Rigel looked up from where he was searching, and was surprised by the strange object following his sister. "What the heck is that Meissa?"
"This is Gauss." Meissa said. "Gauss, this is my brother Rigel."
Gauss fixed it's gaze on Rigel for a few seconds, the red light in it's eye blinking repeatedly, before finally speaking. "Subject saved as Rigel, male sibling of operator Meissa. Greetings Rigel."
"Uh, hello." Rigel said before turning to his sister. "Meissa, what is this thing?"
"I don't really know." Meissa said. "I found him over there under some rocks, and he says I'm his boss now."
"How in the world did that happen?" Rigel asked. "He just made you his boss as soon as you found him?"
"I guess so." said Meissa. "He told me to say my name and then he called me his operator."
"Ok, maybe he could help us look for one of those rocks. I don't think Aludra would want us to stop just because you found something weird."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Meissa said. "Hey Gauss, do you know what an Aura Stone is?"
"Searching memory..." said Gauss as it's eye turned blue and began blinking again. "Aura Stone: Gemstone containing high levels of aura energy, known to induce evolution in certain species."
"Ok, so you know what they are." said Rigel. "Can you help us find one?"
"Processing request... accepted." said Gauss before it's center eye turned a bright green. "Beginning scans for aura radiation." It then began sweeping the ground with a wide beam of light as Meissa and Rigel followed behind it.
Meanwhile, Aludra was still with Tarazed, turning over stones and digging in the dirt in a different area of the hills, and not having much luck. "Do you see anything Tarazed?" she called to the Staravia, who was soaring high above.
"No, not yet!" Tarazed replied. "I'm seeing a lot of brown and grey rocks, but not much blue!"
"Darn it." Aludra said to herself as she sat down on the ground. "There's got to be one of those stones around somewhere. Hey Tarazed, what are Meissa and Rigel doing?"
"I can't really tell, they are kind of far away!" said Tarazed. "But there is a weird silver thing flying near them!"
"What is the thing doing?" yelled Aludra.
"I just said I can't tell, do you think we should go see?"
"We might as well!" said Aludra. "There doesn't seem to be any stones around here anyway!"
"Aura radiation detected." Gauss said as it's eye beam went into a cave in the side of the mountain. "requesting operator Meissa to come here."
"What, did you find something?" said Meissa as she walked up behind Gauss and looked at the cave.
"Affirmative. Sensors confirm aura radiation coming from within this cavern."
"Are you sure?" said Meissa. "I would rather not go into any caves."
"Probability of the source being an Aura Stone is approximately 97.4 percent."
"Well, if you say so." Meissa said. "Rigel, Gauss found one of those stones!"
"He did? Good, I was sick of looking at these rocks." said Rigel as he walked toward Meissa. "Where is it?"
"In that cave." said Meissa. "Gauss seems pretty sure it's in there."
Rigel approached the mouth of the cave and peered in. The cave was very large with jagged rock formations around the entrance, and Rigel could not see more than a few feet through the inky blackness within. "It's pretty dark in here." he said. "Although it's a cave, so I guess that is to be expected. Hey Gauss, could you help with this too?"
"Processing request...accepted." Gauss then floated to the cave mouth, and it's central eye began glowing much more brightly than it normally did, bathing the inside of the cave in red light. "Rigel and operator Meissa are encouraged to search quickly, as normal unit activity combined with prolonged use of extra illumination will drain this unit's power supplies, causing this unit to enter sleep mode for recharging."
The inside of the cave didn't look any different from how Rigel and Meissa expected it to look, rocky and gloomy, with more jagged formations jutting up from the floor, and even with Gauss's light, they could not see the end of the cave, only deep darkness where the light ended.
"Uh... ok Gauss, we'll try to hurry." said Meissa. "B-but maybe we should tell Aludra first."
"Name could not be found in memory." Gauss said. "Query, who is Aludra."
"That's Aludra." said Rigel as he motioned toward the Riolu coming towards them, being followed by a Staravia. "And it looks like she's just in time."
"Hey guys." said Aludra. "What's that?"
"This is Gauss." Rigel said. "Meissa found him under some stuff. He's kind of weird, but he thinks he's found an Aura Stone in that cave."
"Really?" Aludra said with excitement, before running to the cave entrance. "Well, let's get in there then!"
"Query, how is this unit "weird"?" Gauss asked. "No abnormalities are detected in operating systems."
"I call you weird because you talk like that." said Rigel. "I can barely understand half the things you say."
"Yeah, you guys go ahead and start cave diving." said Tarazed as he landed on the ground. "I'll just stay out here."
"What's wrong Tarazed?" said Aludra. "Afraid of the dark?"
"No, I just feel uncomfortable when I can't see the sky."
"Fine, stay out here then."Aludra said . "Everybody else, let's go!"
"You sure are bossy today Aludra." said Rigel. "You don't have to keep telling us what to do."
Rigel, Meissa, and Gauss then followed Aludra into the mouth of the cave, unsure what they would find in it's depths.
