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Kael's dark feet dragged across the rocky ground, streaked with gray dust from Blazing Peak's brutal terrain. Sweat ran off him like rain, pattering against the stone in a steady drizzle.
The sunset washed his exhausted, obsidian-colored body in warm gold.
He bent over with both hands on his knees, gasping like an overheated engine.
Infernape's class had ended the very moment the sun dipped low enough to stain the sky orange.
And the result?
Utter humiliation.
Blazing Peak's gravity, the merciless "Empowerment Crystal," and the simple yet lethal workout had crushed him.
He didn't even finish the first task.
A hundred push-ups?
He managed fifty-six.
Fifty-six.
In an entire afternoon.
The gravity alone felt like it was trying to grind his bones into powder.
And every time the crystal flashed a different element into his body, it was like being sucker-punched from inside his own skin.
But the worst part wasn't the training.
It was the walk down.
Dragging his near-dead body down the steep, heavy-gravity slope while praying he didn't pass out and roll half the mountain was a trauma he knew he'd remember for the rest of his life.
By the time he reached the bottom, his legs were jelly, his breath came in ragged bursts, and every muscle screamed.
Still…
He survived.
Barely.
Kael staggered off the last slab of Blazing Peak stone, stepping onto normal ground. The weight eased instantly.
His body pushed beyond anything he'd ever experienced finally began to recover, thanks to his monstrous regeneration.
He exhaled, a long, steaming breath that misted into a white cloud in the cooling evening air.
"Holy… Arceus… I almost died…"
The moment the thought of tomorrow I have to come back here entered his head, his soul shriveled.
He shuffled toward his dorm like a ghost who'd accepted his fate.
The walk back was slow and miserable, but eventually, he reached his room.
He pushed the door open, collapsed onto the soft bed, and sank into the mattress like a stone dropping into a lake.
Warm scent.
Clean sheets.
A real bed.
He was done. Fully, completely done.
He barely moved a finger. His mind drifted in and out, half-conscious.
Compared to Hitmonchan's calm, methodical lessons…
Infernape was a furnace violent, explosive, all intensity and power.
Simple exercises. Brutal execution. Zero mercy.
And yet… it worked.
Kael could tell.
This kind of training didn't give results in one day or two.
But over weeks? Months?
He could feel it.
Every fiber of his body was changing, strengthening, shaping itself under the crushing conditions.
He was on the path to something greater.
His mind floated, slipping into the soft pull of sleep.
But then—
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Kael jolted halfway awake, twitching in irritation.
"…Who the hell… now…"
He grumbled under his breath, dragging himself out of bed and rubbing his eyes.
He yanked the door open with unnecessary force, the hinges screeching.
Golden sunset light spilled into the dark room… revealing a tall, dark-blue figure standing silently at the doorstep.
A flowing black aura-sash trailed behind him like smoke.
Kael blinked.
"…Lucario?"
There was no mistaking the aura warrior from earlier the one whose overwhelming presence he'd felt the moment he arrived at the dojo.
Kael frowned in confusion.
Why was Lucario here?
Then the realization hit him like a punch.
Right.
He had three mentors.
Hitmonchan, Infernape…
And the third…
Kael swallowed.
"Uh… excuse me… sir… are you… My third instructor?"
Lucario didn't speak.
His orange-red eyes studied Kael with a silent, unreadable intensity.
After what felt like ten seconds, he gave a single, calm nod.
A chill ran down Kael's spine equal parts respect and dread.
Lucario was different.
Not fiery and loud like Infernape.
Not methodical and grounded like Hitmonchan.
Lucario radiated something else.
A deep mastery, A presence that saw through you.
A strength that didn't need to be shown to be felt.
Images flashed in Kael's mind he remembered their fight, the terrifying feeling of every move being read… every strike countered… every thought predicted.
To learn under someone like that was priceless.
But…
His body was broken.
Every muscle throbbed.
His legs felt like wet clay.
If Lucario wanted him to train right now…
He'd die.
Lucario, of course, didn't care about any of that.
He simply turned, motioned faintly with his head, and began walking away.
"Wait—right now…?"
Kael stared helplessly at the ground.
Then he sighed.
A dead man walking.
He forced his trembling legs to follow, stumbling after Lucario like a shadow on its last breath.
The sky burned with violet and gold as the sun dipped behind the horizon.
Half the world glowed with fading warmth; the other half slipped into night.
Lucario walked ahead tall, silent, unshakable.
Kael followed dark, battered, glowing faintly under the gilded light.
Tonight… would not be physical training.
This teacher was different.
This was something deeper.
Something that reached into the soul itself.
The kind of training only Lucario could give.
Kael didn't know it yet…
But he was walking toward the first true transformation of his new life.
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