-Blessed by Divinity: Eternity-

The Mainland

"So what do you want to talk about?"

Riley kept quiet, instead telling me to follow him. And so I did. He lead me to the tent closest to the shoreline and upon entering, I could see that this was his living space. There was a large empty bowl, labelled 'Lucario' to the side. Speaking of, the aura pokemon hadn't taken his eyes off me since I arrived here.

"I hope you don't mind Lucario." As he mentioned his partner's name, Riley gently brushed his hand over the pokemon's head. Clearly he was enjoying it, but his eyes were still fixed on me.

"I'm sure you know all about Lucario and how they can read a person's aura." He paused for a moment before continuing, "I suppose I should be honest with you Aaron. After all, you did save the island from Team Galactic."

Slowly, I folded arms across my chest. Before I could respond, the sound of the tent rustling caught my ear. I turned around and in the tent's doorway stood my own partner pokemon. The egg was still tucked in the pouch and I could see that Dragonite had taken a liking to looking after it. Upon seeing each other once again, I couldn't help but smile as did my partner.

"You and this Dragonite... I wonder..." I could faintly hear Riley's hushed voice and as I turned to face him, I could see that he had removed his gold chain. He held it in the palm of his hand and now I could clearly see what the symbol was.

While I couldn't name the exact symbol, it reminded me of the archaic patterns I had seen in the stone temple from my dream, years ago. Since then, I hadn't crossed paths with anything relating to that symbol so I thought the dream was nothing to be concerned about.

"I'm guessing you've seen this symbol before?"

I stayed silent, avoiding the question. I didn't know enough about Riley to spill my secrets to him. He readjusted his navy blue fedora before continuing, "This is the symbol of the aura guardians. This pendant was passed down to me from by predecessor and I will pass it on to my successor."

The gold chain glinted under the glow of the oil lanterns as Riley tied it around his neck. I thought back to what he said, having heard of the aura guardians. They were a big part of Sinnoh's history but in this new age, their numbers must have dwindled.

"As an aura guardian, I can read into other people's auras and I can see that you also have this potential. Try to read Lucario's thoughts."

At first I was confused, unsure how to go about this. Initially, I tried to focus my gaze on Lucario, but that didn't work. I thought back to the times I was able to tap into this power and each time it was an involuntary response.

"Hmm... You're still dependent on your eyes." Riley's comments confused me but after a moment, I understood what he meant.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I did so. As I focused, I could feel two presences in front of me. I looked closer, seeing that these auras belonged to Riley and his Lucario. Slowly, I opened my eyes and sure enough, I could faintly see the pair's auras. I turned to the aura pokemon, seeing his eyes fixed to mine as they flared up.

"His aura... His potential..."

I could only make out a few words but then again, humans couldn't understand how pokemon thought so I thought my translation was sufficient. After a moment, Lucario's aura become too faint to detect and my eyes had grown tired.

 "Wow, I must say I didn't think you'd be able to do it that quickly."

Riley sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck before half turning away. Lucario had become fascinated by the egg so he and Dragonite were having their own conversation.