"Let him go." The voice said again.
But he wasted no time to hesitate. A bright orb of energy evaporated the chain right at my neck. The monstrous humanoid screamed and stumbled back. Soft, furry arms caught me before I hit the ground. I gasped for air and grabbed onto my hero. I accidentally grazed a long snout and realized who saved me. He snorted and knelt slowly to set me down to the ground.
"Are you all right?" Lucario stared right at me. His voice hummed at my ears but his lips weren't moving.
"Y-Yes. Thank you." I squeaked.
Lucario nodded solemnly and stood in front so he covered for me. A blue, swirling energy manifested his paws as he took a low stance. I took this cue to grab my bow that skidded away. But as I stood up, the humanoid was covering his face vaguely with his arms and whimpering miserably. The chains used for his authority were scattered in pieces from Lucario's energy sphere. Even with a kneeling pose, he was taller than Lucario and I, but he appeared absolutely afraid.
The surrendering pose apparently irritated Lucario, because he roared once, and the humanoid got to his feet clumsily and ran off to the direction I came from. The rusty chains were forgotten and abandoned. Lucario picked one up and threw it away insolently. "Coward. He does not deserve weapons if he is afraid to fight." He growled. I briefly held my breath. I guess I need to work harder to fit Lucario's criteria.
With a snap of a wrist, the blue energy quickly burned off, leaving a trail of shimmering light like fireflies. I remember him telling me that the blue light was the source of energy and everyone had a unique "aura". Lucario can use this aura to see through closed eyes, talk telepathically, and determine if someone is a foe or an ally. Pretty amazing, if you ask me.
"Are we in a cave?" He asked.
"Um... I should probably catch you up on things," I scratched the back of my neck. "Now, where should I start..."
"There's no need to."
Lucario placed his hands on my forehead and closed his eyes. The sensors below his ears buzzed. I closed my eyes also and concentrated. After a good minute, Lucario nodded once and sat down next to me. "Interesting..." He mumbled to himself. I wasn't sure if he fully understood the whole situation and what I've been through, but he was stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"Do you remember anything?" I asked. This question was becoming a tradition every time I met someone new. Everyone shares a different memory but they were all connected somehow.
Lucario paused and turned to me. He furrowed his eyebrows (or where his eyebrows should be if he wasn't a canine)."Do I remember anything?"
"Like, um... before you woke up here. What's the last thing you remember?"
"Hmm. Well, I do recall all of us sitting at the tables for dinner. It was a warm night and I was among the couple of us who sat outside."
I nodded. The dinner part of Ike's story was a bit similar to Lucario's. Was this dinnertime the last time all of us were together?
"When I came outside, you were sitting alone. Some of the swordsmen came to join you afterwards but you seemed very absent. I wanted to talk with you but I was not able to find you after dinner. I suppose your friends wanted to also since I've overheard them talking how you disappeared. Do you recall any of this?"
"No. I have worse amnesia than everyone else. I can't remember the last thing I did. I don't even know my name."
"Then you may be the key to this."
"That's what I was thinking, a little bit. I don't want to though."
"Why is that?"
It was an honest question. But I had a hard time admitting I wasn't confident in myself.
"I... I don't think I'm worthy to be a 'savior', so to speak. For humans, angels can be seen as guardians or a guiding light to heaven. But those angels are different from us. I can die too and I don't know what will happen to me. I can't guide myself to heaven because I'm not that kind of angel. I'm no less human the rest of us."
Lucario waited patiently. I had a feeling he knew I had more to say.
"But seeing all of my friends fight for me... Even now, Lucario, you saved me from that monster. I feel like I don't understand my potential, if I had one at all. Oh, I really shouldn't be saying this. Roy would be mad at me again." I forced myself to laugh a bit at the end. But Lucario's intense red eyes pierced right through my fake smiles.
"I see," he said softly. "So are you not confident in combat?"
"Probably."
"Then I can assist you with that."
He didn't smile, but there was one in his tone. I laughed again, but it was completely dry.
We were at the riverside and made it a makeshift training ground. Lucario suggested we keep the tables and boxes, as they were to train in a realistic atmosphere. Although I was glad Lucario agreed to train with me, I hesitated to start.
"You can start anytime."
"Uh, are you sure I can practice with you?"
"Swords won't affect me. I will use my aura for defense."
"Okay."
Another silence followed. I shifted my feet. In every fight I've been in so far, my opponent didn't wait for my first move.
"Would you like for me to start it off?"
"Yeah, sorry."
The awkward moments were over immediately when Lucario hopped atop a box with one stride. I tensed as I recognized his low, crouching position. The lower his stance was, the bigger the recoil he experienced. I managed to side step, fold my wings and roll from my head. A blue sphere hummed with energy as it ripped at the air above my head and crashed at a box. The wooden crates behind me twitched, and then exploded, sending small shards showering down on us like glitter.
"I see I hit your left foot." Lucario curled his lips.
A thin strand of blue wrapped around my ankle. I went to touch it and it dissolved off my hands. What was interesting was that the energy felt soft, almost soothing. "Why didn't it hurt?"
"You have many cuts and bruises so I wanted to heal you."
"You can hurt me, Lucario. Or else this won't be training." I smiled. This time it felt real.
"As you wish."
I might've regretted that choice. Lucario took flight and reflected off a wall. His steps were so quiet; he could have kicked at air. And after a while, I was dizzy following him with my eyes, seeing him almost fly with nothing but his legs and the area around him. I wondered how he would behave if he had wings.
Three aura spheres burst open from Lucario's hands and he treated them like a juggler. With each flick of a finger, the spheres doubled in numbers and sizes, gathering the surrounding energy around them. I only had time to dodge one way, unless I didn't dodge.
The aura spheres rained down on me. Dazzling comets engulfed the room and cancelled out the orange fire in the lamps. All shades of blue flared and imploded to the ground, diminishing and melting immediately. It was fun to think of it as a dance floor.
I parried one with my bow. And another, and another. I needed an umbrella to keep the rain off me. I held the hilt of the bow and snapped my wrist how Lucario did when he cut off the aura from his hands. The bow corresponded to my command and began to swirl right off my palm. The aura spheres that washed down on me hit the rotating umbrella and dissolved. Blue residue rained down, hitting off the bow and ricocheting in different directions, leaving a perfect circle of black around me. I laughed shortly; did I really just come up with this right now?
The comets kept on falling. With the flashing blue lights and dark surroundings, it was hard to capture exactly where Lucario was. I shifted my feet one step at a time until I came to the one spot where the aura spheres were falling directly on to me. I knelt, and took flight.
Lucario didn't notice my approach until the rotating bow brushed against his tail. I felt a different sensation on my palm when I was starting to cut into something other than the aura spheres.
His right foot thrust out and was just inches above my chest before I twisted in mid-air. The aura shower stopped as Lucario made fists in his hands, cutting off the blue flare. As he missed his dropkick, I circled around him to shoot an arrow square on the middle of his back.
But what surprised me was that Lucario didn't tumble to the ground, but he grabbed onto my leg. My wings cringed under the weight. We twisted, thrashed, and somehow in the middle of it, Lucario managed to pull my arms behind me back and wrap his legs around mine. I was open to smash into the ground.
I wiggled; my arms wouldn't budge from Lucario's iron grip, but my wings spread open again to cushion us for one second. And one second was just enough.
"Wh-What..." Lucario sputtered. He coughed and shook around.
"Tickling, isn't it?" I cracked up and fluttered my wings in his face. Above me, feathers escaped and ascended to where we were a second before. My arms felt loose. I wriggled free and turned around to catch Lucario just in time to crash into the river.
Since I did a bit of a side-flop, my left shoulder and wing boiled in pain and immediately numbed. Lucario growled and rolled out of the river. I figured he was mad but once he met my eyes, he chuckled. A hasty aura sphere shot from his hands but I easily parried it away with one blade. The toga weighed me down from all of the water it soaked. The numbing pain on my left side wasn't helping either.
"You're getting tired. The moves are getting slow." Lucario puffed a breath. His words were choppy but he kept a light footing.
"No, I'm just heavy." I said, as I threw away my toga.
Brilliant blue lights engulfed the room one last time before we both fell to our knees, laughing.
Author's Note: Ooh foreshadowing.