Rio's attack was intercepted by a backhand from the bladed Pokemon. A simple maneuver, hardly an attack, and yet it was enough to knock Rio to the side and leave a painful sting on his cheek. It felt like he was hit with a heated plate of metal, which was only half true. Rio tried to stand but his body wasn't listening to him anymore
"Just as I thought..." Zen sighed, walking over towards the Outlander. "You really are a waste of potential. An Outlander is naturally gifted to surpass even the most disciplined and harshly trained Pokemon. Equipped with a metaphorical 'step-up' that most Pokemon are jealous of. Not only are you a Lucario Outlander, but you've been bestowed with a gift, something I've only seen in Diana, and all I needed to do to halt your approach is swat you away like the insect you are."
"Y-You got a cheap shot, that's all!" Rio exclaimed, finally managing to pick himself back up again. The Lucario rushed in, trying to ignore the aches of his body so he could focus on fighting. He thrust out his palms, hitting Zen in his chest but getting himself damaged in the process. Just touching this guy was excruciating!
"I applaud your bravado, Rio. But it would be unwise to let your bravery lead the way to stupidity." Zen told the canine, raising his palm towards Rio. "I'll give you a chance to turn away from this fight. I can guarantee that you won't see it through."
"B-But I need your help!" Rio exclaimed, not noticing the growl rolling in his chest. "Kora and Minerva need help, I can't just leave them!"
"You mean leave them like you already have?" Zen pointed out, shaking his head.
"I was gonna go back to them regardless, and do what I can to help them. It's just..." Rio's growl grew as he bore his fangs. He didn't know what he was feeling, so he tried to focus on the fight once more. "If you say you'll help them, then I'll keep fighting you until you're satisfied!"
Rio tried attacking with his palms again, throwing all his weight into the attack. He managed to shove Zen back, while getting himself hurt again. He kept on anyway, getting somewhat used to the sting after a while. Zen grew tired of being gently pushed, so he flexed his hand and an orb of dark energy formed.
"Dark Pulse." Zen fired a blast of dark energy at Rio, amplifying that burning sting way past his pain threshold, and sending him flying back into a tree, breaking off one of its limbs.
On the plus side, Rio couldn't feel the aches and weight of his body, but he also couldn't feel anything other than searing pain that might actually cause him to pass out. Zen walked slowly up to Rio, that glow around his body intensifying. The Bisharp stood above Rio as the Lucario remained painfully silent, unable to get any sounds out of his mouth and staring blankly forward.
Zen let out a sigh and turned towards the woods, the glow fading away. He took a couple steps before getting struck in the back of his head by a hefty branch. Zen aggressively turned around and saw Rio standing there, branch in hand, with an angered stare on his face.
"You're trying my patience," Zen said, firing another Dark Pulse into Rio. The Lucario managed to raise the branch to block the attack, but it snapped right in half, and he still took the brunt of the attack. "Is the well-being of two strangers worth this stubbornness?! Or is it that you enjoy this pain?!"
Rio didn't respond. Well, it was more he couldn't, actually. His mouth was agape but the only sounds that could escape it was pained groans. Zen waited a few seconds, making sure the jackal wasn't going to get back up, and was annoyingly surprised when Rio did in fact get back up. The way he was moving, it was obvious that his body was in immense pain, making slow, jagged movements. Zen engulfed himself with the glow once again, pulling his hand back and surrounding it with his energy. The Bisharp jammed his fist into Rio's stomach, resulting in a pain-filled scream from the Outlander to fill the air.
"I warned you, Outlander, I even graced you with the option to turn away from this battle. The only one to blame for this pain you are feeling is yourself." Zen told Rio, letting out a huff and walked a couple steps back. Rio fell to the ground, clutching his stomach in agony. The tree behind him had a fist-shaped indent in it and pieces of the bark fell off, landing on Rio's back.
'Perhaps... it would not have cost me anything if I held back a little...' Zen thought to himself. 'It is a shame that my hypothesis didn't work... He seems to still be unable to use his aura.' Confident that Rio had had enough, Zen again began walking deeper into the woods, taking a few more steps before being interrupted.
"G...Get..." Rio groaned, trying to lift himself off the ground. "Get... b-back... here..."
'I stand corrected. Clearly, I wasn't trying enough.' Zen chuckled to himself as he watched Rio attempt to get up.
"You are certainly an Outlander in terms of durability, that I will commend you on!" The Bisharp clapped his gauntlets mockingly. "I am afraid that you've ventured from being brave to being horribly idiotic, however. You're barely able to speak and yet here you are, thinking that the fight is still going on."
"Y...You prom...ised... to h-help... them..." Rio struggled to say, nearly falling back onto his face. "I-If I... sur...vived..."
"Did I say you had to survive? My apologies, that was some of my past life rearing it's head. I meant to say that you had to win, and as far as I can tell, you've lost." Zen spun back around and walked just one step before feeling something blow from behind him. He turned his head and saw a broken branch land past him. He laid his eyes back on Rio and was rather amazed that the canine managed to get back on his two paws.
"Y-You... liar..." The Outlander muttered.
"I'm not a liar, I just said the wrong thing. You are in no place to label me as anything other than the victor." Zen retorted. "I'd advise you to not try anything that would result in getting yourself attacked, if you cherish that life of yours."
Rio stumbled backwards, leaning on the tree for support. His eyes were blank, half dead, but they held a furious look on Zen. The Outlander was beaten and bruised, but after a few seconds to catch his breath, he was able to stand on his own again, with his gaze focused solely on the Bisharp before him. It was faint, but Zen could feel some sort of familiar energy emanating from Rio's body. The thought of his deceased master crept into his mind for a moment, but he brushed it away.
"You lied... to me..." Rio said weakly.
"I've already told you, I said the wrong thing. I apologize for you misunderstanding me because of it, but you must have figured that out by now!" Zen replied.
"Then... fight me..!" Rio get himself into the same battle stance as before.
"You can't beat me, Outlander! Why are you too stubborn to realize that?!" The Bisharp wiped his face and sighed. "If this goes on any longer, you actually won't survive, you understand that right?"
"..." Rio kept his stare on Zen, which was actually starting to irritate the Bisharp. The Jackal remained silent, waiting for Zen to attack.
"It's a shame that I will have to be the one to do this... but I'm only doing this upon your request." Zen began glowing again, raising his hand up to Rio and having all of his glow flow into a ball of Dark Energy. "Dark Pulse!"
The Bisharp fired one more Pulse at Rio, this one stronger the two previous attacks. Once the blast hit Rio, he was engulfed in a beautifully dark explosion, with sparks of darkness shooting from the smoke. Despite using considerably more power than he probably should, Zen had an inkling of the idea that, by some miracle, Rio would be standing there, as if nothing had even happened. It took a while for the smoke to clear, but Zen's idea was proven correct, to a degree. Rio was still there, still alive and kicking, but he was blown clean through the tree behind him. Intriguingly, his armband gave of black smoke, similar to the smoke from the explosion Zen caused.
"Is that... all you... got..?" Rio let out a pained chuckle, falling to a knee.
"...!" Zen honestly couldn't believe it. It's not like Zen was putting in an excessive amount of effort, but he shouldn't be having this much trouble trying to get the Lucario to give up! "This is starting to become ridiculous. For your own sake, I ask that you please stay down!"
"Will you... help... then..?" The Lucario asked as he started to stand back up.
"I..." Zen hesitated for a moment. "I'm calling this as a forfeit on your end, only so I won't have to deal with the consequences of you dying by my hands. I'll go help your friends, and the next time the two of us should be at odds, you'd better be able to put up more of a fight than this."
"G-Great..." The Lucario finally collapsed onto the forest floor, unconscious.
Zen looked at Rio in disbelief, surprised that the jackal was still alive. Of everyone who wasn't an official Guild member he should rank above everyone except Diana. But, Rio's ability to withstand all that pain was… unsettling, to Zen.
"No..." Zen told himself, lifting Rio's body over his shoulder. "I've overcome the impossible on my strength alone... He's built to last, but nothing more..."
Minerva and Kora were both beat up and exhausted, but they barely managed to overpower Eva and Kane in the end. The Zangoose and Scrafty were both knocked out cold on the sand, the energy that wisped from their bodies dissipated. Kora fell on his butt and threw his head back, taking in as much air with each breath as he could.
"Man, were they always this tough?" Minerva asked. "I swear neither of them could really take more than a couple o' hits before giving up."
"There was definitely something wrong with them!" Kora exclaimed. "They hurt me a lot more than the last time we fought... both with their attacks and with their words..."
"Hey, I said ya coulda left if ya wanted to." The Meowth patted Kora on his back and smiled. "Ya did pretty good, for someone too scared to actually hit a lady."
"And you were pretty alright for someone half their size." Kora shot back with a grin. "I'm just glad it was just them! Imagine if we had to fight Zen, too!"
As if he had heard them talking about him, Zen just so happened to walk out of the woods at that very moment. Minerva flicked Kora in the back of his head for jinxing them and got herself ready to fight again, when she noticed that Zen was carrying Rio on his shoulder.
"Rio?! What the hell did ya do to him?!" She exclaimed, seeing how bad a shape the Lucario was in.
"Please, your yelling is enough to give me a headache. He ran into me in the woods, and we..." The Bisharp trailed off when he noticed Eva and Kane on the ground. "Were... Were the two of you fighting them?"
"They came up to us lookin' for a fight so we gave 'em one! What, ya want one too?!" The Meowth glared at Zen.
"I swear I just left them at the hot springs..." Zen thought aloud, tossing Rio towards Minerva and inspecting his companions closer. "You two managed to beat them, after how strong they've become..." The Bisharp shook Kane and Eva gently, seeing if they would wake up.
"Are ya done bein' weird? Just grab 'em and get outta here!" Minerva spat. Zen rolled his eyes and lifted the two under his arms.
"Minerva, I am not, nor will I ever be, in the mood for your obnoxiously loud behavior. If I need to rip out your tongue or sew your gaping maw shut, I will not hesitate." Zen threatened, his eyes piercing through Minerva and causing her to keep her mouth shut. The Bisharp let out an annoyed sigh and left. Once he was for sure out of earshot, Minerva was finally able to talk again.
"Y-Yeah! That'll show ya, punks!" She said, kicking up some sand.
"Wow, you're real tough, aren't you?" Kora mocked.
"And you are? That guy's a livin' nightmare! I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for a while!" Minerva replied, falling backwards into the sand. "How's Rio? Is he still breathin'?"
"Hard to tell. He's giving off some kinda warmth, which I guess is neat. And hey, his chest's moving, but I don't hear him breathing." The Zoroark replied. He went to lay his ear on Rio's chest, but the Outlander suddenly shot up and the two hit their heads together. "GAH! He's good, unlike the side of my head, geez..."
Rio was taking in deep breaths and clutching his stomach, and he had a look of confusion on his face when he realized he wasn't in the forest anymore. The Outlander needed a minute to relax, which was greatly helped by the ocean and the sand. The three ended up spending quite a bit of time just sitting in the serenity of the beach, before Rio decided to recall what had happened.
"That guy, I don't think I caught his name, was brutal. I couldn't even touch him! Every time I did, I got stung by something on him, that weird glow he has." Rio told the two. "Do you guys fight him often?"
"We've fought him once or twice, but he wiped the floor with us and decided we weren't worth his time." Kora answered. "We've fought Kane and Eva a lot more than we have Zen. He's so mysterious sometimes. Like, he'll show up out of nowhere, maybe say a few words, then he's gone! Poof!"
"I'm glad ya ain't hurt that bad." Minerva told the jackal. "Havin' him be the first Pokemon ya fight must've been rough."
"You're telling me. I'm just amazed that I'm able to move at all. He punched me so hard, he punched the tree behind me! It still hurts, don't get me wrong, but it's not nearly as bad as when he actually punched me." Rio chuckled, an oddly pleasant grin on his face. "Call me crazy, but I kinda wanna fight him again."
"Alright, Crazy." Kora joked. "You might've gotten punched a little too hard, buddy. Hey, you guys wanna head back to my place? I think getting into a fight makes sitting on the beach a bit less enjoyable."
Rio and Minerva both nodded, and once again Rio decided to walk on his own instead of hitching a ride on Kora's back. Luckily, Kora and Minerva walked at the same pace as Rio. As they entered the path leading back to the Square, Rio looked to the spot he thought he saw Kai and Mia, thinking that they might've come back for some reason. He didn't see anything and shrugged it off, who knows, maybe he didn't even see them in the first place.
The trio didn't talk much on the walk back, other than the one or two jokes Kora would think of at random and the usually negative response from either Rio or Minerva. Once they made it to the square, Minerva popped out of Kora's mane and said she needed to get some things from the bank and that she'd meet the two boys later. Kora offered to wait a while since they didn't need to rush, but Minerva insisted that they leave. The sun was already beginning to set, and the chill that precedes nightfall began rolling in. Kora again tried to wait a little while, but was literally thrown away this time by the Meowth. Kora begrudgingly left Minerva and led Rio back to his place.
The moment Kora and Rio felt the heat of a fire and the scent of gourmet delicacies, the two nearly melted. They walked in to see Diana, Kia, and Mia sitting happily around the fire, enjoying the delicacies that Kora brought home earlier that day. Diana gave the two boys a sweet smile before she noticed how beat up they both looked. After swallowing her bite of her pie, she ran up and hugged Kora and Rio tightly.
"Oh my Arceus, what happened?!" She exclaimed. "You both look like a wreck, are you alright? Did you get into a fight?"
"It's not as bad as it looks, Mom! Calm down, we're fine!" Kora reassured his mother. "We had a run-in with Eva and her friends, it's no big deal, really!"
"Eva? Oh, I'm sorry sweetie. She's not-"
"Mom, really, I'm fine." Kora quickly stopped her. "How's the pie taste?"
"They're the best, bro!" Kai exclaimed as he and Mia downed a slice of pie with some macarons. "They just keep getting better and better!"
Rio had a brief sensation of pleasure run up his spine as he remembered taking the first bite of his pie, and declined the chance at getting a slice when Diana offered it to him. After chatting about their day, the group was joined by Minerva, who greeted Diana and the two children. After the Meowth showed up, Mia tapped Kai on the shoulder and nodded her head towards the exit.
"Oh, right. Hey Mom, Mia and I gotta go do something really fast. We'll be back in a minute!" Kai said before disappearing outside the tent. Diana barely had a chance to ask them what they were up to, but she trusted him to stay safe.
"They've been so active lately." Diana sighed. "And he hardly tells me what they're doing. Always some little adventure with those two."
"It is a big island." Rio said, allowing himself to try the macarons. "It looked huge when I was falling down here, made me wanna explore the whole thing!"
"You fell down here?" The Zoroark Outlander asked. "From my knowledge, Outlanders normally just wash up on shores or appear in random, open spaces. I myself woke up half buried in the sand here. I don't believe I've ever heard of one falling from the sky."
"Really? I just thought it was a thing that could happen." Kora said. "Since Outlanders are already strange to begin with."
Diana shrugged. "To be honest, I don't fully understand Outlanders, never really tried to look into it. I just focused on getting my mission done. Your father was much more interested in us than I was."
"Really? I wouldn't have pegged him as the researchy type." Minerva admitted. "From what I've heard of him, he's more of a clown than Kora is."
"Who? Kora's dad?" Rio asked. "Don't know who that is. Have I met him yet?"
"Right, of course. We were referring to my husband, his name was Orion." Diana laid her paw on her chest and her smile wavered for a moment. "He was such a wonderful Lucario. He was funny, and sweet, acted like a child even in the face of danger, and he never left my side." Without saying anything, Kora walked out into the garden. Minerva followed behind him, a worried look on her face.
"He sounds like a great guy." Rio said.
"He was. I didn't get to meet him when I first woke up, but in all honesty I don't think I would be able to focus on my task if I did. He had this... air about him. Whenever I got close to him I felt safe and calm, like I didn't have such a burden on my shoulders. His lackadaisical nature was infectious, too. It was difficult to want to do anything around him other than relax. Despite how much of a lazy joker he was, he'd always take a fight seriously, and saved me on several occasions." Diana had a loving look in her eye, and her smile was sweeter than normal. Despite her smile, she looked somber, almost on the verge of tears. She opened her mouth to continue, but shook her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ramble on so much."
"It's fine. I kind of wish I could meet him, just from hearing you talk about him like that." Rio said with a smile. Diana smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes, putting out the fire and handing Rio a blanket.
"If you're going to join Kora and Minerva, you're gonna want that. It gets quite cold at night. Thank you for listening to me go on about Orion." The Zoroark Outlander said softly. "It's funny, you remind me of him in a way, besides the both of you being Lucarios."
"Thanks. I'll try to follow his example." Rio replied.
"Only the heroic parts, please? Minerva wasn't lying when she said he was a bigger joker than Kora, the man would've been beyond perfect if it weren't for the majority of his jokes being absolutely terrible." The two Outlanders chuckled for a moment before Rio waved goodbye and went to join his other friends.
Diana's garden was full of colorful plants with berries of all sorts of shapes and colors. There was a pleasantly sweet scent in the air, although nowhere near as powerful as the Bakery. The entire garden was much larger than their tent, and was surrounded by berry plants with round, blue berries. In the back of the garden was an assortment of vegetables, mostly pumpkins. On either side were several rows of berry plants, most of them with green, round berries. In the center was an open space was a fire pit, a Zoroark, and a Meowth, both of whom were laying on their backs and staring into the sky. Rio set himself beside Kora, who was startled by the jackal suddenly being there.
"Oh, hey Rio. Isn't this garden nice? It's full of berries and flowers, we got a fire, and we can see the stars clear as day! The cold is also a plus, can't warm up next to a hot fire if you aren't freezing first, right?" The Zoroark took in a deep breath and let a relaxed sigh.
"It's wonderful out, yeah. I can't believe how late it looks. Sort of feels like I just got here, ya know?" Rio replied. "My body still kinda aches, which sucks, but I'd say today was a pretty good day. What about you guys?"
"Other than Eva and Kane bein' kinda difficult to deal with, today was pretty alright." Minerva answered. "It did feel kinda short, though."
"Yeah... I'm still pretty sure that there was something off about them. You think they were up to something?" Kora asked, pulling a Lum Berry up from beside him and eating the entire thing in one bite.
"Maybe they were trainin'. They're probably gonna make an Exploration Team or somethin', I can't think of any other reason." Minerva replied.
"Exploration Team?" Rio questioned.
"They go around exploring things and saving Pokemon. You get to explore the world and all that stuff. My Mom actually joined a Guild, and when she formed a team, they split off from it and did their own thing." Kora explained. "Man, I wish we could explore the world like that..."
"You guys aren't a part of the Guild?" The Outlander asked, getting a 'no' from both his friends.
"Never had a reason to join." Minerva replied.
"But you both wanna get off the island, right?" Rio sat up and looked at the two of them.
"Yeah?" Kora answered, somehow not getting what Rio was getting at.
"Didn't you just say that Exploration Teams get to leave the island and explore the world?" The Outlander said. "If you wanted off the island, why didn't you two form a team?"
"..." Kora and Minerva paused for a second, looking at each other blankly. Then a sudden wave of realization washed over them, as well as the overwhelming sense of being complete idiots. They both facepalmed in shame, letting out a shout of frustration at themselves.
"Are you two SERIOUS?!" Rio exclaimed. "Did you both SOMEHOW not put that together?"
"I-I don't know! It just never clicked!" Kora groaned. "How did we not think of that?!"
"GAHH! I feel like a giant moron! We coulda been off the island whenever we wanted!" Minerva exclaimed, slamming her fist on the ground. "Ya've gotta be kiddin' me!"
The two went on for a little while until Rio's laughter stopped them.
"The both of you are unreal, you've been wanting off the island for however long, and yet the answer was practically staring right at you and you couldn't figure it out!" He said through his laughs, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Hey, it ain't our fault, probably! They probably don't allow pairs!" Minerva retorted.
"You mean like Zeke and Nate?" Rio asked with a chuckle.
"Alright, alright! We're both dumb!" Minerva snickered. "Ya made ya point, Blue!"
"Well, now that we're partners, that makes you stupid too! So there!" Kora joked. Rio rolled his eyes.
"How does that work, genius? I haven't done a stupid thing since I've gotten here!" The Outlander raised his brow.
"You decided to keep getting beat up by Zen for no reason." Kora said, chuckling. "That's super stupid."
"I did it because he said he'd help you guys! That's not stupid!"
"Nah, that's nothin' but stupid! All ya did was get beat up! We didn't even need help in the end!" Minerva said with a smug grin. "Makin' ya just as stupid as the both of us!"
"I am at most, kinda stupid. I stayed down after the third time he knocked me down!"
"Uh huh, sure." Kora chuckled, tossing a Lum Berry at Rio that hit the Lucario's head with a thok. Rio retaliated by throwing the same berry back at Kora, but it was devoured the moment it got close to the fox's mouth.
The three shared a brief laugh then went back to watching the sky, seeing the bright oranges, yellows, and pinks fade into violets, then deep purples, and finally dark blues and black. Somewhere during that long stretch of time, each of the three would fade into slumber, the softness of the dirt beneath and the warmth of the fire being just right for them to fall soundly asleep.
Rio was probably the last one to fall asleep, feeling himself slowly drift into his well deserved rest. The weight of his body faded, and the sensation of gently falling ushered him to open his eyes. He found himself in an expansive space full of purples and blues flowing together in clouds of color. He seemed to be falling towards a forest, with tall trees and thick foliage covering the forest floor except for the one spot he was heading.
'Am I dreaming?' He thought to himself as he grew closer to the ground.
The Outlander landed in the clearing, thinking it odd that he couldn't feel anything beneath his feet. There wasn't anything noteworthy of the area he found himself in, although it did strike him as familiar. After giving it some thought, he realized that this was the clearing where he had fought Zen earlier that day.
"I guess I am dreaming. I've never had a lucid dream before... I wonder if I..." As he finished that sentence, Zen walked out of the woods and looked around. Rio grinned and was about to get ready for a fight, when he saw a pair of Pokemon run out from the woods opposite to Zen, being followed by a Lucario. "Whoa... Is that what I look like? I look so cool!"
The two Pokemon looked at each other in silence. Rio thought this whole thing was going to play out exactly how it did earlier, but when Zen opened his mouth, he said something different than what Rio was expecting.
"You are weak." The dream Bisharp spoke as the dream Rio ran up to him. Instead of smacking the Lucario to the side like in the actual fight, Zen punched Rio in the gut and fired a Dark Pulse. Dream Rio was launched into the same tree as in the real fight, but smashed right through it this time. Pain surged through Rio, more intense than it should be.
"O-Oh no..!" Rio yelped, watching as dream Zen walked over toward his dream self. Instead of a faint black glow, Dream Zen had a faint green glow surrounding his body. Rio sensed overwhelming danger coming from the Bisharp. Dream Zen raised his hand to attack again, this time a green ball of energy forming before his palm.
"W-Wait, stop!" Rio cried out, rushing over towards the two. Dream Zen's head turned to Rio, a sinister grin on his face.
"Oh so very weak..." The Bisharp said, turning back to the dream Rio and preparing to fire his attack. "What a pitiful existence you have..."
Rio did the only thing he could do and stood between Zen and his dream self, planning on taking the attack head on. The Bisharp chuckled and fired the attack. Rio braced for the impact, but felt himself getting pulled away by someone. The dream Rio had pulled Rio behind him and threw his right arm out to guard the attack. An enormous blast of pure energy overshadowed the two, but once the attack hit Dream Rio's arm, it's energy flowed into the armband, along with Dream Zen. The only thing left of the Bisharp being a malicious laugh that faded into the woods.
"You're about as brave as you are stupid, you know?" Dream Rio said, his voice slightly different from what Rio imagined he sounded like.
"I, um..." Rio stuttered for a moment. "Thanks for saving me... me."
"Don't mention it. You should be waking up any moment now, so this is gonna be goodbye for now." Dream Rio took a step away from Rio and smirked. "Oh, before you go, take this with you."
The Dream Rio held out his right paw and a small, green flame appeared. The flame flowed into Rio, bestowing a warm and familiar sensation to the Outlander.
"Isn't this from that dream Zen?" Rio asked.
"I wouldn't focus on the details. Right now, it's yours, so it's whatever you want it to be." Dream Rio answered. A sudden grogginess overtook Rio, causing the Outlander to stumble and teeter. Dream Rio gave the Outlander a warm smile and waved. "See ya later, Rio!"
"Y-Yeah.. See you... lat.." Rio trailed off, not able to keep himself awake to finish that sentence. His vision began to blur as he swayed back and forth before falling forwards and entering the darkness of sleep, not entirely certain of what happened, and likely to forget it even occurred.