The training room was unnervingly silent once the heavy sliding door clicked shut. Julian stood there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, feeling like a student who had walked into the wrong classroom—except this classroom was a high-end martial arts dojo and the teacher was a five-foot-tall jackal that could probably punch a hole through a brick wall.
"Lucario!" The blue warrior nodded toward the center of the mat, his expression unreadable.
"Um... excuse me, Mr. Lucario, sir? How exactly do we... start?" Julian asked, his voice echoing slightly in the hollow room.
Lucario didn't answer with words. Instead, he sat down cross-legged and extended a dark, padded paw toward Julian.
Is he offering a handshake? Or am I supposed to... Julian hesitated for a second, his eyes darting to the thick, black paw pad.
"Do you want me to put my hand on it?"
Lucario nodded once.
[YES! Success!] (≧∀≦)♪
Julian's inner monologue was screaming with joy. He stepped forward with more eagerness than a person should reasonably have for a training exercise and placed his hand firmly against Lucario's paw. It was warm and felt like a mix of suede and toughened leather.
Just as Julian was beginning to calculate exactly how many seconds he could get away with secretly "massaging" the paw pad before it got weird, Lucario's eyes snapped shut. The four black sensory appendages behind his head flared out, glowing with an intense, pulsating blue light.
Suddenly, the floor of the dojo vanished.
Julian felt a stomach-dropping sensation of falling, followed by a soft splash. He looked down. He was standing on a surface of dark, liquid glass that rippled with blue light every time he moved. The dojo, the city, and even the sun were gone, replaced by a vast, pitch-black void that felt both infinite and cozy.
"Where is this?!" Julian gasped, spinning around.
"This is a spiritual space—a realm of pure consciousness that only those who have awakened the Aura can perceive," a calm, resonant male voice echoed from behind him. "Looking at you, it is clear you have never been here before. It is no surprise; your flame is still very young and flickering."
Julian spun around so fast he nearly tripped over his own feet. Standing there was Lucario, but he looked different—taller, more luminous, and most importantly... he was talking.
"Lucario! You can speak?!" Julian's jaw hit the floor.
Lucario stared at him with an expression that was halfway between pity and amusement. He had used his own massive reservoir of Aura to pull Julian into this "Mind-Link" prematurely. Usually, a human would have to train for years to enter this state, but Lucario was a shortcut.
However, there was a side effect. In this space, thoughts weren't private. They were like billboards.
And right now, Julian's billboard was flashing: HE'S SO FLUFFY IN PERSON, I BET HIS EARS SMELL LIKE CORN CHIPS.
"This is normal," Lucario said, his mental voice sounding like a deep cello. "I brought you here to bypass the language barrier. Rather than 'speaking,' we are sharing a mental frequency. But you should be aware... in this place, whatever you think, we both know."
Julian froze. His brain scrambled to find the "delete" button for his last thirty seconds of thoughts.
"I... you... you know everything?!" Julian's face turned a shade of red that would have put a Magmortar to shame. "Everything I was thinking just now? About the... the paw pads? And the... ears?"
He started waving his hands wildly, his social anxiety hitting an all-time peak. He wanted to find a shovel, dig a hole in the spiritual floor, and bury himself until the next century.
"It is nothing," Lucario said calmly, though Julian could swear there was a hint of a sigh in his mental tone. "Over the years, I have seen many human Trainers who express affection through... 'cuddling.' It is a primary way your species bonds with your partners. Although I am not your Pokémon, I can feel that your intent is not malicious. You do not wish to capture me or use me; you just have an... unhealthy obsession with petting fur. I can live with that."
"Is... is that so?" Julian stammered, his fingers tangling together in a nervous knot. "You really don't mind that I was basically eyeing you like a giant plushie?"
"Truly. This is the realm of Aura. You can feel the sincerity in my words," Lucario replied, projecting a wave of calm that washed over Julian like cool water. "Your Aura has a natural talent for empathy and perception. If it didn't, you wouldn't be able to understand the feelings of your Sylveon or Floette so clearly. You have the heart of an Aura Guardian, even if your brain is currently a mess of fur-related fantasies."
Julian finally took a deep breath, his heart rate slowing down. "Okay... okay. I'm sorry. I'll focus. Thank you for the chance to learn."
"Everything in this world has an Aura," Lucario began, pacing slowly across the rippling floor. "The grass, the trees, the mountains, and even humans. Most are blind to it. My kind is born with the eyes to see it, but humans like you must be 'awakened.' You are rare, Julian."
Julian listened intently. This was the information he had been craving.
"I can feel that your talent lies in perception—the ability to sense the world beyond your five senses. I will teach you the foundation: how to grow your flame and how to 'see' without eyes. Lean your head toward mine."
Julian stepped forward, following the instruction. Lucario leaned down, pressing his forehead directly against Julian's.
In that instant, the blue light in the void exploded into a brilliant supernova. Julian felt a massive surge of information—not words, but feelings and patterns. He saw the flow of energy in a blade of grass; he felt the "vibration" of a stone; he understood how to breathe in a way that pulled the world's energy into his own chest.
It felt like his brain was being downloaded with a thousand terabytes of data over a dial-up connection.
When Lucario finally pulled away, Julian stumbled back, clutching his temples. "Hiss... ow. My brain... it feels like it was stuffed into a blender and then put back together wrong."
"That is the weight of knowledge," Lucario said, opening his eyes. "Go back and sort through it. This is only the foundation—the basic cultivation and sensing methods. There is much more, but your mind cannot hold it all yet. I will give you the rest in a few days."
"There's more?" Julian groaned, then he had a stray thought. [What a pity... my brain was hurting so much I didn't even get to feel how soft the fur on his forehead was when we touched...]
"Again," Lucario said, staring flatly at him. "We are spiritual bodies here. There is no sense of touch."
Julian's eyes went wide. DAMN IT! I forgot he can still hear me!
"It is fascinating," Lucario continued, his expression becoming quite strange. "I have just given you the secrets of an ancient power, and your first regret is the lack of tactile feedback on my forehead fur. You are a very consistent individual."
"Uh... I can explain..." Julian started, his face burning again.
"There is no need. But there is something else you should know," Lucario said, his mental voice taking on a slightly more serious tone.
"Please, tell me anything!" Julian said, desperate to change the subject.
"You do not need to be so 'sneaky' with your own Pokémon," Lucario said. "I believe the term you use is... 'rua'? To vigorously pet? I have seen into the echoes of your recent memories while your mind was chaotic. I see how you treat your partners. You truly love them, do you not?"
Julian's heart skipped a beat. "Wait... how do you know about that?! I wasn't thinking about the 'rua' sessions just now! That was private!"
"In this space, when your emotions are turbulent, your memories leak like a broken jar," Lucario explained, though he looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. "I have seen... quite a bit. The way you bury your face in Growlithe's neck? The way you let Sylveon wrap her ribbons around you while you nap? It is all there."
Julian's eyes became vacant. He felt the world spinning. He saw it all. He saw me baby-talking to Growlithe. He saw me trying to use Sylveon as a scarf. My dignity is dead. It's buried. It's gone.
"So... you know... everything?"
"I know enough to say that you are a good man, Julian," Lucario said, though his eyes were twinkling with mischief. "But perhaps next time, try not to imagine me in a bowtie. It is... unsettling."
Julian's soul practically left his body. He fell to his knees on the ethereal ground, supporting himself with his hands in the classic "Orz" pose of utter defeat and social death.
"Is it too late to jump off a cliff now?" he whispered to the void. "Just a small cliff? Maybe one with a soft landing?"