Morning came. I was wide awake, and ready to interrogate Liam; unfortunately, he insisted that what he had to tell me would take a very long time and that we should get our travel out of the way first. Reluctantly, I agreed, and we set out along the path at the same brisk pace we'd had yesterday; Liam's wounds didn't seem to be bothering him at all.

After a long bout of travel and a quick stop for food (during which Liam had released Brunhilda to guard the perimeter, just in case), we came up on our final rest stop in the early afternoon. Liam and I put our things away, gathered a bit of kindling, lit it, then took places across from one another on the log seats by the fire. I stared at him, waiting. After a moment, he spoke.

"What I am about to tell you is something many powerful people in many places do not wish civilians, even those with a trainer's license, to know." Liam sighed, and shook his head. "Despite the fact that this will be hard to believe, I need you to remember the hints I've given you during our short time together, both spoken and seen. I also would like you to promise me, lad, that you won't repeat this to just anyone, not for my safety, but for yours. Do you?"

I gave him a measuring glance, but eventually nodded. He'd been nothing but a friend to me, after all, despite one that kept a lot of secrets. "I do."

"Good. You'll understand why I've asked when we're done." Liam's eyes gained a far-away look, and he leaned back. "I'll have to start with the basics, so you can put it all together. Cal, how does a pokeball work?"

I raised my eyebrows and answered as I was taught in school. "Complex science that breaks a pokemon down into raw data and makes it easy to transport. It also encourages a bond between that pokemon and whoever possesses the ball, to make training easier."

Liam smiled, but shook his head. "No. One more question. What gives pokemon their special powers? How can they, for example, shoot beams of ice or fire, form barriers of light, fly even though they're much too heavy to? How are they different from regular animals?"

"They uh…" I was stumped. How could they do all that? "Crazy biological differences? Weird evolution? I'm sure there's a rational explanation."

Liam laughed, and shook his head again. "No 'rational' explanation for things like that, lad! It's spontaneous manipulation of internal energy, the act of creation itself, what many a child would call... magic."

I scoffed. Magic? That was ridiculous, and I told Liam so. He grinned, and reached out to the flames in front of us. His brow furrowed for a moment, and then, to my shock, the flames shot up and wrapped around his fingers, weaving and flaring but not burning at all. After enjoying my facial expression, Liam waved and the fire vanished. He held up his hand. Not a mark on it, not even any soot.

"If they can do it, so can we, Cal. Life energy is in everything that's alive, and even in some things that aren't. Regular beasts may be too stupid to harness it, and pokemon may have a hell of a natural advantage with their massive production of it, but all it takes it hard work, discipline, and a little something to give us the right push. Say, do you still have that powder I gave you?" Liam winked, and my eyes widened.

"What was in that?! What have you done to me! I trusted you!"

He laughed. "Calm down, lad! It didn't hurt you. It's a special mix of mine, one you're not liable to find on your own. I said I'd tell you what was in it one day, and I will, but we've got other things to go through first. I'm sure you've noticed by now that you've been feeling pretty good? A bit stronger, more stable? That's not just the exercise. Were I never to tell you this, though I planned to one day, all it would have done in the long run was improved your senses and maybe saved your life out in the harsh wilds." Liam took a deep breath. "This life energy has many different names. I prefer 'aura' or just 'life energy', but there's also 'ki', 'nen', 'brio', 'vitality', 'spirit'... It's all the same. You build it up by focus, discipline, strength, and good old practice. That fire trick there? Took me twenty years." He chuckled.

"Twenty years? So you've been using this aura stuff your whole adult life?"

Liam gave me a look like he wasn't sure I was serious. "How old do you think I am, lad?"

"Mid 40s I guess." I shrugged.

"Mid 40s!" Liam laughed. "Still got it, apparently. I'm over 90 years old."

"90?!" I exclaimed. Sure, his face was a little lined, but there was no way he was that old. I decided he must be messing with me.

Liam seemed to sense my disbelief. "Nah, it's true! I understand, I don't look it. But it's one of the many benefits of working hard to grow your aura; more life force, more life. Your body toughens, heals faster, you age slower, move quicker, think easier. If it was up to me I'd have everyone working at it."

"Why doesn't everyone?" I asked. It seemed like a pretty damn good deal to me. Liam sighed.

"There was a time when we did, long ago. Pokemon were rarer, then; still around, of course. But not used. They were dangerous, unpredictable; it wasn't until a man, using his skill in imbuing life energy, formed the first crude pokeball out of an apricorn, that humanity considered weaponizing them. As strong as the great warriors of the past were, we humans are not nearly as naturally gifted as pokemon. With such monsters bonded to us we quickly fell into the most terrible war the world had ever seen, before or since. Our great cities were destroyed, artifacts scattered, wild energies from our battles sank into the soil, contaminated the air, the water. Mutating the animals into yet more pokemon. It seemed like it was never going to end, that we'd drive ourselves to extinction and leave a charred husk of a world behind us… Until the Great Ones intervened." Liam took a sip of water and cleared his throat. "The Great Ones, who you may know as Legendaries from the old folk tales, are pokemon only in the sense that the forms they take resemble them. What they actually are, no one is sure. My personal theory is that they're embodiments of certain types of elemental aura, so incredibly powerful that none can stand against them but themselves. Even now we tell tales of the world being shaped by the struggles between the Legendary beasts. These tales are not entirely wrong. They smashed the remaining armies of our many nations, scattered our species, and gave us their edict: Humanity was never to cause such destruction again."

We were silent for a few moments while I let that sink in. This all seemed extraordinarily important, why had no one told me before? But… "Why does that keep us from just learning to use our auras?"

Liam's expression darkened. "It doesn't. But it is the opinion of some in our world's governing bodies that this knowledge should be suppressed. They let us stay weak, at the mercy of wild beasts, stop us from expanding, taking the territory that was once ours, making it safe for our children! They throttle our progress, make us suffer, all out of fear that one day we'll overstep and the Great Ones will return! But this is not what humanity is. We were once truly mighty. Our civilization stretched the entirety of the world, we were free to innovate, discover, build without having to live in fear!" The volume of his voice grew steadily as he ranted on; his expression furious. "They force us to be nothing but ignorant peasants! But they'll all see; times are changing, people are learning. My work, the work of my close friends, will not go to waste. We will taste glory again at the top of this existence, as is our right, and if that provokes the Legends then so be it! Better to live one day as a king than an eternity as a slave! MY LOSS WILL NOT BE IN VAIN!" Liam yelled, his eyes wild. Around him the fallen leaves were blown back; the fire flickered and almost went out. I stood and backed up quickly. Liam noticed this, and after a few deep breaths, he seemed to relax. "Sorry lad," He said, his voice a bit weak. "I've long since passed the point at which this fight turned personal. It isn't yours, won't be unless you choose it to, and I shouldn't trouble you with it."

"It's alright, really," I said. "I understand."

"You don't. But that's okay." The rage had completely left Liam's face now, leaving his expression somewhat empty. I walked over and, somewhat hesitantly, put a hand on his shoulder. He gave me a hollow smile. "Thanks. I'll be fine." Liam then stood. "Do you see why you need to keep this a secret? The league'll crack down on you if they catch any hint of this type of stuff, and you'd be hard pressed to get away from them. They let all their top dogs train in aura, plus they've got ridiculously strong pokemon."

"They get to do it and we don't? Hypocrites."

Liam laughed. "Absolutely. They claim to use it for 'justice', but really they're just reaping all the benefits and keeping us in chains."

I glared at the ground in front of me, fuming. If we'd all been taught aura, maybe my mother would have been strong enough to get over my father's loss, or stop it in the first place. Bernard never would have died to that machop, nor would I have been injured. So many people I knew over the years would still be alive… even that kid we found in the forest, if he could have done to the bugs what Liam did to the ariados there wouldn't have been any problems. Though perhaps he had been a bit too young.

"Anyways, that's not all there is to it, but that's enough for tonight. How about you eat then go exercise, Cal, and I'll catch a bit more ariados venom would have killed a normal man several times over, and even with how durable I am, it still takes its toll."

I nodded and let him leave, before preparing some food for myself. I had a great deal to think about.

Most importantly, how do I use this power?

\-/-\-/-\-/

Bright and early I found myself back on the path with a significantly more sociable Liam. We actually managed to make a bit of small talk, though any time I tried to broach a serious topic he'd change the subject. By mid-day we found ourselves on the outskirts of the forest, Pewter barely visible in the distance. Liam had us stop in a small field and fished through his backpack for a few moments before handing me a few packages of pokemon food and some supplies. I gave him a questioning look.

"This is where we part ways." I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up his hand. "I'm sure you don't want to have to head back into town. If you cut to the east here you should be able to make it to the checkpoint by the entrance to Mt. Moon by nightfall. These supplies are more than enough to get you to Cerulean."

"But we're not done! You haven't even taught me how to use aura yet!"

Liam chuckled. "You're on the path to success now, Cal, but you're not yet ready for that. We'll meet again one day. I'm sure of it. If you've bulked up and learned true discipline, then we'll start, not a moment sooner. Just keep up your exercises, both physical and mental, and you'll get there." He held out his hand. I took it. As expected, Liam pulled me in, but after a quick glance at my eyes he gave me a pat on the shoulder with his other hand and let me go. "You still have that spark, lad. Keep it alive. Let it grow."

"I will. Don't worry."

He gave me a warm smile, and walked off. I watched him go, feeling an odd sense of loss. Sure I'd been alone for my trip to Pallet, but I knew we were meeting back up right after. Now… I wasn't sure when I'd see him again. My mentor was gone, and it was up to me to truly start my journey. I took a deep breath, and began moving through the countryside towards Mt. Moon, which had always loomed in the distance.

The walk was uneventful for the first few hours, as fields and trees gave way to rocky craggy Pewter-y goodness. I didn't see anyone else, nor any pokemon, and was beginning to think I would reach the cave with little difficulty. That is, until I was struck in the back by a rock and almost knocked over.

Upon whirling around I saw the culprit; a small, pissed-off looking geodude had risen out of the dirt just behind me and was prying up another rock to throw. Geodude were generally fairly peaceful creatures, but rocky hide or not, anyone will get mad if you step on them, and I was pretty sure I had accidentally done so. I began to turn and run, which is what I'd always had to do in the past, when I remembered… I'm a trainer!

A quick reach to my belt and a flash of light, and Machop stood before me, glancing around. When his eyes fell on the geodude he bared his teeth in a grin and shifted into a fighting pose. The geodude responded with a grinding roar, large eyes narrowing.

"This is a perfect chance to try out your Brick Break!" I shouted. Machop nodded, then dashed forward and with a resounding CRACK, struck the geodude directly on the top. Unlike with the wartortle, though, this hit obviously did some severe damage. The geodude's rocky shell practically shattered, bits of it flying through the air, and its eyes closed as it slumped back. A trickle of blood flowed from the new fissure in its head. I cringed, and machop backed away, staring at his hand in disbelief.

After a moment's deliberation, I figured that I couldn't just leave the geodude hurt and vulnerable like this. I reached down to my belt and grabbed the empty pokeball. I hesitated before I threw, but another good look at just how damaged the creature was made my mind up for me. There was a flash of light and the geodude was safely in stasis. I'd heard that there was a medical area at the Mt. Moon checkpoint; I'd get it looked at there.

After congratulating Machop on a very well-executed attack, which he seemed happy about despite still seemingly in a bit of shock, we carried on. Machop's presence at my side seemed enough to discourage any more rock-throwers, though I did notice a few spearow eyeing us from the sky. Spearow can be a bit territorial, but thankfully these ones were distracted by chasing off a large hawk before they could cause us any trouble. We came upon the checkpoint just as the sun was beginning to set.

\-/-\-/-\-/

The cave entrance was enormous; I'd heard it was even larger inside, but that was hard for me to imagine. Off to the left side was a collection of buildings. As I made my way towards them I noticed a smaller building in front with the words 'Check In' lit up above it; I decided it was probably smart to head there first, and so did, Machop trailing behind me.

The inside was surprisingly spacious. There was a desk on the far end labeled 'Receptionist', warmly colored wood paneling on the walls, and tons of comfy looking chairs scattered off to one side. I walked over to the desk and rang the small bell on it.

There was a sudden loud *THUMP* that made me flinch back. A short, brown haired young woman with bright green eyes popped up from behind the desk, holding her head and wincing. "Are you alright?" I asked. "What were you doing under the desk?"

"Ow…" she said. Then she glanced up on me and her demeanor changed entirely; her arms snapped to her sides, and she straightened up. "I wasn't asleep and welcome to the check-in station! What can I do for you?" She gave me an obviously forced grin. I returned one of my own.

"Yes, I'd like to rent a room for the night and get a pokemon checked out, if you could point me to the medical area."

"Yes, yes, of course! Can I see your ID?"

I passed it over and she waved it beneath the desk somewhere, then returned it to me, along with a receipt. "Alright, Mr. Stone, your room is in the second building to the right, 5C. The nurse is stationed at the first building to your left. Have a nice night!" I thanked her and walked out, glancing back as I reached the door to see her wincing and rubbing her head again. I chuckled.

The medical building looked just like all the others on the outside, but inside it was an almost perfect mock-up of a pokecenter lobby. A woman with oddly bright strawberry blonde hair stood behind the counter, tinkering with the large machine next to her. I walked up to her, and she turned and smiled. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Yeah, I encountered a geodude on the way in and Machop here," I gave him a pat on the shoulder, "roughed it up pretty badly. I was wondering if you could take a look at it."

I held out it's pokeball, and the nurse took it and said, "Certainly, sir!" She placed it in one of the slots atop her machine, and it glowed for a moment before spitting out a piece of paper. The nurse picked up the paper, and her smiling expression faded and became one of shock. "What did you do to this pokemon?!"

"Got a little carried away with a brick break, I'm afraid." I said, giving her a guilty smile, one which Machop matched.

"I'll say! You've completely split its shell! Internal damage as well! I'll be up half the night working at this, and you'll need to provide additional care for a week!" She glared at me, and I backed away with my hands held up.

"I'm sorry! It won't happen again." I said, and she grumbled angrily and held out her hand. I gave her my trainer ID, she scanned it, and ordered me to come back early tomorrow. I left in a hurry, so as not to tempt her wrath further, and found where I'd be staying the night easy enough.

Machop and I spent a while exercising in the room, which, like the check-in station, was quite spacious, then meditated. Afterwards I pulled out my pokedex and looked up 'geodude'.

It looked like I had my next team member.