I felt like I dodged a big opportunity when I simply skipped the part of these two watching a movie together. So, here's a nice replacement that fulfills that missed chance.
From now on, the newly-introduced chapters shall be given short summaries in the main summary of the story. At the end of the story, the summary will regain its permanent description.
I encourage all movie fanatics to read on, enjoy, and review.
Chapter 10: A Movie Night
The hot summer season was still at large, Lucario could tell once he woke up to feel the room's temperature. Luckily, the air conditioner made the room feel refreshing instead of unnecessarily warm. Thus, he managed to avoid sweating so much and, even better, stink. He didn't want to look so ridiculous in front of the only person who was taking care of him day by day.
Shrugging at the thought of sweat, Lucario focused on the teen lying down on the bed. He was sleeping still, but Lucario wanted to see what else he would learn. Unfortunately, he had a guess: reading. If he read another book, he was going to fall asleep. He briefly thought that letters shouldn't have been made in the first place. He also thought that talking was just enough, but apparently reading was a dire life skill. The Riolu inside of him pouted at him, feeling that he should suck it up.
Chris's yawn snapped Lucario out of his thoughts. "Good morning…" Chris muttered.
"Good morning," Lucario said, flashing a small smile. "I didn't wake up sweating this time. Thank you."
"Oh, I see…" Chris said, glad that he wasn't going to clean a sweating spot on the floor again. "That takes care of it."
Lucario nodded. "So after breakfast, what are we going to do?" he asked, sounding a bit eager. The teen could tell that the aura wielder was slowly defrosting his supposed cold indifference.
"You're going back to reading, of course." Lucario groaned mentally while in the outside he simply stared at Chris with a small hint of disbelief. "Like I told you before, you need to learn how to read to enjoy the rest of the lessons I have in mind…"
Shaking the thought that Chris was secretly torturing him for the unfortunate event days ago, Lucario nodded. Though he did recall that he was convinced to learn how to read, Lucario's conviction was fading away. "I hope I can get the hang of it soon," he muttered, sounding a tad depressed.
"It's…proving to be a difficult lesson for you," Chris began, "but with some dedication, you'll learn very soon. You can do it."
Lucario looked at Chris and smiled. "Thank you for your support," he said. The teen chuckled heartily, and the Riolu beamed with glee. "I'm kind of getting used to having fun instead of training…but it's not like I don't want to train soon."
"Oh, I'll try training you soon enough," Chris said. "I really look forward to that day. For now, you're going back to reading."
The day was not going to be good.
Before he knew it, the day went by to Lucario as he struggled to fend off thousands of letters laughing at his face. He was told by Chris to read the same book he started off with. Because he frequently kept forgetting the pronunciation of certain words, Lucario could only growl in defiance. Chris felt so sorry for him that he helped the big Anubis-like Pokémon read correctly. The end result was Lucario falling asleep and resting his face on Chris's head. Both got startled and immediately regained their focus on the book.
It was getting late now. It was early night, and Lucario started to show promise of being a newbie reader. All that mattered to him was to finish the dreadful book and get to the good stuff, whatever it was. The teen didn't let him down with his interesting lessons so Lucario was excited all the same; excited about tossing the book far away from his sight.
The two were sitting down on the couch of the living room. As Lucario closed the book, Chris said, "Good job, Lucario! You've gotten a little farther into reading!"
Lucario preened a bit. "The words don't seem to laugh at my face," he said, to which Chris gave him a weird look. "Uh, I mean, they're not so hard to read anymore."
"Okay… Your weird imagination aside, I think you deserve a gift to reward your efforts."
This took the tall Aura Pokémon by surprise. A gift? What would Chris give to him? The closest thing that Lucario thought was a heavy dumbbell, but it didn't seem true. "A gift?" Lucario wondered.
"Yes," Chris said, smiling up at him. "It's related to the TV, except even better…I think." He stood up and walked back to his room. "Wait right there for a bit."
Lucario stared at the teen until he disappeared from sight. Blinking, he faced forward and noticed the widescreen TV sitting directly in front of the couch. He had seen some TV programs before. But what else was there for him to see? Before, he would mindlessly switch channels to find something interesting. If he knew how to read, he would have certainly found something good, but this wasn't the case. When he realized that he could read a bit, Lucario thought that he would read descriptions better.
Reading was really a necessary skill after all, he thought.
As he stared at his reflection on the TV, Chris came back, carrying a small box. The Lucario looked at him and then at the box.
…Wait, that character on the box wasn't…
Lucario's eyes widened. On the box Chris had brought, there was a fierce-looking Lucario about to use an Aura Sphere, as a wide assortment of characters surrounded it. He could spy a Pikachu and some kid, for example, along with some others he didn't know about. "That's…a Lucario," Lucario said. On the box's cover, he could read, "Lucario & the Mystery of Mew."
"I think it's about time you get to see a movie," Chris said, smiling a bit. "Let this be your reward for working so hard in your lessons."
The Aura Pokémon wasn't very familiar with movies. He was a little familiar with TV programs, but a movie was a bit unheard of to him. The fact the first movie he was going to watch had a Lucario in it really piqued his interest even more. "Are we going to watch it?"
"Yes," Chris said. "It's really going to be so exciting!" There was a positive change in his aura that Lucario sensed right away. It was overflowing with happiness. "I mean, getting a real Pokémon like you watch one of your own through this way… I can hardly believe that this is happening!"
"Uh…" Lucario stared at the teen for a long time.
Chris blinked. "What?"
"It's just… Your aura was radiating such positive waves that I got surprised after sensing them…"
"…" The teen blushed. "U-um, I see…" he sheepishly said. "(I guess I got a bit too carried away with the idea of showing him this particular movie… How embarrassing…)"
Lucario looked back at the box. "…So, are we watching that now?" he asked. "I want to see another Lucario. I hardly got to see any back in my home…" He wasn't too sure about any memories he had of his world. Lucario blamed himself that his memories of the past were a mystery to him.
In fact, his memories of his trainer were not even there. This shocked him a lot. The Riolu in his mind had a feeling that Lucario had no life before he was pulled out from the video game through a twisted play of fate, but the Aura Pokémon knew full well that, as a Pokémon, his destiny was to go back to Sinnoh and reunite with his trainer.
The trainer he vaguely knew.
Hearing something open outside his train of thoughts, Lucario blinked and saw Chris crouching down in front of the TV, inserting a disc into a machine. Pressing Play, the teen chuckled and went over to sit next to Lucario, grabbing a nearby controller to turn the TV back to life. "I hope you like this movie," Chris said. He gasped and then stood up as the movie started. "Oh, that reminds me… I purposely didn't say what we were going to eat to make this look like a surprise. I'm going to feed you…I mean, hand you over some new food." He walked off to the kitchen, turning the lights off so that the TV's light shone on the furniture.
Lucario was a bit amazed that he was doing this. Here he was, a serious Pokémon doing a mundane activity that proved to be entertaining. Truly, Pokémon like him were missing a lot, but he wondered if there were others like him that could do the same things he did. His Herculean strength was surely not shared among others, but could they hold forks and eat human food just fine? Chris had said he was special in many ways…
"Pi-ka!"
Startled by the noise, Lucario saw an image of a Pikachu on the TV. For a moment, he thought one was somewhere in the house. Soon, the movie started…
There was a raging war between two armies. And from far away, a figure was jumping from boulder to boulder. It was the Lucario he had seen. Blinking at seeing another one of his species, the Lucario in the real world leaned forward for a bit. He saw the Lucario use his aura to examine the landscape, which was covered in a thick dust cloud that prevented normal sight to see through. The Lucario picked up a massive amount of auras: two warring armies fighting each other.
Stopping, the Lucario went over to a crystal. He placed a hand on it to communicate to somebody; someone named Sir Aaron in a far away castle. The man wearing some particular clothes talked to him before he went over to climb a Pidgeot, trying to go fly over to the battlefield to prevent damage to the sacred tree far away.
Lucario saw his fellow individual being attacked by three Houndoom. After trying to lose them, the Lucario found himself cornered, but then he formed a blue sphere with a single palm, firing off an Aura Sphere.
"That was…an Aura Sphere," Lucario breathed out, seeing the Lucario shooting an Aura Sphere to each Houndoom standing to his sides. Seeing the other Lucario use the signature move, Lucario felt undermined; jealous, even, to see another one like himself pull out the move without much trouble. He clenched his hands, but his full attention was drawn to the TV again.
Lucario saw Sir Aaron being ambushed by Skarmory. After trying to fend them off, the young man leapt down to find the other Lucario. The man told his loyal partner that he alone needed to go to the tree, but the other Lucario protested to go with him. The Lucario in the real world widened his eyes as he saw the man toss his scepter right in front of the other Aura Pokémon, capturing his very soul and body inside the sphere on top of the scepter.
From there, a Ho-oh Lucario had seen went to the tree, where it transformed into Mew, revealing its true form. The tree then began to glow brightly in a green light that spread out to the who-
"I brought you some soda and popcorn!"
Lucario shook his head, startled, and looked to his left. He saw an optimistic Chris holding two glasses with soda with his hands and a large bucket that contained some sort of puffy-looking things that fell down to the sides. Lucario looked back at the movie before Chris carefully put a glass in front of him. "U-um, for me?" Lucario asked. He was completely drawn to the movie to care about anything else. Realizing this, he gasped and took the glass without a second thought.
Then he realized that he had never drunk soda before. Distracted by the glass of soda in his hand, Lucario looked at Chris sitting next to him, putting the bucket between them. "I've never given you soda before," Chris pointed out. "I hope Pokémon don't get sick drinking it…"
Ignoring a woman reading a story to her daughter in the movie, Lucario stared at the dark brown liquid inside the glass that felt small in his large hand. He could spot bubbles surfacing on top, and he for a moment thought that the beverage was poison. He was a Steel-type, so poison was useless against him. Even then, Chris would never poison him. There was no malice whatsoever in his aura. Shrugging, Lucario carefully took a sip.
His eyes widened a bit, and Chris wasn't looking at the movie to see his reaction just to be sure that he hadn't committed a mistake.
"…How is it?" Chris asked, as the movie started to display its title.
Lucario moved his head down and sighed silently. "It's…very good," he said, a small smile forming on his lips. He quickly licked them. "This is really good."
Chris looked happy. "Oh, I'm so glad it did," he said. "Don't worry about drinking too much. There's a lot of soda in the fridge, not to mention the popcorn."
"Popcorn?" Lucario looked back at the bucket sitting between them. He smelled a faint butter flavor that he was not very familiar with. The movie was now showing a group of four characters and a Pikachu walking through the large bridge that led to the town that was connected to the castle.
The young teen picked three pieces of popcorn and ate them. "Go ahead!" he said. "If you liked the soda, you'll like this as well."
Lucario thought that he was energized just drinking the soda, and then he thought that Chris was possibly training him by giving him food. Looking optimistic himself, Lucario grabbed quite a handful of popcorn with a free hand and tried his best to eat it all in one go. He failed miserably since half of it fell to his sides.
As for the popcorn that did get in, he munched it. The popcorn gave away easily to his fangs, and he could hear some small, squeaky noises as he crunched them. The butter calmly spread to his tongue, where he tasted a nice flavor. It wasn't as plentiful as the steaks he had eaten, but it wasn't so bad. "Hmm, it's good," Lucario said, nodding to Chris.
"Sweet," Chris said, looking a bit dismayed at the popcorn on Lucario's lap. "But…be careful not to make a mess with it. Don't try to grab too much popcorn."
Embarrassed that there was a mess of popcorn on his lap, Lucario blushed a bit and stared down at the mess. Thinking that it would look unsanitary to just put the popcorn back to the bucket, Lucario shyly took each piece and eat it. When he noticed that Chris was looking at him, he blinked, and Chris then chuckled. While Lucario chuckled back, the Riolu in his mind laughed. After teaching him how to eat and drink while watching the movie, the two resumed watching.
A little time later after watching the introductory scene, Lucario was curious about the trainer and his Pikachu that were shown prominently in the movie. "Chris, I don't want to lose time asking this, but…"
Chris knew that Lucario would ask questions during the movie, so he used the control to pause it. Lucario felt thankful that there was such an option to pause the movie itself. "Yes?" Chris said.
"Why are the kid and the Pikachu shown a lot?"
"Oh, you mean Ash and Pikachu…" Chris nodded. "Well, you see, I don't believe you haven't seen the anime series for Pokémon, right?"
Lucario was confused about the statement. "Anime…series?"
"You know, the stuff with pure action you saw on TV on occasion," the teen pointed out. "There's a whole program for Pokémon where these two in the movie are the main characters."
"I see…" Lucario made a mental note about searching for the program.
"Except, well, Ash is kind of like the face of the anime. He will never, EVER leave the position. He's been through three different regions," Chris explained. "It's been like seven or so years ever since Pokémon came to be what it is today. And his Pikachu, who refuses to evolve, is pretty much the main mascot of the whole franchise. When I say franchise, I mean Pokémon."
The Aura Pokémon grimaced, his hand lifelessly putting popcorn in his mouth. Chris miraculously ignored how he had turned into a TV of sorts. "His Pikachu refuses to evolve?" Lucario questioned. "That's…a bit ridiculous. He basically does not want to get stronger. Surely, though, this Ash person wants to get powerful Pokémon like all other trainers, right?"
Chris made a face.
"…Unbelievable," Lucario muttered. "I can't believe a trainer doesn't want to evolve their Pokémon… At least he evolves his other Pokémon, right?"
Chris hung his head down a bit.
"…I…feel so much pity for him," Lucario said. "…Well, since he is the face of…the anime, I think, that means he's at least a competent trainer who wins the leagues he participates, right?"
Chris chuckled nervously.
"…" The Aura Pokémon was wondering why this Ash was even so important to care about. "…Why do people even like him?"
"No idea," Chris admitted. "And me? I just don't have anything else to watch Saturday mornings other than the anime… In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the program got high ratings just because the programming block sucks compared to the decency the anime has compared to all of them, which the anime just barely holds up to everything else."
Lucario stared at Chris. "Why would you put yourself through that?"
"Blame the fact I'm blissfully wishing that Ash gets to win a league at last," Chris explained. "But I don't think the people that make the anime would make him suck so bad for the Hoenn region or the Sinnoh region. If he doesn't win any of those two, then…I will completely lose hope and ignore whatever else they come up with. I just can't stand supporting such a loser while I can clear said leagues very easily like any other guy… Of course, I only play the games, but still…"
"That is…such a dramatic way to put it, I admit," Lucario said, drinking his soda.
"Indeed. That answers your question?" Lucario nodded. "Okay, then let's go back to watch the movie. At least it won't suck." Lucario nodded once more and the movie resumed.
The two watched a ball commencing after seeing Ash hear a mysterious voice coming out from somewhere. Lucario could tell it came from the scepter, which was the same scepter that held the other Lucario. Later on, the characters' Pokémon snuck out to the attic to do their own stuff. As the ball continued, Ash was prohibited to eat food because it would not be something a hero would do.
"Oh, please," Lucario said, rolling his eyes. "A hero is not allowed to eat food. It's like they want him to starve."
Chris stifled a small chuckle. "I-I guess you could put it that way…" The teen was amazed that Lucario could comment on those small, harmless moments with so much snarkyness to back it up. There was more to Lucario than met the eye, Chris thought.
The time passed as the duo watched the events unfold. Lucario got a bit depressed that he had finished his soda already, but there was a lot of popcorn left. Chris offered to go get him some more, and Lucario nodded in appreciation, handing his empty glass to the teen. Once Chris came back with a cold soda drink, he arrived just in time to see Ash stand up to do the hero's pose like in the big picturesque wall next to him.
Suddenly, the scepter reacted violently, and a light shot out to the other side of the room to reveal that the Lucario had been released. Lucario blinked once he saw the other Lucario using his aura ability to sense the surrounding areas. He then focused on Ash's aura, which was apparently the same wavelength as Aaron's aura.
Lucario had learned through watching that a specific button on the control would stop the movie. When he looked down at it, he found the word "pause" under a button, and he pressed it. For a brief moment, he relished that his reading skill allowed him to complete a task by himself without Chris's aid. He felt proud. "Why did you stop the movie?" Chris asked. "…Oh, wait, you stopped it by yourself without explanations? You're learning fast!"
The Aura Pokémon looked proud, but he thought that he could pause the movie to ask questions so that he wouldn't interrupt with his voice. With that in mind, he felt thankful. "I wanted to point out that aura does not work that way," Lucario said, looking a bit upset.
"What?"
"That Lucario… He just said that Ash's aura was the same as Sir Aaron's," Lucario said. He shook his head as he said, "The aura for each individual is different, but at times it can be similar. Yet, he claims those two have the same aura."
"I…see…" Chris trailed off, confused a bit. But Lucario moved on with his explanation.
"Of course, auras can be passed down to others in a family," Lucario said. "The child of a parent may have almost the same aura wavelength, but not completely the same. As a Lucario, though, I can easily discern what auras are brought about by their origin… So, if you were to put me in the middle of a crowd, I would tell you which auras came from other people in my range."
Chris was still confused, but he listened intently. "Uh, wow, that's incredible," he said.
"…" Lucario looked back at the TV. "However, I don't really believe how there can be two same auras… Even if there were two clones, both wouldn't have the same auras…"
The teen wanted to find some answer for the Pokémon's doubt. "…Maybe reincarnation happened?"
"…I don't believe too much in reincarnation myself…" Lucario shook his head. "Um, maybe I'm being too nitpicky about this… Oh well, let's continue watching the movie. Maybe there's a believable explanation."
At this, Chris sighed and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if Ash was once again the hero of a prophecy for the umpteenth time."
"…Fiction can be so illogical, so…" Lucario sighed. "What a cheap way of explaining things… Is this what my expertise has become? A mere thing that has some unbelievable explanations that makes no sense whatsoever?"
Chris patted the Lucario's back. "Believe me. This is just the tip of the iceberg."
"…"
"Which I mean that this is just the beginning."
"Oh, Arceus…" Lucario didn't know what button to press to resume the movie. After a moment of silence, Chris pressed Play. Lucario mentally remembered which button that was, said button not having the word Play. The Pokémon thought the controller was also being cheap to him.
The duo came to the scene where the confused Lucario ran outside to examine his new surroundings. He camr upon a hall where he was confronted by the others about his doubts. Case in point, it ended with the Lucario being hugged by the princess. Then, the movie paused thanks to Chris, keeping the shot of the Lucario looking away in complete and utter shock. "I wonder if you'd react just like that if a girl were to hug you," Chris wondered with a sly smile.
"I would probably end up stabbing her with my chest spike," Lucario said, looking at his chest spike, "and possibly kill her."
"…Way to kill the mood…instead."
Lucario closed his eyes. "Hugging me…is out of the question," he simply said, and the movie resumed.
Luckily, it turned out that Ash had a similar aura pattern like Aaron.
"Oh, thank goodness," Lucario said without pausing the movie. "I lost faith in this for a moment."
Then, shortly, the group was informed by Max about a sudden attack in the attic that deprived Pikachu (and an annoying Meowth as Lucario thought) from the castle due to Mew's appearance taking them both far away to the Tree of World's Beginning. To further explain the events, the one who owned the Weavile that attacked them, a woman named Kid, added up the case with her explanations.
"…Wait," Lucario paused the movie and looked at Chris, "she caused the whole problem with her Weavile in the first place and yet she doesn't mention that?"
"Here's a spoiler…" Chris trailed off. "She never does bring that up."
"…All for the sake of looking good," Lucario said, frowning. "I hope that Lucario picks a negative wave from her."
"He pretty much seems to dislike everyone."
"Just my luck…"
During the night, the Lucario entered an unlit ball room where he stared at some tapestries of Sir Aaron. He suddenly jumped to the wall to hide from a presence. Ash then came into the hall before the Lucario pinned him down. After Ash complained to him, the Lucario got off and explained to him that he was upset about Sir Aaron leaving him behind without any reason.
"…" Lucario could feel a little bit of empathy, relating how he himself got into a similar situation. He sighed mentally as he glanced at Chris for a little while. But he was actually enjoying his time in the real world along with Chris's company, not unlike the other Lucario. There was a difference between the two of them beyond their physical attributes.
A small while later, the duo watched the team going to the tree to find Pikachu. During their trip, they took a break to eat lunch while the Lucario sat on a boulder away from them, eating some nearby berries. The movie paused thanks to Chris. "I'm so glad that you're not like him," Chris said. "I really like how social you are when you're not angry."
Lucario smiled a bit. "Thanks," he said. The movie resumed, though the Riolu rejoiced how Lucario felt about the little remark.
They saw the team stopping in front of an area full of geysers and steaming water. Wanting to have fun, they went there to relax a little more before reaching the tree. Lucario watched as the other Lucario had a vivid memory of Sir Aaron and himself enjoying a break at the hot springs too. Suddenly, the memory was interrupted by Ash telling the Lucario to join them, but he responded by scoffing and walking away from the group.
"He really is missing a lot," Lucario said without stopping the movie, drinking from his soda and eating popcorn. "Has he ever taken a bath, I wonder? It feels just like that."
"Yes, he's missing a lot," Chris said, smiling at Lucario. "And you're getting into a lot of stuff later on as the days pass."
The Aura Pokémon felt excited about what other things there were for him to learn. Surely, the other Lucario was never going to get the chance.
The two watched the movie. During another night, Ash said to the group that tomorrow was going to be the day he'd get Pikachu back, to which the Lucario commented that he should just leave Pikachu since he is somehow related to Sir Aaron. Angered by this, Ash tackled Lucario down to a hill and into a pond where the two started fighting each other. After a struggle, the Lucario walked off, saying that people are just as cruel as ever.
Lucario paused the movie, recalling back how he almost hurt – and possibly killed – Chris several days ago. He grunted, frowning at the memory. "After seeing that scene…it made me think about…"
Chris had a nagging feeling that told him that Lucario was thinking about the frightful event. "Please… Don't let it trouble you any longer," Chris said, sounding worried. "It's already a thing of the past. The two of us got better in the end."
"…" Lucario stared worried at Chris. "You truly don't feel scared of me anymore?"
"…A…bit…" Chris managed to say, not content with the answer. "…But still, you're just…very likeable that makes me forget about that." He forced a smile. "You're still awesome to me."
The Aura Pokémon flashed a small smile. The Riolu inside of him looked sharp, serious about keeping the teen safe at all costs from his older self.
The movie continued, showing the Lucario having a memory where he and Sir Aaron trained together. He had his eyes covered with a piece of cloth as swinging logs tried to push him back. But without using his sight or hearing, the Lucario used his fresh aura senses to avoid the logs.
Lucario blinked, watching the training with intent. Suddenly, he grabbed the remote and paused the movie. "That is a kind of training I wish to do," he said. "My aura acts like a sixth sense that lets me sense incoming movements just as long as I have the skill in play."
Chris tilted his head. "What do you mean by having your skill in play?" he asked.
"I don't have my aura sense active all the time because I don't want to unwillingly read other people's emotions and their clouded minds," Lucario pointed out, drinking his soda. "However, it does activate by itself if there is danger coming my way, and I have good reflexes for such occasions…" He stared at the still image on the screen. He recalled that Chris wanted to train him. "…Do you think it'd be possible for you to give me training like that?"
The teen thought about the possibilities. "I suppose there are some similar ways I could give to you…" he trailed off, thinking about said ways. He smiled a bit and nodded. "Soon enough, I'll have you dodging bricks or something. It'll be a sight to watch."
Lucario chuckled confidently. As the movie resumed, he felt that his stomach was getting filled up… He wasn't eating too much popcorn, and he didn't know why his stomach bloated a bit. He just shrugged and asked Chris to go get some more soda for him. The teen complied and did as he was told to. When he returned, Lucario had seen the infamous chocolate scene.
"I think he is starting to open up to others," Lucario said. "He ate a chocolate from Max and smiled for a moment."
"Do you want to eat chocolate?" Chris asked, taking out a chocolate bar.
Lucario blinked at the open candy. Instead of taking the soda, he went straight for the brown item. Smelling it a bit, he found no taste, but he bit a small chunk of it. The chocolate melted inside his warm mouth, and he liked the strong but sweet taste that washed over his tongue. "Hmm, it's also very good," Lucario said.
"Just be careful not to eat too much of it," Chris said. "It kind of puts a lot of weight on you…and I'm not so sure if Pokémon can get rashes."
"…" Lucario put the chocolate away on the table. "In that case…I think I won't eat it too much." The teen chuckled, and Lucario smiled back.
It's been a few weeks, and Lucario was starting to notice how close he was growing to Chris. It felt wrong to him that Chris wasn't his trainer, yet the Riolu inside his mind was extremely grateful and happy to be with the teen. All the stuff he was learning every day was very entertaining…and fun, even. The memories of his home were slowly being replaced by his new experiences.
Those vague memories of his original trainer still held their spot fervently…but were those memories important?
Lucario gasped mentally, and he decided to focus back on the movie.
The movie reached a point where Ash had heard Pikachu's voice. Getting out from Kid's car, he found the Lucario on a rock. The two engaged on a conversation about how Ash and Pikachu were inseparable friends for life; a theme that the Lucario didn't understand because of how he felt that Sir Aaron treated him like a servant instead of a friend.
Lucario didn't want to pause the movie after listening to that scene. He looked away, a worried look creeping on his face. He and his trainer were supposed to be inseparable, yet there he was, sitting next to a friendly person who wished the best for him. If he were to compare the situations between he and the other Lucario, he would most definitely say that not everything was so bad and that he was having so much fun being around Chris. But his heart ached for returning to Sinnoh with his trainer… Why was the Riolu barking at him now?
Lucario barely ignored the scene where the other Lucario activated a Time Flower to watch the event that deprived him of his freedom during the war. Horrified at the scene as the warring armies surrounded them, the Lucario started throwing Aura Spheres everywhere before Ash yelled at him to stop. Things calmed down as the Time Flower stopped, Ash apologizing to Lucario for all the things he said to him. Surprisingly, the Lucario smiled and agreed with Ash on his notion that Sir Aaron did the best for him.
Then, Lucario decided to pause the movie, reflecting on what the Lucario had said. "…Chris…" Lucario looked down at the teen. "…Do you think it was for my own good to be here in this world?"
"I… Uh…" Chris looked a bit sad. "That's… I don't know..."
Lucario shook his head. "Please, you must have an answer," he said. "After hearing him say that it was for his own good, I quickly started to wonder if it's for my own good to be here…with you." He secretly emphasized the last two words greatly, but it was the Riolu's doing.
"…Look," Chris said, falling silent for a moment. "…If you want my honest opinion…I'd say that…you were given an opportunity to experience a new life. Sure, you kind of got dragged into this without your consent, just like the Lucario in the movie, but…" He fell silent once more as Lucario stared down with a worried expression at him. "…Let me ask you this, Lucario. Do you like being here, even if that doesn't…necessarily mean that you don't want to stay in this world any longer to return back to your world?"
Lucario thought hard about the question, though part of him told him that a positive answer would hurt Chris's feelings after hearing the second part of the question. "…I…I do like it here," Lucario admitted. "…" He shook his head and looked serious. "However, if there's no way to go back to my world, I won't complain about it."
Chris blinked. "What?"
Lucario forced a smile. "You are…" He wanted to say, "You are a very precious person to me just to leave behind," but he corrected the rest of his statement. "You are very important to me."
Thinking again, his corrected statement sounded awfully close to what he avoided to say. He beat himself up a bit, but the Riolu rejoiced loudly as he hopped on his spot.
"…Oh… Um…" Chris blushed embarrassed, a smile coming up to his lips. He looked away. "T-that's a nice reason, I think… Seriously? Are you being serious?" He shook his head. "I can't just be the reason you want to stay here anyway…"
"A-ah, you're…probably right," Lucario admitted, blushing in embarrassment. "M-maybe I like that many lessons you're teaching me." His new statement just seemed to reinforce the fact that he wanted to stay in the real world. The Riolu laughed with glee.
"…H-hey, let's not ignore the movie," Chris said. Lucario agreed and the movie resumed. Chris's hand tried to grab some popcorn, but Lucario quickly burrowed his large hand in the bucket. The teen gasped and quickly laughed a bit as Lucario chuckled.
Several minutes later into the movie, there was a lot of action involved as the group had moved into the tree's innards, where it turned out that it was being guarded by the Regi Trio. Furthermore, the tree had a very morbid defense system: red blobs that consumed all intruders into nothingness.
Lucario shuddered. He liked the action very much, but the fact that the red blobs were getting rid of people frightened him a bit. The Pokémon were left unharmed, but still… "And…this is supposed to be a children's movie?" he asked.
"You should play the Kirby games," Chris said. Lucario looked confused at the suggestion, but they went back to watching the movie.
Ash and Pikachu were reunited once more, and Ash presented his Pokémon to Lucario, who started to understand the deeper relationship between human and Pokémon from the two close friends. Later on, the moving scene was broken once Ash was swallowed by the red blobs. Just then, Mew watched the Pokémon lamenting their loss, and so it used its power to stop the security system of the tree, bringing everyone consumed by the blobs back out from the innards.
Sadly, Mew had taken quite a lot of energy trying to stop the system, and so the tree's crystals turned bright red. Lucario listened to the fact that the tree became unstable due to Mew's meddling, and now the tree's demise would dispel doom to the world.
The movie then paused thanks to Lucario. "Why would this single, enormous tree destroy the world?" he asked. "Is the whole Pokémon world connected to the tree because it can't just live by its own? I don't remember there being such an important tree."
Chris shrugged. "Well, you see… This movie we're watching is based on your world," he explained. "Therefore, you really didn't come from…the anime, I guess. You came from the game itself. In other words, the anime and the game are separate from each other. Think of it as two different stories based on the same topic."
"Oh, I see. That makes much more sense."
The duo came to the last scenes of the movie where the group found the core room of the tree. Inside, Lucario found Sir Aaron trapped inside a crystal formation. Confused by this, the Lucario then noticed that Ash found a Time Flower with a recording. It played a past memory of Sir Aaron using his own aura to deliver power for Mew to keep the tree from being destroyed. Mew then dove into the core to restore the land with its newly energized power. However, the transfer of aura energy put a heavy toll on Sir Aaron, as he was then encased in crystals till the present day.
Lucario leaned forward, curious as to what was going to happen. He started to drink more soda.
The Lucario knew what they needed to do: transfer energy into Mew so it could revitalize the tree. However, he tried to give his aura to Mew and found out too late that he wasn't strong enough to do so. Ash then recalled that he had the same aura patterns like Sir Aaron and, putting on the late guardian's gloves, he learned that the gloves gave him the ability to channel his aura into Mew.
Lucario felt that his stomach was getting abnormally bloated, but he didn't care much. He was enthralled by the scene, which seemed pretty legit. "Transferring aura to another one's body is a true fact, but that puts a heavy toll on the user's body that it might really do kill them," Lucario explained. "I think I can do something like that without suffering from exhaustion or death as long as I don't go the extra mile."
"Wow, that's amazing," Chris commented.
"Except, I'm not the healer type, and I value my life," Lucario explained. He wasn't sure if the situation would happen in such a pacific world, so he went ahead and told Chris, "So…please, Chris, don't get within an inch of your life… I don't want to take some hard decisions like they do in the movie."
Chris shuddered. "I assure you that I won't…" he muttered.
That was it, the most important scene of the movie. Lucario leaned forward as he saw both Ash and the Lucario channeling their aura into Mew. Time passed and the Legendary Pokémon started to feel energized, at the cost of their energy as it began to strain their bodies. They both felt weak, and they felt that their lives were about to be snuffed out.
An unsettling grumbling came from Lucario's stomach. Although the Aura Pokémon ignored it, Chris started to look around, finding the sound a bit too horrendous.
Just then, the Lucario shoved Ash from the spot to save him from sacrificing himself.
Lucario's eyes widened.
The Lucario looked serious.
Lucario was starting to feel weird…
The abnormal amount of aura was transferred to Mew's body as the Lucario said, "THE AURA IS WITH M-"
"BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP!"
A fearsome burp was unleashed right next to Chris. The teen, dismayed, felt the nearby furniture shake a bit as well as the cotton under the couch. Shocked to see a gush of air brush his hair, Chris's eyes widened as the burp kept on going. He froze in the spot, his frozen look fixed on the movie as it went on to the scene where the tree was restored.
Lucario closed his mouth after letting out the accumulated gas in his stomach. He was completely speechless about what he just did. He felt horribly humiliated, trying to find out what had caused him to burp so loudly and noisily. His free hand lifelessly paused the movie so that he could reflect on the event he caused. Without moving his face, his eyes looked down at the shocked teen before he said, "…Excuse me…"
"…" Chris blinked and stared up at Lucario. "…"
"…"
"…P-pfft…" Chris mumbled a small chuckled through his lips before he broke out laughing, grabbing his sides and leaning back on the couch. Looking angry, Lucario scoffed a bit, but then he chuckled nervously before he started laughing for a bit. "Oh god, that was rich!" Chris managed to say between laughs.
"I-I'm sorry about that," Lucario said, a twitching smile on his lips. "I don't know why I did that…"
Chris got a hold of himself and smiled at Lucario. "That's probably because you drank too much soda," he said. "What is this, your fifth glass?"
"O-oh… I see now…" Lucario looked down at the culprit of his burp: a half-drunk glass of soda.
"R-really? You didn't notice you were going to burp?"
"I was a little bit too distracted with the movie to care…"
"P-pfft…" Chris chuckled. "T-thank you! I had such a good laugh out of you."
Lucario sighed, although he looked pleased. "I'm never going to do that again… But I like drinking soda too much…" As he faced the dilemma of not drinking the beverage, Chris decided to resume the movie.
The tree was restored, but now the Lucario's time was running out. Just as the Lucario stumbled down, his hand bumped into a Time Flower that was hidden next to Sir Aaron's crystallized body. It played a last memory where it revealed that Sir Aaron told to himself that he wanted to save his servant, his actual friend, from the impending danger of the tree. He did realize that the Lucario was his friend, and the Lucario starting shedding tears just looking at his actual friend breathing out his last breath.
Despite the fact Lucario had interrupted the movie with his fearsome burp, he was moved by the scene that his eyes shed a small tear as he watched the Lucario's body glowing, his time coming to an end. As he thanked Ash for showing him how a bond between a human and a Pokémon was so important, the Aura Pokémon, along with his crystallized master, vanished from existence…
As Ash stepped outside the tree to reflect upon the values that he had taught the Lucario, Lucario heard a small sniff coming from Chris. The teen had shed more than a few tears just watching the last scenes, and then the ending credits came up, with a shot of the Lucario and Sir Aaron living somewhere in the afterlife. Sir Aaron, surprisingly, took out a chocolate bar, which made his Lucario look content at him.
And thus, the movie ended right there.
Sighing loudly, Lucario smiled down at Chris. "That was a very good movie," he said, wiping a tear away before Chris could notice it. "Thank you."
Chris sniffed a bit and forced a smile. "I'm so glad that you liked it," he said. "I think I saw you shed a tear…"
Lucario gasped, but then he smiled a bit. "His sacrifice moved me a bit…" he muttered, admitting his reason. "…It kind of baffles me that the movie ended with his sacrifice for the sake of the world, but…it was still sad to me." He himself looked a bit sad. "I know that was a happy ending…but I was wishing that the Lucario would join Ash in his journey, not die and be reunited with Sir Aaron."
"Perhaps, just maybe, Ash will catch a Riolu in the future," Chris said, looking hopeful. "Once they start airing the Sinnoh region, I'll pray that they let him get one…." He blushed a bit. "Having you here has made me like the Riolu line a lot, you know…"
The Aura Pokémon looked shocked. Looking away, he hid a small smile. "D-did I?" he asked.
"Of course!" Chris said, nodding a few times. "I would so totally keep watching the anime if they let him catch a Riolu. I hope for dear sake that they don't tease the fans by having a close encounter with one. That's just beyond disgraceful…"
"…" Lucario looked content at Chris for a brief second, and the teen thought that the bond between them had grown stronger. Lucario opened his eyes. "Thank you so much for showing me the movie."
Chris then yawned and stood back up, turning the TV off. "Well… I'm getting tired, and it's going to be ten already," he pointed out. "Why don't we turn in for the night? Tomorrow's another day."
Nodding and standing up to his full height, Lucario followed Chris back to his room, which slowly started to feel like it was their room.
As Lucario prepared himself to sleep, he wondered if there was going to be a happy ending for him and Chris down the road, in case that there was a way for him to return to his world. Then, recalling how the movie had ended with a semi-happy ending for both parties, he looked gloom… There was something awfully wrong just thinking about the pain it would give Chris if Lucario were to leave him behind forever, and Lucario's Riolu didn't want for that to happen, not even if he was dragged back to Sinnoh against his will. The Riolu would loudly complain and cry out for Chris to pull him back to his side.
There was no way the little Emanation Pokémon would resist the tormenting departure. He would be torn apart, and he feared that he would lose the wonderful memories he had made with the teen.
Lucario then noticed that he was still awake late into the night, and Chris was sleeping peacefully. The thought was still burned into his mind, and he looked sad just thinking about it. Though he also felt guilty that he was giving his back to the trainer he vaguely remembered… He stared long at Chris's back as the Aura Pokémon drifted to sleep…
The Riolu cried out, wanting their story to have a true happy ending where Lucario and Chris would stay together…forever…
To this day, I want to own a copy of the movie, yet the price for it is too damn high for some reason unlike the other movies… Maybe it's just that good?
For those of you who like the story, my artwork at deviantart showcase previews of future episodes. With this in mind, the next chapter is getting a preview in the form of its cover page.
I encourage readers to review.