Ash had noticed that the strange feeling guiding him and his friends was getting stronger.
The more he followed the feeling the stronger it become, this made Ash and his friends think that they were getting closer to the Tree of Life.
Ash was nervous and excited about that. He was nervous about meeting a father he had only learned about a few months ago, he was worried that his father would not believe or reject him, but he was excited at the chance to meet his parent.
They had also figured that the feeling was leading him to injured or abused pokemon, and while he wanted to help all of them he didn't want to see other human putting the lives of pokemon on the line.
However, once more that was not the case.
Another one of those pain filled noises/screeched was made somewhere in front of them, and no matter how much Ash didn't want to see it, he couldn't stand around and watch pokemon be hurt by their own trainers or reckless people in the woods.
"Looks like there is another one." Bonnie said, sadness evident in her voice. Bonnie was old enough now to have her own pokemon, which is why she was so glad Dedenne and Squishy came with her and not stayed with Clemont. Bonnie loved and wanted to help all of the pokemon she met, hearing that sound and seeing a pokemon in pain made her upset. The whole group felt like that.
"Well we are not going to leave it. We promised that we would help all pokemon, including the injured ones." Ash said, watching as his group all nodded.
They then moved towards some of the bushes and another shocking scene greeted them.
It was a pure black Absol with blue eyes huddled into a corner and two girls advancing on it. They were saying cruel words to the pokemon, throwing rocks at it and trying to hit it with long sticks, the pokemon too scared to even move.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ash asked them, he needed to remain calm.
The two girls heads, as well as the scared pokemon's, turns to Ash. The pokemon looks to Ash with a sad look and asking for help with its eyes, the two girls looked to Ash in anger having interrupted them.
"What are you doing here? This is not any of your business." One of the girls sneered at him.
"What are you doing to that pokemon?" Ash seethed, he hated it when people did this to pokemon, whether their own or not, it is wrong.
"It is an Absol, a disaster pokemon, we need to hurt it before a disaster hits us." One of the girls said, that did not help Ash's bad mood.
"And besides look at it, its an anomaly and shouldn't even be here in the first place." The other girl continued, Ash was shocked that this would come from two girls.
"Yes it is called that but an Absol only warns people of disasters, it does not create them. Just because you have hurt the Absol and not heeded the warning it brought you will never know the disaster about to befall you." Ash explained.
"How do you know all of this?!" One of them yelled, they didn't want to believe it as that would mean they were the ones who did nothing to help their friends and family.
"I met an Absol once, the townspeople were trying to catch it because they thought it was bringing a disaster to them. Turns out there was a volcano nearby and it was about to erupt, Absol as well as lot of my pokemon and the townspeople's pokemon they were able to save their town. They honoured the Absol as a hero and gave him a home in the town." Ash explained.
"I don't care, Absol are dark and should be punished." The second girl said. Ash had a feeling that these two were sisters, one of them was the compassionate one when it came to pokemon and the other didn't seem to like them very much.
"Absol are special, this one even more so because of its rare colouring, they are called shining pokemon and are more powerful then the normal of their kind. Here, I have a shining pokemon with me." Ash said, releasing Mercury from the Nanodex.
"What the heck is that?" The first girl, the nicer one, asked.
"This is Mercury and he is a shining pokemon as well. He is a Lucario and they are normally blue and black in colour with red eyes, Mercury however is white and silver in colouring with blue eyes. He is much more powerful then an ordinary Lucario." Ash explained. He guessed these two were both into contests, they were eying Mercury like a piece of meat.
"But it is an Absol." The second girl, the nasty one, picked up another rock and began to throw it at the Absol, who cowered in fear, she then picked another straight after and chucked that as well.
"You fool!" Ash and Paul yelled as the first rock hit the Absol in the side. Ash held out his hands as did Mercury and it was surrounded in a blue Aura, the rock halted and crashed to the ground.
When Ash turned to look at the two girls he was shocked at what he was seeing.
Paul had his hands out in front of him, a blue glow surrounding them and an angry look in his eyes. The two girls were somehow being held three feet in the air with a blue glow holding them in place, they were confused and scared at the same time.
"You think you can just do this to any pokemon that you want to? This world is for pokemon and humans to live together in peace, not for the humans to beat up pokemon for no good reason!" Paul yelled at them. It looked as if the nasty girl was going to speak, but when she remembered where she was, she wisely kept her mouth shut.
"Paul tie them, concentrate on ropes binding them to a tree." Ash said in a soothing voice. He knew what was going on, Paul must have had an ancestor who was an Aura Guardian along with his father. The anger the Paul was feeling right now had brought those powers he had always possessed, Mercury had been teaching Ash how to use and master his control over Aura.
Paul did as he was told but did with a shocked look on his face, when the girls were tied he turned to Ash. "What the heck did I just do?" He asked in a panicked voice.
"There is no need to panic, you must have had an Aura Guardian in your family history at some point, the anger you felt here caused that power in you to awaken." Ash explained, at least he wasn't going to be training on his own from now on.
"What do I do now then?" Paul asked.
"Well for starters you need to train, I only learned about my powers last month and I still have no full control over them. You will join me and Mercury at first, but you need to find your own Lucario." Ash told him.
"Why?" Paul asked, not sure why he needed a Lucario.
"Lucario are the pokemon of the Aura Guardian's, they are the only pokemon who have the power of Aura and are able to stabilise the Aura within the Guardian. They also help train the Guardian to use their powers as they know from when they become a Lucario." Ash explained.
"I guess that makes sense. Very well." Paul said, he was nervous about these new powers but excited to try them out.
"Good, well we better go check on that Absol." Ash said walking over to the bush the Absol was hiding in. "It is okay, I am not going to hurt you, I am going to help you." Ash said in a soothing voice.
Lucario had been teaching him how to understand pokemon, Aura was the energy of all living things it allowed him to talk to most creatures including pokemon.
'You won't hurt me?' The pokemon asked, it was in a male voice.
"I promise I won't hurt you." Ash said, he held his hand out for the pokemon to smell, when he didn't smell danger from Ash he slowly walked out of his hiding place and sat with his head on Ash's lap.
"Did you just talk to a pokemon Ash?" Samuel asked. He had been told about Aura Guardians as a child and grew up with stories about them, Ash was a living Aura Guardian.
"Yes, I can understand or at least feel almost every creature around me. Aura is the energy of every living thing, I can tell if a tree is healthy or dying just by laying a hand on the bark." Ash explained, while looking over the Absol for injuries.
'He is also able to heal people and pokemon.' They heard Mercury say in their heads.
"What do you mean?" It felt weird for Gary to be asking a question to the pokemon and getting an answer back from it.
'I mean what Ash said, Aura is the energy of all living things, it gives the Guardian the ability to heal almost any injury even so close to death.' Mercury said.
"That's why Guardians always lived so long. I grew up on stories of the Aura Guardians and while they did age they died very old, I guess this why." Samuel said, the more time he spent with his friends the more he was learning about the Aura Guardians.
'That is correct yes,' Mercury said and then turned to Ash. 'Concentrate on where the wounds are, push the Aura to your hands and imagine them being healed. The Aura will do the rest.' Mercury finished.
Ash did as his Lucario said, and half an hour later the Absol was bouncing up and down around the small clearing they were in and chanting thank you to Ash.
"Well I think it is time for us to head off." Samuel said, Ash nodded. However as he tried to get up he was pounced on and brought back to the ground. When he looked he saw the black and red Absol lying on his stomach.
"What's wrong?" Ash asked.
'Can I come with you?' The Absol asked with a shy smile. 'I like you and I know I can learn a lot from you. Please?' Absol asked.
"Of course you can, I was hoping you would ask to come." Ash said, scratching just below the red horn of the Absol.
"What are you going to name him?" Bonnie asked, she was happy to have another pokemon to care for, and such a cute one.
"I think I will name him Midnight, his coat is as black as the night." Ash said after a minutes thought.
"I like that name for him." Max said, he was glad that Ash was cheering up, he was also seeing new places, new pokemon and learning a lot more with his friends then he ever did with his sister.
"Yeah me too." Samuel and Gary said. This was a dream come true for them they were with two living Aura Guardians, meeting some rare pokemon and finally out of the lab with their friends and doing something, it couldn't get better then this.
'Midnight? I like it.' The Absol said.
"Good, now I am going to place you in one of the Pokeball's and let the Nanodex absorb you inside." Ash explained, when Midnight nodded Ash did just that.
Midnight asked to stay inside the Nanodex for a little while. Mercury had told him that even though they go into the device in the Pokeball's they can leave once inside, it was like a large hotel for pokemon which is why they were all so close to one another.
Samuel had explained everything to do with the Nanodex, somehow it turned the Pokeball and pokemon inside into code, it then absorbed the code into itself. When a pokemon is wanted the code is put together into a solid form and released through the screen of the device, it was a lot easier then reaching in your pocket and then throwing it in the air.
Ash felt the feeling once more and led his friends to their next destination.