Welcome back! I'm so sorry to leave you all hanging like that. Long story short, I had finals for one semester, and had to prepare for the next semester. It's been a long time, but I have not forgotten my promise. This chapter will, in effect, be a filler chapter. It will exist solely for Zoroark's and Lucario's date, and so, will not have the standard starting or ending sequence the other chapters (excluding the teaser) had.
-Chapter 8: Starlight Past-
They had been traveling for over 15 minutes, trying to find this spot Zoroark said was perfect for viewing the sunset. It was getting dark, though, by the time that the two Pokémon reached the spot Zoroark had found during their travels. "So, is this a good spot?" Zoroark asked.
"Yes. This will do quite nicely," Lucario replied. "The sun will soon be done setting, but the stars will soon be out…"
There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. "I'm sorry that it took so long to get here," Zoroark apologized.
Lucario shrugged. "Truth be told, I prefer looking at the stars," she replied casually. After a brief moment of silence, she continued. "That was some battle, earlier."
"No kidding!" Zoroark exclaimed loudly. Lucario glared at him, and he lowered his voice. "I thought you were going to get cooked like a Tauros steak. What was he thinking?" He asked.
"Tsuyoi?" Lucario asked. "He trained alongside me in a volcano in the Sinnoh Region, where we'd met. There, we learned how to resist extremely high temperatures. That other trainer's Magmortar was only able to burn me because I had partially neglected my heat resistance training."
Zoroark nodded. "And the thing with your Bone Rush and that fire thing's Overheat?" He asked.
"I actually had never heard Tsuyoi say that before," Lucario replied, "but I assumed that using Bone Rush on that Overheat was what he wanted."
"Sounds like you two are really close," Zoroark said, curious.
"We are," Lucario replied, "because he treats me as a friend, and the addition of your trainer and Ash and his friends has not reduced our friendship."
"Speaking of Tsuyoi, he's really cool. He's sooo strong," Zoroark remarked. "It must be awesome having a strong human like him as a friend."
Lucario was silent, watching the first stars appearing in the dwindling sunset sky. "It is not bad, but it is not 'awesome'," she said after a while.
"What do you mean?" Zoroark asked, confused. He'd always thought that having great power made you awesome, cool, and hip.
"Tsuyoi lives in fear of his own power every day," Lucario replied grimly. "He lives in dread of the possibility of his own power corrupting him. You have dealt with a human corrupted by his own power, correct?" She asked. Zoroark said nothing, but shuddered in dread at the thought of the man who'd kidnapped him. Taking that as a 'yes', Lucario continued. "My friend has spent most of his time training to keep that power in check, but fearing that was not enough, he consulted my father, an Aura Shaman-"
"What's an Aura Shaman?" Zoroark asked, interrupting Lucario's sentence.
Lucario glared at Zoroark, but explained, "An Aura Shaman is a being who is extremely powerful in Aura. There are four levels of Aura Users: Initiate, Acolyte, Master, and Shaman. A human can be any of these. Anyways, Tsuyoi came to my father, asking for help in controlling his strong Aura. My father, sensing his fear at the possibility of it negatively affecting his mind, gave him special metal bindings on his shoulders to suppress his Aura to a controllable level. This did not solve the problem like Tsuyoi wanted, but it put him on the right path. After the suppressors were placed, Tsuyoi began changing. It was a slow one, but I noticed that he was slowly growing less… grim. He's no ball of sunshine, but he's not as dark and bitter as he once was. He has hope, hope that things will improve."
Zoroark looked at Lucario in wonder. "So that's why you were able to withstand the heat in that battle earlier, and how you were able to beat my trainer by yourself," he said. Lucario nodded, and the two sat there for a few hours, watching the stars as they appeared and shone in the sky.
After some time had passed, Lucario said, "We should get back to our trainers. They must be worried." Zoroark nodded, and the two made the trek back to the Cerulean City Pokémon Center. To their surprise, Tsuyoi and Sabrina were waiting for them.
"So, how was it?" Tsuyoi asked.
"It wasn't bad," Lucario replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Tsuyoi and Sabrina chuckled at Zoroark's surprised expression, and recalled their Pokémon. "Do you think Lucario has feelings for Zoroark?" Sabrina asked verbally.
"It wouldn't surprise me," Tsuyoi replied. "She said the date wasn't bad, so she's definitely warming up to him. We can't rush it, though."
Sabrina nodded in agreement, and the two retired to the Center's bedroom they'd rented for their friends.
Sorry if it seemed a bit rushed at the end, but I just wanted this to be a filler chapter. I promise the next chapter will feature some Dov, some Fus, and just a dash of Ro Dah. Those who know Elder Scrolls will know the hints I give.