13: Crossroads (I)

Cole – Riolu

“One… two… three… four…” I quietly counted as I did my morning stretches. I could feel my leg loosening up as I bent and held one up with my arm, balancing on the other. Adapting to my new Riolu self was a breeze, given how similar they are to humans. I put my leg down and began to stretch the other as I looked at Swift, who was currently still asleep across the room, curled up on her nest.

I’d been staying at Swift’s house ever since we left Stompstump Peak. Her home was pretty big for one person… hell, she even had two beds in her room when we got here. Almost as if she’d been waiting for somebody to stay with her. Kinda weird, if you ask me. Not that I mind, of course! Free roof over my head!

Apart from the size, though, her room was pretty basic. She had a few stuffed toys stacked beside a tiny stack of books in the corner. Seeing a Riolu plush in the pile made me chuckle—what a coincidence. Most of the books she had looked like stories of various Pokemon and their mythology. Stuff with titles like The History of Avian Pokemon and Aura Channeling and Legendary Pokemon – Fact or Fiction?

On the wall next to the door was a big map of the world… there were a bunch of places across the map that were circled—I wondered if she wanted to visit any of them.

One spot caught my eye in particular—one circled three or four times in red marker. “…the Great Glacier,” I mumbled, reading it aloud when I stepped closer to glance at it. It was right here in the Mist Continent, far up north. “What makes this place so special?” I shook my head, not paying much mind to it as I started stretching out my arms. 

I looked back at the Shinx. Nice of her to let me stay here, I thought.

And for a split second, I thought I saw her glow yellow.

I blinked. And the light around her flickered again. “…what?” I blinked again and again. The yellow glow appeared then disappeared as fast as I opened then shut my eyes.

I kept my eyes shut for longer, and I could vividly see a light in the shape of Swift surrounded by darkness. It hardly moved as she continued to snooze. “…what the hell?” I muttered. Opening them back up, the Shinx was back to normal.

Swift yawned, sluggishly waking up. “Ngh… morning… Cole?” She raised an eyebrow as she caught me staring at her. “…why are you looking at me like that?”

“I… I, um… I thought I saw you glow for a second,” I stammered. “When I close my eyes… I can still see you, but you’re surrounded by this… yellow light.”

She just stared back, then chuckled. “Haven’t you ever read auras before, Cole?”

“What? That was… your aura?” I knew Riolu and Lucario were known for their aura powers… I just didn’t know if I could use them. This was the first time I could really see her aura.

“I mean, I’m pretty sure!” She grinned. “I forget what yellow means, but that’s pretty cool!”

I blinked a couple more times. “…oh god, this is gonna take a while to get used to,” I grumbled.

“…is this your first time reading auras?”

“…yeah. How come I’m only seeing this now?”

She shrugged. “I only know a little bit about Riolu’s aura powers. I’ve heard some aura channelers start learning pretty late, though—using aura seems pretty hard to pull off, anyway!”

“Is it? It came pretty spontaneously to me…”

“Well, there’s more to it than just reading emotions, obviously! Haven’t you heard of all those stories of Lucario being able to create huge balls of energy with their aura, unleashing a giant laser beam?” It was as if there were stars in the cat’s eyes. “Aura channeling’s like this super-flashy power you guys have!”

“…huh.” Wonder how I could learn how to use it… and shoot out “giant laser beams” as she said…

I then looked down at myself, curious if I could check my own aura. Expecting to see Riolu paws coated in a light of some color, I was shocked to see… hands. Human hands. Human hands glowing a bright purple. 

Quickly opening my eyes back up revealed my paws—I was still a punch-dog. “…huh?” Shutting my eyes again, I could see that my aura was not shaped at all like I was expecting. It was surreal—I was still stuck as a Pokemon physically, but my aura was strangely in the shape of my old human body.

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Swift asked as she did that one downward stretch all cats like to do.

“…it’s nothing. Just, uh, weird to look at my own aura.” I still haven’t told Swift—or anyone for that matter—that I was human.

“What color’s yours?”

“Purple. What do these colors mean?”

“Oh! Wait! I got a book for this!” She nabbed a book from the corner, the one titled Aura Channeling . Swift flipped to a diagram showing a color wheel corresponding to different emotions. “Here we go! Uhh… purple can mean curiosity or confusion.”

“…is that it?”

“Well, there are a bunch of possible meanings for each color, according to this book… ‘everybody experiences emotions differently’, after all! So it says.”

“Lemme see that.” I nabbed the book, scanning it through.

“ Aura Color Spectrum – A Pokemon’s aura shifts color according to their mood. As everybody experiences emotions differently, one color may mean one thing for somebody and something else entirely for another. That’s why channelers should never rely solely on reading auras to gauge a Pokemon’s mood!”

“Note: lighter aura shades more often than not denote positive feelings. Darker shades denote negative feelings.”

“Huh…” As I blinked, I could glimpse my aura shifting to blue—contentment, according to the guide. “…mind if I keep this?” I asked Swift. “Really handy for me to know.”

“Oh, um, sure! You’ll give it a lot more use than me, that’s for sure…”

“Why’d you have this, anyway?” I looked at the tiny pile of textbooks. “…you got a lot of books about different ‘mon.”

“I-it was a bit of a phase, okay?” She pouted. “Was really into learning about all these super-cool kinds of ‘mon when I was a kitty. I just kept the books when I moved out here to Post Town.”

“Hey, I’m not judging. Sounds cool to me too.” I smiled. I could catch her aura turning pink with embarrassment.

Then I heard some muffled rapping on the front door. “Yo! Cole and Swift! Wanna head over to Swanna’s with me and Danny?” Morgan hollered.

“…oh right, today’s the day Virizion comes to town.” Danny really wants to see her… he got so hyped once we got those gems from Aiden.

Swift was heading out her bedroom door. “Come on! Let’s not keep ‘em waiting. I’m in the mood for some good grub from Swanna House anyway.” Her ears perked up. “Oh! That reminds me, maybe we’ll come across Mr. Gurdurr again. He’s gone back to being a normal carpenter now, right? Kinda wanna ask him if he can refurbish my place into our team’s base of operations.”

“A team base? I mean, that sounds cool, but in your own house?”

“This place is huge, especially for one mon! It was the only place available at the time for me—all the houses in Post Town are pretty cheap, so it doesn’t cost much to live in this place.”

“And all the other houses were taken ‘cause of how cheap they all were?”

“Mhm. I’m not complaining though—so much space!” She grinned.

“Hey! You gonna keep us waiting or what?” the Emolga yelled from behind the door.

“Oh, right! Coming!” Swift dashed to get to the door.

Danny was carrying the blue gem on his back as he slithered down the street with us. Somehow he was balancing it without anything to strap it down, but half the time the Dunsparce looked so close to dropping it. 

“…you good, buddy?” Morgan asked him.

“Wh-wha?” He wobbled a little. “Um, y-yeah,” he stammered.

“You’ve been awfully quiet. Come on, thought you’d be excited about this! You’ve been raving about how you’re finally gonna see this Virizion lady in person for the past week!”

“Well yeah, but… agh, I’m so worried I’m going to mess up…” He glanced at the gem he was carrying. “What if she says no?”

“No to what?” I narrowed my eyes. “Still don’t know for certain what you’re even asking her. Do you wanna go out on a date with her or something?”

“I thought I told you guys already! I wanna see if I can be friends with her!”

“…just friends? Really?” I smirked.

“W-well… I kinda doubt I can ask her out on a date. I’ve seen tons of ‘mon already try and fail… So friendship’s the next best thing!”

“Setting the bar low right from the get-go? Really?”

“I-I’m going in with low expectations! That way I won’t cry as much!” He huffed, already anticipating failure.

“I’m not that big a fan of the Verdant Sword, honestly…” Swift remarked. “Her fans are… something else.”

“I can tell, yeah.” I snickered.

“Hey, knock it off.” Morgan got defensive of him. “Come on. Let him have his moment.” He looked down at his friend. “You got this, buddy.” He gave him a thumbs-up. “I think you got a shot as long as you, uh… keep your cool. Act natural, or whatever. Something like that.”

“What an inspirational speech…” I rolled my eyes.

“Look man I dunno what I’m supposed to tell him! I’m not a good advice giver!” he complained. “What I’m trying to say, Danny, is… don’t… embarrass yourself, I guess? Like, try not to stutter, don’t be weird about it, y’know?” He sounded very uncertain as he gave him some very obvious pointers.

“…are… are you trying to tell me to be more confident?”

“Uhhhhhh yeah! That’s exactly it! Be more confident!” He snapped his fingers. “Believe in yourself!” It was obvious that wasn’t what he was thinking of.

“…I… I guess you’re right…”

“No no no, be more certain about it! I am right!”

“Y-you’re right!” Danny repeated. “You’re right, I can do this!”

“Sounds more like you’re the one asking for a confidence boost, Morgan…” I remarked.

“Shush.” Morgan waved his paw dismissively.

A big crowd was assembling in Swanna House. Pokemon were pouring into the bar, eager to see this so-called idol. As I blinked I could see a heap of auras varying in color all bunched together. I could almost make out the shape of each ‘mon, but most of them were all shades of bright and exciting yellow. “So what’s so special about this Verdant Sword?” I asked as we stood outside, watching the flock slowly grow. “Besides the fact that she’s a Mythical Pokemon.”

“Haven’t you heard of the Swords of Justice?” Danny asked. “She was a member. All four of them—Cobalion, Terrakion, Keldeo, and her—are all these really powerful rescuers! They disbanded a couple of years back though, so now they’re all solos.”

“Yeah, heard there was some bad blood between them. Especially between Virizion and Keldeo. They’re just rumors, though,” Swift added.

“Their solo titles are all pretty unoriginal if you ask me.” Morgan scoffed. “Silver Sword, Stone Sword, Cerulean Sword, and Verdant Sword? Seriously? Thought all these fanatics could come up with something a little better for their idols.”

“That’s a lot of swords,” Swift giggled.

“Oh, hello! Fancy seeing you here.” Somebody called out to us, waving gleefully.

“Hi Aiden!” Danny smiled as he greeted the Audino. 

The tall pink rabbit walked up to us. A Rockruff I’ve never seen before was tailing him. “You must be here to see Virizion too, I’m guessing?” he asked.

Swift nodded. “That’s right!”

“I never realized just how popular this Verdant Sword is…” He stared at the forming crowd in awe. “I’m not that well-versed in the rescuer fandom.”

Rockruff looked at us, then back at the Audino. “…do you know these people, Aiden?” 

“Oh, yes, this is the rescue team I was telling you about! Aces, meet Stella. Stella, meet the Aces.” He introduced her to us. “She’s a rescuer from the Grass.”

“Yo.” The dog waved. “Just passing through the Mist, figured I’d stay here for a little bit. Especially since the Verdant Sword’s here!” I glimpsed at her aura—hers was orange… a lot darker compared to the other fans. 

“Stella was in such a rush to get here, haha…” Aiden chuckled. “…I have this nagging feeling like I’ve forgotten something on the way here…” he mumbled. “Erm, never mind.”

“Nice to meet you!” Swift smiled, flicking her ears. “My name’s Swift!”

“Wasn’t even planning on staying the night here until this guy told me the Verdant Sword was visiting today, heh.” Stella looked around. “For a tiny town like this, you guys sure have absurd prices for shit…”

“I’m Danny… Are you a fan of Virizion too?” the Dunsparce gasped.

“Hell yeah I am. The Verdant Sword’s been my idol ever since I was a pup.”

“She’s even got fans in the Grass?” Morgan tilted his head.

“Well, you don’t see as many fans of the Swords back home, but me and my friends were all diehard fans of ‘em, that’s for sure.”

“I kinda prefer just calling her Virizion…” Danny mumbled. “Better to call her by her species name… to show respect!”

“Respect, huh… well, I get that, but Verdant Sword just sounds so much cooler, doesn’t it?!”

“Yeah, but… Virizion just feels more personal, y-you know?”

“You don’t even know her real name, dude…” Morgan sighed. “I don’t think anybody does, actually.”

“…personal?” The rock dog raised an eyebrow.

“A-ah, never mind! Never mind…” The Dunsparce quickly shook his head, dismissing what he said.

“Okay then?” Stella scoffed, looking a little puzzled. Her aura shifted to a dark green hue. “…well, uh, nice meeting you guys. Swift, Danny… uh… Never got your names.” She looked at me and Morgan.

“Name’s Cole. And that’s Morgan,” I introduced ourselves.

“Got it. Swift, Danny, Cole, and Morgan. Cool…” Stella turned her gaze back to the bar. “…think I’m gonna go now.” She sent one last narrow-eyed glance Danny’s way before marching off to Swanna House.

Aiden was spacing out, and did a double-take as he saw the mutt go on without him. “O-oh, wait for me!” He quickly nodded his head to us, muttering goodbye before he followed.

“…I think you weirded her out a little, Danny.” I looked down at the Dunsparce.

“Eh? D-did I?”

“…anyway, we may as well follow them in.” I shrugged. “Before it gets too crowded.”

“Oop, ‘scuse me!” A yellow blur exclaimed as he zipped past us.

“Hey, slow down! You’re gonna bump into somebody…” A Snivy dashed after him at a slower pace. I looked over at the two Pokemon that raced by.

“Whew! Too easy!” A Pikachu with a blue bandana grinned as he got to the entrance first.

“What did you expect, man..? You’re just too damn fast for me,” the Snivy groaned, huffing and puffing. He had a spiky patch of grass growing on his head… kinda like hair? (Why does a snake have hair?)

“What’s with those two?” Morgan tilted his head. “They in a rush to see Virizion too?”

I blinked, taking a glimpse of their auras. 

I blinked again. And again. I thought I was seeing things when I stared at Snivy.

It wasn’t the color that was throwing me off—for the record, it was green like the mutt from earlier. 

It was the fact that it was human-shaped. Just like mine.

“…Cole? Hello?” Morgan waved a paw in my face. “Dude, you good?”

“Wh- huh?”

“You spaced out for a bit.”

“I… it’s nothing.” It sure as hell isn’t nothing! A million thoughts entered my mind. I thought I was the only human here! Are there others like me out there?! 

“Come on, Rei. I heard Swanna House would be crowded today—we better find some good seats! I’m starving…” Pikachu opened the door.

“If only there were other restaurants in this tiny town…” Snivy lamented as the two of them disappeared into the crowd inside.

I almost wanted to chase after the snake—finally, a lead I’ve been waiting for! But I didn’t want to cause a scene. I knew I could get ahold of him—his aura was certainly easy to pick out of a crowd, that’s for sure. 

“Er, are you sure you’re fine?” Danny mumbled.

I was lost in thought. I have a new goal—one that was a lot more straightforward than just “saving the Pokemon world.”

“He’s spacing out again…” Swift asked.

If that Snivy is also human, surely that must mean other humans are out there!

“I swear to Mew… Cole!” Morgan growled.

I can track them down all easily with these aura powers—

“Welp, guess we’re leaving without you~” The Emolga started marching off.

“W-what?” I snapped out of it.

“There we go. Finally.” He smirked. “Sheesh. What’s up with you today?”

“…just… thinking about something.” I have this habit of going into long inner monologues.