Friday, January 13, 3067 PW (Post War),

In the past couple of weeks Mary had become good friends with all of Phil's Pokemon, she opened up to Evie first, as they were the only girls, other than Zoey, who is very odd.  Then to Blazer the other orphan.  She trained hard, long hours.  Phil had discovered that she had a rare ability for Mudkip, Swift Swim.  She became very fast if in any amount of water, even rain.  Denny explained that water boosted her aura, giving Mary a powerful speed boost.

Mary loved training with Evie, and even learned Iron Tail from her.  They had become the closest of friends, and an epic duo.  Evie always noticed things about Mary first, and Mary the same to Evie.  Evie learned that Mary wanted to destroy Team Domination, for taking her beloved mother and kind  father from her.  Mary would often cry for her parents, but Evie would be there to comfort her, and Evie would spill to Blazer.  Blazer, having been there and done just that knew just how to make Mary trust and relax again.  She soon stopped crying, but she remained intense in her training.

"Come on Phil!  Just keep climbing, your're almost there!"  Denny shouted at him.  Phil still had not made it to the top of the cliff.  He was almost there after an hour of climbing, but just after Denny shouted he slipped.  He fell to about halfway down before he caught himself.  He looked at his new highest mark, the one that followed him up the cliff.  He constantly wondered why this cliff was so hard.  It was almost like he had to prove himself to the cliff, but the cliff was fighting back.  He just sighed and tried again.

Meanwhile across the valley, 

 "Jes, just come on. Hit me already!"

"I'm trying Blazer!"  Jes ran across the feild and tried to use Bite on Jes, but Blazer dodged and used his new attack, Fire Fang.  With his mouth full of fire, he bite down on Jes's mane.  HIs actual bite did little damge, but Jes had to dunk his head underwater.  He looked at Blazer angrily, "Watch the hair!"

"You got it dude."

"Why did you say, dude, you never say, dude?"

"Nevermind, just land an attack already."

"I'll try."

"Do or do not, there is no try."

"How do I do something if I don't try to do it?"

"Well, you see, its like, I actually don't know, that one always confused me."   After he said that he heard some giggling.  He looked into the forest, and saw Mary and Evie watching.  "Girls, you may as well watch from somewhere more comfortable."  There faces turning red, or more red in Mary's case they stepped out of the forest onto the softer grass.   Then it was Jes's turn to blush when he realized the girls had seen Blazer beating him handily.

Meanwhile in the Berry Fields,

Horace was enjoying another day off.  Since, Phil and Denny had been in the valley for a few months now, he was confident in the valley's natural defenses.  He enjoyed the Sitrus berries that grew here, and he could relax a little.  He had a nephew of his watching the entrance.  So, he crawled into a apricorn tree and went to sleep.

Outside the Valley's Entrance,

"Lucas, do you see that cave?"

'Yes, it seems a particularly old and malevolent Gengar was chased from here a few months ago, around October.'

"I too can sense it, and I think we should investigate."

'Why?  It was probably a Bisharp with a grudge against Gengar.  For all we know we could be walking into a cave full of Bisharp and Pawniards.  Dangerous Pokemon in large numbers.'

"True, but I know you can handle them."

'We are supposed to be finding the Lost Guardians are we not?'

"It will not take any time at all."

'It better not.'

As the two travelers walked into the cave a Zorua stuck his head out, 'Rats.'  He quickly illusioned himself and darted into the cave.

Back in the Valley,

"Phil, get down, we have an uninvited guest."

"Rats, I was so close,  Tactical Defense Plan 97?"

"Sure, let us give it a shot."

They climbed into position, and cloaked themselves.

In the Cave,

"Lucas, I feel a surge of aura, like a hidden grotto filled with aura.  It is a very large consentration of aura, even stronger than the region's unusually high average consentration.  I have never felt so alive, even if previous generations of Aura Guardians, along with Christians were fed to Pyroars in the Great Colosseum."

'Maybe Aura Gaurdians were more feared here, because of the surge in local aura.  Such power in the natural enviroment would cause Guardians to become much more powerful.'

"Perhaps, but I want to find the source, it could give us a clue about the Lost Guardians."

The pair walked out of the cave into the sunlight.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

'Phil, they are here, a human and Lucario, switch to mental communication.'

'Roger that.'

'Who is Roger?'

'Nevermind....'

Phil, still invisable leapt down, since he was truly invisable and not just aura masked he would make the first move.  He moved forward unseen, but his eye caught some movement out of its corner, causing his concentration to slip.  He became completey visable, and the human looked at him before he disappeared again.  However, the human sensing they were under attack went on high alert.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Riley noticed a human suddenly appear out of thin air.  He latched onto his aura and tracked the human, or possibly Zoroark.  When the being's aura notified Riley of an attack he sent an Aura Sphere at his assailant, who immediatly became visable as a human boy.  The unknown assailant streached out his hands caught the Aura Sphere, and quickly made it much larger, and returned it.  Lucas reached out to catch the attack, but their assailant forced it bigger so that it swallowed Lucas whole.  Riley noted that it was exploding, and everything went black.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Phil watched as the aura user and his Pokemon fell unconcious.  He advanced and quickly searched them both for weapons.  He found a single Pokeball, and after looking at it with his aura he sensed that it was a very young Riolu.  He put the Pokeball on his belt while Denny secured the two intruders.

"Denny, this Pokeball contains a young Riolu, possibly the child of the Lucario."

"Well, take the Riolu over to play with some of your other Pokemon.  I will have one of my Chansey's care for these two.  I have some aura cuffs in the cave I can use so they do not just bust out when they wake up."

"Ok, sounds good to me."

Phil walked over to a more hidden field and released the Riolu.

"Hey buddy, what is your name?"

'My daddy told me not to tell strangers my name.'

"Well, I would ask him but he is sleeping.  I noticed the energy coming from your Pokeball and brought you over here to play with some of my Pokemon."

'What about Master Riley?'

"He is a bit tied up with business."

'Well, I am Matt.'

"Ok Matt, I am going to leave some of my Pokemon over here to play with you."  Phil released everyone, explained the situation, mentally so Matt would not hear, and left Jes in charge.  He took Blazer with him so that he had him for advice.  Matt quickly warmed up to Mary, who was the youngest of the group, and Mary introduced him to the others.  Jes did not really care to play with the others, in part because he was in charge and wanted to act tough.

When Phil found Denny, Denny was securing the the intruders.  They could not see or hear each other, but there was a good spot to watch both of them at once.

"The human's name is Riley.  The Riolu accidently gave it up with out me asking.  The Riolu is named Matt, and is actually really sweet.  The Lucario is his father."

"So you guessed right.  I guess we should just wait on them to wake up, and question them about their intentions."

"That would be the safest thing to do."

"Why did you lose your focus?"

"I saw a flash of black and red, it was probaly just a wild Pokemon."

"Yea, we have a small Zorua problem here, they are attracted by the aura of the valley."

"I guess so."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

'So, two  intruders make their way into the cave, and you forget about Abram the Abra.  Instead of waking up your Abra friend you dart in here,  almost let Phil discover us, and don't even make it here to tell me about all of it until after the intruders are beaten and restrained.'

'That's about it.'

Sighing Horace looks at his nephew and says, 'William, I think your dad is going to have to teach you about keeping your head.'

'Yes sir.'  William said, ashamed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Phil, they are waking up.  You take Riley and I will take the Lucario."

"Okay, why didn't we decided this earlier?"

"Because the author did not think it was important."

"Who's Arther?"

"Oh, um, nevermind what I just said."

"Okay, you might need a nap."

"Well I have been up for fifteen hours straight."

"You should have told me!  I would have taken watch."

"We need to just go interrogate them, I see it is unlikely they meant any harm, but we must always check." 

Phil walked down the hill, with Blazer following behind.  As they approached Riley, Phil took note of his body language and aura.  Riley was a bit nervous and doubting himself for being beaten.

"Quit beating yourself up, Riley, no one sees that coming, pun intended."

"Who are you, how can you use aura, and how do you know my name?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"But I don't know your name and you know mine."

Phil just stared at Riley for a minute.

"You know what I mean when I say who are you?  Let's start small, where are you from?"

"I live on Iron Island, in the Sinnoh region."

"I think I know someone who can confirm that."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Hello there, I am glad you are waking up."

'Where is my son?!  If you have hurt I'll...'  

Denny interupted, "Your son is fine, Matt has been playing with the other Pokemon for quite some time.  He fell asleep and one of my many Chansey is watching him, making sure no wild Pokemon come to close.  Now down to business, who are you, where are you from, and why have I never heard of Riley?"

'How do you know Riley's name?'

"Your son, Matt, he was questioning where you and Master Riley as he put it were.  My comrade could tell Matt was worried at first, but once he got to playing he forgot all about it.  So, why are you here?"

'To find the lost Aura Guardians and establish contact, which it seems we have.'

"Why did you really come, no one comes just to establish contact."

'Well we did, Riley and I have been training to become Guradians for years.  We were hoping to learn some new things from the lost Guardians.'

"I see, I will be back in a minute."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Phil could not detect the slightest hint of a lie in the Lucario's aura.  What about you?"

"The Interpol officer I met when saving Mary confirmed Riley's story, he says that he lives on Iron Island in the Sinnoh region, also the Lucario is named Lucas.  Riley said they are here to dicover the Lost Guardians, but I have no clue what that means."

"Time for a history lesson."

'Oh boy...'

"You do not have to listen, Blazer."

'Denny, I'll listen, it's better than sitting around doing nothing.'

"Ok then, long ago in the Sinnoh region Aura Guardians were well known and respected.  However, this veiw later changed to one of fear.  The people of Sinnoh began to persecute Aura Guardians.  Most Guardians or aura users fled far away, they went around the world, until they settled here, in Campagna.  The Lost Guardians built the massive structure you met my father in and practiced their ways in secret.  Because, in Rojan, the capital city of Campagna, Aura Guardians and Christians were fed to Pyroars in the Rojan Colluseum."

'Well that was a short history lesson.'

"I am not done yet."

'Oh.'

"There is still some fear of aura users in many places throughout Campagna.  Some users have left us to follow a darker path, they let go of control, causing them to become very powerful but also somewhat irrational and evil.  We try to execute them, but sometimes these Aura Slayers flee.  They always cause trouble for everyone and try to lead all aura users back into the world, as rulers."

"Sounds like a book I read, but with aura not magic."

"Okay, but point being, I do not know if we can trust them."

"I think we can, after all, they had no signs of lying, and an Interpol officer that saved my tail backed up their story."

"Fine, you win."

The next day,

"Sorry about the misunderstandings, we just don't know who to trust."

"Relax Phil, you should always be cautious about these things."

"Thank you Riley, here is a letter written by me, signed by me, and with my seal.  When you approach the monastery just show them the seal.  The guards will give you an audience with my father."

"Thank you Denny, I must be going now."

'Do we have to go?'

"Well, Matt, we have to continue our mission."

'But why can't I stay here, I like Mister Phil and Mister Denny.'

"Well, they are trainers going on a journey, I am sure that you would be safer with me and Lucas."

'Riley, Matt, is not as old as us.  He just wants an adventure.  Where he can train, and not be sucked into his Pokeball at the first sign of danger.'

"Riley, if Matt wants to stay with us, he can.  The two of us will insure his safety."

"Ok, Matt, just chose whether Phil or Denny will be your trainer."  Matt stared for a minute, and then walked over and hugged Denny's leg."

'Master Denny is very smart, and his aura is soothing.'

"Thanks a lot Matt."

"Well your aura is one of a trouble maker."

They all laughed, Phil and Denny went to continue training as Riley and Lucas left.  Matt followed Sir Kane and Blazer for some training.  Phil knew he had to get better, because, what if Riley had not been a good guy?

A/N

I know Mudkip does not get Swift Swim, but Mega Swampert does.  Also, Damp is a pretty horrible ability.  What did you think of the "Riley Arc", be sure to let me know.