Acacius invited Draco and Agathon for a meal, leaving the house with his tyranitar and the steel/fighting type trainer together with his pokémon. Melissa stayed inside the house to give company to her collegues.
They were outside of the slits. Acacius brought them to a distant place, far enough so that no one would be able to hear a battle.
"I know your Pokémon has a massive advantage against mine," Acacius stated, "But it's you who I want to fight," he continued, "And Tyranitar seems excited about you."
Augustus nodded.
Both Acacius and Lucario stayed at a moderate distance from both the towering man and the tyranitar in a safety precaution.
Augustus thought about what he felt back in Martha's house, closing his eyes and starting to breathe heavily.
"Focus," Augustus thought.
Lucario felt uneasy. His master's aura was getting stronger with each second, and he could feel the strength of Augustus's heartbeats from meters away.
Augustus opened his eyes, demanding the command of tyranitar's attack. He had no iris, nor pupils.
Acacius could already sense something coming, but commanded the attack anyways.
"Giga impact," Acacius commanded.
Tyranitar roared and rushed at Augustus with all its might; its stomps seemed to generate earthquakes, getting closer and closer at each moment.
Augustus prepared himself, bending his knees and opening his palms, clenching his teeth while readying for impact. Tyranitar attacked with his head.
Tyranitar's weight didn't help; after the impact, all Augustus could do was try to hold it back, being dragged across the landscape from the sheer force of the pokémon.
Lucario was worried; the tyranitar wasn't holding even if his opponent was human, instead it actually seemed to be more ferocious than any other pokémon would be in that situation.
Eventually, the tyranitar's stamina ended after the long sprint of his Giga impact, and he was unable to move after the attack, slowly recovering his stamina.
Augustus looked directly towards Tyranitar's eyes, clenching his fist and grappling the pokémon's neck with the other hand, preventing its escape, with his fist suddenly being engulfed in blue flames. Pulling his clenched fist all the way behind him, he stepped forward, ready to deal the one blow to finish off the opponent pokémon, until he felt Lucario's palm touch his shoulder, then stopped.
He looked towards Lucario's face and, only after seeing his expression, realized why Lucario stopped him.
Augustus resembled a steel/fighting type Pokémon; his punch was going to have four times the damage he would normally deal on the tyranitar. Should that punch have connected, he would have killed the poor bastard.
Augustus let go of Tyranitar's neck. The pokémon was sweating with wide open eyes.
Acacius was surprised; he had no words to speak. He honestly thought that the man would at least be injured, but he escaped unscathed, unharmed.
The man turned towards Acacius and asked: "Do you believe her now?"
"I've always believed her; I couldn't believe you, but not more," Acacius responded, walking towards the other trainer. "What kind of path did you follow? What are you anyways?" He asked while still walking.
"I've followed my ambition. That is all," Augustus answered.
"I will ask no more. As long as you're on our side, you are welcome," Acacius said then stopped beside his Pokémon, petting its head, trying to calm it down.
"So, when do we leave?" Lucario asked.
"My tyranitar has been in very low action recently," Acacius said, walking his way home, with Tyranitar following right after. "I think with one week of training he'll be in perfect form."
Augustus and Tyranitar traded looks. Tyranitar's pride was broken; to have all of your power thrown at a human only for him to escape in perfect shape was devastating.
Augustus and Lucario also started following the father.
Augustus thought about everything he heard about the leader. What that man had done was inhuman, and he would not show mercy upon Augustus, should he emerge victorious.
He realized his offer for help wouldn't just be a small challenge that some three kids couldn't handle; his life (and probably everyone else's) would be at risk. Should he fail, everyone dies immediately, or worse.
'Focus…' he thought. 'Do what you must.'
They arrived at the house, with the trainers simultaneously abandoning whatever they were doing to ask information about the battle.
"How many hits did he take?!" Agathon asked.
"What attacks did you use?!" Draco asked
"How many hits did he land?!" Melissa asked.
"Not a single one my dear," Acacius answered Melissa. "I don't want my pokémon dead."
"What do you mean?!" Draco asked.
"He's just like his own Pokémon, except with more power, much more power," Acacius stated.
"Like a machamp?!" Agathon asked.
"Ah no, no…"Augustus said, laughing, "I'm not that strong, yet."
"And we agreed on going by next week," Acacius said, "But I can't let you three fight him. Once we head in, you'll all leave this house; take whatever you need."
The three got up immediately.
"We challenged him before, and we'll challenge him a thousand times more if necessary," Draco said.
"This village is all we have, we won't find anywhere else we could live," Agathon said.
"And even if we escaped, he'll definitively find out about us," Melissa said. "He has a psychic; he will read your mind, and he'll seek for us anyways."
"I won't risk your lives, is that clear?" Acacius said.
"Our lives are already in danger; we can't escape this fight anymore," Agathon said.
Acacius thought about it. Even their pokémon seemed extremely willing for battle. His daughter was right; the leader would seek for them anyways, and if he lost, their lives would still be in danger, thanks to that alakazam.
He hesitated, but eventually agreed.
"Fine, but if you see there's not even the slightest chance of victory, you'll run ok?" Acacius demanded.
"Whatever you say dad," Melissa said.
"We'll train for this whole week. This will be the harshest training you'll ever receive, understood?" Acacius asked.
"Yes, understood," the three said simultaneously.
"Then go to sleep. This will be a long week," Acacius ordered.
It was getting late, so three obeyed and prepared to sleep. Melissa slept in her bedroom; Agathon and Draco slept wherever they could lie down; Augustus and his lucario slept whilst meditating, and Acacius slept in his own bedroom.
Augustus was feeling something he never felt before: the fear of death.
That leader's pokémon could transform, but what did it mean? The trainers said that they were the most powerful thing they've ever seen even after fighting Augustus himself. That leader was the most powerful opponent he would ever face.
His feeling was replaced by pure anger towards himself. There it was again, the anger of being weak, of being afraid. The same reasoning which fueled his ambition was back at its full potential again, and all he could think of was getting stronger, far stronger than what he could ever achieve with the methods he used before.
He planned to go beyond himself this time, and he couldn't wait to do what he wanted; he couldn't wait to get stronger; he wanted to take off whatever weight was forcing him down. He wanted to shatter his limits completely, and he would do anything to get that objective.
He stopped meditating and walked towards the exit.
The three trainers and the father woke up only to find Augustus's lucario, but the man himself was nowhere to be seen. Even Lucario was confused about where did his master go.
"Where is he?!" Acacius asked angrily. "Did he go to warn the leader?! Is he betraying us?!"
"No! He would never do that!" Lucario said.
"Then tell me! Where is that coward?!" Acacius asked again.
"I don't know! He-" Lucario stopped after catching a glimpse of his master's aura, then looked outside.
"What is it?!" Draco asked.
"He went outside. He's probably…" Lucario walked towards the door.
"What is he doing?" Melissa asked.
"Last night I felt his aura fill itself with hatred towards something personal," Lucario stated, "He's probably… No; he istraining right now."
"Then where is he?" Acacius asked.
"Follow me and I'll show you," Lucario said.
The father looked at the kids, hesitating for a bit. He couldn't know if he should trust the pokémon or no, but he eventually looked at Lucario and said:
"I'm going with you."
"What about us?" Agathon asked.
"You stay here, I'll look this up for myself," Agathon responded.
Acacius whistled towards his Pokémon and followed the lucario.
After the door was closed the three trainers started whispering to eachother.
"We're going to follow them anyway right?" Draco asked
Draco's charizard facepalmed. Even after everything they went thorough after getting into trouble, they wanted to risk entering another trouble.
"Oh come on Charizard!" Draco said, "This is a minor problem, besides, everyone wants to see what Alex is doing!"
"So, we're going anyway, right?" Melissa asked.
"Yep, even though it's not the smartest idea," Agathon stated.
Pidgeot had a worried expression and Graveler couldn't care less. Eventually, Charizard stopped caring too, leaving it pretty obvious thanks to his expression.
"Let's just go then!" Draco said.
The three just looked through the window, waiting for Lucario and his followers to be really far away then exited the house, sneaking through the rocky environment, going behind one rock to another every once in a while.
Meanwhile, Acacius kept thinking to himself. He knew that even if he tried to destroy the other pokemon now, he would be in a massive disadvantage. So he decided to just follow Lucario, being this a trap or not.
It was a long walk; about three hours later Acacius's suspects became ever bigger, and he was considering heavily in engaging combat at that moment.
"How can I trust yo-" Acacius stopped speaking; Lucario was shocked about something in front of him. He looked at his tyranitar and even his pokémon was shocked.
They were at the border of an immense slit, and when Acacius looked inside the slit, he understood the reason of the pokémon's expressions.
The other side of the slit had an obviously artificial path towards the slit right after it. Augustus had his back faced towards the observers. The path was an immense crater which completely separated the border of the slit he was in, creating a huge gap between the left side of the border and the right side, in around twenty meters in diameter.
Augustus's pokémon rushed to see his trainer, worried about what consequences of this feat would have in his master's body.
His master's arms were completely engulfed in pure, visible aura; dancing around his arms like a wild fire that couldn't be extinguished. His injuries were obvious, but again, he would do anything to get stronger. Instead of attending his pokémon's call, he just walked to his right, in the direction of the border of the gap he created.
"Master, what are you doing?!"Lucario asked.
"He's not someone we can beat Lucario. Not yet," Augustus said, still walking.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Lucario asked.
"This is who I am. No sacrifice will lead to no progress," The man said, clenching his fist. "These were my thoughts from the start."
Augustus started punching the border, destroying the rocks while trying to shape an giant boulder.
"This is going to kill you before you get stronger!" Lucario shouted, trying to put some sense into his master's mind.
"He'll kill them if I don't!" Augustus said, burying his fingers on the half carved boulder andLifting it onto his back.
"I can't allow it!" Huge chunks of blood dripped from Augustus's mouth whilst he spoke. His knees trembled for a moment as he clenched his now red teeth.
The trainers reached the border of the same slit the man was in, and were shocked from what Augustus was being capable of.
Everyone was speechless, but the most shocked individual was Lucario. Even after living with his master for all these years, he never saw this attitude from him: empathy.
Augustus began walking with the immense rock on his back. Each footstep resembled an earthquake; his legs trembled and his aura could be seen physically all around hi body.
"By the gods…" Acacius said the only words he could think of. His hopes finally rose; with that power, they might stand an actual fair chance
Augustus was engulfed in blue flames. The shirtless man had his own blood tattooed all around his chest, but he kept going, even with all the pain he was feeling.
"From the start I've been fighting myself..." he said, feeling his arms almost explode from the force he was making in order to keep the boulder up. "…But now, I feel like it's not enough!" he shouted. "You can see what that leader can do! He can control an entire population by pure authority! An authority he earned by being the strongest!"
Augustus stopped walking, and started lifting the boulder by slowly stretching his arms up.
"He's the only one I will fight that will require me beyond my limits!" He said, still stretching his arms. His aura got more intense with each second. The brightness, the intensity, the pressure, everything was getting stronger. He was pushing himself beyond what he could possibly do.
"This isn't just our life at sake! He'll give us a fate worse than death should we fail!"
His arms were completely stretched and Lucario felt what was like a sun in front of his eyes. His master's aura was blindingly bright. And the air pressure was almost throwing him out of his feet.
"We will not fail!" Augustus shouted, "I cannot allow it!"
Augustus held the boulder above him with one arm and prepared a punch with the other.
'Focus!' he thought before punching the huge rock as hard as he could, letting out a warcry in the process.
The impact shattered the rock into thousands of pieces, with a cloud of dust forming itself between the scattering shards of the boulder.
The dust covered the man completely, and his flame had disappeared inside the cloud of dust.
Everyone was speechless. The father had no idea the man was so determined in helping them. The trainers felt an empowering emotion from within them. They felt hope; they felt they could win.
Lucario could only think about his master's health. He never pushed himself this far.
As the cloud dissipated, the man's figure showed up from the dust, still holding his fist high above his head, almost completely covered in red.
Lucario held his master as he fell to the floor.
"Why are you so determined to do this?" Lucario asked, eyes wide opened, shocked.
"Because I fear for you…" Augustus whispered before blacking out.
Acacius walked towards the fallen man, never taking his eyes off Augustus. He stopped in front of Lucario, observing the man. He could feel nothing else but respect for that person:
"Take him to Martha," Acacius ordered. "She's the only one we can trust to take care of him."
Lucario was still looking at his master.
"Understood," Lucario said, taking his master on his back and bringing him on his back.
"See?! I told you he was strong on his own!" Melissa shouted, lifting her head abive the rock they were hiding.
"Lucario told me you three were following us!" Acacius shouted back. "You still disobeyed my order, but that's beside the point!" he continued. "You saw how determined this man is to protect you! And you won't stay behind will you?!"
"Never, sir!" Agathon and Draco shouted, lifting their heads too.
"Then your training begins right now!" Acacius shouted.
