The Aura is With Us

Chapter 18: Lost in the Wood pt3

There was dirt up his snout again. Lucario sighed deeply, and allowed himself to sneeze and groan into the ground before getting up. He shook his head, ears twitching, ridding his head of the itchy grass blades that got tangled in his sensors upon landing. He was in a large gassy field, a large curving cobble stone wall, encasing the field. The field was over grown and wild after centuries of being un attended, long blades whipping around in the wind, and the wall had been ceased by strangling ivies and vines, turning the grey stone green.

It looked so different, but Lucario still recognized it. The nursey fields. This was where the young pups and their mothers would live until they were paired off to a guardian. He was one of the motherless pups when he was brought here, quiet and uninterested in meeting the other pups with packs. Despite being distant, he could still see them here. The young pups would be playing and wrestling amongst the grasses, the adults watching vigil near by in the shades of the trees.

But now it was empty, quiet, lifeless. An open tomb.

Vaguely Lucario wondered, with the Aura Guardians defeated. Where did the pups and mothers go? Some had lived there for generations. Lucario huffed sadly. They were long past now.

Besides there was another pup he needed to worry about. Ash's pup had been with Lucario when they were separated from the rest of their group. The pup may be bound to Ash, but with him gone, Lucario was now responsible. If only he could find the pup.

Lucario sighed, and let out a sharp shrill bark. It was answered with a much higher chirp. And through the reeds towards the sound Lucario walked. It was a wonder that Lucario managed to find Riolu. The grass had grown up to about the middle of his stomach, so it would swallow a pup. But eventually, a dot of blue could be seen in the greenish gold of the reeds.

"Lu Ca (are you alright)" Lucario growled lightly.

Riolu nodded, making a gentle yipping noise.

"Lu Lu Car rio (come we much find the others)," Lucario took the pup's paw into his own, so he didn't lose him in the grass again.

"Rio ri (where are we)? Olu Rio ri (it feels funny here)."

"Lu Rio (the nursery)."

"Rio olu (why does it feel weird)?"

"Luc car lu (what does it feel like to you)?"

"olu, ri ri (Like it's safe, but it too sad for us to be here)."

Lucario tried very hard not to react to that. He was feeling that safe sadness too.

"Lu Car ca Rio lu (that is the mark of your ancestors pup. It's the message they left for use to find long ago)."

"ri olu ri (what are they telling us)?"

"Car lu lu ca (that this was once a safe place, but tragedy found itself here)."

The reeds thinned out, and eventually broke once they reached the bank of the ponds that were left on the ground. Though, now they were little more then a swamp. Thunder rumbled overhead, something told Lucario that they would need shelter soon. Riolu had broken away from him and began to wander the water's edge. Typical curious pup. Why did it bother Lucario so much that the pup was wandering away from him?

Riolu continued to wander. Small paws getting muddier while walking along the wet banks. Lucario kept an eye trained on the pup as he tried to locate the others through aura sight. Then the sense of nearby danger spiked in Lucario's mind and he turned to the startled shrill of a pup.

Leaping out the murky depths of the swamp, with a strike of white fire falling from the sky, came a horde of the new residents of the nursey grounds. Toxicroak. Several came from the water, all in a rage, all ready to hunt. Their long sticky with slime arms reached out at unexpected speed swiping that the pup with intent to harm.