strong. "What's going on?"

Aura shook his head, "I don't know." He told her, glancing down to see he was glowing as well, but rather than red his glow was blue. His neck snapped back to the strange man who was laughing maniacally. Aura's fists tightened with the blue energy growing brighter, "What the hell did you do?!"

The man in black stopped laughing with his sinister grin remaining, "I merely made sure that we are not interrupted, and that none shall see what will happen."

He lifted his hands with a dark shadow spreading across his body in a similar fashion to the glows emanating from Aura and Diamond. The two watched as black tendrils rose from the ground around him. As the man pushed his hands forward, the tendrils followed his movements and shot towards Aura and Diamond with great speed.

Aura didn't even have a chance to think as he felt a surge of power run though him, some kind of instinct taking over as he held his open hands in front of him with a blue barrier flashing into existence, successfully protecting him and Diamond as the tentacle-like appendages bashed into the shield and being pushed away.

"That was close," Aura whispered, glancing back as he remembered the others at the table.

As if reading his mind, the cloaked man laughed with the tendrils squirming by his sides. "You don't have to worry about me hurting anyone else. I'm only here for you!"

Despite being told this, Aura didn't want to take any chances. Diamond turned to him and nodded, seemingly thinking the same thing before the two of them quickly moved away from the deck and circled around to a more open space. The cloaked man watched them with an amused grin, finding their almost cliche attempt to keep others from danger laughable.

Now standing a safer distance from anyone else, Aura and Diamond eyed the man as he casually stood in place. His lack of movement left an unnerving feeling in Aura's gut, as if he was waiting for them to make the first move, causing the air to grow heavy with tension and anticipation.

With every passing second the air would feel colder and colder, now with each of their heavy breaths coming out as clouds of mist.

Finally, the cloaked man sighed defeatedly as he slowly pulled back his hood; his messy hair was a clean white with a blood-red streak on his left side, his menacing eyes were of separate colours with the right being a natural blue while the other almost glowing a dark purple. Across his left eye was a long scar that appeared to be fairly recent, running down his pale face from his brow to his cheek.

Sighing again, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his cloak and placed one between his lips, "You know, I was kind of hoping you'd attack first so I could at least have some fun," he paused as he lifted his hand with a black flame forming on the tip of his finger, igniting the cigarette before taking a long drag and blowing out a thick cloud of smoke. He glanced at Aura with a casual smirk, "But I'd rather get this done before lunch." He said, setting the cigarette back between his lips and lifting his hand once more. With a quick snap of his fingers, a swarm of black vines erupted from the ground and shot towards the duo at blinding speeds.

As if controlled by some kind of instinct, Aura managed to conjure a clear blue barrier around them moments before the tendrils could strike. Despite his amazing reaction speed, Aura blinked confused as he stared at his hands. "What the…" His mind went back to their first encounter with Tia on the cliff, "It happened again?" He mumbled to himself.

"I'm impressed." Aura shook his head and looked up to the white-haired man as he exhaled another cloud of smoke, "I wasn't expecting you'd have that much control quite yet. Although, I guess it should be expected from the Grand Guardian." Snapping his fingers again, many more vines burst from the ground near Aura, each swiftly wrapping around him and leaving him motionless. Another massive vine rose up as well and fired off at the constrained Guardian.

Before it could reach him, a blast of scorching fire intercepted the tendril which quickly exploded into a dark mist. The strange man stepped back in surprise from seeing his attack so easily countered, momentarily losing his focus on Aura's bindings, giving the guardian just enough time to adjust himself and conjure a sword of pure energy in either hand, forcing the sharp blades outward and eventually cutting his way out of the bindings and landing safely on the ground.

Aura looked at Diamond and nodded, "Thanks for that." He said, receiving a determined nod from the vixen as she held her burning stick firmly in her paws.

The white-haired man scowled in anger with the shadowing energy around him growing in size, "You know, you're really starting to get on my nerves, Grand Guardian." He spat, dropping his cigarette in the dirt.

"Look, buddy. I don't know who you are, or why you're after me." Aura stood back up and readied his blades, "But if you dare threaten my friends, I won't hesitate to kill you!"

The man held out his hands, creating a pair of purple blades similar to Aura's in each hand. "Fine by me." He growled.

In the blink of an eye, the man suddenly vanished without a trace. Diamond looked around in confusion, but Aura could somehow feel the man's presence, and it was right above him.

Jumping out of the way, Aura watched the man hit the ground and kick up a large cloud of smoke from the impact. Not long after, the man jumped from the cloud and charged at Aura, his blades collided with Aura's and sent out a shower of blue and purple sparks.

As the two of them engaged swords and attempted to overpower the other, the white-haired man quickly adjusted his blades just enough to throw Aura off balance before suddenly turning around and slicing through a large jet of fire that Diamond had launched only moments earlier.

Diamond watched in shock as the man glared at her through the falling embers. Before she could even register what happened, the man threw his sword at her like a javelin, cutting through the flames and making a direct like for the Braixen's chest. Luckily though, only seconds away from piercing Diamond's chest, the blade was intercepted by a bright blue sphere and the two burst into a could of smoke.

The man immediately spun around on his heel with another sword materializing in his empty hand. He quickly lifted the blades just in time to block a powerful strike from Aura's weapons. "Nice try." He taunted, pushing Aura back and charging at him.

The two rapidly clashed swords in a series of furious swipes and slashes, each trying to land a powerful blow on the other. Although the two appeared to be almost perfectly even in terms of skill and power, the cloaked man obviously had more experience as he soon began to gain the upper hand, but not for long.

While the two continued their fighting, Diamond was preparing an attack of her own. Focusing the fire on her stick, Diamond unleashed another large plume of scorching fire directly at the cloaked man, forcing him to avoid it while unintentionally leaving himself wide open for a few short moments.

Unable to not take this chance to land a solid hit, Aura immediately dispelled his swords and created two spheres of energy in their place, instantly fusing them together into one and thrusting the condensed energy directly into the man's chest.

The massive concentration of the attack not only blasted the man meters away, sending him skidding across the ground and forced to stab his blades into the dirt to stop himself, but it had also burned a hole right through the front of his cloak, exposing what looked like a necklace with a hazy purple jewel hanging from a pitch-black chain.

The man scowled, "That does it! No more going easy!" He shouted. His eyes turned pitch black as the energy around him suddenly erupted like an intense flame, completely incinerating his black cloak to expose his scarred and bruised body.

"Kyaaah!" Diamond screamed. Aura snapped his head in her direction to see the fox floating in the air surrounded by a hazy purple glow. She continued to scream in absolute pain as her entire body felt like it were being crushed and broken.

Aura froze as he watched his partner writhe in agony, allowing the man to charge across the field and tackle Aura with the force of over a hundred raging Gyarados. Aura couldn't stop himself as he flew across the field towards the black barrier the man had created.

With how fast everything had happened, it wasn't until Aura felt himself collide with the barrier that he noticed a group of small children a few feet away, directly in the path he had traveled at near mach speed. However, not a single one of them had budged, in fact, they appeared to be somewhat transparent.

As Aura looked at the people around him, he noticed they all seemed partially transparent as well, as if everything around them were nothing but an illusion. Before Aura could push himself up and continue fighting, the man already stood above him. The man slammed his foot into Aura's chest, causing a loud cracking sound to come from the Guardian as he started to cough up blood.

Slowly looking up, he saw the white-haired man holding his hazy purple sword only an inch from Aura's face. "You're far more trouble than you're worth. If you weren't needed alive then I'd have slit your damn throat already!" The man lifted his other hand and snapped his fingers, creating another purple haze that instantly began to envelope Aura and lift him into the air, bringing Diamond closer so the two were side by side.

"Who are you?!" Aura snarled, "I swear if you dare do anything to hurt my friends!"

The man cut him off, "I'd rather not waste my power on inferior beings!" he snapped back, glancing at the others still standing by the table. "And as for my name; well, you won't even be alive long enough to remember it!"

Suddenly Aura's body went completely numb before his vision became pitch black, the last thing he heard was Diamond scream his name before he fell unconscious.


Feeling returned to Diamonds body as she began to hear muffled voices around her. She groaned. The voices stopped for a moment as Diamond's eyes twitched and slowly began to open, her eyes taking a few seconds to adjust.

Blinking a few times, Diamond sat up and rest her paw against her head. Still in a daze, it took a minute for her to realize she was sitting on a narrow bed with everyone standing around her in a familiar looking room. Then she remembered.

Diamond shot up from the bed with the sheets flying off her chest as she frantically searched the room. "Where's Aura!?" She panicked.

Nessa rest her small hand on Diamond's arm, "I'm sorry, Diamond. But none of us know where he is. We were honestly hoping you would know." She told her wholeheartedly.

Tia's claws clinked against the metal frame of the bed as she somberly faced the floor, letting out a quiet sigh before facing Diamond. "All we know is that after that man showed up and used whatever dark powers he used to blind us, him and Aura were just gone! Like they'd somehow just vanished into thin air."

"N-no… This… This can't be happening!" Diamond's whole body trembled violently as her ears rang at a deafening pitch. "I have to find Aura!" She suddenly screamed. Diamond almost immediately jerked back with wide eyes as her vision became clouded and a strange feeling overcame her. It felt very familiar, yet so foreign to her. The blurred figure of a tall woman in white robes suddenly appeared in her sight, slowly nodding to the fox before vanishing just as abruptly. Although there were no words spoken, Diamond knew what the figure was trying to tell her as she began to sense an oddly familiar energy reaching out to her.

Diamond slowly blinked as her vision returned to normal. "Are you alright?" Prince asked, sensing a sudden spike of energy paired with Diamond's abrupt change in emotions.

The fox looked out the window, her eyes fixed on the nearby mountains as she nodded. "I know where he is." She muttered, facing the others with a determined gaze, "I know where they took Aura."

Everyone looked at each other, then back to the fox Pokemon. "What do you mean? How can you tell where he is?" Prince asked, everyone else wondering the same thing.

Diamond shook her head, "I don't know how, but I just know where he is," she looked back out the window, "I can feel it."

Before anyone could even say anything, Tia spoke up. "If you're going out there to find him, then I'm coming too!" Everyone looked at her as she continued, "Even after I attacked you guys, Aura still risked his life to save mine," she glanced back at her leg, "now I can't even bear the thought of losing him."

Stan flicked his tail side to side, feeling motivated from Tia's speech. "Me neither!" He said, "If Aura's in trouble, I'll risk my life to save him!"

Prince tightened his fists and nodded, "As would I." They all looked at Diamond, "So when do we leave?" Prince asked.


The four Pokemon stood at the entrance to a dark cave a few minutes away from town.

Diamond swallowed hard. Although everything that happened during the fight was nothing but a blur, she knew the potential danger that waited inside. She felt her fear start to set in as she peered into the darkness, but just the thought of Aura's life on the line outweighed her fear as she drew her stick from her tail and lit it ablaze. "Let's go." She said, stepping toward the opening.

Five minutes went by as the four of them made their way through the cave's tunnels. Diamond leading the way with the flame on her stick causing the walls to sparkle in the flickering light.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Prince asked, glancing down one of the dark corridors they passed by.

Diamond kept her gaze fixed ahead but still nodded.

From behind, Tia nudged Prince's shoulder to get his attention. "I'm sure she knows where we're going. We passed right through each fork without stopping and haven't reached a dead end yet." She said as if desperately trying to not come of as rude. Even if the others have accepted her, she still felt guilty for their first encounter and didn't want to make things worse.

Prince just sighed and glanced back. "You're right. I just worry about Master Aura." He told her honestly, momentarily dropping his stoic expression.

Diamond tightened her grip. She didn't want to admit it, but even she was beginning to doubt herself. She knew deep down that they were on the right track, but what if she was wrong. They all were relying on her to find Aura, but what if she couldn't?

As these thoughts bounced around her mind, she suddenly stopped in her tracks as she felt something. The others stopped behind her, though as it seemed nothing new was ahead of them, they all wondered why she suddenly stopped. Then they got their answer.

Out of no where, a flash of purple light appeared in the tunnel, immediately turning into a translucent purple wall directly between Diamond and the others. Diamond turned around and quickly slammed her paw against the barrier while the others did the same on the other side.

"What's going on?!" Diamond panicked, bashing her fist against the barrier.

Prince looked around the edges as Stan and Tia frantically bashed against the barrier as well. After none of their efforts made any progress, Tia stepped back and panted heavily, "It's no use!" She said. Tia walked up to the barrier and put her paw against it. "Diamond. You'll have to go without us!"

Everyone looked at her in panic, though soon Prince and Stan both nodded in agreement. "She's right. We can't waste our time sitting here while Master Aura is in danger. We'll just have to find another way around, if there is any."

Diamond thought for a second before nodding, "A-alright! But please hurry!" They all nodded before Diamond pushed off the wall and started running down the tunnel. "I'm coming, Aura!" She thought to herself.

It didn't take long for her to spot a light coming up at the end of the tunnel. Being cautious, she quickly slowed down and sheathed her stick before quietly walking towards it, ending up in a massive cavern with lots of tents and supplies.

Her ears twitch as she heard someone speaking around a corner, so doing her best to not make a sound she snuck up to a large boulder and peered around it. What she saw made her heart sink.

In the center of the room stood a tall man in a black suit with a shorter man next to him wearing a white coat. But what got her attention the most, was the large purple dome they stood by. Inside the dome, Aura hung from it's ceiling by two glowing black chains connected to his wrists. Without warning, Aura began to let out painful shouts as his body glowed with a similar dark energy before returning to normal.

The tall man grinned wickedly as he watched Aura suffer. He let out a short chuckle as he casually pulled a cigar from his coat pocket along with a lighter. "It seems your help has arrived, Grand Guardian." He said, glancing back as Aura weakly lifted his head to see what he meant.

The moment the man flicked open his lighter, Diamond heard growling behind her but wasn't able to react quick enough as a Mega Houndoom pounced from the shadows and tackled the fox to the ground.

"Diamond!" Aura shouted, trying to pull himself off his restraints.

The man laughed to himself as he blew out a cloud of smoke. "Why don't you stay a while and enjoy the show?" Once again, Aura cried out in pain as his body was covered by the dark energy once more.

"Aura!" Diamond cried as she was forced to helplessly watch as another wave of energy covered Aura while he let out another shout of pure agony. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she dug her claws into the dirt, then she got an idea.

Diamond filled her paws with dirt and was about to attempt to blind the Houndoom for even a second, but it didn't work as the Houndoom noticed her paws and quickly moved his paws and slammed down on hers, making her scream in pain.

The Houndoom grunted with it's tail flicking side to side, "Nice try, bitch! But i'm not-GAAH!" Exhaling a spiraling flame at the ground, Diamond created a twister of fire and dirt just big enough to blast the Houndoom's eyes, giving her the chance to pull her hands out from under the Houndoom's paws and push him off her.

Hearing the commotion, the tall man turned around to see the Houndoom rubbing his eyes while Diamond swiftly drew her stick and created a glowing white blade, slashing at the Houndoom's eyes and cutting across them. But before she could land another hit on the Houndoom, it opened it's large mouth and fired off a Dark Pulse directly at her, sending her flying backwards into another boulder. "Just because I can't see, doesn't mean I can't find you another way!" The Houndoom snarled.

The tall man looked at Diamond with a cocky grin before walking up to her. She felt the man grab her neck and hoist her into the air. Diamond desperately clawed at his hand to try and break free but to no avail as the man slammed her back into the boulder with a sphere of black energy forming in his other hand.

Still trapped inside the barrier, Aura felt his stomach churn and his heart almost stop as he watched Diamond's eyes dilating with tears trailing down her cheeks.

"I'll always be there for you." His voice echoed in his mind. "I promise." He muttered.

Time slowed as Aura's body became completely enveloped by a raging blue flame as a beam of blue light shot from Aura's chest, piercing through the barrier and connecting with Diamond's body as the faint red glow around her body slowly began to get brighter. The man was forced to drop her as his hand began to burn.

"What the hell is going on?!" He shouted.

Diamond's body gently floated in the air, her wounds quickly recovering and the pain subsiding. All of a sudden, the bright red light around her burst out before everything went white.


Aura's eyes slowly opened to find himself in a familiar large white room. It didn't take him very long to recognize it as he began scanning the room for Arceus, but instead of finding the Legendary Pokemon, he spotted Diamond lying on a clean white sofa fast asleep.

He rushed over to her and started to gently shake her, repeatedly saying her name.

Diamond groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, though as she saw Aura standing above her, a wave of worry and relief washed over her as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around him. "Aura!" She cried.

"It's alright, Diamond. I'm here for you. We're okay now." He told her. After a minute of holding each other, the two pulled apart so Aura could wipe away Diamond's tears.

The fox cautiously looked around, "Aura? Where are we?" She asked, curiously looking around at the massive room.

"The hall of origins." They heard a womanly voice echo.

Aura calmly turned around to finally see Arceus sitting upon her throne. Diamond, on the other hand, was frozen in shock from the sight of the Legendary Pokemon. "L-Lady Arceus?!" She whispered, Arceus nodding her head in response.

"I am sure you both have many questions about the events that recently occurred." She said.

Aura paused for a second. "I guess the first thing I wanna know is who those people were, and what did they want from me?"

"The ones you speak of are refered to as the Corrupted Guardians. Aura Guardians who have been overtaken by darkness. And as for what they want from you, well…"

"Yes?"

Arceus let out a sigh, "I'm sorry. But that is something I can not say."

This time Aura let out a sigh of his own, "I kind of figured as much. But could you at least tell me why there are some things you can't tell me?"

Arceus paused for a moment as she thought it over. "I suppose I can at least do that much. The reason I must withhold information, is the exact same thing that the Corrupted Guardians are after. But I promise you will learn the truth, it will just take time."

Although vague, Aura decided it was the best he'd get for now and chose to move on. "So what if the Corrupted Guardians come back?"

Arceus gave them a heartwarming smile, "I can see why you would worry, but I can promise you can rest easy knowing they can not risk doing anything to harm you for quite some time now, otherwise they could very well lose everything they hope to gain."

Aura actually let out a sigh of relief, "So I guess I'll have to use this time to train?" He asked.

Arceus shook her head, "Normally I would say yes, but you had most of your energy drained during the fight and as such you will not be able to use your abilities for a few days until it is replenished."

Diamond looked up at Aura worried, but he simply shrugged it off, "I guess that's all I have to ask for now."

Arceus closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh, "Very well. But there is one last thing before we part ways. And I am truly sorry for this but, to assure you both can rest easy, I must lock away your memory of your encounter with the Corrupted Guardians." She told them in a hurt tone, her voice slightly wavering as she went on. "I know it sounds rash, but I truly do not want you to relive that horrible experience ever again."

Aura watched Arceus turn her head, swearing he saw a tear fall from her eye.

"Alright." He said. "If that's what you need to do, then I won't complain."

Arceus blinked at him before slowly nodding. Suddenly both Aura and Diamond's vision became clouded as they began to feel themselves falling unconscious.

"I'm sorry, my child."


I had hoped to get this chapter out at least two weeks ago, but stuff got in the way so it was late. I know this chapter is a bit rough and quite different I feel from the chapters leading up to it, but as I stated at the start I am going to be doing some adjustments to my writing, the fight scenes for example. Considering what I have planned, the lack of actual danger and the threat of death wouldn't have fit very well if a majority of the story was all happy and safe. So I decided to include such things into the fights. Of course they won't be as serious during normal battles, but it does give more to other scenes.

Anyway, I don't wanna keep this going for too long so I'll leave it at this. Thank you for reading and I hope to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.