CH237 (851), So, I’m Not!?

After the leading Machoke shared that all entrances led to rooms/homes like this, I pointed to the second hole I had noted upon entering the room and asked Machoke where that one led. Machoke revealed that it led to a large training room that they shared with five other families, whose rooms were also connected to the training room.

Apparently, there were multiple such rooms, and Machoke shared that they were all connected to an even larger room, which served as the meet-up place of all fighting types that called the main/entrance chamber their home. That was not all, it seemed that there was a tunnel in that room that led to an exit to the exterior of the mountain cave that belonged to them, as in the fighting types, exclusively.

They sealed and opened it the same way they did their homes, so the fighting types were literally the only ones that used that access point to enter and exit the Meteor Falls. I was honestly surprised when Machoke shared something like that with us/me, and even though I wanted to let it simply slide, I could not help but ask if it was okay for Machoke to share something like that with us.

That had all Machoke as well as Machop nod, and I ended up learning why they were so open/welcoming. I was benefiting from someone else's sweat and efforts. Machoke revealed that an accomplished Aura User who came to the Meteor Falls long before me had spent years living here with the fighting types. During that time the Aura User as well as his Pokemon had sparred with and taught many of the fighting types that called the main chamber as well as the connected chambers their home.

It was also the Aura User along with his Pokemon who taught many fighters how to use Secret Power, and how to use it to create safe homes. The good news was that he also taught them where it was safe to use the skill and where it wasn't, which was probably why they did not go around breaking into the stream while establishing their homes and training rooms.

It was thanks to the Aura User that they all had their homes as well as their exclusive entrance, and even though it had been more than 5 thousand moon cycles since the Aura User left, which translated to around 140 years, they were all still very thankful for the things he taught them. Machoke even added that he used to be a young Machop at the time and that he still remembered being taught how to fight less recklessly after the Aura Master's Medicham saw him lose to another Machop.

Anyway, thanks to that Aura User, all fighting types living here had a very very good impression of Aura Users, more so than other fighting types who already had a good impression anyway, and I got to benefit from that through the trust I was being given by the Machoke before me. That was probably also why the Machop at the entrance was so forthcoming with the Marill chamber and the history lesson.

Well, all I could do was send a silent thank you to whoever that wonderful person who gave me this free great guy card was, because there was no way I was going to explain that I had nothing to do with the guy. Machoke was not stupid, he likely knew that, but if he, and going by his group's behavior, the other fighting types later on wanted to treat me like one of them or even better, I was not opposed to that at all. It only made things easier for me after all.

It was likely that I would get dragged into a few spars and lessons or discussions in the process, but I was happy to do that since none of those went against my interests either. Honestly, this was a rather fortunate situation for me, and if I had not been a good guy things could have really gone south for these guys and gals. I was suddenly very thankful that the Aura Guardian Order and the Aura Academy had moral/character standards they adhered to.

Things could go very bad for these local fighting types if a bad or amoral Aura User came across them and noticed their "vulnerability". That had me think about the Dark Aura Users I had heard and read about but never seen, and just in case the last Aura User had not done so, I decided to call Mr. Cameron later to talk about the situation here to prevent some bad apples from ruining the entire basket.

Anyway, once I had an idea of the cause and effect, I asked Machoke if I could check out their training field and the larger gathering room. I also added that I was interested in checking out the other rooms/homes connected to the training and gathering room, but while Machoke was happy to accompany me to the two larger rooms, he declared that I would have to get the permission of the private room owners if I wanted to check those out.

While I had intruded on their place without permission, doing so with the other rooms now that I had established a rapport with Machoke would just be bad manners, so I was really hoping that the other Pokemon would allow me to take a look due to me being an Aura User since I was really curious if all rooms were the same. It honestly depended on whether they left the room as it was after Secret Power was done or if they decorated it.

Machoke's room was extremely spartan, so I was hoping that the others would be more interesting. I did not believe that all fighting types would want to live like hermits. The reason I was hoping that this was not the case, was that decorated rooms meant that they had to bring stuff in from the outside, and usually, stuff that was deemed worthy of becoming decoration had to be either memorable, good-looking, or valuable.

While that did not fully apply to Pokemon as well, it did fit to a certain degree for most species, so the chances of me stumbling upon something interesting rose a lot if the other fighting types had bothered turning their rooms into real homes, because I doubted Machoke's room counted as that since there was nothing that would cause any real sentimentality. Regardless, we followed Machoke and his group to the back, where the hole leading to the training room was. After walking through the roughly 4-meter-long tunnel, we came out in a larger room.

The room was around 4 times the size of Machoke's room, and there actually were already some Pokemon in the room when we stepped in. The two Hitmonchan and the Tryrogue stopped what they were doing and turned to us, and I could feel their surprise when they saw us. I naturally let out my aura the moment I saw them because I wanted to leave a good first impression, and the moment they felt my aura their surprise spiked; Interest along with enthusiasm followed rather quickly.

After a brief introduction, Machoke and his group left us with the Hitmonchan while they informed the others whose rooms were connected to this training room about our presence. While they did that I talked with the Hitmonchan as well as the Tyrogue, and getting permission to check their home was so easy it felt weird. I just told Tyrogue that I was not the Aura Guy his parents as well as the other older ones told him about and that I had come to the Meteor Falls to explore the place.

I had to clarify that I had not known about their chamber system before and that I had noticed it after observing a lot of fighting types come and leave from a particular direction. While I did that, more fighting types walked into the training room. There were two more Machoke with 3 more Machop, along with a trio of Scrafty accompanied by a Hitmontop leading 5 Scraggy. Shortly after them, a Hitmonlee-Hitmonchan pair accompanied by two Tyrogue and a solitary Hitmonlee joined us as well.

Apparently, Hitmonlee was the only single one among Machoke's neighbors. That aside I was a bit surprised that all of them actually happened to be present in their homes, but they pointed out that it was close to dinner time, which was why those that had gone out had returned home. I was a bit surprised that they stuck to family dinner traditions, but I found out that this was also something they learned/copied from the Aura User before me.

It seemed that all fighting types that were part of a group/family endeavored to eat their meals together as long as they were not too far out or on a multiday training trip. Hitmonlee's roomie but not mate, who, they told me, happened to be a Hitmonform, was on such a journey right now. I was a bit bummed out at the fact that I had missed out on the chance to check out a wild Hitmonform, but the fact that there was actually one among the local fighting-type population was quite surprising.

Granted, it was a very welcome surprise, but it was still not something I had expected to see. I had a feeling that the mystery Aura User had a hand in this as well, but if that was the case, I did not mind at all. In fact, I was hoping that there were more Hitmonform around. I would definitely not mind adding some to Utopia if possible, provided that they did not have shit potential, obviously.

Anyway, I quickly got permission to check everyone's homes, and they also agreed to let me give them a check-up when I said that I was interested in comparing their physical situation to other fighting types I had observed before. I even brought out Kimura/Hitmonform, Melinda/Mienshao, Po/Pangoro, Tyson/Machamp, Ali/Gallade, Freyja/Lopunny, and Anubis/Lucario for this. Well, for this, and because I thought that showcasing so many fighting types would make all fighting types even more cooperative.

Their appearance certainly caused a lot of excitement, with Tyson, Kimura, and Anubis garnering the most interest. It was clear that Kimura and Tyson drew attention because they were the final/strongest evolution of most of the fighting types in the room, while Anubis was a Lucario, and given the fervor and respect these guys and gals felt for Aura Users, their excitement upon spotting Anubis was understandable.

I told them that they were free to ask my friends any questions they had, and while they crowded Anubis and co, I went around checking their status sheets. The 4 Machoke either had orangish or yellowish potential and while the same was true for 4 of the 5 Machop as well, one of them actually had light green potential, which had me mark the little gal down for now. The Scrafty were in the same situation as the Machoke, and sadly so were all 5 Scraggy, so after finishing with them, I moved on to the solitary Hitmonlee.

He actually happened to have green potential which was pretty decent, but considering that he was at the (mid) silver stage that put him at a level where being added to Utopia was the best I would be willing to do. To even qualify for the reserve team Hitmonlee would have to be lucky enough to have his potential raised to light blue by Utopia, or at least very close to light blue, and he would need to show a certain level of fighting prowess as well as passion for training.

As for the main team, I honestly saw no way for a Hitmonlee to ever make it on that one since I already had a Hitmonform in there, and a Hitmonlee was just not good enough in comparison. I knew I was being specist, but I would honestly rather add a second Hitmonform or nothing than add a Hitmonlee, -chan, or -top. I could consider them if it was for a fighting type-only team or a Hitmon-team, but it was absolutely impossible for the main team.

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