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About a month has passed since the recruits were dismissed to their own training. Jason and Charlie weren't able to pursue training together as both their parents decided to train them individually. The Riolu trained vigorously with alternating mentors. In the morning, he'd be trained to master the aura by his mother, Natalie. In the afternoon, his father would hone his fighting styles as well as his fire abilities. In the evening, Harrison, the Garchomp, would devote about an hour to help the Riolu in meditation, teaching him to raise his own mental barriers.

His mother managed to teach the Riolu how to properly convert his aura into life energy, granting him the ability to perform healing skills. He's even received pointers in improving his analysis, acquiring a more detailed three-sixty degree view around him though only at an initial radius of ten meters. His mother's also taught him how to further improve his combat aura.

She taught him that the aura can be used as a literal extension of his own body. Jason learned how to manipulate his aura to function as a second layer to his skin like a protective membrane, although he could only perform it from his hands. That proficiency evolved into using multiple limbs at the same time, manipulating its size, density and hardness, as well as full body armor.

However, Jason learned that maintaining the body armor drained him quickly, so if he wanted to last in combat, he would just use his aura hands to block the attacks. Jason felt like one of those psionic superheroes he sees in the TV. How their hands glowed with their energy as they blocked, parried or defected attacks. He may not have been able to manipulate other matter like psychic types, but he sure as well was glad that his specie was a master of the aura.

Also, at his request, his father worked on training the Riolu to perform ranged fire attacks. They started with the basics: ember. Jason learned to at least be able to shoot small embers out of his hands at the first. From there, they progressed to fist-sized bolts of fire, which was satisfying enough for the Riolu seeing as he can't seem to get any further from there. He could increase the size of the fire bolt though, but he settled for the easier to do for the meantime.

His next lesson from his father was more of physical improvements: improving his running and dodging abilities, jumping and landing, even his kicks. If anything, Jason thought that his father wanted for him to have been a Torchic with all the exercise he was putting into his legs. If not for Jason's new ability of self-healing, he felt like his leg muscles just might get torn to pieces after the end of every session.

Of course, when Jason joked about his father wanting a Torchic for a son, he regretted it immediately as he saw his father's mood dampened. "No, dad, that's not what I meant." The Riolu frantically tried to explain himself, his face flushed red with shame. "I was just joking, just a conversation starter."

"I know, I know." The Blaziken replied with a forced smile. "It's just, well, this is how I was raised and I'm not really that good at training you in anything else. Of course, if you want, we could work on our punches now."

"How about we take a break?" the Riolu suggested, wiping the sweat that dripped off of his forehead.

"Alright." The Blaziken said as he and Jason sat down on the grass and rested. "Say, Jason," his dad started after moments to catch their breaths. "You said that your joke earlier was a conversation starter. Did you want to talk about something?"

The Riolu had just returned from the bench to grab a bottle of water when the Blaziken spoke. He uncapped the bottle a chugged it down, finishing it in seconds before answering his father's question. "Well, not based off of that joke, no." the Riolu answered. "But... I wanted to ask you before about Lucius."

"I see..." the Blaziken's expression remained calm, but the Riolu could tell that he was startled at the mention of the name. "What would you like to know about him?"

"Mom told me that the two of you were partners." Jason answered. "But that's pretty much all she knows about it and she didn't dare pry into your painful past..."

The Blaziken chuckled. "She described my past as 'painful'?" the Riolu let out a wry smile as he nodded. "Well... she isn't very wrong at that... Alright, better get comfortable 'cause this'll be a long story." The Blaziken said as he stood up and walked back to the house. After Aiden had returned to grab water for the two of them, the two shuffled in their seated position until they were comfortable for the apparent long story.

The Blaziken cleared his throat. "We first met in the military orphanage. Both my parents were killed and a patrol apparently found baby Lucius abandoned at the end of Avalon's border. They were unsure who his parents were, but in the baby's condition, they couldn't leave him alone. Of course, future tests confirmed that he is indeed gifted with the blood of Avalon, so he was placed in the military orphanage. Should anyone adopt us, great. If we weren't adopted by the age of thirteen, we would be moved to the Academy's dormitory where we would be automatically enlisted into the army.

"There, I was that hyperactive, friendly kid where I'd walk up on random children and immediately start a conversation with them. To me, at the time, everyone was my friend. Then I met Lucius, who had apparently lived in the orphanage ever since he was an infant. I was the new guy there and I was determined to make a good impression on everybody, so I approached him.

"Turns out, even though he's been there for as long as he can remember, he was pretty much a scaredy-cat... er... the shy type. He retreated when I tried to start a conversation with him, but to me, he was just playing hard to get. I practically followed him around, calling out to him even though I didn't know his name just to get him to talk." He paused a moment to chuckle. "Of course, this turned to that, eventually, the two of us became friends, the best of friends even.

"Then, my aunt came to my rescue..." his voice slowly trailed away as his previously smiling face grew sad. "She adopted me, and I had to say goodbye to my best friend... and he had to say goodbye to his only friend..."

Jason bit his lip as he held back the tears. He almost felt sorry for the man that murdered his best friend and tortured him in his dreams. But he decided to keep quiet for now and wait for his father to finish his story.

The Blaziken cleared his throat once more as he snapped out of his momentary daze. "Anyway, as the years passed, he was never adopted. And as I've said before, he was moved to the Academy's dormitory once he turned thirteen. After I left, he apparently sunk back into his isolated shell. He once again became the quiet kid that avoided everybody. Of course, all that changed when I, too, enrolled in the Academy. You should've seen the look on his face when I tackled him to the ground during our first meeting." He said with a chuckle as he pictured in his head the scenario.

"The years went by, he and I became inseparable friends and partners. We fought side by side through thick and thin, we busted drug cartels, gangs, terrorists and even corrupt governments. We were one of the best units that Avalon could send out on missions. Of course, in between that period, I met a woman, not your mother, and fell in love with her. She was my first wife and I loved her dearly... but Lucius grew weary of her.

"He was afraid that my being married and having a new family would affect our partnership and friendship, and that was very evident whenever we'd meet up for a mission where the usual spark of enthusiasm between us vanished. Eventually, I knocked some sense into him to remind him that he and I were, and always will be, friends."

The Blaziken's mood darkened as he looked back to what eventful thing happened next. "And then the incident happened... Several teams were dispatched after one objective: to destroy a major terrorist threat. It wasn't sanctioned by any country, but it was apparently dangerous enough to force our former head to send out multiple teams after it. The mission was simple: plant explosive charges at key places in the area in the dark of night and blow it up. The explosives we used were confiscated from a criminal shipment that we busted, so it would be traced back to that criminal organization instead of us.

"We were too foolish, too loyal to our leader that we didn't even think about the details. We followed our orders to the letter, especially the part that we were to make it look like it was a terrorist group that did it. Of course, Lucius was always the smart one... but he was too late... we had already detonated the explosives from a safe distance when we saw him running towards us... to warn us that we were deceived.

The Blaziken held his hand against his eyes to hide the fact that he had started crying as the horrible memories of the event played in his mind once more. "When..." he spoke his words carefully, trying to avoid making the sound of sobbing while he shared his story. "When we all rushed to the ruins... hoping to at least find... some survivors... but we were only greeted by the burning carcasses or the innocents we slaughtered... as well as my wife..." the Blaziken lost it all as he began crying, unable to hold back the grief that was gnawing against the back of his head.

Jason could do nothing but stare in horror at what he had heard and he felt sorry for having to put his father through all that. "Dad, I'm so sorry..." Jason spoke as he placed his hand on his father's lap in a feeble attempt to comfort him.

"It's not your fault..." his father managed to calm down a moment later, gathering his wits and standing back up. "I'm sorry you had to see your old man like that. Um... that's all the training I'll be giving you for today, you can go practice on your own if you wish."

The Riolu remained silent as he watched his father walk away a broken man. "What have I done...?" he mumbled to himself as he clasped his head within his arms in shame. His father may not have gotten to the part where the Luxray became some psycho terrorist, but the Riolu felt like it had something to do with that incident. He wasn't going to ask his father about it anytime soon though, he felt like his story was only going to get darker from there. "Great job, idiot..." Jason mumbled to himself as he stood up and walked back to his room

The Blaziken, on the other hand, had leapt up to his perch on the roof of the house, climbed onto its roof and sat down. He took a deep breath as a breeze brushed against his face, and he let out a sigh. "What am I doing?" he mumbled to himself. "How can I protect Jason if I can't keep myself together just by sharing my story?" the Blaziken glanced behind him at the sound of footsteps to find his wife, Natalie, climbing up to the roof with him.

"I saw what happened down there." The Lucario said as she sat beside her husband. "I told you before not to push yourself when having to remember the past."

"I guess I'm just THAT stubborn." The Blaziken replied with a weak chuckle.

"You didn't even have to talk about the incident to tell Jason why Lucius was like that." the Lucario said.

"But I did." The Blaziken replied. "That incident has everything to do with why Lucius left... but... I don't know if it's still the same thing that turned him to what he is now..."

Natalie stared at her husband with worry in her eyes. "I don't think you can get yourself to kill him... can you?"

The Blaziken lowered his gaze at the Lucario's question. "I WILL kill him." The Blaziken sternly replied, but with a hint of hesitation. "He threatens Avalon's... and Jason's safety. How I feel towards my fallen partner has nothing to do with this."

The Lucario placed her hand on the Blaziken's and pulled him closer. "Aiden, you don't have to carry this burden on your own shoulders."

"I have to finish what I started!" Aiden exclaimed as the tears came pouring down once more.

Natalie was surprised by the Blaziken's outburst, but it wasn't unexpected. The Lucario's right hand glowed a faint blue light as she used it to wipe away the Blaziken's tears. Even though the Blaziken looked away, embarrassed by how he had acted, Natalie didn't stop drying the Blaziken's face and kissing her husband on the cheek. "Aiden..." she spoke in a soft, compassionate voice. "I'm here for you, your friends are here for you, and I'm sure Jason will be there for you. No one blames you for what happened, and no one expects you to take responsibility for it. I see you training every night, trying to push yourself to get stronger. There is nothing wrong with that, but what's unhealthy about what you're doing is that you're drowning yourself in your own regrets."

The Lucario gave the Blaziken a moment to let it all sink in before she removed her hand from his face and stood up. "I'll head on downstairs and prepare a snack for you and Jason. I don't want to see you down there while you're sulking like this, Jason feels guilty enough for having to put you through all that." and with that, she jumped down from the roof.

The Blaziken let out a soft chuckle. Seeing his wife be the compassionate mother that she is warmed his heart and seeing her as the serious lady that she is gave him hope. He did as he was told and tried to just forget about his worries... oddly enough, the best way for him to do that was to look back to his days with Lucius, clinging onto the hope that somewhere inside that terrorist leader is his best friend...

--- twenty years ago ---

"Wake up, dumbass!" cried a rather jovial voice as a pillow was slammed harshly on the victim's face. The sky was a light shade of green as sunrise was mere moments away, and the Blaziken was rather excited about waking this pokemon up.

"Ugh, get off me!" the sleepy pokemon shouted as he punched his attacker painfully in the gut.

"Oof... ow... that hurt." He groaned as he collapsed on his knees.

"I'm up... I'm up..." the Luxray said with a yawn as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and scratching his head, his fingers running through his thick, black mane. "Aiden, when will you stop barging into my appartment?"

"Hm..." the Blaziken on the ground hummed, placing his finger under his chin comically. "Nah, I don't think I'll be stopping anytime soon."

"Ugh, grow up will you?" the Luxray groaned as he got to his feet and prodded over to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Even though his tone was a bit hostile, he treasured the moments he got to spend with the childish Blaziken. "Besides, don't you have a family now?"

"Bianca can hold the fort on her own." The Blaziken smiled as he assisted the pokemon in preparing breakfast. "How about you, will you even find yourself a woman?"

"Hmph, I don't rush things like you do, idiot." The Luxray chuckled. "Perhaps when the time is right, or if the one shows up..."

"You're so melodramatic!" the Blaziken laughed, slapping the pokemon's back. "You know how silly you sound, right, Lucius?"

The Luxray winced at the burning pain that the Blaziken's hand left. "It's better than jumping at the wrong opportunity, Aiden."

"Pounce too late and you just might miss it." The Blaziken replied.

"Well, then I guess I like the quiet and solitude." The Luxray replied. Pulling out a tomato from the fridge and dicing it into tiny pieces while the Blaziken cracked open two eggs and began whisking.

"That's not what you're smile is telling me." The Blaziken said.

"Oh yeah? What is it telling you then?" the Luxray asked.

"That you enjoy my company." Aiden answered as he stopped whisking to look at the Luxray with a grin.

"Well, what can I say? You are a precious friend to me." Lucius said. "How can I not enjoy your company no matter how annoying, obnoxious or bombastic?"

"Fuck you, man." The Blaziken chuckled at the sarcasm in the Luxray's voice. "Don't tell me you're going gay for me now."

"No, of course not." The Luxray answered. "You're too ugly for me to view as anything sexual."

"Fuck you!" the Blaziken couldn't stop himself from laughing as he punched the Luxray in the shoulder.

The Luxray laughed softly as he gathered the diced tomatoes and the whisked egg and prepared the omelette. "Am I not allowed to be sentimental with you without being accused of homosexuality?" the Luxray asked.

"Fine, I won't judge your manliness." The Blaziken chuckled as he walked over to the counter and prepared two plates and utensils.

"It's just... I'm glad you and I are still friends like this..." the Luxray said. "Especially now that you have a family, I was really afraid that you'd change."

"Hey, we're still partners aren't we?" the Blaziken asked. "Nothing in this world will change the fact that we're partners, friends, and brothers."

The Luxray tried his best to keep himself from crying but couldn't stop the tear that escaped the side of his eye. "Yeah..."