Axel started walking to the east side of the forest. After walking for 15 minutes, he reached a river bank and just sat there alone. He may not know but Shedinja was still guarding him inside of his shadow. It was still fulfilling his duty.
All the things that were discussed were overwhelming for Axel. He had agreed to the system that he would do this mission. He knew that it was not an illusion cause he could tell that he would say the same thing right now if he were in that situation.
Right now, he just wanted to become the Pokemon master, find out the mysteries of the Pokemon world, live with his families and Pokemons, and have a good life.
Now, he not only had to master aura and psychic but also grand energy and another energy that the first Pokemon master could not even master and then finally battle with this entity. Gengar said that the name of the entity was nature but it also didn't know the true name of the entity.
"You know Marcus, you have improved your hiding abilities. But you should still train more in it.", said Axel without looking back.
"Well, it is my duty to protect you. That is why I am here.", said Marcus, and it came forward.
"Why are you so serious? Did something happen?", asked Shedinja.
"Yes, I talked to your teacher and he told me everything. Now I don't know if I can even do it. I just wanted to live my life peacefully and now I have to protect the world?
Marcus, should I really take that responsibility?", asked Axel.
This might be the first time he had asked Shedinja for advice.
"I have been with you for a long time and I know what you would do if you were calm about it.", said Shedinja.
"Oh, then what will I do?"
"You don't care about this world. The world may turn upside down tomorrow and you would not care about it. But you care about those that matter in your life and that care about you. Your family, your friends, your Pokemons. I believe that you care about them.
So, you will do things to protect them. But the thing is if you don't protect this world, all the things that you care about would also vanish. So, do you really want it to vanish?"
"I don't."
"Then you have your answer."
"But it is not so easy. I don't even think that I could achieve it. I will have to train you guys to god ranks and even higher than that. I would have to first master aura and psychic, grand energy, and even the other energy that the first Pokemon master could not master. I have to make a team that I could trust would help me in the time of need.
There are a lot of things that I need to do and I don't think that I can do it all."
"You are thinking this in a wrong way. Just imagine for a second that you didn't have the conversation 30 minutes ago. Wouldn't you do everything so that all of us would reach god rank or even higher rank if there is one? Would not you master the grand energy and other unknown energy? Would not you make a team that would trust you and help you in the time of need?
You would do those things even if you were not compelled to do it. Because that is what you are Axel. Don't take all the pressure as if you have to do all of this alone. You have me, Meg, Charles, and the whole team. You have Oak, Red, the mercenary team, and your friends to support you. You just have to be a beacon that would guide us.", said Shedinja.
"You make it sound so easy.", said Axel with a smile.
"Yes, because it is not so difficult."
###
Talking with Shedinja made him calm and collected. Shedinja had not said any lies. It has just changed his perspective. He went home and saw all of his Pokemons. Some of them were training, some were sleeping, and some were talking and laughing. He saw his mother, sister, father, and uncle. All of them were having breakfast and talking to themselves. He saw Lance and Frank who were also talking about the training. He saw it all.
"Well, I guess I cannot let all of this go away. I will have to protect them.", said Axel to himself with determination.
He then went to Red and told him to start the training.
"Red, let's talk about this aura stone that Lucario gave me. I want to improve my aura capabilities."
"What about your decision?", asked Red.
"Well, I have decided that I want to protect my family, friends, and those that I care about. I cannot just back down."
"That is great, Axel!!", said Red and gave him a big hug which was a bit weird in Axel's opinion.
"Yes, but I will do it my way. I don't want you or Oak giving me any sort of pressure about it.", said Axel.
"Yes, I get that."
Oak also said that he would try to train Axel or give him information and he would be open about it. After saying it, he went home with his Alakazam.
"Now, let's see this aura stone."
Axel took it out and then told Red to study it first.
"I have to go to Riolu for training. I will be back in 2 hours.", said Axel and he went to the training field.
###
All of Riolu's stats were now at S rank and it just had to unlock its aura. Axel had already extended its evolution and now it could only evolve after unlocking the aura stat.
Right now, Riolu was sitting on the ground and meditating while Axel was pouring his aura on Riolu's back.
After a lot of trials and errors, Axel and Riolu came to a conclusion on how to unlock aura stat. If Riolu was going to open its aura stat then its aura should be somehow similar and linked with Axel's aura. Everyone's aura signatures are different and they could not be the same but they could be similar.
After training for a week, Riolu's aura and Axel's aura had become very similar. Now, it was time to link both of the auras. This was not on the training for Riolu but also Axel. They didn't know how to link the aura but after meditating for quite some time, both of them had some ideas.
After 2 hours,
---
Ding!
Riolu's and the host aura have been linked.
Ding!
This is a tremendous achievement. The host will be rewarded for it.
Ding!
Riolu has activated its aura stat.
Ding!
Calculating reward...….
Ding!
The host and Riolu would both gain a passive move called 'Aura link'.
Ding!
Riolu has fulfilled all the conditions for evolution. It is evolving….
---
Suddenly, Riolu started to glow in grey and red energy. It was finally evolving. Axel gave it a fighting gem as he wanted it to in the fighting route. This had already been discussed with Riolu and it had agreed.
After 4-5 minutes, the glow started to die down. Its height had grown and now there were also some changes in its body.
"LUCARIO!!!!", it shouted feeling the power in its body.
"Lucario, use 'Aura sense' and try to control yourself.", said Axel as it could clearly see that it was going out of control. Evolution or rank-up would give Pokemons a false sense of power. Since their body and powers would drastically change, most of them would believe that they were above all others.
Lucario felt that there was something wrong here. Axel had already told it about the rush that it would feel after the evolution. So, it followed Axel and started to calm down.
After it controlled itself, Axel went towards it and patted its head. Normally, Lucario was 4-5 feet tall but his Lucario was almost 6 feet tall. It was taller than Axel right now.
"Congrats, you have unlocked your aura stat. Take rest and try to get used to your new body and aura.", said Axel to Lucario.
'Don't worry Axel. I will do it.', spoke Lucario to his mind which surprised him.
He then looked at Lucario's stats and saw:
---
Pokemon's name: Lucario (Age- 5 months)
Pokemon Nickname: NA
Pokemon Rank: common rank
Pokemon type: Fighting, steel
Ability: Inner focus (50%)
Hidden ability: Justified (0%)
Potential: Black (Monstrous)
Health: 1500/1500 Attack: F
Agility: F Defense: F
Sp. Atk: F Sp. Def: F
Moves:
Active moves: Detect (C) (Lvl 26), Vacuum wave (U) (Lvl 19), Mind reader (U) (Lvl 18), Bullet punch (C) (Lvl 25), High jump kick (U) (Lvl 18), Sword dance (C) (Lvl 27), Counter (U) (Lvl 14), Agility (U) (Lvl 12), Aura sense (U (Lvl 19), Aura sphere (U) (Lvl 18), Thunder punch (C) (Lvl 21)
Passive move: Aeus energy, Aura link (Stage I)
Hidden power: Water (0%)
---
There were a lot of changes in its moves, health points and its typing. It had also gained a new hidden ability. Though it was a replacement for the previous one.
Axel believed that 'Prankster' was a better ability than 'Justified'. 'Justified' was very narrow while in 'Prankster', Lucario could use status moves like 'Swords dance' much faster than in normal situations. Axel could have waited till Lucario could master 'Prankster' to 100% but he knew that it would be a waste of its precious time.
Lucario was also looking to evolve as fast as it could cause its friends had become powerful. So, he knew that waiting might turn out disastrous, so he didn't let Lucario wait.
Finally, was the passive move 'Aura link' and the good thing was that it could be improved.
---
Aura link
Stage I: The aura of Lucario and the host is linked. The host could feel the presence of Lucario anywhere in the world and vice versa. This would grow stronger with time and the move would acquire new functions.
---
Honestly, it was a great move but right now, there was no application for it. However, Axel was hopeful for the up-gradation of this move in the future. He looked at his passive move and it was the same.
###
The next day,
---
Ding!
Croconaw's agility stat has risen to S rank.
Ding!
Croconaw has fulfilled all the conditions.
Ding!
Croconaw is evolving…..
---
A white light gathered around Croconaw and it was starting to evolve. Croconaw had also not been sitting idle while others were training. After the tide, the young Pokemons realized how much they lacked and they seriously started to train themselves.
Togetic had won their little competition and had been able to kill the most Pokemons in the group. Togetic had shown that it was the boss and Croconaw came in second. Realizing that it needed to be the first this time, it had trained to the limit and finally, it had fulfilled all the conditions for the evolution.
Axel threw the water gem while it was evolving. This would give it an added boost and make it even stronger.
The process of evolution took around 5 minutes and finally, it had evolved to its final form
ROOAOOORRRRR
It gave a huge roar as its body started to change and grow and the glow finally disappeared.
It was a bulky, bipedal Pokemon with blue scales. It had large, powerful jaws lined with several sharp fangs. Three teeth were visible when its jaws were closed: two in its lower jaw and one in its upper. Its eyes were red with black markings around them and ridges above them and its lower jaw was yellow. There were three red spines on its body, each with three points: one on top of its head, one between its shoulders, and one near the tip of its tail.
It was Feraligatr