Chapter 2: Unlikely Comrades

Upon returning to the town of Rota, Aaron and Lucario quickly made their way towards Cameran Palace. Guards at the door nodded towards them and opened it, leading into the throne room. Sitting upon the throne, waiting for them was Queen Rin, ruler of Cameran Palace and the adjoining town of Rota.

Upon standing in front of her, they both bowed in unison and acknowledged her. "It is good to see you both, and I apologize for interrupting what must have been an exciting training exercise" Rin said with a smile.

"No need to apologize, your majesty," Aaron said, standing up. "We were told it was most urgent."

"Indeed," Rin said as she got up and walked towards them, standing in front of them. "There have been recent reports coming in that make me… uneasy?"

"One of the other kingdoms?" Lucario asked.

"Yes," Rin replied, glancing towards a nearby window. "I'm sure you know well about the kingdom of Viridian?"

"Their king just recently passed and his wife had taken the crown in his stead," Aaron answered. "Except…"

"Except the current queen was the king's second wife, and technically speaking, she does not have royal blood," Rin said frowning. "It is not my place to judge whether she would be a good queen or not but some of the people there are not satisfied with this and believe that Princess Mirania, the late king's daughter should take her place."

"In other words, there's the threat of a rebellion," Lucario realized.

"I'm afraid it may seem that way, especially if the queen uses her power to target those who want her gone. But that is not all." Rin then motioned to one of the guards in the room who came forward and gave her a slip of paper. "It would seem we have intercepted an encrypted message from Viridian to the kingdom of Celadon to the south."

"Encrypted? How?" Aaron asked.

"Some of the letters are different, part of an ancient language, but it was no tough task for our scholars here thankfully," Rin said. "But the message is clear: there is an obvious conspiracy between the two kingdoms and I worry that it may threaten our own kingdom as well. That is why I brought you two here." She then got closer to them and her hands on both their shoulders. "Officially, we are and always have been a neutral kingdom when it comes to others' affairs, but I'm afraid this is something we cannot ignore nor avoid, and I believe you two are the best we have in finding out the answers. It won't be easy but…"

"Consider it our duty and honor, your majesty," Aaron said, bowing slightly. "We of the Aura Knights know what is expected of us." Lucario nodded in agreement.

"Thank you Aaron and Lucario," Rin said. An aide then came in and whispered in her ear. "I see… I'm afraid I am needed elsewhere at the moment, but I shall send for General Raul to brief you in on your new mission outside. May luck and fortune carry you through." She nodded to them both and left the chamber.

"General Raul, leader of the Aura Knights himself…" Aaron thought as they went through the doors. If he was involved in this, it has to be a serious mission…


(A/N: For this next part, the song I'm using is "Mechanical Kingdom" from Radiant Historia.)


*As Aaron and Lucario both stood outside the palace walls, something was bothering Lucario. "If Viridian and Celadon are the ones involved, why are we getting ourselves involved if it is none of our business?" he asked.

Aaron smiled slightly. Lucario was unique, but he still had the mind and thought processes of any regular human. "It's not like you to question orders, Lucario," he said lightly.

"You know what I mean."

"I do," Aaron said, now in deep thought. "Most likely, if civil war breaks out and Celadon is the first to get involved, there's the great possibility that other kingdoms will get involved and we may very well get sucked into it as well."

"Because Viridian will look weak," Lucario concluded.

"Indeed," a voice then said. They both looked up and saw a large man wearing similar attire to Aaron approach them.

"General Raul," Aaron said, bowing slightly. "It has been a long time since we've spoken face to face."

"Indeed," Raul said with a smile. "That is one of the consequences of being a neutral state, not enough happens around here."

"Until now it seems," Lucario said.

"General, I don't believe you've met Lucario," Aaron said. "He is my former student and can use aura just like the rest of us, and even in greater variety."

"Yes, I've heard about you in great detail," Raul said, nodding slightly. "If Aaron has high faith in you, then I know you will be of great help."

"Not that we don't wish to sit and chat, but I believe you have a mission to brief us on," Lucario said.

"Lucario…" Aaron said softly.

"No, no, he is right," Raul said. "The mission is simple: you are to reach Viridian by nightfall and keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"If any of the soldiers stop and question us, they may not be too happy to know we're from Cameran Palace…" Aaron said.

"Don't worry, I have a contact there who is well aware of the situation," Raul said. "You are to meet him outside the tavern in the first ward. He'll explain more but from what I've heard there may be a possible rebel attack taking place tonight and security is already tight enough as is."

"So in other words, we're the queen's extra guard?" Aaron asked.

"Unofficially, yes," Raul said. He then smiled. "Look at it this way, considering you both can use aura, you're better prepared than an entire squad of soldiers. But one other thing, you two won't be going there alone. I have arranged for two others to accompany you and I can easily they are quite good at what they do. You are to meet with them right away."

"And where would that be?" Aaron asked.


Lucario grumbled his dissatisfaction upon standing outside the local tavern. "I do not know what's worse, the fact we're dealing with mercenaries, or that we're meeting them in a bar."

"I know mercenaries aren't exactly the… most well-liked group around but let's just play nice for know, at least until the mission is over," Aaron said. Lucario said nothing as the two of them went inside.

The bar was, as expected, crowded. With the sounds of laughter and hollering along with the strong smell of beer, it was enough to overwhelm the first-timer. After getting a description of the pair, Aaron spotted one of them sitting alone at a booth and motioned Lucario towards that direction.

"Mind if we have a seat?" Aaron asked the occupant, who was a man who looked to be in his late twenties with black spiky hair and wearing traditional garb that had pieces of armor across the wrists, arms, etc. He also had a sword attached to the left of his belt.

"Not at all, Sir Aaron," the man said, looking up at them. "The general told me you were coming." He then looked at Lucario. "A Lucario huh? Is he part of the Aura Knights now too?"

"In a sense yes," Aaron said, as both of them sat down. I'm sure the general filled you in already…"

"Dagran," the man said. "Most would then say 'Mercenary for hire' but I find that horribly cheesy, at least for my taste."

"The general also said there were two of you…?" Aaron asked.

Dagran grimaced slightly. "Right, about that, see she-"

"Hey bartender!" The three of them looked up towards the bar and saw a woman dressed similarly to Dagran with short, slightly reddish hair and a very fit figure. She seemed to have two scabbards on the back of her belt, which meant she carried two swords. "How long does it take to get someone another pint around here, eh!?"

"Oh no!" the bartender said, who seemed to know the woman well. "You caused us to run out two hours early just last night! I lost a lot of customers because of you!"

"You cheeky little – you can't just refuse to serve one of your customers, especially one who actually pays you!"

"I can if she seems to have a bottomless pit for a stomach and manage to put down fifteen pints without puking her guts out."

"Ugh, fine, I bet I can find twenty different bars around Kanto that are better than this place!" She then slid her empty mug across the bar, hoping to break it, and made her way back to her seat. "I tell you Dagran, no bloody respect around here. When a girl's got to drink, she's – oh? Didn't tell me we were having guests?"

"Yes, I did, because we both spoke to the general and he was specific on what we're supposed to do and who's meeting us," Dagran said impatiently. He then sighed. "My partner, Syrenne. Syrenne, this is Sir Aaron of the Aura Knights and his companion Lucario."

"Oh, a knight huh?" Instead of sitting next to Dagran, Syrenne decided to sit on the edge of the table itself, pulling her knees to her chest. "I bet you're a real charmer, aren't you pretty boy?"

"Uh… you're not quite what I expected Miss Syrenne," Aaron said politely, although he was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. Lucario meanwhile was staring suspiciously at the woman.

"Please, just Syrenne," she said. She then snorted. "Well, that didn't take much. Only a few sentences and I'm already getting underneath your collar huh…?"

"Don't let her fool you, she's like this with every new person she meets," Dagran said. "She only goes after the weak ones, especially if she can get a coin or two out of it."

"Now that's just insulting, even for you," Syrenne said as she got up again and faced the two of them. "Sure, I'm the friendly type but I never sell myself like some common-"

"I think we get the picture," Aaron quickly said. "I hate to rush everything but we need to get moving soon."

"Alright, alright," Syrenne said, finally sitting down next to Dagran. "I'm sure you'd want to know a little about who you're traveling with, right?"

"It couldn't hurt," Aaron said.

"Ladies first," Dagran said with a wave of his hand.

"Alright, well, to make things clear Dagran and I weren't always mercenaries and we've only known each other for a couple years now. Before that it was just me and – oh, right. Come on out Ema, it's not polite to not introduce yourself."

Suddenly a small bundle of fur came out of what looked like Syrenne's shoulder, although Lucario wouldn't have been surprised if it had been resting on her chest. The bundle of fur opened its eyes and stretched and to both Lucario and Aaron it looked like a flying squirrel and yet- "I don't think I've ever seen this creature before," Aaron said.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't, because both of us don't originate from Kanto," Syrenne explained. "See, long ago I lived in a small village off an island far east from here. Anyway, it was only women that lived there and we were trained to be fighters, mostly to protect our village. Well, despite that, raiders came and torched our village to the ground. Bloody bastards didn't even bother looting the place first, they just wanted to show off to us, let us know they had more power than us and there was nothing we could do about it. Well, I'd like to think some of the women took them with them. Anyway, I was only in my teens when this happened and I barely knew how to fight, but then it was more important that I escape, that I survive. There was a forest nearby but they decided to burn that place as well. That was where I found Ema, though they call her kind Emolga. She was all alone in a tree; her family apparently had deserted her. We're both orphans she and I, and we've been through plenty thick and thin. And don't say it. This isn't meant to be a sob-story, and I certainly don't need anyone else to tell me their sympathies."

Lucario had been keeping an eye on the Emolga, who seemed to be looking around the bar and he couldn't quite tell if she was bored or just disapproved of the place itself. "I don't think she seems to care for your drinking habits," he said.

There was a pause, and then Syrenne stared towards the bar. "Bloody hell, I think that bartender spiked my drink because I could've just sworn I heard that Lucario talk."

"No, you heard right," Aaron said with a slight smile.

"Telepathy?" Dagran said. "Interesting, usually only the psychic-types are capable of learning that ability."

"She tolerates it, I'll have you know," Syrenne said. "Well, now we know nothing's confidential with the Lucario. We might as well get a move on, Dagran, since I won't be getting another drop around here anyway."

"You're not supposed to be drinking on the job anyway," Dagran reminded her. "Anyway, so we're heading to Viridian huh? Heard it's a little chaotic there right now. Probably good thing you brought us along."

"The fact if that's true remains to be seen," Aaron said. "But it's almost dusk, so we better move now."


(A/N: Before I forget, I thought I would let you guys know something. Despite using their names, I won't actually be using the word "Pokemon" in this only because I believe during this time they weren't actually called until way later and I think for this setting it's probably more appropriate so instead I'm just referring them as wildlife or creatures.)

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