The Aura Within | Pokémon

Prologue

Neither of them said anything, just stared at each other. His face swirled with confusion, while her sea green eyes were wide with panic. After a moment or so, his eyes began to widen once he realized what she was going to do.

"Soul..." he spoke her name, slowly walking toward her. "Get down from there."

She looked away from him, gritting her teeth with anger. Well, it was now or never. Without any warning, Soul jumped out the window and landed on the soft grass. She scrambled onto her feet and ran for the exit as though her life depended on it. From the distance, the woman could hear her partner Pokémon calling out her name, but not once did she dared to look back. If she did, she'd most likely would have changed her mind.

By this time, his yelling might have alerted the other knights that the woman had escaped. No matter how you looked at it, Soul couldn't go back. Her breaths came out as short pants as she pushed herself to sprint faster. The exit was near. The moment she escaped, she would make a run for the Tree of Beginnings. Her only means of escape was so close, but before she could go through, someone stood in front of it with a sword pointed at her.

Soul came to a sudden halt and unsheathed her sword. Her eyes widened when she recognized the knight who stopped her. He looked as though he didn't want to do this, but he should've known that the moment you point your sword at another knight, it's up to them whether or not they wanted to fight. However, Soul had no time for this. Her eyes narrowed at him as she gripped her sword's hilt.

"Out of my way," Soul demanded. "This is something I have to do."

"I'm sorry." He shook his head. "But I was given orders to stop you at all costs."

The woman growled lowly, now completely glaring at him. She really didn't want to fight him, but it seemed as though she didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine," she growled, powering up her sword using her aura. "Go ahead and try to stop me!"

Soul ran toward the brunette male, her sword pulled back. Despite knowing how much damage this would cause, he stood his ground and prepared himself. Once she was about halfway toward him, she stopped and swung her sword, releasing the aura blade. The knight jumped out of the way on time, the aura blade hitting the gate instead. A huge smoke cloud resulted after the collision.

Taking this to her advantage, Soul maneuvered her way through the smoke cloud, avoiding the knight by staying away from his aura. From there, all she did was run. She kept running and running, not once looking back. The whole way, she had to avoid both weapons and Pokémon attacks. There were a few close calls, but thankfully luck was on her side and allowed her to get through it. Her mission was to get to the Tree of Beginnings, and nothing will stop her.

Soul was beginning to get tired, but she still pressed on toward her destination. Sweat ran down the side of her face as short pants left her mouth. She could already see the familiar rock formation getting bigger in her sight of vision. She was so close; there was a chance she could make it before this becomes any more violent. A familiar voice rang through the air, causing the woman to freeze in her tracks.

She looked over her shoulder and found her Pokémon partner running toward her. Her sea green eyes widened in surprise, but narrowed slightly. Why was he here? He should be back at the castle where it's safe! With a sigh, Soul completely turned around once her Pokémon was a few feet away from her.

"Soul, you've gotta come back!" he pleaded in a desperate voice.

The woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that what she's about to do would make him hate her forever. She didn't have much of a choice, it was for his own good. When she reopened her eyes, she gave him a stoic look.

"I can't do that. Don't you understand?" she told him, looking over at the Tree of Beginnings. "The prophecy made it clear that I was going to die. That's why Father never told me about the Ethereal Sphere because he knew that some day, I would have to sacrifice myself using it."

"But you promised you wouldn't die!" he screamed, his voice cracking at the end. "You promised you'd stay alive for me, for everyone. Are you going to betray that promise to them?!"

Soul gripped her sword's hilt, her eyes beginning to water. How foolish of her to promise to stay alive for everyone's sake. Why did she make such an empty promise? Death was after her since the beginning, and she had the feeling everyone knew that. And him... he's been with her since the beginning. If she went through with this, he'd be heartbroken and most likely hate her.

Hesitantly, the woman looked back at the Pokémon, who stared at her with mad, teary eyes. Her blonde fringe shadowed over her sea green eyes as she began to unsheathe her sword. Soul didn't want to do this to her best friend, but again— she didn't have much of a choice anymore.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking back at him with sorrowful and teary eyes. "Please, forgive me someday."

Her Pokémon gave her an odd look, which bought her enough time to focus aura energy into her sword for a sealing. When the sword's blue gem glowed a light blue color, Soul threw it near his feet. The glow on the blue gemstone manifested. A light blue light came out of the gem and surrounded his entire body, making him become translucent.

Realizing what she had done, the Pokémon looked at her dead in the eyes with his teary glare. That glare flared with both anger and hurt, which made the woman's heart break. His final words stabbed her in the heart like a ton of needles.

"I trusted you, Soul! I will never forgive you for this!"

• • •

Aura is a form of spiritual energy and is described as the essence of every living creature. During the time before PokéBalls were even invented, there was only a small percentage of humans who were able to sense and control this mysterious power. These people were known as aura guardians. They are mostly recognized for traveling around the world to do good deeds for others. They are also responsible for passing on their skills to other people who possess the potential to wield the power of aura.

A young girl named Soul Fraverden was one of them. She was trained by none other than her late father, Andrew Fraverden, who was also one of the kingdom's most powerful and loyal knights. He was once an aura guardian and served for Queen Rin of Rota. One day, Andrew was ordered to go into battle against the rebels who wanted to overthrow the Queen from her throne. Time went by and every night young Soul would wonder if her father was still alive out there.

Before he left, Andrew gave his only daughter a Pokémon egg. He promised his daughter to come back just in time before the Pokémon hatched. Months went by and, while the battle kept raging on, the egg hatched and a Ralts was born. One day, the war had ended with the Queen's men victorious. Unfortunately, Andrew's daughter got a visit from the Queen that day. She was informed of the unfortunate news that her father had died in battle.

Soul was devastated. Now all she had was her Pokémon that she received as an egg from her father. Queen Rin, out of pity, took her in. The Queen knew the young child possessed the same power as her faithful knight, Sir Aaron. She asked him to continue Soul's training as an aura guardian. It took years of hardship and taunting from the other knights, but Soul had finally mastered aura thanks to the Queen's loyal knight.

Soul's Ralts had evolved into a Kirlia, and later into a Gallade. Queen Rin gave Soul a Dawn Stone for her eighteenth birthday, allowing her to evolve her Pokémon. It was also the same day Sir Aaron took in a lone Lucario as his student and trained him. As for Soul, she became a knight and swore to protect her kingdom for the Queen, for the people and for her father. She will carry on her father's legacy as the Queen's protector, as well as her family's aura guardian.

Now begins the tale of how this legacy came to be through a journey like never before.