Chapter 129: Awakening Aura Power

Chapter 129: Chapter 129: Awakening Aura Power

No one was in the mood to review the battle or marvel over what had happened.

They immediately accompanied Gurkinn to the Shalour City Pokémon Center, entrusting the injured Lucario to Nurse Joy.

And honestly—another major reason Trainer battles rarely caused permanent damage to Pokémon...

was because this world had the miraculous existence known as Nurse Joy.

As long as a Pokémon was brought to a Pokémon Center in time—

no matter how severe the injuries were, Nurse Joy could pull them back from the brink.

Sora could only say one thing:

The Joy family was absurdly overpowered.

With medical technology like this, it was no wonder they were considered one of the oldest and most mysterious families within the League.

Tick... tick...

Inside the waiting area of the Pokémon Center, Gurkinn, Korrina, and Sora sat silently awaiting the results from the emergency room.

No one spoke.

Especially Gurkinn.

Even his excitement over seeing Volcanion had been completely overshadowed by concern for Lucario.

Still—the old man did not regret it.

Lucario had wanted to fight.

As its Trainer, the only thing he could do was support its decision.

Right now, his only hope—

was that his old partner would survive intact.

Even if its strength suffered.

Even if it could never battle again.

That didn’t matter.

"Ding!"

At last, the emergency room’s red light turned green.

Nurse Joy and her assistant Chansey stepped out.

"Whew... How did it even get injured this badly?"

"We almost..."

She glanced at the clock before continuing:

"We almost failed to save it before midnight."

Yes.

Not "couldn’t save it."

But "couldn’t finish the treatment today."

As the Nurse Joy of Shalour City, she absolutely could not allow work to carry over into the next day.

That would’ve been unprofessional.

"Thank goodness..."

Korrina let out a sigh of relief.

As for Gurkinn—

he had already vanished, clearly having rushed off to see Lucario.

"Yeah..."

"Thank goodness it’s alright."

Sora was equally relieved.

Giving one’s all in battle was respect toward the opponent.

But if Lucario had truly suffered irreversible damage—

he still would’ve felt awful about it.

Fortunately, Lucario was fine.

Truthfully, situations like Alder’s Volcarona were extremely rare.

Nurse Joy’s diagnosis was that Lucario needed at least half a year without intense battles—

especially anything like tonight, where it had nearly burned through all of its Aura.

After all—

Aura was the fluctuation of life itself.

If you burned even that away—

Nurse Joy would probably panic hard enough to summon every Joy in the region for an emergency consultation.

Never underestimate the Joy family.

After countless generations of inheritance, the variety within the Joy lineage was downright terrifying.

Just among the anime appearances alone—there had been a Nurse Joy capable of lifting a gigantic Magikarp barehanded.

And another serving as an inspector overseeing Legendary Pokémon.

So honestly—

a Nurse Joy awakened to Aura powers sounded perfectly reasonable.

"Looks like Grandpa won’t be leaving the Pokémon Center tonight..."

Korrina looked toward Sora.

"Master, shouldn’t Magearna get checked too?"

"No need."

It wasn’t that Sora distrusted Nurse Joy.

The problem was the Kalos League.

Besides—

he genuinely didn’t need to.

Victini had always handled his Pokémon’s injuries.

A simple pat from the little one’s Infinite Energy and his Pokémon would immediately become lively again.

Internal injuries?

Hidden damage?

Victini directly recharged life force itself.

By the time they returned to Shalour Gym, it was already one in the morning.

Under Korrina’s arrangements, Sora was given a spacious guest room.

"Come on out, everyone."

The room was large enough that even after releasing all his Pokémon, there was still plenty of empty space left.

"Thanks, Korrina."

Sora thanked her before contacting Shymie and informing her that Lucario was safe.

Earlier, because Lucario’s injuries had been so severe, they hadn’t even had time to congratulate him before the call abruptly ended.

"That’s wonderful..."

Shymie finally relaxed.

Flamel sat beside her.

As for Raleigh—the boy had intended to stay awake for the results too, but he was still too young and had long since fallen asleep.

"Senior Gurkinn and his Lucario..."

"They put quite a bit of pressure on me."

Sora had a feeling—after this battle, Lucario might very well step into an even higher realm.

In other words—

Level 80.

Battles worked both ways.

When one side broke through, the other side often gained something as well.

And this time—

Lucario had been the primary attacker.

It was the one that had truly risked everything.

"The Aura power inside that big doggo underwent a qualitative change, bini~"

That was Victini’s conclusion.

Her sensitivity toward energy made her the first to notice it.

And Sora suspected that with Gurkinn’s experience, the old man had probably realized it too.

"Really?"

Sora smiled.

"So it actually turned misfortune into a blessing."

"At Lucario’s current level, taking another step forward..."

"Wouldn’t that put it at the level of a Champion’s ace?"

Lucario had already possessed the strength of a top-tier Elite Four ace.

After Mega Evolution, unless another Elite Four member also had a Mega-capable Pokémon, they simply wouldn’t stand a chance.

And now, after breaking through its bottleneck—

Sora felt Lucario could even challenge Champion-level aces.

Whether it could win was another matter.

But fighting evenly back and forth?

That was absolutely possible.

"This battle..."

"I gained a lot from it too."

Sora had used Magearna in real combat to thoroughly test the practical value of many of her new functions.

The clumsy little doll girl who once tripped over herself just trying to walk—

had now transformed into a valkyrie upon the battlefield.

The magnitude of that change left both Shymie and Flamel deeply amazed by the wonders of Trainers.

At the same time, they became even more convinced of Sora’s value.

The Kingdom of Azoth truly had struck gold.

A legendary Trainer like him was actually willing to settle there.

"Alright."

"You two should get some rest too."

Sora ended the call with Shymie.

But instead of going to sleep immediately—with Victini’s help, he began attempting to awaken the Aura power within his body.

"So this..."

"...is Aura?"

Sora sat cross-legged, sensing the faint yet distinct special energy flowing within him.

Aura power was a completely new ability he had comprehended during the battle—

with the assistance of Soul-Heart.

One thing needed to be clarified here:

Aura was a power possessed by all living things.

However—

for most lifeforms, Aura remained dormant and hidden.

Only a tiny number of humans or Pokémon were capable of awakening it.

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