As the aura coursed through Lucario, so did a great deal of hesitation. He could scarcely believe that was about the end of the life of a human, a person that could so very easily have been him as his past self. Imagining what it would be like to walk around one day before getting blown to bits by a random monster, Lucario scoffed as he realized that it was not so far off from what he had been forced to experience ever since turning into a Pokémon. Was he really going to inflict the same fate upon someone else? Had he somehow become what he had always hated?

He knew that escaping was always a viable option. Having once been able to outrun the legendary Suicune, there was no way the hunter could keep up with him. However, since carrying Zerobi with as many bleeding cuts as he had meant getting a much deeper one straight through his throat a few meters down the road, he knew that his only choice would be to abandon her. To kill a human and save a Pokémon, or run away to abandon the Pokémon while sparing the human... The answer to the dilemma grew hazier the more he thought about it.

Suddenly, Lucario shook his head, surprised at the stupidity of his own thoughts. There was no relation between his past self and the hunter, the damn guy had attacked them and was unwilling to back down. Meanwhile, the Pokémon in question was his best friend, and the human was just some random asshole who the world would be far better off without. A determined smile formed around Lucario's lips, his previous hesitation clearing up from his mind.

"Hope you're prepared…" Lucario mumbled as he held his arm in front of him, forming a straight line between him and the hunter, who suddenly got into a more ready stance.

"AURA SPHERE!" Lucario shouted, suddenly letting the aura flow out of his arm as a great sphere launched itself from the palm of his hand and flew towards the hunter. It was nearly as big as Lucario's head, and rushed forward faster than the eye could follow. Before he could even blink, it was over.

The hunter fell to the side, landing flatly on his stomach while covering the back of his head with his hands. He laid there for a while before realizing that the danger had passed, after which he rose to his feet again while breathing almost as heavily as his enemy.

"I-Impossible…" Lucario stammered in between breaths while in utter shock, "That's… That's impossible! How the hell did he dodge that!?"

"Don't…" a weak croak came from the collapsed body of Zerobi, the combination of an Aura Sphere and poison make her feel far more nostalgic than she wanted to, "Don't… Telegraph… Your… Attack… Idiot…"

"It's not supposed to…" Lucario continued before silencing himself due to heavily conflicting emotions. Hearing Zerobi speak made him feel relieved that she was still alive, but what she had said made him feel devastated. He cursed under his breath, realizing that he had held out his arm in front of himself before the attack like a complete idiot. It had been like telling his opponent that he was going to use an Aura Sphere while also showing exactly how it was going to travel. The human only had to react to Lucario doing anything out of the ordinary before easily moving anywhere else.

The hunter's breaths were starting to come in normally again. He drank something from a red flask located at his hip before suddenly sheathing his swords by his sides. Reaching behind himself, he detached something that Lucario had up until now thought was a part of his armor. But even in her poisoned state, Zerobi recognized that it was the thing that had deflected her claws earlier. As the object's true nature became clear, she felt strangely fortunate that she was incapacitated.

It was indeed another sword, yet it was much too big to be called a sword. Massive like the man carrying it, thick like the trunk of a tree and rough as an unpolished rock. It was as if someone had sharpened a statue and decided to wield it as a weapon. The hunter looked a bit smaller now that he was holding what Lucario had figured was some kind of back plating of his armor, and he seemed to just barely be able to keep his balance with the humongous beast of a sword held in front of him.

"Haha, what? He's not going to use THAT, is he?" Lucario exclaimed in surprise, trying hard to contain his laughter at the sight of the wobbling human, "What the hell, he can barely even move!"

Smile fading and upper lip stiffening, Lucario could not help but notice the brown stains of rust and many nicks across the outer edges of the weapon, reminding him not to underestimate the hunter again no matter what. He decided to take advantage of the situation before it disappeared, and rushed towards his enemy.

The hunter suddenly lifted the greatsword and kept it resting at his shoulder, waiting to strike. Lucario wondered who would ever be dumb enough to rush straight into it and ran around the hunter to hit him from behind. The human tried to spin around, but was too sluggish with the heavy sword held high into the air. Lucario saw his chance and moved in to kick the hunter straight in the back.

Before he knew it, the hunter was suddenly facing him, and more urgently he noticed the massive sword coming down upon him from above. The human had twisted himself around with a strangely fluent motion, similar to those he had used with the dual swords earlier. As luck would have it, this larger sword was nowhere near as fast as those, and Lucario quickly sidestepped the swing to let it hit the ground.

The earth shook as shrapnel of rocks diffused in every direction from the impact zone, the sword digging itself through solid ground like it was sour milk. Lucario lost his balance from the quake but still managed to get away through sheer willpower, scrambling away like a frightened bug as the hunter pulled out his sword from the ground.

"HOOOOOOLY SHIT!" Lucario yelled as he almost fell over in terror, "Wh-Where'd that strength come from!?

He did not have time to think about what had just happened, the human suddenly attaching his sword to his back again. Then, he ran towards Lucario, and all in one motion removed the sword and tried to cut Lucario vertically this time. Lucario ducked and managed to avoid the swing, but the wind alone whooshing past him was nearly enough to knock him off his feet. A strong chill ran through Lucario as he immediately turned around and started running.

He might die. With a sword strong enough to rend the earth, he knew he was literally a stumble or a slow reaction away from certain death. Once upon a time a battle with his life on stake had seemed as natural to him as eating berries; He hated it thoroughly, but it was something he needed to do it in order to survive. Months of traveling with the almighty Mew had given him a sense of security, one that he had come to enjoy and even rely on.

But as he ran, he saw Zerobi lying paralyzed on the ground in front of him. He had completely forgotten about her, and stopped himself as to not make the same mistake with her as he had with the small penguin, a mistake that still managed to fill him with guilt and remorse.

As he saw the hunter drawing nearer, the past few months suddenly felt like a fleeting dream. Here he was again, fighting for his life just to survive another day. Exerting himself… Fearing everyone… And once more, he was completely alone.

"… Hey asshole, you think I'm going to shy away just because you might cleave me in half!?" Lucario shouted defiantly as he fastened himself on the ground, "I've fought for my life before, and at least this time my death will be quick and painless if I fail! Hell, I'm grateful, really!"

The hunter ignored him and continued running towards them. However, Lucario suddenly started running towards him in return.

"But when you're trying to kill someone, you'd better watch out…" Lucario growled between gritted teeth while increasing his speed, "… They just might kill you instead!"

The hunter immediately halted when he saw Lucario's approach, and held up the flat side of the greatsword in front of him. Lucario's tackle connected with it, forcing the hunter stumbling backwards from the impact. Twisting the sword around in midair, the hunter used its velocity to deliver a quick swing towards Lucario, who instantly crouched down and threw his leg out in a sweeping motion. Losing his balance, the human was dragged by his heavy weapon and he tumbled to the side and hit the ground.

Wanting payback for what his opponent had tried to do to Zerobi, Lucario saw his chance and prepared a dropkick against the defenseless hunter. His leg came down hard, aimed directly at the human's head with enough force to easily snap his neck. In the very last second before impact, the hunter suddenly moved his head as he got to his knees, brandishing his two smaller swords from earlier. Lucario aborted his finishing blow and tried to dodge as the hunter suddenly thrust his two swords down towards his unused leg, and Lucario braced himself for the stabbing sensation that he knew was to follow.

However, there was no pain. Lucario looked down and saw that the two swords had been lodged into the ground around his foot, some kind of net dangling between them and covering his leg. When he looked back, the human had already gotten to his knees and was swinging the gigantic sword towards him. Lucario tried jumping back like before to dodge it, but tripped as he felt his leg tangled up in the net. Lacking a proper foothold, he did not even have time to realize what was happening before it was too late.

The massive sword struck against his right arm, plowing through it like an avalanche as it continued on and hit him in the side. Pain shooting through him, Lucario screamed as he was tossed away like a ragdoll by the strong impact. The hard ground felt like landing on a sea of soft pillows in comparison.

Expecting himself to be dead or at least a limb short, Lucario was surprised to notice that despite the great pain and a fairly large cut, his arm was still fully functional. Lucario realized that the hunter had not been able to put his full force behind the attack as he had standing on his knees, but judging from the damage he had just taken there was no longer any doubt in his mind. One good hit would be all that's necessary for him to be utterly destroyed. Again he marveled over how close he had come to actually dying, and imagined what a pathetic end to his life it would have been. Slain by a guy with a big sword, all while not even trying his best.

Gritting his teeth even harder this time, Lucario scorned. He had already used up the debut of the Aura Sphere he had worked so long to master, wasting his absolutely final trump card in a random encounter like this was unthinkable. Even so, he knew that death was even less preferable and decided to finish the battle once and for all.

"… Look closely, Zerobi…" Lucario muttered as he stood up, looking back at Zerobi to see if she was functional enough to give a response, "The time has come for me to use my ultimate skill… I was hoping to save this for a little longer, but better to be safe than sorry."

"It… Already… Missed…" Zerobi groaned painfully, somehow keeping a snarky tone to her voice despite being close to fainting.

"What I'm talking about is nothing like the Aura Sphere, or even the Aura Storm," Lucario said, hastily adding the last part as he realized he'd rather be using the Aura Storm had he learned how to, "I'm talking about the secret technique I developed in order to combat and defeat all the unreasonably powerful monsters in this world that want my ass."

Lucario hesitated, suddenly aware that even though the human had yet to say anything, he could still be able to understand the speech of Pokémon and might be preparing to dodge like before. A bitter smile crossed Lucario's face at the thought. With this technique, it would not make a difference even if he tried.

"It's strong; I believe it could even defeat someone like Mew before she could even blink…" Lucario continued undauntedly, "… And without a doubt, it will blow this asshole away even faster than that! Behold!"

With expectations soaring, Lucario took control over the aura in his body again, this time leading it along a different route through his body. It flowed calmly at first, but began to rage as it passed through unfamiliar territory, Lucario cursing himself for not having practiced more. Focusing with all his might, he forced the mitochondrion to continue towards their destination.

And then, things were no longer as calm as they had once been. A particularly large seepage of aura set off a chain reaction which instantly made Lucario's entire lower body explode into a ball of blue flames. Screaming loudly as the familiar pain spread through him and tore up his every nerve, Lucario crouched down and hunched over while shaking violently in agony.

"Not… Surprised…" Zerobi whispered with a sigh, Lucario's all too familiar display of self-inflicted pain making her feel a bit nostalgic.

"OWOWOW!" Lucario wailed as he bent over and clutched his right leg, "I SCREWED UP! RUN!"

"… Damn… You…" Zerobi wheezed as she made one last attempt to stand up. Not only did she find herself unable to move even a single inch, but she found her own eyelids growing heavier as she finally succumbed to the poison and fell into darkness.

"Shit!" Lucario growled menacingly while carefully caressing his sore legs, the most intensive pain beginning to subside but leaving a powerful ache in its wake. The damage told him that there would be no second attempts at using either the Aura Sphere or his trump card, and he shuddered at the thought of continuing the regular battle.

Suddenly, Lucario began to wonder why the human had not yet exploited his state of weakness like he had with Zerobi. Looking up, he noticed that the hunter was lying down on the ground, completely immobile. Confusion coursed through him as he for a moment thought his ultimate attack had somehow worked despite failing so spectacularly. The sun's glare was still strong despite having almost completely vanished behind the horizon, and it took him a few moments to see that there was something moving beside the fallen human. Something much bigger.

His overuse of the aura had left its sensory functions weakened, so he had not noticed anyone approaching and could still not feel anything from the new arrival. It was not until his eyes had completely adjusted to the sun that he began to make sense out of what it was. The sight shocked him even more than the hunter's sudden defeat.

"… I-Ivy…?" Lucario stammered with a surprised gasp. Standing next to his fallen foe with two vines outstretched was the first Pokémon he had ever befriended.

Her form was different, however. The flower he remembered sitting firmly on her back had moved itself to surround her neck, which in itself was many times longer than he recalled. Two large antennae protruded from her forehead, and her eyes were gleaming yellow unlike the deep red he had thought about so often. Lucario had heard a lot of talk about Pokémon evolving, but had not expected such a radical change. There was a nagging feeling at the back of his head that told him that despite the similar appearance, this was an entirely different Pokémon. While there was definitively something very familiar about the big flower, it felt even more intimate than what he had experienced with Ivy.

"Are you all right?" she asked with a gentle voice, one that was actually quite different from Ivy's, "Can you hear me?"

"… Yeah. Yeah, I'm just…" Lucario mumbled, withholding his questions in order to not make an ass out of himself like usual. Had it really been Ivy she would have said so or at least tried to kill him instead of asking how he's doing. The green Pokémon looked at him as he slowly rose to his feet, and as he got up he saw her pick up the hunter with one of her vines.

"Hey, be careful!" Lucario exclaimed with a worried tone to his voice, "He's strong, dangerous and-"

"Asleep," the big flower interrupted him as it smiled warmly, "Humans are quite susceptible to my special brand of Sleep Powder, but… Has it somehow affected your companion, as well?"

"… Zerobi!" Lucario suddenly exclaimed, turning around to see his incapacitated friend lying where he had left her. He ran to check her pulse, realizing that his knowledge regarding Weavile anatomy was severely lacking as he could not find even a single vein around her metallic wrist. Holding his hand in front of her mouth and looking closely at her upper body, he saw her chest rise a fall at a slow pace while feeling a slightly cold draft run through his fingers. He was relieved that she was still breathing, but her sleeping expression looked so tortured and painful that he could not find it in himself to rejoice.

"Ah, damn… That guy poisoned her, and she's completely out of it…" Lucario said out loud before leaning in closer and whispering in Zerobi's ear, "… I'm sorry…"

"Hmm… Never underestimate poison," the big flower replied as she seemed to drift off into an old memory for a moment, "I was actually on my way towards a place where she can be healed. I could carry her, if necessary."

"You'd do that!?" Lucario shouted in surprise as he snapped his head up and put his hands together, "Please! I'll be in your debt!"

"Oh, think nothing of it…" she replied peacefully, moving away from the hunter and carefully picking up Zerobi with two vines.

"Careful, don't let any blood get on her, she hates that…" Lucario warned as he moved away from them while trying to brush off some of his own blood, only succeeding in smearing it around more across his body. He sighed as the big flower placed Zerobi on her back and started walking towards the sunset, beckoning Lucario to follow.

"… Wait…" Lucario muttered with a hint of suspicion, still paranoid over his treatment by the legendaries, "… Did you really just happen to stumble upon us? Out here, right in the middle of nowhere?"

"… No. I scented blood and fear from a little further away and thought to see what had happened," she explained before noticing Lucario's confused expression and smiling warmly, "These antennae aren't just for show."

"Right…" Lucario said, ready to pull Zerobi away from the big flower should she try anything. Still, he could not shake the feeling that he had met this Pokémon before, but no matter how hard he tried to remember where it would only come up blank.

"Hey… I'm kind of new around these parts, so if you don't mind me asking…" Lucario said while cleverly disguising his real question, "… What kind of Pokémon are you?"

"Me?" the big flower responded as her expression brightened, "I am a-"