The Patron Quadrilogy: The Legend Begins

Chapter 19

Sunday, October 15th, 7:58 p.m. 2018
Mt. Silver (Red's House)
"There you guys are!" May exclaimed as Brendan, Red, and Green walked up to the entrance of the cave. "What took you guys!?"
"A trip down memory lane and chatting with Leaf," Brendan replied. "Anyways, let's get this meeting done. We're going to be busy tomorrow." As they walked into the cave, Brendan felt May grab his hand.
"Brendan, Green is pregnant!" She told him, excited. "Also, when you said a "house" I wasn't expecting a large tent."
"Technically, it's a yurt," Green called, overhearing their conversation.
"Thank you, Leaf!" Brendan called, hearing her mumble a few choice words to him.
"Why do call her 'Leaf?'" May asked, dropping her voice to a whisper, so she didn't annoy Green.
"It's two things. First, it's kind of a running joke between us. Second, it's a nickname I gave her some time ago; it's a long story," he chuckled slightly. "I'll have to tell you about it sometime."
"Brendan, don't tell her that story," Green warned.
"It is a cute nickname, though, Green," May said, hearing her groan in response. "Does Brendan have a nickname?" She asked with in a suddenly mischievous tone. Green snapped her fingers and laughed.
"Shit." Brendan thought. "But I guess I do deserve what's coming."
"Yeah, you definitely deserve it." Groudon muttered.
"I'm still gonna call her Leaf, though."
"And that's one of the reasons I like you, human."
"I completely forgot about it until you mentioned it, May," she said after recomposing herself. "We used to call him Firehead."
"Is it a forehead pun?"
"Hey, that's rude," Brendan muttered, pretending to be hurt. "I'm kidding. Go ahead and tell her the story. But know I'm telling her the Leaf story. Fair's fair."
"Ugh, fine," she conceded. "Anyways, we used to call him Firehead because he lit his head on fire the first time he was here."
"That was back when I wasn't as used to my powers as I am now."
"Did it hurt or anything?"
"Not really, no. Benefit to being the Patron of something that lives in a volcano and is part Fire type. You kinda become immune to burning. But, being the Patron of Kyogre, you also don't really need to worry about being set on fire. You can literally douse yourself with water."
"But, that was his old nickname," Green continued after they finished speaking. "Nowadays, I call him something else."
"What's that?"
"An occasionally cynical bastard."
"Yeah, that's pretty accurate," Brendan admitted, laughing. "Though I'm not so sure about the "occasional" bit."
"Everyone, please get serious," Red requested as they drew closer to the yurt. "Don't forget, we still have a lot to discuss. Let's finally get this conversation underway." Brendan, May, and Green nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile,
Somewhere else...
"Y-y-you k-killed him, you bastard!" A young teenage kid with spiky brown hair wearing a red visor exclaimed, taking a step back.
"Yes, well, that's a risk that comes with being a Patron, boy," Harley sneered, reaching for the corpse's tourmaline bracelet. Drops of lava encased within it began to glow, yearning for the boy to intervene.
"I-I m-might be scared," the boy thought, before sterning his face, and clenching his fists. "But I can't let them take that bracelet!" He leapt for the bracelet, grabbed it, and punched Harley in the face. "I don't quite know what a Patron is, but I can't not do anything!" Then he ran. He ran as fast as he could, hoping that someone could help him. He knew the police wouldn't be of any use, not against power like that.
"Boy," a gravelly voice rumbled. The boy paused and looked around, desperate to find the source of that voice. Maybe, just maybe, they could help him. "I'm in your head, boy. And in your hand." The boy looked down at his hand, seeing the bracelet glisten in the moonlight. "You're desperate, aren't you? You know they're pursuing you, and you're beginning to lose hope of escaping. I know your kind. So, I'll help you. Put me on. We'll have to do this quick."
"There you are, boy!" Harley snarled, blood trickling from his nose, and a Shadow Ball forming in his hand. "Hope you're prepared to die for that punch!" He threw the Shadow Ball at the boy. The Shadow Ball exploded on impact, creating a cloud of dust.
"AhahaAHAHA!" The Patron of Darkrai laughed manically. "Well, it was fun while it lasted, kid. But-"
"Sorry, were you saying something?" a voice cut in. All of a sudden, something within the cloud of dust began to glow. The temperature of the air began to rise as the glow intensified. Eventually, the dust cleared, and, to Harley's surprise, the boy was still standing, a large and jagged rock before him, marred by a crater.
"What!? How!?"
The boy smirked, and spread his fingers apart. Lava began pouring from between his fingernails, landing on the ground and scorching the grass. "My name is Nate, and I'm the Patron of Heatran, the Lava Dome Legendary!" He fixed his eyes on Harley, who began laughing maniacally again.
"The Patron of Heatran, huh? Well, unfortunately for you, it'll take more than one Patron to defeat me!" Vines suddenly wrapped around Nate's legs. As he struggled, Harley pointed to an adventurine ring on his left ring finger. "I have the power of two Patrons! A rookie like you never had a chance! I'm invincible! Not even an experienced Patron would stand a chance."
"Then how about two Patrons?" Another voice asked. All of a sudden, the air began to humidify, and then a lightning bolt flashed out from the trees.
"He won't be able to avoid it!" Nate thought, relieved. But then another lightning bolt flashed from behind Harley, nullifying the other lightning bolt.
Two men stepped out of the trees. Both had green hair, but one of them, Nate's savior, wore a black and white baseball hat. The other was Drew.
"Another electric-type Patron?" The man in the hat said. "There aren't too many of us left. Shame we're to be enemies."
"How'd you know we were here!?" Drew exclaimed. "Harley, this was supposed to be a discreet kill!"
"Plans seldom go according to plan, Drew."
"Simple. I was this area, and the Pokémon were restless. Nature, you see, has been unbalanced," the man said, staring Harley and Drew down. "And you two are the cause of it."
Sunday, October 15th, 8:05 p.m. 2018
Mt. Silver (Red's House)
"Alright," Red began, sitting at a table with Brendan and his companions. "So you guys called an emergency meeting at the Tree of Beginning for tommorow, right?"
"That's right," Brendan said. "Like with the regular solstice and equinox meetings, it's to begin at sunset. We came to tell you guys in person, and since the Tree is closer to Mt. Silver than Hoenn, I figured it was a worthwhile trip."
"What about April?" Blue spoke. "Where's she? And what about Wally and Claire?"
"She had business to attend to, so unfortunately she was unable to join us. We'll see her tomorrow, at the meeting, though. She also said she'd make arrangements to get the word around to any Patrons she knows or can contact. As for Wally and Claire, they're stargazing. I said that was okay, as it is, this does just concern us, for the most part. Any issues? No? Alright."
"And the point of this meeting is to discuss the threat presented by the Patron of Darkrai?"
"Partially," Brendan explained. "The other reason is because Ash here," he gestured to Ash. "Is an Aura Guardian. He has an unusually powerful aura about him. Didn't you two sense it?" He looked at Red and Green.
"We did, but Mewtwo and Mew explained that it was. They seemed rather fond of him. Why would that be, Ash?"
"Hmm," Ash tried to remember. "I met both of them and I think I stopped them from fighting each other? The details are kinda hazy to me. But I think I died.... And then I woke up like it was just a dream, if that makes any sense."
"Have you met any other Legendary Pokémon?" Green asked. "According to legend, Aura Guardians were capable of seeing and communicating with all the Legendaries, according to Mew."
"I have, yeah," Ash replied. "I saw Ho-oh, Lugia, the Legendary Birds, the Legendary Dogs, and all the rest. I even met Arceus."
"Wait, Arceus!?" Red spoke, interest sparking in his eyes. "Ash, I need to ask you something strange. Who is your mother?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked, confused.
"Just trust me. What is her name?"
"Uh, it's Delia Ketchum," Ash explained.
"Does she have any Psychic Type companions?"
"Actually, yeah! She has a Mr. Mime as a helper around the house! It was a gift to her from my dad, I think. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Quite a lot actually. Mr. Mime are extremely rare, aren't they?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Here's a fun fact about Mr. Mimes," Red told him. "They can live for a long time, and their descendants always stay with the families their ancestors served. And, they're aura-sensitive."
"What are you getting at, Red?" Ash asked, extremely confused and uncomfortable.
"Ash, Aura Guardians used aura-sensitive Pokémon as companions, and for multiple purposes. Sometimes battle, Lucario were used exclusively for that role, but they would also use Mr. Mimes to look after their families when they were away."
"So, I'm an Aura Guardian? I already knew that."
"But you also said that you saw and communicated with Arceus, didn't you?" Red asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"Ash, only a select few Aura Guardian has ever managed such a feat. Well, until recently, of course. Do you know who they were?" Ash thought for a moment, before opening his eyes.
"It was Sir Aaron and his bloodline, wasn't it?"
"Correct. But something else happened when he did that. His bloodline developed a bizarre and unique ability. All of his children could hear Arceus and communicate with her. But the very strongest of his descendants would encounter her. Only his bloodline is known for this phenomenon, and his alone. Ash, I don't think you're just any Aura Guardian. I think you're a direct descendant of Sir Aaron."
"I thought Sir Aaron's descendants were the only Aura Guardians in existence."
"According to Mew, that's a huge misconception. There were hundreds of them long ago. Some families were consistent, others were the only known aura-sensitive people in their families. And a precious few normal humans managed to train themselves up enough to claim the title of Aura Guardian. There were approximately one hundred aura-sensitive bloodlines, but Sir Aaron's bloodline had the strongest connection to their aura. Because of that, history was.... Unkind to the other bloodlines. Each one was gradually forgotten about as time wore on, and as the Order of Aura Guardians collapsed. All except Sir Aaron's bloodline."
"So you're saying I'm a direct descendant of Sir Aaron?"
"Yes," Red told him. "That's what Mew is telling me."
"But, what does any of this have to do with me? Okay, I get it, I'm a descendant of Sir Aaron. And I'm an Aura Guardian. But how do I fit into this whole mess? The problem is Harley, isn't it? If you want me to fight him, I can't. I don't know how to use my powers at all."
"Ash, you misunderstand," Green reassured him. "We don't expect you to fight. No, rather, we expect you to rebuild Order of Aura Guardians."
"You expect me to resurrect an Order that's long since collapsed?" Ash scoffed. "Yeah, sure, that's easy enough."
"Ash," Green looked him in the eyes. "The Patron Order is unstable. It's been that way for a long time. Ever since the Aura Guardians disappeared. You see, our Order was overseen by the Aura Guardians over a thousand years ago. It was Sir Aaron and his Aura Guardians that convinced Arceus to create the Patron Order, when it became all too obvious that humans would try to capture the Legendaries they once viewed as gods. They tested the first Patrons, and with their cooperation, founded the Patron Order. Our Order has a similar code of law to Sir Aaron's Order. But after his Order collapsed, the Patron Order was left on it's own. And it's barely held itself together. Three hundred years ago, the situation worsened. Factions of extremists arose, seeking to change our code of law, and more factions formed to stop them. The result was the First Patron War, which lasted for a hundred years. When the fighting finally came to an end, the Patron Order had fractured irreparably. Ever since the first war, the Order has seen several minor wars, but thankfully we haven't seen another major war. But we know it's only a matter of time. For the past several years, we've seen the warning signs of a Second Patron War."
"What do you mean, warning signs?"
"Long ago, before the First War, Patrons, regardless of their home region, would sit amongst each other. But as the War began to approach, Patrons started to sit amongst Patrons hailing from their region. For instance, a Patron from Kanto before the war wouldn't have minded sitting with Patrons from Sinnoh or Hoenn. But in the months leading up to the war, that same Patron would begin to sit amongst the other Patrons from Kanto. When the factions arose, faction members would only sit with each other, and only speak with each other. And that's become a pretty common theme ever since. But this past Spring Equinox, the situation suddenly worsened."
"How?"
"The extremist factions became hostile to other factions, and any Patrons that didn't have a faction would get threatened by them. These hostilities eventually seeped into the meetings themselves. At the Summer Solstice, a fight broke out. Two factions began attacking each other, and the meeting was brought to an end after the fight was quelled. The Autumn Equinox wasn't much better."
"So, why exactly do Patrons still go to these meetings?"
"They don't have a choice, they're mandatory. Unless a Patron is very sick, dying, or otherwise preoccupied, they must attend. In any of the events I mentioned, they must send two of their Lieutenants in their place."
"But why will me resurrecting Sir Aaron's Order help?" Ash asked, trying to wrap his head around everything he was just told. "And what's the difference between Patrons and Aura Guardians?" This time Red spoke.
"I'll answer the second question first," Read explained. "Aura Guardians serve the Legendaries like us Patrons, but they were the only ones capable of communicating with Arceus. They didn't need to use or hold Items of Power to talk with Legendaries, they could do it independently. They maintained order amongst Pokémon, Humans, Patrons, and Legendaries. That is the difference. And," he added. "Aura Guardians are more powerful than Patrons. They needed to be."
"But that's not me!" Ash exclaimed. "I don't have any control over my Aura! It just appears whenever it wants! How can I resurrect an ancient Order when I can't even control the powers they had?"
"Ash," This time, it was May that spoke up. "You aren't the only one who couldn't control their powers. I couldn't even use mine for the longest time. But, Brendan, April and Steven helped me."
"Indeed," Steven agreed. "None of us had any control at first. But the first step is commitment."
"In truth, I think it would be correct to say that none of us have total control over our powers," Brendan told him. "The stronger moves we can use can overwhelm us. And if you put the huge difference in strength between us and our Legendaries into perspective, the thought of total control is even more ridiculous. We need our Legendaries on our side if we want to do half of the things we can do."
"If you want to control your aura, then seek out someone who has trained in aura. Do you know anyone like that?" Ash thought back, and then snapped his fingers.
"Yeah! I do! A Gym Leader in Veilstone City named Maylene!"
"Good, then after the meeting, seek her out," Red suggested.
"But how do I resurrect Sir Aaron's Order?"
"Simple. Choose people, train them to use their aura, and make them into Aura Guardians. Start from the ground up, Ash." Red looked him in the eyes. "Do you think you can do it?" Ash closed his eyes, and thought. "If you can't, we understand."
"Yes, we don't want you to do this if you're heart's not in it," Green said.
"You know," Ash said, opening his eyes and grinning with determination. "What the hell. I'll try."
To be continued.

Alright, so here's my idea: I thought about making a short side story for Nate, so you guys can see his adventure. Ideally, it'll be relatively short, like five-to-eight chapters, but the chapters themselves will be longer. If you guys approve, then I might adopt a similar approach to other Patrons, to build out some lore for the series. Even some books about some of the deceased Patrons.
And finally, I'm going to make a databook in the future for this series, which will include some facts and trivia about the characters, maybe some art of characters like April, who is an OC. But it'll also include art of the Items themselves, and some facts about them as well. I do apologize for my pitiful attempts at drawing, but I am going to take lessons first, so I figured I'd try my hand at that.

Well, let me know what all of you guys think about it, and if anyone's confused about anything (I tried to prevent this one from getting confusing, but I probably failed in that regard), then feel free to ask any questions, and I'll do my best to answer them! Hopefully I don't wind up making anyone even more confused!
But until then, see you guys in the next chapter, and thanks for your support!
-Myst312 out!
Oh, also Chapter 20 will include a map. It's the same one from my Second Pokémon War book that I'm making.
Why? Because I like that map. XD