After everything that has happened, the group who saved Iron Island went to where Riley lived. Due to their injuries, the Staraptors and Heracross carried the teens while Riley rode Salamence.
"Cool that you have a Salamence. What do you do?" Ash asked Riley.
"I'm a part time trainer. I don't collect gym badges, but there's nothing better than training for me. That's why I own Iron Island. But I do train for a purpose."
"You said something about aura guardians, right?" Dawn remembered.
"Yes. While the group is, for the most part, defunct with members so small and far spread it's highly unlikely two could ever meet, we still exist to continue on what has been passed down for generations. From what my master taught me, aura guardians started declining a long time ago in the Hoenn region where there was a terrible war. An aura guardian named Sir Aaron stopped it by sacrificing himself at the Tree of Beginning, the supposed home of the legendary Pokémon, Mew. Since then, the world needed us less and less."
"If your... guardian job is so unneeded, then why keep it up like it's super important? Using aura is cool and all but it seems like their job has been fulfilled a long time ago." Barry remarked.
"Barry, that's not a nice thing to say!" Dawn scolded the blonde, but Riley simply chuckled.
"He's justified in thinking that. My master had no purpose in terms of being an aura guardian, and said I shouldn't expect any big destiny stuff, or pass that stuff down to my student. But he said that an aura guardian should never forsake what they stood for. We shall be the world's guardians, even if there's no need for us."
"How noble." Ash commented, his eyebrows scrunched together in thought. That was interrupted though when they eventually made it to Riley's house. The outside... was rather plain looking. It was like it was literally carved from the island for the most basic function; hospitality. It was square, 10 feet tall, 20 feet wide and thick, and entirely grey like everything else. Letting their flyers rest outside, the humans went inside to see it was just as bare as it was outside. A single store brand spring bed, a counter and cabinets for food, and a bathroom with custom built plumbing. The only odd thing was that there was a small incubator.
"Wow, so you're a hermit?" Barry asked, totally unimpressed.
"Well, I go to Canalave every other day and make sure I'm caught up. First aid is in here." In short time, all the teens and Riley himself were patched up from any damage they sustained.
"Thank you so much." Dawn thanked the aura guardian.
"You're welcome. It's all thanks to you. I wouldn't have been able to take back Iron Island on my own. Or even if I could, it would've been much harder without Metagross and Lucario." After a few minutes of thinking, he grinned. "Actually, I just thought of the perfect thing to reward you." Walking to the incubator, he opened it and it revealed an egg. An egg that was white with light blue spots. Surrounding his hands in aura, he picked up the egg from it and presented it to Dawn on one knee. "This is an egg my Lucario laid. I check everybody new that comes to Iron Island to see if they're worthy of acquiring this egg, but none were. But you, you displayed bravery and determination that I rarely encounter. I believe you are worthy. Take it, and be the proud owner of Lucario's child."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly take the child of a mother. Spike is different because Cynthia herself gave him to me." Dawn tried politely declining.
"So I'm not special enough?" Riley said before chuckling, brushing off her reason. "It's okay. Lucario has accepted if I found a worthy owner before it hatched. Because she knows that her child was destined for a great future." At that moment, the egg started to glow. "Ah, it's hatching! Quick, take it!" Ash and Barry got away as Riley handed the girl the shining egg. The egg suddenly intensified its light, nearly blinding everyone witnessing this. When the light finally died down, there stood a riolu. It was like a smaller Lucario, but with out two of the head appendages and spikes. He looked up at whom was holding him, Dawn. With a smile, he cheered and snuggled into her torso, claiming her as his mama.
"Wow, the owner of two hatched Pokémon. That's something rare." Ash noted. Despite her hesitance, when the riolu hugged her, she couldn't help but snuggle him back cheerfully.
"Aww, you like hugs already? You're such a cutie." She cooed, enjoying the embrace of her new baby. Then a thought came across to her. "Riley, I know Riolu belongs to me now, but how about we stay here for a day so that Lucario can spend one day with her child? That way they'll at least bond." The aura guardian smiled at that.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Riolu imprinted you as the mother, but knowing who brought it into this world would be good too. Let's go to the Pokémon Center." Upon reaching there, they saw Officer Candy talking to people when she spotted them.
"You! Are you all okay?"
"We're fine, Officer Candy." Riley answered. "They've received basic medical treatment at my home." Candy nodded, then noticed that a riolu was on top of Dawn's head, lying down on her. She gasped.
"Wait... is that... Lucario's kid?"
"That's right. Dawn here was worthy enough to own it. We're going to the Pokémon Center to know what he's capable of and heal our Pokémon.
"Who did all that that put the whole island in danger?"
"Team Galactic. They were using a machine that were treating all the steel types like tuning forks. Not pleasant at all."
"But we were able to over power them and they retreated. That giant explosion was them trying to blow up the island, but Riley and his Lucario saved the day." Dawn explained.
"Well then, I guess I have everything I need to report. Well done then. Take it easy now. Officer Candy then left them alone. Once at the Pokémon Center, Riolu was being examined while Lucario was being treated. Ash and Barry were talking, Riley talked to Dawn about something important.
"I noticed that you have a Togetic and a Kirlia. Is Kirlia a boy?"
"Yes. I have the stone, but I'm waiting until I find the stone to evolve Spike as well since they're best friends."
"Well, look no more for I have one." He disclosed as he took out a shiny stone.
"Whoa, where did you get that?!" Dawn gasped.
"There is occasionally a stone here that's not rock and iron. Here, make your team even more awesome." He gently threw the stone so she caught it.
"You're... too generous. I don't know if I could ever repay you."
"You already have. Taking in Riolu, saving my home and everything living on it." He shrugged with a smile. Dawn bowed to him.
"Thank you." She then turned to her friends. "Hey guys, watch this!" She called to the boys to release Spike and Kirlia. Spike chirped gleefully as he floated up and hugged her. She laughed. "Hey Spike. I have a gift for you both." Putting Spike down, she gave them their respective stones. "Here, you two earned this." Holding the stones, they felt the power within them as they started to glow. Spike's body started to round out again, but big wings sprouted out to the sides, looking like a giant egg shaped bird. Kirlia grew taller to almost Dawn's height as the ruffles on his hips retreated to them, simply making them more prominent. His green hair became shorter as the horns moved to the back of his head. Protrusions shot out of his elbows, looking like spikes. When they stopped glowing, in their place was a Togekiss and Gallade.
"Toge." Spike chirped his name.
"Gallade." Gallade did the same, inspecting his arms. Ecstatic, the young researcher took out her Pokedex.
Wow, two evolutions the day after? Aren't you the special girl. Congratulations again. Togekiss, the Jubilee Pokémon; It shares many blessings with people who respect one another's rights and avoid needless strife. A real peacekeeper, isn't it? Gallade, the Blade Pokémon; A master of courtesy and swordsmanship, it fights using extending swords on its elbows. When trying to protect someone, it extends its elbows as if they were swords and fights savagely. Interesting, a polar opposite to Togekiss, isn't it?
"Wow Dawn, you must be the luckiest girl in Sinnoh! You sure have some rare Pokémon on you!" Barry praised the female researcher.
"I know right?! It's like karma is paying me back for everything I've done!"
"It would certainly seem like that, wouldn't it?" Ash chuckled. The nurse came back out with Riolu, whom marveled at the newly evolved Pokémon.
"So, after examining him, Riolu is quite the cute docile thing, and he happens to know Quick Attack, Detect, and Force Palm. Quite good genes."
"Just like his mother. Thank you, kind nurse. Let us go now for a day of training."
"Wait, I need to do something first." Dawn said as she returned her newly evolved Pokémon and brought out her Luxray.
"Hey Sparky. There's something I need to tell you." She said, looking uncomfortable.
"Lux?" Sparky asked.
"I've taken the care of a new baby Pokémon. A Riolu. But I already have six Pokémon. You'll have to go home with the others." After looking shocked from being told her adventure with her master was done, she looked down disappointed. "But... look at it this way. You'll be protecting my family and the other Pokémon there. Now my parents don't have to worry about losing track of Lucy because you have x-ray vision. You would be a big help over there." Seeing the logic reasonable, Sparky nodded her head and sadly smiled.
"Lux."
"Thank you for understanding, Sparky. I love you." Dawn cried as she hugged her electric lion, whom returned the affection by nuzzling her head. Which amusingly enough caused it to start floating up from static. Once they disengaged, she tried picking up the Pokeball but was shocked from the built up static. Picking it up properly, Dawn returned her Sparky and used the PC to send her home. She felt something hug her leg, which was Riolu as he sensed his imprinted mother in distress. The girl smiled as tears dripped onto the console.
"Thank you, Riolu. Or, now that I think about it, I'll call you..." She picked up her new baby. "...Cobalt." Riley came up to her and offered her a special Pokeball. It was black with two orange bands around it. Taking it, she bopped it against Cobalt as he was absorbed into the ball, wiggled a few times, and then clicked.
After going back to Riley's home, Riley let his Lucario out of her Pokeball. She looked around and saw her son in the flesh walking beside Dawn, which was something she hoped but wasn't sure would ever get to see. She grunted at her owner like it was a question.
"That's right, that's your son. She wanted you two to spend at least one day together, so that he knows both his mothers." He explained. She gazed at the young researcher with eyes filled with appreciation. Dawn told Cobalt,
"Cobalt, you see me as your mother, but she laid the egg that made you. I want the two of you to spend the day together before I take you with me. Go to her." Looking at Dawn confused, he took a look at the Lucario that did look like a older version of himself, which he saw in a reflective window on the way here. Walking to his biological mother, she opened her arms to him, wanting an embrace. Knowing how good hugs were, he continued walking until he was within arms distance and she hugged him, holding him tight. Liking this, he nuzzled into her furry torso, minding the chest spike.
"One more thing." Riley brought up. The aura guardian gave the girl a bell attached to a choker. "This bell will help him remain nice and tranquil, and it helped with my Lucario."
"Thanks." She said gratefully.
"Now then, let's get started."
For the rest of the day, Cobalt has trained, with breaks, with his mother, Dawn and Riley in not only how to battle, but to use aura as well, like sensing out his surroundings for starters. By the time the day has ended, Cobalt has already learned Reversal, thanks to the amount of intense training poured into the first nine hours of its life. During the training, Ash helped Dawn with Pokémon catching by getting a wingull, a quilfish, a steelix, an aron, and a beldum. By morning the next day at 7:55 AM, Dawn, Ash and Barry were about to board the boat heading to Canalave City, saying their farewell to the aura guardian.
"Thank you so much for all that you have done Riley. You helped me so much to make my goal much easier."
"And thanks to you again for saving my home and the Pokémon. I can now lead my life completely fulfilled and with no regrets. Help Cobalt become the strongest he can be."
"I will. I hope we meet again."
"I'm sure of it. Farewell." And with that, the teens boarded and were on their way to the city.
"Man, that was crazy." Barry sighed.
"Yeah. Getting tied up wasn't fun, but it's awesome that Dawn got three awesome Pokémon in such a short time." Ash chuckled.
"Not to mentioned I saved you guys."
"Yeah! You're so cool now! Just as cool as Ash and Master Wake! If you were a bona fide trainer, you have just as much of a chance winning the whole league and become champion like me! And Ash."
"That's it." Ash laughed as he put Barry into a headlock and gave him a good noogie. "Say it! Say that I'm better than you!"
"No way! Ow! A trainer never gives his rival that satisfaction! Ouch!" Dawn was holding her stomach from how hard she was laughing from the display of roughhousing. Once they reached the mainland, they were approached by Dawn's father, John.
"Dawn, are you okay?" He asked her as he pulled her in a tight hug with concern in his voice.
"Dad, I'm fine! What's wrong?" She wheezed out from how tightly he hugged her. After he let his daughter go, he pointed to the library.
"Prof. Rowan will be able to tell you.
"Prof. Rowan is here?! Come on guys, let's go!" Dawn cried out as she ran ahead, followed by the boys. On the third floor, they saw the Professor.
"I'm glad to see that you're all well and good, even if a little bandaged up."
"Thank you Prof. So, what's happening?" Dawn inquired as the three sat down.
"As you know, I study the evolution of Pokémon. But the more I study it, the more mysteries keep popping up. It really rattles my cage. What makes Pokémon that can or can't evolve different? Do Pokémon become more mature as they evolve? And if so, what do we make of the legendary Pokémon? Are we to assume their wholesome creatures? This is where you three come in. At each of the three lakes there are said to be legendary Pokémon. If we can attain them, then we could shed some light on how this works. I need help from each of you on this grand undertaking. Help me get data on these lake guardians, as they're called."
"Wait, I don't have a Pokémon!" Barry complained, only to be shushed by other readers.
"And whose fault is that? Certainly not mine. But forget about it. Seeing Pokémon with your own eyes is important for becoming a better trainer too."
"You can count on us, Prof. We've been doing excellent on our Pokedex's. We'll be sure to get what we need." Dawn accepted this request.
"Fortunately there's three of you. Each of you will go to the three lakes. Ash will take Valor, Barry will take Verity, and you Dawn will take Acuity." Dawn realized something. That was the same order that Dawn assigned the guardians to the three of them back in her first visit to the library. "I'm counting on you. Now, with that out of the w-"
A bright flash interrupted them before the air went BOOOOOMM! The sound of a huge explosion drowned out the peaceful quietness of the library, followed by the ground shaking severely under their feet. Everybody took cover under a table if they could. Eventually, the shaking stopped, and while that was a very scary event, nobody seemed to be hurt.
"Are any of you unharmed?"
"We're okay, but WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! Barry screamed at the top of his voice. Running to the window, they could see a mushroom cloud directly south of Canalave City.
"Is that... an explosion?" Barry gasped.
"Oh no... MOM!" Ash yelled in absolute panic as he ran from his friends calling out to him.
"Agh! My mom too!" Barry shared Ash's fear as he ran after his friend. As soon as Ash exited the library he summoned Staraptor, jumped on his back while he ran and went to the skies, going as fast as the bird could fly. From high above, the damage was catastrophic. While it appeared that no major city or town was the epicenter, thank his lucky stars, the majority of forestry was on fire, and Lake Verity appeared to have been blown sky high. The heat was unbearable, so he stayed away from flying above the fire. Upon arriving at his home in record time, he was relieved to see that it wasn't in the circle of fire the bomb made, but the reach was uncomfortably close as it was less than half a mile away. Getting off of Staraptor, he barged into his house shouting,
"Mom, are you in here?!" He checked every room but she wasn't there. Running outside he yelled out again,
"MOOOM!" Barry ran up to him since he wasn't that far behind.
"My mom isn't home! Yours?!"
"She's gone too! Did they leave?!" The idea that they escaped was appealing, but they needed to find their moms and neighbors.
"Guys!" They looked up to see Dawn flying on Spike. "It looks like nobody's here! Let's check Sandgem Town!" Getting onto their flying types, they flew to Dawn's home town where it appeared to be empty just like Twinleaf. Figuring they were in Jubilife, they soon entered the city limits and ran to the Pokémon Center, where most of the two town's populations were staying for the moment. Upon entering the Center, they found their respective parents and family.
"Mom!"
"Ash! Oh my sweet baby!" Delia cried as she embraced her son along with Barry hugging his mother and Dawn surrounded by her family excluding her dad.
"Mom, what happened? How did you get here?"
"Well... I was taking a nap, when a flash and huge explosion woke me up like mad. I saw that the forest near the lake was on fire and we fled. By the time we reached Sandgem, there were packs of Arcanines offered by Officer Jenny to get us to the safety of here." Wondering if there were similar events, Ash let go of his mom to check the website to see what there was. On SBC, Sinnoh Broadcasting Corp, there was a headline that said,
Sinnoh Lakes Leveled
"At 8:15 on Sinnoh standard time, three powerful explosions have obliterated each of the region's great lakes; Lake Verity South of Canalave City, Lake Valor in between Pastoria and Veilstone City, and Lake Acuity North of Snowpoint City. Fortunately none of the cities have been destroyed but there are reports in Snowpoint City suffering from 1st degree burns. There is no information who has done it at this point in time." But Ash knew. This was like the explosion at Pastoria's Great Marsh, but millions of times worse. This was unforgivable. Ash could feel his blood boil. Team Galactic did this. They almost killed his hometown and his mom. They've already made it their business to stop them whenever they crossed paths, but those monsters just made it personal. Slamming his laptop shut and stood up, gaining the attention of his friends. He motioned with his head to head outside and started to walk before Delia grabbed his hand.
"Ash, where are you going?" She asked fearfully.
"We're going to stop the people who did this."
"But you're simply teenagers!" She protested. "You can't fight these people!"
"I have six gym badges. We're strong enough."
"Ash, please! I don't want to lose you too! Not after your father!" This actually stopped Ash other than movement. All the years that he could recall his mom being lonely due to that man running out on them came rushing back into his head. He turned his head to gaze sadly and sympathetically at his sobbing mother on her knees, clutching his hand like it was the only thing keeping her alive. If he died, he feared she'd go comatose from grief and die shortly afterward. He didn't want that. Stooping down to her level, he clasped his other hand around hers and swore to her,
"Mom, you are the most important person in my life. You did all you could to help raise me and be there for me even with a broken heart for all my life. But these people, if we don't stop them, they could take you, my friends, and everything I ever cared about away from me. We're not doing this for revenge. We're doing this to prevent them from destroying anything else. Mom, let me do this, so that we can live far into the future." Hearing those brave words and seeing such conviction in his eyes reminded her of her husband. He may be gone, or even dead, but she still remembers why she fell for him in first place.
"Okay. I believe in you." Delia uttered. Ash gave her a solemn smile as he took off his hat and pressed his forehead against hers.
"I love you mom." She heaved a great sob before saying back,
"I-I l-love you too...A-Ash." They hugged each other as tightly as they could before Ash started to leave slowly.
"I'll see you when this is all over." He promised.
"I know." She stuttered, trying to keep a strong face even though she was falling apart in the inside. Stepping outside of the center and turning the corner, he allowed his body to cut loose and fall to the ground onto his hands and knees, breathing heavily and shaking.
"How did things get to this? This was just supposed to be a Pokémon journey, not a battle against good and evil. What if we fail? What if I let them die? What if-" He stopped talking when he felt two hands on his shoulders.
"What if you toughen up and quit spouting all sorts of depressing things?" Barry chimed in.
"Ash, you don't have to do this alone." Dawn tried to reassure him. "We agree with you. We're going to stop Team Galactic so that our families are safe. It's not just us and those near to us. It's about everyone in the region now. We're in this together."
"To the bitter or sweet end." Barry added. Sniffing up snot and standing up, he swiftly turned and hugged his best friends.
"Thank you. You're the best friends I could ever have."
"Heh, we're your only close friends, Ash." Barry retorted, but returned the hug.
"If there's any people I could be working with, I'm glad its you two." Dawn stated, tears falling from her eyes. They continued hugging tightly like that before separating.
"So, what do we do now?"
"Now? We upgrade our Pokémon." Ash decided.
A/N: Alright, so let me explain something. I know in the game only Lake Valor was blown up. But if you think about it, how could they have heard the explosions and felt the shockwave half a region away? Especially with Mt. Coronet in the way? If we kept to Sinnoh's supposed reach a city within 100-200 steps size, that lake explosion likely would've done some damage, if not entirely destroyed Veilstone and Pastoria city based on how much explosives it would take to destroy a lake without the water rushing back in. While nowhere near the size of Hokkaido Japan, I did scale it up in size to where it could still be an adventure that would take months to complete. And in doing so, hearing and feeling the explosion of Lake Valor held even less water, so to speak. So that's why I included the destruction of Lake Verity and Acuity as well. I used Nukemap to determine the size of each explosion to see how big they could get without reaching the real life inspiration cities outside of general burning. Lake Toya/Verity would take 1 Megaton, Lake Akan/Valor would take 2 Megatons, and only about 15 Kilotons for the lake just south of Wakkanai. (That one was confusing because despite there being a lake directly south of Wakkanai, which is Lake Onuma, the Bulbapedia page says the IRL is Lake Kutcharo, despite it being much farther.) I checked several times.