The Guardian Ch. 4

I awoke to someone patting my nose with some gauze. I pulled my head back and shook it. That person started asking me questions, but I couldn’t quite understand what he was saying. I slowly sat up and checked out my surroundings. I was off of the stage on the ground some fifty feet away from the crowd.

“Hey, are you feeling alright or not,” I was asked.
“Huh? Oh,” I said, snapping back to reality and nodded.
“Do you remember what happened?”

I nodded again. I got my ass handed to me, that’s what.

“You have some pretty nasty bruises. Where are you staying? I’ll walk you home.”

I shook my head and held my hand up. I got up and almost fell backwards.

“Are you sure you’d be able to make home by yourself.”

I curled my lips at him and began to walk away. Riley was talking to Pons about the match.

“Hey, it’s the new guy,” Someone said, slapping a hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright? You really took a beating.”
“You were doing so well during the tournament too,” A lady said. “Such a shame you lost.”

I gave them a wry smile and made my way towards the stage. People kept asking me if I was alright or about the match. Riley noticed me and invited me back on stage. Pons folded his arms, frowning. I held out my hand to shake his with a friendly smile. Pons smirked and turned away.
Fine, be a jerk.

“Give it for the new guy who made it all the way to second place,” Riley said, motioning towards me.

The crowd cheered for me. I could really feel all of their support. It was extremely overwhelming to feel that energy. I felt like crying, but instead, I just smiled and waved.

“Now, don’t you have an ego,” Pons snarled.

I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. Really, what’s wrong with that guy?

“For finishing in second, you get a free coupon for whatever you feel like eating in Atomura,” Riley said, handing me a small slip.

I sighed. I didn’t want food, I wanted money. Oh well, a prize is a prize.

After that was over, I made my way to my place. My feet felt like I was trying to drag them across three feet of sand. Crickets chirped while sweat streaming down my face. I opened the door and suddenly it was mid-February in Snowbelle City.

“Gwung,” I cringed, wrapping my arms around my body, clattering my teeth.

I flipped on a light and huddled over to the air conditioner. I pressed every button on the damned thing until I somehow managed to turn it off. After putting on my pajamas, I turned off the light and flopped into my bed. The pain in my back slowly started to return. I opened my eyes and saw that book lying on the bedstand next to me. I turned on the lamp and grabbed the book. One chapter, I told myself.

The next chapter talked about the abilities Aura Guardians can use. Forming aura spheres and shields, closing your eyes and seeing other beings auras, feeling exactly how others feel were all things that I knew about. But there were some like, forming an aura around a bomb and stifling its explosion (which was not recommended to try) and shifting your aura into someone who’s about to or just recently passed away (Which was REALLY not recommended) were things that I didn’t know. Also, there were things that I knew how to do were in the book as well. I got up and searched my bag for a piece of paper and pencil. I wrote down everything I knew about aura that wasn’t included so far in the book.

I ended up reading the next chapter anyway and it talked about the drawbacks to having these abilities. Most of them were things I had already talked about like being overwhelmed by other people’s energies while in crowds or having trouble sleeping. I glanced at the clock and realized it was almost 2:30 in the morning. I yawned, turned off the light and put the book down.

I was almost asleep when I heard a loud crash. My body jolted upright with a gasp. I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I looked at the clock to realize it was only fifteen minutes later. I got out of bed, put on my shoes and went outside to investigate. I heard another crash. I closed my eyes to use my aura to see ahead.

I could see some people in armor surrounding a hole in the wall, armed with staffs. A man glowing near white came out making the others clench up. He formed an aura sphere and shot it out at them. One person appeared to be trying to talk to him, but was shot down by another aura sphere as well.

That’s when I felt like I had swallowed a bowling ball. I couldn’t move from the massive weight holding me back. There were other people standing outside their homes in their nightwear wondering what was going on.  Despite this massive feeling of dread, I felt like I had to continue on. I had to force myself to get moving again.

“You feel it too?”

I turned to see Pons leaning against his door frame. I nodded.

“What’s going on here? I’ve never had such an intense feeling before.”

There was another crash. I pointed in the direction it was coming from.

“You’re heading over there to check it out?”

I nodded.

“You can’t go over there!”
I turned to face him and asked, “Why not?”
“Because it’s a bit dangerous, don’t you think?”

I scoffed.

“I’ve been in more dangerous situations than this,” I said.  “My friends have a natural curiosity to get into dangerous stuff. Would it be such a bad thing to pick up on such a thing?”
“Yeah, but-“
“Or are you really that concerned about me?”
“N-NO!”
“Okay then, you have your answer.”
“H-hey, wait! So you can talk,” Pons said as I was taking off, “Why didn’t you say anything earlier.”

I wasn’t going to respond to that.

“Argh! I’m talking to you,” Pons said, chasing after me.

When we turned the corner, there were a bunch of guards surrounding the elder. They all took a few steps back when the Elder started forming multiple aura spheres. He threw them at the guards and they went running. One guy was hit and landed in front of me.

“G-Get out of here, the Elder’s been possessed,” he said before passing out.

I gritted my teeth and turned back to the Elder. His eyes were glowing red like Charlot and Roch’s eyes earlier.

“You heard him, let’s go,” Pons said, grabbing my arm, “We have no chance against him.”
“And let him rampage like this,” I said, “He could hurt himself or other people. If you’re going to be a pussy, then at least get some more strong people to help.”
“You don’t know what you’re up against,” Pons said.
“I know, that’s why you need to get people that do.”

Pons gritted his teeth and left.

“So, what’s the situation,” I asked.
“We were all just sleeping when the Elder just started going nuts,” A guard said.
“No one saw or heard anything unusual before then?”
“Nope. Like I said, we were asleep.”
“To think such a thing would happen here,” Riley growled, coming up with Officer Jenny Pons, and a few other people. “We have to try our best to restrain him.”
“Got any ideas on how to do that,” Pons asked.
“Nope.”

I charged at the Elder and threw an aura sphere at him just to see what we were up against. The elder lifted his hand and blocked it. In the same move, I froze and suddenly I was flung backwards.

“Let’s all attack at the same time,” Pons said as I got up.

This time, we all threw aura spheres at him. The all hit and exploded. I held my breath, waiting for the dust to clear. When it did, the elder was holding up a shield.

“Well, shoot,” Pons said.
“Why don’t half of us attack and then the rest attack when he lets his guard down,” Jenny said.
“Right,” Riley said. “Guards, attack first!”

The guards charged at him, throwing aura spheres. As expected, he set up a shield to block them. I got ready, forming an aura sphere in my hands. When he let up the shield, the rest of us attacked. He vanished. I closed my eyes to see where he went. He reappeared behind us. I tried to turn around, but I was frozen where I was.

“Ah, are you guys alright,” One of the guards shouted.

But of course, the rest of us couldn’t answer.

“Geez, he’s way too strong for us!”
“C’mon, let’s try to get up close! Luoise, Paul and Ellan, spread out around him and attack!”

The guards surround him and attacked all at once. In order to block the attack, the Elder let us go. I opened my eyes to see the Elder expanding the shield to use as a counter attack. It was so strong that it sent a few poor guards through a well.

“I have an idea,” Pons said, “Let’s combine our powers and try to keep him from moving.”

That gave me an idea of my own. Riley, Lucario, Jenny and I nodded in agreement. We all held out our hands and concentrated on trying to form an aura around him from moving. That was starting to work. He was starting to freeze up. The guards started helping as well.

“Now what,” Pons asked.
“You’re the one that came up with plan,” a guard shouted.
“I didn’t think it would work!”
“Let’s hold him until he calms down,” Jenny said.
“Tch, I don’t think we can long that long,” Riley said, “It’s using a lot just to keep him there. There’s a reason why he was chosen to our Elder.”

I let my hand down to my sides and stood up.

“Ed, what are you doing,” Pons shouted as I made dash towards the Elder.

The elder broke free, but it was too late for him to do anything. I wrapped my arms around him. He may have a lot of magical strength, but his physical strength wasn’t as nearly as strong. He roared in rage, struggling to get free.

“Shh, shh,” I said, closing my eyes.

It was a tactic I used when my friends were upset. I took a breath to calm myself down first. With my eyes closed, I could feel his aura. He was very enraged, hell bent on destroying the town. Using my calm aura, I start to shift it into him. He growled at me, still struggling for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, I somehow managed to get him to calm down. But it took up almost all my energy. The Elder fell limp in my arms.

“Ah, the Elder,” One of the guards shouted.

Everyone rushed towards us.

“Is he alright,” A guard asked me.

I nodded as he took the Elder from me.

“That was amazing,” Pons shouted.
“How did you do that,” Riley asked.

I started to walk away, but nearly collapsed.

“Whoa, there,” Jenny said, catching me, “Are you alright? Whatever it was you did, it must have taked a lot of energy out of you.”
“Eh,” I said, nodding.
“Do you need help getting back to your house?”
I nodded, panting.

I let her go when I got back; pretty sure I could make it to my bed. I collapsed in my bed, exhausted. I was starting to feel a great deal of pain from the battle. I massaged my poor back in vain to try to calm the pain. As I was finally starting to fall asleep, the early morning birds started to chirp.

I lost it and started sobbing.