We don't get as much free time as I would've thought to take a good look around the kingdom before our mock battle with Alpha the following evening. As newcomers, we've just attracted too much attention to ourselves to be left alone to explore for long—not only the highly-trained Lucario or humans, but also even younger Riolu than us. We can't go far without some curious person confronting us.
Which is why, when we arrive to a vacant training field, I can't help feeling relieved. I don't know if it's just the hour or if Alpha made sure to wave others away for the sake of privacy, but there's just him, the two of us, and Zen. Aside from within the borders of the castle walls, I can't even sense anyone in our immediate area.
The latter's presence doesn't surprise me: He's already appeared more than Alpha has to check in on us within these two, short days. Making sure we've got plenty of food, that we can find our way around, stepping in if we're being overwhelmed or bothered… I know he said we're as good as family, but if he's already fully accepted that I'm Iliana's daughter, I still think he's a bit too fast at taking on that kind of role.
He waves us over, clutching a small bag in his other hand, "Lira! Ri!" As we near, he holds it out to show off its small rainbow of contents. "You said you like sweets, right? I thought I'd bring some different candies for you two to try."
Alpha folds his arms over his chest, "Are you trying to make them sick before we battle?"
"I'm trying to spoil my niece and her friend," he retorts, "Apparently, I've got seventeen years' worth of bonding to do. I think that's a little more important."
Niece… Heat creeps over my face. Yep, he's definitely embraced this a little too fast… Embarrassed, I speak up, "Is it really ok for you to run over here this often? Don't you need to stay with Iliana's parents?"
I don't completely understand why he isn't with my mom on her journey. Pokemon don't usually stay too far from their trainers for long outside of time spent in daycares or with tutors. With my grandparents looking after him instead, even if this might be a unique situation, they'd notice if he was away from home as often as he's been.
Zen shrugs, "I spend a lot of time helping the guard every day. They'll just assume I'm putting more into the same schedule."
"He's here to watch you two fight," explains Alpha, "I'll take on Lira first, then you, Ri. It won't be a full-on battle, but I want you to throw everything you have at me. I want to see what you're made of."
"What are the terms?" Ri asks.
"We can use the whole field. I'll let you know when to stop."
Pretty much anything goes… Good, sine that's the kind of battle I'm used to. The Inheritor and I make some distance between us while Ri and Zen move to the sidelines. I stretch my arms before moving into a readied position. Alpha's own stance stays fairly relaxed, encouraging me to attack first.
He's going to be quicker than us—maybe he'd even give Grovyle a run for his money. This'll be a match without an official winner, so I might as well come into this as hard as I can. Maybe I can surprise him first and then I'll focus on maintaining my stamina. I brace my hands near my waist.
"Begin!"
No sooner has he called for the match to start, I fire off an Aura Sphere and charge behind it with Quick Attack. I don't expect the Inheritor to be caught off guard so easily, but he barely moves! Holding his ground, Alpha repels the orb of energy with the back of his fist to send it flying toward the nearby woods—not even flinching at the contact.
It's one thing to brace yourself against a move like that: It's another to change its course. Hit it wrong and that energy will just erupt on you anyway. What I'm more impressed by though is the intense wave of aura that follows, rippling around him. An unnecessary reminder of what kind of fighter I'm dealing with. Rather than intimidate me this time though, it's exhilarating. It's not just a pulse released for his own sake: It's a challenge.
There's no time for me to change direction and he's already prepared for my follow-up attack. My jab at his waist is stopped by a low block, and I have no choice but to brace myself for his counter with Bullet Punch. Not the strongest of moves, but definitely one of the swiftest. I can't shield myself from the blow in time. Gritting my teeth as I take it to the chest, I roll with the hit and move back to give myself some room again.
Friendly spar or not, he doesn't let up. Alpha returns my Aura Sphere with one of his own, a deeper, richer blue of concentrated aura than mine usually are for its size. The second he takes to summon it though is the chance I need to recover just enough to avoid it, sidestepping out of range. The sphere tears past me, scattering dust as it hits the ground.
Keeping up a hard offence, I flip forward to rush him with Blaze Kick next. The short distance doesn't give long for the flames to envelope my leg; however, the sight of them do manage surprise him this time. He brings both arms up to guard himself, rocking back on impact, but still holding his position.
In one sense, we actually have the advantage. Evolution gives a Lucario immunity to poison attacks and heightened defenses against half of all types, but puts them at a disadvantage to Fire, Ground, and even other Fighting-types. It's not a bad trade, but still a frustrating one that would take a while to get used to. I imagine Alpha's trained plenty enough though to endure anything whether it's super-effective or not.
He shows off one of the ways he compensates for that next. His fist emits a vivid, green spiral of energy, driving me off with a backward swing that takes so much out of me, I recognize the move in an instant: Drain Punch. Worse than the blow, it takes my breath away as a part of my strength is taken for his own.
I land on all fours in a crouch, close enough to his side that I spin to deliver a round kick at his legs. When he jumps to dodge, I use my leftover momentum to rebound off the earth and slam into his chest with Force Palm. At last, he's forced to give ground, knocked away a couple meters to soon recover as he digs his heels into the ground. He stands back up with a smirk on his face that I mimic.
Only for a moment though. He then fires off a trio of well-aimed Aura Spheres my way, which I scramble to avoid one after the other in a wild curve. I try to return fire only to get the same result as last time: Alpha bats it away as if he were swatting back a crumpled paper ball.
I only really have one other move that works long-range: Vacuum Wave. Before he can continue his barrage, I stand firm and draw in the surrounding air into a circling current. When one of his spheres attempts to break through, it instead gets caught in the vortex and then thrown across the field somewhere out of sight. I feel my body lifted off the ground and curl inward, releasing that stored-up power as a sharp arch of wind.
He quickly darts back once more, shielding himself from the lesser ripples of broken current that follow the initial strike as he lunges over it and into the air. As I fall, again, I'm in a position where I can't avoid him. He lifts up his arms, ready to drive me into the ground with a downward hit. I twist my body around before we collide, one leg far enough out to repel from his swing and toss myself off course. I manage to land on my feet and go rolling, spinning on my heel just in time to move away as he lands too close for comfort and uses Bullet Punch yet again.
I block it; however, his strength still overpowers mine. Whatever steps I gained earlier, he soon takes back. I'm too low for him to come at me with a series of jabs easily, reducing some of his speed as he instead keeps up the assault with a forward kick. Skirting around it, I see an opening to at least fire one small, Aura Sphere that hits its mark—drilling into his unguarded waist.
The warm glow of success doesn't last long as I'm shocked by the dark Shadow Claw that throws me back. Skidding up dust, I remain upright and draw in a deep breath. Aside from Aura Sphere, none of the moves Alpha's used are easy for Lucario to learn. Maybe he's the cream of the crop here, but I still can't help but wonder what the others of our species are like when he's this tough…
My astonishment clears just as he shakes off the black and purple shadow that surrounds his arm to dispel the move. It might've been a Ghost-type attack, but it's still a physical one: I charge forward to Counter. He's ready to block me; however, I'm prepared this time, swiftly changing the direction of the blow from a front hit to yet another against his side.
I'm ready to follow up with a second swing when my eyes widen at the feeling of a hand against my forehead. Not a harsh grip to keep me back; just a soft, yet firm touch to make me pause. The additional feeling of Alpha's aura rippling past me—with a new, calming effect—draws my gaze to his. He gives me a small, pleased grin.
"That's enough," he gently orders, "You did good!"
The abrupt ending to our battle leaves me conflicted and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from letting anything show. On one hand, I'm proud to have kept up with him without growing tired and for the compliment. On the other, I actually feel a little disappointed that it was cut short and that's all he had to say about it. A part of me wants to keep going… Ri needs the chance to show off his own skills though, so it wouldn't make sense for either of us to go all out.
Turning to the sidelines, I pause again at the sight of my partner and Zen gawking at us. Zen looks like a puppy that just watched his first match, beaming with his tail thrashing the air behind him. I have no idea why since Ri's seen me fight—nevermind fought alongside me—countless times, but he's almost as bad. Although more reserved than Zen, his ears are perked up and his eyes shimmer.
Seeing him like that for my sake, I feel a stronger sense of victory than possibly winning the battle would've done for me. It's been a while since we've impressed each other enough to make those kinds of expressions, because we had to grow so rapidly during our earliest adventures.
Zen whistles as I step over to them, "Chief sure isn't holding back! You two just might push him to his limit."
"He's pretty tough," I reply, then look back at my partner as he rises to trade places with me, "You can't pull any punches either. Let's both show them what Team Crusade is capable of."
Ri nods, but I can see those long-forgotten nerves reflecting back at me. This is his first fight in a somewhat new setting, against someone who immediately impressed us and already has his own expectations. My words only have so much effect on him. Still, all I can do is keep cheering him on.
As I sit down, Zen sticks out the candy bag from before to me. They look hard and most of them have either a round or triangular shape. I pluck out a pink and red-striped one, and a strong Razz berry favor hits my tongue. I think they might actually be more like vitamins, similar to the gummis we have back home.
Ri stands about as far from Alpha as I did. However, as the latter orders for the fight to begin, he remains where he is. I know it's not just hesitation though: He's looking for an opening. The trick is whether or not the Inheritor will give him one. Neither budge, leaving things at an early stalemate.
It's rare for us to go into battles alone. We only truly ever held one-on-one fights against our guildmates or other team members, so I can't remember the last time I just sat back and watched Ri like this either.
The two move almost simultaneously, charging across the field toward one another. Alpha manifests his Shadow Claw once again, and Ri lunges over him at the last second. By the time the former spins around to repeat his attack, my partner has summoned his bone staff to shield himself. They momentarily lock, with the Lucario soon overpowering him before Ri retreats back out of range.
Another pause, and then Alpha volleys off a barrage of Aura Spheres his way next. Ri swerves around them, and only when he's able to catch a breath releases a loud Screech. The mild shockwave distorts the air around him and our senior flinches, ears flitting back from the harsh noise. Before Ri can take the offence though, he bursts forward with a new move: Extreme Speed.
The action is so swift that he may as well have teleported across the field. In the blink of an eye, he zips to my partner's side to land a brutal, round kick against his torso. It knocks him to the ground in a tumble that carries him a few meters away.
Quickly, Ri pushes himself back up. I notice a familiar spark in his eyes as he uses Copycat, a flash of white parading in the orange fire of his irises. The Inheritor, however, doesn't see it, so when he closes the gap yet again to continue the assault, Ri's able to outmaneuver him. Rather than dish out the same blow, he only mimics the attack for the sake of its instantaneous boost. Instead, still gripping his weapon in a tight hand, he slams the end of it against Alpha's jaw in a successful Bone Rush. The hit grounds the Lucario as he moves back into a crouch. Again, they stop to eye each other, waiting for what the other will do next.
I find myself sitting on my knees, eagerly leaning toward the match instead of passively reclining as I had been. My tail brushes the dirt behind me. Just spectating, keeping track of every action and every wave of aura the two emit as they clash, I understand better why Ri was so insanely captivated watching my fight. It's the person who went through so many insane things at my side against a master of so much we're still trying to learn. Two trained fighters from different worlds, and two generations showing off their different experience.
I clench my teeth when Alpha summons a staff of his own. It doesn't look too different from Ri's as compared to how my Aura Sphere's looks to his. What worries me is the gap between their raw strengths and size. Moreover, when he storms back over to Ri, my partner is forced once more on the defense by the hail of precise jabs he makes. Few Pokemon use actual weapons, but I recognize those steps: It's similar to that of human techniques.
Staying focused, Ri's able to keep up even if he can't get in any hits himself. I see his resolve start to waver thanks to other's finely polished moves and, slowly, he starts to get clumsy which only makes the situation worse. That's the problem when he's in a fight like this compared to one with real stakes. It's another kind of pressure.
In a real battle, there's no choice but to fight with everything we have—there's a chance we could get killed if we don't. There's no time to second-guess ourselves, otherwise, Ri can worry about a million things in a fight. He starts to doubt his own ability. He doesn't want to disappoint anyone. Even if he was winning, if he seriously hurt his opponent, then the guilt would eat away at him. He can question every one of his own moves and it's easy for him to get overwhelmed.
There's one thing I've seen as he's grown though. As much as Ri can hold himself back, sometimes he'll surprise you.
Alpha's onslaught continues, pushing Ri back further and further until my partner delivers an upward swing. As he does and the Inheritor moves to block it, Ri let's go of his staff to slide under the other's legs, turn back, and launch a swift Force Palm against the base of his spine. It throws Alpha forward and he rolls, driving his own weapon in the earth as a prop for him to recover and spin around to face off once more.
Ri remanifests his staff, using Quick Attack as a lesser form of the tactic he used earlier with Extreme Speed. Unfortunately, the Inheritor is ready for him this time. He uses Bullet Punch to send my teammate sprawling back. Ri scrambles out of the way when he then tries to attack him with a downward swing, getting back on his feet to block the next strike. This keeps him pinned until he slides his weapon past the other's own in a quick escape.
He swings and then kicks low to knock the Lucario off-balance: The first attack is deflected and the other evaded. Alpha locks staffs with Ri again, taking one hand off his weapon to draw a fist as he prepares to use Drain Punch. It's too close to dodge!
Typically, we both save Endure for when our energy is mostly spent, but Ri uses it now to dig his feet firmly in the ground and brace for the harsh blow, tightening the muscles in his stomach. It's what lets him keep standing when the punch is cleanly delivered instead of getting thrown back. It also gives him a chance to Counter by driving his palm against the other's collarbone now that he's in a low enough position. The strike leaves the latter unguarded he's able to follow it with a hard jab to the torso.
Standing apart, both of them steadily watch each other with their staffs at the ready. Despite the hit he took, Ri's braced to keep going. However, the battle stops there as Alpha gives him a satisfied nod and allows his weapon to dissolve in his hands a moment later.
"You're pretty impressive too," the Inheritor compliments, "Those stories about you kids fighting off legendaries are a lot more believable after this. Even the best bred here at your age would normally be worn out by now."
"Constant, high-stakes really pushed us to have just as high stamina…" my partner says bashfully.
There's something about Ri's face when he turns to me that makes it impossible to keep still any longer: A happy, enthusiastic look that wants me to answer it. I run over to him, tackling him in a light hug just as he lets go of his own staff in time to return the embrace. Our tails practically wag in sync.
Zen soon joins us, "Just so you know, it's not like we doubted either of you or Azelf. Call it our type of warm welcome."
"No need to explain," Ri shrugs, "Sometimes the best way to get to know someone is through a battle." That couldn't be the furthest thing from what he thinks, but I know it's what he's probably used to.
For the pair of Lucario, the phrase couldn't be any more accurate. Simply reading other people's aura would make up for first impressions, while training and sparring likely comes across as the most natural way to bond. Maybe it's thanks to my own training with both Ri's older self in the Dark Future and his guidance when I was adjusting to my life as a Riolu, but I kind of agree.
I half-grin with a sceptic brow, "No criticism though?"
"A little, actually," Alpha smirks in reply. His tone sharpens to that of an instructor, "I can see where you two complement each other as a team. Lira, you're more reactionary while, Ri, you prefer to plan each move and see what your opponent will do: One of you throws all of yourself into a battle while the other tries to get an early feel of things. Independently though, you both have some growing to do."
He steps over to us, tapping me on the head first, "You think like a human, obviously, and that's not a bad thing—that background likely helps you strategize in a pinch. The problem is that you're wasting your potential. You barely tap into your aura outside of attacks. Get a better grip on it and you'll be able to sense trouble in advance. It'll also help you keep a better awareness of what's happening around you, since you focus too much on the immediate and can get carried away."
Alpha then motions at Ri, "You could use some martial arts training to master your staff, but I don't blame you for that. It comes with practice and you kept up well. My biggest concern is the way you hesitate, and the way you reached out to Lira's presence for support. It lets me know that you're not used to standing alone. You might always have each other's backs, but if you want to be strong for others, you also have to learn how to be strong for yourself."
He hits some hard points where we're lacking. Neither or us can contradict him since they're points we inwardly know, but haven't been able to fully address. Nevermind my aura, I've been distracted before and caught from behind, and often let my emotions carry me in a fight. Sometimes more than I should. Ri's gained a lot of confidence, but can still fall back to old insecurities.
Beyond accepting it, we don't really get a chance to swallow that lecture as Zen cuts in awkwardly, "Still, that was amazing fighting, especially since neither of you have evolved yet! You could beat any Riolu from here in a normal battle, probably some of our better warriors too." He pauses, curious, then asks, "You two are planning on evolving, right? I don't see why you can't."
We remain silent. Personally, evolution is still a hard decision to make right now. I know I want to someday; I just don't want to rush into it like we've had to do so much else. Technically, I haven't even been a Riolu for very long, so who knows what it'll be like getting used to another new body. Ri though… It's something he's prepared for, something he wants, but is out of our reach for reasons we can't control.
"It's… complicated." My partner explains our situation, from the events at Luminous Spring to our return there with the same result. We were told that we'd met the requirements to evolve, but can't because of our distortion in the fabric of space. A small distortion, come to find out, but one that's affected our personal lives.
The news doesn't settle well with either Lucario, but after thinking our explanation over, they try to offer some positive advice. "Maybe you just need to wait until Palkia's finished patching things up," Zen suggests, "Maybe once time-space heals, there won't be a problem."
"A mental block could be contributing as well. Evolution is hard enough on our species," Alpha draws a hand to his chin thoughtfully, "All the more reason why I'd like to work with you both, if you'd let me."
I won't force you to train with anyone: I just hate to see your potential go to waste. Aura Guardians are literally born and bred here. You two have an extreme amount of talent and experience already. It'd be a shame to let that go and, if it might help you in some way, where's the loss?"
I don't know… I'm not looking forward to training with a group if only because there's just so long I can take so many stares drilling holes into my back. It would be a good chance to see what other Riolu are like besides Ri though, like I wanted. Maybe I can start tapping into instincts that have been blocked off from me until now. Ri doesn't say anything, so I'm not sure what he wants either.
Zen pipes up, a bit irked, "Come on, chief! Don't steal them away! We're at the end of Day Two and I still haven't gotten a chance to take them home yet."
"You want family time with the girl? How about you put that candy down and lend a hand?"
Ri nudges me to catch my attention, trying to hide a laugh. His gaze reflects the same, encouragement he's been giving me since we got here, It's up to you. I hug his arm tighter in appreciation.
Today… was actually pretty fun. I think I can get used to fighting for sport just as much as it is a job for us. I'm just postponing the main thing I came here to do more and more, but I think this could really help us: Riolu training for me and combat training for the both of us.
"Why not? Like you said before, our schedule's clear."
"If you think there's more where we can improve, then we'd like learn," my partner adds.
The pair stop mid-bicker at our words. Alpha's the first to reply, grinning, "Wonderful! I'll pick a group and you two can join them as soon as possible. I'll prepare some private sessions as well."
Before I can ask what he plans on teaching us, Zen cuts in again, "In that case, come with me tomorrow. You've barely seen any of the kingdom. I'll show you around and… I'll show you home."
Eager as he is, he still shows a bit of reluctance. I already pushed off meeting my grandparents for this long when it should be a priority. He's got every reason to wonder why. Admitting to him how upset I am at them though is harder than biting the bullet and just facing them. And already he looks so disappointed…
I ignore the tightness in my chest, releasing a nearly mute sigh, "I guess I've psyched myself up enough, so that sounds fine. We'll be counting on you."
His eyes glisten warmly, "I'll give you the full tour! Rest up, because we start bright and early!"