The campfire's flame tingled softly, and the man was paying attentions to its movements, feeling something familiar as its heat warmed his skin. They were dining, already preparing to sleep. Each pokémon was sitting beside their respective trainers; there was a calm silence in the air until the man asked:
"How far are we from the village?" he said whilst looking at the campfire.
"Around forty hours," the brown hooded trainer said.
The man nodded then noticed the yellow hooded trainer looking at him angrily, and then closed his eyes to meditate.
"What is your name?" the orange hooded trainer asked the man, pouring more soup into his own plate.
The man didn't respond.
"If we're going to be partners, we should at least know your name," the orange hooded trainer said.
The man ignored him again.
Charizard's trainer drank a portion of his soup then said:
"My name is Draco," the trainer said, "His name is Agathon," he said whilst pointing at the brown hooded trainer then pointed at the light yellow hooded trainer, "And her name is Melissa."
The man remained silent.
"We have to at least trust each other's names," Agathon said.
"We can't trust him at all…" Melissa whispered, looking at her pidgeot's injuries.
Agathon whispered back to her:
"He had his motives Melissa," he said, "You can't blame him. Besides, he'll kill us if we try anything," Agathon added.
"But still…" She put her hand in her pidgeot's right wing.
"Just this once Melissa," Agathon asked to her.
There was a brief moment of silence silence between them, until the man said:
"Alexander Augustus," the man said. "My name is Alexander Augustus."
Draco closed his eyes and smiled thinking: 'Finally some progress,' then looked at his charizard's face.
Charizard snarled in contempt.
"Why did you get expelled from the village?" Lucario asked.
"Melissa had the brilliant idea of-" Draco got punched by Melissa in the arm before he could continue.
"We challenged the leader," Agathon explained.
"Why?" Lucario asked.
"We told you, everyone hates him," Melissa said.
"What kind of pokémon does he have?" Augustus asked.
"A steelix, a blaziken, an alakasam, and an ampharos," Draco answered, "But there's something…" he looked at the ground, "…wrong with them."
"Wrong?" Augustus asked.
"They could transform," Melissa said, "And they got stronger when transformed, much stronger."
"Transform?" Lucario asked.
"Yes," Agathon said. "Their appearance changed, and their powers were immensely boosted."
"But how did they transform?" Augustus asked.
"They had collars around them," Melissa answered, "There were strange pearls in these collars," she answered. "These pearls gleamed before the one who wore them transformed."
"And after transforming, the collars were gone," Draco added.
"How strong were they?" Lucario asked.
"Stronger than anything I've ever seen before," Agathon claimed. "But you've proven yourself strong enough," he added.
"Only the leader took us three without flinching, but you…" Draco said, "… you took us three with only one pokémon."
"With your help we can prove he's not invincible," Agathon said, "We can give the population hope and take him off his leadership!"
"And how exactly am I going to do that?" asked Augustus. "He has a psychic," he added, "I am in a huge disadvantage."
"My father has a Tyranitar, psychic moves have no effect on him," Melissa claimed, proudly, "The problem is getting him to join us."
"Why is it a problem?" Lucario asked.
"Because he's friends with the leader," she answered, "They grew up together."
"He is one of the few people that like the leader," Draco said.
"You're his daughter," Augustus said to Melissa. "Convincing him is up to you."
"I'm not sure he'll agree," Melissa said, "I think he respects the leader more than he loves me."
"We'll manage," Lucario said.
"I hope so," Draco said.
"We're forty hours from there," Augustus said, "We should be resting right now."
"You're right." Draco nodded.
Everyone agreed. They needed to rest before they could fight the leader, and to save the few resources they had. They had only enough for two days.
Luario felt uneasy to sleep that night; Augustus's aura had increased by on third of what it was before. Not only his aura was increasing rapidly, but the rate it was increasing rose as well.
Augustus had no idea how much aura he possessed in his current state, nor how much of a threat he would be if he was to use all of it. But Augustus felt Lucario's discomfort, and asked him before sleeping aswell:
"What is it that is bothering you?" Augustus asked Lucario.
Lucario hesitated for a moment, but confessed:
"Your aura has a huge pressure," he said, "It's almost overwhelming."
"Isn't that supposed to be good?" Augustus asked, confused.
"I just feel like it's dangerous," Lucario responded, "Are you sure you can control it?"
"Of course," Augustus answered, "Don't be bothered with me, focus on your own strength, and I'll focus on mine."
Lucario nodded and got ready to sleep.
Augustus repeated Lucario's phrase in his mind: 'Are you sure you can control it?' he thought to himself, 'Can you control it?'
Augustus clenched his fist. He didn't want to think about it too much, but now that Lucario mentioned it, his very presence being almost overwhelming? Is that a good thing?
He ignored that thought and got ready to sleep aswell.
They woke up late the next morning feeling well rested, then proceeded towards the village.
They spent the next twenty four hours travelling by air, with Augustus jumping between slits whilst carrying his lucario, Melissa's pidgeot carrying both graveler and her trainer and Charizard carrying both Draco and Agathon.
They settled a campfire at night, ate the last meal they could with the few resources they had and proceeded towards the village once more.
After sixteen hours of travel, Augustus started to see the top of wooden buildings, inside a deep and huge slit in the canyon, making nearly a whole city, with water, a market center, houses, motels and all kinds of wooden/metal buildings. Augustus could barely believe that was considered a village.
Agathon made a signal asking Augustus to stop. Augustus obeyed, landing and letting go of his Pokémon.
"What is it?" Augustus asked.
"We're banned, remember?" Agathon explained. "They can't see us getting in."
"Brilliance!" Lucario said, sarcastically.
"Oh yeah!" Draco said, "We didn't think of that one did we?" he asked, landing with his charizard.
"Are you kidding me?" Melissa asked then ordered her pidgeot to land. "You came back without a plan?"
"You guys seriously don't remember Martha?" Agathon asked the two hooded trainers.
"What?" Lucario asked.
Both Melissa and Draco made confused faces whilst trying to remember where they heard that name. Eventually, Draco remembered.
"Martha!" Draco said whilst pointing at Melissa, "You've got to remember her!"
Melissa got even more confused, before remembering aswell.
"Oh! That one lady?" Melissa asked.
"What are you talking about?" Augustus asked.
"Yes that one!" Draco said with enthusiasm. "Remember what she always told us?"
"You can always count on Martha!" Agathon and Melissa said together.
"Who the hell is Martha?!" Lucario asked.
"They thought about something," Augustus told Lucario, "Let it flow."
"Let's go see Martha then!" Melissa said.
"You're a genius Agathon!" Draco said.
The three trainers flew with their pokémon towards a distant slit, which didn't connect to the "village".
"I don't even…" Lucario stopped mid phrase.
"Roll with it," Augustus said.
They reached the slit. It had a strange green lake inside it, and a single, simple, house of wood.
The trainers landed with their Pokémon and walked towards the house, knoking on the door upon reaching it.
"Martha!" Draco said, "It's us!"
There was a brief moment of silence inside the slit. Eventually, however, the door was opened by a tiny old lady.
The lady remained silent, then had her face slowly twist onto happiness, with her smile reaching the top of her cheeks.
Augustus did the best not to laugh, but all he managed was try to suppress his extremely confused grin.
Augustus had two whole meters in height, while Martha had only half a meter.
"Come in my children! You must be starving!" Martha said then looked at Augustus, who was still smiling, "And you brought a friend with you. That's great news!"
They entered and took a seat inside the house of the kind old lady while the pokémon waited outside. It was a simple construct with basic furniture; nothing of high value inside the house, with an already prepared dinner.
"I'm so glad you came back," Martha said, offering a plate to each of the visitors, "I thought you three were killed by the leader!"
"We escaped," Draco said, taking his plate from the table "But we found someone that can beat him!" Draco pointed at Augustus.
Martha's expression changed from happy to shocked, "You plan on challenging him again?" she asked. "I can't let you! I can't lose you three again!"
"You haven't witnessed what he can do," Agathon said, "He's stronger than the leader's pokémon when they're not transformed."
"When they're not transformed!" Martha quoted "He'll certainly kill you this time!"
"No, since we have him!" Melissa pointed at Augustus. "He's the answer!"
"No one can defeat him, it's hopeless!" Martha said.
"We can!" Agathon claimed. "But we can't do this alone. We need your help," he added, "And Melissa's father's."
"Is it because of his tyranitar?" Martha asked. "You can't convince him, he'll give you up to the leader, and then…" Martha hesitated, looking at the ground.
Augustus closed his eyes, let out a sigh then said:
"Ma'am" Augustus said, lifting himself from his chair, "What will convince you that they have the potential required?" he asked, "I've been through the harshest of paths; I've trained my whole life in order to achieve the ultimate power," Augustus continued whilst walking behind the three trainers. "I've fought these three; they've proven themselves to have immense potential." He put his hand in Draco's shoulder. "They're trying to tell you they won't fail, that they are strong enough, and believe me-" Augustus looked towards the three young trainers, "-they are! I've seen it myself," Augustus said, smiling, and then looked into Martha's eyes. "If you don't trust me, trust them."
Martha stood there in silence, reflecting on her thoughts.
She wanted the three's safety, she couldn't see them go through another death risk, but she also wanted the freedom of the townsfolk. She always desired for a chance to take that horrible man off his throne, to end his dictatorship towards the people. She always prayed for a savior to come to them. If that man was what he claimed to be, then the time had come; the moment she always waited for had finally come, and if she was to refuse, there wouldn't be a second chance.
"What do you need?" Martha asked with discouragement.
"Not much…" Agathon said.
