A/N: Hello, my lovely readers! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon but do own the story idea.

"It may take us years and years to find our true calling in our life. But one fine day, we eventually do find it!
Till then make merry, laugh, fight, dance and enjoy the craziness..." Avijeet Das

When Ash stopped seeing anything in the sky, he immediately went into his bag and took out the peculiar blue bead. Lucario and Tyranitar gazed at it curiously. Taking a deep breath, he crushed the bead in his hand. Immediately, he felt his senses heightened. Ash felt like he had the entire Tree mapped out in his mind for a moment. Tyranitar and Lucario felt exposed. Pikachu, Lucy and Wasabi all felt comfortable.

Everyone but Wasabi heard Aurora's voice loud and clear, "Hey… thank you for doing what I asked. I'll get to a phone as soon I can. Talk to you soon, young one."

"Mom?" Ash said in surprise. Ash tilted his head to the side when he didn't hear a response back. Mew decided to give him some clarification.

"(She won't be able to answer you back as this was merely an ounce of aura. That was a prerecorded message, actually.)" Mew explained. Mew had decided to stop speaking telepathy since Ash and the rest of the Pokémon could understand her natural language. Wasabi looked at the mythical Pokémon, somewhat confused, but then realized this had something to do with aura. She sighed slightly in sadness.

"Prerecorded?" Ash echoed, slightly confused. He didn't expect to hear a message from crushing the bead. He wondered how Aurora pulled it off.

"(If you have good enough technique, you can use aura beads outside their intended purpose. It's a little hard to explain, but she essentially transferred a speck of her aura to that bead and made it translatable to aura guardians only.)" Mew continued. Lucy blinked in her eyes in confusion.

"(Wha…? I was able to hear it, though. I'm not one of Aurora's guardian partners, either.)" Lucy pointed out. Wasabi seemed slightly envious, but confused at this as well. She started to inspect Lucy further and she seemed normal to her. The Raichu was perplexed.

"(Really? I couldn't.)" Wasabi noted. Mew looked at Lucy with fascination.

"(How odd. You aren't a guardian Aspect and yet…)" Mew started to inspect Lucy herself. Her eyes morphed to appear like Arceus's for a few moments before shifting back to their regular cat-like shape. She gasped with newfound clarity, "(Oh, I see now.)"

"What is it?" Ash asked curiously.

"(Lucy is imprinted with Serena's aura despite limited exposure to her.)" Mew revealed.

"What?!" Everyone said simultaneously. Mew started to inspect Lucy a little further. The Lycanroc didn't know what to think of this.

"(So… does that mean I'm… like… one of Serena's Aspects?)" Lucy asked.

"(Yes, actually. The odd thing about this is that you are a hybrid Aspect that heard this message. Normally, it would have been incredibly hard to hear it, sharp hearing or not.)" Mew said with having a paw on her chin. She deduced, "(Serena is closer to being a guardian than she is a psychic despite her genetically being half guardian and half psychic. Considering how she is Ash's current betrothed and has had limited interactions with psychics, this is unsurprising. The reverse would likely happen if Serena was around more psychics.)"

"How can you tell?" Ash asked curiously.

"(A hybrid's aura is very adaptable to the people and situations they're near. It's their greatest strength. It's also why so many consider them dangerous.)" Mew answered. Ash couldn't imagine Serena being dangerous. He couldn't imagine her fighting much of anything. Still, he knew not to underestimate anyone's potential, especially Serena's. The boy knew she proved herself while he was gone. He decided to focus on Lucy being Serena's Aspect.

"We gotta tell Serena as soon as she gets back. She's gonna be so excited!" Ash said while gripping his fist excitedly. Pikachu was surprised that Ashton said and did this with Ash. He seemed more serious than Ash. Normally by now, Ash would have made his left eye turn back to brown, but he still had heterochromia. The mouse chuckled. Ashton wasn't as different from Ash as he thought he was.

"(I… think you're excited more excited for her than she would be for herself, Ash.)" Pikachu said with a sigh, but he was still happy about the news. Ash shrugged his shoulders, but didn't deny him.

Wasabi noticed Lucy got silent. Although Wasabi was happy that Lucy had the potential to get better than she already is, she also knew that Lucy was content with her life in the Tree of Beginning. Wasabi was sure she didn't want to leave Aurora. Lucy was looking down. Wasabi placed a paw on her shoulder, showing a supporting smile. Wasabi knew Lucy long enough to know if she was feeling down about something. The Raichu gestured Lucy to say something to Ash. Lucy nodded.

"(… Let me know when Serena returns. I… got a lot to think about.)" Lucy said with her ears down. She wasn't speaking in her accent anymore. She started to walk away from everyone slowly. Ash noticed her sadness and stopped her in her tracks. He gestured the Lycanroc to look up at him.

"Lucy…" Ash said, but wasn't sure what else to say. Lucy decided to be upfront with her feelings.

"(I love Aurora a lot… but another trainer is my true partner? That's a little heavy considering I've been with Aurora for twenty years now.)" Lucy admitted. Ash tried to think of a way to make her feel better.

"… Tell you what. You come with me when Mom calls and tell her everything we know. I know Mom would understand you and give you more clarity." Ash offered. Lucy made her head go off to the side and pondered his words.

"(I'm not sure I'm okay with it. I'm also not sure if Aurora will be alright with it. Don't get me wrong… I like Serena a lot. However…)" Lucy wasn't sure how to finish her statement, so she let it hang.

"You've been with Mom for so long that it feels wrong to go to someone else, right?" Ash finished for her. The Lycanroc nodded. Ash decided to sit down with his legs out in front of him. She gestured Lucy to sit beside him.

"(Yeah.)" Lucy responded as she sat down beside him.

The rest of the Pokémon got closer and sat down near him. Tyranitar made a thud upon sitting down. Ash looked like he was going to tell a story. He told the Pokémon of a few times he had that had a passion or was conflicted about staying with him. He decided to talk about Ambipom specifically as an example. He talked about how she first wanted to be traded to Dawn to perform, but later was released to pursue her talent in ping pong. The Pokémon listened intently. Ash looked up at the sky, thinking about Ambipom and other Pokémon he hadn't seen in a while.

"So, overall, there's quite been a few times where I released Pokémon… or at least tried to. I release a Pokémon only if they really want to, though. Some stayed like Pikachu while others left like Goodra or Ambipom. They always felt conflicted about it, but at the end of the day, they followed their heart. Hopefully, Mom could help you figure out what you want." Ash said.

"(It's true. I could have been in Viridian Forest instead of with Ash, but I decided to stay with him. I saw such a bright light from him. I was so surprised he was willing to give me the choice to do what I wanted. I know Aurora will likely be the same with you.)" Pikachu said to supplement his trainer. Lucy still seemed deep in thought.

"(Master Ash was like that with me in letting me aid finding and convincing Tyranitar to come with us as well. If his mother is anything like him, and she gave me the impression she was, I'm sure she'll be open to what you want.)" Lucario spoke up for the first time. Ash was surprised, but happy to hear her input.

"Lucario, stop calling me 'Master'. You're my friend, not my slave." Ash sighed. Lucario looked at the boy apologetically. Tyranitar widened his eyes at that. The boy considered Pokémon friends instead of creatures to do his bidding. That was a stark contrast to how things were after Ash left Johto. Tyranitar's eyes grew soft.

"(Apologies, M- er Ash. By the way… when you have red and brown eyes, what's happening to you? What should I call you?)" Lucario asked.

"Sorry. I should have explained this earlier. When Ashton is out at the same time as Ash, it's called the aura allegiance. Right now, I'm neither of them specifically, but both combined. I'm more like regular Ash in personality, but that's because Ashton is more similar to regular Ash than most people think. It's easier to call me Ash as he is the dominate side." Ash explained. Lucario got a bit of chill thinking about it. She wasn't truly talking to the original Ash. However, this version was just as much her trainer than his less powerful selves.

"(When you and Arceus are combined, does this mean we would call you Mew, as well?)" Pikachu wondered and asked the primordial Pokémon. Mew seemed to be in a bit of thought.

"(It's traditional for the guardian or psychic under the allegiance to be called by their balance's name. I was named Mew when I was combined with him millennia ago, but that may change since Arceus has changed. I'm really not sure if we could combine with his current mindset.)" Mew answered.

From inside the house, they suddenly heard ringing. Ash knew it had to be from their video phone. Ash gasped and got up. Ash said to Lucy, "Follow me inside before she hangs up. Everyone else, I'll come back as soon as I can."

"(Go on, Ash. I'll show Pikachu and everyone a thing or two.)" Wasabi said with a wink. Pikachu looked at his old mentor with a bit of intrigue. All the Pokémon waved Ash off and Ash and Lucy went inside.

Ash immediately went toward the sound of the ringing. The house's video phone was in the living room by their TV. The Ketchum living room looked more modern than one may expect, but it was very modest. There was a long couch in front of their flat screen TV and a smaller couch in front of the house's front window. There was a short wooden table neatly organized with a rose in a vase at its center.

The walls were painted cream and there were several badges of Ash's achievements and travels to different regions on the wall. He'd managed to transfer all of his badges to his new house since Delia abandoned their old one. Aurora wanted to make it clear how proud she was of him. The rest of Ash's plaques was in his room.

There was also pictures of a younger Aurora, Alice and Gordo at the corner opposite to the TV and adjacent to the video phone. There were also pictures of Ash and Aurora, though there were varying in ages. Ash was a baby in one, but a young child in most of them. The most recent picture was one Alice had taken a week after Ash started to live with his biological family again. It depicted Aurora happily giving him a nuggie for making his first cupcake without burning it. Ash was not resisting that much and was slightly uncomfortable, but happy at the contact.

Glancing at that picture made the boy chuckle to himself before he focused his attention toward the video phone. There was a wooden chair people could sit in. Much of the wooden ornaments and furniture in the house were personally crafted by Gordo. Ash liked that his family was very handy.

Ash sat down and answered. Lucy sat right beside him. Aurora immediately appeared on the screen beaming happily at him. He noticed that Raven was in the background and thought that was odd. Then again, Aurora was sitting in a Pokémon Center. In her hand, Raven seemed to be reading a tablet seemingly like a book. She was sitting down by a nearby table, but she appeared to be in earshot of Aurora. She seemed to be engrossed in her reading and showed no signs of acknowledging him or Lucy. Aurora noticed Ash was under the aura allegiance and wondered why Lucy was beside him while he was like this. Her beaming expression turned into a questioning one.

Ash decided to explain what he had gone through today and later what Serena had to do while they were gone. Aurora listened intently, then frowned as Ash continued. Her eyes were narrowed by the time Ash started to talk about how Serena looked when she came back. Aurora was so annoyed that she didn't give Ash a chance to finish.

"Ugh… I'm going to get a hold of Mom and Dad when I get home… and things aren't going to be nice. Her clothes were tattered? Serena shouldn't have gone through all that." Aurora growled. Her left eye turned red as she said this. Ash could tell both Aurora and Aru felt this way and was glad to see this. However, he wanted to clarify things.

"Mom, you didn't let me finish. Despite what Grandma made her go through, Grandma actually seems more approving of me and Serena now!" Ash said excitedly. Aurora gasped and widened her eyes.

"What?! Really?" The elder Ketchum said, slightly incredulous.

"Yep. Grandma didn't object when Serena and I held hands or when we hugged. She still seems hesitant about Serena, but she said herself that she's willing to give her a chance." Ash confirmed. Aurora had a stunned expression. Then, her face turned grateful. She closed her eyes in thought.

"Oh my… I never thought I'd hear Mom say that again about someone related to psychics…" Aurora drawled to herself.

"Hmm… again, you say? Perhaps we can talk about…" Ash picked up on how she phrased her expression with a wistful smile. He wondered if he could open her up more about that psychic she referred to. Aurora knew what he wanted and decided not to give it to him. She crossed her arms in slight irritation and cut him off.

"This conversation has nothing to do with Delilah. Still, I'm happy that Mom's cold heart warmed a bit to you and Serena. You two are very special to do that." Aurora said and redirected the conversation back to what they were talking about. Ash found himself blushing at her words. Aurora chuckled and decided to move on to something else. She said, "I'm happy you found your Aspects. In about a week, I would like to battle you with a team of Pokémon I haven't used on you yet."

"Oooh! I can't wait for that!" Ash's eyes lit up in excitement.

Any chance he got to learn from battling his mother, he would take it. He was curious to see what she had in store for him. Ash's left eye suddenly turned back to brown as Ash's enthusiasm was a little too much for Ashton to take at the moment. The counterbalance sighed in their head, but Ash knew he was just as excited. It took Ash a few moments to recover from Ashton severing their aura allegiance. Aurora waited patiently until Ash could move again.

"Same here, young one. However, I have to ask… why is Lucy with you? How are you, by the way, Lucy?" Aurora started to look at her silent Lycanroc. Lucy perked her ears up at being acknowledged.

"(I'm decent.)" Lucy responded. Aurora raised an eyebrow upon hearing that response.

"Hahaha… stop lying to me. Tell me what's wrong." Aurora started lightheartedly then stared at the Lycanroc seriously. Lucy made a small, but forced smile. Aurora noticed she didn't wag her tail at being acknowledged, either. The raven-haired lady was growing concerned.

"(Nothing in particular is wrong.)" Lucy maintained. Aurora shook her head and laughed.

"Lucy, your voice and tail usually give you away. You don't hide your feelings too well. Spill it." Aurora said with a serious voice. Her tone gave the Lycanroc no room to avoid her real feelings. She sighed and looked away from Aurora.

"…" Lucy didn't know how to start. Aurora tapped her finger on her chin in thought. She snapped her fingers once she got an idea.

"Do you want me to deduce what's wrong instead?" Aurora offered. Lucy made a hidden smile. She knew Aurora may suggest that.

"(You've always been good at that, so yeah. Read my aura or whatever…)" Lucy said nonchalantly.

"Sure. Touch my hand and I'll read you." Aurora's eyes started glowing yellow as she said this.

Her hair started to freely flow on its own. While concentrating her power, Aurora brought out her hand. As she brought out her hand, yellow aura started to form right in front of Ash and Lucy. Ash looked at the sight in amazement. He was always in awe at seeing Aurora's technique at work. The yellow aura started to form a hand-like shape. The aura hand enveloped Lucy gently. Lucy immediately relaxed under Aurora's aura. It felt like Aurora's real hand was caressing her.

Aurora gasped in shock and she read Lucy's aura. She stammered, "Serena… her aura is…"

"(Yeah.)" Lucy said in a heavy voice.

"Your partner… your true partner… after all these years…" Aurora started to form from tears in her eyes. Ash and Lucy both looked concerned at the woman. She quickly wiped her eyes and said, "I understand why you were feeling down. You're not sure if I would give you up to someone else, but you don't want to leave me, right?"

"I'm not sure if I'm okay with leaving you. I also wasn't sure if you would be alright with it if I decided to." Lucy confirmed to her trainer. Aurora looked away in thought.

"If I'm being honest, I'm not sure if I'm okay with it either. However…" Aurora took a moment to think about how she wanted to phrase herself next. Aurora said with a gentle smile, "If being with Serena will bring your potential to its limit, what can I say as your current trainer? Hold you back because I want to keep you? It would be selfish of me to hold you back."

"Aurora…" Lucy said because she didn't know how to respond to that. She could hear some hesitance in Aurora's tone. Aurora sighed.

"You're right. I'm completely not okay with you going to Serena, but that's because of how much I love you. Part of me doesn't want to let you go. I know this is selfish and hurts a little of my pride, but it stings as your trainer to not be the one to bring you at your best." Aurora admitted. Lucy immediately shook her head at that.

"That's not true! I feel like very little can match me in a battle." Lucy said with a determined gaze. Aurora made a smile to show that she appreciated Lucy saying that. However, she decided to be blunt with the Lycanroc.

"Though that may be true, you're still denying your potential. You've seen how my guardian partners are at their best. Their potential by my hand is overwhelming. You know how true it is. You can aim higher than you are already." Aurora said.

"…" Lucy didn't know how to respond to her.

"Lucy. I won't stop you from staying with me or going to Serena. At least I can say that if you did decide to go with Serena, you'd go with a fantastic girl. Her character has been outstanding and I'm grateful that the person who's your true partner is someone I can trust." Aurora continued. Ash smiled upon hearing that. Aurora said while pointing to the screen with a gentle smile, "However, at the end of the day, the decision to go with Serena or stay by me isn't my decision. It's yours. Think about it to yourself and let me know what you decide. I'll support you either way."

"Thank you, Aurora," Lucy said from the bottom of her heart. She was happy that Aurora was giving her the freedom to do what she wanted. She didn't know what she wanted quite yet, but she was feeling much better having talked to Aurora.

"Not a problem. I only want the best for you. Either way, it's not like you'll never see me or Serena again. I'll give you all the belly rubs in the world, your trainer or not." Aurora said in a soothing tone. Lucy's tail started to thump against the floor as she imagined it.

"Hahahaha! That would like… soooo be nice," Lucy said happily.

"Ah… that's the Lucy I want to hear." Aurora laughed. She turned her attention to Ash again, "Young one, I'm glad that you made it back safely. Now that I know you're safe, my heart can be put at ease."

"You should have seen her pacing around like a madwoman waiting for you to break the bead. Aurora's always been a worrywart, but it was funny to watch…" Raven commented in the background. She closed her tablet and disappeared. Raven then appeared right behind Aurora and clutched her shoulders. Aurora widened her eyes and blushed. She turned around to look at Raven with an annoyed expression. Raven was making a cheeky grin at her reaction.

"Raven! You didn't have to tell him that!" Aurora hissed at her friend. Ash was hiding a little bit of a chuckle seeing his mother like this. Lucy was laughing slightly. Raven walked toward the phone and shared Aurora's seat. She continued looking at Aurora with a smug, but playful face.

"Hahaha… it's not like you'll do anything to me. Besides, I told you you had no reason to worry. Remember, I'm a living bad luck detector. I'd know." Raven placed a hand on her chest, somewhat proud of this distinction. Aurora rolled her eyes. Aurora couldn't deny her friend's words and knew that Raven's sixth sense of bad luck came from the fact she was a pure dusk guardian. Still, she didn't like being teased.

"Right…" Aurora huffed with annoyance.

"Anyway, I was wondering if I could talk to Serena, actually. Do you know where she is, Ash?" Raven asked.

"She's with Grandma going to some breeding place in Hokori to give Serena a gift for completing her challenge," Ash answered.

"Breeding place? You mean the one off Dendo?" Raven questioned. Ash nodded. Aurora suddenly had sparkles in her eyes. She was grinning happily.

"Oh! Meema's gonna see Serena again! She runs the place." Aurora said excitedly. Ash gasped. He didn't know his adoptive great-grandmother was a breeder. His eyes were sparkling in excitement, too. Marge had paid the Ketchum house a visit a few days after Ash had moved in, though she didn't interact with Serena much due to focusing on Ash. Meanwhile, Raven was looking concerned.

"Marge is the only person that's open to non-guardians in that area, though. Wait… that's concerning. People around Dendo aren't fond of psychics and I've no idea how they'd react to having a hybrid in their midst." Raven pointed out.

"Mew made Serena appear like a psychic because she encountered the Zurui before. They won't know she's a hybrid." Ash said to ease her worry. It did nothing. If anything, Raven looked even more distressed. Her grey eyes were glowing. Aurora's expression turned serious. She wondered if Raven sensed something bad imminent.

"That's still bad that she appears like a psychic in a guardian area! There's also the possibility of…" Raven gasped. She got up from her seat and looked down at Aurora. She said in a serious tone, "Aurora, I'm sorry. We can continue talking about how to improve the region later. I'm gonna check on Serena."

"I completely understand. I'm going to do some morning training or challenge people that wander into Raven's gym." Aurora said. When Ash was confused when she said 'morning', Aurora supplemented, "Hokori is seven hours ahead of Kanto. It's about five in the morning here."

"Ah." Ash nodded in understanding.

"Which means you should get to bed soon, mister," Aurora said in a half serious tone. She knew Ash was responsible so she didn't need to worry too much about him overdoing it. Ash nodded in response.

"Once I check in on Serena, I might join in on your training. The gym should be open. See you when I get back." Raven said to her friend. She looked to Ash and said, "Later Ash."

"Uh… bye Raven?" Ash said, but by the time he was done speaking, she had vanished in a shroud of dark aura. Aurora blinked her eyes. This was more urgent to Raven than she thought. She hoped Alice and Serena would be alright. It didn't sound too serious to her. Aurora sighed, but then wistfully laughed.

"I swear… Raven sees Serena as her own child at times. She's even more protective than I am. In any case, is there anything else of note that happened?" Aurora wondered.

"No. I'm probably just going to train and get to know Lucario and Tyranitar more before I go to bed," Ash said.

"Understandable. I'll leave you be and I look forward to testing you when I return. If you ever have to talk to me before I come back, you can contact me through your dreams if you concentrate deeply enough. All Ketchums can contact each other like that from long distances, but they both have to be sleeping for this to work. If you ever want to contact me, tap an evening nap and I'll likely be sleeping here in Hokori." Aurora told him. Ash widened his eyes. That sounded useful.

"That's actually really cool to know. I'll see you again soon, Mom!" Ash said cheerfully.

"Take care, Ash," Aurora said. Ash was about to hang up, but Aurora's eyes turned red. Ash smiled warmly at seeing Aru for the first time in a while. He noticed that Aru didn't come out as much as when Aurora was in conflict with her, but she was much calmer. Aru made a slightly content smile at her son.

"I would feel bad if I didn't come out separately in this call. I guess this is goodbye from me as well. Don't die before I come back, you hear?" Aru said cheekily. Ash laughed, but nodded.

"Of course, Mother. See you soon!" For a few moments, Ash switched between himself and Ashton while waving goodbye to his mother. Aurora did the same with Aru. Then, Aurora stayed in control and hung up.

Ash got up from his seat and sighed to himself. He then made a determined fist. Lucy seemed like she was in a bit of thought. She felt comfort in knowing that Aurora would be fine with what she decided, but she also felt conflicted about things still. Ash made a comforting smile to the Lycanroc.

"Hey… take as much time as you need to decide, alright? Don't stress yourself." Ash said soothingly.

"(Thank you, Ash.)" Lucy said with appreciation.

"No problem. C'mon. Let's see what the rest of the Pokémon are up to." Ash said invitingly. Lucy nodded.

Ash and Lucy went back outside. The boy noticed that the Pokémon grew a bit more accustomed to being near each other. Lucario and Pikachu were eyeing Wasabi closely. Wasabi had blue sparks coming from her cheeks that kept alternating between blue, violet and yellow. Pikachu was trying to emulate her, but was failing. Lucario was simply interested in the learning process.

Ash saw Tyranitar sitting with Mew. Mew was floating to be eye level with Tyranitar. She seemed to be talking to him about something, though what he wasn't sure. Tyranitar seemed a bit distant. Lucy ran to meet up with Pikachu, Wasabi and Lucario. Ash made up his mind. He knew he had to talk to Tyranitar now.

A/N: Yet another transitional chapter to establish future events... but they are necessary. I wonder what Raven is sensing... she is like an Absol after all. Things are going to become a bit more interesting these next few chapters...

I also wanted to show that Pokemon with established trainers can truly belong elsewhere. Whether Lucy will actually go with Serena is to be determined. You all will have to wait and see.

Next Chapter: Cracking Through the Armor

~SPG123~