Chapter 2: What to do?

I slowly woke up from my slumber. The first thing I noted was how I was still in a Lucario's body, but the fact I didn't feel like my whole body was broken anymore, managed to cheer me up a bit.

I slowly sat on the sofa and tried to adjust my sight to the light. A bright new day seemed to be awaiting for me.

A door suddenly opened behind me. Whipping my head around, I saw a really tired Braixen trying her best not to fall asleep right where she was standing.

"Hey, Ember! Good morning!"

Her head slightly turned towards me, but she didn't reply at first. "Gotta be honest, kinda forgot you were here. Thought it had been just a dream"

"I don't blame you. It's not every day that you meet a legend like me, am I right?"

She chuckled. "Maybe it was a bad idea to let you in. Now I'll have to wake up and hear something like that every day!"

"Hey! If you don't like them, I'll just find someone who does!"

The fire type turned around and went to the kitchen, where she grabbed some apples and a mug of coffe. She sat next to me and handed me one of the fruits.

"You should eat it. You are going to need it for today"

I grabbed it and did as I was told. I was hopping that she would tell me what I was supposed to do today, but since she didn't, I opted to ask her myself. "So, what am I supposed to do while you work?"

She took the last bite of the apple and looked at me.

"Eager, aren't you? So if what you told me is true, and you are a human, you probably don't know anything about fighting like a Pokémon, do you?"

I shook my head. "I suppose I can't. Haven't tried though"

"Exactly. Even though I personally don't like battling, the recent amount of criminal activity requieres you to at least know how to defend yourself, and regular punches won't do against moves. So what do you do? I can't train you, but I have a friend that works at the local dojo that owes me a favour"

"So you are telling me that I am going to train and use Pokémon moves?"

She nodded.

"That's cool, I guess. I suppose that not being able to use any moves will just expose myself, and the 'Get transformed into a Pokémon' pack doesn't include self defense classes, so that's good. But shouldn't I help you at work?"

"Don't worry about the money, my boss will understand. You focus on learning some moves to defend yourself"

I nodded and I stood up. Miraculously, my legs didn't ache at all. "Would you look at that! I feel completely fine! Almost no pain at all!"

"You are fighting type now. Your body heals up much faster, or something like that"

"This would have taken weeks to heal if I were still human!"

"Don't you have Oran and Sitrus berries back in your world?"

"Yeah, but they don't work too well on humans"

"Interesting..."

She stood up and grabbed a small back that was hung on the doorknob and she put it on. She also tossed me what looked like a small golden coin with a big P and a smaller 50 on it. "Just in case you need to buy anything. Fifty Poké should be more than enough"

"Po...ké?"

"The currency of our world"

"Oh! Alright, thanks!"

"You are welcome" She opened the other. "You first!"

I exited the house and Ember followed behind me, closing the door. I took a look around the area and to say the least, the town didn't look at all like it did yesterday. Now, lots of adults ran to and fro, probably headed to their work. There were no kids on sight, probably because it was early in the morning. Couldn't be later than eight o'clock.

Some of the Pokémon running around, however, looked different. All of them wore some sort of accessory on them, like a scarf or a bandana, from where a weird pin was placed.

"Ember, who are those guys running around with the scarves?"

"Them? They are explorers"

"Explorers? What are those?"

"We don't have time now. I'll tell you later, unless Kit tells you first. Now lets go! If I'm late, I won't hear the end of it from Agatha!"

Before we could start moving however, a voice suddenly rang from in between the crowd. "Ember! Right here!"

Both of us turned around and saw an Absol with a big scar across his face trying to make his way among the crowd towards us. When he finally arrived he sighed and turned to look at Ember. "Good morning, Ember! Pretty big crowd that we have today, isn't it?" His eyes then fell on me. "Who is this?"

The Braixen chuckled. "Well, remember that disaster that was giving you that headache yesterday?" She pointed at me. "Well..."

"Hi, I'm the disaster" I waved him.

"Yeah. Or at least that's what I think. Damian, this is Jake. I found him bleeding near the river the crosses the clearing. The berries you gave to me saved his life. Jake, this is Damian, the Absol I told you about yesterday"

"Hi, Damian! Thanks for saving my life by giving Ember the berries"

The Absol kept a neutral face all the time. "Strange name. Anyway, hello Jake. And you do not need to thank me. Whenever I sense any sort of disaster, the least I can do is mitigate its effects as much as it is possible"

"Oh! Okay then" I was taken aback by how serious he sounded the whole time he spoke. Ember didn't seem to be very surprised, however.

"Don't worry about Dami, he's just the little nerd in the shop's crew, so he always speaks like that"

"I told you I am not a nerd! I am just a cultured 'mon!"

"Yeah, pretty much what a nerd would say"

Both of the Pokémon started laughing. "Well, what are you going to do with Jake now? Are you trying to recruit him into the store crew?"

"Not really. I was just about to take him to the dojo so he could train"

"Train?"

"Well, you see, Jake here woke up with amnesia, so he doesn't remember anything at all. I agreed to let him stay in my house until he can manage to live a life by himself. Apparently, the amnesia also made him forget how to use any of his previously known moves. Isn't that right, Jake?" She said, poking me with her elbow.

"Wha- Oh yeah! I kinda just...forgot? I don't know"

"Hmmm that is certainly something really strange, but knowing how big our world is, your case most likely isn't the first one. I suppose I will have to walk to work by myself today?"

"Yeah, sorry about that"

"No problem. I'll inform our boss about why you are late when we arrive, so take all the time you need. We'll see each other soon" Damian replied, turning around. "Oh, and Jake? I am really sorry about your memories. I hope you can regain them soon" And just like that, the Absol disappeared into the crowd.

The moment he disappeared, Ember turned to look at me. "From now on, the reason you can't use moves is because you forgot how, got it?"

"Yeah"

After that, we started marching towards the dojo, passing Pokémon after Pokémon. After some time, we arrived at what looked like the main plaza of the city. A fountain was present in the middle and some older looking residents were sitting on the benches that were scattered around the area.

"This is the plaza. From here, you can go anywhere in the whole town. To the left, it's the exit to the town and important buildings, like the town hall. To the right, all the markets, shops and of course, the dojo. And behind us, the residential areas, and some small businesses, like the shop were I work"

"Hey Ember, just before we continue. Do you know why Damian has that scar on his face?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. He never wants to talk about it"

"That's...weird"

We resumed walking. Soon after we had left the plaza behind, we entered another street, this one being even busier than the other one, and I quickly realized why. There were bars, a casino, and a lot of shops too, but the one with the two Kecleon running it was the most crowded one.

We continued forward and turned again, and then Ember stopped and turned to her right. "Here you have it! The dojo!"

It was a building taller than the ones around it, with a darker color too. It also had something that looked like a bull skull above the entrance. There was also a sign, which, of course, I couldn't read.

"'Marowak dojo. The best place to toughen up your battling skills'. You know I won't be here everytime to read things for you?"

"I know. Better take advantage of it while it lasts"

We entered the dojo and I took a look at the surroundings. The walls were made so that they looked like they were made out of stone, and the building was lit up by torches instead of the usual orbs hanging from the ceiling. There was a desk with a small potted cactus inside, and behind it, a pair of doors that had their frame made out of bones.

Sitting behind the desk was a Marowak looking at some papers, but he immediately looked at us and left the papers on the table once he heard us open the door.

"Ember! Welcome! Long time no seen. Coming to train? And who's your friend?"

"Hi Nash. This is Jake. He is the one that is going to train today. Kit owes me a favor, so I wanted to know if he could train him? He lost his memory and he forgot how to fight, so he needs a start from the basics"

"Lost his memory? I'm so sorry to hear that, Jake"

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I didn't know a lot about fighting before I lost my memory anyway"

"Well then, if you wait here, I'll go get him. He'll probably be slacking around somewhere"

After a small sigh, Nash stood up and walked through the right door. "That Nash guy, is he the owner of the dojo?" I asked Ember, knowing that I couldn't read the sign above the door.

Ember nodded "Yes. This dojo has been handed down from generation to generation since the day it was built"

"Amazing!" My smile suddenly faltered.

Do you think I can fight, though? Even if I look like a Pokémon, I'm still just a human inside, you know?"

"Hey, if there is someone that can teach you how to fight, that's Kit. That guy has some serious battling skills. No one knows where he got them from, but I'm sure he could make even a Slowpoke fight!"

"I hope you are right..."

Not too long after, Nash came back barging thought the door with an angry look. "Move your butt here right this instant! I'm tired of seeing you just sitting around doing nothing!"

"I'm coming, geez!" Answered another voice.

From the same door Nash had come through, a Zoroark wearing a small golden pendant depicting a smirking Zorua head entered, his arms crossed. "It's not like there's much else to do, Boss! No one needs help training, because no one comes alone to train!"

"You have to check on the Pokémon inside the grounds and tell them when their time is over! You could walk around the arena from time to time! Or if you don't want to do that just use some dummies to train yourself! Just do something!"

"Alright, I'll keep it in mind, Boss" He stated, head down in shame, but something told me he wasn't being too serious about it.

"Good. Now, one of your friends has something to discuss with you"

He immediately looked at Ember, surprised to see her here. "Ember? Is that you? Hey girl! Where were you at? It has been a long time since I saw ya!"

He then looked at me, and then back at her. "Never told me you got a boyfriend! What's his name?"

Both of our faces went slightly red at that. "Shut up Kit! He's not my boyfriend! He's just a friend!"

"It's always the same thing with these sort of things~"

Nash grabbed his bone club and gave him a small hit in his shin. "He's your new trainee, so don't be rude to him" He added.

"Excuse me?"

"Remember that favour you owe me?" Ember asked him with a teasing voice.

"Oh, so that's it? Thank Arceus! I thought I had to drink tea with you or something like that"

Her face reddened even more. "Shut up!"

Kit snickered and looked at me. "What's your name, dude?"

"I'm Jake. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Kit, but your girlfriend has probably told you that already"

"She's not-!"

Nash gave Kit another hit and this time he actually winced a bit. "Alright, let's get straight to the point. How much do you know?"

"Ummm...I have amnesia and I completely forgot how to fight"

"There's no such thing as 'forgetting how to fight'! It's in your blood!"

"Well, it's what happened. I really have no idea how to do anything. Can you help me?"

"I still don't believe that, but I sure can help ya!"

"Alright, we are even then" Ember said. "I gotta go. Work sucks, but I can't do anything about it. I'll come back on my lunch break. See you soon Jake, Kit and Nash!"

"Bye!" I said.

"Goodbye!" said Nash.

"See ya!" said Kit.

Ember waved us goodbye and walked out of the door headed to the store.

"Well, Jake, it's time to start! Follow me"

"Alright!"

After a quick goodbye to the Marowak, I followed Kit through the same door him and Nash came through and I saw what there was behind. A big empty space was present, with lots of ring-like arenas scattered all around. Some of them were being used by fighting Pokémon, but most of them were empty.

"We will use this one"

We stopped in front of one of the rings and entered the small circle, each of us in opposite sides of it.

"Alright, so we will get straight to the point" He took a battle stance. "I want you to hit me"

"What?!"

"Yes. I want to see what you are capable of. Come on, I have been beaten down harder that what I will ever get hurt here, so don't worry about it"

"Uh..."

How to do it? Do I just go and punch him? It can't be that easy. But he said he wanted to see what I could do, and I can't do anything!

I clenched my paws into fists and raised them. Just go and punch him, not a big deal.

"Jake! Come on, we don't have the whole day!"

I readied myself and ran towards him as fast as I could. But just as I was about to hit him, he dissapeared in a cloud of crimson mist.

"What?! Hey, that's not fair!"

Without any answer, I got punched at my back and I fell forward. Kit suddenly appearing from thin air and walked in front of me, offering

"Seriously?! A straight line and a clearly predictable punch? And you didn't know I was going behind you? Why didn't you use your aura sense?"

I got up, feeling a bit dizzy from the fall, but I quickly shook it away. "Aura what?"

"You know the thing your species can do!"

Aura sense? Oh yeah! Lucario and Riolu can do sense aura and all those sort of things! But I'm not a real Lucario.

"I...can't do that. I...forgot how?"

"What?! Now you have to be kidding me! There's no way you forgot something like that! I can maybe understand it, cus you have to have a technique, but that?! It's impossible you have forgotten something like that! It's in your blood, for Arceus' sake!"

I winced. "But I...don't know how..."

Kit sighed. "You can't be serious..."

I hated being seen like a complete idiot, but the only way I could avoid that was by telling Kit the truth, something that was not happening anytime soon.

"Alright, so forget fighting. You need to learn to use your aura sense first, or else you probably won't even last a second in a real fight"

I shivered slightly, but nodded. "Good. I don't know how it works exactly. I think you have to...concentrate a lot. Or something like that"

"Concentrate on what?"

"Uhhh...on the feelings of other 'mons? I dunno. I just know that there are some harsh trainings that lead to amazing results, like predicting the opponent's moves, but for now, I just want you to see me while I'm invisible, okay? The simplest of the simplest"

"Okay"

The Zoroark suddenly disappeared from my view. "Alright! Try to do it and tell me where I am exactly!" His voice was very hard to trace.

Alright, just concentrate and relax. You are training, nothing depends on you now. You can do it.

I closed my eyes and tried to think about my emotions. Nothing. I didn't know how exactly I had to do it.

I didn't know what I was doing at all, but suddenly someone spoke inside my mind.

"Deep breaths. Your feelings and emotions are the answer" After gasping from the shock, I did as the voice said. I took some deep breaths and then concentrated on how I felt. Maybe scared that Kit could find out my secret, and also a bit eager to learn how to do this.

To my surprise, the black landscape suddenly started shifting, becoming just like the actual room, but with the outlines and borders of the walls being replaced by blue energy lines. In front of me, I saw some sort of grey blur, just before I fell to the ground, panting.

Kit appeared in front of me, just where the grey blur was before.

"You ok, bud?"

"I-I saw something! I saw a grey blur in front of me, and then you appeared where it was, so that means it was you!"

"Bingo! Now we are getting somewhere. And it was your first try! Next step, optimization. You need to use less energy to be able to use your aura sense longer. If you use use it ten seconds and then become completely exhausted, there isn't any use to it!"

"I guess..."

"Eat this, and then we continue" He said throwing an Oran berry towards me. The moment I ate it, I felt my energy come back to me in a flash.

"I will never get used to these berries"

"Yeah, me neither" he extended a claw towards me and helped me stand up.

"Hey, by the way, did you hear that just before I managed to do it?"

"Hear what?"

"The voice? Don't tell me I am imagining thing!"

"I...didn't hear anything?"

"What? Really?"

"Yeah"

I frowned. "Am I really going crazy? Well, anyway. Let's continue, shall we?"

"Sure" He turned invisible again. "Let's see how long you can last now!"

"Thanks for shopping here! I hope to see you again soon!"

"Alright, lunch break everyone!" Agatha's voice resonated from the back.

Thank Arceus. Finally, time to eat.

"Hey, Ember!" Aiden called me, leaving the last box on the ground. "Damian told me about that guy you helped yesterday. That's amazing! I'm sure he's really grateful about everything you're doing for him!"

"Yeah, he is! He's training with Kit right now at the dojo. He...says he forgot how to fight completely"

"That's tough... But are sure Kit's the right 'mon to train him? He can be a bit...too funny sometimes"

"Nah, I'm sure Jake won't mind and even if he does, I'm going to go have lunch with them at the dojo today, so I'll make sure that he doesn't cross the line!"

"I wish we could attend one of their training sessions. I really wish to see how a Pokémon that has forgotten to fight remembers how to do it" Damian interjected, walking towards us.

"Well, I would invite you to come over after work, but I think I should ask him about it first, you know? Maybe he doesn't like being watched"

"Well, you can ask him today and if he agrees, we could go tomorrow!" Aiden suggested.

"Sure, I don't mind"

"Mind if I come over as well?" Agatha asked, floating in our direction with a smile on her face.

"Of course you can come! Have you forgotten that we are besties?"

"How could I forget?"

"Now I know how you got the job..." The Incineroar sarcastically said.

"Well, I gotta go now. See you all soon!

"Goodbye, Ember!"

Waving, I went to pick the food I had brought and exited the shop, headed towards the dojo.

I wonder how Jake is doing. And I also wonder how Kit will react when he learns that he has a human to train, even if he doesn't know it...

The streets were full of workers that were going out of their job sites to have lunch and go back later, and those few who weren't, were children going back to their homes to eat.

After some time walking, I arrived at the dojo, with its signature structure able to be seen from a huge distance. When I entered it, I was greeted by Nash, who was just unpacking his lunch.

"Hi again, Nash!"

"Hello there, Ember. Going to check up on your friends?"

"Yep. Jake has been training for the whole day, and he must be exhausted. And I also thought that Kit may need to eat sometime"

Nash chuckled and gestured towards the door. "They have done nothing more than training. It's the first time in a long time I've seen Kit so active, so there's no doubt that they must be exhausted. Enjoy your lunch!"

"You too!"

When I entered through the door, I saw Jake with his eyes closed and alone in the arena. I headed towards him, a bit confused on what he was doing.

"Uhh...Jake?"

No response.

"Jake?"

"Shhh! I almost have it!"

Have what? Where was Kit?

"Ember, just a heads up. Kit's right behind you and about to scare you"

I whipped my head around and managed to catch Kit right with his arms up, just as Jake said, about to give me a scare.

"Oh, come on, Jake! You can't be going around ruining the fun! You better have some progress with your endurance at least!"

The Lucario turned around and opened his eyes, a big sigh escaping his mouth. "Well, I don't feel like I am going to die anymore, so I guess that's good"

Kit nodded and looked at me. "Hey Ember"

I slightly chuckled. "I trust that he hasn't been to annoying with his jokes?"

"Well, maybe slightly annoying, but nothing I can't handle. He's cool, I guess"

Aww, thanks Jakey. By the way, is that our lunch? Thank you, girl. But next time you want me to train someone, you could tell me he doesn't know something he should have known since he was hatched! He doesn't know how to use his aura sense! You can't forget something like that, even if you have the worst amnesia ever known to monkind!"

"I was surprised when he told me about it too, but what can we do? If he really doesn't remember, there's nothing else to do except make him remember again"

Kit rolled his eyes and sat on the ground. Jake did the same, followed by me. After some silence only interrupted by Jake's slowly steading breathing, I decided to start unpacking our lunch.

"How was the day at the shop?" Jake asked me.

"Good. There was one of those old ladies that have no other thing to do than express their anger on Pokémon that don't deserve it"

"Man, that sounds tough..." He answered

"Not tougher than being this hungry! Tell me you've brought some of your famous gummi shakes with roasted berry juice..." Kit interrupted.

I smirked and pulled out three small plastic cups along with some sandwiches. Kit's mouth was practically watering.

"How else was I gonna thank you? I know that you love these~"

The dark type quickly regained his composture and cleared his throat. "I do, yeah"

"I suppose that they are good? What even is a gummi shake?" Jake asked.

"You'll have to drink it to find out!" I said handing him the one I made with the orange gummi, accompanied with one of the sandwiches. I also gave Kit his shake and a sandwich, which he practically stole from my paws.

Jake drank a bit of his own shake and, to say the least, he liked it. He drank the rest of the drink shortly afterwards.

"See? Told you you'd like it" said Kit finishing his own drink.

I rolled my eyes. "Guys, I know that I'm the best at making those, but they were supposed to last for the whole lunch!"

The time we were eating was spent in silence, except for Jake's occasional compliments about the taste of the food. That's when I remembered I had to ask Jake about how he felt while being watched.

"Hey Jake, my coworkers say that they want to see you fight. Is it okay if they come over?"

"Watch me? Why? It's not like they are going to see anything special"

"They say they want to see how someone that has forgotten to fight remembers it. I was asking first just because you may not want to be watched"

"Well, I don't mind, but definitely not until I learn how to use my aura sense. I'm already going to look like an idiot, so at least I want them to think I'm an idiot with moves only"

"Sure"

After finishing my sandwich, I stood up and readied myself to go back to work for the rest of the afternoon.

"Alright guys, keep up your training. I gotta go back, but I'll be back again when I finish my shift. You better learn how to use your aura sense by then, Jake!"

"Seeing the progress we are making, I know that by that time Jake will have mastered that power, and we ain't stopping until he does!"

Jake rolled his eyes and said "Alright, dad!"

I chuckled and left the arena, waving at both of them as I walked. Outside, I began walking back to the small shop where I had spent most of my days lately.

Hope Kit can help him. If he doesn't know how to defend himself, he won't survive by himself anywhere.

"Alright bud, time to continue! You gotta master that ability of yours!"

And that's what we did. What was left of the day was spent training with Kit in the dojo. I gotta say, it was fun. Sort of. Training the aura sense was fun, but exhausting. I was also eager to finally learn some moves, which didn't help.

After two hours of no more progress except of being able to use it without needing a break, I was starting to become annoyed.

"No damn progress! And we have been here for the whole day! Are you sure there is no trick that I can use?"

Kit sighed and shrugged. "Nope. Sorry, but I've got nothing. If I were a Lucario, I could tell you, but I'm not, and there are none working at this dojo"

I sighed. So there was nothing he could do. I couldn't blame him.

"Although..." I perked up. "I dont know if it matters, but my friend always said that the stronger an emotion is, the stronger he becomes. Maybe that means something?"

A strong emotion... Maybe that could work. But what emotion is strong enough for me to use?

"Alright, I'll try"

"Good, but let's try something different now" As he said this, the whole circle was filled with clones of Kit. "Try to find the real me!" All of them yelled.

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths again. The dojo went back to that mess of blue, wavy outlines.

Alright, Jake. Concentrate. Think about your emotions. Use them to your advantage.

The strongest emotion I could think of at the moment was anger. Anger at that girl that made me come here in the first place. The outlines started fading away, so I stopped thinking about it immediately.

Alright, so not anger. Why though?

"Anger is an emotion too strong to control. It is too powerful and overwhelming for untrained Pokémon, like you"

Thanks? Who are you?

...

No answer. Who is this guy anyway? And why is he on my head? Is it even a guy?

I thought about the fear of knowing what happened to Mudkip after the encounter with that girl, but also the need to know that he's alright.

I felt how the chotic outlines slowly became clearer and more distinguishable, and I was now also able to see the outlines of every clone there was.

It's working.

The next emotion that assaulted me was the urge to be useful somehow. I knew that Kit was wasting his time trying to teach me something I should know, even if I had forgotten it, and I also knew how he was feeling about it.

I could feel the sensors on the back of my head twitch and then slowly levitate, a sign that it was working.

The final stretch.

I thought about how Ember decided to not only save my life, but also give me a place to stay, food and water, even after how suspicious I looked. How even though she was so freaked out because of me being a human, she still decided to keep her promise and. How she is the first friend I've made after that stupid fall.

Gratitude.

I saw how all the grey outlines that belonged to the clones fade away, leaving one last grey blur behind me.

"Found ya" I said, turning and pointing at him.

And then... I fell to the ground, a bit drained. Kit dissipated all the clones and looked at me, amazed.

"So that was it. Nice one, Jake. You did it, you found the Zoroark in the haystack. Congratulations! Nice first training session. I'll write down the advice about emotions for any future cases like yours, though I highly doubt there's gonna be!" He laughed.

"Anyway, you got some talent. I think you would be a great member of an explorer team!"

"Explorer team? What's that?"

Just as I asked that, Ember appeared through the door followed by Nash.

"I'll tell you tomorrow"

"What? Why? What's wrong?"

Kit just sighed.

"Hello Jake and Kit! How have you been doing?"

Kit's demeanor seemed to change in an instant. "Your friend has made significant progress. He can now use his aura sense pefectly, and this is just his first day!"

Still not knowing what was going on, I decided to play along for now. "Wait, you wanna train me again? I thought I was too much of a newbie for you!"

"At first. But I decided to take you as my own personal challenge! Now my boss won't be able to say that I don't anything!" Nash sighed.

"Well, at least you are a cool teacher and not one of those old ones that seem to hate fun! There were none of those back where I'm from, I can assure you"

"Gee, thanks. Heard that, Ember? He said he had fun! And he thinks I'm cool! Has he said something like that to you?"

The Braixen rolled her eyes and ignored the teasing.

"So how did it go?"

"Apparently what he needed was to think about strong emotions, or something like that. And you know what they say, love is one of the most strong emotions ever, so give yourself some credit, sweetie!"

Ember was about to reply, but I spoke first. "You love teasing her, don't you? Maybe you are her real boyfriend, and you haven't told me?"

For his expression, Kit didn't expect that. Ember smirked at me and followed the joke. "Oh no! Looks like we've been found out! Quick, come here and gimme a kiss, babe!"

He didn't expect that either. "Arceus, letting you train with Kit was a bad idea" Nash interjected. "Now you've turned into him!"

"Hey, what do you mean?" Someone with my voice said. Turns out Kit had used his illusions to turn into me, and had used my voice to speak.

Nash just sighed and shook his head, but a small smile was present on his face.

"What will I do with you?"

"Maybe give me a raise?"

"Great idea! I'll also give you the ownership of this dojo once I retire, how about that?"

We all laughed together.

"Come on, everyone! We are closing!" He shouted to the other Pokémon that were in the arena. "I'm sure you three are tired, and you have to work tomorrow too, Ember. See you tomorrow, Jake?"

I nodded. "I would love to keep training with my favorite teacher". Kit gave me what I supposed was a thumbs up.

"Well then, lets go"

Once every Pokémon had exited the dojo Nash closed the doors with a key made out of bone and gave a pleased sigh. It was time to part ways.

"See ya tomorrow, Jakey. Be sure not to miss me too much. Same to you Ember. Goodnight to y'all" Kit said.

"Same" Ember replied.

"Goodnight, Kit!" I finished.

Waving goodbye to the Zoroark, we headed back to Ember's house, at a slow pace.

"So you like Kit, don't you Jake?" said Ember

"Yep! He's a great guy. Thanks to him, I managed to learn how to use my aura sense! And it's so cool!"

"Well, tomorrow you can go back to training. And since it's a Saturday, I don't have to go to work the next day, so maybe I can show you around after that, and we could go out to drink something, if you want!"

"Yeah! I didn't do a lot of that back when I was a...you know"

She grinned and kept walking. After a small while, we arrived at the small house and we got in. Immediately, I sat on the sofa. I was so exhausted from that training I could just fall asleep right there.

"Are you tired?"

I nodded. "Yep. This may be the first time I train for a whole day. I should probably get used to this"

"Yeah, you should! Today I did some shopping after I finished working. If you wait for a bit, I can cook something. Go sit at the table if you want"

I nodded and followed the fire type to the kitchen and I sat down on one of the chairs around the table. Ember headed for what looked like a small and really old cooker with a frying pan on top. She flipped a small switch and puffed a small ember from her mouth, which lighted the stove on fire. She also grabbed from the fridge and began cooking something. The moment the food touched the pan, a delicious aroma spread around the room.

I want to ask her about what a explorer team is, but Kit looked reluctant to talk about that in front of her. Why could that be? Maybe it's none of my business, but I want to know.

"Ember?"

"Yeah?" She said without turning.

"I..."

I think I should wait until tomorrow so that I can ask Kit about it.

"That smells amazing! What are you cooking?"

She smiled. "Some Tauros steak. Smells good, doesn't it?"

"You are cooking what?!"

Seeing the face I was making, she sighed and laughed. "Don't you put that face! We haven't killed any civil 'mon!"

"Then, how do you have meat from a Tauros? It may be because I'm human, but I think that's weird?"

Ember nodded. "You know about Mistery Dungeons?"

I was about to speak when she interrupted me. "Of course you don't. They are quite hard to explain. They're distortions from space and time themselves. Their layouts change everytime someone gets in, and so do the items inside. They are populated by some sort of illusions that look like Pokémon, but aren't. Despite that, their attacks are real, and can hurt you pretty badly! Normally, when you defeat them, they'll stay dead on the floor for a bit before vanishing completely, but if you take the body outside the the dungeon, it will stay no matter what. Pokémon do that to obtain any material they can from the ferals in a renewable and infinite way"

"We still don't know how, why Mystery Dungeons even exist, but all we know is that they are dangerous, and that's why only explorer teams have the authority to enter for anything" She seemed to have trouble with those two words.

"That sounds amazing! I'd love to explore one of those once I know some moves! You think I could join one of those explorer teams?"

I didn't know why exactly, but her reaction showed that she really didn't want to talk about it.

"Maybe. But you gotta train hard to even have a chance. MD's are not as easy as they look like, and teams only want the best of the best"

Then silence. We didn't speak anymore until the steaks were done. After that, she put a plate beside me and sat in front of me.

I decided to enlighten the mood a bit and asked her to tell me about her day at work with more detail.

"Not much really. Just usual cashier stuff. Deal with customers, solve questions,... deal with a clumsy Incineroar that's carrying boxes full of things... Don't you have cashiers back in your world, Jake?"

"Well, yeah, but I thought it would be different here!"

She laughed and began eating. I followed suit, taking a bite of the meat. It was delicious! Nothing like the steaks back home.

"This is delicious! You cook incredibly well"

"Thanks!"

Needless to say, we finished the steak in no time flat. After a sigh, I stood up and stretched. "I don't know about you, but I'm completely exhausted after today"

"It's normal, isn't it? Lets go to sleep. You gotta learn some moves tomorrow! And I promise that I will give you a tour in the evening. We can even tell Kit to come. I'm sure he'll be down to come with us and have some fun"

I nodded and walked towards the small sofa and just threw myself there. I covered myself in the blankets and felt the whole day worth of training manifest in my muscles.

"Goodnight, Jake. See you tomorrow"

"Same. Goodnight!"

Ember disappeared inside her bedroom. I took a comfortable posture and adjusted the blankets.

I really want to learn how to fight. If training Pokémon is this fun, then battling like one must be so cool too! I'd really like to be in one of those explorer teams. I wonder what happened to Ember to hate exploring. I guess I'll ask Kit tomorrow... And also that voice... Whose was it?

I didn't want to think about it too hard at that moment, so instead, I closed my eyes and fell asleep not too long after.

END OF CHAPTER 2

Needless to say.

Says it.

Fun fact:

Kit is named like that because I originally thought of it as an abreviation for 'kitsune', which is the thing Zoroark are based on!