Yes, it has been some time. I was busy and frustrated with work and after that I got lazy. I'm feeling good now though. Also I'm not entirely sure if I'm allowed to use the names of real people, but I'm choosing to play it safe. So many names in here will be off by a letter or two.

February 19th, 2019. 7:10 pm.

Ben and Logan had spent the previous day restocking their supplies they had consumed during their trek to the city, as well as eating at a couple places Logan had been to when he was younger. It was a nice relaxing day to recover from the trip through the desert. Logan had requested Ben buy him a bottle of whiskey. Ben was understandably quite hesitant about that after the stunt Logan pulled when he got wasted on whiskey last time. Logan said he was depressed during that time and since he no longer was there wouldn't be any repeats of that particular incident. It took a bit more convincing, but eventually Ben did buy it for him. Though he grimaced a bit at how expensive the stuff was. 20 dollars for 750mL of 80 proof whiskey. Logan barely waited until they got out of the store to crack it open and take a swig. Ben could only roll his eyes at that. Logan would always find some way to drive him crazy. It was just part of who the tall fox was.

They had spent the rest of today doing some light training, nothing too serious, just a few battles with some wild Pokemon just outside the city. Now however, they were walking through the doors to the Enterprise Center. Logan had an illusionary jersey on, while Ben didn't change his look besides not bringing his backpack or Pokemon on his belt. Logan had bumped someone during their walk to the rink which resulted in a bit of a shouting match so they were a bit late, in fact the anthems were being finished as their tickets on Ben's phone were being scanned. They made their way to the escalator and rode up to the top deck of the stands. They found their zone, their level, and finally their seats. Ben sat to Logan's left, to his left was an elder male human with a similar jersey to the one Logan was projecting on himself, while to Logan's right was a female badger wearing a Blues sweatshirt. The building was about at capacity as the pair looked down at the ice. They were slightly right of center ice which gave them a bird's eye view of the action. The puck was soon dropped after the players on the ice got in position and the game was on.

Just a few minutes in the Blues got a good chance in their attacking zone. Their top sniper, Vladimir Terasenko had deflected a shot from the blueline but it went wide, and the Blues couldn't get a handle on the rebound t get a shot. He then took a shot from the blueline which was stopped, but the rebound came right in front, but in a scramble they could get the puck on net. Early chances were good though. The crowd noise rose whenever chances emerged.

Logan took note of the Blues goaltender. He didn't recognize them. It was an anthro otter like Ben. During a stoppage of play he checked his phone. Jordan Bennington it said. He'd been called up from the Unovan Hockey League to play for the Blues after their other backup had flopped and he'd since taken over starting goaltender due to stellar performance. In his short but impressive career, he was currently 12-1-1. Meaning 12 wins, 1 loss, 1 loss in overtime.

With a little over 14 minutes left in the first, one of the Blues players was tripped in the offensive zone, but no penalty was called. The puck came to a Leafs player who tried to clear it but it was held in and subsequently passed to the same player who was tripped, now in front of the net. A couple shots went on but they were saved and that was the end of that chance.

There was a huge hit on one of the Leafs while got a lot of cheers from Logan and the crowd. Ben was fairly unfocused on the game. Just over halfway through the period, after a faceoff in the Blues end which they won, they cleared the puck out and chased it down. A Leafs defender managed to beat them to it, but his blind pass backwards was intercepted, and was passed to a pair of uncontested Blues in front of the net. Tyler Bozac passed it over to Jaiden Schwartz. The goalie had to slide to the opposite side, and it doing so had to spread his legs, and Schwartz fired it between his legs and in. The crowd's cheers, which had started rising, erupted as they jumped up and cheered. Logan shot up out of his seat with a yell, even Ben stood up to clap, and the deep goal horn blared. An organ played the theme of "When the Saints Go Marching in," a famous blues song, and when that bit was finished, a trumpet started playing and a song played from the jumbotron. It was a simple song that the crowd was invited to sing to as the words appeared on the giant screen. Logan took part in, which was the first time Ben could recall him doing anything remotely like singing.

"Ooooh-oh-ooooooooh, ooooh-oh-ooooooooh! HEY! HEY! Ooooh-oh-ooooooooh, ooooh-oh-ooooooooh! HEY! HEY! LETS! GO!" The Blues on the ice had finished the short goal celebration as the play was over and the faceoff went to center ice, but the crowd yelled out the next word anyways. "BLUES!" Soon enough everyone sat back down, the Blues now having the lead. The next several minutes passed with some shots but no real chances, until the Leafs took a penalty, which meant for the next 2 minutes, or less if the Blues scored, they would only have four players to the Blues five.

The puck was dropped in the Blues offensive zone since they were starting the powerplay, but the Leafs were able to get the puck out, and due to a bit of a bounce, managed to get a two on one heading towards the Blues net. The shot was taken but Bennington stopped the shot with the shaft of his goalstick. A fairly lucky stop. The Blues got the puck back into their offensive zone and managed to set up. With the powerplay the Leafs couldn't cover everyone, which allowed for good puck movement and better chances. The puck came to the point man by the blueline, a big 6'6 wolf by the name of Colten Parayko. He took a shot which rang off the post and shot off the the other side. One of the Leafs managed to get to it first and clear it out. The Blues went back to regroup and try again, when the end of period horn went off. For a moment Logan thought the period had ended, but when he looked up he realized their was still about two minutes left. Ben looked over to him. "Why'd the horn go off?"

The crowd started to cheer as some of them realized what was going on. Logan soon realized it too. "That shot must've gone in. They wouldn't blow the horn unless they were certain a goal was scored."

"The play is under review." Was announced over the speakers. Which caused a loud roar of cheers. Soon enough an overhead view of the goal was shown. It played slowly, showing the puck had indeed gone in. It had hit the post, gone off the back bar of the goal, and gone out so quickly that even Logan's sharp eyes and reflexes from his high Speed Stat hadn't seen it. The noise of the crowd went even louder. There was no mistaking it. After a short conversation with the folks who reviewed the plays, one of the officials, ironically a zebra, skated towards center ice to make an announcement. The crowd noise quieted down a lot. Unfortunately his mic didn't seem to be working as nothing was heard, but he pointed to center ice indicating a goal had been scored. The noise went back up and the goal horn blared.

Shortly after, the first period ended with the score being 2-0 Blues. Most of the fans got out of their seats during the intermission to go get food as the teams and coaches returned to their locker rooms to rest and regroup. Ben and Logan were among them, leaving to head to the concession stands. Logan got some chicken fingers and fries and they got a large bucket of popcorn to share and both got a soda. They ate as the intermission finished up and chomped the popcorn throughout the second period, which had some chances but no scoring. Ben had almost nodded off a couple times. This led to Logan lightly punching his shoulder a couple times.

The second period came and went the same way. 2-0 Blues. This time, a lot, but less, people stepped away, including Ben to use the bathroom. He returned and soon enough the third and final period began. Some chances were traded, but no goals, until with around 13 and a half minutes to go, one of the Leafs tried to pass across, but the puck deflected off a stick of a Blues defender and went past the otter in goal. The crowd got quiet and Logan said, "Oh no."

Ben was slightly puzzled. "They're still winning." Which was a true statement. It was still 2-1 with the Blues leading.

Logan answered, and many other Blues fans would've said something similar. "The Blues have a habit of failing in big games. They win this game it's a franchise record for wins, so this is a big game, not to mention the point they need to keep pace in the playoff race."

"I think you're overreacting."

It was not though. The Blues had a chance to get the goal back but it was stopped, and then there was a TV timeout. Shortly after it ended, with 13 minutes left, a hard pass went off a Leaf skate in front of the net and slid in. The crowd went deathly quite as the score was now 2-2 just about half a minute of game time after it was 2-0. Logan just stared blankly at Ben.

"I stand corrected."

The Blues challenged the goal as you can direct the puck in with your skate, but you can't outright kick it in, and the Leaf player's skate did come forward a bit, but the call stood. It was a 2-2 tie.

A few more chances were exchanged until with less than 3:30 left in the third period the Leafs broke out with a two on one. The pass came across the ice, a high danger chance, but Bennington stretched across and managed to stop the shot. The puck ended up between his pads. There were loud cheers from the big save.

The rest of the period passed, and now it was overtime. Five minutes of three on three, both teams got a point, but whoever won the game in either overtime or the shootout if overtime didn't decide a winner. Less than half a minute in, one of the Leafs tried to go around and stuff the puck in on the other side before the goalie slid over, but it wasn't a very good attempt and he then collided with an official, effectively taking him out of the play for a bit. One of the additions the Blues had made in the offseason, Rian O'Rielly, grabbed the puck and took off, leaving two of the Leafs behind him. It was a two on one all the way down, him and Terasenko. The crowd cheering the whole way as two on one plays had a good chance of scoring. They skated in and O'Rielly glided in and took a shot. There was a loud tink as it went off the crossbar, but it hit at an angle that the bounce resulted in the puck hitting the back of the net. The crowd exploded as the game was now over, Logan leapt a few feet out of his seat and even Ben cheered a bit. The Blues came off the bench to celebrate the win and the goal horn blasted. The last one lasting 11 seconds, likely for the 11 wins in a row. After a celebration all the Blues players skated to center ice and raised their sticks in the air to salute the crowd, as this was going on, the announcer spoke. "Blues fans with tonight's victory, the Nimbasa Blues have set a franchise record, 11 consecutive victories!" The crowd cheers rose again as the horn sounded again.

Soon enough, the building started to empty, and Ben and Logan stepped out into the night and started walking back to the Center. Logan was pumped up as he dissipated his illusory jersey. In fact, he was so full of energy, that when a voice in his head told him to travel by rooftop, he got on all fours and slipped under Ben, effectively getting Ben in a riding position on him again. "Come on! We'll take the rooves!"

"Wait what!?"

Logan leapt, even with Ben on top of him, he leapt up very high and landed on the roof of the building next to them. "Hold on tight!" Ben did indeed. He wrapped his arms around Logan's chest, and his legs around his waist. Even his tail was curled around one of Logan's legs. Logan crouched slightly and bound forwards, quickly gaining speed as he ran across the rooves of a strip mall. Making small, for him, leaps for any changes in elevation. When he reached the end of the set of rooves, he found another and put everything he had into his next jump. He and Ben soared through the air, gaining well over 30 feet of height from the jump. Ben screamed in fear as he was largely unsupported, which was a fear of his while in the air. Logan ignored it as they landed on the roof of a fast rood restaurant. He kept his sprint, reaching speed of well over 25 miles per hour despite the weight on his back now that he was utilizing his full strength. He jumped across rooftops for a bit, until he paused to catch his breath on the roof of what turned out to be a martial arts studio.

His hard landing caught the concern of an older Lucario who lived in the building. In fact, he was the instructor. The aged jackal shut his eyes and entered his aura sight to scan for intruders. He quickly located the pair on the roof. Though something caught his "eye." Both aura's were blue. Ben's was a bright blue but was somewhat dim in intensity as the aura of most creatures were. The other, Logan's was a darker blue, but it was a very strong aura, comparable to another Lucario's. It obscured much of his shape even. This led to the old Pokemon to thinking he had another Lucario on his roof. He navigated his way out the front door and jumped up behind them. Ben's hyperventilating muffled the noise of the landing from Logan's ears. Didn't stop his telepathic speaking into their minds.

'What are you two doing up here?'

Ben jumped and Logan let go of him to get into a fighting stance. When he sighted the Lucario he got onto all fours. He didn't have a good history with this species after all. He growled before speaking. "Who are you?"

It was met with a simple, 'I asked first.'

Ben was still trying to recover from his terror of Logan's jumping so Logan took up conversation. "We're heading back to the Pokemon Center for the night but I decided to take a different path. Now answer my question since I answered yours."

'Name is Lawrence. This is my fighting dojo, and your landing caught my attention.'

"Hey can you open your eyes? You're kinda creeping me out."

Lawrence opened his eyes and startled. 'You're a Zoroark? That's... huh... I'm not sure what to make of this.'

Logan relaxed a bit as hostility seemed to be lessening, but tilted his head in confusion. "What are you talking about? Doesn't that aura sight show you what I look like too?"

A nod and an explanation. 'It does, but your aura was so powerful that I couldn't see your shape, but I've never seen or heard of another creature besides a Lucario having an aura that powerful.'

Ben was starting to recover, and sat up to pay a bit more attention to the conversation. "My father is a Lucario, but I get the feeling that's not enough to explain that is it?" Lawrence shook his head, aura feelers slowly following his head's movements. "So what do you think this means?"

'Hm... I'm not sure. It is very interesting though...' The blue canine thought for a few moments before preparing to dismiss them as they didn't seem to have bad intentions, but a voice in his head told him to do something else. 'You know what... I'm curious about you. Would you like to learn how to fight better and get stronger?'

Logan thought about it shortly. He and Ben had started to bond, and he didn't want what happened with Lavender to happen here. He wanted to be strong enough to take on anything. The decision was fairly easy. He just had a couple questions. "How long would it take to learn everything you can teach me?"

Ben had about recovered, and while deciding to not get involved, was listening carefully. 'Everything? If you give it your all, I could probably make you an adept enough fighter to take on all comers in... five months if you train with me four hours a day, and I can also give you training that will act like Super Training. Raising your stats too.'

This answered Logan's other question on how it would make him stronger. "Hm, I'll halve that time. I'll train eight hours a day. If it's okay with you Ben of course."

It was Ben's turn to think. Logan seemed to want to do it, and he could probably Super Train the rest of his team if he could charm this Lucario enough. The wait should be worth it as long as he battled enough trainers to make ends meet. He could also get some training in for the rest of the team. "Ok. Logan, meet your next teacher."

Logan walked up and extended a hand. Lawrence took it quickly. 'Eight hours of training a day won't be easy. You'd better be determined. We start at 10 am tomorrow.'

"Whatever it takes to keep those I care for safe."