Going forward and beyond {Path of the Aura Ranger: Book I}

I Pupitar's P.O.V

As we left Floaroma Town, on our way to Eterna City, we helped a little girl find her wayward Drifloon. That's a new kind of ghost pokemon!

Honestly, meeting new pokemon and traveling to places I've never seen has been a dream of mine for many moons. Ever since my short journey with uncle Ash, dad, and their friends, I've adored the idea of traveling and seeing new wonders.

But then I was left with my mother, and as much as I love her and knew it was the smart choice, as I needed to learn to be a Larvitar and grow with my kin, my wanderlust never left me. Oh, how much did I worry mother sneaking away with my ragtag group of younglings pokemon to discover the deep secrets and hideouts Mt. Silver had.

While the others outgrew this stage, I never did. Mt. Silver soon became too small for me. So, once I evolved into a Pupitar I decided to leave the nest and find my way back to uncle Ash and dad. Luckily, for me, during our time apart he had proven himself to the other humans and became known and respected. All I had to do was to point with my head, as I no longer had arms, to the magical box humans call T.V, and they brought me to him.

Since then, I've had so many adventures, seen so many new and interesting places. Not to mention, how much I've grown in strength. Uncle Ash truly knows what he was doing. While he had asked his friend Brock, the one I met during our previous journey, advice about rock-type moves. It was the way he implemented those moves that had blown my mind away.

He was so creative! Not to mention insane! The way he uses rock moves to adapt the territory to his advantage is just mind-blowing. I even heard him talking to Espeon and Sylveon, after taking notes, about how to instruct the other pokemon to learn the moves. He even had Espeon mind record him teaching other pokemon how to use said rock-type moves creatively, so she could later share the memories with them.

Uncle Ash's family, as he and dad like to call our team, is big and he can't take them all with him. So, while he works, he had learned to adapt and have the older and more experience pokemon take his place in the task of nurturing the younger generation. Much like it was done in my mother's pack. At least, I did not have to get used to that change.

However, I was not the only one training. Glaceon, Turtwig, and Chimchar's training had been turned up a notch now that we were getting closer to Eterna City. Those three were tasked with the job of winning the next badge for our beloved trainer. Jolteon, Sylveon, and Espeon, being their training partners whenever uncle Ash was with another pokemon.

Dad, himself, was learning a new move called Electro Web. Not only, was it going to be very useful during gym battles, but it was also going to be an ace under the sleave whenever we needed to capture a criminal alive.

Ash, right now, was paying extra attention to Staravia. He felt very guilty at having missed (his) evolution. Not that brother Staravia minded. But for uncle Ash, it had been the first evolution of his pokemon that he had not seen. So, he had made sure to help him get used to the new body and his amplified abilities as a flying pokemon. He had learned a lot from the flock back home, at the ranch, but he still had a long way to go before matching the other flying-type pokemon in our family... or at least, that's what the others tell me. I have yet to meet them and see that for myself.

While training with uncle Ash is always fun and filled with gratification, looking at Staravia's training left me feeling unassociated for a second.

"What's wrong?" I heard dad ask me, as he approached me from behind, after clearly taking a break from his own training.

"It's just that... I feel like something is missing during our training." I replied, not truly understanding it myself. "I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, but looking at them..." I pointed towards the clearing, in which uncle Ash and Staravia were training. "Don't you feel like something is missing when uncle Ash trains with you? Maybe not you dad... but with the others and me?"

"You've got good eyes, Pupitar." Dad praised me. I felt glad I did not anger him with my questions. "They will serve you good during battles, use them. As for Ash... let's just say that he was born to train birds."

"What?!" I asked him, even more confused.

"Yeah," he chuckled, not really answering me. "Did I ever tell you that I was not supposed to be Ash's starter?" Now I was clearly looking at him as if he had lost his head. Dad and uncle Ash not being partners? Has the world finally gone mad?! "He was supposed to choose one of Kanto's three starters: Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle." By now the other pokemon have decided to take their breaks and approach us to hear more about the story of how it all began for our family. "But he overslept and all of them were gone. Let me tell you he was disappointed, even if he did end up with all of them in the team. So, Professor Oak then had to go out and capture me. And let me tell, I was not happy and made sure Ash knew it constantly." He laughed, Espeon followed, and then the rest of us when she shared dad's memories with us.

"Going back to the topic at hand," he said once we had calmed down. "Ash had wanted a Charmander. Not because he was coolest, though for Ash all of them were very cool. He had wanted a Charmander because their final evolution could fly." He let those words sink in, before continuing speaking. "For some reason, he had always had an unhealthy obsession with flying. I'm pretty sure those who were at the ranch during our hellish boot camp, must have caught Ash jumping from one flying-type pokemon to the other while being in the sky." I looked at the eeveelutions with my jaw dropped.

Uncle Ash was truly out of his mind! What if he broke his neck! Trusting his pokemon was one thing, but there should be a limit!

"He was born to love the sky and train flying-type pokemon. This is why you can sense the ease in their training that lacks in ours, mine included. The thing is, that Ash truly understands them. He knows how they feel in the sky because he feels it too. Why do you think Ash had said that the journey is never over until he catches the common flying type of the region? Pidgeot once told me that Ash was a bird having reborn in a human body, yearning to fly in the sky. That she would be his wings until he doesn't need them anymore." Pikachu sighed, looking at Ash sadly. That was something I understood. The feeling of not being able to fulfill or accomplish something. In this case, dad not being able to help uncle Ash fly. "If Ash didn't live pokemon so much, all types and kinds, he would have become a flying-type specialist easy. I can even tell you that after getting his Generalist Mastery, he will go for the Flying Master Certification." He sighed and turned to us. "Don't take it to heart. That ease you feel doesn't mean he loves you less or doesn't train you with the same conviction. It's simply that he has a link with flying types that simply goes beyond what he can achieve with the rest of us. The ease that comes from true understanding."

His words spoke only the truth and it made me feel better. But at the same time, a cloud spread over my heart as I watched uncle Ash and Staravia train. A true understanding. A bond I will never be able to share with my trainer. But as soon as it came, I shook it away. I looked at dad and saw a bond with uncle Ash that no other pokemon can copy. I then looked at my younger sister and saw the Princess Uncle Ash adores so much. My gaze then moved to Espeon and saw her Majesty, the haughty queen of the family.

I was the first egg uncle Ash had taken care of. The first pokemon he had saved from poachers other than the pardoned ex-members of the Team Rocket. The one that turned him into the path of being a Ranger. I looked at dad and saw in his eyes the pride of a firstborn, even if he hadn't been the one to sire me. I looked back at uncle Ash, this time with a lighter heart, and saw a true understanding.

A bond that no other pokemon can take from me or copy.