Disciples

Once there was a well known and respected Pokemon Gym in the sprawling futuristic city of Saffron, which specialized in the fighting type.

For years this Gym was known for producing powerful combatants from all of the trainers that trained there, both human and Pokemon. Even one of the current members of the Elite Four was a former student of the Gym who eventually rose to become the Gym Leader, before rising even further.

But then, SHE came.

A witch by the name of Sabrina, who's powerful psychic abilities and Pokemon allowed her to completely wipe the floor with the entire Gym. And once she finished with all of them, she then became the new Gym Leader of Saffron city while ousting all of the fighting type trainers and Pokemon.

Following their defeat, the fighting type students formed a new dojo and trained in the hopes of restoring their prestige and honor by defeating the witch. But, their defeat had hit some of them harder than others.

The master/former Gym Leader, who had been hand picked by the previous Leader Bruno himself, left his students to go on a journey in order to train and strengthen his Pokemon. He effectively abandoned his students in their hour of need.

As a result, numerous students also left the dojo in their own pursuit of strength and their own paths, dwindling their strength even more until they became a shadow of their former self.

"So you see, we NEED a master like you!"

"That's right, so PLEASE teach us master!"

"No." I stated to the two martial artists irritably, for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

Currently the six of us were heading back to Cerulean city by trekking through the thick and mountainous forest brush, with the two martial artists STILL pestering me to teach them despite my constant refusal. Well, at least Lucario was dealing with Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee doing the same thing to him.

"Please master!"

"Not your master."

"It would be our greatest honor!"

"To learn from a 'poser' with 'second rate pokemon'?"

""...""

Neither had an answer to that one, which finally gave me a minute of silence from their nagging.

The silence continued for a few minutes until we exited the brush to find the same river I'd fallen into before spread out before us.

"This should lead right to the Cerulean bay!" One of them exclaimed, before the other uttered thoughtfully,

"I wonder if we'll be able to find the Cerulean cave if we follow the river...?"

"Cerulean cave?" I asked from the familiar name. They couldn't be talking about the same thing I was thinking about, right?

"Yeah! It's an infamous cave from all of the really strong Pokemon that inhabit it!"

"We planned on finding it to go and train ourselves up more!"

In the face of their excitement, Lucario and I just looked at each other knowingly.

"Should I tell them, or do you want to?" I asked him.

"Tell us what?" One of them asked confusedly.

"Well..." Lucario began slowly, before just saying bluntly, "if it's as dangerous as you say, then none of you should be ready to enter it just yet."

""!!!""

"And what's that supposed to mean!?!" One demanded.

"Lee!" His Pokemon shouted in indignation.

"What he said. None of you are ready for such a place." I repeated, looking them up and down as I did so. "Even if you both have your own style you want to master, you're a LOOOOOOONG way from doing so."

"Indeed." Lucario nodded in agreement. "Your hyper fixation on your preferred style has left your bodies unbalanced in one way or another, this means you can't draw out your full strength while also leaving yourselves full of openings."

With every word we said the other party just got madder and madder, until finally,

"What do you know!?"

"Yeah! Just because we wanted to learn from you, you think you can just say whatever you want!?!"

I just sighed at them and shook my head, before saying tiredly, "if you're so strong, then prove it."

""ALRIGHT THEN!""

"LEE!"

"CHAN!"

Together, all four of them charged Lucario and I to fight us.

"I wonder what's gonna be for dinner?" Lucario suddenly mused as he effortlessly dodged Hitmonchan's Mega Punch.

"I don't know. But if Joy's cooking again then it's bound to be good." I replied while sidestepping a flying kick, and grabbing a straight hook before it could hit my face.

I then twisted the martial artist's arm behind his back until he cried out in pain, but not enough to do any actual damage. With another kick coming at me from behind though, I quickly swept his legs out from under him while releasing his arm, and bent back like I was doing the limbo.

I watched the foot fly over me as if it were in slow motion, before quickly righting myself and kicking his leg out from under him too, sending the guy sprawling to the ground alongside the puncher.

"I hope there'll be dessert though." Lucario stated as he continued our conversation, already done with Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan.

"I saw a sweets shop near the Pokemon Center. Maybe I'll order a chocolate cake for us all later." I told him while waiting for the duo to get back up.

"You're drooling..." I added a moment later, making Lucario wipe his mouth hurriedly.

"H-how?" One of the guys asked suddenly.

"'How' what?" I asked him.

"How are you so much stronger than us?" The other asked with indignation.

"Simple. Firstly, I'm haven't put my weighted clothes back on yet." As I said that I gestured to my still bare chest and feet, before continuing,

"And secondly, I've spent every chance I've had growing up refining my body into the ultimate human weapon. Both physically, and spiritually." As I said that I channeled some of my aura, which made my eyes start glowing amber for them to see.

Both martial artists gaped at the display even after I stopped channeling my aura, obviously in disbelief in what they had seen.

"Please..." One suddenly pleaded, literally pressing his face into the dirt at my feet.

""Please, teach me!""

With them both pleading yet again, I was half tempted to kick their heads to try and set them right.

"Why are you two so adamant about me teaching you? I'm not looking for students, and even if I were I don't know if I could even teach you anything since all my techniques revolve around using aura." I told them irritably.

"Is it not the goal of all martial artists to aim for the highest of peaks?!"

"We would be complete failures if we let this chance slip by us!"

"Chan!"

"Lee!"

With their Pokemon stating their agreement as they prostrated beside them, I looked to Lucario for advice.

Of course he only shrugged back at me, making me groan in frustration from the current situation. Even their auras were displaying nothing but their increasingly earnest desire to learn from me.

"Fine then." I said eventually, making all four of them look up at me hopefully, before I continued, "I'll give you a test."

I pulled out my map and checked out current location along with how long it would take to travel to the Cerulean city Pokemon Center.

I had Pidgeot fly us pretty far out for our training, so it stated at least twelve hours of hiking was needed to reach the Pokemon Center on foot while going through all the brush and hills. Well, normally.

"Alright. You have until the sun sets to reach the Pokemon Center in Cerulean city. That gives you a little over three hours to do it, and the rules are no transportation, and it's either all or nothing. So either all four of you get there, or none of you do. Understood?"

""YES SIR MASTER!!!""

""HITMON!!!""

They all declared while saluting me.

"What are you wasting time for then?! Get moving!"

As if just recalling I gave them a time limit, all four of the quickly darted away as they tried to follow the river, to which both Lucario and I shook our heads at them.

"What if they actually make it?" He asked me.

"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it..." I told him tiredly, before shaking it from my body.

"Let's worry about that later! I'm ready to get back after everything today!"

Lucario nodded in understanding as the two of us readied ourselves, and took off after powering our bodies with aura.

We shot forward like a pair of humanoid bullets down the river, quickly passing the martial artists and their Pokemon as we headed back.

"By the way..." Lucario suddenly spoke up a few minutes into our run.

"Yeah?"

"Did you want to go check out that Cerulean cave they were talking about before we get back?" He asked curiously, with an edge of excitement in his tone.

"Not today. I'm gonna let everyone rest up until after dinner, but I definitely want to check it out before we leave town." I told him.

"Do you think the Pokemon there are as tough as they made them sound?" He asked excitedly.

"We'll have to see." I told him cryptically, though truthfully I had no idea what to expect.

From what I recalled the cave was where you could go to catch Mewtwo after beating the Elite Four. Obviously, I doubted that would be the case here since I'd already met Mewtwo.

But, there should be some powerful Pokemon inside, so that would make it worth the trip just to help my team get stronger. Plus I was curious what my Meowth would find inside with their Pickup.

Lucario and I spent the rest of the trip back chatting aimlessly about various topics, how to best train the rest of my team, what to expect when we challenged the Gym, and the group of clingers we'd accidentally picked up.

Our pace only slowed when we reached the city limits, though only to the point where we weren't at risk of hitting anyone.

"Think they'll actually make it?" Lucario asked as we entered the Pokemon Center, obviously referring to out wannabe students.

"We'll see." I answered noncommittally.

We then made our way to our room, where I found Dawn, May and Joy all crashed on the bed from exhaustion.

"What happened?" I asked them worriedly.

"My legs hate me...." Joy uttered tiredly.

"We were training...." May said after her, before groaning from the strain of moving to look at me.

"I gave them a 'light' workout to do to get their bodies into shape before we left." Lucario explained, making me look at him with a deadpan.

"Lucario. Our version of a 'light' workout is really intense for normal people." I stated, though he didn't react.

"I'm aware, but they should be able to do AT LEAST that." He answered, making me shake my head in exasperation.

But, rather than bicker about it, I decided to focus on something else as I pulled out my Pokenav and dialed a number in it.

"Hello? Yes, I'd like to order ten pizzas to be delivered to the Pokemon Center. My name is Ace, and the types I want are-"

I could feel the girls grow hopeful as I ordered dinner for all of us after their day of intensive training, while Lucario immediately began to pester me about the chocolate cake I mentioned earlier. I pointedly ignored him though, making him grow increasingly anxious that I wouldn't get one until the pizzas arrived, and I decided to place the order THEN.

And while they groaned and whimpered with every movement, the girls were still excited for the pizza when it came, while all of my Pokemon also enjoyed it as I rewarded them after the earlier battle.

And everyone was also thankful when the few cakes I ordered also arrived, with Lucario getting a whole chocolate cake to himself. Only a few minutes later he was sprawled out on his back with a bulging belly, the area around his mouth coated in chocolate frosting and cream as he entered a food coma.

Overall, we were just enjoying ourselves for the late afternoon and relaxing in the common area, when suddenly....

*SLAM!*

The doors were thrown open dramatically to admit two people and two Pokemon, all four looking exhausted, but accomplished.

"We-ha-ha-did it master!" One of them declared despite his heaving chest.

"We-ha-ha-made it!" The other similarly declared.

"Chan!"

"Lee!"

Their Pokemon also declared victoriously.

I blinked while trying to process this, before looking out a window to see that there was still in fact a few slivers of sunlight left.

"Well damn... They actually made it." I said in disbelief, even as the three girls looked to me questioningly.

"Ehem! Girls, these two are random martial artists that want to be my disciples. Disciples, these are three of my girlfriends, Dawn, May, and Joy."

"Master!"

"We have names!"

The duo exclaimed from my introduction, making me look at them with a deadpan.

"Then how about you tell me them so I can use them?"

Their eyes widened as they realized that they hadn't even told me their names, so the puncher quickly declared to both me and the girls,

"I am a former student of the Saffron city dojo, but now I dedicate myself to master from this point forward! The man who will be the world's greatest puncher, Jackie!"

"Chan!"

Both Jackie and Hitmonchan posed proudly as their introductions, as if waiting for applause. But all they got was Kricketunes.

"Ehem!" The kicker cleared his throat, directing our attention to him as he stated,

"While not as showy, I'm also formerly of the Saffron city dojo, but will dedicate myself to masters teachings. I am also the man who will one day become the world's greatest kicker, Bruce!"

"Lee!"

Again there was no applause or anything of the sort, but Bruce seemingly had the sense not to wait for it like Jackie had.

However, May leaned over towards me and asked in a quiet voice, "are these two going to join us as well?"

"No, they're not." I immediately stated firmly, making both of my new disciples fret as Jackie exclaimed,

"But master! How are we supposed to learn if we don't join you!?"

"Because..." I said in a level voice. "I don't want you to. There's already five of us traveling together, and there's no real reason for two more to join right now. Besides, I don't have anything to teach you two that you can't do on your own."

The duo appeared confused at my statement as they cocked their heads, making me bite back a groan as I explained to them,

"You both practice different styles of fighting, neither of which I myself subscribe to. So, the majority of my lessons will revolve around muscle training and using aura. For the most part though, you guys will be training on your own while we travel."

Both Jackie and Bruce appeared downhearted when I said that I wouldn't be staying with them, but I didn't care. It was enough I got two pupils I didn't want, I wasn't going to have them hanging onto me every single moment during my journey as well.

"They can use aura?" Dawn suddenly asked me.

"Ah! No they can't. Well, at least not yet. Hopefully..." I answered in an unreliable manner, making everyone give me weird looks.

"Ok, it's like this." I began while trying to explain what Lucario and I had discussed earlier.

"Every living being possesses aura. Humans, Pokemon, I'm pretty sure I could even find aura in plants if I looked hard enough. But that begs the question, if everyone has aura, why can't they use it?"

Silence greeted my question as everyone thought on it. Jackie and Bruce obviously had next to no idea what I was talking about, and Joy was only slightly better. May and Dawn on the other hand were the only ones seriously considering what I had pointed out.

"I don't know." May eventually said.

"Exactly! I think we all have potential to use aura, some just more than others. So, once they get strong enough, I'll see if it possible for a normal person to awaken their aura through Jackie and Bruce! Lucario already said he has an idea, but they need to train more first."

"Does that mean we could use aura as well!?!" Dawn excitedly asked.

"Maybe someday. Let's test it a bit more first to see." I told her, as truthfully I didn't want to risk hurting any of them if we could avoid it. Plus their bodies needed to be significantly stronger if they wanted to be able to use aura.

Just as I was about to explain more of what I had in mind though...

"BREAKING NEWS!" The tv declared suddenly, drawing every eye to it as a headline blared,

LEGENDARY ATTACKS SEAFOAM ISLANDS!