Story Notes:
It was a quiet night when Deoxys descended from the heavens.
Believed to not be of this world, it went on a rampage, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
Finally defeated by an unknown force, the tragedy of unparalleled magnitude it created remains in the heart of every human.
To make sure that something like this will never happen again, every wild Pokèmon powerful enough to cause such mayhem must be captured, controlled or killed.
Needless to say, this year has been a bad year for Legendaries. This year has also been a bad year for Champion Trainers.
But my year... Has been... THE WORST!
Original Rival Blue
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Oho!" Blue exclaimed before holding his hand up to cover his eyes from the sun, forgetting that it was currently located behind him, "A shiny AND that spikeless Lucario!? I haven't had a catch this lucky in fifteen years!" He then smiled to himself, the memory of the summer when a Feebas swam into his Pokeball by accident always bringing him joy.
"Who is he?" Rukario asked while looking at Lucario.
"No idea," Lucario replied calmly as he saw several Pokeballs attached to the trainer's belt, "But he's human, and he's got Pokémon. Odds are he'll be trying to catch me."
"Ahh, I knew I should've brought a few of my regular Pokémon..." Blue sighed before showing his white teeth in a bigger smile, "... Oh well! It'll be a perfect time to test out my new team!"
"... I can't tell if he's talking to himself or us," Lucario muttered while scratching the back of his head.
"Trainers have a habit of doing that," Rukario explained with a sigh, "Must be from spending too much time with us Pokémon."
"You don't have to stay, you know," Lucario said, naïvely thinking this to be a good chance to get rid of Rukario, "He wants me. Go on, I've caused you enough grief."
"No, I..." Rukario whispered sadly before looking down at her own body, "I am a Shiny. He wishes to capture me. Worry not - I am used to this, and can handle myself."
"Heh... If you say so..." Lucario snickered, trying to remember what Zerobi had told him a 'Shiny' was supposed to be, "All right. We're a united front, then."
Blue kept walking towards them before stopping at about the same distance as Lucas and Silver once had been at, making Lucario wonder if there was some kind of official rule for trainer placement during battle. Blue then swiftly extracted two Pokeballs from both his sides and held them in front of him.
"Hear me, Lucario!" he shouted with a mighty voice, "I am Blue, commander of the Heavens and the Earth! Master of Water and Fire! Bringer of Light and Darkness!"
"Blue..." Lucario repeated, as out of all those words that one in particular stuck out, "... Blue? You're Blue!?"
"So, you DO know him?" Rukario asked, trying her best to figure out what was going on.
"Not personally," Lucario clarified before the weight of Zoroark's story hit him like a ton of bricks, "Whoa, this is bad! He's a champion trainer! He'll kick our asses!"
"A... Champion!?" Rukario exclaimed in surprise, "Are you certain!?"
"This is bullshit! How do they keep finding me!?" Lucario shouted before remembering what Zoroark told him about gathering information from trainers and started gritting his teeth, "... Bastard! He must've told them!"
"Brendan has made me intrigued of your adaptive abilities, Lucario!" Blue kept going as he was unable to understand anything the two Pokémon were saying, "Show me what you can do, and I'll reward both of you!"
"Reward?" Rukario repeated with a confused tone, "Does he mean he will let us go free?"
"Not likely. These guys really want me caught for some reason," Lucario huffed as he calmed down, noticing that at the very least Blue seemed as surprised over their encounter as he was, "He probably means he'll give us a berry or something, which in my case means I REALLY can't lose."
"In that case..." Rukario said with a previously unheard voice of confidence as she placed herself into battle position, "... Let us win."
"... Damn it..." Lucario groaned while envisioning himself get struck by piercing icicles, electrical currents, burning jaws, as a flutter suddenly went through his ribcage, "This is going to suck."
"Oh Heavens!" Blue yelled as he threw the first Pokeball into the air, "I summon thee, Skarmory!"
The Pokeball burst open, leaving an already flying Pokémon in its wake. Lucario likened it to a skeletal figure of the bird he had just been riding, much sleeker and thinner with a white, hard material covering its body. Even its feathers were covered in it, making Lucario wonder how it was even flying in the first place.
"Oh Earth!" Blue shouted before tossing the second Pokeball on the ground, "Give us a thrill, Excadrill!"
Bouncing off the ground, a red light escaped the Pokeball and gave form to a large beast. Its body was shaped like a ball with arms, legs and a head sticking out of it. Even so, it was very buff, and the thick broadsword-like appendages it had for hands made Lucario cringe at the thought of its destructive powers.
"Four Steel-types?" Rukario said with a surprised voice, "What an interesting matchup."
"... There is not a single part of your previous statement that made even a lick of sense," Lucario muttered while looking at her, "Four? What, are humans Steel-type?"
"We're Steel-types," Rukario told him before nodding towards their enemies, "They're Steel-types."
"Hey, I'm not a Steel-type!" Lucario yelled and decided to pep himself up for the approaching battle, "I'm a... Winning type!"
"... Oh my," Rukario exclaimed with worry, "You cannot remember anything about this, either? Let me handle the Flying-type, then..."
"... Uuhh..." Lucario replied as he compared the size of the thin bird to the giant mole, "Actually, I'd prefer it if you took on the hulking beast... You know?"
It seems Rukario had taken to ignoring him, as she without warning leaped towards the airborne bird and smacked it one. Lucario became amazed at this display, but did not have time to linger on it as Blue yelled something and the Excadrill started walking in his direction.
"So... Uh..." Lucario stammered fearfully while looking up at the huge Pokémon, just out of arm's length from it, "... Man, you're big."
"... Chatty?" it responded bluntly with a gruff, manly voice, "I hate that."
"You've got a point," Lucario said, hearing his seemingly implacable opponent speak making it seem like a typical enemy instead of the cohort of a champion, making him swiftly regain his confidence, "Let's just do it!"
The Excadrill lashed out with both his arms, but much to Lucario's surprise not at him. Instead, he aimed them at the ground, digging his massive claws into the ground. Suddenly, the claws started spinning around in circles like a drill, pushing layer after layer of dirt aside as he quickly disappeared within a large hole.
"Oh no, not this shit again," Lucario groaned while memories of the Garchomp came upon him. Even though the giant was out of his sight, he sensed the aura of him burrow itself deeper and deeper underground, and knew exactly what was going to happen in a few moments.
"... You know what? Screw waiting around!" Lucario shouted and decided to break the rules for once. Without hesitation, he jumped down the newly created hole and fell into the ground. Dirt and dust covered his every side as the sunlight faded above him, bring back memories of a very filthy visit he had in a grave once.
"... Stupid..." the Excadrill muttered, making his dangerous arms spin around once more, this time with the intention of skewering Lucario. A quick mental flash of him getting stuck on one of them and having his innards being spilled all over this newborn cavern was all it took for Lucario to swiftly turn his tail and flee.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Lucario rambled while quickly climbing upwards to escape the approaching menace. Looking below, he noticed that he was outrunning him - There was no longer any dirt between them, so his smaller body was better designed for climbing.
Still rushing up, his hand slipped as it came upon a hard gray surface instead of the fairly soft ground. His toes shivered as he almost fell down, but was able to stop it by pinning himself to the walls surrounding him.
"Too damn close..." Lucario muttered, and noticed that the Excadrill was quite far beneath him. A nasty idea hit him as he started digging away the dirt surrounding the gray material he had found, until it revealed a large rock which tipped into the stretchy chamber he was in.
"Special delivery!" Lucario shouted as he climbed up on the heavy rock, and then kicked it down with all his might. It loosened from its holdings and went speeding down like a comet, not stopping until Lucario heard the sound of something cracking open, which he presumed was his opponent's skull.
He climbed up to the surface as the Excadrill immediately burst out of the ground, covered in dirt and with a furious expression on his face.
"YOU..." he growled, a small river of blood trickling down the side of his head.
"Oh yeah, you didn't want me talking, eh?" Lucario said cockily, "Sorry about that. The rock was OK though, right?"
"RRAARGH!" the Excadrill bellowed as he lost his cool, dashing toward Lucario who easily jumped up on his already damaged head and kicked him into the ground.
"Softhead," Lucario said as he landed behind him, "Is that an insult? If not, it should be."
He casually walked towards the collapsed body of his enemy and sat down on the Excadrill's head to relax for a moment. Feeling no stirring from beneath told him that victory was his. Hearing yells and screams from his side, he turned to see Rukario twisted around a flightless Skarmory, keeping it in a full-body lockdown as Blue shouted commands.
"Metal Sound! Autotomize!" Blue said loudly, while Skarmory could only struggle against Rukario's tight grip, "Excadrill, come here and hel... E-Excadrill!?" Blue suddenly turned around and saw Lucario sitting on his companion, waving at him with a smug grin.
"Excadrill, that's enough! Return!" Blue quickly yelled while holding out a Pokeball which shot out a beam of red light. Lucario flinched as he felt his seat turned gooey before disappearing, and he found himself instinctively leaping to his feet.
"You too, Skarmory!" Blue continued as he used another Pokeball to recall the flying-type, "This isn't your fight!" The Skarmory turned into a being of light as Rukario relaxed her arms and legs.
"Already?" Rukario asked while rising to her feet, "I was expecting more from a champion."
"Wow, way to go!" Lucario said loudly while walking towards Rukario, very surprised at her competence and confidence, "I think I like you better when you're not love-struck!"
"Not now!" Rukario snarled dangerously at him, desperately keeping her mind on the battle to assure they would not be captured.
As she said this, however, she realized that if that were to be the case, they would be together again. Lucario insisted that he was not Cyon, but the fact that they had the exact same appearance and aura told her that there was something more to it that what even Lucario knew. If they were to serve this trainer, she would have plenty of time to find out exactly what... Not to mention a chance to rekindle the romance that she had been seeking for so long!
"Wow, not bad!" Blue suddenly said and snapped her out of her thoughts, "You're both pretty strong! Against a typical trainer, you would've won for sure!"
"We already won!" Lucario shouted at him, "Beat it!"
"The thing is, my team is built to tackle any type of matchups..." Blue said as he attached the two Pokeballs back on his belt and pulled out two new ones, "So... I'm afraid your luck has just run out!"
"He has more Pokémon," Rukario said quietly while still lost in her own thoughts, "Six in total."
"Fiery fire, scorch their bodies!" Blue shouted as the Pokeball in his hand opened, "I know you'll do fine, Arcanine!"
The familiar red flash of light filled their eyes as a large, orange Pokémon on four legs appeared. While not quite as big as the Excadrill, it had a far more magnificent posture as well as a thicker fur. It reminded Lucario of Entei, and seeing how it was considerably smaller he felt confidence take form in him.
"Serene water, guide their souls!" Blue yelled, the Pokeball in his other hand also relieving itself of its inhabitant, "Do your best as well, Floatzel!"
Another orange Pokémon manifested itself, this one standing on two legs and being about the same size as the two Lucario. Its body was curvaceous and covered with very fine fur, and it had two fins sticking out of the back of its hands, much like Rukario's spikes.
"Fire and water?" Lucario said while scratching the back of his head in confusion, "I know you'll chastise me for being an idiot, but that sounds like a REALLY counterproductive team to me."
"... No..." Rukario replied, showing the same amount of confusion, "Actually, this seems rather strange."
"Arcanine! Fire Spin!" Blue suddenly shouted while pointing at the two Lucario, "Floatzel! Mist!"
Immediately following his command, the fire-type's mouth started shooting out small embers of light as a thick gas escaped the water-type. The Arcanine twisted his head around in a circle, making the embers float in front of and behind the two Lucario, who were surprised to see that they did not need to dodge.
"Did he miss?" Lucario asked, the painful memories of the Garchomp's fiery bites being the only thing keeping him from taunting their enemies.
"Fire Spin..." Rukario repeated as the name of the attack was unfamiliar to her, "I wouldn't be so sure. Anything could happen."
The mist slowly laid itself over the area, but neither Lucario nor Rukario were too concerned about it, as they could still perfectly sense the aura of their enemies. They were more concerned about the embers, which as they made contact with the grass ground suddenly exploded and created a large fire on the ground, reaching up to the sky. Before they knew it, they were in the middle of a circle of tall towers of hot flames.
"Oh, shit!" Lucario shouted as he looked around, the mist preventing him from seeing anything beyond the veil of fire and smoke rising high above them, "We're surrounded!"
"Shh..." Rukario hushed while trying to keep herself calm, "I have a bad feeling about this. Keep your senses sharp."
A faint flutter in the air was heard as their current area lit up. A fire in the shape of a crudely drawn human came from the veil and sped past them, barely a foot in front of Lucario's face. The intensity of these flames were unlike anything he had felt before, hotness spreading through him as if he had been ignited just by standing near it for a second.
"WHOA!" he burst out in terror while taking a step back, "T-Too close!"
"Cyon!" Rukario suddenly shouted as she moved forward, "Look-"
Another strangely shaped being of fire came out of the wall of flames, taking them both by surprise. This time it was aimed at where Rukario was heading, and just barely missed her.
"Damn it! We can't see in this mist, and the fire doesn't have an aura!" Lucario yelled as the heat of the fires were starting to get to him, "This is SO dangerous! Let's jump out of here!"
Rukario's battle experience told her that this is exactly what their enemy was trying to get them to do, seeing how it was such an obvious way out. She was about to stop him, but was herself stopped by a very sinister voice in her head, reminding her of her opportunities in this fight. Win, and return to a dreadful life where she would never know love again...? Or lose, and possibly reclaim what she herself had lost...?
Lucario spent no time waiting for his partner as he bent his knees, jumping very high into the air and moving past the flames.
"Keep 'em in there, Floatzel!" Blue suddenly shouted, pointing at the airborne Lucario. Lucario swallowed hard as he felt a large beam of water hitting his stomach, not causing much damage but launching him back in the direction he came from. He spun around in midair and landed on his feet, having returned to the circle of fire.
"What-" Rukario started, but was interrupted.
"Gah! That orange thing!" Lucario spluttered while falling to his knees, "It... It shot me back in here! It's making sure we don't jump o-"
Having seen Lucario launched back by its partner, the Arcanine knew exactly where to aim. A fourth flaming human came through the veil of fire behind them, rushing in Lucario's direction. The fire passed through him, disappearing behind the other side of the circle as quickly as it had appeared, only this time leaving a remnant of itself behind.
Lucario's body immediately ignited, and the fire spread to cover him from head to toe in nary a second. He screamed in pain and terror, falling down and rolling around on the ground in an attempt to get rid of it. However, the fire was much too intense to be stopped in this manner, his body just a waning silhouette behind the bright flames. Keeping his eyes closed he stumbled around in complete darkness, finding no escape from the fire eating away at him and his approaching death. A voice echoed from somewhere beyond the fire's crackling noise as he rapidly felt his consciousness fade...
The smoke from the totem pillars of hot fire was beginning to darken the sky, turning the once wonderful day into a hellish scene. Blue was starting to realize just how badly his strategy was affecting the surrounding area, and was just about to have his trusted water-type douse the fire when he suddenly heard anguished cries from within the circle of fire.
"Well done, Arcanine!" Blue said while giving his Pokémon both thumbs up, "Be ready to douse him on my signal, Floatzel..."
"AAARGHH!" Lucario wailed in panic while trying to brush off the fire, having run out of ideas on how to get rid of it. In his mind, he already knew it was over, feeling his thoughts grow foggy as darkness engulfed his being...
"CYON!" Rukario shouted, completely drowning out the sinister voice in the back of her head as she saw her love burning to death right in front of her eyes. With no hesitation blocking it, her mind worked quickly as she ran up to Lucario and grabbed a hold of his flaming leg. She winced from the pain before throwing him away from the circle of fire, Lucario making a startled noise as the increased oxygen quickly increased the intensity of the flames.
However, he did not have to bear with it for very long as he was suddenly struck by a beam of water, getting thrown back into their entrapment and landing on the ground.
"Haahh! Haahh!" Lucario breathed in deeply, the fire previously covering him having sucked up all the air around him, "Argh... Choking AND burning to death...?"
"Cyon!" Rukario shouted as she ran up to him and noticed that he was mostly unharmed, "You..."
"Oh hey, thanks for helping me so fast!" Lucario said while looking at his body with a pleased expression, "Didn't even burn up my fur!"
He was completely wet and had been so even before the fire hit him, so the damage had been minimal. Rukario was about to say something, but stopped herself as yet another body of fire went zooming by them, this time nowhere near where they were standing.
"They're not letting up, are they...?" Rukario muttered, noticing that her hand which had been dry was more badly burned than Lucario's entire body.
"I know!" Lucario burst out as a plan hit him, "Let's jump out at the same time! The Floatzel can't shoot us back at the same time!"
They looked at each other as Rukario nodded, both of them turning their backs to each other before leaping in opposite directions. Lucario escaped the veil of smoke first, and saw the Floatzel beneath him. Once more, the orange being doused him in water and threw him back from whence he came, Lucario smiling to himself the entire way.
As he landed, he saw that Rukario was no longer there. He sensed her aura outside of the circle, colliding with the aura of the Floatzel from earlier.
"Lucario!" a voice came from beyond the veil of fire, "Now!"
Outside the tower of flames, the Floatzel immediately used its pores to lubricate itself in a slippery substance, which made Rukario lose grip of it. Sliding backwards on the grass, it started calculating a way of throwing her back into the raging fires when something very heavy landed on its back and brought it crashing down on the ground.
"This one's mine," Lucario said as he was standing on the Floatzel, "Go do something about mini-Entei."
Rukario looked at him with a strange expression before nodding and running around the constantly burning circle of fire, towards the aura of the Arcanine on the other side. Lucario did not bother to see her off as he felt himself slipping, the Floatzel gliding away under him and making him lose his balance. However, he managed to land on his feet, and slowly started moving towards the Floatzel who was quickly backing away from him with eyes wide open in fear.
"Why are you scared?" Lucario asked while menacingly cracking his knuckles, "I just want to thank you for dousing the fire and, you know, throwing me into it in the first place."
"I-I'm not scared!" the Floatzel stammered, "I'm trained by the great Blue! I'm not scared at all!"
"You should be," Lucario whispered as a dangerous smile spread across his face, "Fire? Dangerous. Water? The opposite. Actually, I'm feeling a bit thirsty, give me a cold glass and I'll let you off easy..."
"... Don't make fun of me!" the Floatzel suddenly burst out, spitting several floating bubbles at Lucario who effortlessly ran around them and grabbed a hold of the Pokémon's head.
"Hahah! Oh, I wasn't making fun of you!" Lucario laughed before pressing down his hand and shoving the Floatzel's head down into the soft soil previously ploughed by the Excadrill, "THIS is making fun of you!"
The Floatzel quickly scrambled to try to get his head out of the ground as Lucario slowly went behind him, charged his leg back and then kicked the water-type so hard that its head was pulled out, making it fly forward and land on its stomach.
"Huh. I always thought a swift kick in the rear end would have the opposite effect..." Lucario sighed while shrugging, "... And people say fighting's barbaric! I'm practicing medicine!"
He looked around and became disappointed that no one was around hear him, and noticed that the fire that had kept him trapped for so long as mysteriously vanished when he was busy dealing with the Floatzel. He then received quite the shock as Rukario came flying in his direction, and jumped up to catch her as a reflex.
"Oh shit, are you OK?" Lucario said, but stopped himself as he noticed Rukario looking back at him with a surprised expression, "... I mean, uh, that fire circle..."
"I kept him busy," Rukario responded bluntly as they landed on the ground, "He was unable to refuel it."
"Cool. Meanwhile, I totally beat the crap out of that other thing!" Lucario said loudly while letting her stand on her own feet, fishing for compliments as he pointed to the defeated Floatzel.
"Oh. Thank you for knocking our only hopes of dousing a fire unconscious," Rukario sneered, hiding her worries on how to rescue Lucario in case he was hit by the Arcanine again.
"Ha ha ha! No problem-o!" Lucario laughed in response, currently too confident in himself to care about her snide remark, "Let's give this doggy the same treatment, eh? How about we attack him from both sides at once, so he can't get us both at the same time?"
Rukario nodded in response once more as they split off, running towards the Arcanine in an arc. The Arcanine became confused, twisting its head around and being not sure of who to attack first.
"Arcanine! Overheat!" Blue suddenly shouted, holding up his right hand with fingers spread. The Arcanine stomped down on the ground in response, charging up an attack. Just when Lucario and Rukario were about to jump it, the fire-type suddenly exploded into a huge ball of flames. They immediately halted themselves as the area immediately heated up, the intense fire covering the Arcanine while showing no signs of stopping.
"Did he just... Set himself on fire?" Lucario asked while staring at the furred creature, not knowing how to react.
"He might be using Flash Fire," Rukario replied in a calm manner while closing her eyes, "Which means that he is actually becoming far more powerful by doing this."
"Shit!" Lucario yelled while looking around for a large rock to throw at the fire-type, "Now what?" His question was answered by Rukario suddenly opening her eyes again and thrusting her palm towards the bright flames.
A bright blue light crawled around her wrist and began shaping itself around her outstretched hand. Lucario gasped in surprise as the glow amassed in front of her palm as a growing ball of swirling blue energy, becoming as large as a her head before shooting towards the Arcanine at an amazing pace.
The Arcanine was too focused on charging up and did not even see the attack coming from beyond his own veil of fire. He suddenly felt something pass through his body, like an acidic chill. It went through his side and hit his stomach and lungs, immediately making him lose his breath and keel over as he felt like barfing. Unable to continue the fiery attack, the Arcanine felt something very hard strike his head as he immediately fainted.
"Arcanine!" Blue yelled with both surprise and sadness as he saw his companions fallen on the battlefield, "You too, Floatzel!? Both of you, return immediately!"
"WHOA! Was that an aura sphere!?" Lucario shouted with an impressed voice as Rukario calmly turned away from the defeated fire-type, "You've got to teach me how to do it once we're done beating this trainer!"
"Oh...?" Rukario exclaimed hopefully before her voice gained a hint of disdain, "If we manage to, that is... If he is a champion like you said, odds are we will not."
"He's not Blue," Lucario suddenly said while shaking his head, "He can't be. His Pokémon are much too weak for a champion."
"He said something about trying out a new team," Rukario explained, still seemingly completely unfazed over having so easily defeated the Arcanine, "And his tactics are exceptional. Unless we want to refer to him as 'master' for the rest of our lives, we should not underestimate him."
"... A fate worse than death..." Lucario mumbled as once more the mental image of a tough, burly Mew leaving the area hit him, "You're right. Whatever he brings out next, I'm giving it my all to finish this quickly!"
They both fell silent and looked at Blue, who had just finished recalling the two Pokémon. He stared intently at the two Pokeballs in his hands for a moment, before placing both of them on his belt.
"Amazing..." he whispered to himself before suddenly raising his voice, "Just... Simply amazing! I see how you bested both Red and Brendan..."
"Red?" Rukario repeated in confusion before looking at Lucario, "You... Have you fought Red?"
"You know Red, but you don't know Blue?" Lucario replied with a shrug, "Now I know this guy's small fry for sure."
"Still... My brand new, finely crafted team, annihilated by two wild Lucario?" Blue continued talking as he cracked himself up, "Haha! I'll never live it down! I think it's time for my most powerful tag team!"
Shuffling his jacket backwards, the two Lucario saw that Blue had two more Pokeballs attached to the side of his belt. Rukario had fully expected this, while Lucario was occupied with noticing that the colors of these Pokeballs were different from the others. They were both black and white, instead of the regular red and white.
"Darkness, engulf the light! Light, illuminate the darkness!" Blue as he swiftly pressed the two Pokeballs to his sides as if part of a western quick draw duel, making them open up while still attacked to the belt, "Finish this, Umbreon and Espeon!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Oho!" Blue exclaimed before holding his hand up to cover his eyes from the sun, forgetting that it was currently located behind him, "A shiny AND that spikeless Lucario!? I haven't had a catch this lucky in fifteen years!" He then smiled to himself, the memory of the summer when a Feebas swam into his Pokeball by accident always bringing him joy.
"Who is he?" Rukario asked while looking at Lucario.
"No idea," Lucario replied calmly as he saw several Pokeballs attached to the trainer's belt, "But he's human, and he's got Pokémon. Odds are he'll be trying to catch me."
"Ahh, I knew I should've brought a few of my regular Pokémon..." Blue sighed before showing his white teeth in a bigger smile, "... Oh well! It'll be a perfect time to test out my new team!"
"... I can't tell if he's talking to himself or us," Lucario muttered while scratching the back of his head.
"Trainers have a habit of doing that," Rukario explained with a sigh, "Must be from spending too much time with us Pokémon."
"You don't have to stay, you know," Lucario said, naïvely thinking this to be a good chance to get rid of Rukario, "He wants me. Go on, I've caused you enough grief."
"No, I..." Rukario whispered sadly before looking down at her own body, "I am a Shiny. He wishes to capture me. Worry not - I am used to this, and can handle myself."
"Heh... If you say so..." Lucario snickered, trying to remember what Zerobi had told him a 'Shiny' was supposed to be, "All right. We're a united front, then."
Blue kept walking towards them before stopping at about the same distance as Lucas and Silver once had been at, making Lucario wonder if there was some kind of official rule for trainer placement during battle. Blue then swiftly extracted two Pokeballs from both his sides and held them in front of him.
"Hear me, Lucario!" he shouted with a mighty voice, "I am Blue, commander of the Heavens and the Earth! Master of Water and Fire! Bringer of Light and Darkness!"
"Blue..." Lucario repeated, as out of all those words that one in particular stuck out, "... Blue? You're Blue!?"
"So, you DO know him?" Rukario asked, trying her best to figure out what was going on.
"Not personally," Lucario clarified before the weight of Zoroark's story hit him like a ton of bricks, "Whoa, this is bad! He's a champion trainer! He'll kick our asses!"
"A... Champion!?" Rukario exclaimed in surprise, "Are you certain!?"
"This is bullshit! How do they keep finding me!?" Lucario shouted before remembering what Zoroark told him about gathering information from trainers and started gritting his teeth, "... Bastard! He must've told them!"
"Brendan has made me intrigued of your adaptive abilities, Lucario!" Blue kept going as he was unable to understand anything the two Pokémon were saying, "Show me what you can do, and I'll reward both of you!"
"Reward?" Rukario repeated with a confused tone, "Does he mean he will let us go free?"
"Not likely. These guys really want me caught for some reason," Lucario huffed as he calmed down, noticing that at the very least Blue seemed as surprised over their encounter as he was, "He probably means he'll give us a berry or something, which in my case means I REALLY can't lose."
"In that case..." Rukario said with a previously unheard voice of confidence as she placed herself into battle position, "... Let us win."
"... Damn it..." Lucario groaned while envisioning himself get struck by piercing icicles, electrical currents, burning jaws, as a flutter suddenly went through his ribcage, "This is going to suck."
"Oh Heavens!" Blue yelled as he threw the first Pokeball into the air, "I summon thee, Skarmory!"
The Pokeball burst open, leaving an already flying Pokémon in its wake. Lucario likened it to a skeletal figure of the bird he had just been riding, much sleeker and thinner with a white, hard material covering its body. Even its feathers were covered in it, making Lucario wonder how it was even flying in the first place.
"Oh Earth!" Blue shouted before tossing the second Pokeball on the ground, "Give us a thrill, Excadrill!"
Bouncing off the ground, a red light escaped the Pokeball and gave form to a large beast. Its body was shaped like a ball with arms, legs and a head sticking out of it. Even so, it was very buff, and the thick broadsword-like appendages it had for hands made Lucario cringe at the thought of its destructive powers.
"Four Steel-types?" Rukario said with a surprised voice, "What an interesting matchup."
"... There is not a single part of your previous statement that made even a lick of sense," Lucario muttered while looking at her, "Four? What, are humans Steel-type?"
"We're Steel-types," Rukario told him before nodding towards their enemies, "They're Steel-types."
"Hey, I'm not a Steel-type!" Lucario yelled and decided to pep himself up for the approaching battle, "I'm a... Winning type!"
"... Oh my," Rukario exclaimed with worry, "You cannot remember anything about this, either? Let me handle the Flying-type, then..."
"... Uuhh..." Lucario replied as he compared the size of the thin bird to the giant mole, "Actually, I'd prefer it if you took on the hulking beast... You know?"
It seems Rukario had taken to ignoring him, as she without warning leaped towards the airborne bird and smacked it one. Lucario became amazed at this display, but did not have time to linger on it as Blue yelled something and the Excadrill started walking in his direction.
"So... Uh..." Lucario stammered fearfully while looking up at the huge Pokémon, just out of arm's length from it, "... Man, you're big."
"... Chatty?" it responded bluntly with a gruff, manly voice, "I hate that."
"You've got a point," Lucario said, hearing his seemingly implacable opponent speak making it seem like a typical enemy instead of the cohort of a champion, making him swiftly regain his confidence, "Let's just do it!"
The Excadrill lashed out with both his arms, but much to Lucario's surprise not at him. Instead, he aimed them at the ground, digging his massive claws into the ground. Suddenly, the claws started spinning around in circles like a drill, pushing layer after layer of dirt aside as he quickly disappeared within a large hole.
"Oh no, not this shit again," Lucario groaned while memories of the Garchomp came upon him. Even though the giant was out of his sight, he sensed the aura of him burrow itself deeper and deeper underground, and knew exactly what was going to happen in a few moments.
"... You know what? Screw waiting around!" Lucario shouted and decided to break the rules for once. Without hesitation, he jumped down the newly created hole and fell into the ground. Dirt and dust covered his every side as the sunlight faded above him, bring back memories of a very filthy visit he had in a grave once.
"... Stupid..." the Excadrill muttered, making his dangerous arms spin around once more, this time with the intention of skewering Lucario. A quick mental flash of him getting stuck on one of them and having his innards being spilled all over this newborn cavern was all it took for Lucario to swiftly turn his tail and flee.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Lucario rambled while quickly climbing upwards to escape the approaching menace. Looking below, he noticed that he was outrunning him - There was no longer any dirt between them, so his smaller body was better designed for climbing.
Still rushing up, his hand slipped as it came upon a hard gray surface instead of the fairly soft ground. His toes shivered as he almost fell down, but was able to stop it by pinning himself to the walls surrounding him.
"Too damn close..." Lucario muttered, and noticed that the Excadrill was quite far beneath him. A nasty idea hit him as he started digging away the dirt surrounding the gray material he had found, until it revealed a large rock which tipped into the stretchy chamber he was in.
"Special delivery!" Lucario shouted as he climbed up on the heavy rock, and then kicked it down with all his might. It loosened from its holdings and went speeding down like a comet, not stopping until Lucario heard the sound of something cracking open, which he presumed was his opponent's skull.
He climbed up to the surface as the Excadrill immediately burst out of the ground, covered in dirt and with a furious expression on his face.
"YOU..." he growled, a small river of blood trickling down the side of his head.
"Oh yeah, you didn't want me talking, eh?" Lucario said cockily, "Sorry about that. The rock was OK though, right?"
"RRAARGH!" the Excadrill bellowed as he lost his cool, dashing toward Lucario who easily jumped up on his already damaged head and kicked him into the ground.
"Softhead," Lucario said as he landed behind him, "Is that an insult? If not, it should be."
He casually walked towards the collapsed body of his enemy and sat down on the Excadrill's head to relax for a moment. Feeling no stirring from beneath told him that victory was his. Hearing yells and screams from his side, he turned to see Rukario twisted around a flightless Skarmory, keeping it in a full-body lockdown as Blue shouted commands.
"Metal Sound! Autotomize!" Blue said loudly, while Skarmory could only struggle against Rukario's tight grip, "Excadrill, come here and hel... E-Excadrill!?" Blue suddenly turned around and saw Lucario sitting on his companion, waving at him with a smug grin.
"Excadrill, that's enough! Return!" Blue quickly yelled while holding out a Pokeball which shot out a beam of red light. Lucario flinched as he felt his seat turned gooey before disappearing, and he found himself instinctively leaping to his feet.
"You too, Skarmory!" Blue continued as he used another Pokeball to recall the flying-type, "This isn't your fight!" The Skarmory turned into a being of light as Rukario relaxed her arms and legs.
"Already?" Rukario asked while rising to her feet, "I was expecting more from a champion."
"Wow, way to go!" Lucario said loudly while walking towards Rukario, very surprised at her competence and confidence, "I think I like you better when you're not love-struck!"
"Not now!" Rukario snarled dangerously at him, desperately keeping her mind on the battle to assure they would not be captured.
As she said this, however, she realized that if that were to be the case, they would be together again. Lucario insisted that he was not Cyon, but the fact that they had the exact same appearance and aura told her that there was something more to it that what even Lucario knew. If they were to serve this trainer, she would have plenty of time to find out exactly what... Not to mention a chance to rekindle the romance that she had been seeking for so long!
"Wow, not bad!" Blue suddenly said and snapped her out of her thoughts, "You're both pretty strong! Against a typical trainer, you would've won for sure!"
"We already won!" Lucario shouted at him, "Beat it!"
"The thing is, my team is built to tackle any type of matchups..." Blue said as he attached the two Pokeballs back on his belt and pulled out two new ones, "So... I'm afraid your luck has just run out!"
"He has more Pokémon," Rukario said quietly while still lost in her own thoughts, "Six in total."
"Fiery fire, scorch their bodies!" Blue shouted as the Pokeball in his hand opened, "I know you'll do fine, Arcanine!"
The familiar red flash of light filled their eyes as a large, orange Pokémon on four legs appeared. While not quite as big as the Excadrill, it had a far more magnificent posture as well as a thicker fur. It reminded Lucario of Entei, and seeing how it was considerably smaller he felt confidence take form in him.
"Serene water, guide their souls!" Blue yelled, the Pokeball in his other hand also relieving itself of its inhabitant, "Do your best as well, Floatzel!"
Another orange Pokémon manifested itself, this one standing on two legs and being about the same size as the two Lucario. Its body was curvaceous and covered with very fine fur, and it had two fins sticking out of the back of its hands, much like Rukario's spikes.
"Fire and water?" Lucario said while scratching the back of his head in confusion, "I know you'll chastise me for being an idiot, but that sounds like a REALLY counterproductive team to me."
"... No..." Rukario replied, showing the same amount of confusion, "Actually, this seems rather strange."
"Arcanine! Fire Spin!" Blue suddenly shouted while pointing at the two Lucario, "Floatzel! Mist!"
Immediately following his command, the fire-type's mouth started shooting out small embers of light as a thick gas escaped the water-type. The Arcanine twisted his head around in a circle, making the embers float in front of and behind the two Lucario, who were surprised to see that they did not need to dodge.
"Did he miss?" Lucario asked, the painful memories of the Garchomp's fiery bites being the only thing keeping him from taunting their enemies.
"Fire Spin..." Rukario repeated as the name of the attack was unfamiliar to her, "I wouldn't be so sure. Anything could happen."
The mist slowly laid itself over the area, but neither Lucario nor Rukario were too concerned about it, as they could still perfectly sense the aura of their enemies. They were more concerned about the embers, which as they made contact with the grass ground suddenly exploded and created a large fire on the ground, reaching up to the sky. Before they knew it, they were in the middle of a circle of tall towers of hot flames.
"Oh, shit!" Lucario shouted as he looked around, the mist preventing him from seeing anything beyond the veil of fire and smoke rising high above them, "We're surrounded!"
"Shh..." Rukario hushed while trying to keep herself calm, "I have a bad feeling about this. Keep your senses sharp."
A faint flutter in the air was heard as their current area lit up. A fire in the shape of a crudely drawn human came from the veil and sped past them, barely a foot in front of Lucario's face. The intensity of these flames were unlike anything he had felt before, hotness spreading through him as if he had been ignited just by standing near it for a second.
"WHOA!" he burst out in terror while taking a step back, "T-Too close!"
"Cyon!" Rukario suddenly shouted as she moved forward, "Look-"
Another strangely shaped being of fire came out of the wall of flames, taking them both by surprise. This time it was aimed at where Rukario was heading, and just barely missed her.
"Damn it! We can't see in this mist, and the fire doesn't have an aura!" Lucario yelled as the heat of the fires were starting to get to him, "This is SO dangerous! Let's jump out of here!"
Rukario's battle experience told her that this is exactly what their enemy was trying to get them to do, seeing how it was such an obvious way out. She was about to stop him, but was herself stopped by a very sinister voice in her head, reminding her of her opportunities in this fight. Win, and return to a dreadful life where she would never know love again...? Or lose, and possibly reclaim what she herself had lost...?
Lucario spent no time waiting for his partner as he bent his knees, jumping very high into the air and moving past the flames.
"Keep 'em in there, Floatzel!" Blue suddenly shouted, pointing at the airborne Lucario. Lucario swallowed hard as he felt a large beam of water hitting his stomach, not causing much damage but launching him back in the direction he came from. He spun around in midair and landed on his feet, having returned to the circle of fire.
"What-" Rukario started, but was interrupted.
"Gah! That orange thing!" Lucario spluttered while falling to his knees, "It... It shot me back in here! It's making sure we don't jump o-"
Having seen Lucario launched back by its partner, the Arcanine knew exactly where to aim. A fourth flaming human came through the veil of fire behind them, rushing in Lucario's direction. The fire passed through him, disappearing behind the other side of the circle as quickly as it had appeared, only this time leaving a remnant of itself behind.
Lucario's body immediately ignited, and the fire spread to cover him from head to toe in nary a second. He screamed in pain and terror, falling down and rolling around on the ground in an attempt to get rid of it. However, the fire was much too intense to be stopped in this manner, his body just a waning silhouette behind the bright flames. Keeping his eyes closed he stumbled around in complete darkness, finding no escape from the fire eating away at him and his approaching death. A voice echoed from somewhere beyond the fire's crackling noise as he rapidly felt his consciousness fade...
The smoke from the totem pillars of hot fire was beginning to darken the sky, turning the once wonderful day into a hellish scene. Blue was starting to realize just how badly his strategy was affecting the surrounding area, and was just about to have his trusted water-type douse the fire when he suddenly heard anguished cries from within the circle of fire.
"Well done, Arcanine!" Blue said while giving his Pokémon both thumbs up, "Be ready to douse him on my signal, Floatzel..."
"AAARGHH!" Lucario wailed in panic while trying to brush off the fire, having run out of ideas on how to get rid of it. In his mind, he already knew it was over, feeling his thoughts grow foggy as darkness engulfed his being...
"CYON!" Rukario shouted, completely drowning out the sinister voice in the back of her head as she saw her love burning to death right in front of her eyes. With no hesitation blocking it, her mind worked quickly as she ran up to Lucario and grabbed a hold of his flaming leg. She winced from the pain before throwing him away from the circle of fire, Lucario making a startled noise as the increased oxygen quickly increased the intensity of the flames.
However, he did not have to bear with it for very long as he was suddenly struck by a beam of water, getting thrown back into their entrapment and landing on the ground.
"Haahh! Haahh!" Lucario breathed in deeply, the fire previously covering him having sucked up all the air around him, "Argh... Choking AND burning to death...?"
"Cyon!" Rukario shouted as she ran up to him and noticed that he was mostly unharmed, "You..."
"Oh hey, thanks for helping me so fast!" Lucario said while looking at his body with a pleased expression, "Didn't even burn up my fur!"
He was completely wet and had been so even before the fire hit him, so the damage had been minimal. Rukario was about to say something, but stopped herself as yet another body of fire went zooming by them, this time nowhere near where they were standing.
"They're not letting up, are they...?" Rukario muttered, noticing that her hand which had been dry was more badly burned than Lucario's entire body.
"I know!" Lucario burst out as a plan hit him, "Let's jump out at the same time! The Floatzel can't shoot us back at the same time!"
They looked at each other as Rukario nodded, both of them turning their backs to each other before leaping in opposite directions. Lucario escaped the veil of smoke first, and saw the Floatzel beneath him. Once more, the orange being doused him in water and threw him back from whence he came, Lucario smiling to himself the entire way.
As he landed, he saw that Rukario was no longer there. He sensed her aura outside of the circle, colliding with the aura of the Floatzel from earlier.
"Lucario!" a voice came from beyond the veil of fire, "Now!"
Outside the tower of flames, the Floatzel immediately used its pores to lubricate itself in a slippery substance, which made Rukario lose grip of it. Sliding backwards on the grass, it started calculating a way of throwing her back into the raging fires when something very heavy landed on its back and brought it crashing down on the ground.
"This one's mine," Lucario said as he was standing on the Floatzel, "Go do something about mini-Entei."
Rukario looked at him with a strange expression before nodding and running around the constantly burning circle of fire, towards the aura of the Arcanine on the other side. Lucario did not bother to see her off as he felt himself slipping, the Floatzel gliding away under him and making him lose his balance. However, he managed to land on his feet, and slowly started moving towards the Floatzel who was quickly backing away from him with eyes wide open in fear.
"Why are you scared?" Lucario asked while menacingly cracking his knuckles, "I just want to thank you for dousing the fire and, you know, throwing me into it in the first place."
"I-I'm not scared!" the Floatzel stammered, "I'm trained by the great Blue! I'm not scared at all!"
"You should be," Lucario whispered as a dangerous smile spread across his face, "Fire? Dangerous. Water? The opposite. Actually, I'm feeling a bit thirsty, give me a cold glass and I'll let you off easy..."
"... Don't make fun of me!" the Floatzel suddenly burst out, spitting several floating bubbles at Lucario who effortlessly ran around them and grabbed a hold of the Pokémon's head.
"Hahah! Oh, I wasn't making fun of you!" Lucario laughed before pressing down his hand and shoving the Floatzel's head down into the soft soil previously ploughed by the Excadrill, "THIS is making fun of you!"
The Floatzel quickly scrambled to try to get his head out of the ground as Lucario slowly went behind him, charged his leg back and then kicked the water-type so hard that its head was pulled out, making it fly forward and land on its stomach.
"Huh. I always thought a swift kick in the rear end would have the opposite effect..." Lucario sighed while shrugging, "... And people say fighting's barbaric! I'm practicing medicine!"
He looked around and became disappointed that no one was around hear him, and noticed that the fire that had kept him trapped for so long as mysteriously vanished when he was busy dealing with the Floatzel. He then received quite the shock as Rukario came flying in his direction, and jumped up to catch her as a reflex.
"Oh shit, are you OK?" Lucario said, but stopped himself as he noticed Rukario looking back at him with a surprised expression, "... I mean, uh, that fire circle..."
"I kept him busy," Rukario responded bluntly as they landed on the ground, "He was unable to refuel it."
"Cool. Meanwhile, I totally beat the crap out of that other thing!" Lucario said loudly while letting her stand on her own feet, fishing for compliments as he pointed to the defeated Floatzel.
"Oh. Thank you for knocking our only hopes of dousing a fire unconscious," Rukario sneered, hiding her worries on how to rescue Lucario in case he was hit by the Arcanine again.
"Ha ha ha! No problem-o!" Lucario laughed in response, currently too confident in himself to care about her snide remark, "Let's give this doggy the same treatment, eh? How about we attack him from both sides at once, so he can't get us both at the same time?"
Rukario nodded in response once more as they split off, running towards the Arcanine in an arc. The Arcanine became confused, twisting its head around and being not sure of who to attack first.
"Arcanine! Overheat!" Blue suddenly shouted, holding up his right hand with fingers spread. The Arcanine stomped down on the ground in response, charging up an attack. Just when Lucario and Rukario were about to jump it, the fire-type suddenly exploded into a huge ball of flames. They immediately halted themselves as the area immediately heated up, the intense fire covering the Arcanine while showing no signs of stopping.
"Did he just... Set himself on fire?" Lucario asked while staring at the furred creature, not knowing how to react.
"He might be using Flash Fire," Rukario replied in a calm manner while closing her eyes, "Which means that he is actually becoming far more powerful by doing this."
"Shit!" Lucario yelled while looking around for a large rock to throw at the fire-type, "Now what?" His question was answered by Rukario suddenly opening her eyes again and thrusting her palm towards the bright flames.
A bright blue light crawled around her wrist and began shaping itself around her outstretched hand. Lucario gasped in surprise as the glow amassed in front of her palm as a growing ball of swirling blue energy, becoming as large as a her head before shooting towards the Arcanine at an amazing pace.
The Arcanine was too focused on charging up and did not even see the attack coming from beyond his own veil of fire. He suddenly felt something pass through his body, like an acidic chill. It went through his side and hit his stomach and lungs, immediately making him lose his breath and keel over as he felt like barfing. Unable to continue the fiery attack, the Arcanine felt something very hard strike his head as he immediately fainted.
"Arcanine!" Blue yelled with both surprise and sadness as he saw his companions fallen on the battlefield, "You too, Floatzel!? Both of you, return immediately!"
"WHOA! Was that an aura sphere!?" Lucario shouted with an impressed voice as Rukario calmly turned away from the defeated fire-type, "You've got to teach me how to do it once we're done beating this trainer!"
"Oh...?" Rukario exclaimed hopefully before her voice gained a hint of disdain, "If we manage to, that is... If he is a champion like you said, odds are we will not."
"He's not Blue," Lucario suddenly said while shaking his head, "He can't be. His Pokémon are much too weak for a champion."
"He said something about trying out a new team," Rukario explained, still seemingly completely unfazed over having so easily defeated the Arcanine, "And his tactics are exceptional. Unless we want to refer to him as 'master' for the rest of our lives, we should not underestimate him."
"... A fate worse than death..." Lucario mumbled as once more the mental image of a tough, burly Mew leaving the area hit him, "You're right. Whatever he brings out next, I'm giving it my all to finish this quickly!"
They both fell silent and looked at Blue, who had just finished recalling the two Pokémon. He stared intently at the two Pokeballs in his hands for a moment, before placing both of them on his belt.
"Amazing..." he whispered to himself before suddenly raising his voice, "Just... Simply amazing! I see how you bested both Red and Brendan..."
"Red?" Rukario repeated in confusion before looking at Lucario, "You... Have you fought Red?"
"You know Red, but you don't know Blue?" Lucario replied with a shrug, "Now I know this guy's small fry for sure."
"Still... My brand new, finely crafted team, annihilated by two wild Lucario?" Blue continued talking as he cracked himself up, "Haha! I'll never live it down! I think it's time for my most powerful tag team!"
Shuffling his jacket backwards, the two Lucario saw that Blue had two more Pokeballs attached to the side of his belt. Rukario had fully expected this, while Lucario was occupied with noticing that the colors of these Pokeballs were different from the others. They were both black and white, instead of the regular red and white.
"Darkness, engulf the light! Light, illuminate the darkness!" Blue as he swiftly pressed the two Pokeballs to his sides as if part of a western quick draw duel, making them open up while still attacked to the belt, "Finish this, Umbreon and Espeon!"
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