El-Ahrairah 4.6

January 1st, 2023.

I followed Aterui through the mountain forest, Mirko walking alongside me with a cautious ear out to any possible ambush from wild pokémon. He had mentioned something about his training being designed to work with a partner pokémon, one’s closest companion.

“Your starter is a powerful example of what the bond can accomplish,” the older man offered as he carefully maneuvered around boulders, stray bushes and fallen trees. “And I do not mean her size, though she is exhibiting the traits of an alpha pokémon, it is her power, her flexibility and control.”

I blinked. “How so?”

His eyes crinkled with his smile. “How many lopunny do you believe have ever unlocked the power to create chaotic Scrappy energies?”

“Umm. A couple thousand maybe, I know there’s some elite trainers who’ve managed it. And I doubt I’m good enough to have done something rare.” That was just how it was, I was just average at best.

“Twelve.” He laughed at my dumbfounded expression. “Do you know what a Primal Reversion is in the context of mega evolution?”

“Mega evolution is the result of accelerating a species’ evolution to the best possible result, taking their strongest traits and empowering them a hundred-fold, the best of what they could be. Primordial reversion is the opposite, expressing the best result of what they once were. While most trainers think they are one and the same, they are not quite the same. Their form of the future is unsteady, alien, uncomfortable and hard to master, their form of the past is incredibly comfortable and instantly learned.” I explained easily, having read up on both for future use since mega lopunny was a primordial reversion type.

Aterui nodded. “Scrappy is the primordial expression of what her species once was, they were hunters once, because they had to be to survive.” He nodded to himself at my expression.

“Hunters?” I wasn’t skeptical, while most pokémon were some level of omnivorous, it was usually in the same way a deer might devour a baby bird or a dog might munch on some grass. But Mirko had no issue digesting meat that wasn’t that of bugs.

“Rabbits live close to death, so yes they hunted.” His face was serious. “They had to be clever, they had to be cruel, so they became Scrappy to fight against the legion that hunted them right back. This world was theirs for a time, only contested by the great empires of Hy-Rule near the end of their reign.” He continued with a short pause. “To revert to that form is a shock, when death is closer than usual, their survival takes precedence before all else. If they have to fight, they will fight, and if they have to kill, they will. They live in the here and now, and that can be… difficult.”

“Difficult how?” Mirko let out an embarrassed chuff, crossing her arms over her chest.

Aterui leaned forward. “Pokémon are instinctual creatures, but also intelligent. They can be… insistent on their wants and desires.”

My mouth went dry as my imagination conjured what he meant. One of the reasons lopunny had a ‘bad’ reputation was their tendency to be… very free with their affection, since in the wild their colonies had social behaviors not far off from captive bonobos, so well… they fucked was all I was going to say on the matter.

“Ahh. That’s kind of…” a little concerning. “So is that inherent to the species, or?”

He shrugged. “They will not force it,” Mirko nodded seriously. “But they will be incredibly moody until their primordial form wears off.”

“Mirko only got extra cuddly when she was in heat…” I muttered aloud, and he snorted.

“They are intelligent and individual,” his voice was amused by my embarrassment. “Regardless, can you understand the feat you’ve accomplished?”

I taught Mirko an ability lost to her species for a hundred thousand years without the sheer power of infinity energy or the experience and talent of elite trainers?

“So the bond is unadulterated bullshit?”

He smirked at my description, and we started walking again, ending up in a circular clearing overlooking a cliff, where I could see the yawning valley that held his town. Multiple stones were arranged in patterns, each seeming to represent something I couldn’t quite figure out.

“Sit,” his amusement turned to ice, and I listened, immediately selecting the flat soft stone on one end while Mirko chose the other. How did we… “I’m certain you know the very basics by now, breathing meditation, breathing and walking. The absorption of outer energy to connect your inner world with the outer, allowing one to cultivate their own power to greater heights. Aura circulation, guiding your energies through the nodes of the soul, dantians, chakra,” he rolled his eyes. “Aura nodes is a simpler term, I may be spiritual and dramatic but I’m not a pretentious man. Mostly, chakra is a suitable term for the largest pools of energy.”

I nodded. “I’ve been mostly focused on that, since I don’t have a lot of aura to spare.” From what Akari had told me, I had gone from the presence of a newborn to the presence of a ten year old in terms of reserves.

“Good. To learn how to breathe, to learn how to guide the waves of one’s energies is an important step. All the sources of mystery and magic lie in the ability to manipulate one’s metaphysical power to the point where the energy can extend beyond the body and interact with the environment.”

I nodded. “So why does Mirko need to be out with me?” I was curious about the reasoning behind it, and his lips pulled into a grin that reminded me of Akari.

He stepped out of the circle and clapped his hands, and his aura unfolded onto reality with an incredible sensation of Pressure that almost made me collapse. Even Mirko was affected by it, stumbling at the amount of power that flowed from Aterui like a river from a deep ocean.

“Now breathe!” I listened without thinking. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.

I didn’t let my mind wander, focusing in and out on my breath, and Mirko did the same with more difficulty. I made eye contact with her, and pointed to my chest with my index finger. Just breathe, follow my lead.

Mirko understood slowly, unraveling my intentions with her own aura as all pokémon did naturally. As I breathed, my energies moved in concert, trailing up and down through the seven pools, and across hundreds of lesser channels, like a viscous fluid rising and falling with every breath.

Fifteen minutes went by with a slow agony, feeling the prickle of hostile oppressive aura, like a weighted blanket of power and might.

I breathed.

She breathed.

“This is…” I breathed out through my nose while talking. “Difficult.”

Aterui just laughed. “It’s supposed to be, to master aura is to master oneself, to connect with the Elements of this world is to connect with the unseen hands of the universe. Learn to shield yourself from my intent, I’m certain you can manage that much.”

As I breathed, it moved my aura, flexing in and out like the phases of the moon, and I felt Mirko’s roil in growing panic and fear, like she was ready to flee. No… could I—?

Her aura pulses to a beat and I mirror that beat, and I pull at the bond, gently massaging it open. She twitches, glancing over to me while continuing to breathe in sync, her aura flexing outward and slowly eating away at the hostility in the air.

She sent her energy into the bond right as I pulled the channel wider and it—

I listened to the energies, and was caught within the balanced flow, sensing the way her aura reacted, it was an almost stationary current but only at first glance, at the smallest levels, it shifted and twisted in whirls of force, bobbing up and down like a seesaw.

I held onto that connection, those fine threads of energy, of chi weaving together into an expanding battle aura, slowly repelling the dense killing intent surrounding us. I breathed, and my own aura finally escaped from the confines of my body and bond.

The Pressure lessened as our auras beat in sync.

Aterui just smirked.

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January 3rd, 2022.

“Fleur come over please, I want to check something.” I called out to my lovely firefox, who let out a haughty chuff but didn’t refuse my request.

The past three days had been exhausting as Aterui was apparently an insane old man on top of being horrifically strong. But I had made more progress in those three days than I had made in a month with just a book and Akari’s help. As he had mentioned, the bond did a lot of the legwork when it came to cultivating one’s aura. The stronger the bond, the more your aura developed, the more power it had to spare, furthering the potential of your pokémon which loops back to strengthening your aura.

Most of the high level trainers were aware of aura in some way or another, and even common trainers knew we shared our energies with our pokémon, the full extent of it was another thing though. Like the difference between someone knowing that stressing your muscles can make them stronger, and someone knowing the precise science and phenomenon behind the building of muscle and strength.

For example, aura reading or in the more general term the Sight is a talent possessed by everyone with supernatural abilities, the ability to sense the connections between all that Was and Is. It often worked differently for everyone but there was a lot of overlap, and people could learn to see aura and connections in new ways.

For example to Aterui, the world to him looked like it was painted in rough strokes, with exaggerated contrast and saturation, drifting dust mote energies reacting to metaphysical power, visible as a great stream of moving life. It didn’t need to use visual senses, it could use hearing, touch, smell, even taste.

Some senses were better for using aura to See. Spirit channelers and hex girls used their Sight to see minor spirits and other ghosts, allowing them to freely communicate with the denizens of the higher planes. With practice you could pick up almost any kind of information, symbolic representations of damage, emotion, dreams, the approach of Death, intent, seeing better in the dark, seeing through obstructions, the interior of objects and the flow of blood or electricity.

Which I think sometimes involves tapping into different kinds of energy, so it’s not easy to pick up, and switching to different kinds of Sight was a bitch and a half. Akari read aura as a song, and had a better time when it came to sensing the aura of every living thing instead of just pokémon and people with my Sight.

My Sight had become more elaborate, and I could see how the space around Fleur waxed and waned with her mood, a fire of the mind reaching out subconsciously as she trotted over to sit on my offered lap, that tendril of multicolored flame gently caressing around my person.

Connections, the bonds between people or objects, subtle or overt. Social, emotional, metaphysical, created and maintained by this world. I breathed out and brushed Fleur’s warm and soft fur, reaching out to those connections, to the aura that swam under her skin and down into her bones and organs and soul.

Touch was a good sense to map out constitution and wellness, and I laced my fingers through her fur, feeling her general life without a lick of machinery. Her claws tingled, a good careful trim was in order, and her body was demanding some sunlight and food to fuel her fire.

“I really wish I could actually understand you in words instead of just symbolic interpretations of aura.” I wondered wistfully, noting her own growth. I could see Akari briefly lean in my direction as she stepped away to do something. Hmm.

Anyways.

When Fleur had joined the team, she was about the size and weight of a beagle, she had gained a couple inches and several pounds, her legs growing longer and slowly shifting to black while her neck sprouted white fur.

I expected her to evolve pretty soon, hell she wasn’t far off from accumulating enough power to evolve into delphox but for whatever reason she just… didn’t, then again evolution for a pokémon wasn’t just about gathering strength, it was a combination of experience (reaching their physical or mental peak), might (enough to support their evolution and to live in their new form), and a catalyst to jumpstart their metamorphosis.

Fleur just rolled her eyes, and her head tingled, and I quickly began to rub her head in response to her subtle command.

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January 6th, 2023.

I bounced from foot to foot as I stood on the battlefield, as a good spar with Akari was always fun even if she beat me more often than not. But her win ratio had gone from seven out of ten near the beginning to a solid five and a half.

They were improving.

It was starter versus starter, Mirko stretching while Happy hyped himself up. He looked like a statue of obsidian with channels of magma, his magma beard swirling as he brought his fists together with the air rippling with the force.

“Go for the usual Mirko! Watch out for any bruiser, shaker and blaster moves!” I hollered as I vibrated in place.

Akari just smiled from her side of the field. “Happy, just remember, hit everything.” Happy chuffed with a surprisingly cute grin coming from a guy with tusks that could shear through stone and bone to feed his mineral rich body.

It was one-on-one, and I smiled as Mirko set up with Work Up, sending all of the energy toward her muscles instead of splitting it evenly between her physical strength and special power. In ‘game’ terms she had increased Attack by two stages instead of one.

Without preamble, a sandstorm emerged from out of nowhere, conjured by Happy with a silent move. Shit, that meant Akari got Sand Force working and taught Happy a move to activate the ability.

Within seconds the storm surrounded us, sand buffeting the field and keeping Happy from directly sighting Mirko, shielding him from the secondary effects of Cute Charm. It was mostly contact based but… it had some fairy elements to it.

“Foresight, see through the storm, and strike!” Her eyes took on a deep reddish glow, her aura pulling at the connections around her to See. We had practiced dealing with specter moves, Foresight was a far greater asset than I had ever imagined.

Mirko just let out a quiet chuckle, a second red flare signaling a special focused Work Up, I could hear her breath become even, taking in outside energy and bringing it inside to fuel her pool of inner power.

She exploded into action, and I marveled at being able to see her as anything other than a blur. Then again being able to see it was very different from being able to react to it in a meaningful way, though trainers definitely could, which seemed to involve a natural ability to intuit the flow of battle, a sort of inherent precognition, plus a faster reaction time because aura is bullshit.

That the current fastball record for a human was south of 250 mph was a bit of a brain breaker.

“Earthquake.” Mirko vanished into Agility, instantly doubling energy with a single burst of the move. Happy stomped on the ground with incredible force, focusing his energy into the stone, like threads that sank into earth and stone, drawing strength from the world.

Earthquake as a move worked by converting physical strength into geokinetic seismic waves, creating a localized earthquake. Mirko leapt into the air to avoid the attack, and Akari just smiled, aura radiating glee and smugness.

“Flamethrower.” Happy simply breathed out, and a massive spear of fire blew out from his throat.

“Swift, full power!” I called out the attack, and golden stars flew from her hands like spinning throwing stars, twisting together into a web of energies, a single stream crashing against the beam of flame.

The stream of stars overpowered the Flamethrower, and smashed into the six foot pig with the force of a missile. He covered his arm in fire, pushing aside the stars with concussive force.

The two pokémon clashed with each other, exchanging a dozen blows in the span of a second, blocking, deflecting and weaving around battle ending attacks, from devastating Dizzy Punches sparking off shields of Flame Charge to Stone Edge, slamming his fist into the ground, and summoning enormous pillars of sparkling stone that shattered as Mirko pirouetted into a sweeping Jump Kick that tore apart the stony energies.

Stone Edge was similar to Earthquake in converting physical power into geokinetic force, a wavelength power of sorts, a kinetic transmission. Pokémon moves were weird in how they circumvented physics or altered them on a local level.

Mirko hopped in a zigzag pattern, keeping her arms up to guard her face and core, her aura smug and prim. She was faster while Happy was stronger by a good margin, his body was sturdy and long lasting while hers was powerful but lean, rippling with bursts of power.

I just grinned. Oh this is still so cool.

I clapped my hands. “Shadow Ball, please.” Mirko’s aura twisted into itself, turning ever so slightly phantasmal, the hair on the back of my neck rising as my starter breathed in the energies of the thereafter, she lifted a paw, spreading out her fingers, and I saw how trails of ghostly energy gathered, pulled into this reality and—

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Happy couldn’t block the Shadow Ball, the ghostly orb unnervingly screeching against the air, sending him flying. He pulled stone and earth out of the ground to soften his own fall, and then launched it forward into a full blown Stone Edge.

Mirko simply twisted her body, sidestepping the conveyor belt of attacks.

“Defense Curl into Flame Roll!” Happy curled into a ball which immediately shielded him within a mass of stone, which burst into flames, and he turned into a blur of rock and fire.

Mirko glanced back at me and I nodded. “Yes.” Let’s set a Traverser protocol in motion please.

She leapt forward, landing in a crouch, and twisted her hips, fists surrounded in freezing cold and a twisting swirl of ice. Her arm extended down to the ground, and deflected Happy with the impact and generation of icy matter.

He flinched, and Akari offered a feral smile. “You’ve made a lot of strides, haven’t you?” Her glee was obvious to anyone who was listening, mainly local kids watching the battle with stars in their eyes. “It’s exhilarating.”

“It is.” I admitted casually, wiggling my hips to get out some of my nervous energy. Akari made an odd sound, the tips of her ears taking on a red hue. Hmm? “And this time I’ll beat you with style! End it with your new attack!”

Akari blinked, and Mirko made her move with a gleeful cry to the heavens, positively feral as her paws turned white with normalcy, the energy solidifying into curved knives resembling claws, one in each hand, a karambit infused with vibrational energy, a weapon that buzzed, thrummed and glowed ember-hot.

She threw herself forward, stepping into Happy’s bubble with a quick burst of Quick Attack that was practically a flash step.

“Flame—” Mirko let out a piercing war cry, using her blades to hook onto a startled Happy, and she started with a punching motion that stabbed right into his defenses, shifting into a flurry of punches, hammering, slashes and hooking motions to throw poor Happy around. The attack tore apart his Defense Curl, as the powerful custom move did only a little less damage than Return.

He hung on by a thread, covering his body in flames to shield himself… it failed when Mirko swung her ears, a second Sonic Blade conjured at their ends to create a whip sword that left massive slash marks along Happy’s stomach.

“Happy, Stomping Tantrum!” I had exploited Akari’s surprise, so when she gave the order it was far too late, Mirko wrapping her ears around Happy’s neck, and with a soft smile she choked him out into unconsciousness.

Akari looked shocked but also incredibly pleased, and in a blink she recalled Happy into his ball and crossed the fifty yard field in several seconds.

“I won that right?”

Akari’s eyes crinkled with her warm lopsided smile. “You did… which reminds me, you and I have somewhere to be. I’ve got something I want to show you.”

“Sure?” I replied.

Why not? I was curious.

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I fidgeted nervously as the clock struck midnight, the full moon shining directly overhead, the rabbit on the moon smiling down on the earth hanging in the firmament.

I had been by Akari to meet her at the path that led to the entrance of the Lord pokémon that ruled this area, which went up the mountain for a good half of a mile, and I fidgeted at the end of that path where I could see a great maw of a cave leading up and into the mountain of Juntoku.

Mirko was taking a nap, so I instead had Jericho out, his ears flicking back and forth, aura contracting with nerves as he heard something I couldn’t. He clicked his claws together, and I listened to the song of the world, with his help.

I could… I heard a quiet drum, a whimsical almost tribal song, like the stomping of paws on the ground, and I heard a long silence reaching out to quiet the song.

“Come on out, I know you’re there.” The darkness surrounding the forested path lightened to reveal dozens of pokémon, houndoom and houndour blending in with the shadows of the forest.

Dark fey energies twisted around their bodies, and their jaws smoked with dark fire and light. Houndoom were fey hunting hounds, genetic hybrids of the arcanine and mightyena lines, with myths saying their creation was influenced by the needs of the summer and spring courts.

A notion came to me. “You’re not here to hunt us are you? You’re here to guide us to where Akari is aren’t you?”

The hounds didn’t howl, simply offering a quiet sound of acknowledgment, eyes gleaming with amusement and curiosity.

The pack leader was obvious, and for a second I swore it was a mega houndoom, with how the ribs had expanded into flexible armor plating while the rib around his neck had fused into a chest plate. It wasn’t but it was definitely a Huntlord, the renowned master of a houndoom pack’s Wild Hunt.

Come, do not dally, was what my mind conjured up from the massive hound. The others of his park were belly button height, about the size of an Irish wolfhound but lightly built, with their horns reaching chest height. The Huntlord was larger, with a head height of four and a half feet, with dense curling horns adding over a foot. I would guess he weighed about a hundred and fifty pounds, his dark furred body rippling with muscle and power.

I followed the pack and Jericho kept his eyes on them, his aura threads reaching into the earth and strangely up towards the moon.

The trees parted themselves before the cavern, replaced by paths of golden flowers, and with a deep breath…

We stepped into the cave.

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The park had slid into the darkness, lit up by trails of strange fey flowers which murmured and sang, and I followed the dark aura, the Silence leading me towards the center of the cave, which felt… heavy, dense, unavoidable.

“I wonder about this place, who carved this out?” Nothing about the cave felt natural, it hadn’t been carved by water or tectonic forces, I could see the markings and patterns.

Jericho’s eyes glowed in the night, with a a strange luminescent substance for seeing in the dark. Water dripped down on the path flattened by the passage of countless souls, and I could see the imprints of people and pokémon alike, the strange almost stony flowers chiming as water bounced against them. There was a pulse, and I heard the flowers sing and whisper in a thousand tongues.

Deep down,

whispers

We can hear them all…

Jericho flinched as the song echoed in and out of the cave, and I just trudged forward, doing my best to ignore the haunting cry of the flowers, and the almost silent sound of breathing rising and falling with the twinkling song.

Your inner voice, what will it tell us?

I stepped forward, all the while listening to the pitter part of fey canine feet, and I half swallowed my tongue as something was damn familiar about this…

The deepest abyss of your soul. It can’t hide

I picked up the pace as the song rang its course, echoing with an old power, as second by second, the air grew more unnerving, more fey and strange by the second. Jericho shook his head, sharpening his claws with a nervous click of his tongue.

Conflict, turmoil

Unfaltering kindness

Apprehension

Determination

All those feelings mixed up

An array of thoughts

The cavern opened up as Jericho and I walked up the slope, and I could feel the pokéballs on my belt shaking back and forth, the cavern walls were painted in countless colors, in orange and pinks and reds, in blues and greens and alabaster white, depicting things I couldn’t quite figure out.

Human figures were painted across the walls, each doing different things. Some bowed to a massive figure in white, with wings enclosing them, haloed by golden light. Others held fire in their palms, offering it to an orcine being of fire and magma, tusks gleaming.

A third scene depicted a small human, ambiguous of gender or race, holding a shield of crystal against an endless field of shadow.

Will you fight or show

True mercy

You have to make that choice

Will you save our friends

Escape then

Show them the world beyond

A fourth scene was a world surrounded in ash, a great light breaking the sky itself, and the next section was scratched out, and I could only make out a golden wheel and strange windswept trees.

Will you set them free

Mercilessly

Write your wish in the dust

Two sides are playing

A tough game

An endless tug of war

I couldn’t hear the rest as the flowers became silent or shifted to jiberish, and I stopped when I saw the Huntlord step into the light, who simply pointed towards the final stretch, up and out into a massive outcropping over a mountain cliff.

Jericho just looked unsettled, brushing against me, pointing his spines away from me as he was a polite little guy.

One step. Two steps, three steps brought us out of the cave, and I could see Akari sitting in front of an enormous perch, a strange fallen log that seemed to have… rooted itself into the ground, twining branches stabbing into the hard ground.

I paused. Woah.

The cliff was large and flat, and surrounded by golden flowers, grown thick to the point of being more a blanket of plants than just undergrowth.

“Akari?” Her head snapped up at my voice, and I finally noticed she was surrounded by a pile of puppers, tiny little houndour yawning as they used her lap like a pillow.

“Hey Brandy, you okay?”

“A little freaked out by the weird singing flowers,” I knew that song. “But I’m not currently dying so I think I’m okay.”

She giggled and I stuck out my tongue. Bleh!

“So why did you want to bring me here?” I had to ask. “I can guess but I want to know from you.”

Akari just smiled almost sadly. “I… wanted to see if maybe Azazel knew something that could help you. He’s been around for centuries, even grandpa isn’t that old.”

I blinked. “Your grandfather doesn’t seem that old?”

Akari started. “Oh, I guess you only really know about one person and how they age? Practitioners are… different.” I know people live longer sometimes but…

“General term for metaphysical energy manipulation?” I asked faintly, and with curiosity.

Akari nodded. “Strong practitioners move their aura, their chi, and learn to smooth the flow and keep it inside. If we are diligent, and practice, and nothing kills us - we can live a very long time. Some myths tell of legendary heroes who’ve lived a half millennium or more. My grandfather is a hundred and fifty three, my grandma is bordering on a century. I’ve got half a dozen aunts and uncles scattered to the four winds, one of whom is 60 and looks 30, he could hang on another century.”

What did that mean for me then?

“Oookay. So did Lord Azazel have any words of wisdom or secret knowledge to offer?” I was curious on how that would work, the togetic line were the kindest of the faerie, it was in their blood, the very core of their being.

Akari looked nervous. “He… wanted to meet you.”

“What does that mean—”

The wind rushed around us, as something enormous cut through the air from below, an upwards dive with enormous wings of purest Snow White.

The world pulsed.

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The… entity hovered in the air, wings unfolding as wide as they could, dozens of feet encompassed by their majesty, loosely hanging in the air with not even a single beat of their wings.

The body was ovoid, covered in thick white down with smattered triangles of red and blue like the marks on Akari’s face. The air felt pink as his aura spread like a spring breeze, weaving around us, almost crushing Jericho’s own meager power.

“Hello little prince, Outsider born under the light of another sun.” He spoke in a low whisper, his voice echoing three times over. “You who have walked where physical matter, cognitive thought, and spiritual essence become one and slid between the Infinite Realms.”

A togekiss looked… different in reality, fluffy, round and soft yes. But the face belied their avian nature much more readily. He had a short hooked beak, blending into the white of his furred face, a three pronged crown of feathers shifting to his emotions, massive eyes black as night staring at me with curiosity and interest.

“Infinite Realms, I’ve heard that before?” I spoke, keeping a hand on Jericho, his aura of Poison shielding me from the sheer depth of Azazel’s soul.

“The universe is a multifaceted existence little prince,” there was a strange neutral spin on the title. “There are many realms and places, which constitute the fundamental structure of Reality, each serving a purpose and function in this world.” He explained as he perched, revealing strong heavily feathered legs ending in three toes, lightly taloned and slightly webbed. “You see only the physical, the visceral planes. You could say the universe is much like an onion, they have layers.”

I snorted and Azazel beamed while Akari palmed her face. “So these other realms overlap with our own.” It was a statement and not a question, and I had been told that much. “Like the Dream World, the Feywilds, or the Ghost World or… the Distortion World.”

Azazel simply cocked his head with a sun bright aura dancing with amusement. “They are all simply different Levels of Reality, the birthplaces of the Elements, a series of metaphysically aligned planes. My own kind carved away a section of the Feywilds, a place of kindness and hope, away from the decadent Nobles.”

That… Did that mean there were realms for all the Types?

“In some sense of the word yes,” and now he was reading minds, yay. “I See your curiosity and nothing more,” he explained. “The material plane is the lowest and densest layer, anchored in place by the scaffold of the reverse world, mirror images, twins born of the same womb. The metaphysical, ephemeral planes are divided into the Cognitive and Spiritual, the latter is the essence of all things and connections, while the Cognitive, the realm of thought and perception is born from the interaction between the Material and Spiritual. It is our truest home.”

I remembered how Protect had been described. “Conduits of the universe.” I wondered if understanding all of this would let me understand the shape of the universe better… if I could open a door home that way.

“Azazel, you’re going on a tangent, both of you.” Akari’s aura was swelling with activity, like a bonfire being stretched to its limits, and I flushed.

“Wait, then what did you want Azazel to help me out with?”

“You wish to understand pokémon do you not? I have seen your boundless journey to seek us out, to understand us as people, beast, monster, as beings that live in this world. Akari, my distant kin sought me out for my wisdom, I have learned much in my five centuries of life, of the Elements and Aura, bring out the rest of your court, and you may learn.”

I was blinded by three flashes of light, Jericho calling out to them with an excited chuff. Mirko bounced, Llayda flounced, and Fleur marched. My entire team stared at me with excitement and curiosity, and I swallowed, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

Akari just smiled mysteriously and I narrowed my eyes at her, and she just shrugged.

Azazel loomed over me, and I swallowed, unnerved by his sheer size. A newly evolved average togekiss was about five feet tall with a wingspan of around twelve feet, some would grow to twice their size (volume), around six feet tall with a fifteen foot wingspan. Big yes but…

Azazel was the size of a school bus, nearly three stories tall with a wingspan spanning almost a quarter of a football field, he had to weigh multiple tons, though perhaps not as heavy as a tyrannosaur at a solid eight to ten tons.

“How are you going to teach me?” I asked, squaring my shoulders as I felt the pressure of being under the watchful eye of what was basically a demi-god.

“I was named Azazel for a reason, little prince, both out of fear and out of respect.” He waved a wing, his aura curling around the sounds of his voice. “I was seen as a monster, the leader of rebellious giants, he who taught men of warfare, and women of deception. That changed in time, as we grew to understand one another, as I learned how to imbue aura into all that I do and am.” Azazel took a deep breath, and let his wings silently cut through the air, stopping just short to extend his wingtip into my face. “Use your energies, and I will give and teach what I do, just as I taught Akari, just as I taught my first enemy and friend, all those centuries ago.”

I breathed, in and out, in and out, and with each breath my aura drew itself out, and I could feel his own energy doing the same, as he placed his wing on my forehead, opening a Connection.

Everything was light, and I barely steadied myself, until I was buoyed by the bond, little red threads of fate, stretching out to the team in front of me, and extending into the sky elsewhere.

I am glad you trust me enough. Azazel’s voice echoed, like the voice of a legion.

This is… what is this? I asked mentally, barely able to reconcile with the power a non-legendary showed.

Everything is connected, he shrugged at my gape. I have learned how to teach, spirit to spirit. So I shall teach, and you shall listen.

I nodded as I kept seeing the light that blew out from him like a gentle cerise fairy wind, and I saw how his aura took in the world around him, acting like… a receiver and transmitter both. I Saw it.

You already have one piece of the puzzle, aura is Life, feeling and understanding the world around you. Do not See just with your eyes, but with your ears and heart both.

It was a careful, delicate touch, and he retracted his wingtip as my… soul greedily ate up the pure, unadulterated information.

I stepped back, feeling a tad drained, and very carefully pulled on my Sight, drawing wisps of aura into my ears, throat and heart, and I looked over to my team, their auras shaking with anticipation in their own ways.

Jericho snorted. “Did it work? It’ll be a lot easier to get my Poison Point across if she can understand anything other than human shit.”

I blinked and groaned, and giggled. “That pun is awful, why did that have to be the first thing out of your mouth I can understand?” Was it just me or did he remind me of… Jack Black? Just a bit in the voice… in inflection but otherwise it was different.

He looked offended. “Hey, friends love my jokes!”

“No we don’t.” Was Fleur’s flat French accented response. “He tells only lies.”

It took them about fifteen seconds to process that I had understood every word of their conversation.

Mirko looked incredibly happy. “Hah! This will make things so much easier!” Her leporine smile was not reassuring, and she seemed to vibrate, hips wiggling with her energy.

I took a step back as my team surrounded me, eyes gleaming.

Llayda just laughed. “There is so much we have to tell you! It should only take us a few hours, hun!”

I took another step back, glancing over to Akari and Azazel for a safe—

They’re not here.

“Oh.”

Damn them both.