Chapter 3: A move-ing performance
This morning was not too different from when I first woke up here. I felt as I had fallen off a cliff (which technically, has happend), and I could barely move. The only motivation I had to wake up was the fact that I knew I had to train again.
The morning went the same as yesterday. I woke up almost at the same time as Ember, and we both had some light breakfast as we went towards our respective jobs.
This time, though, I was going to the dojo alone, as I already knew my way. So after waving goodbye to Ember and Damian, I headed towards the building. The trip there wasn't too entertaining. I didn't know anyone here, so I really couldn't make any small talk.
However, that day I felt something odd. As if someone was watching me from among the Pokémon that were walking through the streets.
I quickly shrugged it off.
I'm new here. Some of them may not like strangers. That's all. What other reason could there be?
The feeling went away when I entered the dojo and saw Nash with his apparently usual paperwork and Kit waiting for me with his arms crossed and his head down. He perked up the moment he saw me enter through the door.
"Hey there, Jakey! I was already starting to think that you had given up!
"Give up, me? Never! I'm ready for whatever you throw at me!"
"Yeah! That's the spirit! Now come on, today we are doing something different"
"Something different? What do you mean?"
"Alright, you know what a Mistery Dungeon is?"
"Umm, yeah. Ember told me yesterday while we were talking about where Tauros steaks come from"
"Great! Well, you see, the creators of this dojo were a genious bunch, and they managed to replicate how a dungeon works! ...Except without the different floors and changes every time you enter... and the item spawns... and the-"
"It's just a regular labyrinth with feral Pokémon" Nash interrupted.
"Yeah, well, but that's still amazing! How did they do that?!"
"So we are just going to fight some Pokémon?"
"Yep! Since your amnesia just made you forget your technique, fighting a few Pokémon will surely make you remember! And if not, you'll find another technique to replace the old one!"
My eyes widened. "Uhhh, that's great!" I awkwardly said. How am I gonna remember a technique I never even learnt in the first place?
"You don't seem too convinced. Is something wrong? I can assure you that the labyrinth is completely safe. The Pokémon that come and train here never leave with more than a few scratches and bruises, maybe a broken arm if you are unlucky. The ferals here are just like living training dummies" Nash reassured.
"Nothing we can't handle! And don't worry, if things get too tough, I'll be right beside you!" Kit added.
"Well, if you say so... Sure let's do it!"
"That's the spirit! Follow me!" Kit said, walking through the other door behind the counter.
"Good luck with your training, Jake" Nash added.
"Thanks. Good luck with...your paperwork?"
"Yeah, that's what I do every day, work and work. Honestly, I kind of envy Kit. He has the option to just wait until he has to do something, unlike me"
"Heh, that must be tough"
"Indeed. Now come on, don't make him wait"
Nodding, I went through the same door Kit had gone, which led to a set of stairs that went downwards. The steps were illuminated by a set of torches, just like the ones in the main room.
Once I reached the end of the stairs, I arrived at a small room, made of stone too, this one illuminated by the same orbs as Ember's house. Kit was waiting for me next to a set of lockers.
"Welcome to the Training Maze! Please, leave all of your belongings, be them money, items, or personal objects inside the provided lockers!" Kit said trying to resemble a tour guide and taking off his golden pendant, leaving it inside the locker.
"Why?"
"Those are the rules, Jakey. Come on, don't make me repeat that whole paragraph again! It was hard to memorize it!"
"I don't have anything on me. I forgot the 50 Poké coin Ember gave me on the table!"
"Really? You've got nothing on you?"
"Nope. By the way, that pendant you have is sick! Where did you get it from?"
"It was a gift for my sixteenth birthday"
"Woah, and you have it ever since? How old are you now?"
"Twenty four"
"Those are eight years! The only time I had some sort of pendant, I lost it like a year after!"
"Well, this one's different. This pendant is really precious to me. Someone very important gave it to me as my birthday gift, and... it's the only thing I have left of her..."
He quickly shook his head. "Nevermind that. Let's go back to training"
"I'm...so sorry, Kit"
"Let's not talk about that, please?"
I frowned, but nodded. If he didn't want to talk about it, I was not going to push it. "We enter from here, right?"
"Yeah" The dark type replied, closing the locker and taking the key. "See that door without a handle?" He asked, pointing to a door I hadn't even noticed. "The end of the maze has another room like this one, with a door that actually has a handle. It leads to a corridor that goes around the whole thing and ends here, just so you don't have to make your way back through the maze again. Convenient, isn't it?"
"Woah... And all of that built underground?"
"It's not that hard when you have the help of a few Dugtrio to help, or that's what Nash says..."
I took a look inside the maze. All that could be seen for now was an empty straight path that curved to the right. The area this place covers must be huge!
"Ready to begin?" Kit asked.
"When you are!"
"Let's go then! I'll be right behind you!"
I nodded and breathed deeply. I started walking though the hallway, thinking that if this was a training maze, it was bound to be easy, right?
Wrong. The moment we turned we were met with a medium sized room that branched into at least five other different pathways. A pair of Weavile stood there, and the moment they saw us, they turned to us and took a fighting stance.
"There you go! Perfect for what we are going to teach you!"
"And that is?" I said, backing away from the two Pokémon and their murderous looks.
"Force Palm! That's a move you must have learned for sure, so we'll just bring it out! And what better way to do that other than on a Pokémon with a double weakness to fighing? Come on, you got this. These foes aren't that strong, anyway!"
"Uhhh... But I don't know how to do it!"
"And you think I do? Just try the same as last time, maybe it'll work!" He told me, stepping back.
Alright Jake, you got this. It's just a pair of Weavile. You've seen them thousands of times before, only this time, you are the one fighting them. Just think about your emotions. Just-
One of the Weavile took advantage of the fact I wasn't paying attention to jump at me with its claws extended. I narrowly dodged the Slash, but I tripped and fell to the ground, which the other Weavile used to score another Slash attack.
Surprisingly, it hurt less than what I thought it would, probably because I was a steel type. Still, the marks on my arm were daunting enough.
"Come on, Jake! You've got them close now! Try to do the emotion thing, or whatever!" Kit cheered from behind.
I quickly stood on my feet and began running to one of the Weavile, my palm extended behind me. I didn't have a specific target, but I hoped that I could hit at least one of them.
The Weavile that had missed its attack was looking in my direction, so it was able to dodge out of the way. The other one, however, only had time to turn around before I was already too close for it to dodge.
Alright, emotions. Come on, Jake! Think about the...uhhh...fear of getting too hurt?
When I was just a step away from it, I closed my eyes and with all the strength I could muster, my paw flew forward and the Weavile widened its eyes. All the time I was thinking about the strongest emotions I could find in my brain.
I felt some weird tickling sensation in my palm, but the moment I thought about it, it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Then, the attack finally connected.
Attack was not the right word to describe it. Instead of a slap that should have sent that Pokémon flying, it was just that. A slap. A stronger slap than usual, but a still a slap, with no power to it.
I saw Kit's face turn into one of confusion. The Weavile, the feral Weavile, who was supposed to be a mindless killing machine, also looked at me with the same confused expression as Kit.
Trying to hide the redness of my face, I quickly gave the dark type in front of me an uppercut, sending it back, just before the other Weavile used Ice Punch on my back, knocking me down.
"What the hell was that?! That wasn't a Force Palm at all!" Kit commented.
"Oh, you don't say, smartass!"
The two Pokémon were quickly closing on me again and I had no idea what to do to defend myself. Seeing an incoming Slash and Ice Punch, I had no other option other than crossing my arms and enduring the hits, which, due to pure momentum, sent me back against one of the walls.
I lied face first on the ground, my arms aching from the two strong hits. The Weavile walked next to me and were about to use the same combo of attacks, before they were interrupted by a Night Daze and a kick to both of their faces coming from Kit, sending them in opposite directions and making them fall unconscious.
"Well, that was...uhhh...something. Why did you slap that Weavile? You are supposed to use a Force Palm, not your palm! Did you really forget how to use the attack completely? " The Zoroark said, pulling me back on my feet.
"I know, alright! I...felt something on my palm, but then it faded away! I think didn't think about an actually strong emotion, and that's why it didn't work"
"Well, you'll have a few more chances to try. The amount of ferals here is limited, you know? A few spawn every time someone enters the maze, so I'd say you have about...five more 'mon to try your move on. And before you say anything, most of the paths you are seeing lead to dead ends, and ferals only spawn in rooms like this one, and there are not many of them, despite what you may think. After all, this is supposed to be a way to improve your strength, not a escape room!"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it! Let's just keep going. I really feel like I almost got it!"
No, I didn't. I didn't know how long we stayed inside that maze. We reached the end and went back inside a few times, but every time we found a Pokémon, I failed miserably, and Kit had to step in to knock out the attackers. After our fifth exit, Kit sighed.
"I don't get it! How is it possible that you haven't gotten it yet? You should have already remembered how to do it! It's just as if you truly never did this before!" He ranted.
"You are not helping, you know?"
He sighed again. "I'm sorry, alright? It's just... I'm so frustrated! You really are living up to the title of 'personal challenge'"
"Still not helping"
The dark type shook his head. "Let's take a break. It's probably already lunch time, and Ember doesn't have a lot of time to eat, so let's wait outside" He stated, picking his pendant again from the locker.
"Sure. I'm beat up anyway..."
The staircase felt a lot longer when you were exhausted, both physically and mentally, full of scratches and defeated by every single Pokémon you had encountered.
"Hello again! I see you've been training for the whole morning. How did it go?" Nash asked the moment we stepped out.
"Horrible! I didn't knock out a single Pokémon! This sucks! No one told me it was going to be this hard!"
"Well...did you make any progress at least?"
"He seems to have the basics" Kit replied.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but every time you went in for a strike, your palm slightly flashed blue for a second"
"Wait, really? I didn't notice that!"
"Then that's a good sign!" Nash interjected. "I have a ghost type Marowak cousin that knows a lot about aura and those sorts of things. He always said that when using a move that required aura, it leaking from the part of the body used for the attack was a sign that the user is doing it correctly, but isn't retaining the power long enough"
"Retaining the power?"
"You see, for your Force Palm to be useful, it needs to be like a blast of your aura to the enemy. If you don't retain the power, you will be just...spilling your aura. Imagine a bucket of water placed above you. If the water leaks from a hole in the bottom of it slowly, the drips will just annoy you at most, but if someone flips the bucket, the water will fall all at once on you and it will hurt"
"I...think I get it... But how can I do it?"
"That, my dear friend, is something you have to figure out by yourself"
"Yeah, I figured that one out..." I sighed.
"Hi, guys!" Ember had just barged through the door with a small bag on her paws. "How did the training go?"
"Bad. I couldn't make it work! The only thing I managed to do was slap a Weavile, and it frowned. A feral Weavile frowned at me. That's how pathetic I looked!"
"Hey! Don't call yourself pathetic! You managed to survive that accident with only your memory damaged! That's not pathetic at all! Just try again, and I'm sure you'll get it soon!" She proceeded to look away. "And I may or may not have told my friends that they could come over today and watch you fight..." She awkwardly laughed.
"You did WHAT?!"
"I'm sorry, okay! I thought you'd have something by now!"
"And why did you-?" I sighed. "Don't worry. It's partially my fault too. Guess I'll have to figure out something quickly today..."
"That's the exact motivation you need!" Kit interjected.
"Alright, time for lunch! It's sandwiches again! And no, no gummi shakes today! They are expensive to make"
"You lot can eat in the arena, if you want" Nash told us, before grabbing his own food and sighing slightly.
For some reason, I felt like he didn't want us to leave. "Hey Nash, wanna come eat with us? Always sitting here by yourself with your paperwork must be boring, so why not take a little break with us?" I asked him.
"Thanks, but it's not an issue, really. I'm already used to it" He answered, as stoic as ever.
"Oh, come on Boss! Don't be like that! How long has it been since you ate with any of us? Leave all of those Arceus damnned papers alone and come with us!" Kit insisted.
"Yeah, we don't mind! Come on, Nash! You can't just sit here and be alone forever!" Ember finished.
After a few seconds of silence, the Marowak finally sighed and let out a chuckle. "Fine! If you really want to, I'll go with you!"
"Perfect! Come on, I'm starving!"
The four of us made our way back to the big room and sat inside one of the circles, once again, taking our food and starting to eat.
The conversation was not much different from yesterday. I asked Ember how her day had gone, and she answered with some complaints about someone being rude. Being a cashier sure looked like it was harder than it looked.
"I swear, old Pokémon have no other places to be angry other than inside shops!"
"But then they are the first ones to say that you should be kind with everyone..." Kit added.
Nash also told us about how he got the dojo and some of the story behind it. Apparently, the mayor from a few generations ago wanted to demolish the building in order to build something else, but he wasn't able to because of the town protesting against it.
"Hey, dude! Whatchu doing now? Trying to earn your rise?"
All of us turned to look at the Pokémon responsible for the interruption. It was a Thievul with a small bag walking towards us with a smug grin. "Hey, you can't be saying that when Boss is around!" Kit replied, laughing. I didn't know why, but the moment he stopped in front of us, something felt...wrong. Could it be those aura powers that I just discovered. "Guys, this is Jacques, a coworker and friend of mine"
"Hey!" Ember yelled.
"Hi..." I added.
"Hi everyone! Sorry that you had to be alone with Kit for this much time, I know it must have been hard for y'all"
"Yeah, yeah. Why don't you go back to your personal trainer dungeon and let us eat?"
"Maybe you should come with me this time! I've seen how you train your friend over here!"
"And I'm very glad I am the one training him! You wouldn't even last half a day!"
"You can't say that with him around, dude! That's just straight up disrespectful!" The Thievul laughed before turning to me. "What's your name?"
"Oh, huh? I'm Jake, nice...to meet you"
"Ah, quite a strange name, isn't it? Are you from the Sand Continent by any chance?"
"Uhhh..."
"You see, Jakey here has lost his memory, so he doesn't remember anything. And apparently, fighting is among that too. But not to worry, because he has the greatest teacher to assist him, unlike some other 'mon that has difficulty teaching a Pidgeot how to fly!"
"That's quite the predicament you have there... Well, hopefully our graduated specialist here will make you remember everything!"
"I know more than you for sure, cheeky bastard!"
"You two have a weird relationship" I interjected.
"Tell me about it..." Nash added, taking a bite from his sandwich.
The Thievul snickered and shook his head. "Well, seeing that you are going to eat here, I'll go get Lily and have a delicious lunch with her"
"You tryna make me jealous?"
"Nah. Just wanna make you know that me and Lily won't be too happy~"
The two dark types started laughing again. "Well, I'll leave you be now. Have a good lunch!" Jacques said, before waving goodbye to us and walking away.
"Well, he's...peculiar" I commented when he was out of earshot, the weird feeling disappearing.
"Yeah, but he's a good guy. You end up getting used to it" Ember replied, before looking at me and tilting her head. "Something wrong?"
"No, it's just...I don't know. Something inside of me felt...wrong whenever he was around. I don't know, it's so weird..."
Nash immediately turned his head to me. "What exactly was the feeling?"
"I don't know. It was like...a really big headache and...anxiety? I don't know, something like that"
Everyone's eyes fell on me. "What? Did I say something wrong? It's not anything serious, right?!"
"That's... Jake, you know how your species can feel aura, right?" Ember said.
"Yeah?"
"And you know that different emotions have different effects on the aura reader, right?"
"I...suppose? I never actually used the power yet, so I wouldn't know"
"Jake, what you just described is something that unexperienced aura users, like you after your amnesia, feel when a leaking aura is near them" Nash finished.
"Huh?! What does that mean?"
"The only thing that can make aura leak from a Pokémon's body is conflict. A strong clash of two emotions that generates too much power for the body to hold"
"So...does that mean that Jacques is conflicted about something?"
"It would seem so, but the exact cause will be unknown until you directly ask him, or read his aura, the former being more likely"
"Bah, don't worry about that. Who doesn't feel conflicted from time to time? I'm sure it'll go away soon" Kit said, waving his paw dismissively.
"Yeah, Kit's right. Let's just finish our lunch at once!" Ember exclaimed.
I nodded and kept eating. I don't know though... That headache was really bad. I'm not sure if that's just the conflicted emotions you feel every day. That felt like something that's been there for a very long time...
At last, time was up, and Ember had to go back to work. Before exiting the building, she turned to look to us one last time. "You better learn a move today, Jake! It's gonna be a short lived fight otherwise!"
"Please, don't remind me about that..."
"Don't worry, with Nash's advice, I'm sure you'll find a way to 'retain' your aura, or something like that"
"Thank you for letting me have lunch with you, but I should go back to my desk over here. Good luck with your training"
Once the two were gone, or back to doing his paperwork in Nash's case, the two of us headed back to the basement of the dojo, but then I remembered what I wanted to ask Kit yesterday. I decided to start with another thing first.
"Hey, Kit "
"Yes, Jakey? "
"Do you think I could join one of those explorers team?"
He scoffed. "Join a team? If you don't learn any moves, there's no way you are going to join anything, but if you work hard, I'm sure you'll be able to. Never thought you would ask me that, though"
"Yeah. I like helping as much as I can, that's why I thought that joining one of those teams would be cool, and maybe even help me bring my memory back!"
"You gotta have some skills, notably fighting skills. If you want to be in a team so badly, the easiest way is to form one. You gotta pass a quick exam, but it normally means just going into a MD and fetch out something. It's not that difficult, to be honest. I wonder who would you form that team with...?"
"Yeah, about that... I wanted to ask you if you knew something about why Ember is so reluctant to talk about exploring. Yesterday when she explained what MD's are, she really had a hard time saying 'explorer team'. I want to talk to her about it, but I can't if I don't know what's wrong. Do you know something?"
He tensed up for a bit, and then sighed. "I don't. I only know that it had something to do with her family and also explorer teams. Whatever it was, though, it seems to have really hurt her. Just to let you know, being an explorer was her childhood dream"
But then...what happened?
"That...actually helps a lot Kit. Thanks! You know, Ember told me that she would give me a tour this evening and that then we could hang out. Maybe you want to join us? If you have nothing to do, of course. I want to talk with her about it and maybe you could help me!
"Huh? You inviting me to go out with both of you? Really? Of course I'd love to! It was so long since I hung out with Ember, or anyone at all! And I think you will need some help not to mess up. But don't you dare make me the third wheel!"
"It's not a date!" I yelled before sighing. "Is that a yes, then?"
He nodded. "Yes it is, but I think we had enough chatting already. Time to continue and get back to training"
He left his pendant inside the locker and gestured the entrance to the maze. "You want to join an exploration team? Then knock out some ferals!"
"How about you go first this time?"
"Nope"
"Huh? Why?"
"The ferals that spawn when someone enters the maze are created the aproximate fighting level of the Pokémon that first enters it, so if I go first, you'll have no chance against any of them"
"Oh... But how does this maze know your fighting level?"
"Jake, I have no idea of how there even are ferals appearing here, so don't ask me those kinda questions"
"Oh, sure. I'll lead then"
The path hadn't change at all since we last left, but somehow, I felt more determined than before. Alright, so I just have to find a way to retain the aura and charge an actual attack.
A Graveler was inside the first room we found. Please, weird voice in my head, can you help me again?
...
Of course, no response. Why when I want it to help me, nothing happens? This is so frustrating!
"Jake, watch out!"
The Graveler had used that moment to use Rollout and throw me to the ground. It also hurt a lot, but the Graveler didn't stop. Instead, it changed its momentum to roll on my direction, with the intention to finish me.
Not wanting another hit like that, or even stronger, as Rollout gets stronger over time, I concentrated on the strongest emotion I could think of. The first thing that came to mind was the emotion that had given me that headache before: That conflict inside Jacques.
It was a strong emotion, as I saw my paw getting covered in the same blue energy that Kit said he saw before lunch. It was very weak, however.
"Alright, Jakey! Now hold that aura until you can use it as an attack!"
I didn't know how to do that, but I tried anyway. I closed my paw into a fist while repeating the same thing over and over inside my head. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it.
The energy around my fist slowly began glowing a bit brighter, although not too much more. The moment the Graveler tried to attack me again, I opened my paw again and jumped the Graveler, hitting it with the aura-enveloped paw square in its body.
It didn't seem to do too much at first glance, but the moment I touched it, the Pokémon stopped his attack and...growled?
"It felt something! Try again!" Kit cheered.
"Alright, I try!"
The Graveler tried the same attack, so I also did the same as before. We repeated our moves a few times, until both the me and the feral began showing signs of fatigue.
"I... can't do this... It's not...working!" I yelled between breaths.
"Maybe a Graveler is not the most appropriate target for you. That Rollout must have hurt..." Kit said, walking to the Graveler and using one single Night Slash on it, knocking the Pokémon out.
"On what level even are you?! That looked so strong!"
"I've just been training a big part of my life" He replied, tossing me an Oran. "Come on, hopefully the next one won't know any ground type moves"
We walked around the maze and reached its end, having come across four ferals, each of them being too much to handle and forcing Kit to step in. Again. Ten times over. I didn't even know how much time we had spent inside this maze.
We were halfway through our eleventh try, and I could feel desperation starting to grow inside the Zoroark.
"I'm sorry I'm such a useless fighter..."
Kit turned around immediately. "I forgot you could read emotions now, shit. Hey, you are not useless, alright? Just a slow learner. The only reason I'm feeling like this is because I don't want you to fight in front of other 'mons without any moves on paw, okay?"
"If you say so..."
We reached the final room before the exit, and inside was another feral. A...Raboot?
"Ummm... Quite an odd spawn, right?" I asked Kit, but when I turned around, I was met with a big grin on his face.
"I think you are going to have fun with this one" He stated, patting my back. "I'm sure you are going to like it"
"What?! But it's a fire type! It's super effective against me!"
The dark type's smile grew wider. "Are you sure?"
I frowned at his remark. "What do you mean?"
"You'll have to find out by yourself. And I suggest you start fighting, cus that Raboot is coming straight at you now"
"What?"
The moment I turned around, I was hit with a kick straight to my gut, which made me fall to my knees.
"Aghh! How did it manage to move so fast?"
"Agility. Now come on, learn Force Palm!"
Nodding I tried the same thing again, and ran towards the Raboot, but it quickly used Agility again and disappeared from my view, only for it to kick me on my back, breaking my concentration.
I have to make it stop moving somehow. But how?
I'll have to predict its movements.
I tried the same tactic again, and as expected, the Raboot disappeared, but this time, I quickly turned around and used what looked like a really weak version of the attack I was trying to learn.
The Raboot flew against a wall and then fell on the ground. "That's how you do it! That's almost a Force Palm! You just gotta try some more!"
"If that Raboot doesn't kick me again! That thing hurt!"
"You should look back at it again!"
"Huh?"
Doing what Kit said, I looked at where the Raboot had flown, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Instead, I saw another Pokémon, this one much taller than the Raboot, getting on its feet and cracking its neck.
Another Zoroark.
My head turned back to Kit. "Are you serious? Is this why you wanted me to attack it?"
"Well, think about it as if you were training against me, but instead it's against someone on your level! The ferals' illusions don't go much farther than what you've already seen, so no going invisible or clones!"
"Whatever you say- woah!" I narrowly dodged the Night Slash coming from the feral, and I answered with another mini Force Palm. I still didn't know how I was supposed to make the attack actually useful, as I still hadn't found a way to retain the power inside my body in order to throw a big attack.
"Having your paw into a fist won't help at all. In order for the attack to be stronger and easier to contain, you should use the same emotions you use for your aura sense, and then use it to hold the aura inside you until ready"
...Thanks? But who are you? And where were you when I first asked for help?
...
"Hey! You had your lunch, let me have mine! I also have to eat, you know! I can't be watching over you 24/7, and miss "read the paper and don't improvise" over here isn't making it any easier!"
I wasn't expecting a response from that voice, but I definitely wasn't expecting that either. "Anyway, good luck with your Force Palm, Jake!"
Woah, what?! How do you know my name?
...
I should have figured. So use my own aura sense to hold the power inside? How would that even work?
"Jake! What are you doing? Fight!" Kit's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Huh? Yeah, yeah! I'm going!"
I used my aura sense and looked at the feral. The blur that told me about its presence was nothing like Kit's grey one. This one was instead blood red color, something that kinda made sense. Nonetheless, I had no time to think about it.
Following that voice's advice, I began thinking about the same emotion I had used to learn my aura sense: Gratitude.
The energy once again surrounded my paw, but something felt different now. Some weird tingling sensation was present now. Alright, now I have to direct the energy to my palm.
I didn't exactly know how I did it, but the moment I thought about that, the energy stopped being scattered around my paw and piled up inside my palm. It was still very weak, but my hand was starting to feel numb. Can't give up now.
Ignoring the feeling I kept holding, but the feral suddenly lunged at me with another Night Slash. Since I was using my aura sense at the moment, I saw it coming and quickly got out of the way.
The numbness in my hand felt stronger than ever, and when I looked at it, I saw a big amount of blue energy holding on my palm. I quickly looked back at the feral Zoroark and felt how it was starting to get angry. This time, however, I knew what I had to do. The moment the feral was within my reach distance, I hit it with my right paw and felt how the blue energy was transferred from my hand to its face very quickly, before it was sent flying once again, this time crashing into the wall at a high speed.
It didn't get back up again.
I looked at my paw in awe. "You did it! I knew you had it in you!" Kit came running towards me with his claw up.
"Holy shit, it was so hard" I replied, going a high five. "Thank god it didn't use any illusions or I wouldn't have done it!"
"Who's 'god'?"
"Uhhh, don't worry about it. Let's just get out of here"
With a raised brow, Kit followed me through the last stretch of the maze. I just couldn't believe I managed to learn a move. It was so surreal to even think about me knowing a Pokémon move that something in my mind was telling me it wasn't real, like if what happened didn't really happen.
"I can't believe it..."
"You did it, Jake. You learned a move. Any more memories come to you yet?"
"Nope"
"That's a pity... Well, don't let that get you down! You got Force Palm! I'm sure Ember will be happy!"
"Speaking of the devil..."
Exiting through the door, we were met face to face with Ember and her coworkers making small talk with Nash. Jacques was also present, along with a Breloom, Incineroar and Froslass I had yet to meet.
"Who's the devil?" Kit asked, before getting interrupted.
"Hey guys! How did it go?" Ember asked.
"I learned Force Palm!" I yelled.
"Did you mean 'remember'?" Damian said.
"Remember that he has got amnesia! For him, it's like learning it from scratch!" Jacques added. "Anything else we should know?"
"What Pokémon did you beat up? That's something you have to remember!" The Incineroar next to Ember exclaimed.
"It was a Zoroark. Apparently, Kit was really insistant on me battling it"
"Of course I was! You gotta practice for our battle now!" He replied.
"Wait, our battle?"
Nash sighed. "You didn't tell him at all?"
"Oops! Hehe... guess I forgot..."
"Tell me what?"
"Jake, Kit and you are going to fight now" Nash explained.
"We are what?!" I then looked at Kit. "You didn't tell me about that!"
"Well, I forgot, okay?"
"It doesn't matter anymore, so don't get too upset about it!" The Breloom yelled.
"Oh yeah! We should start with the introductions, right?" Ember said, pointing at the Incineroar. "Jake, this is Aiden. Aiden, Jake"
"Hi! Is it true that you survived a fall from a cliff?"
"Yeah, but I prefer not to talk about it too much"
"Oh, sorry"
Aiden got nudged by the Froslass. "You could be a bit less direct, you know?" She said, shaking her head. "I'm Agatha, nice to meet you, Jake! Ember hasn't stopped talking about you ever since you appeared here!"
Ember nudged Agatha. "No I didn't!"
"Umm, actually, these two days you've been talking about him a 73% of your time with us, and that's without counting the puns, comments and-" Damian began, before he got hit by Ember's stick in the face. Her face was red.
"I'm just happy that I met you, alright?"
"Yeah, you are! When's the wedding?" Kit asked.
"Oh, you guys are engaged? Congratulations! Must have been love at first sight, huh?" Jacques added.
"We are not- Jake! Say something!"
A pause, where all eyes turned to me. "Ember..."
I looked at her with my eyes covered in fake happy tears. "Ever since I first saw you, I knew we were something more than friends..."
"What the-?"
"Oh come on, girl! When you were young you always said that you would never find love! Well, now it's right in your face!" Agatha exclaimed.
Ember all the while was red with embarassment. "You guys... It's not funny!"
"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Aiden and the Breloom chanted.
"You... You'll all pay for this..." She managed to say, red as a tomato. All of us bursted with laughter.
"Alright, come on! The dojo is closing soon, so if you want to use the arena, finish the introductions and let's go!" Nash interrupted, once we stopped.
"Alright, Boss! Jake, this Breloom here is Lily. She's the 'boring' 'mon of our group, just warning ya" Kit said.
"I'm not boring, I'm responsible! Something you two should be from time to time!" Lily replied.
"That's exactly what a boring 'mon would say! Now let's go to the arena! I'm itching for a fight!" The Zoroark exclaimed, walking through the door.
"Best to follow him" I stated, to which everyone nodded. Lily slightly sighed too.
All of us went behind him, with me being the last. "We are gonna have a serious talk later, Jake" Ember told me, still red.
"Oh, the two of you are going to have a talk later? Alone?" Jacques commented from in front of Ember.
"If you guys don't shut up right now, I swear I'm earning a life sentence today..."
Kit and I were facing each other from opposite sides of the circle. "Alright, Jakey! Let's see what you have learnt!"
"Well, a move and how to use aura sense! There you go, my whole battle tactics!"
"I'm sure you'll figure something out! Besides, I'm not going to use all my tactics and moves, it wouldn't be fair"
The rest of the Pokémon were gathered around the battlefield, divided in groups. Ember and her group were behind me and Kit's friends were behind him. Nash was in the middle, acting as a referee.
"Alright! Since this is a training battle for Jake, the rules will be as follows: If Kit makes Jake be unable to battle, he wins! However, if Jake strikes one blow on Kit, the victory is his! Understood?"
"Yup!" Kit yelled.
"Loud and clear!" I added.
"Well then, are you ready?"
"Good luck, Jakey" Kit whispered to me.
"Set?"
"Hopefully I won't need it"
"GO!"
I quickly jumped towards the Zoroark, but he smirked and quickly flashed away with what looked like Agility. I couldn't react quickly enough and got a Night Slash used on my back, which knocked me onto the ground.
Since it was not very effective, I quickly stood back up and once again, charged right at him. He used the same tactic as before and dodged my Force Palm, before attacking me again, this time from one of the sides.
He is using Agility to dodge every attack I use! I have to find a way to see his trajectory...
Of course!
Trying to make it as less obvious as possible, I used my aura sense and began seeing the familiar blue wavy outlines and a grey blur with the form of Kit in front of me.
Just gotta repeat the strat.
I charged towards him again. "Oh, come on Jakey! This is getting boring!" As expected, he used Agility. But before he could strike me, I saw the grey blur zip from in front of me to my right. I dodged the Night Slash and put my paw on his back, about to use a Force Palm.
He reacted quickly, though, and Kit grabbed me by my arm and threw me to the ground without letting me use the move.
"I see you are using your aura sense! That's why I hate battling Lucario... Oh well, time to scale things up, I guess"
As he said that, the circle was filled with clones of Kit, a lot more than when he first used the tactic yesterday.
"Come on, Jake! You got this!" Ember cheered from the sideline.
"Nuh uh! Kit's gonna beat his ass right there!" Jacques cheered back.
"Language, dude" Lily told him, rolling her eyes.
Alright, Jake. You just have to focus on that grey blur and you'll find Kit among this sea of clones.
As I thought that, all the Zoroark began moving around and preparing a Night Slash. Alright, now this just makes things difficult.
"What's the matter, Jakey? Can't find me while I'm moving?" All the clones taunted. "Just because it's your first time, I'll give you some time to find me!"
Frowning, I once again focused on the black landscape searching for the grey stain in the canvas, but what I saw made me dizzy. All the clones had disappeared of course, but the actual Kit was running in circles at inhuman speeds.
"By your face, I can deduct that you have figured out what I'm doing. Alright then, time's up, buddy!"
Just then, all the clones disappeared and the real Kit jumped high in the air, his claws and arms covered in a crimson energy.
My eyes widened. Shit!
Knowing there was no way I could dodge the Night Daze, I used my arms to cover my body. When Kit hit the ground, a massive shockwave of purple and crimson energy exploded from his position, engulfing me whole. I was able to hold my ground, but my arms ached and I felt how I was beggining to grow tired.
"Don't let that attack bring you down, keep it up!" Aiden yelled.
Kit just cracked his neck. "Ha, you know, normally that attack is enough to bring weak opponents down, but guess your typing made you able to tank it. Or are you not weak at all?"
I panted a bit. "Hopefully the second option"
Once again, he lunged at me with a Night Slash, which I was about to counter, but realized that whatever was in front of me had no aura, and instead, the actual Kit was going in a circle around me.
I turned around and quickly grabbed his arm. Then, I once again went for the strike, but couldn't focus for long enough. While I was on the ground, Kit tried to hit me with another Night Slash, but I quickly rolled out of its way.
"Persistant, aren't you?"
"Of course I am! I just have to land an attack and you have to knock me out! I won't let it be that easy!"
We spent another ten minutes fighting, and I still didn't manage to get too close to Kit again, while he had already made me wear out a lot. However, that was exactly what I wanted them to think.
"Jake, are you sure you can keep up? You are looking a bit bad" Nash asked.
"Of course! I'm not giving up!"
"This is your first fight, don't push yourself" Kit said, turning around.
"I said we aren't done!" I tried to run to him preparing a Force Palm, but I fell to the ground, halfway there.
"Come on, I know you want to try so hard right now, but you have to know when you can't-"
He was interrupted by my palm suddenly hitting his back, making him stumble and fall forward. I was on my feet, a smirk on my face.
"I thought you of all people would know when an opponent is tricking you! I'm not unable to battle yet, I'm still kicking! Though, my arms hurt, hehe..." I said, offering my paw and rubbing the back of my head.
"You bastard! I didn't expect that at all!"
"Well, I think we all know who the winner is. Congratulations, Jake!" Nash exclaimed.
"Whooo! That's how you do it!" Ember yelled.
"My calculations seemed incorrect after all..." Damian said mostly to himself.
"Boss, you owe me ten bucks" Aiden told Agatha.
"Hmm, I don't recall making any bet this evening..." She hummed, looking away.
"How could you out of all Pokémon get tricked by that fake display of fatigue? Lucario need a lot more than a few Night Slash and Night Daze to go down, you know that!" Jacques reprimanded Kit in a joking manner.
"Gotta admit that newbie got you good" Lily sighed.
"Alright everyone, we are closing! Please get out of the building before I lock you in!" Nash interrupted them all.
Once everyone was outside, Nash closed the doors and Lily, Aiden, Agatha and him all said goodbye and headed to their homes. Nighttime had arrived not too long ago, and the streets were now illuminated by the same glowing orbs that served as light bulbs.
"Tough day, wasn't it?" Kit commented.
"That Force Palm didn't hurt?" I asked him, seeing how he wasn't showing any fatigue from the fight.
"Nah. It was a good one, but I'm used to a lot more strong moves than that one. Also, the Oran I just ate probably had something to do as well"
"Well, lot. I think I should be going now. I really want to party, but I have no strength on me today. I hope I see you somewhere around town tomorrow!" Jacques said, waving us goodbye.
"I should be going too. I have a great amount of things to do tonight, and I wish to do them as quickly as possible. Have a great night!" Damian added, doing the same.
The two dark types walked away, and the last ones standing in front of the dojo were Ember, Kit and me.
"I suppose Jake already told you about our plans tonight?" The Braixen broke the silence.
"About you wanting to give him a tour and then hanging out for a bit? Yeah, he told me about it" The Zoroark replied, looking at me.
"I am really not feeling like it now, but I know a chance like this won't happen again until next week, and I definitely can't wait until then"
"Huh, I thought you were not tired and you were just faking it?"
"Yeah, I'm not tired, but my arms, palms and feet still ache"
"That's just because you pushed yourself too hard, something you shouldn't have done" Ember interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it! Can you guys stop telling me about it? I swear to god, it's getting a bit annoying!"
"And there you go again. Who's god? That's the second time I'm hearing that word today"
"It's nothing! I already told you"
"I don't know about that. You've used three words I didn't know existed in a single day. No matter where you are from, I'm pretty sure there's no place in the world where they say those!"
"I think we shouldn't be talking about this now. How about we start with the tour already?" Ember stepped in, trying to stop Kit from being too nosy.
He looked between the both of us. "You two are hiding something"
"I don't know what you are talking about" She said, her face as expressionless as ever.
Kit still seemed reluctant to believe that.
"The tour, please?" I interrupted.
"Of course, Jake! Follow behind me!" Ember exclaimed, marching towards the street.
The dark type beside me walked a few steps before looking at me again with suspicion. "We are going to ask her about what happened when she was a kid, remember that" He then went after the fire type.
I sighed. Something told me this wasn't going to be the last time we had to lie tonight.
END OF CHAPTER 3
Alright, first trio of chapters is done! If you are reading this story for the first time, welcome! I hope you enjoyed. And don't worry, you really don't want to see how this was before the rewrite.
If you are a reader that's been with me since the very beggining, thank you for your patience and company and I hope you enjoyed the new version of the story!
I could probably had made that fight a bit better, but I think it's pretty good. It's a sparring battle after all.
I'm probably taking a break from this story for a bit, cus damn, my brain hurts.
Anyway, hope to see you next time and remember to leave a review if you have the time! And thanks to the small people that reviewed already, you don't know how cool it is to see that red notification symbol.
Goodbye!