That night, Sunset set about dealing with her newfound -and unwanted- Gyarados. As much as she hated to admit it, if she could tame this monstrosity of a Pokemon, she’d have a powerful ally. The key phrase here being, if she could tame this thing.
Already, she watched it thrash in the waters off Cianwood City. Standing safely on a rented boat off in the cove of a little island, Sunset observed the Atrocious Pokémon let out a roar of rage. She watched it dive into the seas, the serpentine tail flashing in the moonlight as it bit down hard on a Sharpedo and blood sprayed everywhere as the feared Brutal Pokémon became lunch.
“There’s always a bigger fish…” Dragonair murmured, ready to fire off a Thunder Wave attack at Gyarados if it got too close for comfort. Nearby, the flashing blue lights of a police boat could be seen off in the distance. Onboard, was an Officer Jenny armed with a harpoon gun (Along with several grenade launchers as well.) if Dragonair’s attacks failed, Arceus forbid. You could never be too careful when dealing with a Pokemon of this size and power, and one constantly in a state of rage.
“You said it…” Sunset replied nervously, watching what was left of the Sharpedo float in the now red-tinted waters. “Remind me why I’m doing this again?”
“Good question…” Dragonair replied. “Your mom and mine for that matter, would chide us both for being suicidally foolish even getting this close to that thing. If you ask me, that Gyarados should be released into the wild… For all our sakes. Let it rage all it wants.”
“And leave the chance of it attacking someone else?” Sunset asked. “No, we either give it to a Pokemon Reserve if worst comes to worse, or we train this thing ourselves and tame it. Mind you, that’s going to be…”
“Problematic?” Dragonair offered.
“Not the word I’d choose, but yeah…” Sunset nodded in return. “I can name you… Hell, count off my fingers as to whose successfully trained one of those things. It’s a very short list. Almost all of them Altomarians, or Dragon-Type masters.”
Sunset cracked her knuckles and sighed to herself. “Well… Time to get to work…” she mentally thought to herself, wondering what the Hell she was getting herself into.
The Atrocious Pokémon re-emerged from the waters once more, fanged maw dripping blood. Sunset tried to send calming, mental waves towards the sea serpent-like Pokemon, but all she could sense in its mind was the pure unadulterated rage, plain and simple.
It let out a shrieking sound and lunged towards the boat as Sunset sent out more waves towards the Pokemon, saying:
”I’m not going to hurt you.” but the Gyarados honestly didn’t seem to care. All it saw was another meal. Snarling, Dragonair let out a Thunder Wave attack and the Atrocious Pokémon roared out in pain.
“Uh Sunset…” Dragonair warned. “You might want to rethink this idea…”
“Oh, I’ve been doing that since we came out here!” Sunset shouted as the Gyarados dived under the boat, the shadow of its serpentine-like form being just barely visible in the darkness. “Come on, where did it go…?” she thought nervously to herself, eyes darting from right to left as she searched the black waters.
Then, she got her answer as the Pokemon leaped back out of the water, maw opened and charging up an orange Hyper Beam. Dragonair’s eyes narrowed before she unleashed a blast of her Dragon Breath knocking the Gyarados back beneath the waves with a large splash of water soaking both Trainer and Pokemon to the bone.
The shadow of the Pokemon could be seen swimming back under the boats and into a nearby reef, as it planned its next attack.
“This isn’t… This isn’t training…” Sunset panted out. “More like survival. That thing isn’t going to listen to anyone’s orders, no matter what we try and do to get through to it. I hate to say it, but this is one Pokemon I just can’t train…”
Her point was only proven when a now completely furious beyond measure Gyarados rose back up from the sea, teeth bared and glowing white in a Crunch attack. Terrified, Sunset lost all of her reasoning capacity, and forgot she had Gyarados’ Pokeball on hand. A grenade fired from the police boat hit the side of the Pokemon’s head and it roared out in pain as several more hit it in quick succession. Its eyes shut as it lapsed into unconsciousness, and it slammed into the small fishing boat Sunset and Dragonair resided on smashing it completely in half. The last thing Sunset did before she slipped into unconsciousness did was manage to return Gyarados. All that she heard was Dragonair shouting her name in fear, a snapping sound, and a boat’s motor...
Day broke over the horizon once again of the shores of Cianwood City. By Sunset’s calculations, she’d been here at least four to five days, far longer than was normal for a Pokemon Trainer on the road. Waves gently lapped against the shores, and Pidgeys cooed out their early morning calls from the trees along with the occasional Pidove that had migrated all the way out from the Unova region for one reason or the other.
Speaking of Sunset, she groaned as she turned on her side in one of the guest rooms the Pokemon Center had provided. She needed to get out of this town, win her Gym Badge against Chuck and get the Hell back on the road. The Pokemon League for Johto, the Silver Conference, held in Silver Town wouldn’t wait on her forever.
A small wooden clock in her room, as soon as the clock hands struck 7:45 proper using springs, made a Pidgey pop out again and again like a cuckoo clock. The mechanical Pidgey made its distinct call, and Sunset groaned again.
“Just a few more minutes please mom…” Sunset mumbled as she instinctively pulled the covers over herself, the Pidgey Clock reminding her of home and how her Mom would use to come in with a cheery smile on her face and an exclamation of “Wakey wakey, eggs, and bakey!”
Suddenly she felt a distinct plucking at her hair. Her eyes narrowed.
“Really Talon, is that really needed?” Sunset sighed.
“Well, considering I doubt you were going to get up on your own…” Talon trailed off, the massive bird Pokemon taking up most of the bed space.
“Some of us do like to get up on our own terms, not have a defined wake-up call and I’m one of those people, even if you aren’t,” Sunset deadpanned, rather annoyed.
“Yes, but we’ve got to get to training hard for the Cianwood City Gym Battle as we can’t be getting lazy, and you need to socialize with Lucario more,” Talon lectured. “He isn’t going to become a real member of your team, or family as I heard him put it all on his own and you not building up his trust with you.”
“Wait, when was this?” Sunset asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity.
“Saw him get up about the same time I did for my morning flight, maybe even earlier. I was just doing my regular morning fly over when I saw him up atop a cliff throwing kicks and punches at an imagined opponent,” Talon explained. “Not exactly out of the ordinary behavior for a fighting type Pokemon for it to go off and train on his own, I’ll be the first to admit. But to do it so far away from their trainer?”
“Alright, you’ve made your point,” Sunset muttered before she realized something. “...Could you get off me now?” She asked and Talon sweatdropped before he flapped his wings and gently jumped off the bed to the floor below. Sunset stretched her arms as she yawned before she cracked her knuckles. She quickly changed out of her sleep shirt and pants, loose-fitting attire in purple with a setting sun emblazoned on Sunset’s shirt into her normal leather-based attire. Finally, she grabbed her boots and pulled them on, grabbing her shoulder bag as well before returning Talon to his Pokeball.
Sunset made her way up a small footpath on the edge of Cianwood City all the way up to the clifftop Talon had pointed out, where sure enough, she’d found Lucario training hard. He’d actually sliced -Or, more likely, had kicked- the top half of a pine tree off so he could have a makeshift punching bag.
The Aura Pokémon’s knuckles were bruised and bloodied from all the punching and kicking he’d been doing, and Sunset could tell each punch hurt even more than the last.
“Oh, Lucario…” Sunset said sadly before walking up to him and pulling bandages out of her bag and wrapping them around Lucario’s paws.
“You didn’t need to do that,” Lucario replied coldly.
“But I wanted to. Lucario, anyone could see you were in pain. I know you want to get better, but this isn’t the way to do it, pushing yourself to the brink… Getting yourself hurt,” Sunset replied. Her left arm was in a cast, she'd broken it when she'd hit the deck of the fishing boat. If Lucario wanted to know what exactly happened, he didn't inquire into it.
“But that’s the way Damien always trained his Pokemon…” Lucario answered, with a small tinge of anger in his tone.
“Right, and we’ve seen he’s such a great example of a Pokemon Trainer,” Sunset drawled sarcastically. “You’re not on Damien’s team anymore, you’re on mine. And I don’t like seeing my Pokemon pushing themselves to the point of exhaustion, or getting themselves hurt for no good reason.”
“But-” Lucario protested before Sunset silenced him with a finger to his muzzle.
“No buts, Lucario. You need a rest, you’ve been at this all morning. Come on, I’ll take you into town and get you some breakfast, how’s that sound?” Sunset asked kindly. Lucario didn’t look quite so ready to take her up on that offer.
“I… I don’t know… For my whole life, fighting’s the only thing I’ve ever known. Proving myself, for the field of battle. Never had time to be sociable,” Lucario replied sadly.
“Well, there was that one Spearow friend of yours you mentioned…” Sunset trailed off. Lucario let out the equivalent of a sigh.
“Yeah, but the likelihood of me seeing her again is slim to none, I think,” the Aura Pokémon replied. “But you’ve made your point Master… I’ll go with you into town.”
“Please don’t call me Master, Sunset’s just fine,” Sunset told her Pokemon.
“Alright… Sunset,” Lucario stated, mulling the word over in his mind. He did admit, calling his trainer by their actual name did feel more comfortable, more familial than just calling them “Master”. But the question was, was he actually ready to be part of a family again?
Lucario’s thoughts drifted away from that when his stomach rumbled. He flushed in embarrassment as Sunset giggled. “Yeah, it looks like your stomach’s doing the thinking for you,” She laughed.
Far away, brown feathered wings belonging to a Pokemon with one sharp, menacing beak flapped powerfully in the skies above the Johto region. After a quick stop for food in Ecruteak City, it was back on the road as it were. Two piercing green eyes searched the vast landscapes, darting from left to right as they looked for one specific target.
“I’ll find you, Lucario, no matter what it takes…” the Pokemon whispered before it let out a cry of “Spearrrrrooowww!” and flapped her wings again and rocketed off in a southwesterly direction towards the Whirl Islands...
Sunset and her newest partner made their way down to one of the beachfront cafes, with an awning facing the sea and small round metal tables for the patrons to sit down at and enjoy the beach and sunshine. Lucario had been handed a stack of pancakes by one of the waiters, and currently was rather reluctant to even try them.
“They’re pancakes, they won’t bite… Go on, try one. Who knows, you might end up liking them,” Sunset said, gently urging him on. Nervously, Lucario took a fork and carefully bit into one and quickly found out he had a liking for the fluffy, butter-topped delight. Sunset smiled. “See, told you you’d like them,”
“So, what’d you do with that Gyarados you caught, the one that tried to eat us?” Lucario inquired, eyebrow raised and curiosity overtaking him.
“Sent it off to the Pokemon Rangers, see what they can do with it,” Sunset said as she sipped her early morning coffee. She winced at the pain in her arm. Be a few days before she could use it properly again. “That thing, right now… Far too dangerous for any Pokemon Trainer to handle. Best to give it to them, see if they can rehabilitate it.”
“If not?” Lucario asked, not sure if he really wanted to know. Sunset picked up on his line of thinking and was quick to reassure him.
“Not what you’re thinking,” Sunset replied, stifling a laugh as she watched Lucario devour the pancakes like a Tepig would take to slop. She idly wondered if it would be possible to get Oran Berries in those pancakes, remembering how much Lucario had liked them back when he was a Riolu. “It’d be sent off to a place like the Safari Zone in Kanto, where it could live out the rest of its natural life in peace and not be bothered by anyone, not even trainers.”
“Perhaps that would be for the best.” Lucario mused to himself, taking another bite out of his pancakes. Then, his ears perked up and Sunset looked at him in concern.
“What is it?”
Then, she heard it. A loud screeching of “SKAAAARRRRMMMORY!” and Lucario immediately looked tense as he looked skywards and saw one of the Armor Bird Pokémons circling high above them in the sky. Almost in an instant, Lucario froze up, petrified with fear.
“A Skarmony… Damien had three of them. They’re the reason how you found me the way you did,” Lucario growled out, pure hatred filling his voice and Sunset went for Talon’s ball before her eyes narrowed as she got a good look at the Pokemon’s rider. Or make that riders.
“Wait, that’s not Damien’s… See?” Sunset asked, pointing to the two figures on the Skarmory’s back as it flew in closer. The first rider was a male, black spiky hair and wearing a blue button-up vest and matching fedora with a black trim. The second was yet another Lucario. Sunset wracked her brain, something about this man seemed… familiar. Her Lucario on the other hand, was taking deep, calming breaths and trying very hard not to hyperventilate.
As the Skarmony landed in the streets, the rider climbed off of it and said “Skarmony, return.” before returning the Armor Bird Pokémon to its Pokeball in a flash of red light. The man and his Lucario walked up to Sunset’s table. Sunset quickly looked up Skarmony’s entry in her Pokedex.
“Skarmory is entirely encased in hard, protective armor. This Pokémon flies at close to 190 mph. It slashes foes with its wings that possess swordlike cutting edges. Its steel wings become tattered and bashed in from repeated battles. Once a year, the battered wings grow back completely, restoring the cutting edges to their pristine state. In times long past, warriors used them as swords.”
Lucario winced, he could believe that. Those damned Steel Wing attacks Skarmony could perform were nothing to laugh at.
Then, it hit Sunset. Where she’d seen this man before.
“Wait… I know you…” Sunset murmured before she snapped her fingers in recognition. “You’re Riley, aren’t you? Professor Rowan mentioned you a few times over the phone! Hell, you even came to the lab once if I remember right...”
Riley nodded as he pulled up a chair. “Yeah, that I did. Professor Elm called me in as soon as he heard about Lucario. Took me a few days to get here, but… here I am. Elm figured that on the off chance you got Lucario to trust you -And I see that you have, given that you’re sharing breakfast together- you’d need my help to train him properly. Or be more accurate, my Lucario’s help,” Riley said, gesturing to his own partner. Lucario, in an instant, could sense this new Lucario was far more powerful in the ways of Aura and much stronger in strength. Bigger, bulkier and radiating sheer power. Riley had obviously taken care of him quite well. Lucario honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Riley’s Lucario could undergo Mega Evolution he’d heard about in hushed rumors back when he was a young pup in the forest.
“Well, can’t say I’d be grateful for the assist,” Sunset admitted sheepishly, with a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her head. “Fighting or Steel-types aren’t really the kind of Pokemon I’m used to training. Fire or Flying types, yes, but this… I’m sorta out of my depth here.”
Sunset could see why Elm called Riley in. For any other fighting type, he could just call in a fighting type specialist like Maylene from Sinnoh or Cianwood’s own Gym Leader Chuck, but Lucarios required a special type of trainer for them to reach their full potential. The only trainers that could do this were ones at least partially skilled in the ways of Aura, and Riley just happened to be one of the few specialists who knew how to use it.
“Any port in a storm, I guess…” Lucario agreed, knowing he could easily get stronger just by training with a much more powerful member of his species.
Riley nodded, hearing both of them. “So, that settles it. Let’s begin later this afternoon. Unfortunately, I can’t stay long, as Aggron mating season begins back on Iron Island soon and I’ll have to help keep things under control, so I’ll just have to give you a crash course as best I as I can in the time allowed.”
“I understand, other responsibilities and all that,” Sunset replied with a nod.
“So…” Riley’s Lucario began, cracking his knuckles as he looked directly at the younger Lucario, who couldn’t help but swallow nervously. “Are you ready?”