A/N: Been a bit since the last chapter - but I swear these ones keep getting longer. Would have uploaded it earlier, but I just couldn't get it to where I was at least content with the content. (*derp*) Side note - time in the Pokemon world and Real World are not always the same. That will be all.

It had been... a week, in human terms, I suppose... since we lost Aurora. And David was taking it... well, rather badly. He'd always been quiet, but this was something different; something about him was missing. I could understand that - we were like a small clan, family... whatever you want to call it. If you attacked one of us, harmed one of us, then we all came crashing down on you. And none of us had been able to save her.

The others were hit hard by it as well, having been partners with the Lucario and our trainer longer than I had - I'd been the most recent addition to the team, caught less than a season before all of this. And even with that, I felt like I had failed both Aurora and David; we all did, I could tell.

Kairi, being naturally more in-tune with emotions, was hit the hardest of the other two. She'd been unnaturally quiet since we escaped from the rifts... it must be incredibly difficult, with the Gardevoir's ability to sense emotion. Then again, perhaps she was better suited to dealing with that. But that, while a... the word would be tragedy... was not what I was currently worried about. We were standing just outside the human city... Oreburgh, it was... and the sight far ahead of us was shocking.

Mount Coronet, always a imposing sight from anywhere in the region, was... it could only be described as falling apart. Several of those damned rifts were scattered across its slopes, leaving gaping purple voids in the rock. And they were moving. I could see trails of that same 'void' behind the rifts as they seemed to effortlessly carve through the mountain. Flashes of yellow light arced from the air around the rifts into them - likely the electric Pokémon that frequented the mountain, trying to defend it.

Kairi 'spoke' for what seemed like the first time since the incident. "Oh no... how did..." Her 'voice' trailed off, not finishing the question we all were asking - how did this happen? The problem was, nobody knew; a few of these... things had been seen across the region, but they had all apparently just vanished not long after being seen, leaving only that void behind. This was... this was horrible.

Then something came out of one of the rifts. What looked like... a chunk of carved stone? No... more like a broken building. Whatever it was, the rift left it behind as it moved, leaving it to fill in the section of the mountain it had just 'eaten'. Then another rift did the same, with what looked like another part of the same object. "Jagged." I glanced over - and down - at David with a questioning look. "This is bad."

That worried me. Our trainer was... how do the humans say... 'a man of very few words'. He spoke little, and said much - and when he said something was bad, that meant far more than the words themselves. 'Bad' for him was 'terrifying' for anybody else. And he had used my true name, not the nickname others had given me - he was scared. Ultimately, I simply nodded - yes... this is bad.

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"This is bad... come on!" I was trying to push Aurora into my room. "They're almost home, just get in there!" Of course, as soon as I'd come to terms with the fact that there was a Lucario in my house, my parents called to say they were finally on their way. And said Lucario was being very stubborn. "D'you want to get me in trouble? Do you know how my parents would flip if they saw you?"

Aurora was simply standing in my doorway, not budging an inch, with her back to me. "Seriously - do you expect me to just show you to them, say 'Hey mom, hey dad - I found a Lucario in the back yard; can she stay?'" Not even looking back at me, she nodded - she expected me to do just that. I stopped trying to push her, dumbfounded for a moment. "Are you serious!?" Another nod, this time with a... sort of disapproving look.

I thought about it for a minute. '… well, they are generally pretty cool... guess it's worth a shot.' After a few seconds, I nodded. "Alright, fine. We'll do this your way; how bad could it be? Worst case... ah, it'll work." Just in time too - I heard the easily recognizable sputtering of mom's car. That thing was as old as I am, and probably hasn't had maintenance since... well, since she bought it. Don't ask me how it still runs, I've been trying to find that out for years.

"Alright, that's them - You stay here on the stairs, and I'll call you down when I'm ready. And please... don't attack them." She nodded, looking just a bit apologetic when I mentioned attacking. With a quick thumbs up, I rushed downstairs just as my mother opened the door. She was a little shorter than me, and looked... well, solid. It was no deceptive appearance - she could knock the quarterback of my old high school flat on his ass, if she wanted to.

"Hey Dave - how'd you weather the weather?" And then there was her... sense of humor.

I groaned at her... well, admittedly somewhat funny pun. "Oh, just fine, mom. DS got fried, power went out, and I had a Hot Pocket." I said casually, shrugging. "The backyard got burnt, too. All in all, it went pretty good. I even found a new friend!"

She sighed, shaking her head. "We leave the house for... what, a few hours? And then everything short of burning the house down happens. You realize we're not getting you a new one for a while, right?" Her look when I simply laughed was... well, I laughed even harder.

"Heh - I don't think I'll need a new DS, mom." I replied, leaning against the wall and rapping against it with my knuckles. "You know that new friend I was talking about?" She nodded slowly, unsure where I was going with this. "I'm gonna call her down, but first - promise you won't flip out."

She gave me a 'O...kay...' look. "Alright... but wait - her?"

I ignored the 'question', and looked back at the stairway. 'Here goes nothin'…' "Aurora! Come on down." Glancing back at her, I added "You might be... a bit surprised on this one." Again, another one of those looks. I didn't even hear Aurora come downstairs - which was weird, because they always creaked. But one minute, the bottom of the stairs was empty, and the next there was a 4 foot tall Lucario standing there, looking at my mother.

My mom actually surprised me by... well, not flipping out. "I'm going to ask one thing..." Well, this was going well- "… because you know your father is going to 'flip out' for me." And there's the catch... of course. "What, and who, is that?"

I sighed. "I'll wait for dad to stop his inevitable rant before I explain." Immediately, I heard something drop onto the concrete outside the door. "And speaking of which... Aurora, don't hurt him." The Lucario just looked at me for a moment, confused - then my dad started yelling.

See, he's just as tall as I am. A bit... well, not thin but... I don't know how you'd describe him, really. Same dark hair, wears glasses... and does not like surprises. Impossibilities are also on his list - and Aurora happened to be both. He also has this talent for... explaining his dislike for things; at great length, and very loudly.

"Dad." I said, over his... actually unintelligible rant... was that something about aliens? Of course, I went unheard. "Dad?" Again, I was completely ignored. I glanced at my mom for permission to do what I was about to do - the only way to stop his rants before he was done. She sighed and nodded. 'Here we go...' I walked right up to him, and slammed my fist into the wall, yelling, "DAD, SHUT UP!" He stopped, looking at me with the... alright, expected shocked look.

I very deliberately and unnecessarily smoothed down my shirt, and took a few steps back. Adopting my 'forced-formal' voice, I said, "Ahem. Thanks ever so much for letting me speak. I would like to introduce you both to my newest friend... Aurora." I stepped aside, with a sweeping gesture towards the Lucario. "And Aurora, these are my parents."

For several seconds, nobody said anything. Then my dad took a step forward - to his credit, not looking particularly scared or angry - and asked, "David... what is that?"

"First off, her name is Aurora." I replied, slightly annoyed with him - I understood, but that wasn't the point. "Second, she's a Lucario - you know, from the Pokémon series. You've seen them before; I watch the show and movies enough." They both nodded slowly, while Aurora just seemed confused - and a bit surprised. Satisfied, I clapped my hands and smiled. "Great, so that's cleared up - can she stay?"

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The fear everyone was feeling was... overwhelming. Not for the first time, I cursed my kind's natural empathy; feeling the emotions of everyone around you was not always a good thing. In a time like this, where it seemed like the region itself was being torn apart... it took all I could do just to keep going. Briefly linking minds with our trainer, I asked "Where are we going?" We had been walking for the past... hour, two? And we had no idea where we were headed.

"Professor Rowan." he replied, not looking back or breaking stride. "Find out what this is." That explained everything - we knew about Rowan. If any human in the region knew what was going on, it would be him. But something else bothered me. "Why not have me teleport us there?"

He faltered for just a moment, glancing back. "Not yet. Something big is going to happen first." He looked past me, back at Mt. Coronet, then added, "Or already has..." As he finished the statement, the ground started shaking; faintly so, but it was steadily getting stronger. "I had to open my mouth..." he muttered - it occurred to me that he was actually talking more since this whole event had started.

Breaking into a run, he gestured for us to hurry along with him. I looked back where he had been looking... and started running as best I could as well. The top of Mt. Coronet - Spear Pillar - had been reached by one of the rifts. Even from here, I could see it being torn down into whatever void they left behind - but that was not the biggest problem.

Spear Pillar was the only physical connection to Arceus' realm, the Hall of Origin - or so legend said. Nobody knew what would happen, if that link were to be broken - some believed that the world as we knew it would fall apart, others said that it would herald the arrival of Arceus himself. Whatever its ruin would bring... we were going to find out, and soon.

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"What d'you mean, no!?" I could not believe this. My father was being uncooperative, as I should've guessed. To be fair, Aurora was a fictional creature. "Bloody hell - not like she's got anywhere else to go! This isn't even her world- oh, don't give me that look. I know it's crazy, but there is a LUCARIO in our house. I think crazy isn't even applicable anymore."

Of course, I was ignored. "That thing - Lucario, Aurora, whatever - is not staying in my house, David. This is not negotiable - after all, from the looks of it, it can take care of itself. It doesn't need-" I was done. So completely and utterly done with this.

"SHE. Aurora is a she, got it? She's not a damn animal. Yes - she could probably handle herself fine. Yeah, this is insane - but if you had no clue where you were, you'd want somebody to at least try and help out." My parents both looked at me - my dad with a combination of confusion and surprise, and my mom with something looking a bit like pride. "She's got no food, no roof, and no bed. We've got all three. She'll stay in my room, away from you, if she's got to - but if you're booting her out, I'm leaving too."

My dad was quiet for a moment - a bloody miracle. Then my mom decided to speak up. "What's got you so dead-set on this?" she asked, with a tone suggesting this was a sort of test. "You talk like you've known... Aurora, was it? For a while."

I didn't really have to think about my answer. "Because I have. Yeah, it's been through a DS screen - but now I get to actually hang out with one of my Pokémon, for real. And really - what's gonna happen if she gets caught out there? I'll tell you; she'll be brought into a lab, experimented on, maybe killed." Throwing a glance at the Lucario, I added, "Or, she'll defend herself - and we'll have cops, military men, whatever getting Aura Spheres to the face. Either way, not good."

I sighed after I was done, looking between my parents. "Really, it's up to you guys now. But I'll say one more thing - I've got a bad feeling about all of this. Something big is about to go down - bigger than us, for sure. And I think whatever it is, we'll need help to get through it."

They both glanced at each other for a few moments - I'd won, and they both knew it. I've got this knack for persuasion, I swear... or maybe it's just logic? Either way, what they said - both at the same time, even - somewhat surprised me. "She stays. You're feeding her, responsible for her-" I fist-pumped mentally at that, even as expected as it was. "- and any... others that you find." That part made my jaw drop.

"W-wait a second. Let me get this straight..." I stuttered for a moment, trying to organize my thoughts. "You're saying... any Pokémon I find, we'll keep?"

Mom shook her head, smiling slightly. "Not we - you. This is... well, your 'area of expertise', this whole Pokémon thing."

I opened my mouth, then closed it. Then I tried again. The third time, I managed to say something. "WOO-HOO!" I jumped in the air, literally fist-pumping this time. "You guys. Are AWESOME." I turned to Aurora, absolutely beaming. "Heh - ya hear that? You get to stay!" She smiled too - though, I could've sworn that just for a second, she looked worried about something. That something then hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Ah, right... Aurora, head back upstairs for a minute? Gotta chat with my parents real quick." The Lucario gave me a look - the sort of 'That's kind of unnecessary, but alright...' look. What - I can get a lot out of how someone looks at me, alright? She was up the stairs as quickly and silently as she'd come down them. I turned back to my parents, all seriousness now. "There's... some heavy stuff I've got to talk about."

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I did just as I was asked - I waited at the top of the stairs for... David? That must be his name; a strange coincidence. With nothing else to do for the moment, I started thinking. This human - this David - was strikingly similar to my trainer. More animated, perhaps - but there was little beyond age or experience separating them. My thoughts started wandering; what was my trainer doing now? What was happening in my... world?

I was honestly grateful when I heard David start talking - I did not want to think about those things right now. I closed my eyes, and focused on simply listening - and was somewhat surprised at what I heard.

"Guys, I wasn't kidding when I said I felt like something was gonna go wrong. Have you seen the news?" His parents must have indicated otherwise, because he continued. "Well, I think we're going to have a whole lotta hell raised soon. Look..." I saw him walk past the stairway, but he stopped when he saw me. He muttered something under his breath before saying, "Come on, Aurora. Might be something we all need to see, anyway."

Did he want me upstairs or downstairs? Could he even make up his mind? Either way, I nodded and was next to him in a moment. He blinked once, then laughed. "I forgot just how fast you were..." His laugh fading away, David walked over to the television and switched it back on. On the screen was the ruins of an ornate building - surely somewhere important. The news 'reporter' was talking already.

-remains of City Hall, a pack of what can only be described as 'hellhounds' are viciously attacking anybody who comes near. Those remaining at a safe distance, however, are receiving only warning growls. The view closed in on the building, showing a group of large dog-like Pokémon - Houndoom, I knew them to be. The black fur and curved, bone-like horns made them hard to mistake for anything else. Then something behind them caught my eye - a familiar purple, pulsing glow.

"Aurora, cool it." I started when I felt a hand on my shoulder - then I realized I was snarling at the screen. I glanced back, seeing David looking straight at the television, not moving his hand. "You and I, we're gonna have to get training."

His parents took their attention from the screen when he said that, and both asked at once, "What do you mean, training?"