Chapter 3)
Lone Allies
"Well, you're no Zoroark." The Dragapult muttered. It flew backwards and scanned Leo for any sign of malintent.
"Um, I guess not." Leo chuckled a nervous laugh; after all, he was conversing with an entity that just threw him against the concrete floor. "So, is there a way out of here?"
"Sure there is, I'll help you out in a minute. First, I want to get to know the new Lucario in town. What's your name?"
"Leo."
"I see." the Dragapult inquisitively checked Leo. "My name is Shank."
Leo spotted various chronic injuries the Dragapult seemed to wear, most notably a red plastic fin in place of his normal triangular fins at the top of his head. He also had a massive scar on what Leo guessed what his torso, and wore various other scars across his body. The Dreepy that usually inhabit the triangular fins of the creature were absent, replaced with steel replicas.
Before Leo could speak up, the Dragapult took his opportunity.
"How'd you manage to trip your way into my lair, being a Lucario and all?"
"I've been asked this a million times now…" Leo sighed defeatedly. "I don't know what I'm doing, I don't even know this place, or any places around here, I just need to get to Horma."
Shank eyed Leo very suspiciously. "I'd accuse you of being an impostor, but the authorities here do a fine job of vetting in Pokémon; you DO know Dittos and Zoroark are banned from Vemine, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just tired of being accused of it." Leo muttered. "In fact, I'm just tired. I need to get back to my room, can you help me out of here?"
"Well, it would not look very good on me if I were to kidnap a Lucario- the mayor already hates my guts. You can leave if you want, but I don't think you'll be able to navigate the pitch black outside. You could stay here if you want."
Leo hesitated. The Dragapult had a point; he didn't feel like reciting his way back. But he also didn't want to sleep in some stranger's bed, especially since said 'stranger' was a literal ghost.
"Don't worry, my guest bed is quite comfortable." Dragapult assured, sensing Leo's discomfort. "And it seems you still got your spike covers on."
He looked down and verified that he indeed did have his spike covers still on, which he forgot about. His logical side of him told him immediately to reject some ghostly apparition's offer of lodging in the middle of an underground bunker, but he accepted nonetheless.
"Ok. But I will reopen those scars of yours if you try something while I'm asleep."
Shank laughed. "I like your attitude- and not in a sarcastic way. Reminds me of someone I used to know. Anyhow, follow me.
Leo's footsteps echoed through the jagged, decrepit hallway. It split off in two directions, and Shank led him down the right, where the hallway ended with a navy blue door.
"I prefer to keep my door unlocked" Shank commented while hustling Leo through the door. "I've got nothing of value anyways, I'm just waiting for the day some thief tries to mess with me. I thought you were my lucky day at first, which is why I attacked you."
Leo noted the disarray of the unkempt house, one barely tall enough for himself, much less the tall Dragapult who ducked under every light. The Dragapult moved towards a door at the end of a hall inside the small apartment-sized underground home, and opened it. He beckoned Leo into the room with his tail.
"I have a mattress for guests like you, though they don't come often. Last time this bed was used was about two years ago."
Well, at least I have a proper mattress now.
Leo laid on the bed and grabbed a deep black fuzzy blanket to coat his fur. Shank wished him goodnight and shut off the lights to the whole premises before leaving.
I hope you're safe Anna... you're all I have left in this cruel, unforgiving universe. I can't lose you too.
Bang. Bang.
Leo's ears twitched and he twisted his body to get a more clear reading of the noisy, consistent sound emanating through the home. In doing this, he fell off the mattress, landing with a grunt. The fall sobered Leo and he leapt to his paws, awkwardly yawning with his new bone structure. The lights were on, so he figured it must be morning.
I'm still a Lucario. Guess that's not changing anytime soon.
He stumbled out towards where Leo could only guess the living room was located, meeting an expectant Dragapult working some kind of non-electric blender.
"Morning, Leo. Did you sleep well?"
Leo was in no mood for small talk, and his eyes were still fogged by sleep. He flopped on a chair and rubbed his eyes with his paws, mumbling "good morning". Leo fit his tail in a convenient hole in the back of the chair, but it wasn't too comfortable, as the chair had clearly been made for the much bigger Dragapult. Shank moved towards Leo and handed him a glass of blue-brown liquid with his tail.
"Leo, drink this. It helps wake you up for the day."
"You have coffee?"
"I don't know what coffee is, but this is chesto cocoa." Shank shook the glass to prompt Leo to take it.
"Never mind about that, thank you for the drink." Leo guessed those two words basically meant the same thing as coffee. Of course, being a product of this new world, as with everything else, the taste was wildly different. It wasn't for the worse; Leo found he actually preferred the alien concoction over coffee. The effects weren't subtle or slow either, and he was fully alert within a minute.
"Sorry to interrupt your drink, but I have a couple of questions." Shank sat down on the living room couch, sipping from his own glass. Leo sighed and looked down in discomfort, but Shank pressed on.
"So why are you headed to Horma, anyway? On the other side of the mountains?"
"Some Espeon named Abaxa told me to go to Horma to talk to someone who knows about rifts, and I'm, uh, not from this planet?"
Shank's eyes widened. "So you've seen Abaxa? She doesn't talk to just anyone, so count yourself lucky..."
He paused, contemplating what Leo told him, when he realized the more important part of the sentence.
"Wait, you're not from Veras? I mean, I guess that makes sense now, a Lucario that doesn't know aura..."
Leo couldn't help but to feel slightly offended by that, even if he had no business using aura.
"Yeah, I'm not... is that what you call this planet? Anyways, could you, maybe, help with getting to Horma?"
Shank gave an annoyed sigh, which prompted Leo to backtrack.
"Well, you don't have to if you don't want-"
"No, sorry, it's not that." Shank cut him off to clarify. "I actually have a deal for you, but if you just got here, you'll need to learn the history-"
"Abaxa told me everything." Leo said.
"Huh, that simplifies things." Shank replied. "Anyhow, the Hyclonic Alliance has been itching for a counterattack since the rebirth pushed us over the mountains, where we have been on defense for the past five years. Yveltal knows that Lucario can purge its dark aura, so the rebirth has been extremely scared of them, for good reason."
Shank grinned. "Starting to understand the deal?"
Leo listened intently, but he was far from accepting of the deal. Instead, Leo buried his face in his paws.
I just want to get home, find my sister, and live a normal life... and now I have to duel Pokémon just to re-earn what I've lost?
"Let me think." He muttered.
Shank said something else, but Leo tuned him out. He would've accepted by now if Veras was anything like the Nintendo franchise he was used to, but his encounter with the Bisharp made him especially fearful of combat, especially when for all intents and purposes, he was basically two days old.
"I know you're worried and all since you've been here not that long." Shank assured him. "Instead of burying your face and stressing, you should build your fighting prowess. Follow me."
Leo recoiled, nearly falling off the chair. "I don't think you quite understand, I don't want to fight-"
"Neither do I, Leo, but do you think rebirth is gonna willingly give us access to the rifts? It's no coincidence we control none of them- the rebirth clearly values them a lot. We share a mutual goal, and albeit for different reasons, we both need that city."
Leo sighed defeatedly. He was ashamed to admit it, but the old Dragapult had a rock-solid point. Nothing in his life had ever come easy, so why would it start now?
Leo rolled out of the chair and calmly walked towards the door, silently acknowledging to Shank that he would accept his training offer. They walked out of the underground house towards the decrepit tunnel where they had met the night prior, now illuminated with sunlight from the exposed hatch.
"Now, I take it that you have basic auric skills, given your ability to track me in the pitch dark last night." Shank remarked.
Leo nodded his head. "But I don't really know how or why, I just see them..."
"I used to know a Lucario." Shank stated. "You can ask me any question you like. And as for the tracking, it was a blue streak, correct?"
Leo nodded his head again.
"Yes, that's because Lucario can see aura. All living things emit it, but nonliving things have it too, just in lesser and harder to isolate quantities, thus making it a great effort to see. Special attacks use aura too- and speaking of attacks, since you say you're new, do you know any?"
Leo brought his paw up, trying to remember any instance, just to shake his head.
"I see." Shank smiled, but humbly turned away. "I study Pokémon regularly; I used to be a professor, except I dropped that long ago. I would study relentlessly, about all different types of moves and attacks recorded and all abilities associated with them, and for the most part I was successful, bar most of the legendary specimens- and Lucario."
Leo grumbled. "So you mean to say you know everything about every Pokémon except me?"
Shank nodded his head. "Lucario were rare enough already, and of the even fewer that consented to what amounted to experiments to better understand their kind, none could accurately describe their unique auric ability, except for a 'sixth sense'; and so while I might know much more than others, well, only you know everything about yourself."
Leo sighed and tilted his head back in defeat.
"Don't lay in gloom." Shank chirped at Leo's attitude. "Time you'll spend moping will be better used to learn some basic attacks."
"Right, what do you want me to do? Because I've got zero idea what I'm doing."
"Remember, basic attacks. Here, that's a great object to start on." Shank motioned to a medium-large sized boulder against the ending of the hallway with his tail.
"Wait, stop there." Leo sharply interrupted, squinting his eyes at Shank. "You want me to attack... that?"
Shank nodded his head.
"You're crazy." Leo shouted. "Are you trying to send me to the hospital?"
"Heyy, now you're getting it!" Shank smiled. "The crazy part. Not the send-you-to-hospital part. You're a fighting and steel type, you think a rock is going to injure you?"
He does have a point... steel and fighting both resist rock, but is that how it works here-
"Hey, chill out." Shank barked in the middle of Leo's thoughts. "I apologize, you just looked utterly distraught- it's fine, I presume you were another type back at home."
Leo took a deep breath and tried to chill out, following Shank's suggestion. "Yeah, people from my world don't usually go around punching rocks, it's not very healthy."
"I understand." Shank replied as he moved towards the ladder-hatch out of the tunnel. "We've got to go now. The sooner the better."
Leo nodded and moved towards the ladder, clutching the unsteady, worn wooden rungs with a distrustfully strong grip. As he took the first few steps, he ascended more rapidly, letting down his guard until he was at the top. Shank quickly followed, except instead of climbing, he levitated out of the hole, acrobatically squeezing his fins through the tight gap before quickly emerging.
"So, what now?" Leo asked while shielding his dark-adjusted eyes from the contrast of the bright early morning sun.
"I'd love to say I have an answer, but truth is, I don't know." Shank admitted while flying out of the alley, Leo in tow. "After all, I've only had the night to think. Follow me, we'll see."
Shank cautiously weaved out of the alley before merging onto the road. The morning sun had been intense while in the cover of the shaded alleyway, but out on the busy road, the light stung Leo as he adjusted, and the hundreds of new smells of different products being vended around the street didn't help. The urban layout of the city was vastly different from the small town he lived at in Montana, something that he had noticed before but hadn't paid mind to until now.
They continued for a bit, gathering many second-glances and odd looks until Shank and him crossed a bend where one of the vendors yelled out to Shank. Leo was unable to discern what the vendor had shouted, but Shank lead Leo into the shop where the vendor had just sat outside.
A Blaziken and a Dragapult, that's an odd duo.
"I apologize, Fervor." Shank said as he entered. "I couldn't hear what you said, could you repeat it?"
"Oh yeah, I was just saying hello. I haven't seen you since, well, you know." Fervor reached into a small brick oven and pulled out what Leo assumed were biscuits, offering one to Shank.
"Thank you." He replied as he took the biscuit with his tail and bit into it.
"Hey, by the way, you do know that Zoroark and Ditto were banned from the city a couple weeks back, right?" Fervor mentioned, nudging in Leo's direction.
Shank grinned and finished his bite. "Ah, yeah, that's the thing. He's a real Lucario. Says he just woke up here not too long ago, claims he's from another planet.
"Greaaatt, so you're tryna start a war in this city by harboring one?" Fervor rolled her eyes while lining out more biscuits inside a display.
"Well, I was instead hoping to bring the fight to them."
Fervor rolled her eyes. "This is real life, not a fairy tale. They outnumber us three to one- and if you so much as dare as mention the Lucario on our side, I will chop off your other fin."
"Look, we just need supplies. The goal isn't to retake territory, but that would be nice- Leo here just needs to get access to a rift, which Horma allegedly holds, and I just want to duel some aura slaves."
"Forget about it." Fervor pointed towards the door. "I'm not funding the ruination of this already sunken town."
"I have a feeling you'll change your mind. Follow me."
Leo watched as Shank guided Fervor towards another shop adjacent to the one she owned.
"Bylo owes me a favor for training him still. You give us supplies, I'll cash in that favor for a Z crystal and give it to you. If not, I'll find someone else willing to lend us supplies for the same deal. Up to you."
Fervor replied with something Leo couldn't make out, but he presumed she accepted, given that she went to retrieve what Shank requested out of the back of the store. She handed Shank a giant bag full of things and Shank bid her farewell. Leo turned to exit, assuming the transaction had been done, but the Pokémon behind him nearly gave him a heart attack.
"We were supposed to have a meeting with the mayor, you know." Xaliz grumbled. "He's been waiting for the past hour."
"I- okay, I'll go-"
"Well, clearly you don't want to stay in the town, given you've already found some supplies to leave. We were going to go over everything in the meeting, but if you're this confident in leaving, I hope you'll at least listen to what the mayor and I wanted to say before you go."
"Xaliz, relax." Shank piped up. "He fell into the entrance to my home halfway through the night, and explained his situation to me in the morning-"
"Yeah, I know his situation." Xaliz sighed. "Alright, Leo, if you're going to leave, we already decided that we won't stop you. Still, I want to make sure you're safe, so if you'll allow me I would like to accommodate you to Horma."
Leo turned to Shank for an answer, but found him eying Xaliz suspiciously, with a tinge of anger.
"So you repeatedly deny my requests to train alliance fighters so that I can have a house above ground, but you give in to whatever the Lucario wants?" Shank challenged.
Xaliz huffed. "Now's not the time for-"
"Now's not the time to argue? So when is it, because you refused to even see me-"
"Look, we'll talk about it later, I promise." Xaliz chirped at Shank.
"Ok, fine, I'll take you on your word, even if you're the least credible mon this side of the mountains. If you wanna come, you can scout ahead for trouble while we move. If you spot nothing, we'll meet you at the Echo Garden in Kanahar."
Shank asked Fervor for three backpacks, to which she obliged, still clutching the Z crystal Shank redeemed. He stuffed the supplies evenly throughout the bags, stuffing the extra in Xaliz's bag out of petty bitterness.
"I've got to inform the city council of what's going on." Xaliz said as they left the shop. "I'll catch up when I'm done, y'all should go ahead."
The two began walking down the roads, capturing yet more of the population's attention. Leo had seen most of the creatures before on Earth, in pixel or cardboard form, but it still didn't take away his case of impostor syndrome. Shank made a point to avoid the main avenues, which Leo confirmed to willingly.
Eventually they made their way to the city outskirts, where Shank beckoned Leo to a bench and decided now was a perfect opportunity to exchange information.
"Fervor gave us some good food, enough to last us at least a week, 3 meals a day." Shank took off his backpack and rummaged through it as if he wasn't the one to pack it.
"We hold two thirds of the rations; the other portion is with Xaliz. The Echo Garden is half a day's walk from here, and Horma is three or four after that."
The two sat up and began their trek along the unpaved path out of Vemine. Leo anxiously scanned the forest immediately around Vemine before carrying on, which Shank chuckled at.
"No need to use your eyes when looking for danger." Shank explained. "I'm sure your aura is capable of seeing further and more accurate than you could ever hope to see."
"How do I use the aura again?" Leo asked. "You just close your eyes and focus, right?"
"That's half the battle. You need to focus three things at once. Your sense of aura, what you want to see, and your current surroundings."
"How do you know all this?"
"Long, long story." Shank's tone flattened and he stared down in shame. "Let's just say I used to know a Lucario."
Leo could sense that the topic was making Shank unhappy, and made a point to himself to avoid bringing it up again for the trek. He attempted to do what Shank told him to do, but couldn't even replicate the success he had the day before, much less anything more.
"Do I have to practice using my aura?" Leo whined when he produced no results. "I'll be gone in three days anyways…"
"It's better that you practiced anyways." Shank said. "You'll be able to use your aura better on Earth, too, perhaps."
"Wait, that isn't just a Veras thing?" Leo inquired. "How would I go about using aura on Earth?"
"Wormholes require a strong dark aura to operate." Shank explained. "If Earth and Veras are connected via wormhole, then Earth would have to have aura too, as one could assume. As for the second question, I'm not sure."
"So what are the advantages of aura anyways?" Leo pondered.
"Well, I'm obviously not blessed with the gift, but I have had a first-hand source, if you know what I mean. He was able to read my emotions, anticipate my moves, and to an extent even read my thoughts sometimes."
Leo cringed. "That sounds like a double-edged sword."
"Well, it was to a degree. There are a lot of things he said he'd rather go without knowing about me - and I knew I couldn't keep a secret from him, no matter how bad it is. I know eventually you will know everything about me, too, Leo."
They were about to cross a river when they heard the unmistakable noise of wings flapping in the distance, which prompted Shank to expel an exasperated sigh. Xaliz gracefully landed on the other side of the river, whilst Shank and Leo waded through, much to Leo's discomfort as the water itched his fur.
"Now's a great time to discuss my rejection." Shank pressured.
"It wasn't my orders; it was the mayor's." Xaliz defended. "Besides, the way you 'train' is, well, unusual."
"Are you forgetting-"
"No, I'm not." Xaliz snapped back. "I know who you are, and that's the only reason we didn't ban you from training alliance fighters here."
"Can't wait to say I told you so when your town gets overrun by the rebirth." Shank retorted. "I'd wager a revive stone you were trained by someone I trained-"
"Please, enough!" Leo exclaimed. "You both bicker like children, can't you see you're on the same team?
The walk was eerily quiet after that.
Xaliz flew off to scout ahead as was requested of him, which left Shank and Leo by themselves. The biome slowly diverged from a sparse forest to a rolling plains, almost like a savannah except the grass was lush. The silence eventually ended as the boredom looming over them grew too large to ignore, but the mutual unspoken agreement not to discuss the conflict any further still resumed.
"Something about you, Leo, doesn't add up." Shank commented.
Leo was taken aback. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
"I didn't mean it in an offensive way," Shank explained, "but the mons who come out of the rifts are usually first-stage Pokémon and are an elemental type like water or grass, not steel and fighting."
"Well, and?" Leo griped. "I don't know what you want me to say."
"Nevermind, you'll understand in due time. In the meantime, why don't you work on that aura of yours?"
"I already tried, it doesn't work-"
Shank slapped Leo with his tail, causing him to stumble.
"Not with that attitude it doesn't. Oh, and you need to work on your reflexes too, I nearly sent you into the dirt with a light tail whack."
Leo grumbled in anger, but relented in Shank's request to practice his skills. He sat down on the grass, took off his backpack and tried once more to produce any auric affect.
One by one, he began eliminating distractions and directed all his energy towards the aura. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for- just that it was there. Before long, the air around him began to move and the aura permeated his vision; it was working. He counted four blue dots in his vision-
Wait, four?
In his confusion he lost focus and was ejected from his trance, catching his breath. He tried to communicate his findings to Shank, but it was too late; as soon as he began to speak, he was violently thrown back to the ground by a swift attack.