The Ranging Lucario

"Yeah!" Gaia dived to the right to avoid Aurelis's powerful aura-contained punch. The force of the attack exploded and created a small smoking crater in the rocky ground, spraying debris everywhere.

Alice dove at the guardian, fire streaming from her mouth. Since Aurelis was a Lucario, it meant he was fast, so he dodged the flaming attack by ducking. However, he didn't see the Fire Punch from Seth, which made contact into his stomach. He stumbled back, with a burnt chest. The aura around his body grew stronger.

"Waaahoooo!" Aurelis roared in glee. The aura seemed to be giving him a feeling similar to a person overdosed on cocaine. In other words, it made him high. It also increased his strength. The aura swirled around his body, turning his eyes from black to a flaming blue.

"Arceusdammit!" Gaia growled. He and his friends had been dodging melee attacks from the guardian for the past couple of minutes. Aurelis was a stark contrast to the sadistic Katherine. She was mean and like causing pain, whereas the Lucario seemed to think that fighting was a game. Katherine used long-mid ranged attacks and Aurelis used powerful in-your-face punches and kicks. "Why is this guy getting stronger?" he finished.

"It's because of the aura," Seth answered, "It gets stronger the more damage he takes."

"Oh yeah," Gaia was embarrassed now. He had forgetten part of Anatomy 101. If he had been there, Sensei Acer would be disappointed with him. Crap, the Grovyle thought, If the more damage the guardian takes, the stronger he gets, then that means we have to finish this fight as quickly as possible. "Guys, we have to end this quick!"

"Awww…." Aurelis pouted, "That's no fun!"

Knowing what their leader meant, Seth and Alice nodded.

Alice opened her mouth and fired a Flamethrower at Aurelis. The Lucario dodged swiftly to the left, getting in the path of a Fire Punch Seth was aiming at him. He blocked the attack by grabbing it with his paw. Unfortunately, the flaming fist started to burn his paw.

Meanwhile, Gaia leaped up from behind Aurelis and stabbed the Spirit Sword into the guardian's back, causing him the howl in pain, blood flowing out of the wound. The blue aura around Aurelis intensified and it was strong enough to force his opponents away.

"Gah!" Gaia gasped. The Lucario's power had suddenly spiked, and he was actually flinching because of it. Normally stabbing someone in the back would sever their nerves and instantly kill them. But since Aurelis was a guardian (and therefore somewhat dead) and a Steel-type, sword strikes probably wouldn't be as effective against him.

Now Aurelis seemed scarier than ever. Not that he was before.

"GRAAAAGGHHH!" the Lucario roared, "LET'S DO THIS!" He charged forward at a blinding speed. He was twice as fast as before.

Unfortunately he chose the wrong target. His aura-coated fist plowed into Seth and did nothing whatsoever. Being a Ghost-type, Seth was naturally immune to Normal and Fighting attacks. Aurelis seemed to have just remembered this little detail right at that moment because he gulped nervously. Seth stared at him for a moment, before charging up a Fire Punch and clocking the guardian in the face. He was sent sprawling across the rocky ground, a second-degree burn on his nose.

"OOWWW!" Aurelis picked himself up and the aura around him grew stronger. Gaia, not wanting himself or his friends to get clobbered by a fist, activated Hydro Blast.

Giant globules of water formed in the air and smashed into Aurelis's body. He was slammed away. There was the sound of some bones breaking. Bruises formed on his body, which soon leaked blood. But he still wasn't defeated yet. His aura grew stronger than ever.

"Crap…" Gaia moaned, spitting up a small amount of blood. He was already weakened from using Hydro Blast. Aurelis lunged forward and smashed a hard Force Palm onto Gaia's chest. The Grovyle spat out more blood with a shocked look on his face. Pain rushed through his body and he collapsed on the rocky ground, roaring in pain. Aurelis's attack had broken most of his ribs and paralysed him.

Alice's brain registered this sudden turn of events for roughly one second before she burst into rage. "YOU BASTARD!" she roared. She charged forward and tore into Aurelis with all her might. The Lucario was too tired to dodge. He skidded on ground, a gaping hole in the middle of his chest.

"I lost…" he whispered in an almost dreamlike tone. His body started to fade away. Concentrating, he willed for the Fist Plate and a white crystal to form into the air. They fell to the ground. Because Gaia was unconscious and Seth was healing his wounds, Alice walked over and picked them up, but not before kicking Aurelis in the face a couple of times.

"Thanks for fighting me…" Aurelis said with a small smile before disappearing into the afterlife.

XXX

In the stone room, the statue of a Lucario cracked in half and the top bit fell to the ground.

"My turn." Sabaku the Flygon stated. She disappeared in a small whirlwind of sand. There was no need to say anything else.

XXX

Gaia was lying down on the same old floating platform. Unfortunately, he was dreaming that his ribs were already broken, which meant that he couldn't move.

There was the sound of a gust of wind, and a Flygon flew over to him.

"I am Sabaku, guardian of the Earth plate. Find me in the Desert Fortress in the middle of the Dust Zones. I'll be waiting…"

Like before, the stone platform broke, sending Gaia falling into the darkness.

XXX

And then he was awake. He was lying in a hospital bed. For some reason, his ribs didn't hurt anymore. Seth must've healed them. Once again, he was grateful that his friend knew medic techniques.

Getting out of bed, Gaia started walking around and doing stretches, testing his joints and muscles. Nothing seemed to be wrong.

Nearby his bed, the Fist Plate and a white crystal rested on a small table. It was time to get down to business. Gaia went over, forming the Spirit Sword in his hand and lightly tapped the Fist Plate. The image of a mysterious figure blocking an attack and retaliating at twice the force formed into his mind.

"Counter, huh." Gaia said. It was certainly an interesting move. Handy, too. Now it was time for the other one. Lifting the Spirit Sword in the air, he braced himself and brought it crashing down on the white crystal, shattering it.

There was a brief pause. Then white swirls of energy formed from the crystal shards and wrapped themselves around Gaia, pumping pure power into his body. Once again, he screamed. The image of the mysterious figure, coated with air, bouncing up and down on targets and finally slamming into the ground with a burst of light appeared in his mind.

He clutched his head and waited for the energy to receded. When he did, he collapsed on the floor, panting heavily.

One second later, Seth and Alice burst into the room.

"What's going on?" Seth asked frantically.

Gaia groaned loudly and picked himself off the floor, "Learning new moves." That was all he needed to say.

Alice walked over to her boyfriend, her expression unreadable. Gaia stared at her. Then she slapped him on the cheek, hard.

"Do you know how worried I was?" she shouted at him, tears forming in her eyes. Secretly, she was relieved, but she felt the need to shout at Gaia for a while, "When you took that Force Palm to the chest, I thought you might be critically injured!"

She then hugged him and placed a passionate kiss on Gaia's lips. The Grovyle could only kiss back. "I'm so glad that you're safe," she whispered, "But please don't do that again."

"I won't," Gaia whispered back.

XXX

Gaia was training his new move, Stratosphere, in the nearby forest. It involved bouncing up and down like a pogo-stick on targets to severely damage them. As a result, a number of trees had large cracks down the middle. He sure was glad that there were no environmentalists around.

Suddenly, he heard someone tiptoeing up to him from behind.

He turned around just in time to see a small Eevee leap up from behind a tree and glomp onto him, making him crash to the ground.

"It's you!" the Eevee said excitedly. Apparently it was a female, "Do you remember me?"

"Wait, who are you?" Gaia asked. This little girl seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

The Eevee girl pouted and looked a bit sad. "Aww…why not?" she asked, "I hoped for you to remember me!" Then she suddenly became cheerful again, "My name is Princess Elisa. Now do you know remember me?"

Elisa…Something clicked inside Gaia's mind. "Uh, have ever been to Treasure Town' Kecleon Mall before?" he asked, sitting himself up.

"Yay! You remember!" Elisa gave a cry of joy and tackled Gaia to the ground again. She started nuzzling his chest.

"How have things been?" Gaia asked, "And could you please get off me?"

"Awww…please…?" Elisa begged, making puppy dog eyes. But Gaia had seen expressions like this before and was immune.

"No."

"Meanie." Elisa climbed off Gaia, allowing him to sit up. She was pouting again.

"What were you doing in Treasure Town anyway?" the Grovyle asked, "You and your mother are royalty; why were you travelling without any bodyguards or something?"

"Oh, mummy got tired of being escorted around by those meanie guards so she decided to have a little break," Elisa replied cheerfully, "But we haven't gone on any more of those trips," she said, frowning a little.

"Cool." Gaia stood up and started heading out of the forest. Elisa followed him. Then the Grovyle just realized something.

"Hey princess, do you have any guards to escort you around?"

"Nope!" Elisa replied with a grin, "But I know you have to save the world, so you're definitely strong, right?"

Gaia sweatdropped.

XXX

Queen Elizabeth was waiting for them in the throne room of the castle. As soon as the princess entered, a stern expression grew on her face.

"Elisa, did you go wandering off again? You know it's not safe."

"Um…" the young princess looked guilty and didn't make any comment.

The queen sighed, "Elisa, how many times do I have to tell you? It's not safe outside the castle. You're lucky Gaia found you."

"Actually Queen Elizabeth," Gaia interrupted, "She found me."

"That is beside the point," the queen said sternly, "Elisa, I'm going to have to ground you for a while. You must learn you lesson."

The young princess was horror-struck. "You can't!" she blurted out.

"I can and I will." Queen Elizabeth said firmly, "No going outside for two weeks, and that's final!"

Apparently the queen was immune to puppy-dog eyes, because she didn't react when her daughter did that.

XXX

The next day, Team Enforcers set out for the Dust Zones. They had spent the most of yesterday gathering supples. One noble was kind enough to provide the three of them evaporation-proof waterskins.

"Goodbye!" Princess Elisa said cheerfully. She and her mother were outside the palace, waving goodbye. The young princess seemed to have gotten over the fact that she was being grounded.

"Good luck." Queen Elizabeth said.

"Thank you." Gaia smiled at the two royals. "Come on guys, let's go!"

The three explorers ran down the path to the outside areas, fully prepared for the upcoming dungeon.

XXX

"So this is the Sand Fortress." The three of them were outside the entrance to a large temple. The entrance was sealed off by a large door. There was an inscription scrawled on the door.

If you wish to enter, prove that you are the chosen one.

Tap your blade on the door.

"I guess that's me." Gaia formed the Spirit Sword in his hand and tapped it lightly on the door.

There was a rumbling sound, and the stone door slowly slid open, revealing a chamber lit up by dozens of torches.

"You guys ready?" Gaia asked.

"Yes."

"Affirmative!"

"Then let's go!"