The Resurrection of Amaura and the Forest Incident

In the drawer, the source of the vibrations was a bead.

Seeing the vibrating bead, Yuga was very surprised because it was the same bead he had previously received from the Ghost Pirate Group. It was a symbol of the identity of the People of the Water, and it would only react when someone from the People of the Water was nearby.

After the Ghost Pirate Group was eradicated, the bead naturally remained in Yuga's possession. Since it was no longer of any use, Yuga casually placed it on the counter in his shop, and later it was Suzuki who stored it in the drawer.

If it hadn't been for today's events, Yuga would have almost forgotten about this item.

Now, with the bead vibrating incessantly, it meant that...

At that moment, Ash and the others also noticed the bead in Yuga's hand.

"Mr. Shimizu, what is this?" Ash asked curiously, looking at the bead in Yuga's hand.

Hearing this, Yuga turned his attention to Ash and the others. The bead had been quietly sitting in the drawer of the counter, but it began to vibrate when Ash and the others entered. So...

With that in mind, Yuga moved closer to Ash and his friends while holding the bead.

It didn't react to Ash, nor to Brock...

Until Yuga got closer to May, the frequency of the bead's vibrations increased even more. Yuga looked at May in surprise; could it be that May was a descendant of the People of the Water? But the bead clearly showed no reaction to Max. Or was it possible that May wasn't the biological child of Mr. Norman and Caroline? No, no, no, that couldn't be...

Seeing the strange expression on Yuga's face, Ash asked again, "Mr. Shimizu, what's wrong?"

"Ah! It's nothing. Have you guys ever heard of the People of the Water?" Yuga suddenly asked them, interrupted by Ash's voice.

"People of the Water? What is that? Is it related to this bead?" Ash leaned closer to the bead, his eyes widening as he examined it.

Yuga naturally handed the bead over to him so he could take a closer look, then answered, "The People of the Water were an ancient people that existed a long, long time ago. They worshipped the mythical Pokémon Manaphy and left behind a splendid culture. This bead is a symbol of their identity."

Yuga's introduction to the People of the Water piqued the interest of May and the others. Max took the bead from Ash and held it up, asking Yuga, "But why does Yuga have this bead? Is he a People of the Water? And why does this bead keep moving?"

Yuga shook his head while holding the bead that Max was lifting. "I'm not a People of the Water, but why the bead is moving…" As he spoke, Yuga handed the bead to May, and the closer it got to her, the more violently it vibrated.

May took the bead in confusion, but the moment she touched it, the vibrations stopped.

With a puzzled expression, May said, "What's wrong with this thing? It's not broken, is it? It has nothing to do with me."

Yuga, both amused and exasperated, took the bead back from May, and sure enough, it began vibrating again. Seeing this, May breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, it's not broken. That's good."

May's concerns were indeed quite peculiar, and Yuga felt powerless to comment. Even Max noticed something was off: "Hey, why does the bead not move only when my sister is holding it?"

Only then did May react: "Oh, that's true."

Yuga replied, "I don't know; as far as I know, this bead only reacts like this in the presence of the People of the Water."

Max immediately exclaimed, "Could it be that my sister is a People of the Water? Then wouldn't I be one too?"

May instinctively shot back at her brother, "The bead isn't reacting to you."

Max: … That's true.

Ash was left completely bewildered by Yuga and May's conversation, asking, "What are you guys talking about?"

Meanwhile, Brock, who was nearby, stroked his chin thoughtfully and muttered, "Could it be that May and Max aren't actually siblings?"

"Impossible!" May and Max both replied in unison. Then May bent down and leaned her head close to Max's, saying, "Look at our two faces. Do you dare to say we're not biological siblings?"

Brock: ...

May and Max's faces at least shared five or six similarities; with such similar faces, no one could doubt the authenticity of their sibling relationship.

Yuga interjected, "Alright, alright, let's not discuss this for now. Ash, when do you plan to challenge the Verdanturf Gym?"

Ash replied casually, "No rush; I'll wait until May finishes her contest."

Yuga nodded. "Okay, then let me take you to the new store across the street. Didn't you say you wanted to see Pokémon Eggs? You can see them at the new store."

So the group eagerly headed to the new store.

Later that evening, Max actually called home to ask his mother if he and May were biologically related.

Caroline was baffled by her son's question: "Are you and your sister not related? What do you think? If you and your sister aren't related, did I pick you up from beside a trash can?" It wasn't until Max recounted the events of the day that Caroline finally understood.

Of course, May and Max were biological siblings, but what Max mentioned reminded Caroline of something from the past.

When she was a teenager, her grandmother had once casually told her that they were descendants of the People of the Water scattered throughout the land. However, so much time had passed that if Max hadn't brought it up today, Caroline probably wouldn't have remembered it.

At that time, Caroline had dismissed her grandmother's words as a joke, but now it seemed they might actually be true.

Regardless of whether it was true or not, it didn't matter; a thousand years had passed, and their ancestors had been intermarrying with outsiders, so the traces of the People of the Water in their bloodline had likely diminished greatly. This was evident from the bead's lack of response to Max.

As for May, that was a special case; there's a saying about returning to one's ancestors, and May could very well be an example of that.

So Caroline shared all of this with Max, who secretly sighed in relief: thankfully, they were related.

The next morning, Max told everyone what Caroline had said, and that's when they learned that he had secretly called their mom last night. They all teased him for it, especially May, who playfully chided him, "So you're that afraid of not being siblings? You like me that much? I don't know how to handle it!"

Max was infuriated by May's teasing tone and chased her around the yard, making the morning at the Pokémon Day Care unusually lively.

After hearing Max recount Caroline's words, Yuga directly handed the bead over to May, figuring it was of no use to him anyway. The bead was quite beautiful, so May happily accepted it.

Since May was going to participate in the contest in a couple of days, everyone eventually returned to their training after a bit of commotion, leaving only Max to quietly approach Yuga.

"Yuga, do you remember you said you would help me revive the fossil Pokémon?"

Looking at the fossil in Max's hands, Yuga recalled the promise he made to Max when he found the fossil in the MirageTower. He then asked, "Do you want me to help you revive it now?"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm really curious about what kind of Pokémon this fossil can revive!" Max said eagerly, stamping his feet.

So Yuga took Max to the gym, where the fossil revival machine gifted to him by Devon Corporation was located. The inspection team was still out in the Petalburg Woods, so only Beidou and a few gym apprentices remained at the gym. Upon learning that Yuga and Max were going to revive a Pokémon, everyone became interested and gathered around to watch.

Max had become familiar with the kids at the gym when he first came to Verdanturf Town, and although a lot of time had passed, they quickly rekindled their friendship upon meeting again.

Yuga was now quite skilled at operating the fossil revival machine. After two hours, the hatch of the machine opened, and a blue-skinned dinosaur-like Pokémon slowly emerged.

"Wow, this Pokémon is so cute!" The first to exclaim was Ayami, a girl among the group, and soon everyone began to chatter excitedly.

"What kind of Pokémon is this?" A naive and curious Ayaka asked Anmu.

"It's called Amaura," Max informed his friends, showing off his knowledge.

…

"Amaura."

The just-revived Pokémon seemed startled by the children's voices, plopping down on the ground with tears welling in its big, round eyes.

Yuga hadn't expected the revived Pokémon to be Amaura, as the chances of finding a sail fossil in the Hoenn region were quite low.

However, recalling that AZ was sleeping in the Mirage Tower, Yuga wasn't too surprised. Perhaps Amaura's fossil had been brought to Hoenn by AZ from Kalos.

...

[ Amaura ]

Type: Rock, Ice

Ability: Refrigerate

Gender: Female

Potential: Yellow

Level: 5

Move: Growl, Powder Snow, Mirror Coat.

...

Amaura was likely still a juvenile Pokémon before it turned into a fossil, appearing quite small. As an Ice-type Pokémon, it struggled to adapt to the hot environment of Hoenn, and soon it collapsed weakly onto the ground.

Seeing Amaura in distress, the children panicked and shouted. Yuga had to say, "You all need to step back from Amaura; it can't handle the crowd."

Reluctantly, the children backed away to a distance.

Amaura's issue was actually quite easy to resolve. In no time, Yuga brought over a piece of Never-Melt Ice for it to wear. The cold emitted by the Never-Melt Ice separated the heat from around Amaura, and it quickly regained its strength.

Never-Melt Ice was an essential item for Ice-type Pokémon living in volcanic regions, which was why Yuga's Day Care always kept some on hand.

Seeing that Amaura was alright, the children all sighed in relief. Yuga then told Max, "I've helped you revive Amaura, but you need to take care of it; however, its Poké Ball must be entrusted to your sister for safekeeping."

Max didn't mind at all, saying, "Okay, I understand. I'll tell my sister." For Max, just being able to get the Pokémon in advance was already satisfying; he didn't care whose hands the Poké Ball ended up in.

As soon as May and Ash returned, Max eagerly showed off Amaura to them. Amaura was very well-behaved and quickly became reliant on Max, who was the first person it saw, and the two of them got along well.

Along with Ash and May came another familiar face to Yuga—Drew.

It turned out that Drew was also going to participate in this Pokemon Contest and had just arrived in Verdanturf Town today. He originally intended to visit Yuga, but unexpectedly ran into Ash and May returning from their morning training.

Drew had traveled with Ash and the others several times, and they were familiar with each other, so they decided to go to the Verdanturf Gym together.

After a long separation, everyone happily entered the building to catch up.

Meanwhile, in the Petalburg Woods.

The inspection team had been tracking and observing a large group of Nuzleaf during this time.

This group of Nuzleaf was led by a pair of Shiftry, and they originally lived in the central area of the Petalburg Woods. However, due to recent food shortages in that area and an increase in their population, the group began migrating deeper into the forest.

The inspection team closely followed behind the group of Nuzleaf.

Originally, the sisters Ruri and Amber opposed the inspection team following the Nuzleaf deeper into the Petalburg Woods, as they couldn't guarantee the safety of the team.

However, Professor Haruhiko was a very stubborn person; he refused to give up halfway and was determined to continue tracking and observing.

In the end, both sides took a step back. Professor Haruhiko found the forest ranger of the Petalburg Woods and requested that the ranger join their team. Only then did Ruri and Amber reluctantly agree.

Unbeknownst to them, the inspection team had reached the deepest part of the Petalburg Woods.

At the center of this area lay a beautiful garden, where one could see flowers from different seasons blooming simultaneously, creating a breathtaking scene.

It was supposed to be like this, but at that moment, a battle between two Pokémon in the garden destroyed everything.

The attacking side was a strange black Pokémon, which, if Yuga were present, he would undoubtedly recognize as a Darkrai.

Darkrai waved its hands continuously, unleashing Dark Pulse that caused chaos. The flowers and trees in the garden were smashed to pieces, and the defending Pokémon was pushed back steadily.

It was clear that the defending Pokémon did not want to engage in conflict with Darkrai, but Darkrai was too aggressive. As it watched its carefully cultivated garden being destroyed, the defending Pokémon finally got angry.

With a whoosh, the defending Pokémon flew into the air, looking down at Darkrai from above. Then, it shot a beam of light towards Darkrai, which overwhelmed the creature with a terrifying force.

When the light column dissipated, a large circular pit was left in the ground, with Darkrai awkwardly lying at the center of it. However, Darkrai did not fall; it slowly floated up, gathering a circle of black energy waves in its hands. Then, with its arms spread wide, the black energy waves expanded outward from its center.

Upon touching the black energy waves, the defending Pokémon felt drowsy; however, its will was strong, and it endured the effects.

But the other Pokémon outside were not so fortunate. The range of the black energy waves was vast, and many Pokémon in the central area were affected. Flying Pokémon plummeted to the ground, and those that were running just stopped moving... They all fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly, the entire forest became eerily quiet.

The inspection team members were also among those who fell asleep. When the black energy waves swept through, they had no time to react, and the entire team collapsed. The only one still awake was the Honchkrow that Ruri had left outside to guard.

Seeing her trainer lying on the ground, Honchkrow flew down and gently flapped its wings against her, then pecked at her with its beak, but she showed no response.

After turning its head around, Honchkrow took to the air again and flew toward the outside of the Petalburg Woods.