Ash sighed as the cool breeze ruffled his hair, he had forgotten what it felt like to ride on Charizard. Pikachu pumped his fists in the air as they overtook a flock of pidove and tranquil that were ahead of them. Ash smiled at his best friend's antics and sent out a wide pulse of aura, which was relatively easy, considering how much he was letting off already. He received one back somewhere northeast, about 100 miles away. He projected the location out to Charizard who roared, and snorted some smoke out of his nostrils, indicating that he received the thought. The fire lizard pumped his wings faster and shot off, trying to reach his destination before sunset.

Soon enough, they saw a small village through the clouds. Ash closed his eyes and felt the overwhelming presence of trained auras. His own energy flared again, desperate for its own partner in training. He could feel impatience stirring within him as they glided slowly, down to the modest "kingdom" of riolu and lucario. He jumped off of Charizard the second they touched land, and returned him, mumbling a quick thanks. He raced toward the gates, when two lucario blocked him, forming aura spheres in their hands. Ash staggered back, narrowly missing them both. Pikachu sparked angrily, waiting for its trainer's command to unleash its fury on the lucario duo.

"No Pikachu!" Ash cried, knowing that they were just protecting their home. "It's okay," he spoke again, calming the still annoyed Pikachu. Said pokemon sniffed and sparked, cancelling its attack, but giving a clear warning to the aura pokemon. The lucario growled, until they noticed Ash concentrating, forming a small blue ball of energy in the palm of his hand. It was about the size of a golf ball, but that was all the confirmation they needed to know that he was not a threat. They nodded at him and allowed the pair to enter the kingdom.

Ash smiled at the pokemon and stepped through the gates, instantly his aura acted up again, causing him to break into a sprint, desperate to find his aura partner. He didn't know where he was running or how he was dodging pokemon and people alike at the speed he was going, but he knew that when he stopped, he would be reunited with his friend.

After a minute more of sprinting, he stopped, his aura was fluctuating wildly at this point. A lucario was meditating under a large oak tree, its aura pulsing as well, knowing that Ash was coming to find him. Pikachu finally caught up to Ash, but stayed back, knowing that this was a private bonding. The raven haired teen started forward, he had lost all of his energy during his sprint, his aura burning up every last bit. He managed a few steps, and stopped a few feet away from the lucario. The aura pokemon opened its crimson eyes and looked Ash over. It got up and offered Ash its paw, face up. Ash placed his hand on top and relaxed as his aura lost its volatile state, and washed over him in calm waves.

"Thank you," was all he managed before he fell unconscious into the lucario's arms.

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Cynthia hummed, brushing her milotic's fur as she thought about ways to train her new apprentice. He has to evolve more of his pokemon and bolster their strength.. With those out of the box strategies and quick thinking, they also need to boost their reaction times, and maybe train their defense as well, since he will take time to come up with those strategies. She was broken from her thoughts when the video-phone rang. Accepting the call, she reconstructed her poker face and waited for the caller's face to appear. When she saw it was Riley, she instantly went to put the phone down, fed up with his teasing.

"Wait! This is important!" Riley shouted at her, waving his hands about.

"What do you want, Gen?" Cynthia growled, ready to get her jet, fly to Iron Island, and beat the crap out of him.

"Did Ash leave?"

"Yeah, he said something about finding his partner. He seems to know where to go, apparently he already knows a riolu that shared his aura. They bonded while he was rescuing the riolu from Hunter J,"

"That's great! It'll be much easier for him to train his aura now! Did you ask him if he wanted to be your protege?"

"Yeah, he accepted."

"Well, now you have a student...that you're going to train...one-on-one...are you sure that training is all you're going to do? Maybe it's time for me to get an "apprentice" as well…" Riley snickered, already picturing erotic fantasies with him and some cute girls.

"I don't even know why I'm friends with you," Cynthia sighed, accepting that Riley will never change.

"Possibly because of my handsome looks and charming personality," Riley spoke, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

"Why did you call Riley?"

"I need to know that Ash's aura isn't too stressful on his body. It's a couple years too early for him to be breaking that dam of power, and I don't know how taxing it would be on his underdeveloped body. It's important that he doesn't stress himself and use too much aura, he could die if he isn't careful," Riley spoke seriously.

"I can't reach him through his pokenav, he's probably still flying on his charizard," Cynthia replied, fiddling around with a watch on her left wrist.

"When he does make contact with you, warn him and tell me how he is, I wouldn't want him to leave us so early," Riley spoke with a sad smile.

Cynthia nodded seriously and ended the video call. She returned her milotic and laid down on her bed. Her lucario walked into the room from the balcony, and showed her approximately how far away Ash was with his aura. Cynthia sighed as she withdrew from her pokemon's vision, Stay safe Ash.

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Ash blinked, willing his eyes to refocus and stay open as he slowly sat up. "Where am I?" Pikachu's ears perked when it heard its master's voice, "Pikapi!"

"Hey Pikachu, where are we?" Ash asked his partner.

Before Pikachu could answer, an old man and a lucario walked into the room. The lucario immediately rushed to his side, and forced him to lay down again. The pokemon pressed its paws to his chest, and let out calm waves of aura that made him drowsy again. He yawned, brought Pikachu to his chest, turned his head to the old man, and asked again, "Where am I?"

"You're in our home. You've been passed out for a couple of hours, Ash. It's sunset now, you should get more rest. We can talk in the morning." The old man smiled at Ash and flipped the light switch off. Ash felt himself fall asleep seconds after.

The next time he woke up, sunlight was streaming through the window and Pikachu was gone. He found a towel with some soap, toothpaste, and a toothbrush stacked on top. He laid out his clothes on top of the bed and walked into the attached bathroom to freshen up. Ash felt his sore muscles loosen in the warm water streaming down his figure. Once he got out, he studied himself in the mirror. Ash noted that he'd lost a fair amount of fat, making his already existing muscles show prominently. His chest and shoulders had become wider, and his abs showed a faint trace of a six pack. He shook out the water from his long hair and huffed when it fell into his eyes, "I really need to get a haircut,"

When he walked out, the clothes that he laid on the bed were already washed and ironed. He put on the outfit picked by Cynthia, and left his hat on the nightstand. When he walked into the living room, he was greeted by a riolu, who looked at him suspiciously. "Hey, do you know where Lucario and his caretaker are?" He asked the emanation pokemon. It nodded once and motioned for him to follow, taking him out of his large room and into a hallway. He noted the architecture, and deduced that he was probably in the castle. The riolu constantly checked over its shoulder to see if Ash was still there, its accusatory stare making him flinch every time its red eyes bore into his. Riolu barked,and jerked its head at a pair of big stone doors. Ash pushed them open and was greeted to the sight of a large courtyard filled with riolu and lucario alike. Some were practicing their powers, other were wrestling and having battles. His eyes were drawn to the largest lucario standing in the back, overseeing everything. He walked over to it and the old man standing beside it.

"Hey Lucario," Ash spoke, still feeling a little tired. Lucario nodded at him and forced him to sit down. The old man laughed, "He doesn't want to do anything with your aura for some time. He doesn't want anything to happen to you. Lucario's been worried sick since you arrived."

Lucario growled at its father figure with a blush on its cheeks. Ash smiled at Lucario "Thanks for worrying about me, but you didn't really have to. Say, where's Pikachu?" he asked, looking around. Lucario pointed at a cloud of dust. and sure enough Pikachu bolted out of it, seemingly fighting another riolu.

Lucario started to meditate, and Ash followed suit, not really knowing what to do. The old man sat down as well and guided Ash along. "Relax, let your senses flow over you. You don't need eyes to see what is going on around you. Breathe deeply and let your other senses construct the world around you," The caretaker spoke gently, his voice soothing to Ash's ears. He did as the elder said, and listened to what was going around him. A lucario launching an aura sphere, and another yelling out in pain. A villager shouting about how a riolu stole his pecha berries. The starly flying overhead. He could smell the rain that fell during the night, and the flowers of a nearby tree. Ash sighed, feeling completely at home with the sensations around him.

He sat there for a while, not really knowing how much time had passed, but he didn't care. A hand grasped his shoulder, jarring him out of his thoughts and his eyes snapped open. Lucario was smiling at him, fangs poking out of his mouth. It barked and pointed at the sun. It was well past midday. Ash's eyes widened, "Wow, I've been here for a while." Lucario nodded, and grasped Ash by his arm. The Jackal led him to the village, and showed him around the market.

Ash toured around the village, introducing himself to the villagers. He had tons of fun playing with the native pokemon and eating all of the different foods made in the market. Pikachu had joined in the middle of his tour of the kingdom, and shocked Ash for leaving him behind. After a whole ketchup bottle apology later, Pikachu finally settled down and enjoyed the tour with Ash.

It turned dark (way too fast in Ash's opinion) and Lucario led him to a pond with a few blooming water lilies. The sunset looked beautiful, and Ash finally felt stress free and relaxed. He sat down by the shore of the pond and hugged his knees, "Hey Lucario, you know why I'm here right?"

Lucario nodded and offered its paw, and unsure of what to do, Ash took it. A sudden rush of aura overwhelmed him, and forcing him to pulse his own back. Suddenly, something in him clicked, like a puzzle piece. He could feel Lucario's emotions, fears, strengths and see his memories. It was as if they'd known each other for years. He snapped his eyes to Lucario, and the pokemon smiled at him.

"Hello Ash."

A/N Please review & tell us (PikaPal & Beta) what to improve on! See you in the next chapter!