This chapter is going to be short and to the point. I wanted to give Bonnie her next pokémon, and also look into more of Ash's behaviour, so I'm combining both into this chapter. Otherwise we'll have 2 chapter with 1,000 words or less, which is much too short for my liking. But with that said, here's the latest chapter.
Chapter 24:
Steady Build-up
As much as he likes to claim otherwise, just to annoy them, Max is kind of relieved that he doesn't have to deal with Sarah and Sam for the next 2 weeks. Hopefully, if they keep moving, they might be able to completely shake off Sarah and Sam. But he knows that's wishful thinking. Those two are relentless, and no doubt that on the day the fortnight expires, the duo will be back on their tail. So, he decides to enjoy it while he can. He and Bonnie continue on their way through the pass, with Bonnie looking around at some of the pokémon around them. Max can tell that she's trying to decide which one she wants.
She finally makes that decision 2 days after they leave Sarah and Sam. They're just finishing up packing away their things after taking a break from the walking. Max is packing his audio logs away, while Bonnie is just finishing up her training. That is when she spots it. A small blue elephantine pokémon, with an orange patch on its nose. Bonnie immediately get hearts in her eyes, and she pulls out a pokéball to try and catch it. But before she can throw, Max catches her hand. "That's a Phanpy," Max warns. "Those guys can be aggressive, and it could attack you if you anger it." Bonnie nods in gratitude and lowers her hand. "So how do I catch it then?" she asks. "Well, it's a ground type," Max replies. "Which means your Nuzleaf should be able to weaken it, and then you can catch it." Bonnie nods, then pulls out Nuzleaf's pokéball.
The Phanpy is too busy sniffing at some flowers to notice Bonnie approach. But it does see her when she shout, Nuzleaf, let's go!" Nuzleaf emerges from his ball with a cry, and readies himself for battle. Phanpy sees this and does the same. Then, it immediately jumps into a Rollout. Remembering this from his first time in a Gym battle, Nuzleaf prepares himself. Then, he catches the Rollout and throws it away. Phanpy crashes down on the ground, slightly dizzy. Bonnie seizes this chance and throws her pokéball at it. The ball shakes twice, but then Phanpy breaks out. It glares at Nuzleaf, then uses Bulldoze. Nuzleaf barely manages to dodge the attack, then retaliates with Seed Bomb. Phanpy is weakened a lot more now, so Bonnie tries again. The ball shakes once, twice, thrice... Click! Phanpy is caught by the ball.
Bonnie throws her hands up in the air in celebration at this, then runs up and picks up the ball, followed by picking up Nuzleaf and hugging him. Max watches, laughing. When she puts Nuzleaf down and releases Phanpy to heal her, Max approaches her, still laughing. "You know," he comments, "I don't know why you keep just throwing the ball at them, rather than battling them first?" Bonnie blushes a bit at this. "Shut up" she says, before returning Phanpy to her ball. Then, she pulls out her pokédex and checks up on Phanpy's entry. "Arceus!" she exclaims. "Look at what Phanpy evolves into!" Max looks, realising something with a grin. "You know," he says, "Ash has a Donphan as well. If I recall correctly, these things are powerful." Bonnie's grin broadens. "If that's the case, I should have no trouble with this league!" she exclaims. Max chuckles. "Just so you're aware, Ash still lost the Johto League, and he had his Donphan on his team." Bonnie sighs. "Couldn't let me have that could you?" she asks. Max mock thinks about that. "Nope," he says finally. "Can't let you repeat Laverre." Bonnie goes red at that. "Arceus, for the last time, I am sorry about that!" she argues. "I know, I know," Max replies. "I'm only joking." Soon, the two friends are laughing as they continue on their way. As they go, the conversation about Ash's Donphan leads both of them to wonder how Ash is doing.
Ash sits on his couch, chatting with Brock and Olivia, when he sneezes quite hard. "Sorry about that," he says. "I guess someone is talking about me." The three of then laugh, then get back to their conversation. Ash was busy training in the front garden of his temporary home in Wyndon when Brock and Olivia arrived. The newlyweds decided to pay him a visit and catch up with him, and he wad more than happy to invite them inside. The three of them sit around the sitting room and chat about the various things going on in their lives. Olivia talks excitedly about their Honeymoon together, and Ash starts asking questions about where they went. The more he hears about it, the more he thinks about maybe bringing Serena there at some point.
Just as Olivia finishes off her description of her and Brock's Honeymoon, Ash feels a sharp pain in the pack of his neck. Immediately, he feels his anger flare, and has to strain himself to stop a pulse of Aura bursting out. "What the fuck was that!?" he demands, a slight growl coming on in his voice. Brock raises his hands in surrender. "Nothing," he says quickly. "I just saw something on your shirt so I tried to slap it off! I didn't mean to hit you, sorry about that!" Ash glares at him for a few seconds, then feels his rage subside. "No, I'm sorry," he says. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." He hugs Brock for a few seconds, then he and Olivia resume their conversation. This conversation lasts for another 10 minutes, before she and Brock decide thst they've overstayed their welcome, and head out. They bid farewell to Ash, before walking away through Wyndon. Once out of sight of Ash's temporary home, Olivia turns to Brock and asks, "Did you get it?" At this, Brock slips a small syringe full of Ash's blood from his sleeve. "I did," he replies. "Now all I need to do is test it."
When the two of them arrive in their holiday home in Galar, Brock immediately heads to his desk. He takes a small device out from a drawer and plugs it into his laptop that sits on the desk. Then, he takes the syringe of Ash's blood and squirts it onto the small device. Immediately, the blood cells from the sample appear on the screen of Brock's laptop. He puts the syringe back down on the desk and begins to analyse the sample on his laptop. Olivia watches him do this for a few seconds, before asking, "Are you finally going to tell me why we just did that?" Brock doesn't look up from his screen. "Have you noticed something different about Ash recently?" he asks. Olivia says she hasn't. "He seems, I don't know, angrier," Brock goes on. "Like there's something causing his fuse to shorten. He's also starting to growl a bit when he talks, and Pikachu has been sitting on his shoulder less. I want to know why."
Olivia just stares at him, befuddled. "And you think analysing his blood will tell you what's affecting his mood?" she asks sceptically. Brock looks up at her. "Well, it most likely won't," he says. "The best way to find out would be to perform a brain scan, but I obviously can't do that without drawing attention to myself. But, as a doctor, I have to explore every possible angle. So, I'm checking his blood first, and if that doesn't yield anything, then I'll think of something else." Olivia nods in understanding, then leaves her husband to it. Brock continues to analyse the blood sample for a few minutes, when he spots something. "Huh," he says. "That's strange." "What is it?" Olivia asks. "You know that Ash is and Aura Guardian right?" he asks. Olivia nods, remembering the time when, three years ago, he found out they were dating and was so excited for them that two blue spheres of energy appeared in his hands. "Well," Brock continues. "I've just detected a small trace of Aura in his blood."
Olivia is confused by this. "But if he's an Aura Guardian, then wouldn't there be Aura in his blood anyway?" she asks. Brock shakes his head. "That's the thing," he says. "There shouldn't be." He turns back to his laptop and types in it, bringing up a diagram of a human and pokémon. "This is the human nerve system," he explains. "And this is the nerve system of pokémon. As you can see, they're all the same. Except for one." Then, he types on his laptop again, and a diagram of a Lucario and Ryolu appear. Unlike the previous 2, this one has 2 nerve systems running through their bodies. "As you can see here," he explains, "the Ryolu line has 2 nerve-like systems running through their body. However, this blue one is for their Aura. It's the same for Aura Guardians. They have two systems in their bodies. Their Aura travels through these nerves, and gets released naturally until they learn how to harness it. Then they can control how it exits. The thing is, Aura is supposed to stay inside those nerves. It shouldn't be in his blood." Olivia looks all of this over, impressed by the amount of information her husband was able to gather. "If only you knew another Aura Guardian," she comments. "Then you could confirm all of this."
Brock sits up suddenly. "As a matter of fact, I do!" he exclaims. "It was thanks to him and Ash that I got all of this information. I can't believe I didn't think to ask him sooner!" With that, he pulls out his phone and video calls someone. After a few rings, a young man answers. "Hello Brock," he says. "What can I do for you?" "Hey Riley," Brock replies. "I was actually hoping you could explain something for me." Then, he flips the camera so that Riley can see his laptop screen, where the sample of Ash's blood was on. Riley scans it for a few seconds, his face becoming more serious. "That's not good," he says finally. "Not good at all. Who's blood is this?" "Ash's," Brock replies. "I was hoping you could tell me how this happened." Riley looks like he'd rather do anything else, but he sighs. "Has he been experiencing any changes in behaviour?" he asks. "Anything, almost scary?" Brock explains Ash's change in behaviour, the way his voice has gone gruffer at times, and how he's stopped using his Aura. Riley looks like he's seen a ghost.
"Ok," he says at last. "You have a serious problem on your hands." "What do you mean?" asks Brock. "Ash hasn't just stopped using his Aura. He's actively suppressing it. He's pushing it down so that it's as if he doesn't have it. But doing that is only causing it to build up more and more in his body. With nowhere else to go, it's begun to enter other parts of his body, like his bloodstream." "And what happens if he suppresses it too much?" Brock asks. "I don't want to say," Riley replies nervously. "But suffice it to say, it won't be good. So, you must get him to start using it again. I don't know what happened to him to make him not want his power anymore, but he must move past it, otherwise it'll only end badly for everyone." Brock nods in understanding. "I think I know how to get him to stop suppressing it" he says. "Good," says Riley. "Trust me, you don't want to see what happens if he doesn't stop. Good luck with that. And by the way, congrats on your marriage." Brock thanks him, then ends the call. Then, he dials another number, and makes a second call.
Now I'm sure you're wondering what will happen if Ash doesn't stop suppressing his Aura. Well, I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait to see. But let me say this, I have said what will happen before, if you can remember. I know a lot of you are probably wondering why I didn't have Riley train Ash in the ways of Aura instead of the ghost of Sir Aaron. Well, the truth is, I forgot about him until someone (can't remember who) mentioned him in the comments of Volume 1, and now I'm pissed off that I forgot about him. But anyway, with that, I'll see you on Tuesday for the next chapter.