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Lucario fanfic – Quest for Power (Team Ruki Origins)
【 Chapter 11: Thunderstorm 】
The thunderstorm around Mega Island raged on. Salamence and Pidgeot evaded all the thunderbolts striking down at them, skilfully flying through the deadly weather. On their backs, Ruki, Alina and Filio held on tightly, doing their best to not get thrown off. After a lot of close calls, they finally arrived on the shores of Mega Island.
The island was a large and rocky one, far from beautiful with its menacing and jagged landscape. A mysterious, powerful energy permeated the land. One could easily feel it in the island’s air, water and soil, shaping everything in view into otherworldly forms. A volcano smoked in the distance while twisted steel pillars, giant waterlily leaves, eerie forests and deep caves dotted the rocky fields. It was a strange place for any visiting outsider.
Salamence and Pidgeot made their landing on Mega Island’s beach, allowing Ruki’s trio to get off. The thunderstorm seemed to be less violent inland, possibly because they were close to the eye of the storm, but it was still raining hard nonetheless.
“Hmph, you didn’t suck at flying as much as I thought!” Pidgeot told Salamence.
“Well, same to you,” Salamence praised back, before turning to Ruki and company. “Guess this is where we part ways. Thanks for leading us here.”
“We’ll look for our Mega Stones now,” Pidgeot added, “Hope you find yours, too.”
“Of course!” Filio replied, “And don’t get lost on the way back to the mainland later. Haha!”
After saying their farewells, Salamence and Pidgeot took off, going further inland to look for shelter until the rain stopped. Ruki, Filio and Alina studied the wide expanse of rocks and cliffs that stretched beyond the horizon in front of them.
“It’s getting late and that ride was tiring. Also, I’m wet as a Tentacool,” Filio complained, shaking off all the water out of his fur. Ruki and Alina shielded their faces with their arms, avoiding the shower from the Absol.
“Let’s find a hole and sleep,” Filio suggested. “Better be at full health to fight a lot tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Ruki nodded. A loud crack of thunder lit up the skies again and he winced.
“Ugh… Come, let’s get out of this rain,” he muttered disdainfully, cursing and walking ahead to look for the nearest cave.
Heavy rain continued to fall and thunder struck violently across Mega Island, as though expressing the wrath of the gods. Ruki, Alina and Filio had found a small cave. They fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted from their long trip across the entire length of Kalos. But with the thunders roaring, it wasn’t a peaceful sleep for Ruki. He tossed and turned, grunting with a deep frown and sweating profusely. His nightmares haunted him again.
His goal’s so close now. He stood in the darkness, surrounded by a terrible thunderstorm. His wet fur clung to his skin from the rain, and his ears hurt from the loud noises. Right ahead of him, a single orb of Lucarionite on top of a golden pedestal glowed with a powerful aura, inviting him like a Huntail invites prey in the murky abyss.
The Lucario didn’t waste another second, running through the rain as quickly as he could towards the pedestal. He seized his Mega Stone immediately with both paws, clasping it protectively as though it might suddenly disappear into thin air. He looked at it carefully from the spaces between his fingers, admiring the shining stone.
This was it. The crystallization of raw power in his hands.
With the Lucarionite, he could Mega Evolve and become much stronger, like Blaziken did. He didn’t have to ever be scared of anyone or anything anymore. Never ever again. Ruki looked forward past the pedestal, expecting the storm to stop and the dark clouds to part. But instead, what he saw made him gasp in fear.
Filio laid lifelessly on the ground with large knives around him, red and skinless from below his neck. His beautiful white fur was stretched across the wall behind him like a trophy. A little away from him, Alina burnt at a stake, her lower half charred and crumbling into fires that were too big to be quelled by any rain.
“Filio! Alina!!” He shouted in horror. He ran towards them, hoping to be able to save them, but it was too late.
“NO!! No…” The Lucario shuddered, dropping to his knees. His shoulders shook, and his heart sank in disbelief. The storm roared around him, laughing at his misery. Then he saw a patch of light even further ahead. He looked at it, hoping for some sort of salvation.
But it was a cold light–the white light of Team Hope’s labs. In the center of the patch of light laid an unconscious Riolu strapped onto a lab table. Multiple tubes pumped various chemicals into his veins. Ruki thought that it was a vision of his past self, so he didn’t care. But then, he realized that instead of a black cloth tied around his arm, the pup had a red one. Ruki’s face froze in horror.
“Ru… ka…?”
He ran to the lab table. Gritting his teeth, he hurriedly ripped all the poisonous tubes off his little brother.
“Ruka! Ruka!” He called out desperately, shaking the Riolu to wake him up. But the body he held was already cold and lifeless, dropping limply back onto the cold metal table. Ruki shook his head and took a few steps back, shuddering in fear.
He had already made it all the way here. He even got the Lucarionite. Why are horrible things still happening to him?
The Lucario looked at the Mega Stone in his paw. To his surprise, the stone blackened, cracking and crumbling into dust. His hands and legs began crumbling the same way too, and he fell down to the ground on all fours. Feeling a strong discomfort in his mouth, he coughed up blood. Some of his teeth fell out as he coughed, clinking against the floor. He panted heavily, terror in his face as blood and saliva dribbled down his chin. Nozomi’s laughter can be heard.
“You’re nothing without Team Hope’s elixir, Ruki,” the scientist’s voice echoed in his head. “Admit it, you couldn’t have beaten all those powerful enemies, and couldn’t have gotten here without that perfect body I gave you. Are you trying to cover up that fact by getting a Mega Stone? You’re just like a scared Skitty raising its fur to pretend that it’s bigger. What a sorry little Lucario! Hahaha!”
Ruki trembled, unable to say anything back. The air was suffocating and his body felt weak. All he could hear was Nozomi’s victorious laughter echoing through the mocking thunderstorm.
Alina and Filio were awakened from their sleep by Ruki’s pained grunts.
“Yo, boss, what’s up?” Filio asked, still rather groggy. Alina understood the situation right away.
“He’s having another nightmare!” She said, rushing to his side and trying to wake him up by gently shaking his shoulder. “Ruki. Ruki!”
Ruki whimpered, a deep frown on his face.
“Oh no, he’s not waking up,” Alina said worriedly.
“Step aside, sis!” Filio said, rubbing his paw on the ground like a Tauros getting ready to charge. “I’ll give him a nice headbutt.”
“Filio, wait! I think I saw Ruki throw a Chesto Berry into our stock earlier.”
She dug into a makeshift bag that they had created with some leaves, where they had stored their collected berries.
“Found it!” She said, taking out the little blue Berry. “Chesto Berries will wake anyone up.”
The Tsareena slowly pressed the fruit into Ruki’s mouth. The Chesto Berry’s hard and dry skin suddenly pressing against his tongue surprised the Lucario, giving him a rude awakening. Eyes cracking open, he choked on the Berry and spat it out.
“Ruki!” Alina called out. But her friend seemed to be in a state of shock, panting and looking disoriented. His pale face looked like he was really terrified of something.
“No, go away!” Ruki said as he tried to push her away, his breathing ragged.
“Ruki, it’s okay! It’s me!” The Tsareena said. She hugged him, remembering how the Lucario usually calmed himself down through meditation. “Breathe. Match your Aura with mine.”
Unfortunately, this time, her voice didn’t reach him. Growling, Ruki sprang up, shoving Filio aside and running out of the cave into the storm.
“Ruki!!” His companions yelled frantically, immediately chasing after him.
Outside, Ruki summoned his bone scythe, screaming in frustration as he began smashing anything in sight.
“ARGHH!!!” The Lucario screamed furiously, destroying the rocks around him with reckless abandon. The events in his dream still fresh in his mind, he lost control of his emotions, his blue black Aura flaring up violently.
“Ruki! What happened?! Stop!” Alina shouted over the noise of the howling winds. She ran towards her friend, extremely worried.
“Alina, no! You might get hurt!” Filio warned, standing in her path.
Ruki continued slashing and smashing at the rocks, his screams laced with despair. His black cloak billowed in the wind wildly, giving him the menacing appearance of a Reaper on a rampage.
“I’ve left everything behind! Took months to travel all the way here! But for WHAT?! Even if I get the Lucarionite, I’ll never be satisfied! All because of this cursed body!!”
He hated himself. He remembered Nozomi’s words in his dream, about how he wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for the perfect IVs that Team Hope gave him. He had to admit that it was true. How many more battles did he have to fight until he can be credited for his victories? Can he ever feel okay with calling himself a strong Lucario??
Probably not. When he survived Team Hope that night, he had been cursed for all eternity to thirst for power. Just so he can accept himself.
Smashed against a large rock, his bone scythe cracked and exploded into tiny pieces. The splinters scratched him and stabbed into his skin, but Ruki wasn’t satisfied yet. He continued to punch the jagged rocks until his fists bled.
“RUKI!!” Alina shouted, shoving Filio aside and running ahead.
“Alina!”
The Absol couldn’t stop her. Once she got to Ruki, she grabbed him and pulled him back forcefully, trying to stop him.
“Ruki, stop! You’re hurting yourself!!”
Ruki glared at her, madness in his eyes. But as he looked at her face, he was suddenly overcome by fear. Alina, the powerful Tsareena who would’ve probably defeated him at Roza if he’d had his natural body. She was the living proof and reminder of how much he depended on Nozomi’s chemicals. Suddenly losing it, he hit her hard, the impact knocking her to the ground.
“……!!”
Alina fell into the puddles beneath her with a large splash. The star attached to her crown stalk was knocked off in the process, bouncing away and disappearing into a crack between the rocks. Ruki loomed over her, his wet matted fur making him look like a huge, menacing mess. She looked up at him in horror.
“Hey!” Filio jumped and landed between the two. “Ruki, that’s enough! Don’t you DARE hit innocent girls! What’s wrong with you?!”
Behind Ruki, thunder cracked and tore across the skies, its blinding flash ominously painting the Lucario’s figure in a deep black shadow. He spoke up.
“Team Ruki ends here. I’m leaving.”
Another lightning flash and thunderstrike followed, amplifying the shock on Alina and Filio’s faces.
“…Whoa, that’s a joke right? Haha, not funny, Ruki! I’m just starting to like being in this team, too!” Filio pointed out. The Lucario was serious though, looking away as the cold rain pounded on him mercilessly.
“You wanted to know why I’m looking for a Lucarionite, right? I’ll tell you,” he began, “A while ago, an evil organization called Team Hope kidnapped me for cruel experiments. All I could do was cry. I even lost my best friend in the labs. I… don’t want to have to suffer like that ever again, so I wanted to get stronger at all costs.”
“Ruki…” Alina said worriedly, wanting to comfort him.
“Nonsense! Aren’t you already strong enough?!” Filio interrupted, “Alina told me that you’ve never been defeated! You even defeated us and Blaziken!”
Ruki shook his head sadly.
“This body–it’s not mine. My muscles, my bones, my energy, my Aura… They’re all strong only because Team Hope made it so. I thought that if I travel and get a Lucarionite all by myself, I’d finally have a strength that I can call my own. But in the end, this artificial body just carried me throughout the entire journey. I haven’t changed at all.”
He looked at Alina and Filio, continuing. “If I were a normal Lucario, you’d both be stronger than me. There’s no honor in hanging around with me. Besides, if I depend on your strength, I’ll just stay weak like this. So I’ll get the Lucarionite by myself and travel alone from here. This journey had been nice while it lasted…”
He turned around, getting ready to leave.
“Thank you… For coming this far with me.”
“Ruki!!” Not able to accept it, Alina stood up and ran to him, hugging him from behind. She held him tightly, afraid that she would really never see him again if she let go.
“Please stop and give it another thought! You’re just tired from the long journey. Why don’t we talk about this again after you get some sleep? Please?”
Filio was hoping that the Tsareena would be able to convince Ruki to stay, but unfortunately, the Lucario had made up his mind.
“It hurts, Alina. Let go,” he said softly but surely, “Please… Don’t pull my leg.”
“……”
Ruki unmoving with his feet firm on the ground, Alina knew that she couldn’t stop him. Her eyes watered and her grip loosened. Ruki pulled away from her arms. The Tsareena dropped onto the floor, tears mixing with the freezing rain. It was the coldest she had ever felt in her life. The Lucario’s ears and tail drooped when he heard her sobs, but he had to go. Steeling his heart, he walked away.
Alina and Filio could only watch as the Lucario disappeared into the darkness of the thunderstorm, his tattered black cloak billowing wildly in the violent winds.
Trivia
- Dreams of your teeth falling out are usually associated with powerlessness and insecurity.
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