"Now, before we start today's lessons, I have something rather special to announce."
All of the students of the Master Dojo were gathered in the main hall, sitting cross-legged as they listened to their master, Mustard; the man insisted that sitting cross-legged was more "traditional", but refused to elaborate any further. On most days at the school, the students would train with their Pokémon, or battle with each other, in order to improve their Pokémon's skills and deepen their bond. Once a week, however, Mustard would begin the day with a direct lesson from himself. Often times, this was a more abstract lesson about drawing out the power of Pokémon by connecting with them. Other times, there were more practical demonstrations of battle techniques. This was the first time in months that Mustard had gathered the students for an announcement, however, and nearly everyone was curious as to what he had to say.
"Ever since I established this school, I've made sure to reward the students who go above and beyond," Mustard continued. "Those who demonstrate not only tremendous skill, but an exceptional connection to their Pokémon. Those are the ones who exemplify the philosophy of this dojo." He fiddled with his overlong right eyebrow for a moment. "Regarding that, I'd like all of you to know that I've acquired another piece of the special 'armor' that this remote island is known for."
He paused for a moment to let this news sink in, grinning as he heard murmurs of curiosity and wonder proliferating among the students. "I've given out a handful of these in the past, but believe you me, this will not be easy to get. Anyone who wants it will have to show exceptional strength, courage and empathy, above and beyond what would be necessary in your normal schoolwork. If anyone can get their hands on this special armor, they can consider their education here to be complete."
"What is this special armor?" one of the male students asked. "What does it do?"
Mustard chuckled. "If you'd like to know, then you should earn it for yourself." The boy nodded, hiding his disappointment, as other students started speaking up to ask questions. The master patiently listened and answered each question jovially, wanting his students to be as fired up as possible.
Out of everyone gathered together in the dojo, one person was not paying attention. Korrina was sitting with her eyes closed, deep inside of her own head and far away from the conversation. She was busy exploring various pathways in her mind, attempting to find places she had never been, trying to complete her first assignment from her other teacher.
Riley had left the Isle of Armor only days after he had arrived, but those days had mostly been spent teaching Korrina many of the secrets of Aura, the kind of secrets that only an experienced wielder could impart. He had promised to return in three months, and before he left, he had given the girl an assignment to be completed in that time. Korrina's task was to unlock the power of the Aura State.
The Aura State was the first fundamental step in unlocking the powers of an Aura Shaper. Entering the Aura State would bestow the power of Aura vision, which would allow Korrina to physically see the Auras of others through her own eyes. Being in this state would eventually allow her to soothe and manipulate the Auras of others, once she had learned how. None of this was why Riley had given her this assignment, however. The most important thing was for Korrina to gain a greater understanding of herself, to discover how Aura flowed through her body and her mind, which was different for every person. Without this understanding, it would be nearly impossible for the two of them to proceed.
Her three months were nearly up, and she was starting to grow desperate. Riley would be returning to the island in two days, and she felt as if she had made no progress whatsoever. She hadn't entered the Aura State a single time, despite her repeated nightly attempts. She had hoped that even if she hadn't entered the state itself, she could tell him that she had gotten closer, but she honestly felt as if she had made no progress at all. She had been banging her head against this task for months, and she felt as if she was no closer than when she started.
With the deadline looming over her, she was beginning to panic. She was now working on the Aura State at every possible opportunity, appropriate or not. She would spend thirty minutes trying when she woke up, before getting ready for training. She would rush through her meals in order to gain some spare time to try some more, even if it was only ten minutes. With Riley's return only days away, she was now exploring her mind during training, or Mustard's lessons in this case. She knew she was starting to neglect her studies at the Master Dojo, but it would all be worth it if-
"What would you say, Korrina?"
She jumped at the sound of her name, eyes shooting open, and looked up toward her instructor. Mustard was gazing at her with an expectant look on his face, searching for an answer to a question that had flown right past her.
"What… would I say…?" she responded, trying to draw the conversation out and buy herself some time.
Mustard's expression changed to a slightly amused, slightly disappointed smile. "Have you been paying attention to the lesson?"
"I…" She could feel her face burning, hearing the snickers of other students; Avery's snide laugh was particularly pronounced. She looked down, unable to continue meeting his gaze. "No, sir. Sorry."
The instructor nodded and turned away, asking the same question to another student. Korrina kept her eyes low, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, not daring to continue her attempts for now. She began listening to the lesson as carefully as she could, hoping that she hadn't fallen far in her teacher's esteem.
Later that night, after most of the Master Dojo had gone to sleep, Korrina was sitting cross-legged on the floor of her makeshift bedroom. As the twenty-fifth student of a school that officially supported twenty-four pupils, there had not been a proper bedroom for her to stay in. Mustard's wife, Honey, had managed to convert one of the larger storage closets into a room for Korrina, until one of the other students left and freed up a proper living space. Korrina had no complaints about her living conditions, thankful that she had the option of staying at all.
Lucario was lying on a mat that had been laid out for him, eyes closed as he pretended to rest, carefully monitoring his trainer's Aura. She had her eyes closed tightly, continuing to explore her mind in search of a destination she didn't understand. Riley had taught her how to visualize her mind as a physical location, something that she could explore as if she was walking through it. He suggested that she visualize her mind as a vast forest filled with trees, with one of those trees being the conduit for her Aura. Korrina preferred to think of it as a vast hallway filled with doors, one of which would lead to the Aura State. She felt as if she had opened tens of thousands of doors over the past three months, none of them leading her to her goal.
Her eyes were screwed up in both concentration and pain, as she battled a fierce headache that was growing ever fiercer, feeling as if her forehead was going to split in two. In the back of her mind, she knew that her headache meant that she was doing this incorrectly, but in her impatience she refused to stop. Within her brain, she continued to run down the hallway, opening door after door, her forehead throbbing more painfully with each failed attempt. Her breathing was ragged and quick, as she began to hyperventilate. Her fingernails dug into her knees, nearly drawing blood. Finally, with one last throb, the pain in her skull was too much to bear, and her vision of a hallway collapsed around her, forcing her to stop.
She let out a scream of pain and frustration, which caused Lucario to sit bolt upright and turn toward her. Her hands let go of her knees and grabbed the sides of her head instead. Her breathing was still harsh, her hands trembling, her eyes now open and unfocused.
"I can't do this," she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "I can't… I just… I've been trying so hard, and…" She could feel tears stinging the corners of her eyes. "I can't control my Aura… I can't lead the gym… I can't even get along with my Pokémon anymore." She could feel her heart settling in her stomach, as a deep despair began to overtake her. "I'm just a failure. A complete failure." She instinctively began to draw deep, slow breaths, trying to calm herself and prevent a complete meltdown. She held this position for several minutes, overwhelmed, unaware of Lucario's eyes fixed on her.
She eventually started to stand without a word, wanting to just lie down and sleep for as long as possible, not wanting to be awake with her negativity keeping her company. As she rose to one knee, something came to rest on her shoulder, stopping her from rising further. She looked up to see Lucario staring down at her, a somewhat impatient expression on his face. He grunted and used his strength to easily force her back down into a sitting position, causing her to yelp.
"Lucario?" she uttered, confused, as her Pokémon sat cross-legged across from her. He reached out again, prodding the Key Stone that was embedded into the glove on her left hand. She lifted her hand, gazing at the rainbow stone, then into Lucario's eyes. What he was asking for was clear, but his motivations were anything but. She had not Mega Evolved him since before they arrived at the Isle of Armor. At this point, she wasn't entirely sure she could even do it anymore.
She eventually nodded, keeping her eyes on his as she firmly grasped the Key Stone with her left hand. His body began to glow with a bright blue light, his body growing and transforming. His features became sharper, his muscles more defined. The dreadlocks on his head grew long and wild, and his normally sleek tail expanded outward and turned from blue to light brown. As the light faded, the familiar form of Mega Lucario sat before her, stoic resolve written on his face.
Once the Mega Evolution was complete, Lucario grunted again and clenched his paws into fists, and his Aura flared angrily to life. It surrounded him, creating a ripple of energy all around his body that Korrina could see even in her normal state. The air around him seemed to warp from the sheer power that engulfed him, tinging the air with a light blue color. The strain of the effort was visible in his eyes, his normally red irises now glowing blue, as he nodded at her, wordlessly commanding her to continue.
She understood immediately, wiping her eyes briefly before closing them again, returning to the endless hallway in her mind. As soon as she arrived, she could tell that something was different. She could feel a familiar sensation, an Aura that seemed to be pulling on her and calling out to her. Her heart pounded as her mental avatar began racing after the distant Aura, the pull growing stronger the more she ran, as Lucario's powerful Aura called out to her innate, long-dormant senses. Soon she could feel herself being bathed in the warmth of the aura, as if she were stepping out into the sun.
After roughly thirty seconds, the powerful tug had brought her in front of one door in particular, which seemed to be glowing with a very faint light. Without hesitation, she reached out for the doorknob, turning it and yanking the door open, pausing and staring in wonder at what awaited her. On the other side of the door was what appeared to be an enormous geyser of Aura, continuously erupting, sending massive plumes of glowing blue light into the air. The geyser was radiating a warmth that she could feel both in her body and her mind, which was a strange new sensation she had never experienced.
She continued to stare in stunned disbelief. Even though she had never been told what exactly she was looking for, she knew instinctively that she had found it. After several long moments of deliberating how she was supposed to interact with it, she decided on the direct approach. She slowly stepped forward, hand outstretched, and as she got closer she let the blue light wash over it. Her hand began to tingle, warmth washing over it, but beyond that she didn't feel any different. After convincing herself that it was safe, she took a deep breath and stepped forward again, letting the Aura fountain engulf her.
Immediately, she felt something powerful, something tangible, completely fill her body from head to toe as if it had been poured into her. She gasped loudly, sucking in air as if she had been drowning, and her eyes shot open, tearing her out of her mental construct and returning her to the dojo. She pitched forward, placing her hands on the floor to catch herself as she took several deep breaths, still adjusting to the strange new sensation.
She looked up after a few moments, taking in the sight of her Lucario, and her heart practically stopped. While her Pokémon had been surrounded by a barely-visible, reality-warping barrier before, she could now see a brilliant blue light shining out of him, engulfing him, plain as day. For the first time in her life, she was able to see the Aura that bound the two of them together. Lifting her head to meet his eyes, she could see they were wide with shock and elation, an excited smile forming on his face. She couldn't see it for herself, but her irises were now glowing blue just as his were.
"This… this is… I'm…" Korrina was incapable of forming sentences, completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of the moment. Her hand reflexively reached out toward Lucario, not sure what else she was supposed to do now that she had unlocked the Aura State. As her hand approached, a thin wisp of Lucario's Aura reached out and wrapped itself around her fingers like a snake.
Korrina immediately stopped and pulled her hand back toward herself, staring reverently at the Aura that was now coiled around it, as it swirled and pulsed with life. She was now holding a strand of Lucario's Aura in her hand. As it pulsed, Korrina could feel her heart pulsing in return, their intertwined Auras calling out to each other. She was gripped with a compulsion to pull it closer, to bring his Aura to hers. She had no idea what would happen if they came in contact, but now may have been her only chance to find out.
She slowly pulled her hand closer to herself, closing it into a fist and resting it against her chest, above her heart.
Instantly, she could feel a rush of emotion swelling within herself. Her heart felt as if it was filled to bursting, a comforting warmth spreading through her. Images flashed through her mind, as clear as if she was seeing them with her own eyes. Once she had adjusted to the shock, and was able to study the images in her mind, she realized that there was a common figure in all of them: herself.
From one picture to the next, she could see herself frozen in time, a golden halo surrounding her frame that caused the world around her to shimmer. She saw herself as a young child, running through a field, her hand grasping a paw that looked as if it belonged to a Riolu. She saw herself as a young teenager, on a battlefield, laughing in delight and running forward with her arms outstretched, ready to embrace someone or something. In every image, which she was starting to recognize as memories, she was featured prominently, highlighted in an ethereal gold that made her look otherworldly, almost like an angel.
She realized that she was viewing the contents of Lucario's heart. Not only was she seeing herself through Lucario's eyes, but she was feeling the same warmth, the same softness of her heart, that Lucario felt as he beheld her. Right now, she was experiencing what it felt like to love her the way Lucario loved her. The all-encompassing intensity of his love was almost more than she could bear.
"Lu… Lucario…" She could feel her eyes pooling with tears, as she lifted them to meet his. Her throat was too choked up to speak any louder than a whisper. "This is how you feel about me…?" Lucario nodded and grunted affirmatively, a joyous smile on his face.
Korrina was too overcome to say anything else, gazing back into Lucario's eyes as she felt her tears streaming down her cheeks. The raw strength of the emotion she was feeling was overwhelming on its own, but the wave of relief she felt would have knocked her off her feet if she had been standing. She had been so scared, for so many months, that she had permanently ruined her relationship with her beloved Pokémon. Even after all the anger and fighting and distance, however, the connection he felt with her was as powerful as anything she had ever experienced.
She closed her stinging eyes, letting a beaming smile spread across her face. She could sense Lucario leaning in closer, and she let herself do the same, until their foreheads were resting against each other. She let herself breathe deeply and slowly, her tears dripping down her cheeks and onto her lap, feeling her Pokémon gently shift with his own breathing. It wasn't long before their breathing was in sync, their bodies rising and falling in unison. Both of them were able to feel the comforting warmth of the other's Aura, reaching out and wrapping around the both of them like a blanket.
All of the heartache of the past few months, all of the anger and humiliation and self-doubt, had been worth it just for this one moment.
The next day, Korrina and Lucario were standing across from each other in one of the Master Dojo's practice rooms. Both of them were stretching their arms and legs, though Korrina had a bit more difficulty due to the padded sparring gear she was wearing. Once they had finished limbering up, they dropped into fighting stances, eyes shining. It was time for Korrina to fulfill a long-neglected promise.
Korrina was grinning in anticipation as she called out to her Pokémon. "Alright, come at me. Show me what you've got."
Lucario smirked back at her, as his body was enveloped in a green light. An instant later, he was standing in front of her, his new Extreme Speed attack making him nearly too fast to track. Korrina yelped and took a large step backwards and to the side, barely dodging the Force Palm that he threw in her direction. Acting on instinct, she grabbed his wrist and yanked him forward to throw him off balance, before lifting her leg and driving her knee into his gut. She expected the air to be knocked out of him, but she realized too late that he was covered in a familiar orange energy, one that neutralized all of the force she was trying to deliver. He quickly stood up and responded in kind, kneeing her in her padded stomach instead, sending her flying backward onto the ground.
She was both proud and annoyed as she quickly got to her feet, glad that Lucario had mastered Counter on his own, but wanting to get at least one hit in against him. Before she could run forward, he was already rushing toward her, holding out his paw in a deliberately telegraphed attack. Her eyes widened as she saw three metallic claws forming from the back of his paw, looking threateningly sharp. He came to a clear stop in front of her before swinging, giving her the time she needed to bend backward and dodge the dangerous swipe of his Metal Claw attack. She quickly recovered, leaping toward him and driving him to the ground, her arms wrapping around his torso. He quickly extricated himself and used his feet to shove her off of him, and both of them were standing again after two seconds.
Korrina rushed Lucario this time, wondering if he might use another Counter, but instead he raised his arms and clashed the metal spikes on his paws together, creating a powerful and painful sound that reverberated through the room. She screeched to a stop as she covered her ears, trying to block out the noise that seemed to shake her to the bone. She looked forward again once the sound had stopped, to find Lucario standing right in front of her. He began slamming his paws repeatedly into her stomach, throwing out one punch or kick after another with blinding speed. The final blow from Close Combat knocked Korrina onto her back once again, and this time she was in no hurry to get back up.
She lay back and stared at the ceiling as she caught her breath, already winded even after such a short sparring session. Lucario walked calmly up to her, looking down with a smug expression on her face, arms folded. She gazed back at him for a moment, before a devious smirk appeared on her face. Immediately, her leg swept out along the floor and knocked his out from under him, sending him tumbling to the floor just as she had been.
"Never let your guard down," she taunted before lying back again. He grumbled, irritated at what he felt was a cheap shot, but he didn't bother retaliating. He'd already done what he had intended to do. The two of them continued lying next to each other, staring up at the ceiling, their bodies pointing in opposite directions.
Korrina's heart swelled with pride as she recalled the new techniques and attacks Lucario had demonstrated. He had shown her his Counter some time ago, but he had also managed to teach himself Extreme Speed, Metal Claw and Close Combat, by sheer force of will. He'd made incredible progress for himself while she was off training on her own, wanting to do his best for her as he always had.
"I can't believe how much you've learned," she spoke quietly, still lightly panting for air. "You've learned so many new attacks, all by yourself… you're incredible, Lucario." She heard him grunt in response, some combination of affirmation and gratitude. She smiled and closed her eyes, imagining how future battles in the Shalour City Gym might play out. If this was how much he had improved on his own, she could barely fathom how strong they would become by training together.
With this thought, it wasn't long before a twinge of guilt intruded upon her heart, as well. As much as she hated to admit it, Avery was correct when he had taunted her three months back. Mustard's lessons about working together and bonding with your Pokémon hadn't been sinking in for her at all.
"I'm really sorry, Lucario," she began. "I haven't been a good trainer to you at all. I promised we would work together when we came here, but I haven't been training with you the way I should have. And it wasn't just training, either. I was trying to enter the Aura State for months all by myself, and then you stepped in to help me and I found it immediately." She sighed heavily. "You've always made me the best I could be, and I completely forgot that."
Lucario grumbled something in return, in his own language that was unintelligible to humans, but Korrina was able to parse his tone without a second thought. His voice was calm and gentle, with a hint of sorrow and a touch of hope. He was offering her his forgiveness.
She smiled wide, reaching over and grasping his paw in her hand, holding it tightly. "From now on, the two of us will grow stronger together. Just like we always have." Lucario squeezed her hand back, voicing his agreement.
Korrina closed her eyes again, breathing slowly and steadily as she held Lucario's paw firmly in her grasp. For the first time in a long time, she felt as if the two of them were truly on the path forward, to repair their fractured relationship and leave their animosity behind them. She quietly promised to herself, and to him, that she would not squander this opportunity.