PoKéM0N My5t3rY Dunge0N - 50f- T1M3L1n3 Br0K3n
Ch4pT3r 4_9 - eX1Tem3Nt
Ri kept up her grin as she stared at the enraged Lopunny in front of her but inwardly cursed at herself. 'God dammit, I couldn't hold myself back... But now it got her where I want her. No more holding back!'
"This has only happend twice before..." the Mega Lopunny growled with a feral grin while she leaned forward and held her arms out slightly behind her, spreading her paws out in a claw-like manner. "I hope you're happy, love."
Rizara curled up the last segments of her ears and raised them up.
"About fucking time you-" The opposing Lucario reacted with slight curiousity at the stance before her eyes suddenly shut tight from pain and a memory-shred flashed through the girl's vision.
"D...g...d...c...e...t...e...f...r.."
Ri's opponents was replaced by the familiar black figure that she had seen so many times before, facing her with an almost identical stance before it dashed at her with incredible speed. Her vision turned completely black once the figure was right in front of her, causing the memory to end with another pang of pain and static.
Out of her memory, the blue-eyed Lucario found that, just like the figure, Rizara had also dashed forward and was standing right in front of her with her right "morningstar" thrown out behind her.
"Morningstar Strike!"
'Shit! I have to-' Ri's eyes focused onto her opponent's left leg when she suddenly realized that she had instincitvely overclocked Extremespeed to boost her perception and shifted into a rather unusual stance as a response to the memory.
Just as the normal-type was about to throw her 'Morningstar' forward, Ri reacted by throwing her right leg at the Lopunny's left one to throw her off balance.
Robbed of proper contact with the ground, Rizara's attack turned into a improper downward swing.
The human-turned Lucario immediately closed into the attacks initial direction to get out of the impact-zone and shifted her body to push her left palm into the mega-evolved Pokemon's face right as her opponent's ear crashed into the ground with an explosion of dust and debris.
Rizara was thrown back from a Force Palm and flew through the cloud of dust before she ended up on her knees with a bruise on her right cheek. The red glow in the Lopunny's eyes intensified when she regained her vision on her opponent.
Ri had kept her balance after being hit by the explosion's shockwave and remained in her stance while the obstruction of her view slowly faded.
The memory shred she had just experienced went through her mind. 'I must've fought somebody with a feral stance like this before...'
The clothed Lucario shook her head with a smirk and focused back on her opponent. The instinctive shift into the right stance during her memory wasn't the only reason she had been able to counter the normal-type that easily. "You put much weight on your left leg right before you throw your ear forward."
Rizara didn't answer and jumped forward from her kneeled-down postion, getting back into her opponent's range almost immediately. Letting out a battle-cry, the normal-type threw out a flurry of punches and kicks.
Ri's smirk was still plastered onto her face while she dodged and diverted the incoming attacks with her overclocked Extremespeed.
"What's wrong?" The Lucario pushed a punch aside and stopped her opponents assault by stepping forward and putting her right arm against the Mega Lopunny's chest before she countered with a punch of her own.
It caused the normal-type to stagger back two steps with a bleeding nose.
Not even caring about the injury, Rizara immediately jumped in for another assault and pulled her right fist back with a wild battle-cry. "Rapidfire Punch!"
"Hmph..." Ri's smirk disappeared and her eyes narrowed. 'Why isn't she using her Curl Up ability?'
Shifting her stance, the female Lucario turned her right towards her opponent and raised her right arm exactly into the position her opponent's initial punch would impact.
The Mega Lopunny let out a scream when her fist was impaled by the spike on the backside of Ri's right wrist. Blood was thrown onto the floor as soon as the normal-type pulled back her now crippled paw.
"You're not able to use that perfect defense in this form," Ri commented in an indifferent tone while she flicked the blood from her right wrist and stepped after the Lopunny to throw her left leg into the normal-type's right side, sending Rizara flying into the jungle with a shockwave that threw grass and dust into the air.
The Mega Lopunny ended up on her stomach and tried to get up again. She found herself stunned however, as the shock from another blow to a vital spot kicked in and a cough of blood left her mouth.
When Rizara was able to raise her head, she found that her opponent was already standing in front of her.
The Lucario's ice-blue eyes seemed even colder than they already were before and all her expression was showing was contempt. The amount of ominous, black aura the Lucario was radiating had increased from before and seemed to distort the image behind her, turning her gaze even more threatening.
Are you fucking kidding me? You're faster than before but all of your moves are predictable. I didn't tell you to lose yourself to that instinct. I told you to use it!
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Ri almost spat the words. "You're faster than before but all of your moves are predictable. I didn't tell you lose yourself to that instinct. I told you to use it!"
The Mega Lopunny found her head somewhat clear again as the raging instinct to attack was overshadowed by intense fear. She used this moment of clarity to force her body to move and jumped back from her kneeled down position in order to create some distance.
Pathetic. You're not even worth my time like this. I should just kill you and be done with it.
"Pathetic. You're not even worth my time like this. I should just kill you and-" Ri's eyes widened as she suddenly noticed a foreign influence in her thoughts and the black traces of aura radiating from her increased.
She shook her head. 'No, I don't want to kill her.'
What are you just standing there for? Come over here so I can rip off those ears.
'No, I don't want to cripple her for life.'
Seeing that her opponent wasn't making an attempt to move, she used this chance to collect her thoughts. 'This is just like Underground Lake... She forced me into Stage Two with her bullshit.' Ri realized while she struggled against the urges the dark aura was forcing out of her.
I'm going to beat you into a bloody-
'No,' she resisted.
Make you beg for your live before-
'NO!' she yelled into her mind, trying to focus on the previous feeling of excitement and the adrenaline that was still running through her body like crazy. 'The excitement, that's what I want. I need to-'
...End it all...
"End it all..." Ri's resistance falteted as her dark intentions took ahold of her.
The dark aura radiating from the blue-eyed Lucario seemingly swallowed her while the look in her eyes sharpened and a sinister smile wandered onto her lips.
"You've let me out with an opportunity I can't pass on..." Ri said with a voice that sounded like an distorted version of her own and a male voice.
"What are you saying?" Rizara questioned with a worried look, slowly getting over the intense fear.
"What's wrong with me? You should rather ask what's wrong with this world," the clothed Lucario replied in a somewhat angered tone. "It's rotten... foul... disgusting..."
Rizara couldn't tell if she was still talking to the same Pokemon she had been fighting all this time. Something had happened to the Lucario that made her seem like a completely different presence all of a sudden.
"Why am I even trying to explain this to a pathetic Lopunny who's too afraid of herself toeven be considered a threat to me?" The Lucario placed her right paw on her forehead and laughed while she leaned her head back. "Screw that thought out revenge plan, killing all of them will do just fine."
The mega-evolved Lopunny didn't understand. 'What is going on with her? Revenge plan? Killing all of them?'
Ri? returned to a casual position and slowly brought her left paw down to her belt while she gave the normal-type in front of her a crazed smile. "You know, it could've been fun to go through with it and see thepathetic looks on their faces..."
The Lucario revealed the Time Gear from Fogbound Lake from the pouch on her belt and held it out in front of her. The sinister aura surrounding the fighting-type slowly began to spread across the artifact and purple sparks started to shoot all around it.
"Any last words?" the Lucario asked when her right paw suddenly shot up to her left wrist.
"No!" Ri's right eye had turned from an icy-blue to a mix of red and purple and radiated desperation while her left eye kept up a calm look and the smile on her lips remained. "Trying to resist, huh?"
The fighting-type seemed to struggle for control over her own body while her purple eye locked onto the normal-type standing in front of her. "L-Lopunny! You- ngh- have to- stop me!"
Rizara still had no idea what was going on but the fact that her opponent had pulled out a Time Gear and was seemingly possesed by an unknown entity brought a panicked look on her face while she focused on Agility and dashed forward. The normal-type was just about to reach the Lucario when the purple sparks around the Time Gear turned into bolts of malicous lighting and shot out into the clearing, creating explosions of grey rectangles and leaving spaces of a pitch black void at their impact zones.
One of them managed to hit the approaching Lopunny, immediately dissolving the Pokemon into even more grey particles.
A sphere of purple energy shot out from the artifact, slowly distorting the Lucario that was holding it in its paw.
"It's finally ov-""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The sphere of destructive energy extended further into the clearing, out into the jungle, to the whole continent of Tresure, over the entire planet, out into space and finally-
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Rizara was back on her feet, wildly shaking her head before she let out a roar. She seemed to have fallen back into her rage but strangely the red glow in her eyes had disappered. The Lopunny jumped at her opponent with a pulled back left fist. "Rapid Fire Punch~!"
Ri responded by kicking her Extreme Speed into overdrive and dashed straight at the normal-type to interrupt the attack with a left elbow strike to the Lopunny's face.
Staggering, Rizara let out a grunt of pain but kept her eyes locked on her opponent.
Even though Ri felt another twitch of pain from her muscles after pushing too far past her Extreme Speed's limit again, the Lucario didn't let up and went for a follow-up attack, stepping after the Lopunny to throw a punch with her right fist. With the loss of her initial speed however, Ri couldn't properly react when Rizara suddenly narrowed her eyes and instantly curled the last segments of her ears into 'morning stars'. "Morning Star Twister~!"
Pushing her legs into the ground, the mega-evolved Pokemon started to twist her body to fire her right ear at her opponent.
Ri barely managed to bring up her left arm for a block when the 'morning star' managed to connect.
It didn't hit with the force of Rizara's previous 'morning star' attacks as she couldn't bring it to full velocity but still managed to lift the Lucario off her feet.
While the Lopunny completed her spin and regained her balance, Ri was launched deeper into the clearing.
The Spirit of Faith managed to execute an Aerial Air to launch herself back towards the floor before she could hit one of the massive trees and dug her legs and right paw into the ground until she slid back into a halt.
Shaking off the shock from her left arm, she got up again and looked at her opponent with a stern look. 'That wasn't some random outlash just now. She left herself open on purpose to draw me into her range... Is she controlling herself?'
The Mega Lopunny was wiping away some blood from her nose while she uncurled her ears. "I'm sorry love but I can't use it... I already broke what I swore to myself after the second time that rage overcame me..."
"Tch..." Ri scoffed in response and rolled her eyes. "Oh, let me guess... you hurt your friends because you couldn't control yourself."
"What are you rolling your eyes for, love?" Rizara asked with a growl before she let out a sigh and began to explain. "But you're right. I hurt my teammates back then... The Pokémon I was trying to protect with this form..."
"Heh, now I finally get why you acted so pathetic and kept offering me to give up the fight," the human-turned Lucario replied. Although it was costing her precious time that remained of her reignited Aura Burst, she decided to keep talking. "All of that confidence of yours was just a fucking act then? Are you really just a scared little girl that's afraid of the monster inside of her?"
Ri's own words caused her to cringe for a split second as she lost the focus on her excitement. Just like myself. Pathetic.
"Are you serious? Why are you talking like this if you clearly have similar, if not worse problems?" the Lopunny asked with narrowed eyes.
That question sent a slight grimace of discomfort onto the blue-eyed Lucario's face. "Because I had to learn the hard way that you can't run from yourself..."
Ri started talking to herself rather than her opponent now, trying to sort through some of the fragmented memories that she had forcefully regained. "We're not too different, you know... I guess you already heard that I've lost my memories... but the more I regained the more I realized that I'm not the person I thought I was. I've hurt other Pokémon that didn't deserve it before too..." the Spirit of Faith began, gaining her a surprised expression from her opponent. "What's worse is remembering the fact that I enjoyed it."
"I still don't get it, love. That still doesn't justify why you would look down on me for caring for my friends," Rizara replied.
"That's not my point!" The girl glared at her opponent for a second before she calmed herself again. "I've tried to fight it, you know... but you've seen what supressing that side of me for so long has led up to... all of it just comes rushing forth..."
"I don't-" the Mega Lopunny tried to reply but the fighting-type interrupted her.
"I fucking hate myself for feeling that way," the girl said with gritted teeth, clenching her fist.
There was a brief moment of silence before Ri continued to speak again. "But I hate the thought of losing even more." She raised her right paw up to desert-goggles that were hanging down from her neck. "Locking your bad side away feels like running away from yourself. It makes me feel like I'm losing to myself."
"What are you trying to say, love?" the mega-evolved Lopunny asked.
"I'm trying to tell you that you shouldn't run from yourself either. Face that side of you so it never becomes a problem for you or your friends ever again," Ri answered as she diverted her gaze. "That's something very important that I forgot."
A muffled memory echoed through her mind, causing her to repeat it out loud. "May they be good or bad, focus your feelings towards your goal. Control them... don't let them control you."
"You really are special, love... Trying to draw out the best of your opponent even if it will put you at a disadvantage..." Rizara called out with a wry smile before she got serious again. "I can't get into the mindset to use my Instant Curl Up instinctively in this state. Using it at it's fullest doesn't work either without being calm and focused."
Ri responded by returning her gaze back at her opponent and getting back into a fighting-stance.
"So I'm doing what I can right now. It's going to burn through my energy and stamina but this is the only thing I can think of without losing myself to that instinct." The Lopunny tried her best to focus and the red glow in her eyes returned.
"Improvised Transformation~!" she announced, returning to her previous stance with her paws held out in a claw-like manner and her curled up ears behind her. "Feral Armor Boost..."
Ri's stern look changed into a wide grin of excitement. She took a close look at her opponent and let out a short laugh when she noticed that the normal-type was completely different from before. "You're constantly keeping up your Defense Curl technique across your whole body?"
The Lopunny didn't answer, still too focused to keep the new state under control.
'She won't be able to block the full damage like this but it will still get her an advantage since we match in speed if she can utilize that feral side of her Mega Evolution...' the female Lucario thought, analyzing the new situation. 'Looks like whoever is able to push through this longer is going to win...'
Returning her focus on the fight again, Ri's icy-blue eyes glinted in excitement.
"About time the real fight started!"
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"Thanks, I really needed that one. I almost fell back into an old habit of mine and lost myself in the excitement," the Lucario called out, still seeing the form of a human overlapping her opponent. The familiar situation finally got to a point where Ri could recall the next action she had taken as a human and an actual memory-shred triggered.
A jolt of pain shot through her head but instead of images or voices, the only thing she remembered was how she felt back then.
When the girl snapped out of her memory, Ri suddenly felt her left leg give out on her for just a moment, causing the Lucario to kink in a bit. She caught herself and punched at her own leg in an attempt to keep it steady. 'Dammit, that one blow did more damage than I thought...'
The edges of her vision were starting to blur and even though she didn't feel any exhaustion through all the adrenaline in her head, her breathing changed into panting. 'Looks like my body won't be able to keep this up very much longer.'
Looking at the Lopunny in front of her, she noticed that her opponent had also started to pant but still seemed to be in an overall better condition than her.
'That improvised form of hers still managed to block most of my attacks.'
"Looks like... this is it..." the Lucario said with a forced smile.
"Finally... came to your... senses... love?"
"That last exchange of blows made me remember something very important... the reason why I thought that I could beat you."
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Ri took a breath through her nose and smirked. "Just a little technique I already knew when I was still human... Turns out it works a little different as a Pokemon," she said, getting into a casual stance.
The Lucario continued to breathe through her nose and closed her eyes for a second before she spoke up again.
"Jibun no shinko."
Rizara suddenly felt that something was off about the fighting-type in front of her.
The black and blue aura Ri was radiating seemed to flow into her body while the lines of enegy running through her black markings stopped glowing.
When the Lucario opened her eyes again, Rizara turned confused at first as they had changed from an icy blue to a mix of purple and red but immediately tensed up when the presence of her opponent changed.
"W-what is this? Why do you-" Rizara was clearly seeing a Lucario with black markings in a black battledress and a tattered white jacket but what she felt in front of her was completely different. The immense pressure her opponent was radiating all of a sudden... It was similar to the knight she had fought before but stronger and focused into a single spot. 'H-how?! She's not a Mega Lucario! Don't tell she's tapping into Z-"
Rizara couldn't finish her thought as the Lucario began to move.
Ri took one step forward and raised her right arm out behind her while she flexed her blood-covered paw to prepare for a Force Palm. She took another breath before she closed in on her opponent with a dash that shattered the earth beneath her feet.
Rizara's eyes widened and her immediate response was an attempt to dodge, however, the Lucario was too fast and had already placed her paw onto the Mega Lopunny's stomach when her legs began to move. 'Can't dodge, have to-'
Ri had placed her left paw onto her right upper arm and let out a battle-cry once she released her point-blank Force Palm.
A gigantic stream of blue energy shot out of her paw, instantly swallowing her opponent with a massive shockwave and the sound of an explosion. The stream of aura ripped apart the ground of the clearing and shredded trees and jungle vegetation as it shot out of their battleground and deeper into the jungle. It increased in width the further it went and soon reached above the jungle trees, making it seem like a huge beam of shining aura was ripping through the moon-lit landscape of the Southern Jungle for several seconds.
The resulting air pressure was sending gusts of wind through the area, throwing huge clouds of dust and leaves into the air. The beam quickly dispersed into remnants of flames and particles of glowing, light-blue aura, slowly revealing the resulting destruction of Ri's Force Palm. From above, it looked like a part of the jungle had been torn out of the landscape, only leaving a huge trench of earth and shredded remains of trees and vegetation with slowly setting clouds of dust in Ri's line of fire.
Back at the clearing, the airborne debris was setting down as well, revealing the form of a clothed Lucario that was covered in severe injuries. The black lines of her Aura Burst were still visible on her exposed arms, legs and face along with rings of exhaustion underneath her bleak eyes which still had the color of a mix between red and purple.
'Did I do it?' The adrenaline in her head faded, slowly getting the Lucario aware of the pain all over her body. She knew what she was in for by using the technique she had remembered but the stinging sensation from her right shoulder and below was getting worse with every second.
Biting her lip to keep herself from screaming and closing her left eye with a pained expression, Ri made a quick glance down at her right arm. Her dangling, blood-covered limb was completely crippled, seemingly having exploded from the inside as her flesh was visible along the black markings. 'Couldn't control it properly... Dammit...'
'But at least I-' Her trail of thought stopped there as her blurred out vision finally made out the form of her opponent in the dust in front of her and an expression of dread made it's way across her blood-covered face...
Rizara was still standing.
"My, my, love..." the Lopunny called out while she took unsteady steps out of the cloud of dust. She had returned to her normal form and was completely covered in bruises and fresh injuries. Worst was a big wound on her stomach that still had smoke coming off of it.
"I never had to use so much energy for my Defense Curl before... I even had to push the energy of my Mega Evolution into it." The Lopunny stopped a couple of meters in front of Ri and faced the girl with a closed right eye. "I'm barely able to stand but..." She baled her left paw into a fist. "Say goodnight, love."
Gritting her teeth in pain and frustration, Ri tried to move but found none of her muscles responsive. It took everything out of her to keep herself standing.
'Come on, fall, god dammit... It had to be enough to beat her! She's running on fumes too! If I just keep myself on my feet and she falls before she reaches me I've won!'
The Lucario's opponent took unsteady steps towards her.
'It had to be enough...'
Rizara stumbled but managed to keep going.
'It had to be...'
The Lopunny was only a couple of feet away from her now.
'It... wasn't enough...'
Ri closed her eyes and decided to give into the urge to black out, however a sudden call from her opponent and the sensation of a paw touching her left shoulder caused them to open again.
"W-who are you?" Rizara asked, looking past Ri's left.
A familiar voice rang through the Lucario's ears as a sudden surge of energy swept across her body from her shoulder. "Let me give you a Helping Hand really quick, alright J?"
"...alright, J?"
A jolt of pain flashed through her head when she turned her head to her left and found a Dewott with a black coat standing besides her. "Su... ke?"
The water-type was staring at the normal-type in front of them with a conflicted expression for a moment before his grey eyes turned red and a cloud of steam left his mouth. "Blood Acceleration."
When he took a step foward and removed his paw from her shoulder he was suddenly replaced by the flickering image of a Buizel in Ri's eyes. "I'm sorry. It looks like you'll have to take a little beauty sleep." He vanished from her sight with the use of Extreme Speed.
Rizara tried to raise her guard but found herself unable to react when the water-type suddenly appeared to her right with a prepared Water Pulse in his right palm.
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Ri coughed up some blood.
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"Dammit, I need you to drink this potion."
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"I'm serious. If you don't drink this, you'll die. Look, your organs are gonna start failing one after another because of aura deprivation. Looks like you're already suffering from severe blood loss as well!"
Ri tried to resist at first but ultimately decided to allow him to give her the medicine in his paw. All she could taste was blood and an awful bitterness.
"Listen closely... You will black out several times before the real effect kicks in. It's going to give you a couple of hours to get the Time Gear until-"
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"Aaaand you're passing out."
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"Great!"
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"Dammit, J..." the Dewott turned around for a moment and looked at the destroyed scene the Lucario had created. "So this is the technique the boss told us about... This is insane... Releasing an attack of that scale should've killed her as a normal Lucario but she's somehow able to release the power of a mega-evolved Pokemon or a Z-Move with it."
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"Looks like she wasn't able to work out all the drawbacks yet though..."
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"Don't bleed out on me, J."
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"This isn't bad actually. I get to carry two beautiful women at once."
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"Wow, how did that hole get here?"
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"The Lopunny was able to mega-evolve... Probably her doing..."
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"Dammit, she really doesn't look good..."
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"Looks like I have to call for backup after all..." The Dewott pulled out an orb from his coat. It was blue in color and covered in runes.
"Cecilia, can you hear me?" Suke said into the object in his left paw.
"What is it, Suke?" a female voice spoke out from the orb after a couple of seconds.
"I need a little help here..." the water-type replied, stepping over to Ri with a worried look on his face.
"I'm kind of in the middle of something... Can I call you back?" Cecilia returned in an annoyed tone.
Suke blinked and turned a little upset, holding the orb closer to his mouth and shouting into it. "What do you mean you're in the middle of something?"
The sound of a sigh came out of the blue orb. "You're not the only one with an assignment. I'm gathering intel on a potential target right now."
Closing his eyes, the Dewott rubbed the bridge between them with his right paw. "Look, J might die on me if you don't come to Treasure right now... The boss is going to kill me if I let that happen." His expression turned serious. "I gave her one of your potions to take care of her aura deprevation but I don't think it's going to be enough... She has lost too much blood, I don't think she's going to survive the side-effects after it wears off."
"J? What do you-" Cecilia started to say in a surprised tone. "You actually found her?!"
"Yeah, it was pure luck though..." the Dewott answered. "Found her standing in the middle of the street in Nagi Village right after I reached Treasure."
"What's the current situation? How much does she know? Is she already-" Cecilia asked but got interrupted.
"She lost most of her memories... Didn't even recognize our coats when I first met her," Suke said with slight disappointent.
"Amnesia? Really?" Cecilia replied.
"Sadly, yes..." the water-type replied while he turned around again to look at the unconscious Lucario lying in front of him.
There was a short moment of silence before the Peace Seeker on the other end of the orb continued. "So you can't tell if she has joined us yet or not."
The Dewott sighed. "Nope, I had to come up with a fake story about kidnapping her because I couldn't risk to change history if she's from a point in time where she's not a Peace Seeker yet."
"That is surprisingly smart for you," came a actually surprised sounding reply.
"Oh, was that a compliment? So my attempts to swoon your heart finally had some success?" Suke asked with a smirk.
A grunt of annoyance could be heard from the orb. "Keep dreaming..."
The water-type continued to smirk. "Did you know that you look really cute when your glasses fog up from blushing?"
"I-I'm not blushing! You're not even able to see me, you moron!"
"Hahaha! Just wait and see, I'll get you to go on a date with me someday."
"Shut up already! This is no time for messing around!"
Suke waved into the air as if trying to wipe the topic away. "I know, I know... Sorry... From what I heard of her conversations after I started tailing her, she probably hasn't been to Alteal yet. Turned out lying really was the right thing to do..."
"Good..." was Cecilia's reply. "The boss said we're supposed to make her think that we are her enemies until she joins us in her original time."
"Right..." Suke frowned as he was once again berated on something he already knew very well.
Another question came from the orb. "Got anything else I should tell the boss?"
The Dewott opened his mouth to answer but suddenly seemed to remember something, causing him to shake his head with an annoyed expression. "No, that's all. I'll see you later," Suke said, putting the orb back underneath his coat.
"Damn, I almost let it slip out. The boss isn't supposed to know yet that she is here too." He let out a sigh of annoyance. "Just knowing about the future is enough of a pain in the ass already..."
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"Ri!"
"Huh?"
"Y-you shouldn't move like that!"
"Your arm, it's..."
"It bled quite a lot through the bandages. How do you feel?"
"Numb... Everything's numb..."
"What happened?"
"I lost..."
"Huh?"
"I fought Rizara with everything I had... and lost..."
"W-wait, you shouldn't move like that!"
"I don't feel any pain..."
"Ri, please."
"Call me J..."
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"...lacerations and torn apart muslce tissue due to the high pressure she must've sent through her arm..."
'Wha...'
"...burned up fat and even muscle mass to compensate the overuse..."
'Somebody is talking?'
"...gonna make it...?"
'That voice sounds familiar...'
"...about the mark? Should we put it on...?"
"...Yes... I'll begin right away..."
'But I don't recognize this one...'
"...why there...?"
"...rest of her body is covered in bruises... the only place that hasn't... I can put it..."
'It stings...'
'Why does it sting?'
'Too tired...'
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"You won't be using that arm of yours for quite a while..."
"Whatever you did... It pretty much ripped apart every single muscle in your arm and the joints of your wrist and your elbow had been dislocated. It even broke your steel bones in several places."
"But that's not all... the worst part is that you somehow disrupted the flow of your aura in it. It's not circulating through it like it should."
"I see..."
"Your whole body in general is having a hard time to generate aura."
"I've heard that before..."
"When was the last time you actually let your body rest?"
"Uhm... Two days ago at Nagi Village... I couldn't use my aura for a day because of a potion a healer gave me there."
"That's recovery time, not rest..."
"Look... Muscles get stronger by straining them. But only if you give your body enough time to heal the miscroscopic tears."
"So...?"
"You strained yourself to a point where we can't rule out permanent damage."
"What do you mean?"
"Aside from pain in your joints and shoulder due to the recoil of that attack you used, you could also be suffering from damaged aura veins and hardened scar tissue in your muscles."
"You won't be able to move like you could before and your ability to use aura will be impaired as well."
"I'm talking about painful jams in your movements if you move the wrong way and a loss of your internal aura reserves."
"Isn't there anything else you can do?"
"With my current knowledge on healing moves and items... No."
"Dammit..."
"I won't let this pull me down."
"I'll just have to change my movements to evade those jams and improve my Aura Garment to compensate for the loss of my body's reserves if this really stays permanent."
"See? Just like the boss said. Even a setback like that won't stop her."
"What about Aura Burst? Will I still be able to use it?"
"I'd advise against it until your condition improves. That is if it improves... It's an ability that pushes your body past its limits... Should you really suffer permanent impairments and still decide to use it then you might worsen your condition even further with every consecutive use..."
"I'm going to put it simple... Don't use your right arm until you've finished the rehabilitation, don't use any aura until your aura veins have recovered and, for the love of Arceus, don't get into any more fights until you're fully healed and rested."
"Uhm... I don't have time to rest... I need to get back to Cobal and collect the remaining two Time Gears."
"Are you sure about this, J?"
"Right now you're at the level of an average Riolu with one arm and crappy aura control."
"I don't care... A Riolu with one arm and crappy aura control has to be enough then."
"Hehe... Guess it's a good thing we gave you that rune tattoo then."
"Uhm... What?"
"You tattoed me?!"
"Leave the bandage on for now, you skin is still sensitive from coloring your hair roots."
"W-why there?"
"Who of you gave it to me?"
"D-don't worry, Cecilia did. I'm not good at this rune charm stuff."
"I'm not sure if that's better... How can I be sure she didn't touch me inappropriately."
"W-wha- I wouldn't-"
"We're both women, how would you even-"
"Calm down, I'm just messing with you..."
"You do look pretty cute with your glasses fogged up though..." Ri added with an acted, seductive smirk.
Suke wasn't able to hold back his laughter after hearing this and seeing Cecilia's face turn as red as a tomato. "Hahaha, J, please stop... You're going to kill both of us if you keep going. Haha."
"What makes you so sure that I'm joking?"
"Ha- Huh? Are you really-"
"Haha... You actually believed that?! Oh god, I really am able to drive it as far as Elly."
"Arceus, J... You shouldn't mess with the Pokemon that saved your live like that."
"So, what's this tattoo about?"
"It's a rune tattoo that has two effects... The first one is something like a tracker. We can sense your location at all times... meaning that we won't have to stalk you anymore.
"Before you freak out, it's a two-way deal. You can sense every other Peace Seeker with it as well."
'So that's the weird feeling I had ever since I woke up. They're still too faint to make out a certain number though...'
"The second effect is something that's going to be more of interest to you."
"Do you know how Explorer Badges work? How you can teleport with them?"
"I never thought about asking that for some reason... But I think that I do know... Just can't recall it properly..."
"They work with runes as well... Let's take the badges of Wigglytuff's guild for example. There's a rune circles drawn into the floor at the crossroad in front of the guild. Every badge is 'tuned' into that rune circle, enabling you to teleport to the connected location."
"I see..."
"Our tattoos work similar... Once you connect them to a rune circle you can teleport to that location anytime you want. Takes up a huge amount of your energy though..."
"So it's essentially like fast-travel?"
"That's a good way to call it, yeah."
"I think we should tell her about the third effect, she won't be very happy if we do it without warning her."
"A third effect? I thought you said there's only two."
"Sorry, J. I guess we really shouldn't keep it from you."
"The third effect is combining the first two. You can teleport to the location of any other Peace Seeker with it."
"So that's why you won't stalk me anymore... Because you can always track me and come for me anytime you want now."
"Yeah, sorry..."
"But that means I can do same, right?"
"How about I pay your boss a little visit right now?"
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"Cobal?"
"Mgh..."
"Thank god, you're awake!"
"Ri? What happened? How did you- I thought you-"
"Suke kidnapped me so one of his partners could heal me..."
"Your arm is still covered in bandages though..."
"Forget about me for now, I found you passed out in the middle of a snowstorm! You almost froze to death, you idiot! How long have you been running after us when Suke kidnapped me?"
"The whole night... I fought through the storm for as long as I could when the weather suddenly changed."
"I should've figured..."
"How can there be a snowstorm in a desert?"
"The symbol on my paw appeared when it started to snow... must've been some kind of time anomaly."
"I guess those are the first signs that Temporal Tower is going to collapse..."
"Okay, back to more important matters... You said that another Peace Seeker is on Treasure now?"
"Yeah, a Kadabra called Cecilia..."
"Did you talk with them after they healed you?"
"Yeah... She did the best she could but there might be some permanent damage after what I did when I fought Rizara..."
"Scar tissue in my muscles, joint pain, impairment on my aura reserves..."
"I really messed up... She said I'll have to do some rehab excercises once my arm is able to move again without any serious pain..."
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be... This is something I brought onto myself..."
"Anything else they told you?"
"They gave me some stuff..."
"Is there a reason for you to lift your dress?"
"Just look at my thigh, god dammit..."
"A bandage?"
"There's supposed to be a rune tattoo underneath..."
"Uhm... Apparently it gives me the ability to teleport to rune circles..."
"Like a badge from the federation?"
"Yes, I haven't figured out how to do it yet, though..."
"It's also a tracker... the Peace Seekers can sense me at any time-"
"What?! Why would they-"
"But I can do the same, don't worry!"
"You can sense the location of every Peace Seeker?"
"Uhm... They're faint and I can't make out a certain number. I couldn't figure out how to do it properly yet..."
"So we could theoretically hunt them down... you could lead us to their hideout... you could-"
"Snap out of it, we still have to keep time from collapsing, remember?
"Yeah, right, sorry..."
"They also gave me a pair of glasses that let you see rune charms and curses..."
"Turned out pretty useless though since I remembered that I could read runes..."
"You can actually read runes?"
"I don't know how many but yeah... Uhm... I was able to read all the runes that made up the tattoo on Suke's arm."
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"H-how is your arm not burned?"
"Huh, that voice...?"
"Wha-"
"Got you!"
"Nice one, who taught you how to use that move like this?"
"A friend... She was a Riolu that..."
"But that's- You're-"
"What's your name?"
"Ozu..."
"What?"
"Ozu, you-! You're back! And you evolved!"
"Do I know you?"
She removed the hood of her jacket, fully revealing her face. "It's me, Ri. But I guess it's hard to tell since I evolved too."
"What are you talking about? Ri is dead! Dusknoir killed her!"
"Dusknoir? Killing me?"
"I saw it! The blood-covered scarf that she had tied around her arm."
"It ended up in the future?"
"Now that I think about it... Those bindings on me were gone all of a sudden after I fell through the portal. Everything I had on me in that moment must've been sent to the future."
"H-how could you be Ri? She didn't have a burned arm like that!"
"Do you want a proof?"
"The Time Gear!"
"Y-your paw! B-but that's-"
"R-Ri... Is it really you?"
"You're alive..."
"Thank Arceus..."
"It's okay... We can talk about it later."
"Where's Riley and Grovyle?"
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"Celsius..."
"Uuh..."
"How about we talk in private for a second..."
"Why would you want that? I mean we've been having private conversations for quite a while now."
"That wasn't a question."
"Hello, Corrine."
"Hi, Siavon."
"Hello."
"Hey, Corrine... I've heard a really interesting story about you and Celsius."
"A-a story? I'm not sure I follow."
"How about we have a little 'training' sometime? I'm able to use Attract too, you know."
"P-please! I beg of you! Don't tell anyone about it! If anybody finds out that I actually did that I'd never be able to live it down!"
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Uuh... What are you talking about?"
"You've got about three seconds to undo the mental link..."
"Alright, alright!"
"What about you Siavon? Do you have any secrets I should know about or should I blackmail those two into telling everyone?"
"Secrets? I'm not sure I have any... Does reading romance novels count?"
"It's nice to see that you guys are okay! I'm really sorry that I dragged you into this mess..."
"It's fine."
"We were glad we could at least help you out a bit with Celsius's mental link."
"Help is probably the wrong way to describe it but I appreciate it."
"We're going to see the guild now. Will you bee at the festival later?"
"Of course!"
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"Chimecho? Are you there?"
"Oh, Ri. How can I help you?"
"Uhm... You're a healer, right? There's some questions I have you might be able to help me with."
"Um, I'm not a fully fledged healer but I have some basic knowledge of medicine and healing moves. I'm more of a nurse, you could say... What is it you want to know?"
"Can you use your psychic scan ability or whatever you call it on my arms?"
"Of course."
"Oh... That's... Um..."
"What did you feel?"
"Your right arm must've suffered some serious injury just recently. It's covered in fresh scars... Your wrist, elbow and shoulder are-"
"I know. I'm already doing some rehab-exercises."
"I see..."
"Your left arm... it's strange. Underneath your fur are signs of third degree burns but it somehow seems completely fine."
"Already know that too... It's Heat Proof too actually..."
"Heat Proof?"
"It's not affected by flames... and I'm a steel-type."
"Wait, let me get my books."
"Where is it?"
"Ah, there."
"Biology of steel-types?"
"Yes, I'm looking for the page on Bronzor and Bronzong... The ability is very common among them."
"Here it says that most Bronzor have bodies that aren't made of pure steel entirely but an alloy that is resistant to heat."
"An alloy? So the bones of my arm and my steel-like skin are a similar alloy?"
"It must be... but it doesn't explain why you're not able to feel the heat at all. Your fur and flesh should still be affected."
"Um, do you know how you got this burn?"
"I... I don't... Ngh..."
"I already had this when I was still a Riolu!"
"Wait, I have read something that could be the reason for this!"
"There it is!"
"Evolutionary mutations."
"It's a rare phenomenon that can occur when a Pokemon would gain a new type upon evolution but suffered an injury that would interfere with their new body previous to their transformation."
"So your burned arm adapted into what it is now when you evolved."
"Wow..."
"I hope I could clear some things up for you."
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"Hey, Marowak!"
"Oh, you're Ri!"
"So those rumors were true, you're a Lucario."
"I was wondering if I could use to Dojo for an hour or so. My arm got injured recently and I'm supposed to do some light exercises in order for it to fully recover."
"Of course. I'll bring you a keg of water and some towels. Do you need anything else?"
"That's more than enough, thank you."
"I've heard the stories about you... You must've been through a lot."
"Could've been worse."
"So... Do you have any new moves now that you're a Lucario?"
"I remembered some moves and techniques that I didn't know the last time I was here."
"Sacred Sword and my Bone Blade technique are two of them."
"I trained to use Aura Sphere but haven't learned to really use it yet. Last time I tried it the move exploded into my face..."
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"Hey, I just remembered something. You said you'd teach me a technique for my Aerial Ace, right?"
"Oh, yes I did."
"What I was going to teach you is similar to a move called Vacuum Wave."
"Try to form an airstream around your arm."
"I did it."
"Now try to fling that airstream at that dummy over there with a punch."
"Dammit, let me try again."
"It worked!"
"I figured you'd like to learn a non-lethal technique like this since you disliked the Gavylian-Style that you had learned."
"Keep going until you can manage to knock one over that isn't fixed to the floor."
"This is great for pushing people off balance even from a distance."
"Wow, with this I'll be able to use Aerial Ace somewhat more offensively."
"I've only ever used it for my Air Recovery and to power up some of my kicks that use spinning motions."
"Glad I could help you."
"Got to include this techniques in some of my other movements too... Maybe add it to a sweeping kick so it can knock my opponent off balance even if they jump over it... Or a-"
"Ri?"
"Huh?"
"You're spacing out again."
"Oh, sorry! Just thinking out loud."
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"Marowak, you there?"
"Oh, morning."
"My arm feels fine again. I want to do some actual training."
"I see, what are you aiming for?"
"I need to strengthen my arms so they can handle the recoil of my Force Palm for one... I also want to be able to use more aura..."
"My Aura Burst seems to be too much for my body right now. It felt like it was almost tearing apart because of the energy I was releasing,"
"This isn't going to be easy. You'd have to strain you aura veins over and over again."
"You could actually use Extreme Speed to accomplish this. Have you ever tried to go faster by using more aura for the move?"
"Yup. That's one of the reasons why I was in such a bad shape after my fight with Lopunny. I had to do it pretty much the whole fight in order to keep up with her."
"You're only going to do it in short bursts for this training method. In sets like lifting weights and breaks between them."
"I see..."
"As for your arms, I have some weights you can use."
"Thanks."
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"Do you have some time for me, Cobal?"
"Yes, of course. What do you need?"
"I wanted to ask you some questions about my Aura Garment."
"I've been training for the last couple of days and I was wondering if I could increase my reserves even more by improving it."
"Your Aura Garment already feels extremely dense. If you were to force even more aura into it you'll probably just end up radiating some aura."
"Do you have a feeling how much reserves your garment gives you? When I sense it and compare it to mine, you glow a lot more than I do."
"Uhm... About a quarter of my normal reserves? It's hard to tell..."
"25% and your already a Brute Breed with increased reserves. It's really hard to tell if you're not already pushing the limit of its first stage..."
"Huh? Are there more stages?"
"Yes, but incredibly hard to learn... actually somewhat dangerous too since you have to learn aura-conversion for it."
"Aura-Conversion?"
"You said something like that before... When I entered an area where time was frozen."
"It was similar but not quite what Aura Garment needs."
"You can infuse your Aura Garment with a type to give it additional effects."
"Let's say steel-type for example. In this form it would be called Aura Armor and increase your defensive capabilities while also increasing the power of steel-type moves."
"Why does that sound familiar?"
"Ngh..."
"Another memory?"
"Only muffled voices and blurry images... Nothing I can properly recall now."
"It does have some drawbacks too though. Moves of any other type than your current garment form aren't as powerful as usual and take more time to execute..."
"I see... Sounds worth looking into though..."
"Hmm... Looks like Aura Garment is a dead end for now..."
"Gotta think of something else that could make a difference... We only have three more days left before we have to head out to the Hidden Land and one of them should be used to rest."
"Come on, there has to be something I can come up with in two days to increase my reserves."
"Aura Burst... What if I could tap into that stored power whenever I want?"
"Ngh..."
"Dammit, can't remember properly... But a memory shred means that I have tried to pull this off before."
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"Did you really think I'd come back to stop you alone? These are the strongest mercenaries I could find in our future!"
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"Grovyle?! Why did you-"
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"Wearing this hollow shell of a body makes me want to throw up but it was exactly what I needed to fool you into letting your guard down."
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"Please... I know you're still in there... I..."
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"I love you..."
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"Maybe... in another life..."
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"Can't lose the faith in ourselves now, Ri... let's do this..."
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"Agon?"
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"What the hell happened to you, Jovi?"
