Chapter 1066: The Resurrection of Amaura and the Forest Incident

The vibration in the drawer was caused by a bead.

Yuga was quite surprised to see the vibrating bead because it was the one he had obtained from the Ghost Pirate Crew, a symbol of the Water Tribe. It only reacts when someone from the Water Tribe is nearby.

After the Ghost Pirate Crew was wiped out, the bead remained with Yuga. Since it was no longer useful, Yuga casually placed it on the store counter, and later, it was Suzuki Mina who put it away in the drawer.

If not for today's events, Yuga would have almost forgotten about it.

Now that the bead was vibrating nonstop, it meant...

At this point, Ash and his friends also noticed the bead in Yuga's hand.

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

Hearing this, Yuga turned his attention to Ash and his group. The bead had been quietly resting in the drawer, but it started vibrating when Ash and his friends entered the room, which meant...

With this thought, Yuga moved closer to Ash and his friends with the bead.

It wasn't Ash, as the bead didn't react to him, nor was it Brock...

But when Yuga approached May, the bead's vibration intensified. Surprised, Yuga looked at May. Could it be that May was a descendant of the Water Tribe? But the bead didn't react to Max, or could it be that May wasn't really Norman and Caroline's biological daughter? No, that can't be...

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

"Oh, it's nothing. Have you ever heard of the Water Tribe?" Yuga asked them, his thoughts interrupted by Ash's voice.

"The Water Tribe? What's that? Does it have something to do with this bead?" Ash asked as he leaned closer to the bead, staring at it intently.

Yuga handed the bead to Ash to examine closely, then explained, "The Water Tribe were ancient people who existed a long, long time ago. They worshipped the mythical Pokémon Manaphy and left behind a splendid culture. This bead is a symbol of the Water Tribe."

Yuga's explanation about the Water Tribe piqued the interest of May and her friends. Max took the bead from Ash, held it up, and asked Yuga, "But why does Mr. Shimizu have this bead? Are you a member of the Water Tribe? And why is the bead vibrating?"

Yuga shook his head, taking the bead from Max's hand. "I'm not a member of the Water Tribe, but as for why the bead is vibrating..." Yuga handed the bead to May, and as it got closer to her, the vibration intensified.

May took the bead, confused, but as soon as she touched it, the vibration stopped.

"What's wrong with this thing? Is it broken? It has nothing to do with me," May said, bewildered.

Yuga took the bead from May, and it started vibrating again. Seeing this, May let out a sigh of relief, "Good, it's not broken."

May's focus was so unusual that Yuga couldn't help but be at a loss for words. Even Max noticed something was off. "Hey, why does the bead only stop vibrating when my sister holds it?"

May finally realized, "Oh, yeah, that's strange."

"I don't know. From what I know, this bead only reacts like this when in the presence of a member of the Water Tribe," Yuga replied.

Max immediately exclaimed, "Does that mean my sister is a member of the Water Tribe? Then that means I am too!"

May quickly retorted, "The bead didn't react to you."

Max: ... Oh, right.

Ash, completely confused by Yuga and May's conversation, asked, "What are you all talking about?"

Meanwhile, Brock, deep in thought, rubbed his chin and muttered, "Could it be that May and Max aren't actually siblings?"

"Impossible!" May and Max shouted in unison. Then May bent down, putting her head next to Max's. "Look at these faces. Can you say we're not related?"

Brock: ...

May and Max did share a noticeable resemblance, at least five or six points. Looking at their faces, no one could doubt their sibling relationship.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Ash, when are you planning to challenge the Verdanturf Gym?" Yuga asked.

Ash replied casually, "There's no rush. I'll wait until May finishes the Contest."

Yuga nodded, "Alright then. Let me take you to the new shop across the street. Didn't you say you wanted to see some Pokémon eggs? You can see them there."

So the group excitedly headed to the new shop.

That evening, Max actually called his mother to ask if he and May were really siblings.

Caroline was utterly confused by the question. "You're not siblings? What do you think! If you weren't siblings, what, did I pick you up from a trash can?"

It wasn't until Max recounted what had happened during the day that Caroline understood.

May and Max were indeed biological siblings, but what Max said reminded Caroline of something from the past.

When she was a young girl, her grandmother had once casually mentioned that they were descendants of the Water Tribe, scattered far and wide. However, so much time had passed that Caroline had forgotten about it until Max brought it up.

At the time, Caroline had thought her grandmother was joking, but now it seemed it might be true.

However, whether it was true or not didn't really matter. Hundreds or even thousands of years had passed, and their ancestors had intermarried with outsiders. The Water Tribe's bloodline was likely very diluted by now, as evidenced by the bead's lack of reaction to Max.

As for May, she was a special case. There's a saying about traits skipping generations, and maybe May was an example of that.

So Caroline explained all this to Max, who secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness we're really siblings."

The next morning, Max shared what Caroline had said with everyone, revealing that he had secretly called his mother the previous night. This led to everyone teasing Max, especially May, who playfully teased, "So you were really worried about not being my brother? You like me that much, huh? I don't know what to do with you!"

Max was infuriated by May's teasing tone, and in a fit of rage, he chased her around the entire courtyard. The Yo-Yo Daycare became unusually lively on this otherwise peaceful morning.

After hearing Max repeat what Caroline had said, Yuga decided to give the pearl to May, as he had no use for it anyway. The pearl was quite beautiful, so May happily accepted it.

Since May had to participate in the Contest Spectacular in the next two days, everyone soon dispersed to train after some playful banter. Only Max quietly approached Yuga.

"Yuga, do you remember you said you'd help me revive the Fossil Pokémon?"

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

"Yes, yes, I really want to see what Pokémon this fossil will revive!" Max said eagerly, stomping his feet in anticipation.

So Yuga took Max to the Gym, where the fossil revival machine, gifted by Devon Corporation, was kept. The research team was still in Petalburg Woods and hadn't returned yet, so only Brandon and a few Gym apprentices were left in the Gym. When they learned that Yuga and Max were going to revive a Pokémon, everyone was excited and gathered around to watch.

Max had already become familiar with the kids at the Gym during his previous visit to Venderturf Town. Although a lot of time had passed, they quickly rekindled their friendship after meeting again.

Yuga was now quite skilled at operating the fossil revival machine. Two hours later, the machine's chamber door opened, and a small dinosaur-like Pokémon with blue skin slowly emerged.

"Wow, this Pokémon is so cute!" As a girl, Ayagiri was the first to exclaim, and soon everyone started discussing it excitedly.

"What kind of Pokémon is this?" Anrin, who was less knowledgeable, asked Anmu.

"It's called Amaura," the knowledgeable Max explained to his friends.

...

"Amaura."

The newly revived Pokémon seemed startled by the children's voices, and it sat down on the ground with tears welling up in its big, round eyes.

Yuga was surprised that the revived Pokémon turned out to be Amaura, as the likelihood of finding Amaura fossils in the Hoenn region was quite low.

However, considering that AZ was slumbering in the Mirage Tower, Yuga was no longer surprised. The Amaura fossil might have been brought to Hoenn by AZ from Kalos.

Amaura

Type: Rock/Ice

Ability: Refrigerate

Gender: Female

Potential: Yellow

Level: 5

Moves: Growl, Powder Snow, Mirror Coat

This Amaura must have been a juvenile Pokémon before it became a fossil. It appeared very small and fragile, and as an Ice-type Pokémon, it couldn't adapt well to the heat of Hoenn. Soon, it became weak and collapsed to the ground.

Seeing Amaura collapse in pain, the children panicked and started crying out. Yuga had to say, "Don't crowd around Amaura; it won't be able to adapt."

The children reluctantly backed away.

Amaura's problem was actually easy to solve. Yuga soon found a Never-Melt Ice and put it on Amaura. The cold generated by the Never-Melt Ice shielded Amaura from the heat, and it quickly recovered.

Since Never-Melt Ice was a must-have item for the Ice-type Pokémon living in the volcanic sub-garden, the Yo-Yo Daycare kept a few on hand.

Seeing that Amaura was fine, the children breathed a sigh of relief. Yuga then said to Max, "I helped you revive Amaura, but while you can help take care of it, the Poké Ball must be kept by your sister."

Max didn't mind and replied, "Okay, I know. I'll talk to my sister about it." For Max, being able to get a Pokémon early was satisfying enough, and he didn't care who held the Poké Ball.

When May and Ash returned, Max immediately started showing off his Amaura to them. Amaura was very well-behaved and became attached to Max, the first person it saw, so they got along well.

Another familiar face arrived with Ash and May—Drew.

It turned out Drew was also going to participate in the upcoming Contest Spectacular and had just arrived in Venderturf Town today. He originally planned to visit Yuga but ran into Ash and May returning from their morning training.

Since Drew and Ash had met many times during their travels, they were quite familiar with each other, so they decided to visit the Verdanturf Gym together.

Reunited after a long time, everyone happily went inside to catch up.

Meanwhile, in Petalburg Woods.

The research team had been tracking and observing a group of Nuzleaf for some time.

This Nuzleaf group was led by a pair of Shiftry and was a large Pokémon group. They originally lived in the central area of Petalburg Woods, but due to the recent food shortage in the central region and the large number of members in their group, they began migrating deeper into the woods.

The research team followed closely behind the Nuzleaf group.

Originally, Ruri and Amber, the two sisters, opposed the research team following the Nuzleaf group deeper into Petalburg Woods because they couldn't guarantee the team's safety.

However, Professor Haruto was a stubborn man and was determined to continue the observation.

Finally, both sides compromised. Professor Haruto contacted the rangers of Petalburg Woods and requested that they join the team as escorts. Only then did Ruri and Amber reluctantly agree.

Unbeknownst to them, the research team had ventured into the deepest part of Petalburg Woods.

At the center of the deepest part of Petalburg Woods, there was a beautiful garden where you could see flowers of all seasons blooming simultaneously—a breathtaking sight.

At least, it was supposed to be. But at that moment, a battle between two Pokémon was destroying everything in the garden.

One of the attackers was a black, eerie Pokémon. If Yuga were there, he would immediately recognize it as a Darkrai.

Darkrai was continuously waving its arms, launching Dark Pulses without any restraint. All the flowers and trees in the garden were being smashed to pieces, and the defending Pokémon was being pushed back.

It was clear that the defending Pokémon didn't want to engage in a conflict with Darkrai, but Darkrai was too aggressive. Seeing its carefully cultivated garden being destroyed, the defending Pokémon finally became enraged.

The Pokémon swiftly flew into the air, looked down at Darkrai, and then shot a beam of light toward it. The beam carried a terrifying aura and engulfed Darkrai.

When the light beam dissipated, a large circular crater was left on the ground, with Darkrai lying in the center of the crater in a sorry state. However, Darkrai didn't fall; it slowly floated up, gathered a sphere of dark energy between its hands, and then spread its arms wide, releasing the dark energy wave outward.

As soon as the dark energy wave touched the defending Pokémon, it started to feel drowsy. However, it was determined and managed to resist the sleep effect.

But the other Pokémon in the area weren't so lucky. The dark energy wave had a wide range, and many Pokémon in the central area were affected. Birds flying in the sky dropped to the ground, and Pokémon running on the ground suddenly stopped moving... They all fell into a deep sleep, and the forest fell eerily silent.

The dark energy wave also put the entire research team to sleep. They had no time to react when it hit them, leaving the entire team unconscious. The only one still awake was the Honchkrow that Ruri had left outside to guard.

Seeing its Trainer lying on the ground, Honchkrow flew down and tried to rouse her with its wings and beak, but she didn't respond at all.

After thinking for a moment, Honchkrow took to the sky again and flew out of Petalburg Woods.

(End of chapter)