Aaron called his Pidgeot, Lucario took a half step back as Aaron petted his beak with two fingers. The large bird that had intimidated her when she was a Riolu had also grown larger. He deftly leaped unto its back. Aaron motioned for Lucario to join him. It was a dream come true for her as she took her side next to him. They flew back to the castle, Pidgeot's impressive mane of yellow and red feathers beautifully streaked behind it in the starry night sky. Sir Aaron showed Lucario to her quarters at the castle when a young human appeared and began a torrent of questions at Aaron. He answered all of them with a patient calamity.
The next morning, the day began with a session of sunrise meditation on the highest point of the castle. Aaron explained that quieting the noise in one's spirit with the silence of an early morning was important before training.
The lessons began with Aaron showing Lucario the essence of Aura within all things, in every plant and Pokemon. They would go on excursions in the solitude of the forest to become more in tune with Aura. Lucario was already adept at sensing aura, and so Aaron began showing her the Aura within herself.
"Do as I do." Aaron said quietly, he took a battle stance and flowed into another stance. "You must feel the energy of your Aura, feel the waves roll like a river... And breathe…" Aaron inhaled slowly as Lucario matched his movements, pausing at each stance making sure it matched his.
He smiled and exhaled. "Keep going." Aaron poised himself behind her and gently took her black furred wrists in his gloved hands. She could feel his warmth through the material. He guided her motions to be more fluid. Lucario's red eyes went wide from him being so close to her. She could feel the sea of tranquility within him, it soothed her racing mind and she flowed with his movements, thoughts escaping from her mind.
"You must align yourself with the order of the universe, feel the power of all that was and that ever will be. Make yourself at peace and you will be able to become a Guardian of the Aura. You will gain the ability to concentrate, maintain and manipulate Aura: To see things as they truly are."
Lucario caught on quickly as Aaron's student. She would always call him master, and each time she did, he would politely decline her honorific and ask her to call him by his first name. They soon began more physical training. Light sparring sessions coupled with training with aura spheres left her sore and tired out. Aaron seemed to be unaffected; he had been doing the same training for years now.
They traveled off the worn path to a hot spring. "What sort of training will we practice here, Master Aaron?"
"You have been training hard lately, its time for a break. Please don't call me master, Lucario." He sat at the edge of the water, steam curling from the clear surface. He removed his boots and rolled up his pant legs.
"Come on, relax for a bit, Lucario." He patted the ground next to him. Lucario hesitated. Aaron wished that she would be a bit less high strung,
"Please? Why don't you consider this another form of training." He lightly tugged on her paw. Lucario gasped and blushed as she went downward. She settled next to him, and dipped her hind paws into the water. She was shocked by how warm the water felt, being used to the frigid water of the rivers that come from the mountain peaks.
"Feel good?" Lucario nodded and looked away smiling, hoping he wouldn't notice the red underneath her blue and black fur. Aaron was happy to see his friend enjoying the water. Both were listening to the sound of trickling water of a nearby stream. Lucario looked over to see her master staring at her, she was about to say something when he petted her head. She enjoyed his small sign of affection immensely, her long blue tail began to wag.
"I must thank you for all your hard work, you have come far in a very short amount of time." It all stopped too soon for her. Aaron had wished he removed his gloves before he did that. He was curious to see if her fur was as soft as it looked. Lucario's heart filled with a familiar feeling, it was the upwelling of pride from his words, a feeling she remembered as a Riolu.
When they were well rested, they traveled off the path to one of the largest mountains in the area. They began to climb to its peak as the next phase of training. They came across a narrow ledge that needed to be traversed.
"Hone yourself, keep your mind in harmony and you will be balanced." They flattened themselves to the dirt wall and tip toed their way across. Lucario hesitated from looking at the steep slope downward and stepped wrong. A rock loosened and chunks of earth collapsed under her paw. She tried grasping at the ground, but the dirt was too moist to hold its shape and Lucario continued to fall. Aaron leaped off the ledge without another thought, he dug his staff into the slope to slow his descent. It hit a subterranean boulder and he tumbled head over heels down.
The two landed into a pile of muddy run off from the steep hill. Aaron spat a mouthful of dirt and shook his dizzy head, "Lucario….?"
"Over here, Master…" She tried to get to her feet but suddenly fell forward. Aaron looked over to see Lucario facing him with a thick layer of gooey mud caked on her muzzle. He put a hand over his mouth trying not to be rude but broke into a bout of laughter instead. A tall blue ear went back. Lucario scooped a paw full of mud and hurled it at him. It landed with a plaff on his face, knocking off his hat. Aaron wiped off the muck and flicked it away, a wide grin lighting up his face.
"Such a defiant act from my favored pupil!" he said with mock hurt in his voice, Aaron laughed jovially with Lucario and treaded over to her. Lucario found that her hind paw was stuck in a small sink hole. Her red eyes caught her master's pale hand in front of her. Her gaze traveled up the length of his arm to his caring cobalt eyes. He had taken off his long sleeved glove to hold her paw with a clean hand. She marveled at how amazing he was despite being covered in muck. Her paw met his hand. Aaron hoisted her up, the move was sudden and nearly caused her to fall into him. She stopped herself and blushed at what could have happened. Aaron was happy to find that her fur really was as soft as it looked.
After an uncomfortable walk back, they made it to the hot springs again. Aaron grabbed a bar of soap from his traveling pack and leaped into the tepid water without his boots. He dunked himself under and broke the surface shaking his wet locks and exhaling. He stood in the waist high water and sloshed the clumps of drying mud from his clothes.
Lucario was much more careful entering the water. She gingerly dipped one hind paw in, and then the other. Aaron splashed her for being slow. She shook beads of water from her pelt and retaliated with a wave of water.
"You're not allowed to use Aura against me!" Aaron called playfully as he sent a bubble of water her way. Lucario caused an upwelling of water to shoot up to absorb the attack. He was expecting to see her soaking wet but was mistaken.
"Where…?" Lucario suddenly jumped from underneath the surface and tackled into him. Aaron was shocked, she had suppressed her aura to sneak up on him. The water foamed from their games as the dirt cleared from their bodies.
Later Aaron's cape and other garments were hanging on low branches to dry. Aaron had started a fire with some wood that Lucario collected. He sat back and gazed up at the stars.
"Aren't they a magnificent sight?" he said suddenly. Lucario nodded and stared at his face. She wanted to smooth the dark hair that was obscuring his good looks from her. But even more than that, she wanted to tell him how much he meant to her, how much she looked up to him and how much she wanted to be with him.
"Yes, Lucario?" Aaron broke his trance from the heavens above to look at his student. Her tail went rigid as she became flustered, "Nothing… Master.."
She tried to shake the irrationality that was nagging her mind. "But….It's just that…." She chickened out again. "I was wondering where you got your gloves and staff?"
"I first got the gloves as a present from Alice. Later, I got the wooden staff from a fallen branch while I was observing the Tree of Life. I had the feeling it was a gift from the guardian spirit, so I took it and made a staff. As for the stones, I found those in a cave that was also by the tree of life. I was running away from a pair of Graveler. I had accidently stumbled on their nesting site and they were furious. They shook the ground and sent boulders at me. I ended up falling through a pit and they stopped their pursuit when they lost sight of me. My heart was beating from the chase and then an odd blue light caught my eye. It was coming from a rock that had split open from the Gravelers' attacks. The stronger my Aura was, the stronger the vibrations were within the blue stone. The stones resonated to enhance my specific Aura, and so I place them on my gloves and staff."
Lucario had fallen asleep during his story. Aaron saw this and threw another log onto the flame to do the same. He took a moment to look at her sleeping for a moment. She was much more to him than just another Pokemon. He cared greatly for his Pidgeot, but it was a completely different relationship he had with her. She sure was interesting to him. He wondered where she might have come from, he had never seen another Lucario before. He found himself rubbing his eyes and knew it was time for sleep.