In the large reception hall, Queen Ilene sat in the leading seat. Standing behind her was an elderly housekeeper from Cameran Palace. The old woman was currently holding a Mime Jr. while standing guard beside Queen Ilene, her expression gentle and kind.
“According to the original schedule for this visit, we should have been discussing the establishment of a Pokémon Contest Hall. However, today I invited Ash here as well. Queen Ilene should already know the reason for that, correct?”
While speaking with Queen Ilene, Terrance’s gaze unconsciously drifted toward the elderly housekeeper. He sensed an extraordinary aura from her. Although she appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary old woman, Terrance vaguely felt things were not that simple.
“I understand. Cameran Palace bears the responsibility of protecting the Tree of Beginning. However, I never expected the Tree of Beginning to fall into crisis.”
Queen Ilene smiled bitterly.
She had originally thought the matter had already blown over. After all, even the Indigo League had not intervened too deeply, yet who would have thought that an Elite Four from the distant Hoenn region would take such an interest in it.
Under the protection of Cameran Palace, the Tree of Beginning had fallen into danger. As a member of the royal family, she could not escape responsibility. Fortunately, no real catastrophe had occurred, so the higher-ups had simply chosen to turn a blind eye.
Queen Ilene was very puzzled by Terrance’s arrival. She could not understand why a matter that even the Indigo League had not paid much attention to would attract interference from a member of the Hoenn League. After thinking it over, she arrived at one conclusion: Terrance had ulterior motives.
“Actually… this whole thing was my fault…” Ash suddenly spoke up, while the Pikachu on his shoulder also revealed a guilty expression.
The incident had happened because Pikachu had been taken to the Tree of Beginning by Mew…
After the banquet ended, Ash, who had become the Aura Hero of this generation, suddenly awakened a special Aura that caused Hero Sir Aaron’s Pokémon Lucario to emerge from its seal. Pikachu’s disappearance was discovered by Ash and the others shortly afterward.
At Queen Ilene’s suggestion, Lucario led Ash and his group to the Tree of Beginning to search for Pikachu. However, due to interference from the guardians of the Tree of Beginning, they accidentally entered the interior of the Tree of Beginning itself.
Then, the Tree of Beginning activated its immune system. White blood cell–like substances within it began devouring the “virus” known as humans. Fortunately, with Mew’s help, no one was harmed. However, perhaps because the immune system had operated too intensely, it suddenly collapsed. The Tree of Beginning began crumbling, and Cameran Palace, which was close to it, was also affected.
“At the time, we used the Time Flower to witness how Sir Aaron once stopped a war…”
In order to end the war back then, Sir Aaron chose to sacrifice himself and transfer his Aura to Mew. That way, Mew could stop the war.
At the time, Mew transformed into Sir Aaron, and the war truly did come to an end. That was why the story of Sir Aaron stopping the war had been passed down.
Because this Mew was one with the Tree of Beginning, it was also affected when the Tree of Beginning began collapsing. Left with no other choice, at the most critical moment, Ash and Lucario followed Sir Aaron’s example and transferred their Aura to Mew. Through Mew’s power, they finally calmed the disaster.
“Offering up Aura, huh…” After listening to Ash recount the entire experience, Albus curiously looked toward the painting of Sir Aaron on the wall.
“So where is that Lucario now?” Seeing Ash suddenly fall silent, Albus asked again.
“At the very last moment, Lucario pushed me away and bore everything by itself…” Ash’s voice was somewhat heavy, but he quickly recovered. “Still, I can feel that it simply wanted to use that method to go see its favorite friend, Sir Aaron.”
“What a loyal Lucario…” Terrance sighed softly. Ever since Lucario emerged from its seal, and he used that as a clue to investigate the disaster at Cameran Palace, he had always wanted to meet that Lucario that had lived for countless years. But as Ash continued his story, that thought slowly sank away within Terrance’s heart.
“Queen Ilene, of course I did not come here to pursue responsibility for this matter. I’m not so meddlesome as to interfere in Cameran Palace’s internal affairs.”
“Then what exactly do you want, sir?” Queen Ilene asked calmly.
As the queen of Cameran Palace, she naturally was not worried that Terrance would use this incident as an excuse to make trouble. For a lineage capable of securing autonomous rights for an independent state under the League’s system, while they respected League’s Elite Four, they were far from being so subservient as to allow themselves to be bullied at will.
Or rather, if not for the presence of Ash—a Trainer deeply connected to the Mew within the Tree of Beginning and possessing the same Aura as Sir Aaron—she would not even have intended to discuss anything with Terrance and the others beyond the establishment of the Pokémon Contest Hall.
“Aura.”
“I would like to borrow the Staff of the Hero and the gloves left behind by Sir Aaron. Of course, Queen Ilene may send people to monitor us at all times, and we will not take either item out of Cameran Palace,” Terrance directly stated his purpose.
“Impossible.”
“To come into contact with the Staff of the Hero, one must first become the Aura Hero through the festival. That is a tradition left behind by Cameran Palace. I have no authority to change it,” Queen Ilene said firmly as she shook her head.
“Then what about Sir Aaron’s gloves? Those were items Sir Aaron left behind in the Tree of Beginning, so there shouldn’t be any tradition attached to them, right?”
Within the Tree of Beginning, Ash and Lucario had found the gloves once used by Sir Aaron. Ash had even briefly borrowed the power of the gloves to transfer his Aura to Mew.
However, afterward, Ash returned the gloves to Queen Ilene.
At the mention of Sir Aaron’s gloves, Queen Ilene fell silent for a moment before saying, “Sir Aaron’s gloves were returned by Mr. Ash. If he wishes to borrow them, then naturally there is no problem.”
“The one borrowing the gloves is not Ash, but the person who taught him Aura power.” Terrance turned his gaze toward Albus.
“Ash’s teacher?” Queen Ilene looked over in surprise. Nowadays, there were very few people in the world capable of using Aura power, so few they could be counted on one hand. Back when Ash displayed Aura power, it had already shocked her greatly. Only later, after asking about it, did Queen Ilene learn that Ash’s Aura power had been taught to him by someone else.
Now it seemed that person was the white-haired young man before her.
“Queen Ilene, I once saw the Staff of the Hero from afar. I became very interested in the staff crafted by Senior Aaron. If possible, could you lend both it and the gloves to me for observation for a period of time… And in exchange, any knowledge regarding Aura that I gain from them, I am willing to share with Cameran Palace.”
Albus spoke calmly and unhurriedly.
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