23 Ch 23. Relic of the past

A few days had passed and Ares was training his pokemon to be up to the challenge to defeat Lt. Surge. He didn't have any pokemon with a type advantage, so he had to think of a strategy to defeat Lt. Surge. From what he had found out about Surge's Pokemon team, he mostly fought only with his Raichu, as the battle was one versus one. Though sometimes he used Magnemite or Magneton, but that was against weaker opponents he had battled multiple times against, just to switch things up. It was harder to prepare a counter offense if the pokemon was different.

So he had to choose his pokemon wisely. So after much deliberation, Ares chose Lucario. As his other pokemon didn't have moves which dealt a lot of damage to electric-types, Ares relied on his main damage dealer. Raichu's usually had low defense, so he should be able to deal a lot of damage. Besides, he had promised Lucario he would get the next gym battle for himself. Besides, it would be better if Pichu evolved first before he let her take part in gym battles. The battles would be harder and harder, being a bit too difficult for Pichu to participate in....yet.

Ares had trained Lucario for a while now and refined his battle style. Lucario was very fond of watching fighting video and watch other fighting pokemon battle, so he had adapted his own fighting style, one that was made to fit Lucario to a tee. He would be difficult to deal with in a close combat fight.

So halfway through the day, Ares took his pokemon to a fitness center. Training outside was nice and all, but he needed training equipment to pick up the pace. Especially for that, Ares had found a special building specifically made for that purpose.

Just outside of the fitness center, a tall man with steel blue hair wearing a black suit was looking around. He looked a bit lost as he occasionally looked at a map in his hands.

A bit conflicted between helping or ignoring, Lucario made the choice for him as he dragged Ares with him towards the lost man. Lucario glanced at Ares sideways, snickering loudly as he followed it up with pushing Ares forward.

'I guess that settles it then. Well, nothing bad at just giving directions.'

Stopping in front of the man, Ares spoke up, catching the man's attention.

"Can I help you with something? You seem a bit lost."

The man looked up and smiled, glad if someone could help him with his current predicament.

"Why, thank you. It seems I have brought the wrong map with me and I am currently looking for the museum. I have an appointment there."

The man awkwardly scratched the back of his head, showing Ares the map he had in his hand.

Not seeing any problem with giving a helping hand, especially after seeing that the map the man had brought with him was for Unova, Ares led him towards his destination. It wasn't that far away, making it not so much of a problem for Ares to show the man around.

"Ah, so it is here. No wonder I couldn't find it, the building blends right in. Thank you young man. Let me introduce myself. My name is Steven Stone. As thanks for your help, let me give you this."

Steven handed Ares a relatively old looking book. The leather cover was worn-out, discolored and scratched from many years of use. The title on the book was hard to read, as the words had faded a lot, but with some time, he might be able to figure it out.

Steven could see the intrigue in Ares's eyes and decided to explain about it.

"I found it in one of the ruins I have been exploring. It is an interesting book, one with an unknown language as of today. But just from the illustrations it can be made clear that the content hold great value. I have made many copies of it, so you can have this. I have a feeling you will have a better use for it than me."

"My name is Ares. Thank you very much for the book."

Taking the book from Steven's hands, Ares glanced at it, a hint of intrigue hit him as he saw two strange creatures on the first page. He recognised them from one of the books currently tucked away at Professor Oak's lab.

Steven, seeing what Ares was looking at, explained what they were.

"Though the language in which this book is written is unknown to most if not all people, the creatures which are shown inside of it have left their marks in history. These two on the first page are known as Latios and Latias. They are known as the Eon Pokemon. Not much is known of them, other than the few times they were spotted in Hoenn. They are a pair of pokemon I have long wished to meet."

Ares's eyes widen as he leafed through the book. Other creatures were shown, ones he hadn't seen before, as well as others he had. For example: He saw a drawing of Mew, a very old one, as well as a drawing of Celebi. Their names written in a cursive lettering he recognised. It was the same script used at the village he grew up in. While he could partly read it, not all of the words were familiar to him.

Closing the book, Ares once again thanked Steven for the gift.

"No problem. I have found many other books like that. Though I am more inclined to the more durable things of old times past. Fossils and evolutionary stones for example."

Steven said as he began to talk about the fossils he had already gathered as well as revived.

The mentioning of even reviving a pokemon was enlightening for Ares. The technology of this time truly was astounding. All kinds of wonderfull things were possible in this day and age. If he ever got the chance to revive a fossil, he would surely try it out. Espically since he still had the fossil he found in the Diglett cave.

"I must be on my way now before I am late. I will surely see you again some time."

"Ah, I would like to talk to you again sometime, if possible. I am searching for an ancient aura guardian village you see. It holds great importance to me. So if possible, could we exchange contact information?"

Ares asked, not sure how Steven would react.

"But of course. I see you have the pokedex. It is remarkable how many people of his town set their foot mark in history. But this makes things easier, since you are an acquaintance of professor Oak. I would be glad to help if it is a friend of his. Here."

Steven exchanged his contact information with Ares, who was glad to have received it. Having a person who knows his way around ruins and ancient civilizations would really help out a lot. If he had to be honest, he had more hope in Steven finding some information about his village than the professors.

Steven waved as he entered the building, leaving Ares behind to mull on his thoughts.

Seeing Steven leave, Ares put away the book to read at a later time and went inside the fitness center. Inside he could see all kinds of fighting type pokemon exercising on the treadmills and other training equipment.

"Alright, let's get to it."

Calling out all his pokemon, with the exception of Lapras, he let them all choose their own level of difficulty. Pidgeotto went to the wind turbines, Pichu to a specialized room for electric types, Clefairy to the infirmay to train her healing moves and Umbreon went to the treadmills.

Ares and Lucario each went to their own spot. Ares grabbed some gloves, as did Lucario. Lucario then started his training in hitting the sand bags, as well as sparing with Ares. As he wasn't allowed to use any moves, he could only rely on the technical part of the training. How to move, where to hit, timing his attacks at the most opportune moments.

They did this every three hours, switching between equipment to train every muscle group.

By the end of the day, both Lucario and Ares were soaked in sweat but satisfied with the results.

They repeated this for the rest of the week, up to the moment where they were finally ready to battle against Surge.

In the times they rested, Ares would look through the book he had gotten from Steven, finding many old stories in it. With every chapter he read, more and more words he used to know resurfaced, making the reading transition go smoother. It was a enlightening when he finally found an indication from which time period this book was.

It was from his own original time period. He had been abused, abandoned and neglected, but he had always found a way to get what he wanted. In the time he still had that one friend, before he too abandoned him, they would learn the ancient language together. Even now after all those years, could he still read it.

Ares had no idea how surprised Steven would be when he found out he could interpret the language. But that is a story for another time.

At the moment, Ares found one section in the book he was interested in, more than the rest at least. This story spoke of a certain aura guardian, one that was accompanied by a Lucario. In their hands were glimmering stones, sparkling with light.

On the next page, the Lucario seemed to have changed form as it battled against a legendary pokemon known as Yveltal. The end of the story was vague, not saying where the Lucario and his partner went, but it clearly was a hint on where to go.

'I suppose I need to find out where pokemon can evolve even further than their normal form.'

Ares thought as he closed the book and went to bed.

.

.

.

Standing in front of the door, Ares and Lucario shared a glance, each a tacit understanding on what was expected of them. They weren't going to lose, they were going to step out of here with a badge in hand.

Each taking a deep breath, they stepped through the door at the same time.

What was standing in front of them was the biggest challenge they would face thus far. Standing there was the towering figure of Vermillion city's gym leader, Lt. Surge.

Seeing the new challengers, Lt. Surge grinned, his eyes already blazing with the intent to battle with the challenger standing before him.