"You're here." Fujiki looked at Terrance.
"Yeah. If something's wrong, just tell me." Terrance said.
Fujiki shook her head and said, "I just wanted to tell you the truth about Albus's condition."
"The truth?!" Terrance frowned slightly.
Fujiki forced a smile and said, "Even though I had mentally prepared myself for something like this, I didn't expect it to come so soon, especially during a battle."
Terrance continued listening.
"Aura power… is a form of spiritual energy, described as the essence of every living thing. Albus… possesses a much stronger Aura than most."
"When he awakened this power, we were still subjects in Team Nightmare's experiments..."
"Yeah, Albus used Aura power and teamed up with Lucario to crush Team Nightmare in one go..." Terrance said.
"That's right." Fujiki nodded. "But the method he chose was to transfer his Aura to other living beings."
"Even though Albus was naturally gifted as a Trainer, and his Lucario wasn't weak at the time, how could he possibly take down such a large criminal organization with just that level of strength? It was nothing more than a fool's dream." Fujiki chuckled.
"But he was decisive, some might say talented. He quickly developed a technique to transfer Aura to other living creatures. Lucario's strength skyrocketed after that. You could say Lucario's current strength is, for the most part, the result of Albus sacrificing his own spiritual energy."
Terrance suddenly fell silent.
At this point, even if Fujiki said nothing more… he could already guess the truth.
Transferring Aura to Lucario, letting Lucario grow stronger, how could that not have a side-effect?!
"Albus, he…" Terrance began slowly.
"When we found you, his life was already running short. The consumption of Aura power is, in essence, a consumption of life force. On this point… we consulted many doctors, and they all reached the same conclusion, Albus's life force… is nearly depleted."
"Even in this state, he wasn't thinking about saving himself, but wanted to save Darkrai instead. Tell me, isn't he just foolish?" Fujiki suddenly laughed.
"Yeah… foolish." Terrance replied hoarsely.
"He knew full well that overusing Aura power would accelerate the drain on his life force, yet he ignored all the warnings and insisted on using it intensely. That's just plain stupid." Fujiki said.
"I don't get it..." Terrance shook his head hard.
"You mean… Albus now…?"
"I don't know if there's still hope, but among all the doctors we sought out, no matter their experience or credentials, not a single one have a way to save Albus's life."
"There has to be a way." Terrance said firmly.
Faced with Fujiki, who looked like she'd already lost hope, Terrance didn't want to show any sadness. When he heard the truth from Fujiki's mouth, there was a brief moment when Terrance wanted to rush into the emergency room to check on Albus's condition, but he held himself back.
For this friend, he no longer knew what kind of feelings he should have.
Pity? Definitely not!
It's regret.
At this moment, Terrance finally understood why Albus showed such a look of disappointment when he collapsed, because on the stage where he was supposed to shine the brightest… he didn't even get to fulfill his wish!!
"Don't get the wrong idea." Fujiki, hearing Terrance's words, said, "I haven't given up."
"Even if everyone else says Albus has no hope, even if Albus himself wants to give up… I have no intention of giving up."
Terrance was stunned.
"Just now, in this room, I made up my mind, I'm going to search for a way to save Albus," Fujiki said.
"Whatever it takes, I'll help you…" Terrance responded.
…
…
The festival was abruptly halted. The organizers announced publicly that Albus had fainted due to excessive use of "Aura power." Faced with such an unexpected incident, there wasn't enough time to fabricate a convincing lie, doing so would have only made things more complicated.
Aura power wasn't exactly a secret. Much like psychic power or Telepathy, if explained properly, people could easily accept and understand it.
However… Albus's situation still left the audience full of regret. Not being able to see the final battle between Lucario and Milotic disappointed many.
Due to the unexpected incident, the battle between Wallace and Albus was forcibly judged.
Afterward, Wallace and Hoenn's Champion, Steven, held an exhibition match as the festival's closing act. With this match, they barely managed to quell the disturbance surrounding Albus's incident, and the festival came to an end.
Yet a small number of people continued to follow the fleetingly brilliant Trainer, Albus.
If the most dazzling figures on the Coordinator side were Wallace, who faced the Champion, and Terrance, who defeated a former Elite Four, then on the Trainer side, it was undoubtedly the fleetingly brilliant but lamentable Albus.
Despite possessing such a magical ability like Aura power, he hadn't been able to complete his final battle. "Regret" didn't even begin to describe how some people felt.
Three days after the festival, Albus's condition and identity were made public.
An orphan from the Almia region, who had dreamed of becoming a Trainer since childhood, but was taken away by the criminal organization Team Nightmare to be used as an experimental subject. When this history came to light, it immediately caused a stir across several regions.
What the Albus incident revealed was the large-scale child disappearance cases from years ago that once shook smaller regions like Almia and Fiore.
At the time, those cases had plagued the local governments for quite some time, but were ultimately left unresolved. Since most of the missing children were orphans, over the years, the matter faded from public memory despite never being solved.
Albus's identity brought those events back into people's minds.
A hero who destroyed Team Nightmare, a genius Trainer who awakened Aura power and shone like a star. This was how people came to know Albus once again.
But…
The information that followed left many who supported Albus at a loss.
"Albus is on the verge of death. Due to excessive use of Aura power, his life force has nearly dried up, most bodily functions have shut down, and he remains unconscious. Can this kind of news really help us find a way to save him?!" Terrance too was at a loss.
Even the Pokémon League was powerless to change this situation. To search across the world for someone with the power to save him… Terrance didn't know if there would be any result, but he feared that Albus might not last that long.
"Do you know what Albus's last words were before battling Wallace?"
"It was, 'After this battle, I absolutely want to have a rematch with Terrance's Mega Altaria…'"
Recalling Fujiki's words, Terrance felt a tightness in his chest. Suddenly, he felt quite regretful. He had never once truly, completely defeated Albus in battle… and now that b*stard was already...
****Please support on pat*eon for extra chapters; there is date to date subscription enabled on patreon. [There is a 7-day trial version availabe on patreon.]
https://www.pat*eon.com/dmtranslations
You can read ahead upto 65 chapters on my pa*reon.