Altered Bonds Extras

Omake 3 — Bone Wielder

(Best read after Chapter 8)

(Canon? — Maybe)

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Thrust and stab. Side swipe to parry. Counterstrike. Step back and disengage.

Lucario's bone of aura swung and attacked the air, the jackal in combat against an opponent that only existed in his imagination. He strafed, feinted, blocked, and rushed forward in a deadly dance, his weapon in sync with his every movement.

He twirled it between his digits, then lunged with the full fury that his Bone Rush could offer, before spinning away. Eira the Vulpix watched curiously from the side, the jackal smiling at the Powder Snows she had coated the field in. Frost firmly clung to grass blades and tree bark alike, the result of her continued practice.

"Something up?" he asked her.

For a moment Vulpix bashfully turned away, looking at Gabite's cottage atop the nearby hillside, before giving in to her inner desire. She approached, inspecting his bone weapon with a tilt of her head. "Do you always, uh, shape your bone like that?" she said.

Lucario pulled the bone to eye level. "What about it?"

"J-just wondering. Why a femur bone?"

Odd question. But no reason not to indulge her. "It comes naturally," he told her, giving a few practice swings. "It's for my move, Bone Rush. Marowak and Mandibuzz learn that move since they're usually equipped with femur bones as weapons, while us Lucario learn to conjure them with aura. It always comes out in this shape — sturdy and good for clubbing."

Vulpix seemed to understand. Yet where there was one question, there were surely plenty more, lurking in the mind of the inquisitive. Judging from the elongated hum the kid made, she certainly had another in mind.

"But you could change the shape, right?"

And there it was. "Well—"

"I mean, I don't know — you can make small and big Aura Spheres. I can fire quick, light Powder Snows, or heavy ones, or scattered ones. I also can use Tail Whip as an attack, or to distract someone." Vulpix made a face at the thought of her underused Tail Whip, before continuing. "Can you change how you use your Bone Rush too? Change it into a different shape, even?"

Lucario considered it. It was just a matter of manipulating aura, wasn't it? Not that he was particularly skilled at it, but so long as he kept a bone-like shape, wouldn't it still count?

May as well try.

Taking his glowing blue bone, Lucario tried to alter its shape. At first the bone resisted, unwilling to take a form other than the one he always instinctively gave it, but soon it began to meld in his hands. Lucario restructured it like it was putty, carving its shape with great care.

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Ground-type energy was a key component of Bone Rush. His spirit would reject the weapon as just an aura construct, if he strayed too far from the shape of an actual bone. The elements were finicky like that — and although Lucario knew some Pokemon did go through the toil of creating truly custom moves, that wasn't what was intended here. He wanted a Bone Rush that still felt like a Bone Rush, loosely speaking.

And somehow, he managed that. A good minute was spent before he reached completion, Lucario eyeing his handiwork. A serrated, bladelike bone rested in his grip, the jackal careful not to puncture himself on the spines growing on its side. A spiky arrow-like tip grew on one end.

"A vertebral column," Vulpix said in wonder.

"Just call it a backbone, oh smart one," Lucario said, smirking at the flat look she instantly shot at him. "Or a spine."

A humanoid spine, to be exact. The bone was rather flexible, yet somehow held rigid so long as Lucario forced it to. Still, it didn't feel ideal — not good as a bludgeoning tool, and more likely to poke his fur than to do meaningful damage to anyone. Unless they got it stuck in their flesh.

Which might be useful. Except it's made of aura, and I can't maintain it forever. Lucario shook his head in disapproval, before trying to go for something more unorthodox.

The bone separated into many little pieces, each curved and bent. Lucario held them up, then flung one toward a tree a distance away. It snapped on contact, barely chipping the bark.

"Rib bones?" said Eira the Vulpix.

Lucario tsked. Somehow rib bones counted as a Bone Rush, even with them separated and all. Throwing weapons, perhaps? But he saw no need for those, even though he could reinforce the aura to keep them from being so brittle.

Frankly, if he did want a throwing weapon, he could just chuck a femur bone at someone. Or be boring and use a good ol' Aura Sphere. What else was there?

Hand and feet bones didn't sound appealing. A properly connected ribcage could be used as a shield and a ramming weapon, albeit a very poor one. Shoulder bones? Lucario had no clue why he'd want to make those. No reason to bother with changing the bone type I use, he thought, before a silly idea came to mind. Although—

He began reshaping one more time, creating his most complex construct by far. Several times Lucario found himself straining against his limits, or finding his aura not holding the way he wanted to, but he powered through to the end. For science's sake, he had to know: could it be done?

And he was rewarded with knowledge. Yes, it could.

Five grueling minutes of detailing and chiseling, and Lucario found himself holding a truly remarkable work of art: blue aura, shaped into the form of a crude humanoid skull. Empty eye sockets, holes where the nose and ears went, a working jaw, and a cranium that was mostly round. It had awkward bumpy edges and poorly designed teeth, but still a skull.

The aura's glow seemed to set alight its eyes. And well, the holes for its nose and ears. "Uh," Vulpix said, impressed yet stupefied. "Cool, I guess? Why does that count though?"

Lucario stared at his ridiculous masterpiece. And then he roared with laughter.

A skull! By the very faintest definition of a Bone Rush, his spirit saw a skull as compatible! What was he supposed to do with this, give someone a concussion with this thing?

The skull deserved a name, he decided on a whim. Something over the top. Bonehead? No, skeleton puns were overrated. Serif? Nah, that felt weird, naming a skull after some word font. Maybe he should settle for the irony of a human name, like Steve? Or Rogers?

Lucario thought and thought, before snapping his fingers in a stroke of true madness. "Galmalov the Griever!" he yelled, raising his skull for the world to see. "Most hideous of the liches! His name is fury, and his word is frost!"

Eira the Vulpix slowly raised a digit, her face scrunching up at his theatrics. "W-what?"

"Galmalov!" Lucario repeated, the poor girl struggling to translate a made-up name into her own tongue. "Imagine it, kid! That darned Aerodactyl shows up one day, looking for trouble, and I bash him with the skull of the accursed Galmalov! The look he'd have on his face!"

"I-I don't—" Vulpix covered her face and groaned, unsure how things had led to this point. "Lucario? Can you not?"

"The irony! The ridiculousness of it all!" Lucario guffawed, keeling over and resting a paw on his hurting stomach. "That skeletal fiend, tasting the wrath of the great Galmalov the Griever! Oh, it's too perfect! It would be so hilarious, so—"

Abruptly he pulled himself together, tossing the skull against the grassy ground. Galmalov the Griever stared back, heartbroken, and Vulpix blinked as Lucario crushed it underfoot.

"You're right, this is stupid."

Aerodactyl was immune to Ground-type energy anyway.