This is the second of four chapters today.
Ash reached behind his back, checking his staff, and tested the fastening – making sure it was in tightly enough that it wouldn't be possible for it to just detach mid-battle, but still loose enough that he could pull it out with an easy one-handed lifting motion.
Once done, he spun it – the polished wood giving him enough grip, and his position a little past the balance point so the heavy headpiece had more heft – and went through a simple kata.
"Nervous?" Pikachu asked.
"Kind of, yeah," Ash agreed, slipping the staff back into place and tightening the fastening again, then checking his gloves. "I think this is going to be the most public actual fight I've ever had – doing it myself, I mean."
"It might be, but I'm not sure," Pikachu frowned. "You might have done something else – possibly something on camera – but you're right that you don't do this in arena type fights normally."
"Right," Ash said. "That's what I mean."
Breaking off for a moment, he checked the presentation sword – finding it a bit stiff, so he loosened one of the scabbard straps.
"Remember, Ash, victory is not necessary," Lucario advised. "Lucario will be a tough opponent, and one who has fought in a true war – and one who is at the peak of his strength, rather than having spent many centuries in that staff."
Ash nodded, sitting down for a moment before getting up and starting to walk. "I know, I know… it's just that I want to make sure I feel worthy of Sir Aaron's-"
He stopped, blinking. "Huh."
"What?" Pikachu asked, alert. "Trouble?"
"No, I just realized I think of all these clothes as mine, now – my staff, my gloves, my cape – not as Sir Aaron's. I think that happened a long time ago," he went on, thinking. "But this is the first time I've noticed the change."
"Long past due," Lucario said. "I've read much about the legends and stories around Sir Aaron, Ash – and you're quite worthy enough as a successor. Your deeds have added to the heroism done by the bearer of that raiment."
"What's a raiment?" Ash checked with Pikachu.
"Complicated word for clothes, I think."
Lucario sighed, rolling his eyes. "Pikachu, it is more than that. It is like a suit of armour, except that the term is more inclusive."
"So you're saying it's his knightwear?" Pikachu asked, then paled slightly under his fur. "Oh, no, now I'm doing it..."
There was a knock at the door.
"Sir Ketchum?" a squire said, peering around the door. "The tournament's over, so your bout will be soon."
"Thanks," Ash replied. "I think… okay, let's hope this works out."
"Confidence, control, and something else beginning with C," Lucario advised him. "Cape, perhaps."
At the other side of the castle, Lucario sat with his legs crossed.
"I wish you could see him now, Aaron my friend," he said, softly. "You knew him when he came back, I know that, and I have met him twice before – once as the boy who recovered me from your staff, and once again as the newly remade Aura adept."
He shook his muzzle. "But now… he reminds me of you. Young, yet – not yet fourteen – but formidable for any age. And his followers – I would gladly have any of them to aid me."
The Fighting-type – who was over a thousand years old, by one way of looking at it – sighed, then stood.
"I wonder how painful this is going to be."
As Ash walked out onto the tourney grounds, there was a ripple of surprise through the audience – many of them had seen Ash on television, or even in person at the Indigo League or Silver Conference, but somehow standing in Cameran Castle made his outfit look a little more… meaningful.
As if it was suddenly clear that he looked a lot like Sir Aaron.
Lucario strode out to face him, and the two Aura adepts stood about eight feet apart in the middle of the arena.
Both bowed, then dropped into stances. Ash's stance was his normal one – one foot forwards, the other back and out to the side – but Lucario adopted one he'd not seen before, facing his opponent with his feet a little further apart than his shoulders and tilted out.
Then he darted forwards.
Ash slapped aside the first attack, a Force Palm aimed for his ribs, and grabbed onto Lucario's upper arm before the Fighting-type could recover his stance. That got him traction for a kick with his right leg, but Lucario saw it coming and intercepted it with a kick of his own.
The impact produced a crack of flesh on flesh, but neither winced – Ash had known it was coming, and he sprang back a pace before thrusting his palm forwards. The strike was obvious, and Lucario dodged out of the way – which gave Ash time to fire his first Aura Sphere from his off hand.
Lucario's response was to throw himself backwards, turning the momentum of his dodge into a backflip, and kick the Aura Sphere into the air where it exploded harmlessly. Not slowing, he swept his tail around and warned Ash off, then sprang upright again and fired a pair of weak Aura Spheres without slowing down.
Reaching behind his back, Ash unlimbered his staff – swinging it into the attacks, and reinforcing it with Aura so the two spheres of blue light burst rather than knocking the weapon out of his hands.
"Good," Lucario judged.
Then he lunged, slamming one palm forwards. The blue glow around it brightened, and a spike of Aura seven feet long blazed from the tip – glancing off Ash's staff as he used it to block, but producing a loud spang and throwing Ash off balance for a moment.
Lucario used the moment of distraction hard, springing forwards and volleying in a Mach Punch right at the shaft of the staff. The blow was blocked, but Lucario had known it would be – so he rode the impact of the block itself, letting him spin into an Aura-infused strike with his tail.
Ash's counter was a little awkward – letting go of the staff with one hand, he deflected Lucario's tail aside with a punch which produced a flash of blue Aura, then backpedalled several steps and spun his staff one-handed to keep Lucario from making a follow-up.
"You wield that well," Lucario commented, bringing his paws back up into a ready stance – producing blue fire from both of them. "Aaron would have been proud."
"Thanks," Ash said, shifting his own stance. Blue light danced along the staff towards the head, then coalesced into a ball of blue light.
Sliding one hand down towards the base of the staff, Ash watched Lucario's movements carefully – then jumped backwards, using his off-hand grip to spin his staff around in a massive arc.
The head flared, releasing an Aura Sphere two or three feet across – one which Lucario caught as if it was a thrown ball, overwhelmed with his own Aura and launched right back at Ash.
"Whoa!" Ash yelped, shifting to block. It almost worked, but the overcharged Aura Sphere had too much power to deflect that easily – the explosion threw Ash backwards, and he landed with a painful thud on his back.
Lucario closed the range, and held a glowing paw over Ash. "First point to me."
Ash nodded, then got up. "I guess I need to shape up, huh?"
"Perhaps," Lucario said, as Ash replaced his staff. "Or perhaps it is that I have fought staff users many times."
"Right," Ash said, switching back to his close-combat stance. "Again?"
"Of course," Lucario agreed.
"This is very interesting," the messenger said, watching as the two adepts skirmished back and forth – more cautious now, mainly relying on palm strikes and short, stiff blocks with the occasional Aura Sphere flying out. "Lucario's form is subtly different to the ones we use in the kingdom – there's a definite harder edge to it. It's easy to see he's a veteran of true war."
"Such as we have not had in the islands for generations," Queen Ilene agreed. "Dame Maple?"
May blinked. "Oh, sorry – I was focused on the battle."
"I was going to ask whether you'd seen this before," the Queen explained.
"Right," May said. "Well, Ash and his Lucario spar every night-"
She stopped for a moment, watching as Ash launched into a four-part combination which was clearly all one flowing movement. His first strike was a feint, then he knocked Lucario's left paw away to score a hit of his own – and that turned out in turn to be mainly to draw a response, so Ash could body-check Lucario when he reacted.
Lucario recovered fast enough that he didn't lose a point, but his roundhouse kick swiped at Ash failed to connect – leaving Ash free to move back, fire an Aura Sphere barrage and come in again.
"You were saying?" Ilene requested, wincing slightly at the smack of palm on flesh.
"Right," May agreed, nodding. "Well, Ash and his Lucario spar a lot, but this is pretty impressive. Blaziken, what do you think?"
"It's faster than normal, you're right," Blaziken confirmed. "Ash is really putting a lot of effort into this."
Ash crossed his arms, reinforcing both of them with blue Aura, and Lucario's punch hit right at the cross-point – making him stagger back a step, but not enough that Ash was open to a follow up.
Panting, the trainer uncrossed his arms again to be ready to defend, then spotted that Lucario seemed a little out of breath as well.
That made him feel better.
"Right," Lucario said, after a few frozen seconds. "A new plan, I think."
He reached into thin air, and there was a faint crash as blue Aura flashed out from his palms to form a long Bone Rush staff.
Ash's left hand went back to his hip, and he made to draw his sword – something Lucario spotted, and swiped forwards with a staff blow before Ash could finish. That meant Ash had to quickly switch priorities, warding off the staff with a palm strike and catching it with his other hand.
Lucario shifted his grip and wrenched the staff back out of Ash's hands, and Ash used that as a chance to draw his sword unmolested. The weight felt much more familiar after all the practice he'd done with his Pokémon, and he took up a two-handed grip ready to react to whatever Lucario tried.
A moment later, Lucario swung the Bone Rush staff right at him.
Ash blocked, feeling the hilt shiver as the metal of the sword belled loudly with the impact, and shifted his weight so that the staff would slide down towards the hilt. Before it reached it and got stuck, Lucario reduced the pressure to stop it sliding – then used the contact point as a pivot to swing the free side of his staff towards Ash's chest.
Ash retaliated by letting go of the sword with one hand, striking with his gloved right hand and pushing with the sword in his left so he could give Lucario more than one threat to deal with. The combination knocked Lucario back a pace and disengaged their weapons, and Ash adjusted his grip again to press his advantage.
There was a crash sound as Lucario fabricated a second Bone Rush staff in his other paw, copying Ash's two-threats approach, and caught Ash's sword in the crossed bones – then kicked out, hard enough that the blow knocked Ash skidding backwards a few paces.
Ash caught his breath, then focused. The faint blue glow of Aura strengthening his sword went dark for a moment, then it lit up again – different, this time, a shimmering orange-gold.
"Hm," Lucario frowned, pausing for a moment, then spun both staffs and resumed his attack.
Ash's blade blurred, catching the very tip of one of the staffs and deflecting it away before meeting the other just at the point where it narrowed down into the main shaft. He held it balanced for a fraction of a second, just long enough to shift his weight, then forced the staff down onto the ground hard enough to make it splinter with an audible crack.
Lucario abandoned that staff, letting it disintegrate back into blue Aura, and snap-kicked up to inconvenience Ash – to no avail, as the golden blade was suddenly right there where it could slip under Lucario's guard.
Ash took one step back, sweeping his sword up, and it was Lucario's turn to fall on his back with a painful crash of Steel-type.
As Lucario got back to his paws, shaking one of them to relieve the sting, he noticed that the blade had stopped shining – and Ash was panting heavily, more tired than before and leaning on the sword for support.
"Are you alright?" the Fighting-type asked.
"I'll be fine," Ash replied, waving his concern off – but he did re-sheathe the sword, then undo his belt and slide it to the edge for his Lucario to catch. "That just takes a lot out of me..."
"Understandable," Lucario said, drawing himself back up into a stance. "Very well, then – are you ready to resume?"
"Yeah!" Ash agreed, taking up a ready position of his own, then sliding one foot out to the side and jabbing forwards with his left hand.
Lucario dodged to one side, closing, and lashed out with a lightning-fast kick. Ash blocked it, sweeping his right hand down and to the side to drive the attack away, then hit Lucario's follow up Force Palm with one of his own.
The explosion of blue energy blew them both backwards, showing that – tired or not – both were still capable of channelling significant amounts of Aura.
"What was that?" Queen Ilene asked. "I don't think I've ever seen a human do anything like that before – I don't think I've seen many Pokémon do it, either."
"You probably haven't," May agreed.
"I… remember seeing something like it," the messenger contributed. "It was a lot like Sacred Sword, which I've seen used a few times – but that's a blue attack, isn't it? Or does it depend on who uses it?"
"I don't think that's Sacred Sword," May stressed. "He did it before, and Keldeo said it was Secret Sword – which is sort of similar. But I don't know why it moved that fast, I've seen Ash practice using his sword and it's slower than that."
"A puzzle, then," the Lucario said, thinking. "Though I've heard that different users of Sacred Sword have it display different properties."
Falling back on the defensive, Ash blocked Lucario's next few attacks – using either a quick forearm block, or in one case a quick Protect shield – before the Fighting-type stepped back to change tactics.
Putting his paws together, Lucario summoned a spark of blue light between them. It flickered for a moment, then began to grow larger and larger – quickly becoming an Aura Sphere almost as large as the Pokémon ready to throw it.
"Hah!" he shouted – and crushed it between his paws.
Ash knew what was coming, and dove to the right to avoid being barraged by a cloud of full-size Aura spheres. That helped a little, but they swerved to follow him almost as soon as he moved, and the Aura adept found himself fully occupied just swatting them aside before they hit him.
Despite that, two – or three – got past his fast-moving palms and slammed into him. The first impact knocked him backwards, the second hit him in the side, and the third didn't quite reach him but exploded powerfully enough that Ash did a cartwheel and rolled somewhat painfully on the ground before coming back to his feet – just in time to block a follow-up kick from Lucario.
Pikachu looked at his friend.
"Lucario, are you taking notes?"
"Yes," Lucario replied, turning the page. "Okay, I think that was Ash trying to do that aura-spike thing Lucario did earlier in the bout – I wonder how Lucario avoided the recoil?"
"Good question," Pikachu agreed, eyes already back on the fight.
Ash and Lucario circled, not making any attacks for several seconds
Then Lucario darted forwards, using Force Palm, and Ash ducked – then took Lucario's wrist, wincing slightly at the sting of the metal spike, and wrenched Lucario forwards and over his shoulder.
Lucario turned head-over-heels in mid-air, then came back upright before landing – and, with a sudden thunderous blaze of blue Aura from his hindpaws, stopped completely at least four feet from the ground. Pausing for just a moment, he used his forepaws to help steer and then dove towards the ground – still propelled by blue Aura.
Ash turned to see what had happened, and hadn't quite realized when Lucario tackled him at speed.
"What just – we did just see that, right?" Max checked.
"I'm pretty sure we did," Brock agreed, as Lucario skidded to a halt. "I wonder how much that takes out of him – flying like that has to be energy-intensive."
"I think that also means he's winning," Max said, after thinking for a moment. "I mean, he's downed Ash twice. What are the rules for this?"
Brock shrugged.
"When did you learn that?" Ash asked, rubbing his side. "That's a heck of a trick."
"It was something I developed fairly recently," Lucario told him. "It's based on Force Palm, but much more powerful – I certainly can't use it for long, but it's still useful."
"I can see," Ash agreed. "Okay, let's keep going."
As he spoke, he unlimbered his staff again – this time so that the head was closer to the ground than the butt.
"Have you ever tried using that in one hand and your sword in the other?" Lucario asked. "Aaron used to fight like that on occasion."
"...actually, no," Ash admitted, before shifting his feet to get a better position and darting forwards.
Lucario skipped back a step and hooked his foot into the base of the staff, kicking up hard enough to pull the weapon out of Ash's grip and send it flying into the air, then fired an Aura Sphere to blast it away so Ash couldn't just catch it again.
As soon as he did, however, Ash abandoned his plan to use the staff and volleyed forward a pair of punches at Lucario – using them as the start of a ferocious kata which pushed the Fighting-type back step by step to prevent Ash from landing a stunning blow.
There was a clatter as Aaron's staff landed some way behind Ash, almost forgotten by both fighters.
Lucario spotted a mistake in Ash's combination and took it, turning the tables in a moment and hitting Ash hard enough to send him stumbling. Ash recovered before it became a problem, volleying in a pair of Aura Spheres to discourage Lucario closing in, but the Fighting-type seemed to reach a decision.
He flung both arms out to the side, and a pair of Bonemerangs appeared in them – shorter, stockier and curved, compared to the long straight Bone Rush staffs he'd used earlier – and flung them towards Ash.
But not at Ash. The two went past him without getting close to connect, and span around in a long arc – coming quite close to the edge of the arena, before turning to come right back towards them again.
While that was going on, Lucario produced two more Bonemerangs, which went to the sides. Then he materialized a pair of Bone Rush staffs, subtly different from the ones he'd used earlier – almost as thick as the Bonemerangs.
"Wait, that looks familiar..." the messenger said, leaning forwards over the edge of the royal box. "I've heard about this before."
"Where?" Queen Ilene asked.
Ash reached down for his staff, picking it up on reflex, and raised it to defend against the approaching Lucario coming from his front.
The sound of whistling air made him realize the Bonemerangs were on their way back, and for a moment he was struck with indecision – not sure whether to focus on the pair of bones from behind him, or the one to each side, or even the charging Lucario.
They all arrived at once, and the green flash of Ash's protect shield was visible for just a moment before dust obscured it as the Ground-type attacks hit with a deafening BANG.
"-was reading about it just last night," Lucario told Pikachu. "It's my favourite story about Sir Aaron – apart from the one Ash told us, of course."
"And that was it?" Pikachu asked, trying to see through the cloud. "More to the point, is Ash alright?"
Lucario checked a second time, to be sure. "He's still in one piece," he reassured Pikachu. "I think he lost, though – that wasn't quite what Sir Aaron did, but it's close."
On the tourney field, Lucario let out a long, slightly ragged breath.
That had been a lot more tiring than he'd expected. Even using Bonemerangs instead of Sacred Sword – necessary, as he'd never quite mastered the move to the same skill Aaron had – the effort of getting them all to arrive at the same time had been considerable. He didn't know how Aaron had done it all those years ago, especially not so young.
He reached into the settling dust, and took his friend's hand to pull him upright. "I told you I'd get it eventually, Aaron," he said.
"What was – wait, did you call me-?" his opponent asked – and Lucario flinched slightly.
"My apologies, Ash," the Fighting-type said, closing his eyes for a long second. "For a moment – just a moment – I felt as though I was sparring with Aaron once more."
He raised a paw to forestall whatever Ash was about to say. "There is no need to apologize – it was not your fault."
"But-" Ash began, stopped, started again. "Shouldn't we..."
"We should bow," Lucario pointed out. "Talk later."
"Well, that was most impressive," Queen Ilene pronounced.
She steeled herself, then stood.
"We are grateful for your enjoyment of this tournament," she announced, her trained voice rolling across the tourney grounds as Ash and Lucario left the field. "We wish to remind you, Our guests, that there will be a banquet later at which Our champion – and Our knights – shall be present, along with Ourselves."
She stepped back, and turned to May. "See what We have to – I mean, what I have to do all the time?"
"I'm kind of surprised you're not used to it, really," May admitted.
"Well, I am," Ilene said. "Somewhat. But whenever I read, or hear someone else talking, then it's in the normal way, so it can get tedious to remember I have to translate it into the Royal We all the time."
She waved her hand. "But, well – there's a few hours until the banquet. If you wouldn't mind, we could retire to the Royal Suite and spend some more time talking."
"Sounds good," May agreed. "Lucario?"
"I would be glad to," the messenger agreed.
I've let the others know, Ethan reported. Ash, Brock and Max should be heading over fairly soon.
"That's a very convenient Pokémon," Queen Ilene noted. "Even being able to automatically send messages like that saves a lot of time, and if he can remember things you might forget..."
"I feel that forgetting something like that would be a failure," the messenger Lucario said, then chuckled. "But, then, that is just me."
"Sadly, we have to stay traditional," Ilene chuckled. "The tourists expect it."
"Excuse me?" Casey said, getting the attention of a man in the muted regalia of a minor official. "Uh – where's the tournament?"
"The Rota Tournament?" the official replied. "It was in the arena, I think it finished about ten minutes ago."
"...oh dear," Riolu sighed.
"Hey, is that a Riolu?" the official said. "I don't think I've seen a shiny Riolu before – mind you, I see more Riolu and Lucario here than I ever thought I would."
"That's correct, I am a Riolu," Riolu confirmed. "And – this is the home of Sir Aaron's Lucario, is it not?"
"That's right," the official nodded. "But just today there's been at least three Lucario – one of them is Sir Ketchum's, and I don't recognize the other."
"Ash is here?" Casey asked. "That's great!"
She reached for a Pokéball, then paused. "Wait… if I wanted to find Ash Ketchum, how should I do it? Should I just fly over on Pidgeot, or…?"
"I'll send a messenger to see if he's available," the official told her. "I'm afraid it might be a few minutes, though."
"I can wait," Casey assured him.
She watched as the official got a stack of card slips out of his jerkin, then steadied one against a clipboard and wrote a short message on it.
That done, he sent out a Furret – one in official Rota colours. "Take this to the seneschal, Fiver," he instructed.
"Furret!" Fiver nodded, and scampered off.
"That's a pretty cute messaging system," Riolu commented.
"Thanks for saying so," the official smiled. "A year or so ago the discussion did come up whether we should computerize, but Her Majesty said that it would be a bad move."
"I think I agree with her," Casey said, spotting another Pokémon – a Linoone, this time – going along one of the curtain walls with a similar card slip. "Now I know what I'm looking for, I can see it."
"Ash, if there is one thing I want to make clear, it is that… it was a mistake," Lucario said, with a sigh. "Or – no, mistake is the wrong word. It was what I meant to say at that moment, but it does not mean I see you simply as Sir Aaron's replacement in my eyes."
He kept talking as Ash tried to speak. "Please, I must get this off my chest."
"...fine, I guess," Ash said. "But… I want to say something as well, once I get a chance."
"That's fair," Lucario nodded.
He took a breath, then kept going. "Ash, if there are two people who I consider to have had the most influence on my life – it is you, and Sir Aaron. You are both my friends, you are – well, related-"
"Pardon?" the female Lucario asked from the corner.
"-and you both bear the same weapons and raiment, as well as being very similar in a lot of ways; in fact, you share most of your best qualities with Sir Aaron."
Lucario paused for a second. "But you are not him, and he is not you, and I am ashamed that I mistook one for the other for a moment. I value you both too much to reduce you to a single person in my mind."
He sighed. "And – that is what I wished to say."
"Okay," Ash replied, taking that in. "I think I understand why you felt so strongly about it."
He let the pause drag out, then went on. "But I don't care about it nearly as much as I think you do, Lucario. I mean – I was wearing Sir Aaron's clothes, fighting you with his staff, here at the same castle you two lived a thousand years ago, and my Aura's so like him you said you could hardly tell the difference. And… he was a hero. So-"
Ash shook his head. "I don't really mind that you got us mixed up. It's kind of something I can actually think is a good thing – it means that you think of me like you think of Sir Aaron, and Sir Aaron was… really impressive."
"By the way," Pikachu said quietly, looking up at the messenger. "We found out a while ago. It's apparently one of the reasons that Ash's Aura is so similar to Sir Aaron's Aura – they're related, that is – but not the only one."
Charmander – name still not chosen – lifted her paw to ask a question, but before she could there was a tap at the window.
"I'll get it," Max volunteered.
When he opened the window, a Furret tumbled through. Twisting to land on his feet, the Normal-type flourished a message before offering it to Queen Ilene.
"Thank you," she smiled, taking it. "Let's see… apparently a girl with a yellow Riolu wants to talk to Sir Ketchum?"
AN:
Ash in a fight.
This was tricky to write, and I had to do a partial rework at one point – hopefully it still works.
