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Episode 24: One Way Aura-nother!

I'm gonna beat cha, I'll beat cha! I sang in my head. Lucario smiled at me.

Maylene smiled for some odd reason. It was unexpected, considering how glum she'd been a few minutes before.

"Oh yeah!" Kyle yelled out from a bench behind me. "She has a Lucario too! Just thought I'd give you a heads up."

"Really?" I turned all the way around to look at him. "That could be trouble for me down the line." I turned back to the battle. Meditite remained in a meditative position, before I realized that it wasn't for show. The thing had been really meditating and raising its attack power all along. Lucario! Force palm it! I issued this command in my head.

Aura surrounded Lucario's paw as he went in for a slap on Meditite.

"Use detect!" Maylene cried. The meditite swiftly avoided the attack. Maylene gave me a serious look. "You might as well yell your commands out instead of pulling that cheap trick."

"Heh? Cheap trick?" I scoffed.

"That's right." She said, arms crossed. "I know some trainers can train their lucarios to use telepathy, but that won't work with us, so you might as well say what you want to say."

"I take it your lucario doesn't use it?"

"No. Most don't you know. But we make up for it."

I smiled. "Well, it's good to see you have some confidence."

She looked away for a second. "Meditite! Show them a real Force Palm!" Meditite had a pink glow around its hand as it leaped to strike Lucario.

"Lucario!" I yelled. "Dark Pulse!" A wave of energy sprayed out from him instantly, throwing back Meditite hard. It was super effective. "Now Bone Rush!" Lucario ran with aura bone in hand. Before Meditite could stand again, he struck him down with it. Meditite was finished.

"Return." Maylene zapped him back to his pokeball. "It's time I show you what a lucario can learn when it doesn't waste its time on the human tongue."

Maylene seemed very defensive about this issue. Lucario frowned at her as she released her own out onto the field.

The lucario looked more less the same as mine. Other than the fact it couldn't talk to her, I couldn't see why she thought hers was so different. I watched closely as the other lucario growled at mine, forming a bone club in its paws as well. As the two clashed, smashing their makeshift swords against each other, I struggled to keep my eye on which one was which.

Suddenly, one took the advantage, getting the occasional hit in on the other one. It struck its knee, bringing it down. Then, it struck the lucario across the face, throwing him backwards.

"Lucario?" I called out. He turned his head weakly to me. He was the one on the ground. The other lucario backed up, in preparation for another attack. "Whatever it is Lucario, dodge it." My Lucario stood, clutching onto his club like a cane.

"Aura Sphere!" Maylene cried, and I watched helplessly as her lucario formed a ball at the end of his paws. It grew and grew in size. Lucario stood staring at it, mouth agape. When the other lucario threw this massive ball, Lucario didn't dodge. He instead threw up his bone club in defense. It kept it at bay for only a second, before disintegrating it and hitting Lucario hard. He fell to the ground with a thud, and passed out. I recalled him.

"You can't dodge an aura sphere attack." Maylene said quietly.

"Yeah I know that now! Excuse me for not knowing anything about that attack!" I screamed at her, clenching my fist around Lucario's pokeball. This whole thing really bothered me, and I wanted it to be over. I threw out my next pokeball. "Go Rapidash! Use Flare Blitz!" Rapidash charged out of the ball, engulfed in blue flames. Lucario tried to toss another aura sphere at him, but Rapidash tossed it aside with his long horn. He charged into Lucario, making him fly across the stadium. "Now Bounce!" I cried. Rapidash leaped into the air, and back down, driving his hard hooves into Lucario. Seeing this Lucario be knocked out as well, did nothing to make me feel better like I'd hoped. My shoulders sank as I watched her recall it.

"With that thing, I don't stand a chance." Maylene mumbled. "Go Machoke."

A machoke crawled out onto the stage, flexing its arm muscles.

Kyle laid a hand on my shoulder. "Don't let your anger get the best of you."

"Right. I know." I recalled Rapidash. "Go Staravia!" My faithful bird pokemon flew out above me. She seemed almost as if she were smiling at me.

"Machoke! Wait for a chance to grab it!" Maylene grit her teeth nervously.

"Staravia, Wing Attack!" Staravia dove in, hitting Machoke. He tried to catch her, but missed. "Again!" She again dove in, but this time one of Machoke's arms latched onto her.

"Machoke!" Seismic Toss!" Maylene grinned. Machoke lifted Staravia up high, before slamming her back down with a thud. The gym floor cracked beneath her.

"Star!" She cried. She got up, but she didn't fly away like I'd hoped. Instead, she jumped back on her feet and stood. Could her wing be acting up again?

"Staravia! You okay?" I called out to her. She turned to me, and winked, before a white light engulfed her. She became a Staraptor before my eyes. I grinned. That little beat up starly I found had so quickly turned into this huge bird pokemon. I wanted to run up to her and pet her new pretty red feathers, but I remembered I was in a battle. "Staraptor! Use Fly!"

Staraptor flew up, so high I had to had to squint to see. I felt the wind as she dove back down on Machoke.

"Choke!" Machoke fell down, and tried to grab for Staraptor again. She was too fast, and dove back down on him again. Machoke was knocked out.

"Awesome job Staraptor!" I ran up and hugged the massive bird midair.

"Star!" She struggled not to scratch her sharp talons against me. I returned her, smiling the whole time. She was big enough now, to where I could ride on her back if I wanted to.

"You won." Maylene sighed as she walked up to me. "As expected. Here. Take this badge."

"You shouldn't put yourself down so much Maylene. I had to use my best pokemon to beat your Lucario. And you're right, I need to work on training mine more." I took the badge, placing it in its case. "But really, thanks for the battle."

Maylene looked a bit surprised. "Well, you're welcome. Sorry for giving you such a hard time." She smiled. "I'm sure you and your friend there will do great at the league competition."

"Some better than others." I glared back at Kyle, who stared back at me innocently.

"If you stop by the gym in Snowpoint city, say hello to Candice for me, would you?"

"Sure. We'll be passing by there at some point." I waved. "Bye now." Kyle took my hand as we walked out the door.

"You did great." He squeezed my hand a little. "Got a little too worked up, but good job."

"I can't help it." I said frowning. "She was putting down Lucario."

"Ah, a mother's pride." Kyle joked.

"He really is like my baby." I said angrily. "He even calls me his mom you know."

"Just don't forget you're not." He winked. "Speaking of which, just where did you get the riolu egg? I remember you mentioned in Kanto it was from 'someone special'."

I blushed. "Umm I uh…" I stopped. Probably best if I didn't get into all that. Kyle would think I was crazy if I told him I was spirited away by a prince-like man. "Well, he was a guy."

Kyle suddenly let go of my hand. "What?"

"Yeah and he gave it to me." I tried to run away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"And his name?" He looked serious.

Sir Aaron. Yes, he'll think I'm crazy if I say that. "I don't really know. He had spiky dark hair, and he wore a blue outfit, and a feather hat. He had a Lucario."

"You know a lot about this guy." Kyle held me closer. "When did you meet him?"

"Back in Kanto. Before I started travelling with you." I was getteing angry now. He had no right to be acting like this. I did nothing wrong. "I saw he had a Lucario, and I talked to him, and he gave me an egg. Simple as that. Now you mind letting me go?"

"I feel like there's something you're not telling me." He let go of my arm.

I sighed. "Nothing happened Kyle." There was a long pause after this.

"Sorry Shonna." This time he grabbed both my hands. "I just can't stand the thought of you with another man."

"You don't need to worry about that." I blushed again.

He brushed a finger against my cheek, smiling again. He let the rest of his palm rest on my face before pulling me into a kiss.

I stood dazed for a second afterwards. "You're forgiven." I laughed, but it did bother me to know he was right. I wasn't telling the whole truth. But I knew Kyle was a realist, and didn't really believe in the supernatural. He wouldn't have believed me anyway.

"We should get going. Your mom seemed really anxious to meet me." Kyle grinned, throwing out the capsule for his motorcycle.

"Sheesh. You and your technology." I threw out Rapidash. I did promise him some time outside his pokeball. "You feeling up to a race Rapidash?" My loyal horse whinnied at me. He had a grin on his face as he bucked me onto his back. "Guess so!" I looked back to Kyle before taking off on my steed. "See ya!"

"We'll see about that!" Kyle jumped onto his bike, taking off after me.