This is the fourth of four chapters today.


"Can I use Volt Crash on it again?" Pikachu asked.

"That's probably not a good idea," the local Lucario said, raising his paws. "I suspect that it might bounce off. Regice is quite reflective."

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that," Pikachu protested.

From the other side of the crackling wall of fire, a burst of near-electronic noise issued in Regice's voice. "Attack has missed. (A)bort (R)etry (F)ail?"

"Abort," Aaron's Lucario called, raising his voice. "Abort! Do not continue attacking!"

"Continue selected," Regice declared. "Attack mode: Icy Wind."

A torrent of icy wind blasted the flame wall away, and crashed into a Protect wall set up by the youngest Lucario present – Ash's partner. Ice crystals formed on the glowing green wall, making something thick enough that when the attack finished it was able to stand by itself.

Then Regice promptly smashed it with an Ancientpower.

"I think I have a plan," Ash's Lucario declared, springing into the air and clinging to the side of the rock face. "Just let me get close to it for a minute or so – I'll keep it focused on me once I do, but it needs to be out in the open."

"Oh, that fire-ice vortex attack?" the messenger asked. She darted in close to Regice, punching it in the face, and the attack it was preparing went wide. "We're all very impressed by that in the Kingdom, by the way."

"That's right."

"I know how to lure it," Riolu volunteered. "Who here can do Aura Spheres?"

"Everyone except Casey," Pikachu said promptly. "Unless she's learned something when I wasn't looking."

"Error 0x000452FE: Being Punched," Regice stated. "Running blzrd_exe."

The female Lucario found herself blasted backwards by a torrent of wind mixed with slush, snow and hail – one which sent her flipping into the air, doing a complete cartwheel before landing sure-pawed on the icy surface the attack had created.

"Aura Sphere!" Riolu called, throwing a ball of blue Aura straight at the Ice-type Legendary. It hit home with a bang, making Regice flinch back a little, and Riolu stayed in view for just long enough to be sure it knew she'd thrown it before ducking down out of the way.

"What are you doing, Riolu?" Casey asked.

"It's my plan!" Riolu told her. "If we keep provoking it, we can keep it moving this way – it's picking whoever attacked it most recently as the biggest threat."

"Right!" Ash agreed. "So if we keep it changing targets, we can avoid anyone actually being hit!"

He spun up an Aura Sphere. "Okay, my turn – Lucario, be ready to do it next!"

"I assume you mean me?" Aaron's Lucario checked.

"That's right!" Ash called, and threw his Aura Sphere.

The blue orb hit Regice, making it react – mainly in that it turned towards Ash, eyes flashing. "Engaging Lock on. Caution." it stated. "Memory use at ERROR percent."

Ash ducked behind a rock as Regice fired a blast of ice at him.


"I believe I do understand," Queen Ilene said, nodding along as Kris finished the explanation. "So, if I may state the simple form in my own turns."

Charmander nodded.

"You're not sure which name you should select," Ilene summarized. "Partly because you've got an opportunity to choose one, and you want to make sure you make the right choice."

"That's it exactly," Charmander agreed. "And – well, I didn't give much thought to the idea before, because a lot of trainers don't use nicknames and because… I never expected to get the choice."

Queen Ilene clasped her hands together, listening as Kris supplied a translation, then smiled. "Well, allow me to commend you on your choice of advisor – I am, as it happens, one of the very few people who has had to think about choosing a name."

"You have?" Charmander asked. "But… how?"

"My name is Queen Ilene," the ruler told her. "But my full name is Rin Eileen Sayaka Kikuchi of Rota. My regnal name was one I selected myself before my coronation, and technically I am Queen Ilene IV as I am the fourth queen of Rota to choose Ilene as my regnal name."

She waved a hand. "I chose Ilene as it was one of the ones which was relatively unused, and because it's one of my names. I could have chosen just about anything, in theory – but I wanted to use one of the names I grew up with, and I did not like the sound of being Sayaka VIII or Rin XIII."

Charmander frowned, one clawed paw going to her chin. "I think I get it… but I've not really got much of a choice myself, I've only grown up being called Charmander."

"You don't need to use a name which you grew up with, that was my personal preference," Queen Ilene clarified. "Do you have a shortlist?"

"I do," Max supplied, digging the list out of his pocket. "I thought up a few names earlier, and – well, I hope some of them look good. I mean, if she changes her mind, we can change it."

"An advantage queens don't have," Ilene said with a chuckle. "Well… let's see…"

She perused the list, then nodded to herself.

"If you want my opinion, this one looks quite good," she said, showing it to Charmander. "It's got several meanings."

"Corona?" Charmander repeated.

"Yes – firstly, the sun has a corona, which is related to the Fire type!" Max said, eager to explain. "And it's got an -a ending, which means it's a name that sounds female."

"And it's also quite a royal name," Ilene added.

Max blinked. "It is?"

"Yes – corona means crown," Ilene told him and Charmander. "It's a very old word."

"Corona," Charmander said, trying out the word. "Okay, I think we can give that a try!"

"Great!" Max beamed. "Thank you, your Majesty!"

"I'm sure you would have come to the right decision yourself," Queen Ilene said. "And if it does sound wrong after a while, don't keep with it just because I suggested it."


"How much longer do we have to do this?" Ash asked.

"It's nearly on an area big enough for the spiral," his Lucario answered. "Just a few more seconds."

He paused. "Wait. It's… stopped moving?"

After several seconds of silence, Aaron's Lucario came out of cover and walked forwards.

"It certainly seems to have stopped moving," he said. "Hm."

Regice's eyes blinked a steady pattern, the same one every time – and the only movement it was making apart from bobbing up and down.

"Out Of Memory Error," it declared.

"Should we just… keep going?" Ash asked. "If it's not going to move, I mean."

"Somehow I feel I've been denied of a chance to show off," his Lucario sighed, jumping down from the rock face again.


"It seems kind of strange for a tree to have such large spaces inside it," Ash said, his voice echoing.

"As I understand it, the Tree of Beginning is like most normal trees – only the bark of those is alive," Lucario explained.

"So this is largely a support structure?" Lucario asked.

"Mostly, yes," Lucario agreed. "However, while most trees draw water up through their bark, the Tree of Beginning has to channel life force and as such contains channels and cavities such as this one. The walls of the tunnel are the important sections, and the honeycomb structure makes it easier for the Tree to support itself as it is lighter."

"...okay, so it's like bamboo," Ash hazarded. "That's hollow, right?"

Aaron's Lucario considered that.

"Why not."

"I never knew something like this existed," Casey said, jogging up behind them. "You hear about stories of places like the Hall of Origin, or Spear Pillar, but this makes me realize a bit of what it's actually like there."

"Well put," Riolu agreed, staring up into the cavernous depths of the Tree. "I am humbled to be able to see this."

"I'm surprised you're not more impressed, Ash," Casey went on.

"I am," Ash protested. "It's just not the first time I've seen it."

Casey nodded. "Yeah, you said, but… that Regice thought you were Sir Aaron. Shouldn't it have – wait, no, hold on, there was that other thing you said..."

"You may as well just tell her," Pikachu said. "You were going to before."

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Okay – here's the really short version. I'm a time traveller."

"That does – wait, what?" Casey gasped, interrupting herself. "Time travel? Actual go-back-in-time time travel?"

She blinked. "Or, wait, are you actually Sir Aaron shrunk down or something? Did you go forwards?"

"Ash is not Sir Aaron," the local Lucario said. "I'm completely sure he is not an age-reverted version of Sir Aaron, though I have to admit I'm not completely sure he's not going to be thrown back in time hundreds of years and become Sir Aaron later on."

He glanced at Ash. "I hope not, though. That did not end well."

"Okay, so what-" Casey began, then was interrupted by a metallic shriek.

Pikachu jumped from Ash's shoulders, intercepting a blast of electricity and funnelling it into his cheeks to absorb it before he hit the ground. "Looks like Registeel arrived," he said, skidding to a halt.

Registeel's eyes lit up in a circle. "MUTEX failure STOP 0x000534 0x543845"

"...that sounds even worse than the first two," Ash said. "I didn't get close to understanding what that meant… uh… how do we deal with this?"

Pikachu let his cheeks spark up. "I know a way."

"We should avoid damaging the walls," Aaron's Lucario pointed out. "They're the part of the tree which is alive, remember – if they become too damaged, we could have problems with the immune system again."

"Oh, that thing," Ash agreed, wincing. "Yeah, there's a reason I left Dexter behind."

"Right, I'm out of ideas," Pikachu said promptly. "Anyone else?"

"We will need to defeat it in close combat," the Royal Messenger stated, taking her stance. "That way we will avoid damaging the Tree."

"Sounds like a plan," Ash's Lucario agreed. "I know just what will work, as well."

He held his palm out straight, like a knife, and his spike flowed into a new shape as he used Metal Claw – forming a slim blade paralleling the line of his paw, then flashing blue with Aura as he activated Sacred Sword.

"Ash, Riolu, Casey – get clear," he said. "Pikachu, we'll need your help."

"Got it," Pikachu agreed, running forwards to jump onto Lucario's shoulder as they approached Registeel. "What do you need me for?"

Registeel fired out another Shock Wave, which promptly flowed down into Pikachu's cheeks.

"That," Lucario explained succinctly.

"Oh."

"Force Palm!" Aaron's Lucario announced, slamming his Aura-infused paw into Registeel's side with a loud clang.

Registeel's eyes flashed all at once. " not*** _Precaución, se ha superado el subsidio cinética de este sistema."

It reached out and grabbed Ash's Lucario's arm, then let go when Pikachu slammed an Iron Tail into it at the same moment as the Sinnoh Lucario kicked it in the side.


"This is something amazing to watch," Riolu said, wincing at the clang as Aaron's Lucario blocked a punch from Registeel and nearly went over backwards from the force. "Back at the Lucario Kingdom, I saw training sessions once or twice where three or four of the knights would battle at once – but never as seriously as this."

"It's because they're keeping us safe, I think?" Ash suggested.

"That makes sense," Riolu agreed. "It's serious because they're trying to stop us from being hurt."

She looked down at her feet for a moment. "I should be strong enough to be out there with them."

"You don't need to feel bad about that," Ash reassured her. "Pokémon can grow up just as fast as they want to – some of my Pokémon have been really quick to become serious, but others enjoy being playful instead. It's a choice."

"He's right," Casey said, taking Riolu's paw and squeezing it. "I wouldn't mind if you evolved right this minute, or if you never evolved at all – Riolu, it's you that matters, not whether you're a Riolu or a Lucario or anything."

She looked up at Ash. "So, I mean – I guess we have a minute, so… time travel?"

"Right," Ash agreed. "I came back from about… a bit less than two years into the future, while I was travelling in the Decolore islands, and I arrived the day I set off on my Pokémon journey. I can do a thing with Aura which means some of my closest friends can be reminded of what happened, so they're sort of time travellers too."

"And me?" Casey asked.

"I didn't know you anything like this well last time," Ash told her. "I liked you – you were a friend – but we didn't meet very often."

"Sir Ketchum?" Riolu said, raising her paw. "...I want to ask something."

"Go ahead," Ash nodded.

"Did you know to ask the Lucario Kingdom for me because Casey had me last time?" she asked.

"I didn't know, no," Ash said. "And that's because… last time, Casey didn't have a Riolu."

He shook his head. "I didn't ask because it was something that had to happen – it was something which I thought would be nice, and it fit with Casey's normal choice of Pokémon to see if it was possible."

Ash turned back towards the now-invisible town of Rota, and gestured. "About three years ago is when I first met Riolu – the second time around. It was pretty much pure chance that he happened to be a Riolu I saved in Sinnoh the first time around, but..."

He swallowed past the lump in his throat. "Now I can't imagine travelling without him. And – well, with Sir Aaron's Lucario with us, it's got me thinking about what happened here the first time around, and Aaron's Lucario died in this tree, and..."

"It sounds to me," Riolu ventured, "as though you've been doing a great job since you came back in time making sure things don't go wrong."

"I hope so," Ash agreed.

"Ash!" Lucario and Pikachu shouted, almost at the same instant.

The two humans and one Riolu turned, and saw Registeel lumbering towards them at a speed that was shaking the ground.

"It changed behaviour!" Sir Aaron's Lucario called, sprinting after the Legendary.

Riolu's paws slid apart into a stance. "Casey, look out!" she said, raising Aura-glowing palms. "I'll try and stop it!"

"Riolu, no!"

Ash's hands went to his hip, and there was a golden burst of light.


"Ash, are you okay?" Pikachu asked urgently.

As the flash-blindness cleared, they could see Ash – still standing, but panting heavily – with Registeel staggering backwards in front of him.

His sword's glow subsided back down to bare steel, revealing the presentation sword beneath.

"No more toying around," the Royal Messenger called. "Lucario, your trainer has his Key Stone – use that Lucarionite the Kingdom has offered you!"


Ash heard what the female Lucario had said, and dropped his sword with a clatter on the hard ground – unlimbering his staff with both hands, and focusing.

There was a bright orange flash as the Lucarionite activated, energy spreading over Lucario's body in a moment.

"You had it behind your ear?" Pikachu asked. "Really?"

Lucario shrugged, then his body began to change. The fur on his chest lengthened and spread over his tail, becoming shaggy, and his thighs slimmed to a much smoother curve. Spikes proliferated, going from three round spikes to nearly a dozen much more bladelike protrusions, and his Aura-sensing appendages became longer and more irregular.

As the glow faded, a colour change was also apparent. Black stripes extended into the areas which had been blue, and his paws became tinted with a deep red.

"You used this for Baccer?" Aaron's Lucario asked.

"Not the time!" the royal messenger replied.

Mega Lucario turned to identify Registeel's position, then burst forwards with a blue flash of Aura. His palms flashed azure as he built a pair of Aura Spheres – one in each paw – then smashed them together, barraging Registeel with a swarm of hundreds of smaller seeker spheres.

"Error -1310: there is no message for this error," Registeel informed them, as Mega Lucario barrelled down on him.

Adjusting his footing, Mega Lucario kicked Registeel bodily into the air with an almighty clang which echoed off the walls.

"Wow!" Casey gasped.

"Look out for the walls!"Aaron's Lucario snapped.

Mega Lucario crouched for a fraction of a second, and kicked off after Registeel – blurring after the Steel-type Legendary fast enough to catch up with it before it hit the roof. He slammed a Force Palm into it which knocked it back towards the floor and sent Mega Lucario recoiling towards the ceiling, then twisted in midair and used a huge burst of Aura out of his feet to avoid hitting the Tree of Beginning's cavern himself.

Registeel's sheer weight meant that Mega Lucario's blows weren't moving it very fast, and the quick-and-dirty copy he'd done of Aaron's Lucario's flight technique meant that the Fighting-type could actually move faster than the falling Registeel. He boosted hard enough to catch up again, then crouched in midair and hit it with a two-pawed heavy kick.

There was an unmusical crash as Registeel bounced off the floor, then went pinwheeling out of the entrance and hit a rock spire.

"Guru meditation required," it managed, then got buried by the resultant landslide.

"...well, that was quick," Pikachu said, rubbing his rump. "You know you left me behind when you took off?"

Mega Lucario rose from his landing crouch. "Sorry about that."

"And you!" Pikachu added, rounding on Ash. "What was that about? You know that's dangerous!"

"I'm okay, Pikachu," Ash protested, breathing more easily now. "I've been training that for a while, and it was only one Secret Sword."

He reached into his pouch, checking the weight of a small drawstring bag. "And – no, before you ask, I didn't actually use any of the Sacred Ash."

"Still," Pikachu said, shaking his head.

"It's gone, right?" Casey asked. "I saw Lucario – uh, Mega Lucario – kick it into the air, then punch it towards the ground, then kick it out the door… but after that I lost track."

"Clearly something else your love of baseball has made you good at," Aaron's Lucario chuckled. "Tracking something moving that fast is impressive."

"Thanks," Casey said, then blinked. "Wait – Riolu!"

"I'm right here, Casey," Riolu assured her.

"But you – why did you-" Casey seemed lost for words, then had another try. "Riolu, I was so scared when you tried to-"

"I did it because I was scared for you!" Riolu told her. "It's because otherwise I thought you'd be hurt, and because you're my trainer, and – and my friend."

Casey stood there for a moment, then swept Riolu up in a hug.

"Don't scare me like that," she told her Fighting-type.

"Ack!" Riolu protested, arms flailing. "Stop doing that to my ribs!"

"...is it me..." Mega Lucario said, frowning as he walked over, "...or is she glowing?"

Riolu's glow brightened until it lit the whole cavern for a long moment, throwing long shadows across the walls from everyone standing around.

As it faded, Casey slowly let go of her friend – who was now tall enough they were at about the same height.

"Congratulations," the royal messenger said, a smile on her muzzle. "Both of you."

"Lucario?" Casey said. "You evolved?"

"I… guess I did?" her Lucario said, examining her wrists. "Casey – are you alright?"

Casey looked confused, until Lucario tapped her spike – then the young trainer reached for her ribs, finding a little spot of pain just to one side of her sternum.

"It's okay," she said, unable to repress a smile. "I don't mind."

"At least your ribs are safe, Lucario," Aaron's old friend said. "And allow me to add my congratulations."


"Thanks for the practice battle, Brock," May said, returning Wartortle. "After the last week or two I kind of want to get back into the groove."

"That's understandable, all right," Brock agreed, bringing Geodude back. "Let's see how you handle Forretress!"

May watched as the Bug-type flashed out onto the battlefield, then sent out her own – Beautifly forming with a flicker of white light, and sweeping around in a spiral to rise into the air before producing a sparkle of powder.

"Impressive entry," Brock complimented.

"Thanks," Beautifly said, fluttering down a little. "Okay, let's see… first question, is that actually Forretress? If it is I don't want to get close to her."

"Forretress, use Zap Cannon!" Brock ordered.

Beautifly flipped backwards out of the way of the attack, which came close to her but missed.

"I'm not sure if it is," May agreed. "That could have been an illusion."

"You could always let it hit you, Beautifly," Brock suggested. "Just to see if it's really an Electric attack."

"But if it is one, that'll paralyze me and nearly knock me out," Beautifly countered. "May, did you see what the Pokéball was?"

Brock quickly hid it behind his back.

"I think it was a Heavy Ball," May said, then blinked. "But – wait, that's Stantler in the crowd, he could have disguised what the ball was."

"So it's either Forretress or Ninetales?"

"Maybe it's Stantler, and the Stantler in the crowd is Ninetales," May mused. "But… okay, I think I'm getting a headache – wait!"

"Oh?" Beautifly asked.

"Fly up high!" May said. "No, higher – a bit higher – good!"

Another Zap Cannon flashed up at Beautifly, which missed.

"Now, use String Shot!" May instructed. "And Silver Wind!"

There was a vulpine yelp from the middle of the arena, and Ninetales appeared from nowhere. She dove for the edge of the battlefield, hiding behind her trainer just before a sticky glitterbomb detonated and covered the entire battlefield.

"I'd have made you wash me if that hit me!" Ninetales snapped, tails writhing around one another.

"Sorry," May said. "But still… I think we should remember that one."

"Never sparring with Beautifly again," Ninetales declared.

"I agree!" Stantler called.

Brock wiped some of the gunk off his shoes. "These are going to have glitter on them for days..."

"We should probably incinerate it before we continue," Beautifly admitted. "I don't think Ludicolo would do well on this."


"Thanks, Lucario," Casey said, sighing. "This has been a lot more of a climb than I was expecting."

"I'm glad to help," her Lucario replied, proffering her hand again to help haul Casey up onto the ledge. "Lucario, how much further is it?"

"We're here," Aaron's Lucario informed her. "This is the Tree's heart, focus of all the life energy it channels… and the last resting place of Sir Aaron. He died here, and his body is entombed within that spire."

A hush fell after that, as everyone gathered around the crystalline structure that held Aaron's body.

"I regret I never knew you," Ash's Lucario said softly, kneeling in front of the construct. "You were a hero of mine, and you have helped my trainer even from beyond the grave – I owe you a great deal."

"Well said," the Royal Messenger told him.

"Are those the time flowers?" Ash asked.

"They are," Aaron's Lucario confirmed. "I took pains to gather them all from the Tree – so they are all here, where I sometimes come to meditate."

As he spoke, however, one of them lit up.

"Does that usually happen?" Casey's shiny Lucario asked.

"...no, it does not," Aaron's friend said, concerned. "They should not activate without stimulus."

The flower glowed, then showed them a few seconds of a bizarre scene – a Riolu, wearing a scarf and a badge, repeatedly kicking a Moltres in the leg.

When the Time Flower deactivated again, the Lucario and their friends exchanged shrugs.

"I don't understand it, but perhaps I'm not supposed to," Aaron's Lucario said.

"That Riolu almost looked familiar," Ash mused. "But I'm sure I don't actually recognize them… it's weird."


Mew appeared in his tree with a flash of pink light, and pouted.

Sabrina was really cool, most of the time, but sometimes she was just boring instead.

How come she just has to handle challengers when they turn up? Mew asked herself, tail flicking back and forth. I thought that game of House Rules Parcheesi was going great!

Mew knew that it wasn't really something to be upset about. After all, Sabrina did have a job.

But she was having a pout, and it was a good one so she was going to keep it up.

As the Psychic-type flew along the corridors, he noticed a blue glow lighting the walls.

Regice, if this is you… he muttered to himself, and followed the light towards the Heart. I've told you before, and I know you just say invalid input but I did say!

Mew burst out of the corridor into the Heart cavern itself, and blinked – turning upside down and scratching her head with her tail.

I could swear there weren't this many Lucario here normally...


"I see," Casey's Lucario said, focusing the Aura to a rippling pattern along her pawpads. "So it's just about providing energy? That's all there is to healing?"

"It's the start of the process, not the end," Aaron's Lucario corrected. "The Tree is old and powerful, and can accept energy easily – that is why I do this regularly, to keep in practice. But this kind of healing will keep someone from dying… not actually heal them. They must heal in other ways."

"When we did this the first time, the Tree was badly hurt," Ash said, for the benefit of those who hadn't heard the story, and indicated Aaron's Lucario. "We were the only ones here… and it drained us really badly. I was okay, after a rest, but Lucario… he killed himself doing it."

"I wanted to be with Sir Aaron," Lucario agreed. "I see now that it was selfish of me, in that… but at the same time, I could not have done anything else. The tree had to be healed – and that meant I had to choose to either let you die or to die myself. And Ash, after Sir Aaron died doing the same thing… I could not let you die like I let him die."

"You had no control over whether Sir Aaron died," Ash's Lucario protested. "He trapped you in the staff precisely to prevent you dying as well!"

"But if I had been fast enough, if I had been able to avoid the trap… if I hadn't tired myself out fighting, or if I'd kept Sir Aaron from tiring himself out in battle..." the old Lucario tapped his foot on the floor. "Then I would have been able to help, and neither of us would have died."

There was a long silence after that.

"Lucario, you didn't do anything wrong," Ash said. "Or – nothing you did wrong is bad enough that you should feel bad about it. People make mistakes, and you didn't make any bad ones."

"I shall take comfort in that," Aaron's Lucario replied, with a small smile.

Hi!

"Hello, Mew," Aaron's Lucario continued. "What brings you here?"

It's my house, Mew said, crossing her arms – still floating upside down. So there.

"Your security guards are broken," Pikachu said. "They tried to attack us."

Guh, Mew sighed, arms going limp, and flipped himself back the right way up. Look, do you have any idea how hard it is to update them? I have to get Regigigas to do it, and it takes about four days for him to get started and by then I've gotten bored and wandered off.

"I will help, if we have to do it that way," Aaron's Lucario declared. "But they're a danger to others like this."


"Thanks for your help, Lucario," Ash said, some hours later. "It's been great to visit you – and, uh, sorry about those times I didn't."

"It's fine, Ash," Aaron's Lucario assured him. "You've been busy – I do watch television – and I know you have places to be and worlds to save."

He stepped back. "And I'm very glad we've had this time, as well. Aaron should be remembered as he was, so my being able to tell you has set my mind at rest."

"Thanks," Ash repeated.

He turned, ready to go, then remembered something and snapped his fingers. "Oh – that's right, I nearly forgot about this. I wondered if you could help with a project I had."

"A project?" Aaron's Lucario repeated.

Ash reached into his pouch, feeling around. "It's here somewhere…"

A crash came from the lip of the pouch, and Ash winced. "Oops… I'll have to put those back in the right place later."

"What just happened?" Casey asked, looking up.

"I knocked over the shelves," Ash answered absently. "Okay, here it is!"

He drew out a cloth package which turned out to contain a pair of small stones, like the ones on his gloves. "I tried to design something to store Aura for use later on, but I never got them to work… can you see what I did wrong?"

"Well, I'm not..." Lucario began, then stopped. "Ash?"

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean..." Ash agreed, looking at the stones again. "They kind of feel different to how they were last time I worked on them."

"When was that?" Lucario asked.

"Uh..." Ash blinked. "About… two and a half years ago? Maybe a bit more?"

"Ash, these have been charging since last time you worked on them. You're saying they have two and a half years of Aura in them?"

"I don't know if that's what I'm saying!" Ash protested. "I thought it wasn't working – I never got anything out of them!"

Lucario took one of them from his hand – very gingerly.

"I think I see what it is," he said, after examining it. "As far as I can tell, there's no way for Aura to leave them until the circuit is broken. The capacity's enormous, but you would have to break it to get the Aura out and once you did it would flood out until the battery was exhausted."

Ash took that in.

"So… don't do that?"

"Not unless you absolutely need to," Lucario summarized.

Ash re-wrapped them, considerably more carefully than he'd taken them out, and put the package back in his pouch. "Great, now I need to worry about if my pocket's going to randomly explode."

"That is unlikely," the Fighting-type advised him. "But not impossible."


"Be sure to visit the Kingdom when or if you come to Sinnoh," the Royal Messenger told her fellow Lucario. "Both of you. There will always be a place for you, whether your stay is long or short."

"That sounds nice," Casey's Lucario said, with a nod. "And perhaps we can show you baseball – I think you might enjoy it."

"I'll look forward to it," the messenger smiled.

"As for us – well, thank you for the invitation, though you might want some of my friends to steer well clear." Ash's Lucario placed his paws together. "Have you heard of Squirtle?"

"...yes, actually," winced the Kingdom Lucario. "Fair point. Well, whoever you think you should bring then."

She bowed. "And now, I am afraid I must take my leave."

With that, she jumped out the window.

"...is she going to be okay?" Casey asked, blinking.

"She's skating down the side of the tree," Pikachu reported, peering out the window. "So yes."

Ash sent out Pidgeot. "That means we should get going too… should we tell the Queen anything?"

"Simply inform her I shall be back to resume my duties within the week," the Queen's Champion told him.

As he watched, Ash returned Lucario, then collected Pikachu and jumped up to Pidgeot's back.

Aaron's Lucario watched, seeing the shadow of his old friend in the boy who looked so like him – from his bravery, to his Aura, to even his loyal Pidgeot – and smiled.

This time, he was not embarrassed at all.


"I guess that's it for now, right?" Casey asked, calling over the wind.

"Probably, yeah!" Ash confirmed. "Nice to see you, though!"

Casey's Pidgeot altered course a little, reacting to his trainer's cues, and the baseball-playing trainer dropped away towards the north.

"Hope we get a chance for a battle next time," Pidgeot said. "It's fun fighting a Flying-type who's nearly as fast as me."

"What's wrong with Latias and Latios?" Ash asked.

"Levitating is cheating," Pidgeot answered promptly.


Okay, so what we need is basically a full update, Mew said, for the twelfth time. Everything needs to be brought up to date, everything properly sorted out, and can you clear up the errors?

Regigigas sat there.

Lucariooooo, Mew whined. This is boring!

Lucario reached out and snagged Mew's tail as she tried to fly off. "It may be boring, but it has to be done."

Regigigas let out a low rumble. The orbs either side of its eyes lit up, and it straightened.

"Startup. Complete," it stated. "Please. State. The. Nature. Of. Your. Regi. Emergency."

Mew's eye twitched. Oh, come on!

"Peace, Mew," Lucario said. "It only has to be done once. If you leave now, we will have to do this all over again."

Fiiiine, Mew muttered, crossing his arms.


AN:


Not everything has to be escalated.

I decided instead to use Mystery of Mew as a fundamentally contemplative piece – with a few jokes, of course.