Chapter Text
“Aria, let me tell you a story.”
Lucas always knew how to keep his young Riolu daughter hooked. The male Lucario often had to travel around as a professional fighter, so he only got to visit his wife Aurora-Alissa’s Trainer once in a few months. Every moment he got to spend one-on-one with his loved ones was always more precious than organic, authentic pearls from the sea.
Right here and right now, Aria was wriggling more excited than a Growlithe who just found the steak drawer on her mother’s lap, having become his voluntary audience in the front row.
“Tell us! Tell us the story! Is it real?!”
The father smiled, flicking off the light switch, prior to emanating the darkened, seemingly boundless room with a blue, intangible sphere.
“Once upon a time, a Lucario discovered a stone gleaming from a boulder’s cracks. He was amazed by the special stone in his paws, he wanted to master its powers!”
Aria’s tail continued wagging. “And then? I bet he got very strong from the stone!”
“Hmmm, it wasn’t that easy.” The cross-legged Lucas tilted his head, one paw resting on his chin. “The Lucario tried very hard, from punching to kicking in order to get adjusted to his changed body. But none of these practices were enough.”
The Riolu’s smile kind of dropped, her mother patting her head as comfort. “Wait, Daddy, don’t tell me he was in pain! The stone was powerful, so he should’ve enjoyed it!”
“He did, at least for a bit. But without someone to help him, the stone’s energy started running all over his body…” Lucas’ face darkened. It seemed to Aria that he was almost… remembering something, like humans swiping back those dark ‘discs’ on one of those squeaky, turning tables – rewinding something they wish they could change.
What was he thinking about? It was just a story, wasn’t it?
Although it didn’t require too long for him to regain his momentum.
“Then one day, something unthinkable happened! A gorgeously kind lady of his kind found him, when he was hurting from bursting all of the power through the stone!” Her father gesticulated for dramatic effects. “And HUZZAH! The lady Lucario, despite knowing the risk of getting hurt, hugged him! And you know what that means!”
It didn’t take long for Aria to joyously come to the conclusion any child would have for a happy ending, her arms imitating her dad’s. “He calmed down! And lived happily ever after!!”
“Yep, and that’s why Lucario, like us, are representatives of Mega Evolution.” Aurora-Alissa gave Aria a little squeeze. “Plenty of us fell in love after mastering the power itself. Just like your dad.”
“I wanna be like Daddy!” Aria paid no attention to the potential implications behind her parents’ words the whole time. As a pup, admiring and following their footsteps were always acts of her unbridled love.
“Oh, you will! Because… I’m gonna give you this Mega Stone of mine!! From now on, you’ll one day become the strongest Lucario in the world!” Lo and behold, the father entrusted his little pup with one sparkly, authentic Lucarionite into her grubby paws, its radiance illuminating the darkness brighter than ever.
She didn’t realize her mother’s breaths tightened a bit. Or her father actually deliberately being a little slow on fully letting go of the stone.
The pup only cared about gasping at its radiance, and pressing it close to her chest to feel how warm it was.
To Aria, that was the most special stone ever.
For it came from her father.
The one she never realized would later die in the paws of another Lucario, who didn’t undergo the same transformation to achieve the same power.
She genuinely thought her daddy was invincible.
Every pup thinks that – right before the world teaches them otherwise.
~~~
Axel loves having an exciting challenge. Mostly in battles.
True to his core, he’s a honking battler, a power-gamer! Of course he would always love a good fight as a Champion’s renowned Pikachu!
But ideologies being challenged? That’s a totally different deal he has to sink in.
The crackling bonfire popped a little too sharply, just enough to yank an old memory to the surface.
That Lucario with red eyes, and without a Trainer.
The Pikachu can’t remember which region’s tournament he joined, precisely. He simply enjoys the thrill of each battle.
But that suspicious Lucario? He didn’t give the battle-loving, determined and headstrong Pikachu any thrill. Rather, he sent a shiver straight down the mouse’s spine.
Each Volt Tackle was dodged with agility fueled by hatred glaring at Streamie – Axel’s Trainer and best friend – at the other side of the battlefield.
‘Raymond’. That was the resentful canine’s name shown on the scoreboard.
And it didn’t take long for the same Lucario to mock him and his teamwork with his human.
“No Pokemon species can ever get along.”
Axel gasped in disbelief, while being forced to dodge the opponent’s attack in the shape of a spherical aura. “What...?”
Raymond scoffed while blowing off some steam from his paws, still eyeing at one of Streamie’s Poke Ball latched onto the same Trainer’s belt. “You’ll understand if your kin is stolen by a DARK TYPE.”
Axel couldn’t even directly detect his physical aura – he’s a Pikachu, not a Lucario. However, even his tail could sense a chilling blade carved from spite, making his blood run cold.
Looking back, that weirdo named Raymond must’ve sensed the presence of his Dark-type friends – either Gintoki the Absol or Kuromi the Zorua’s. Yet that level of ungodly prejudice? Axel hasn’t found anyone who can top that…
“What does it mean...? What does...any of that mean...? I get along with all my friends just fine. Why is he…”
And Monique the Galarian Ponyta – one of Champion Jennie’s Pokemon and Axel’s main headache – just has to arrogantly interrupt his contemplation mood. “Can you stop sitting around? Your trainer called you like 6 times!”
The Pikachu adjusts his cap with a grunt. “AH! Agh, Monique, can you not?! No wonder you’re always beefing with Punker. He’s right – you do live in your own damn fairy realm…”
Monique scoffs, entertaining herself through mocking the Pikachu as usual. “Having another flashback again?”
“Nooo-” Axel can’t even finish his sentence, since Monique has deliberately drawn her conclusion, “Is it about you being a crybaby?”
The frustrated rodent still tries defending himself. “Obviously not! Also it’s an even more important flashback, FFS…”
Monique simply interjects with a haughty insult “Weirdo”, as she gallops off to get food.
Axel subsequently gets on all fours and runs with Monique to rejoin the others. “I don't need you prying into my past, thank you! Gah!”. He growls again, after overhearing how Monique just raises her boisterous voice while laughing about him being an ‘emotional rodent’.
But suddenly, he comes to a hasty stop when the paces of a female Lucario approaches behind him.
“You seem out of it.”
Ah, so Aria just saw him being a deeply profound thinker.
“I'm okay, just deep in thought.”
Compared to the egocentric Monique, Aria is a lot more respectful. “I see. Well, not sure if I’m going to pick up Mega Evolution again… and, I’ve been thinking about something else…”
Axel blinks. Oh right, recently Jennie and Streamie have been assisting Lumiose City’s city planners and mayor tackling the Mega Shards headache. Those shards have been parasitically stuck onto walls and infrastructures, causing renovations to be halted and citizens fearing for their own health.
Trogdor has been rambling on and on about how burning and smashing those shards is making him so damn tired. So Axel figures that maybe he should chat with anything but the damned shards with Aria.
Besides, the last time she Mega Evolved for the first time? It was a disaster. Scarlet the Bisharp (Aria’s adoptive mother) literally was everyone’s savior, when they thought the berserk Lucario girl was going to kill all of them into broken bones buried in craters.
“Soooo, you wanna try out Z-Moves? They’re more available for each species type-wise.”
Aria shakes her head. “Not really. Something more abstract.”
Axel raises an eyebrow, having figured it out – if she doesn’t want to talk about mechanics, then it’s definitely about getting in touch with emotions.
“Ooooh, feelings and such? Just got mocked by Monique for that.”
Aria’s turn to raise her eyebrow for being read so easily. “...How did you know? You don't have the ability to sense somebody’s aura.”
Axel grins. “Lucky guess!”
Aria responds with a snort. “Adults like you are too perceptive.”
While Axel simply blurts out the truth: “No seriously, you’ve been staring at Poniard longer than you should.” Which is adequate to induce a hot pink blush all over the young Lucario.
“Didn't know The Mouse Pokemon could be so nosy…”
As the Pikachu jokes back, “That's what happened when I met Alice.” The canine retorts, “Your advantage of having a partner! But no really, Poni is like a little brother to me! He’s more of an adoptive sibling by technicality, too…”
Oh right, by technicality, Poniard the Pawniard is a younger brother figure to her. She definitely doesn’t want to cross a moral border in this relationship.
Aria proceeds to ask an important query. “Who were your parents? Just curious.”
Axel shrugs. “My dad was a Ditto. I know. Shocker, right? My mom, on the other hand, was a Kantonian Raichu. Though, she was a Pikachu when she had my egg.”
“…Wow, super common nowadays with a nonbinary cloning father.” Aria recites her parentage anyway, despite the fact that Axel already has some background knowledge from Scarlet or anyone else . “My mom is a Lucario, same with my dad. But Mom has Bisharp genes due to my grandfather. Man, can’t believe she didn’t tell the truth about him just to protect me… at least you got the honest picture.”
Axel expresses his interest anyway. “Interesting how where you came from, Lucario and Bisharp were enemies. But from what I've seen, they tend to rival with Haxorus.”
Aria smiles a bit, while having come to a reasonable conclusion – a long way since she was a rambunctious, simple-minded Riolu. “ When someone has a common objective, they band in, even if the alliance is short-lived. Yet my grandmother chose a different path…”
Axel understands the connotation – not a lot of Fighting-types like mingling with Dark-types even in the present day out of stigma. Which only further encourages him to be supportive. “ Well, the path your grandparents took is the path you seem to walk! Look at how harmonious you’ve been with the Pawniard triplets and Bisharp parents! They’re always so, so proud of you!”
“I do wish I could thank him for everything, but… if I choose to love Poniard more than a little brother…” There seems to be a shade of hesitation from the female canine, although Axel tries his best to be agreeable.
“...Well, you're technically not related. But I can see where you would find that weird.”
Welp, not the most helpful advice from a young-adult aged Pikachu.
Her paw drifted to her chest again, which is – from what Axel can recall – the same place she used to press when she missed Aurora-Alissa.
“Yeah, how is Scarlet — my current mother — going to feel?! She’ll be so fucking disappointed in me!”
“Woah, relax! She’s very open-minded, so don’t sweat too much!”
Aria, while stretching herself, does give out a justified explanation to this conundrum – it’s evident to Axel that she’s been carrying a tad of emotional baggage. “Well, Scarlet has raised me ever since my mother died… I owe her a lot and can’t afford to trouble her… besides Poni has more within his league. He can pick a Kingambit or any of the members within his evolutionary field.”
Axel might be a jokester sometimes, though he’s not insensitive. He has already peeked at her pressing faintly onto her chest.
Looks like she hasn’t fully moved on yet.
And the thought of Scarlet’s face tightening in disappointment must’ve made her stomach flip. She couldn’t bear risking the only mother she had left.
“But hey, trauma aside, let me be real with you for a sec…”
Aria blinks, trying to steady herself to listen to her friend.
“I'm still a Pikachu and I refuse to evolve. So the choice is his.” Axel decides to slow things down, though he’s unwilling to give up on the prospect of being a wingman. “But trust me, out of all the guys he’s the one who loves you the most. So go with the flow, it won’t be costly.”
There’s a gleam of hopefulness from his black eyes. Softness is rare to be seen from someone as tough as him, yet here he is.
“Hey, look, crushes are like battles. Half the time you don’t know what you’re doing. You just have to pray that your moves will connect.”
The female Lucario chuckles, admiring her older friend’s optimism. She swears her own green aura has just flickered into a mild pink for a brief minute.
“I sure hope you're right.”
And so, they chat and chat. Such as Axel saying that sometimes he does have dreams of what it'll be like to be a Raichu while he’ll be training harder to keep up, and Aria believing that he will look great in either X or Y Mega form if he’s a Raichu.
When she praises him with that “you’’’ look good in either Mega Evolution” compliment, Axel teases back with “I should be saying that to you and Poniard, actually~”
With another massive hue of blush and an exasperated but playful shout of “GODDAMMIT DON’T PUBLICIZE THIS!!” from Aria covering Axel’s mouth, the night goes on with their laughter as they walk forward for their supper.
It’s a blessing, according to Aria herself, that she has so many friends getting along with her just fine. Who would’ve realized that she used to be a defensive little brat, who thought everyone was going to steal her mom?
Though Aria’s longing green pupils have never left Poniard’s shiny blue armor.
A relationship with Poniard, and being able to master Mega Evolution…
And still… she can’t bring herself to reach for either dream.
Nah, those will be only in her dreams.