Ash held onto the staff tightly as he glanced at the battle that was taking place behind him, inside the Great Hall.
Had it not been for the Psychic and Defensive Shields that the Pokémon and the Ace Squad had erected, the Hall would have been destroyed by now.
His heart kept pounding in his ears, and his Pikachu, who was on his shoulder, was terrified by what was happening.
"Hurry up, Ash!" Gary shouted at him and then grabbed his hand to lead him to the Safe Room under the leadership of Riley and Bill.
"We should help them!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" The Oak fumed. "If we go back there, we will only be a burden on them. If any of us are taken hostage, the enemies would gain a big advantage."
"But..."
"They are more than capable of handling situations like these, Ash. Lance is here, remember?"
"Yeah," The Ketchum decided to listen to his old friend.
When they arrived inside the Safe Room, they realised that it was not a Room but a Hall that was littered with Aura Stones.
"Everyone, stay calm! Do not panic!" Riley's loud voice entered their ears. "Rest assured that no harm will come to you as long as you stay here. So, please, cooperate with the guards and don't create problems for us that might benefit the enemies."
"Kindly, keep your Pokémon inside their Pokéballs. It's not good to let them get anxious in this place." Professor Bill Stone calmly spoke afer he saw some young Pokémon who were frightened, and hearing his words, those who had their Pokémon out immediately recalled them.
"Pikachu."
"Pika pi..."
Ash was conflicted when his little buddy refused to return to its Pokéball.
"Don't force it." Riley patted his shoulder and assured him that it was fine to keep Pikachu out. "Just don't go out of this room. Okay?"
"Okay..."
"Pika..."
Both promised that they would not cause any problems.
The Palace and the Hall shook again, and this time, the tremors caused the Aura Crystals inside the Hall to light up.
And then something happened that froze Ash and Pikachu.
The Aura Crystal Orb on the Sceptre had suddenly started shining, and he felt the staff getting warmer and warmer, which was accompanied by a sense of weakness that crept in.
"What's happening?" He worriedly ask Riley, who grabbed the staff from his hand.
"Sir Aaron!" The two heard the voice in their head, and in the next instant, a Pokémon escaped the Crystal Orb.
It was a Lucario, who had its eyes closed, but it still seemed to be able to see as its head kept darting left and right towards Ash and Riley's direction before settling on the latter.
"Sir Aaron!"
"I am afraid I am not who you think I am, Lucario. My name is Riley Winters, from the House of Winters, sworn to the Royal House of Orayen. Sir Aaron was from the House of Hart of Rota Kingdom, but we do share Blood. He can be considered my distant Ancestor."
"Distant..." As soon as Lucario heard his words, he panicked and rushed towards the door of the Hall.
"Stop!" Riley called out and his Mega Lucario blocked the path of Lucario, who was trying to run out. "We can not leave the Aura Hall right now, Lucario. The Cameran Palace is under attack, and this place has been sealed. Please don't put the lives of all these people here in danger."
The Pokémon was very anxious, fearful, and agitated, but he chose to listen after he observed the Aura Crystals that were lit up.
He knew what this meant.
Cameran Palace was under attack. A very serious attack.
"Come with me." The Winters asked him to follow him to the corner, and even though he had not asked anyone else, Ash and Gary followed him as well.
The people in the Hall were thankfully away from them, so they did not hear their conversation. Almost all of them thought that Lucario belonged to one of them.
Old Jenny, who was trying to keep the children calm, worriedly looked in their direction, but she too did not think that the Pokémon had come out of the Sceptre.
"Sit."
Lucario sat down in front of Riley, who curiously looked at him.
"Open your eyes."
There seemed to be dust in his eyes, but the tears he was shedding now helped him clear them.
Once he laid eyes on the three boys in front of him, more tears poured out of his eyes.
"Sir Aaron... he..."
"Sir Aaron died five hundred years ago, Lucario, during the Second War between the Aura Guardians and the Rota Kingdom."
"He betrayed the Kingdom. He betrayed Queen Rin..." The Pokémon sadly lowered his head.
"No, he didn't?" Gary was confused. "He saved the Kingdom."
At his words, Lucario looked at him in surprise.
"What?"
"Yes," Riley nodded his head. "Sir Aaron helped the Kingdom curb the Second Aura Guardian Rebellion. He helped dismantle the Aura Guardians, putting an end to them, and he and his trusted Pokémon laid their lives to protect Queen Rin. The Kingdom still stands because of his sacrifices."
"No... he ran..." Lucario could not believe what he had just heard and then lowered his head as he could sense that Riley was telling the truth.
The Pokémon then recalled what had happened earlier. To him, only a few minutes had passed, not hundreds of years.
Sir Aaron's face and farewell were fresh in his mind, and his heart ached.
"Why did he leave me behind? Why did he seal me?"
They did not have an answer to his questions, and all three of them were now curiously looking at the Sceptre of the late Aura Guardian.
"Maybe he did not want you to die with him, Lucario. He probably knew that he was not going to survive but wanted you to live," Gary guessed, and Riley nodded his head to those words.
"Yes, that should be it. I wouldn't want Stein to die with me either..."
His words had not finished when the Mega Pokémon smacked his head, making him wince.
"Lucario..."
The cold warning in his voice sent chills up their spines.
"Yes, yes, I will never leave you behind..." Riley chuckled, and their interaction brought smiles to the faces of the boys.
"Can you tell us about him?" Ash excitedly asked the Lucario, and his enthusiasm managed to help the Pokémon get a grip on his sadness.
They watched the Pokémon take a deep breath, and then let out a sorrowful sigh.
He stayed silent for a good minute before he spoke.
"He was kind, honourable, and smart..."
Whilst the three of them listened to Lucario's story and also told him about what was going on right now, the rest of the Cameran Palace was a raging battlefield.
Joseph Stone, Krane, Lance, and his Ace Squad were fighting against the masked members of the Team Doom.
"Where's Arlo?!" The Kanto Champion roared, ready to shred the Traitor to pieces, but the man was nowhere to be seen.
"He went after the Prince and the Queen," One of the Ace Trainers informed him, and the Kanto Champion calmed down when he glanced in the direction of the Old Stone, who assuredly nodded to him, telling him that things were under control.
Away from them, being chased by Pokémon and enemies, two people teleported through the Palace, leading the chasers up the towers.
Aizen and 'Ilene' managed to reach the top-most Tower, and then they climbed up the back of the Alpha Aerodactyl, who was waiting there.
The Pokémon shot up into the sky with Mega Salamence and Mega Pidgeot by its side, and it was going all out.
The enemies, atop their Flying Pokémon, chased after them and sent out attacks which all missed because the Pokémon they were chasing were way too fast and the distance between them kept increasing.
Aizen and 'Ilene' soon arrived above the hills next to the Tree of Beginning, and this was where a couple of Airships blocked their way.
The Orayen Prince, following the plan, turned around and then dived down into a valley which was covered in fog.
His heart jumped up in his throat when he saw three Hyper Beams come his way from behind, and he quickly recalled Aerodactyl midair and teleported to the valley below him with the 'Queen'.
As soon as they landed on the ground, a Barrier protected them from the attacks coming from the sky, and using his Aura Sight, Aizen saw Cynthia and Glacia rushing in his direction with their Pokémon.
"Dexter. Don't exhaust yourself in the battle. I might need you to Teleport us away at some point."
"Meta..."
"Yes, I am aware of the Wards," He nodded to his Pokémon.
"Anabel, Kidd?" The Draegor Blood asked, and he smiled at her.
"They are fine. The two stayed at the Palace with the rest and are helping out the Ace Squad."
"The Shadow Pokémon?" Glacia solemnly asked.
"Arlo and his team are in the sky. The Shadow Pokémon belong to them." He said as he looked at Mega Salamence and Mega Pidgeot, who were growing a little agitated.
"Blue Oak is on his way to the Cameran Palace. We don't have to worry about things on their end," The Sinnoh Champion suddenly informed them, and both Aizen and Glacia nodded their heads.
The Orayen Prince quickly called out the Mega Garchomp, and by his side, 'Ilene' called out her Mega Pokémon as well.
Cynthia and Glacia did the same, and the enemy had no idea what was waiting for them inside the thick fog.
Their lineup had two Mega Garchomp, two Mega Gardevoir, two Mega Gallade, two Dragonite, two Mega Metagross, Two Mega Charizard X, Two Mega Charizard Y, Mega Lucario, two Mega Sceptile, Mega Alakazam, Mega Blaziken, Mega Glalie, Mega Froslass, Mega Absol, Mega Swampert, a Regice, an Alpha Kingambit, and then an Alpha Baxcalibur.
However, what shocked Cynthia and Glacia were Sabrina's Diancie and Volcanion, two Pokémon whom they had never seen in person before.
And what surprised the Moonheart were the Sinnoh Champion's Latias and Latios, two Pokémon whom she had never seen before.
Unbeknown to her, Latias and Latios did not belong to Cynthia. They were the Guardians of the Orayen Palace.
The two Dragons immediately nuzzled their faces against Aizen's cheeks, not caring about the dire situation they were in, and their antics made him laugh.
However, soon his eyes turned severe, and it was the same for the two Psychic Dragons when they sensed the enemies enter the fog.
The four of them, with their thirty-one Pokémon, glanced at each other and nodded.
Unlike what Joseph Stone had advised them to do, none of them had any qualms about killing these scums who sought death and neither were they going to hold back.
They were going all out...