The day after the party, Ash, Serena and Iris were traveling through downtown to the Anistar City Stadium, where the double battle tournament would be taking place. The three of them had plans to meet up with Korrina, who was waiting to sign up for the tournament with Ash before engaging in some quick practice. Brock was out restocking the group's supplies, as they'd eaten all of the food he had on hand, while Madison was at the theater registering for the next day's Pokémon Showcase.
As they approached the stadium, they entered a small crowd that had gathered outside, full of people excited to either watch or participate in the event. Making their way through the throng, they found more than a few people stepping out of their way, letting the group through more easily, as soon as they lay eyes on Serena. She gave a gracious thanks to as many of them as she could, determined to stay humble and not let her steadily increasing fame go to her head. They soon made their way to the front entrance of the stadium, where a blonde-haired skater girl was waiting for them.
"Hey, guys!" Korrina called out as they approached, waving. "Good to see you again!"
"You too, Korrina!" Ash responded, his eyes meeting hers. "Are you ready for the tournament?"
"Of course I am!" she replied, clenching her fist in front of her. "I've been ready since Laverre City! I can't wait to get started!" He grinned back at her, already feeling adrenaline start to pump through him. Beside him, Serena turned to look at a large poster outside the stadium door.
"'The Anistar City Co-Star Double Battle Tournament'," she recited, her eyes traveling downward. "'Compete to be the brightest double battle stars in Kalos'… what are these rocks on the poster? Are those fossils?"
"Yep!" Korrina answered, eyes moving toward four fossils that were attractively placed halfway down the banner. "That's the grand prize! The winning team takes home the four fossils on that poster. I think they were donated. The winners get money and supplies, too."
"Whoa! That's so cool!" Ash stepped up to the poster himself, eyes moving from one fossil to the next. "We could take these and do that fossil restoring thing and get us some ultra-rare Pokémon!"
"That's right." Korrina nodded. "None of them are Fighting-types, which is a bummer, but it will still-" She was interrupted by a loud gasp to her side.
"Oh my gosh, look!" Everyone in the group turned to glance at Iris, who was starry-eyed as she gazed at the banner in front of them. "That's a Jaw Fossil!"
"It is?" Serena looked back at the fossils, spotting one that looked like it could possibly be a jaw. "What does that mean?"
"You can get a Tyrunt from a Jaw Fossil!" Iris exclaimed. "They're the only Dragon-type fossil Pokémon ever restored! I never thought I would be able to get one!" She turned toward the performer standing beside her. "Serena! Enter the tournament with me, please!"
Serena's eyes shot open wide. "What? Me?!"
"Yes, you!" Iris stepped over and grasped Serena's hand in both of hers. "I helped you with your performance, now you can help me with this! Getting that Pokémon would mean so much to me!"
"Iris, you don't want my help!" Serena protested. "My Pokémon aren't battlers! I'd never get past Ash or Korrina!"
Iris's face fell as she let go of Serena's hand, but she quickly started thinking again. "Where's Brock?" She turned and started quickly walking off, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Brock! Brooooooock!" The others watched as she moved in the direction of the nearest Poké Mart.
"Well… I guess we know who our competition is…" Korrina muttered.
"Yeah…" Ash nodded in agreement, too stunned to have any other reaction.
Later that afternoon, Ash and Korrina were walking onto the field of the stadium, their Pokémon partners already by their sides, for their first match of the tournament. The hastily-assembled team of Iris and Brock had cleared their first match without too much trouble, and they were now sitting in the stands with Serena and Madison to cheer on their friends. They all cheered as hard as they could, trying to be heard over the din of voices surrounding them.
"After a long day of battling, we've only got three matches left in the round of 32!" The excited voice of a male announcer echoed through the open-air stadium, cutting through the sounds of cheering. "But that doesn't mean the matches are going to be any less exciting! We've got a great matchup for you coming up next, featuring the former Shalour City Gym Leader, Korrina! She's finally back in Kalos and ready to make a name for herself once again!"
Korrina beamed as she felt the adoration of the crowd washing over her, looking around and waving at them energetically. Ash smiled as well, glad to see that his old friend was as loved by Kalos as she deserved to be. He got the sense that the two of them were going to have something like a home-field advantage, surrounded by these supportive and passionate fans. He certainly wasn't going to complain about that, though if he was being honest with himself, he preferred it when the odds were stacked against him.
"By her side is Ash, a former runner-up in the Kalos League!" the announcer continued. "They'll be facing off against two aspiring Kalos League champions, Asher and Gabrielle! These two are an experienced double battle team, and they've been waiting to show their stuff in this tournament!" Ash looked across the field to size up their opponents, a blonde-haired boy and a girl with blue hair tied into pigtails, both of whom looked to be around thirteen years old. He could see the nervous excitement in both of their faces, and a burning determination in their eyes. He grinned wide, already pumped for the battle ahead.
"The team of Asher and Gabrielle won the coin toss, and have chosen to make the first move!" the referee declared, raising her hand in the direction of Ash's opponents. "All four trainers, please bring out your Pokémon!"
Ash turned and gave a nod to the Pikachu on his shoulder, who nodded back and leaped into the arena. Beside him, Korrina's Lucario ran out onto the field as well, immediately taking up a fighting stance. Across the way, Gabrielle tossed out a Poké Ball that released a red-and-black, spider-like Ariados onto the field. Her partner, Asher, summoned a Tyranitar, a Pokémon that looked like an armored, green, bipedal dinosaur.
"All four trainers are now ready to battle!" The referee raised both of her flags. "Let the battle… begin!"
Gabrielle was the one to issue the first command. "Ariados, use Sticky Web!" Her Pokémon lifted its head and started spitting out gobs of white webbing toward the other end of the field.
"Pikachu, dodge it!" Ash commanded. Both Pikachu and Lucario evaded the attacks easily, and the webs landed on the far side of the arena, close to Ash and Korrina's feet. The two trainers looked down at the resulting mess, realizing that their side of the field had shrunk considerably, closing their Pokémon in and giving them less room to move around. Both of them were quietly impressed with this show of strategy.
"Now, Tyranitar, use Rock Slide!" Asher ordered. His Pokémon roared and summoned an avalanche of rocks, appearing out of thin air above his head and rolling toward the two opponents across the way. The trainers on the other end of the battlefield needed no time to respond.
"Pikachu, run up the rocks and hit Tyranitar with Iron Tail!" Ash called out. Pikachu leaped into action, jumping from one rock to the next as he ran forward.
"Lucario, use Force Palm to hit those rocks back at Ariados!" Korrina commanded. Her Pokémon raised both fists, which began to glow blue, and he started thrusting his open palms toward the oncoming rocks, while dancing out of the way of others. He aimed them directly at the spider Pokémon across the field, and while some of the projectiles collided with the rockslide and fell apart, many of them managed to hit their mark, even as Ariados tried to scuttle away. Meanwhile, Pikachu managed to leap his way right up to an astonished Tyranitar, spinning around in midair and smacking the Pokémon in the face with his tail. The attack stunned Tyranitar enough to put an end to his Rock Slide attack.
"Great!" Ash praised. "Now use Electro Ball on Ariados!" His Pokémon immediately leaped away, forming a ball of electricity on his tail and hurling it at Ariados for a direct hit.
Korrina clenched her fist, happy with how this battle was starting out. "Run in and hit Tyranitar with a Power-Up Punch!" Lucario grunted and dashed forward, his right fist glowing with an orange aura.
"Stop him with Earthquake!" Asher retaliated. His Tyranitar leaped up into the air a couple of feet, before stomping the ground as hard as he could, causing the entire arena to shake. Lucario jumped into the air to avoid losing his balance, while Pikachu was knocked off of his feet.
Asher grinned. "Now, follow up with Rock Throw!" Tyranitar quickly punched the ground, sending a series of large rocks flying out in front of him. A particularly large one hit Lucario dead center, knocking him to the ground. The trainers could hear the shocked cries from the crowd, as many of the spectators winced.
Ash watched as Tyranitar advanced on the staggered Lucario, who was still lying on his back, stunned from the attack. He turned and yelled out a command to his own Pokémon. "Pikachu, stop Tyranitar with a Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu whirled around and delivered a quick but powerful zap to Tyranitar, causing the Pokémon to stop in his tracks, crying out in pain. Before Pikachu could make another move, however, he felt a series of painful stings from behind, as Ariados shot him with Poison Sting. As he turned around, Ash could see a sickly purple color forming under Pikachu's eyes, and he felt his stomach drop.
"Ah, man… getting poisoned this early in the battle…" He cupped his hands to his mouth. "Pikachu, back away and then use Electro Ball!" Pikachu turned and raced back toward his trainer, moving to the center of the arena, before turning around and flinging another Electro Ball toward Ariados, who barely managed to dodge.
"Ariados, use Pin Missile on Lucario!" Gabrielle called out, her voice full of confidence.
"Hit Lucario with Stone Edge, Tyranitar!" Asher followed up. Both of them began shooting their own projectiles at Korrina's Pokémon, as Ariados shot needles from its mouth, and Tyranitar summoned pointed stones that rocketed forward. Lucario did his best to dodge both attacks, but ended up taking several blows from Stone Edge.
Ash and Korrina could see their strategy clearly. With Pikachu weakened by poison, Asher and Gabrielle were focusing their fire on Lucario, in order to stop him from attacking and take him out more quickly. Once he was knocked out, Pikachu would be easy pickings between the two of them. The two trainers looked at each other for a moment, both of them clearly thinking the same thing.
"Their Pokémon are in perfect sync," Korrina observed. "They're either fighting together or they're supporting each other at any moment."
"You're right," Ash agreed. "If that's the case, then we need to keep the two of them apart, so they can't help each other." He looked forward once again. "Pikachu, trap Ariados with an Electroweb! Keep it from doing anything!"
His partner complied immediately, ignoring the weakness he was feeling in his arms and legs, and he flung another ball of electricity at the spider Pokémon, which spread out into an Electroweb. Ariados tried to dodge, but the web wrapped around it and delivered a powerful, continuous shock, preventing it from attacking.
"Alright, Lucario, let's take the fight to Tyranitar! Use Force Palm, over and over!" Korrina commanded.
"Don't let him get close, Tyranitar!" Asher shot back. "Stop him with Rock Throw!"
Tyranitar roared and slammed the ground with its fist once again, sending more large rocks straight toward the advancing Aura Pokémon. This time, however, Lucario rammed his Force Palm directly into the oncoming rocks, shattering them effortlessly. He continued right on, running up to his opponent and slamming his glowing hand into Tyranitar's chest. Tyranitar, being extraordinarily weak to Fighting-type attacks, reeled from the blow as the breath was knocked out of him. Lucario followed up with another Force Palm, then another, wanting to press the advantage as much as possible while Ariados was out of commission. Unfortunately, that time came to a rather quick end.
"Ariados, Pin Missile!" Gabrielle's Pokémon had managed to free itself, and was once again firing needles from its mouth toward Lucario, who had to jump away. Tyranitar took a moment to catch its breath, as Ash issued another command.
"Pikachu, use Electroweb again!" Pikachu moved as fast as he could to throw out another attack, but by this time the poison was starting to take its toll, and the Electroweb came out more slowly than before. Ariados was barely able to dodge, and immediately resumed shooting Pin Missiles at Lucario. Asher let out a sigh of relief, before turning toward Gabrielle.
"We need to take out that Lucario," he spoke, too quietly for their opponents to hear. "I'm doing it now!"
"Now?" The girl's eyebrows shot up, but quickly receded. "Alright… just be careful!"
"I will, don't worry!" He turned back to face his opponent, reaching out with his right hand to pull down his left sleeve. Ash and Korrina squinted their eyes, looking more closely at what he was doing, eyes widening as they recognized the Mega Ring on his left wrist, with a rainbow-colored Key Stone set into it. This battle was about to go from tough to tougher.
"Let's do this, Tyranitar!" Asher declared, grasping the Key Stone firmly with his right hand. "Mega Evolve!"
As he activated his Key Stone, a Mega Stone tied around Tyranitar's neck began to shine with a bright light, and the crowd gasped as the Pokémon's body began to glow. Everyone in the stadium watched as Tyranitar grew two feet taller, the various spikes on his body growing and elongating, turning even more menacing. Soon the evolution was complete, and Mega Tyranitar let out a powerful roar that nearly shook the arena by itself.
"Now, quickly, Mega Punch!" Asher followed up. His Pokémon took a step back for better leverage before swinging his fist directly at the Lucario standing before him. Lucario leaped back to move away, but his side was still clipped by the powerful punch, and he was knocked backward, landing unsteadily on his feet next to Pikachu. Seconds later, a series of Pin Missiles from Ariados hit him as well, causing him to stumble.
"This isn't good…" Korrina muttered. "We need to get rid of Ariados if we're going to take out a Mega Tyranitar."
"Yeah…" Ash thought for a moment before his eyes lit up with an idea. "I think I know how we can get rid of Ariados, actually…" The two trainers conferred for a moment, as Lucario dodged more attacks, before he heard his trainer calling out to him.
"Lucario! Pick up Pikachu and throw him at Ariados!"
Lucario paused for a moment, baffled, before obeying her command. As the crowd murmured in confusion, he leaped backward toward Pikachu, lifting him up in his right hand and hurling him as hard as possible at Ariados.
"Now, Pikachu! Use Volt Tackle!"
Pikachu grimaced and focused with all of his strength, surrounding his body with electricity the same way he did during a Volt Tackle. At the speed he was moving after Lucario's pitch, Ariados had no hope of dodging, and the Pokémon took the full brunt of the unorthodox attack as Pikachu slammed into it headfirst. Pikachu bounced off of Ariados and landed on his stomach, close to the edge of the arena, but everyone focused their attention on Ariados, who was now lying on its back, a dazed expression on its face. The referee ran in for a closer look, before raising one of her flags.
"Ariados is unable to battle!" she declared. "Asher and Gabrielle have one Pokémon left!" Gabrielle had a worried look on her face as she recalled her defeated Pokémon, hoping that Asher and Tyranitar could pull out a victory.
"Good job, Pikachu!" Ash called out. "Can you still fight?" Pikachu grunted as he got up on all fours, giving his trainer a determined nod and smirk. He'd saved his strength by hanging back after being poisoned, and now he was ready to fight properly alongside Lucario.
"Great!" Ash turned back to face Korrina, who was looking much more confident now. "Are you going to Mega Evolve Lucario, too?"
"If I have to," she answered. "But Lucario and Pikachu together should be able to take out Tyranitar, no problem." She cast her hand forward, ready for the tide of battle to change. "Lucario, Aura Sphere!"
Ash grinned and looked back toward his own Pokémon. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
Both Pokémon fired off their attacks at Mega Tyranitar, who held his arms in front of himself to block out the Aura Sphere as best he could. The projectile attack exploded against his arms, doing minimal damage, but the Thunderbolt landed a direct and painful hit. The Pokémon growled, more aggressive in this Mega-evolved form and not happy about being on the back foot.
"Use Rock Slide!" Asher commanded, trying to keep his voice calm. Tyranitar raised both arms and roared, summoning an enormous avalanche of rocks and spreading it out in all directions.
"Dodge it!" Ash and Korrina shouted at the same time. Pikachu leaped up on top of the rocks once again, moving from one to another with impressive dexterity and flexibility, even in his weakened state. Lucario deftly danced out of the way of the rocks, breaking some apart with his fists while jumping away from others. Both Pokémon remained unscathed, immediately resuming their long-distance attacks on Tyranitar with Thunderbolt and Aura Sphere.
Asher gritted his teeth, mind racing as he tried to think up some other options. Tyranitar wasn't exactly an agile Pokémon, and without Ariados there to disrupt the faster opponents, the Armor Pokémon was a sitting duck. "Tyranitar, use-"
His command was interrupted by an ear-splitting roar, as an infuriated Tyranitar craned its neck up and shouted to the sky in frustration. Looking back at Lucario, he opened his mouth and formed a large ball of yellow energy, before shooting out a Hyper Beam. He turned his head and swept it across the edges of the arena, trying to blast Lucario or Pikachu, and nearly hitting Ash and Korrina in the process.
"Tyranitar!" Asher gasped, shocked to see his Pokémon using such a powerful attack on his own. "What are you doing?!"
"Whoa!" Ash jumped backward, covering his face with his arm to keep the clouds of dust out of his eyes. "What's going on? Tyranitar's losing it!"
"It's like when I first tried Mega-evolving my Lucario," Korrina responded, frowning. "He would stop listening to me and attack all on his own. Tyranitar must be overwhelmed by his new strength."
"Well, we need to stop him before he hurts someone!" Ash turned toward his Pokémon. "Pikachu, use Electroweb! Try to stop him from moving!" Pikachu complied immediately, flinging out a web as hard as he could, watching as it wrapped around Tyranitar, shocking him painfully and pinning his arms to his sides.
"Lucario, use Power-Up Punch!" Korrina commanded. Her Pokémon dashed in, slamming his glowing orange fist directly into Tyranitar's head. As his opponent staggered and thrashed against the shocking confines of Electroweb, the orange glow spread across Lucario's entire body, giving him a substantial power boost. Both Ash and Korrina felt relief spread through them at this, while Asher and Gabrielle were too busy panicking over Tyranitar's rampage to even notice.
After regaining his balance, Tyranitar managed to break free of the Electroweb, and roared as he began slamming his fists into the ground, performing repeated Rock Throw attacks. Lucario and Pikachu both dodged with ease, while Ash and Korrina had to take a couple steps back each.
"Tyranitar, stop it!" Asher shouted. "You're using all your energy! Cut it out and get a hold of yourself!" His Pokémon growled and whirled around, blinded by rage and consumed by the power of his Mega Evolution, and punched the ground once more, sending rocks flying back toward his own trainer and his partner.
"Whoa! What are you doing?!" His trainer took several steps back, starting to grow frightened. "Tyranitar, this has gone too far!"
On the other end of the battlefield, Ash was thinking the same thing. "Did he really just attack his own trainer?! What's going on in his head?"
"I'm Mega Evolving Lucario." Korrina held up her left hand, which had a Key Stone embedded into the back of the glove that she wore. "We have to stop him before he…"
Her voice trailed off, her eyes widening in shock, as Tyranitar started charging toward the two trainers at the far end of the arena. The crowd gasped as he opened his mouth, gathering energy for another Hyper Beam.
Korrina's mind began to race. There was no way she could Mega Evolve her Lucario in time for him to stop Tyranitar from seriously injuring his trainer. He might be able to attack Tyranitar and stop Asher and Gabrielle from being attacked, but there wasn't a guarantee that it would work. Her imagination conjured up an image of Asher and Gabrielle being hit by a Hyper Beam from a Mega-evolved Tyranitar, and her stomach twisted itself into a knot.
She realized that there was only one way to stop Tyranitar's rampage before Asher was badly hurt. It was time to use what she had truly learned on the Isle of Armor.
As Ash shouted something to his Pikachu, Korrina quickly skated backward and pressed herself against the back wall of the arena, underneath an overhanging section of the stands, to make sure that she couldn't be seen. Once there, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on clearing her head. She felt herself traversing pathways in her mind, searching for a destination she had discovered during her training with Lucario. After years of practice, she only needed an instant to find what she was looking for and unlock the door inside her mind.
When Korrina's eyes opened again, her irises were glowing with a brilliant blue light.
The arena in front of her was bathed in a sea of blue, as she took in the sight of Auras all around her, bathing in the life force of everyone in the stadium. Ash, Pikachu, Lucario, the other trainers, and all of the spectators in the stands all had their Auras shining out of their chests, some brighter than others. Her eyes zeroed in on Tyranitar as he charged, the lone red island amidst the blue ocean. His Aura was enraged, inflamed, raging out of control. This Aura would put up a fight, but she'd dealt with worse before.
She cast her arm out in front of her, and she watched as streams of Aura flew out of her fingertips, as she projected her Aura out onto the field. The blue energy surrounded Tyranitar's red Aura, wrapping around it and completely surrounding it. Once Tyranitar's Aura was encased in her own, she clenched her fist tightly, trying to forcibly coerce the Pokémon's inflamed Aura into a more tepid form. She could feel the other Aura battling against her own, but she didn't let up, using all of her mental strength to bend the creature's rage until it broke.
After an intense battle that lasted all of three seconds, she could feel Tyranitar relent. His Aura stopped burning out of control, coaxed into gentleness by Korrina's own. She watched with everyone else as Tyranitar's charge slowed gradually to a stop, the Hyper Beam energy vanishing from his mouth, until he was standing at the edge of the arena with a confused expression on his face. Moments later, his knees gave out and he crashed to the ground, all of his energy spent, and he glowed once again as he reverted to his normal form, the Mega Evolution dissipating.
The referee ran over as quickly as she could, looking into Tyranitar's eyes, before dutifully raising a flag in Ash's direction. "Tyranitar is unable to battle! The winners of the battle are Ash and Korrina!"
Korrina exhaled a long breath as the crowd broke into a mild applause, less excited and more relieved. She lowered her arm and closed her eyes for a moment, letting go of the power she had wielded moments ago, and when she opened them again the glowing light had vanished, returning her eyes to their normal grey color. She looked up at the spectators, none of whom were glowing blue anymore, to see if any of them were looking her way. She couldn't see any pairs of eyes fixed on her, as everyone had been fearfully watching Tyranitar during his final charge. Nobody had managed to see what she had done.
She sighed in relief, smiling as she turned toward her partner, and promptly froze. Ash was staring at her with eyes wide and jaw agape, as if he had just seen a ghost. She could feel her heart drop into her stomach, and her face heat up.
"Korrina… what was that?" he asked in numb astonishment.
"That… that was…" She held the back of her head in her hand. "Can we talk about it later?" She broke away from his eyes, looking across the battlefield, and Ash eventually stopped staring at her and followed her gaze. They watched as Gabrielle berated Asher for a moment, yelling things they couldn't hear over the sound of the crowd, before she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, her anger tempered by clear relief.
"Well, I don't think any of us was expecting an outcome like that!" the announcer's voice rang out. "Thank goodness nobody ended up hurt! And with that, Ash and Korrina advance to day two! But we've still got two more matches to go today, so stay in your seats!"
The spectators began to stand up and stretch, some of them going to get concessions, as the groundskeepers came out to clean up the battlefield. Pikachu ran slowly back toward Ash, who kneeled down and scooped his poisoned partner up into his arms, and Lucario returned to Korrina's side. The group of four left the arena and made their way to the in-stadium Pokémon Center, where the two battlers would get a much-needed rest.
The group of six celebrated their victorious day with a decadent dinner at a restaurant in downtown Anistar City. Tyranitar's rampage was a hot topic among them, though they had plenty of praise for Iris and Brock's battle as well, wherein they had taken down a pair of slightly-too-confident martial artists. After polishing off their meals, along with an ice cream dessert each, they all made their way back to the Pokémon Center for some rest. The battlers among them were all in need of a good night's sleep, as either team could find themselves in up to four battles the next day, depending on how well they did.
As they walked upstairs toward their rooms, Ash and Serena were making small talk about the showcase that Madison would be entering the following day. Ash started to step through the door to their room, a sleepy Pikachu on his shoulder, but he was stopped by a hand grasping his wrist. He looked behind him to see Korrina there, a businesslike expression on her face, with her Lucario by her side.
"You and I need to talk strategy, Ash," she said. "Do you have a minute?"
"Oh, uh, sure." He turned back and gave Serena a smile. "I'll be back in a bit, alright?"
"It's no problem. Take your time," she encouraged. "I want you two to do the best you can tomorrow." He grinned and nodded at her, before turning and following Korrina and Lucario down the hallway. She led him to the TV room, peeking her head in to make sure it was empty before leading them in and closing the door behind them.
"Alright… so…" She turned back to face him, leaning against the door. "I'm sure you have some questions about earlier."
"Earlier…?" Ash stared at her blankly for a moment before realization set in. "Oh, right."
Her eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean, 'oh, right'?"
"Well, I was thinking about our battle strategy for tomorrow, and I… sort of forgot," he admitted sheepishly.
"You for-" She stopped herself from shouting incredulously, and held her face in her hand for a moment instead. "Of course you did."
"Sorry… but, yeah, what was that?" he continued. "Your eyes were glowing, and it looked like you were grabbing something…?"
She sighed and walked further into the room, past Lucario, who was standing near the television. "Ash, do you remember when Team Rocket kidnapped Lucario, and I was able to track them down by sensing where Lucario was?"
He nodded, vividly recalling the kidnapping that had occurred shortly after the two of them met, watching as Korrina collapsed into a sitting position on the couch. "Yeah, why?"
"Well, it turns out there was more to that than I thought." She folded her hands in her lap. "See, when Lucario and I were training on the Isle of Armor, I met someone named Riley. It turned out that he was an Aura Guardian, and-"
"Riley?" Ash interrupted, causing her to look up. "I've met him, too! We ran into him when I was traveling through Sinnoh!"
She was taken aback for a moment, before smiling and shaking her head. "Why am I not surprised?"
"So you met him, and… wait…" His mind managed to put the pieces together. "Korrina, are you an Aura Guardian?!"
"Shh!" She brought her finger to her lips. "Keep your voice down!" He quickly covered his mouth with his hand, giving her an apologetic look, and she continued. "Anyway… no, I'm not an Aura Guardian. I can't use Aura the way that he does. I'm something else. Riley called me an Aura Shaper."
"An Aura Shaper?" He walked forward and sat on the couch next to her. "What does that mean?"
"It means that I can sort of manipulate the Aura of other people and Pokémon, in some ways," she explained. "Mostly calming them, relaxing them… I think I can energize them, too, but it's hard for me to tell if it worked. It's mostly about calming people's hearts, like… balancing them." She rubbed her head. "It's kind of hard to explain, but I think 'balance' is a good word."
"Whoa…" Ash looked awestruck, as did his Pikachu. "And that's what you did to Tyranitar!"
She nodded. "That's right. His Aura was completely out of control, so I balanced it out and made it more normal again. I didn't think it would faint after that, though… I guess it just exhausted itself."
"So was that what made your eyes glow?"
"Yes… sort of." She leaned back onto the couch, relieved that she finally had someone to talk to about all of this. "My eyes glow when I'm in the Aura State. Normally I can sense people's Auras around me, but that lets me actually see Aura with my eyes. Lucario can do the same thing, and his eyes glow, too. And I need to use it to actually… shape Aura."
"That's so cool…!" Ash turned toward her excitedly. "Could you see my Aura right now?"
"Sure I could." She closed her eyes for a moment, looking down, and when she opened them again, they were glowing just as before. She grinned at him as she took in his Aura, which was burning with excitement. "It's sort of like you have a blue silhouette, or something like that."
"That's amazing! This is the coolest thing ever!" He leaned in close for a better look, staring into her eyes, causing her to laugh.
"Hey, calm down!" She reached out and placed her hands on his shoulders, smirking as she flexed her fingers lightly. Instantly, Ash could feel himself calming down, entering a state of deep relaxation, and he sat back and sank into the couch. She giggled, reaching out and tapping the tip of her finger to Pikachu's nose, and the Pokémon's eyes and ears drooped as he fell off Ash's shoulder and into his lap, mumbling incoherently.
"Sorry…" Ash mumbled, sitting back up, his excitement suddenly tempered. "That's just incredible, though. That must be so cool, being able to do that."
"Well, it's not like I use it much," she replied. "The eyes are kind of a giveaway. I can still sense Auras all around me, though. And because of this, Lucario and I have never been closer." She closed her eyes again, the glow fading.
"Yeah, I can imagine." He paused for a moment, as something occurred to him. "You know, I've always sort of felt like I've been able to sense where Pikachu is… do you think I'm sensing his Aura?" He started to get excited again, without Korrina using her calming influence on him. "Could I be an Aura Something, too?"
Her eyebrows raised as she considered the question. "I don't know…" She looked upward, touching her finger to her chin. "I guess it's possible that you could be Aura-sensitive… or maybe you and Pikachu are Aura-bonded."
"Aura-bonded?" Ash cocked his head. "What does that mean?"
"It's where your Auras grow together, so each of you has a part of their Aura inside the other," she answered, looking at her own Pokémon. "Lucario and I are Aura-bonded, too." Her Pokémon gave an affirmative grunt, smiling at her.
"That's got to be us! Nobody's closer together than me and Pikachu!" Ash declared confidently. "How can we find out for sure?"
She grinned, amused by his confidence in his own Aura abilities. "You'd probably need to talk to an Aura Guardian to find out for sure. But…" She stood up and turned to face him. "Maybe we can have a little test."
"A test?" His eyebrows shot up, as she bent down and grabbed his Pikachu off his lap. "What kind of test?"
"First, let's see if you really can sense where Pikachu is." She walked back into the center of the room. "I'm going to put him somewhere, and then you see if you can find him without using any of your other senses. If you can do that, then we'll try something else."
"Alright! Let's do it!" Ash jumped up, fists clenched, ready to discover that he was a long-lost hero with mystical powers. Under Korrina's instructions, he stood in the center of the room, closing his eyes and covering his ears, as she set his Pikachu down somewhere in the room. Once the Pokémon had been placed, she walked over and grasped his arm, spinning him around in circles several times, in order to jumble his sense of where he was.
"There." She walked over and turned on the TV, in order to drown out the sounds of breathing in the room. "Now, keep your eyes closed, pick a direction, and find Pikachu."
Ash nodded, keeping his eyes closed tight and breathing deeply. He didn't know exactly what he was supposed to be feeling for - he'd never tried to study or quantify the way that he sensed where Pikachu was - and so all he really had to work with was a hunch. Still, hunches had managed to get him out of a lot of tough situations in his life, so he was going to just go with his gut and see where it led him.
After about ten seconds of standing in place, he turned and started walking in one direction that just seemed right. He couldn't really explain why, but it just felt as if that particular direction was… brighter, sunnier, something-er. He inched forward slowly, reaching out with one hand and feeling the air in front of him. After inching forward about six feet, he was startled as his hand lightly brushed against a familiar, furry ear. He opened his eyes, gasping as he saw an overjoyed Pikachu standing in front of him, on the arm of a chair.
"No way!" He laughed as Pikachu leaped into his arms and nuzzled his cheek, and he hugged his partner tightly. "I actually got it right!" He turned back toward a beaming Korrina. "Does this mean Pikachu and I are Aura-bonded?!"
"I can't tell you for certain. It may have been a lucky guess." She shrugged, though her smile stayed just as bright.
"Well, I know what I think!" He grinned wide and rubbed Pikachu's head, and his partner murmured contentedly in response. Korrina giggled as she walked forward, once again grasping Pikachu in her hands.
"Anyway, now we can try another test." She held Pikachu gently in her arms as she led Ash back to the center of the room. "This time, you're going to try and find Lucario. Close your eyes and cover your ears." Ash did as he was told, as Lucario silently hid in a corner of the room. Once he was in place, Korrina once again spun Ash around a few times before letting go. "Alright, now go find him. Show me your Aura powers."
This time around, Ash was feeling much more confident. It only took him about three seconds to choose a direction, certain that he would find the Aura Pokémon in that direction and confirm his own latent Aura abilities. He strode forward with purpose and confidence, not bothering to hold his hands out in front of him, expecting Lucario to reach out and stop him as he approached. One second later, he smashed face-first into the wall.
He stumbled and fell backwards onto his back, crying out and holding his forehead, which felt for a moment as if it was going to split in two. His eyes watered as he opened them, looking up at the ceiling, his forehead throbbing viciously. Pikachu soon appeared in his field of vision, followed by Korrina.
"Ash, are you alright?" she asked, her voice quivering. Even through the tears in his eyes, he could tell that she was trying hard not to burst out laughing.
"Mmh… I'll be fine… that just hurt… a lot."
She reached down and grasped his hand, helping him to sit up. "I didn't want to say anything at first… then you were inches from the wall and it was too late…"
"Yeah, yeah…" He continued to hold his forehead, which was smarting almost as badly as his ego. "Was I at least close?"
"Not even a little," she answered. "You went in almost the complete opposite direction."
"Ah, man…" He groaned, wiping his eyes.
"Sorry, Ash," she offered. "I'm not an expert, but you probably don't have any Aura powers… they're really rare. Riley told me he's met almost nobody else that has them."
Ash nodded, still slumped in a sitting position on the floor. "Yeah… I've never met anyone else, either. I was just hoping that maybe I was special, you know?"
"You're special for a lot of reasons, Ash," she consoled. "This just isn't one of them." She let that sentiment hang in the air for a few seconds before she spoke again. "Anyway… if you don't have any other questions, we need to spend some time talking strategy."
"Huh?" He glanced in her direction. "I thought that was just a cover story?"
"It was, but we still need to," she responded. "Those two trainers worked together a lot better than we did. If we're going to win this tournament, we need to have way better synergy than we did today."
He nodded, rubbing his forehead one more time. "Yeah, good point. Sure, let's do it." He sat across from her on the floor, as the two of them started talking about potential strategies, as Pikachu and Lucario listened in closely.
To read more about Korrina's time on the Isle of Armor, read the ongoing story "The Aura That Binds Us".
Author's Note: Korrina is correct. Ash has no Aura powers in this story. I recognize that I am playing fast and loose with the canon by making this change, but it is very important to me that Ash not have any Aura abilities. I have no intention of changing this.