章 153: Eventful Lunch

"Hey Ace!" May exclaimed as soon as she saw Hop and I arrive, practically bouncing into my arms for a kiss. After that she happily produced a Badge and stated, "I just got the Balance Badge from Norman!"

"Nice!"

"And I got the Forest Badge from Gardenia!" Dawn declared as she approached my other side, also presenting her new Badge.

"Really?"

The girls then explained their battles to me as I went to sit on one of the couches, which were littered around the deck surrounding a grill. Manning the grill was Arven, while the rest of the couches were filled by nearly everyone else, except a few that were still out like Misty, Lyra and Ash.

And sitting on the ground cross-legged was Lucario, who had both Blaziken and Empoleon clinging to him on either side. Meanwhile a certain female Lucario was still watching him from afar as she peeked from around one of the couches.

"So how has everyone else's morning been?" I asked once I had settled on the couch, nestled between Chloe and Lillie while May was sitting on my lap.

"I've been doing pretty good myself! Won a few battles for a warmup, and I plan to challenge Clair later today." Ethan said with pride.

"I also managed to beat Tate and Liz earlier, getting my seventh Badge. One more and I'll be able to participate in the Hoenn conference." Brendan stated.

"Thats right! MY big bro is the best!" Max declared haughtily. He then turned his attention to May and added, "Just like our dad! I bet you only got the Balance Badge because he went easy on you!"

"""..."""

We all fixed Max with a look that said 'are you serious' when he said that, before Brendan proceeded to give him the old Gibb's smack to the back of the head.

"OW!"

"Idiot. Of course dad went easy on her, just like he did against me and ALL of the trainers who challenge him. Its literally his job to LOSE against good trainers." Brendan stated irritably, which was more or less the truth. If all Gym Leaders did was win, then NO ONE would be able to move up in the League at all, which was bad since League trainers were the militant force of every region.

"But why'd you hit me?" Max demanded while rubbing the back of his head.

"Because you're being rude. Even if dad did go easy on May, you shouldn't belittle her or ANYONE who earned a Badge." Brendan said, to which we all nodded in agreement. Max however just pouted in response, which we all ignored as we moved on with the conversation.

Apparently everyone had been doing fairly well in their battles so far today, either challenging Gym Leaders or just taking lots of challengers to get their points up. Barry specifically had already defeated ten trainers in battle, while Lucas had him just beat at eleven. Eventually, everyone's attention turned towards me as they waited to hear how many battles I've gotten so far.

"Heh. I'm afraid to say I've probably got you all beat." I said, before holding up my two new Badges for them all to see.

"No way! You got TWO Badges already!?!" Elio exclaimed in awe.

"Yep! I already had a promise with Blaine to battle today, and Falkner came to find me after hearing about my alpha Pidgeot. Not only did I get the Badges, but Falkner also gave me the Mega Stone to Mega Evolve Pidgeot as well!" I declared while holding out said stone.

"It's so pretty..." Serena said in awe.

I nodded while putting it back in my pocket, before adding while pulling out a pokeball, "I also got a new pokemon after some stupid schmuck released it, illegally."

THAT got their attentions, with Barry specifically becoming irritated as he asked, "Is it a Chimchar? I heard some guy got dragged off for questioning after telling his to swim to shore."

"Yeah. He was my first challenger this morning, and I beat him without breaking a sweat. Apparently he decided that meant his Chimchar was useless, and told it to jump ship after releasing it. Thankfully I managed to save it after it jumped, and then I officially caught it after my Chansey healed the damage from our eariler battle."

Emotions ran high from my story as everyone rightfully got pissed at the idea of someone doing such a thing to their pokemon. Curiously the one who was the most pissed was Arven, who's aura surged around him like the flames he was currently tending to.

"What did you do to him?" May asked in a low voice.

"What makes you think I did something to him?" I asked while predending to be innocent.

"PLEASE." Dawn said while rolling her eyes. "You would NEVER let someone who did such a thing off lightly."

Everyone looked at me expectantly, to which I shrugged while saying, "I really didn't do all that much. I just knocked out his Hariyama and then dropped the guy off the back of the ship. If you ask me I let him off EASY."

"Good." Arven said while everyone else who just met me gaped at me in disbelief.

"You DROPPED him off the ship!?!" Lillie exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah. But I had Pidgeot catch him before he hit the water though." I said with a shrug, like it was nothing.

For a moment no one said anything else as they all just gaped at me, before Nate burst out laughing. Next thing we knew EVERYONE was laughing as they presumably imagined the entire scenario, which made Misty and Lyra VERY confused when they too arrived.

"What did we miss?" Misty asked curiously, which made everyone laugh even more at the mere thought.

"Lunch is ready!" Arven announced as everyone tried to get themselves under control, serving up several grilled sandwiches that smelled heavenly. He even prepared several extra for Lucario and the other pokemon that were present.

"Mmm... These are REALLY good Arven!" Rosa exclaimed as we all dug in.

"Right?! I bet people would pay a lot of money for sandwiches like these!" Hilda exclaimed in agreement, while beside the two of them Nate and Hilbert both just grunted in agreement while sticking their thumbs up.

"Thanks..." Arven said a bit bashfully, before going on, "I would like to open my own shop someday, but that idea is on hold for right now. There's something else I need to do no matter what..."

As his aura turned somber for his last statement, I became curious and asked him, "What's wrong Arven?"

"Thats... I don't want to ruin the good mood..." Arven said hurriedly.

"Hey! You're our friend too Arven. If its something we can do to help, then tell us." I told him seriously, to which everyone else nodded in agreement.

Arven chewed his lip a little in contemplation, before sighing in resignation as he pulled out a pokeball.

"Alright. Its time for his medicine anyways." He said, before releasing the pokemon within.

Appearing in front of us was a dog-like pokemon that I just barely recognized as a Mabosstiff, but all it did was lay on the ground before us completely still. If it weren't for the fact that I could still feel it's aura, I would have assumed it was dead.

"Hey there buddy... Does that sun feel nice and warm? Here's some food for you as well." Arven said with a pained voice as he pet the pokemon and tried to feed it, putting the aformentioned medicine in the food that the Mabosstiff did eat.

"What happened...?" Lillie asked worriedly, giving voice to what we were all wondering.

"Haaa..." Arven sighed yet again, before explaining, "You know how my parents are the most well known professors in Paldea, right? Well they are both so absorbed in their research that neither ever really had time for me growing up. All I had was Mabosstiff here.

"But then one day we went to the area where they do the majority of their research, a place known as Area Zero. The two of us were attacked by a strange pokemon there, and just barely managed to escape. But Mabosstiff was seriously injured when he tried to protect me, and has never been the same since. I've taken him to every doctor that I could find in Paldea, but none of them could heal him, so I was hoping someone in a different region would be able to..."

Everyone was silent as we listened to Arven's tale, before Chloe asked him, "Is there truly nothing that worked?"

"Nothing the normal doctors and Nurses Joy can do, Though I DO have an idea, it just isn't feasible by myself." Arven said, before pulling out an old notebook and opening it to a certain page.

"See this? They're called the Herba Mystica, herbs that came from Area Zero managed to grow in certain places within Paldea. Supposedly they possess mysterious properties, and are REALLY good for your health if you eat one. But..."

"But what?" I asked, as these herbs definitely caught my attention.

"They're guarded by something we call Titan pokemon, which are pokemon that suposedly eat the Herba Mystica, which grants them incredible sizes and strength. I would even say they're equivalent to a minor Legendary or true alpha, which means its impossible for someone like me to even get close to them..."

As Arven fell silent I was thinking deeply about these herbs and what they could supposedly do. If he was right about the effect they had, then it would be REALLY worth the trip to Paldea to try and collect them for my pokemon.

Before that though...

"Lucario."

My aprtner nodded wordlessly as he stood alongside me, after I patted May's butt to get her to move. I then put the other half of my sandwich on a nearby table and looked over to Cynthia's Lucario.

"Will you give us a hand?"

"Lu." She replied while giving a quick nod, though a bit bashfully, before standing to join Lucario and I as we moved to sit around Mabosstiff.

"What are you doing?" Arven asked worriedly.

"We're going to try to heal him."

"!!!"

Numerous emotions radiated from Arven at my answer, but I ignored them while focusing on Mabosstiff as I moved his head into my lap. Truthfully I wasn't sure we COULD heal him, but I knew Lucario and I had to try.

Looking deeper than Mabosstiff's surface level aura, I could see that the flow of energy within his body was greatly disturbed by whatever caused his injuries, preventing his recovery. If Lucario and I could solve that, then it may help Mabosstiff recover at a much more rapid pace.

With Mabosstiff's head in my lap, and the two Lucario sitting on either side of it, all three of us began to channel our auras into his body.

The process was extremely slow, as neither Lucario and I had ever done this before, as well as Cynthia's Lucario as far as I could tell. As such, none of us tried to rush things as we slowly worked to right the flow of aura through his body.

Thankfully no one disturbed us as we worked, instead watching patiently for the most part with bated breath until nearly an hour had passed. At which point I withdrew my aura from Mabosstiff's body while the two Lucario did the same.

"We'll see how that works for now." I said to Arven while gently moving Mabosstiff's head from my lap, and standing on now numb legs after sitting like that for so long. However our efforts did not appear to be without fruit, as I was pretty sure that Mabosstiff's aura was just slightly stronger than it had been when we started.

Just then...

"Uuf..."

"!!!"

"Mabo....sstiff....?" Arven uttered quietly falling to his knees beside his beloved pokemon.

"You just barked, didn't you...?" Arven asked as tears began to form in his eyes.

"I thought I would never hear your voice again!" Arven cried as he clung to Mabosstiff's head and sobbed emotionally.

We all watched the two of them with warm eyes, while I even saw a few of the girls wiping away tears from the scene. Mabosstiff didn't make anymore noises after that, but it was obvious that he was doing just SLIGHTLY better than he had been before.

When Arven finally started to calm down, I knelt beside him and said, "From what I can tell it'll take a long time to heal him. I can't promise that we can make time every single day, but Lucario and I can try to help him when we have the time if you want."

"Of course!" Arven readily agreed while trying to wipe the tears and snot from his face. "We'll stay in Kanto for as long as we need, however long it'll take to heal Mabosstiff!"

I nodded while patting him on the shoulder comfortingly, before standing and turning my attention towards the other half of my sandwich. I was STARVING after using my aura for so long, and that wasn't even considering how much aura I had used this morning on top of that!

Just as I was about to grab it though...

"Kor?" Uttered a pokemon that suddenly appeared beside me, one that I had never seen or even heard of before that was quadrapedal with red scales, feather-like extentions on various parts of its body that transitioned from blue to white, and a strange protrusion on it's chest that resembled a wheel.

And in the brief moment I was distracted by it's appearance, along with everyone else...

"KOR!"

The damned thing quickly gobbled my lunch down in a single bite.

"Hey!"

"Kor!" The strange pokemon declared happily, which more or less translated to 'thank you for the meal!'

"Damn it Koraidon! What are you doing out?!" Arven grumbled as he quickly grabbed a pokeball from his belt, and returned the wayward pokemon to it.

"I'm sorry about that Ace! I got Koraidon from my parents a long time ago, but it hardly ever listens to anything I tell it. It's been more of a pain than anything..." Arven hurriedly explained.

"Where did it come from though?" Daisy asked, her eyes shining with curiosity.

"Right? I've never seen or even heard of a pokemon like that!" Max added with equal interest.

"I'm not entirely sure to be honest. Like I said, I just got him from my parents." Arven explained, obviously annoyed now that the previous moment had been ruined.

As they discussed it though, I just glanced at Lucario to see him nod at me slowly in confirmation.

Though it was only out for a moment, I could tell that Koraidon had a VERY strange, yet powerful aura to it. Though it also felt as if it's aura was being suppressed somehow.

I stole a glance at Lillie's bag, which was right next to her on the couch even now, noting as I did how it seemed to shift just ever so slightly occassionally. And the aura within the bag that seemed completely alien in nature.

That made TWO pokemon aboard the SS. Anne that I decided needed to be kept away from Team Rocket at all costs. I just hoped my theory of them being Legendaries was wrong, as both of them seemed unable to protect themselves if the need arose.

Thankfully the topic soon shifted back to the tournament, and Arven began making me a second sandwich as thanks for helping Mabosstiff, and an apology since Koraidon took the other half of my first one.