The years passing though time like the wind, and he spent his years in constant training, never ceasing, never hesitating.

He took on the heaviest of duties, constantly trying to improve his strength, whether be hunting alone or be it carrying the heaviest materials. His physical appearance had increased vastly in size and weight.

He never stopped working, never considered giving up, even in his worst days; he trained his body in any way he could think of;

And he always had Lucario's help; it was a rather unique case seeing a Pokémon train a human.

His family and neighbors began to look at him differently, that boy from years ago was no longer the same, they knew who he was and his personality was still there, but they had no idea what drove him into this constant state of training.

Some told him to give up, thinking he might be losing his mind, but they didn't speak of this because he was injuring himself nor because he was so ambitious to getting stronger that they were afraid he might even abandon his own humanity;

It was because, after a certain period of time, his physical strength stopped increasing.

He still trained like a mad man, whenever he had free time he trained, with all his might, be in combat or in body. But he was stuck in a barrier, he had reached his body's limit.

But he refused it; he only saw this as another challenge.

Only one being never touched this subject however, and it was Lucario.

Lucario noticed something odd in him; Even after his body reached its maximum, his aura kept increasing, and rapidly. To the point where it even surpassed his own in raw power.

That pokémon always motivated the now almost fully grown man into doing the same thing he had done before, and he was the only one that knew about his ambition.

It has been 10 years since he started his training, and he was now at the age of 17, at the peak of his youth.

One day, obsessed with their warnings, the young man travelled into the woods, to pass his time alone, where he could meditate, to think about his path.

After a long walk between an endless sea of trees, he stopped and sat down in a nearby rock, big enough so that he could sit with his legs crossed.

He held his knees and closed his eyes, debating with himself, one side of him told it was the right thing to give up, and the other told it was his dream and the only thing he always worked so hard for, and he was afraid of both of them.

If he was to give up, what would he do then? His dream was all he stood for, it would be his legacy.

But if he was to keep on fighting, how long would it take for his power to start rising again? Has he really reached the line? Was it all for nothing?

He already could hunt pokémon and take them down on his own, but he needed strategies, techniques, tools and traps. He could never take one out with his bare hands if they used their full power, his combat abilities were exceptional, and he could sense things around him thanks to Lucario's training; he was even already considered a beast in his home village.

But that wasn't enough, he needed more, he desired more, it was not all for nothing, he became stronger, he was much stronger than before;

But in the end, it wasn't enough. No feeling was more devastating than betting your life on something, and end up failing in the end; it was an impossible dream after all.

All of his thoughts were replaced by another: he recognized that place.

The man opened his eyes, focusing on a slightly distant tree with black red lines in its trunk.

He immediately recognized it.

He remembered the pain in each punch, and the image of his tearing flesh and the distinct red of his blood running thorough the trunk.

He enjoyed that memory.

A sudden feeling rushed over him, one he had never felt before in years, followed by a single thought in his mind;

'What if...'

He knew his limits, he knew he would not make it, but something was different, somehow he knew that, if he tried again, something would happen.

The pain was constantly in his mind, but he didn't hesitate while walking towards the tree.

He readied a stance and prepared the first punch.

Meanwhile, back in his home, Lucario was sitting on one of the benches by the table; the house never changed even after all these years.

The Pokémon noticed an unusual atmosphere, he noticed the depressive look in the man's face during the day, which was already strange since he never lost hope in anything, and always had an exalted mood; so Lucario thought it was just a phase he never went thorough before.

While growing up, the man was slightly aggressive and had an strange addiction into bringing self harm, but he never injured himself foolishly and was only harmed while trying to hunt or during combat.

Lucario realized something else unusual, the man was late.

He never got late in 10 years, and even the last time he got late, it wasn't for this long; the sun was already far behind the horizon.

Lucario rushed out of his house and into the woods with his senses fully activated;

He got warned by the man that he was going to the woods, but never told why.

Everything the Pokémon could think of was: 'Did he try to take one out barehanded?'; 'Was he trying to prove himself something?' he thought while already rushing inside the woods, searching every corner he could with his own aura.

'Thankfully his aura is immense!' he thought while running as fast as he could. 'It won't take long to find him, assuming he wasn't an idiot this ti-' Lucario stopped forming the words on his head; he found what he was looking for.

Lucario stopped while kneeling down, staring at the man.

The man had his back facing towards Lucario. The man had his hand in front of his chest, and was observing it.

The pokémon watched that scene; a strong blue white light being emanated from that man, reflecting itself in the trees and foliage around him, his hand being the lightsource.

The pokemon and the man remained in silence, immobile, both stunned by the scene; after all both could feel eachother's aura, and both were highly confused.

The human's voice eventually broke the silence:

"We both know what this is," he said while resting his hand, making it visible.

His skin had ripped and his flesh was exposed, however, there were flames, small flames which danced around in the borders of the man's open skin, slowly healing itself.

"This is a surprise for me, and I know you could feel it in me," he said while turning, facing his Lucario, smiling with a face of relief. "I want to know why did you not tell me before."

"Because you wouldn't be able to control it," Lucario said while getting up, "and your aura is greater than mine in your current state."

"Fair enough," the man said while walking towards the right way home. "We are late, we shouldn't be here."

"You are late, I was just looking for yo-" Lucario stopped speaking after he noticed the tree that was in front of the man;

The smell of fresh blood in the air now made sense, the tree was cracked and had half of it completely covered in red.

Maybe he didn't notice the blood before because of the man's aura light; it was a really intense light, enough for his hypothesis to make sense.

"For how long did you punch it?" Lucario asked in shock, feeling the man's aura strangely tremble with happiness.

The man grinned and said while still walking:

"Let's go home."

Lucario hesitated for a moment, but then nodded and started walking behind the man, worrying about how to make him be able to control that much power.