Future Pokémon Master

"Based on your current bond, you can already vaguely feel Riolu's Aura. The next training is to let you clearly feel Riolu's Aura and learn to borrow the energy of these Auras. This process is relatively easier than cultivating intimacy. As long as you can find Riolu's location in the forest through the energy of the Aura, it will be considered complete! Riolu, please follow me for the time being!"

After briefly explaining the content of the second training, Lucario took Riolu away from Ethan. When Lucario returned to Ethan, he was alone.

"Riolu is on the outskirts of the forest outside the village. This is a rough range. You need to learn to find Riolu's Aura to guide you to him. If you can't feel Riolu's Aura at the beginning, then you can slowly look for it along the outer route!"

This hide-and-seek training was novel to Ethan. Although he could vaguely sense Riolu's Aura, that was because Riolu was always by his side. Now he had to go directly to the forest to find it. How could he find the vague Aura smoothly?

While pondering this question, Ethan entered the forest outside the village. The forest was very quiet, with no other Pokémon in sight, probably due to the surrounding area. Ethan first adjusted his mindset, calmed himself, then closed his eyes to silently sense everything around him.

But he felt nothing, so he quietly opened his eyes again, found a nearby tree, and made a simple mark to remind himself that he had been there before. Then, he continued to move east. About every 100 meters, Ethan would stop to feel everything around him and try to find Riolu's Aura.

In this way, Ethan walked and stopped, trying repeatedly, but he couldn't find Riolu's Aura. Until Ethan returned to the tree where he first marked, he still couldn't feel Riolu's Aura. This was obviously unreasonable. Lucario clearly said that Riolu was on the outskirts of the forest, but Ethan couldn't find him after walking around. How was that possible?

Ethan, unable to figure out what was going on, suddenly had a strange idea. Although Lucario said that Riolu was on the outskirts of the forest, he didn't specify where. If Riolu was moving around the outskirts like he was, how could he capture the Aura that he had to be next to Riolu to feel?

So, Ethan decided to wait quietly at the marked position for a while, no longer moving, but silently searching for the Aura and feeling it. After making this decision, Ethan took immediate action. As time passed, he maintained his position. Suddenly, he felt a slight fluctuation around him. Although it wasn't very obvious and didn't last long, Ethan guessed it was Riolu's Aura.

Ethan hurriedly moved to the location where he had just felt the fluctuation, but he did not find Riolu. So he searched for Riolu's fluctuations at the spot. This time, he clearly felt energy fluctuations not far away, and that feeling was very similar to Riolu's Aura. So Ethan moved along the fluctuations again. In this way, Ethan continued to feel the fluctuations around him and moved continuously. Finally, Ethan found Riolu at the location where he had first entered the forest.

The moment he saw Riolu, Ethan was very happy, but Riolu wanted to turn around and run away. What was going on? Ethan quickly grabbed Riolu and asked, "Riolu! Why did you run away when you saw me?"

"Senior Lucario told me that I should always hide in the forest and not let you find me! As soon as my Aura detects you, I will immediately move to a new location. I didn't expect you to find me in the end."

Feeling some reproach in Ethan's question, Riolu could only explain. But this explanation did not attract much attention from Ethan, because he was in shock at the moment. Ethan could actually hear Riolu's answer. He never thought that he could understand Riolu's explanation.

"Ethan, don't be angry, okay? I didn't mean to run away! It was all Senior Lucario's instructions, and I couldn't do anything about it!"

Riolu continued to explain with a sense of grievance, but Ethan was still in shock. What was going on?

"Congratulations to player Ethan for obtaining the title of 'Aura Apprentice'!"

Just when Ethan was extremely shocked, a system voice that was exactly the same as the one he heard when he entered the game appeared in his mind. However, Ethan had no idea what this sentence meant. What was a title? What was "Aura Apprentice"?

But no one could give Ethan an answer to these questions. The system voice disappeared completely after announcing the title, leaving Ethan very puzzled, but he could only accept it silently.

"It's okay, Riolu! I'm not angry! I was stunned because I suddenly understood your thoughts. Senior Lucario's training is really effective. Now I can sense your thoughts. This should be the first step for me to borrow your Aura!"

After hearing Ethan's explanation, Riolu instantly felt relieved. He laughed heartily, hugged Ethan, and said happily, "Ethan finally heard what I said, I'm so happy!"

Hearing this, Ethan was extremely happy. He stroked Riolu's forehead and thought, If he was born with Aura energy like Aaron, would he not have to work so hard to understand Riolu's words?

Just when Ethan and Riolu were so happy, a green elf quietly appeared beside them. Riolu instantly noticed the presence of this Pokémon, let go of Ethan's hand, and stared at this Pokémon he had seen before.

When Riolu let go of Ethan's hand, Ethan also noticed Riolu's eyes. He followed Riolu's gaze and saw Celebi, the Pokémon that had sent them to this place. Meeting Celebi again? How did this Pokémon that traveled through time and space appear here again? What was it doing?

Celebi looked at Ethan and Riolu. This time it didn't dance happily, nor did it fly around them. It just floated quietly in the air without any further actions. But Ethan and Riolu could feel that energy was constantly gathering from Celebi's body. What exactly was Celebi going to do to them?