Lucarious (Beta Paste)

Lucarious

	Within a green forest, an old hunter fully kitted out in woodland camouflage gear carefully stalked. He patted over the pouches of ammo he carried with a smile, excited by the thrill of the hunt.
It was when he took a step through a bush in a thicket, his foot tapped against a blue egg that laid on its side. Quickly, he lifted his foot up and away from the egg,  his head turned as he expected some repercussion for accidentally invading a nest, he readies his gun. However, the lack of response from his intrusion made it obvious the egg was here by itself with no guardian. The old man stepped over the egg carefully then continued to the end of the thicket. His head turned towards the egg as he exited, then let out a deep sigh of pity. After brief contemplation, he walked back to it and he looked around his surroundings. He noted a lack of pokémon passing through, and the pokémon that did pass by were uninterested in him and the egg at his feet. Hours passed with still no sign of anyone or anything having taken a faint interest in the egg. Quietly, he kneeled behind a dense bush close to the exit of the thicket and waited in hiding. Even more fruitless hours passed before the realization that his waiting was for naught. With a quick gaze at the obscured sunset peaking from behind the trees, he could tell that he had wasted this day. He didn’t want to abandon the egg, but he was ill equipped for the encroaching night. He emerged from his hiding spot to retrieve the egg, and carefully he cradled it in his left arm as he held his rifle in his right hand as he started his trek back to his truck.
With the egg in his lap, he pondered over how he could take care of the egg until he could offload it. The thoughtful drive had him back at his modest cabin sooner than he expected. While larger than usual for a cabin, it was still single-story. As he entered his abode proper, the egg was placed onto his dining room table as he passed by it to retrieve his heat lamp and spare blanket in his “crafts room”.
	As he passed the first set of doors in the hallway in the back of the house, he heard cracking come from his dining room. Quickly his head turned back to the egg in a panic then forward again in a mad dash through the rear-right door. His crafts room shook from his muscular frame stomping a frantic path towards the cabinet in the back of the room, and when he stormed back out to the hatching egg. With a single motion he wrapped the blanket around the baby as it exited its shell, then lifted it up and onto his left arm. He freed the head of the creature that had just birthed, discovering a blue and black riolu within the blanket. Gently the man rocked his arm back and forth as his free hand pulled his phone from his pants pocket. He opened the web browser to search for a nursery or some other organization that took in orphaned pokémon, then  dialed a promising number as his attention went back to the riolu. Its eyes slowly opened, then scanned the room before they drifted back. A smile grew on its face as their eyes met, and he could feel a wave of nostalgia bring a smile to his own lips. However, the voice of a woman from his phone quickly brought him back from the nostalgia trip.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” said the woman politely. “Uh, yes,” he replied. Before the woman could respond he quickly fumbled a response in his deep and gravelly voice, “I’m sorry for disturbing your… uh… nursery. I must have accidentally dialed. Have a nice night,” before he hung up. He pocketed his phone as his full attention was returned toward the riolu in his arm.
“Hey, little fella,” he said as softly as he could, which elicited a big smile from it. “Sleepy?” he asked hopefully. The baby continued to smile, just happy to have the man’s attention.
The elderly hermit sighed then turned towards the kitchen. He opened the pantry cabinet tucked away between the wall and the kitchen counter, and looked for some sort of midnight snack he could feed it before bed. That’s when it hit him… can it even eat solids? When his head turned back to the canine in his arm, its face lit up as its tail wagged. He turned his head away out of curiosity, and the riolu’s tail stopped wagging as its face returned to being neutral. Once their eyes met once more, it was back to tail-wagging happy!
He played with this discovery for a good five minutes; turning his head away to look back with a silly face. The little guy loved this so much it started to imitate his faces or come up with a few of its own. The fun ended when he headed towards the bathroom. “So little buddy, what should we call you?” he asked it. Almost as if it understood, it turned his head and stared intently at the geezer, almost as if ready to judge his suggestions.
“Let’s see, a male luca- I mean riolu-” he started, but the riolu’s sudden amazed expression made him hesitate, but before he could continue his train of thought a voice entered his head.
“Lu!” said the childish voice. He looked around the room before it settled back on the riolu.
“That was you, wasn’t it?”
“Hey!” the voice said in an attempt to imitate what he said earlier.
Although he was impressed, the man still wagged his finger as he smiled and said, “cut that out, you won’t learn proper speech doing that.” The riolu lowered his ears, and then opened his mouth.
“L-Lu,” he spoke.
“Alright then, Lu it is…” he said, then Lu pulled his arms out from under the blanket and hugged him as he made a happy sound. “But it’s short for Louis.”
Quickly Lu stopped hugging, and determinedly locked his eyes with his. “Lu!” he protested.
“Oh alright alright…” the guy said with a sly smirk. “It’s Lu…” and quickly, the riolu made a happy sound as he went right back to hugging him. “But it’s short for Lucas.” The riolu, as fast as he went to happy and content, quickly went back to protesting. The man’s grin just grew as he thought up of some simple word-based entertainment.
“Lu!”
“Oh fine, it’s Lu…”
“Mmhhh!”
“But it’s short for Francis.”
“Lu!”
“Oh ok you win you win, Lu it is…”
“Mmmhh!”
“But it’s short for Lu.”
This time when Lu opened his mouth to protest, he blinked as he realized that the name he offered didn’t change, then slowly resumed his snuggle. The man interrupted Lu’s snuggling briefly with a poke on the head. Once he had Lu’s full attention, he pointed to himself and slowly annunciated, “dad-dy”. Lu slowly mimicked dad’s mouth. “Da-dad… dada,” he annunciated slowly. Lu’s attempt at saying daddy was adorable to dad, who smiled whole heartedly at his attempt. “You did great for your first time!” he said before he carried him off into the bathroom. “Let’s get clean and go to bed, Louis. I’m beat.”
Hours passed into the night. Lu’s eyes opened slowly. Gently he sat up and yawned before he looked around. The soft bed didn’t move much as he started to crawl over to the footboard and then down the side of the blanket that draped to the floor. Leaving the small bedroom was as simple as walking along the carpeted floor and nudging the door inward, then he was out and free. He crawled his way to the kitchen area then took a deep breath. The smell of cheeses and meats made him peckish. His attention turned to the pantry cabinet. He had but a simple glimpse into it, but he knew from dad’s thoughts of the food within!  He made a beeline straight towards it, and stared up at awe of the open structure and the various contents within. Two rows down from the top was a red box amidst other colorful boxes, clashing with the rest of the various packaged foods. Something about the various pokémon on the side demanded his attention. He stood up the best he could, and grabbed the first shelf within arms reach. His legs found purchase on plastic containers and up he climbed, knocking over various boxes. Up past the canned food, up past the condiments, and finally to the snacks.
He proudly took a seat with a big smile as he overcame his climb with a red circus box reward. He shoved a fist through the top and ate his first cookie cautiously, savoring his snack as he scanned the room. He observed the cabinet behind the sofa, the desk with computer facing the right wall in the top right corner of the room. His gaze drifted past the circular fireplace in the center of the room and fell upon the kitchen and dining room occupying the entire left part of the house. Shortly after, his gaze turned back to the hallway. There were four wooden doors. The first door on the left was the one he exited from, the bedroom. The first door on the right was the bathroom dad cleaned him in. The two doors in the back were still a mystery to him. There was also a string that dangled suspiciously from the ceiling in the back of the hall way. Even in such a small house, there was so much to explore!
Lu’s train of thought was interrupted by the loud slam of the bedroom door hitting the wall when it was thrown open! Out burst dad with handgun in one hand and flashlight in the other. Lu covered his eyes as the light blinded him, and dad upon seeing Lu sitting on his pantry shelf lowered his gun. He scowled at Lu as he turned the lights on, who just held a cookie towards him. He couldn’t hold his scowl though, Lu’s innocent smile and offering brought out an amused grin. He took the cookie then a bite from it as he eyed Lu up and down in slight bemusement.
“You shouldn’t be making a mess this late at night,” he chastised gently as he looked around at the mess on the floor. As a finger tapped his chiseled chin he spoke, “I’ll clean up for you, but you’re going to clean up one of my messes someday,”  with a playfully sinister tone. Lu tilted his head in response before he offered another cookie, but dad declined when he put the box back. He put his light and gun onto the kitchen counter before he placed Louis onto the table to clean up then retire to bed.
Dad awoke from his slumber as the sun peeked through the windows and into his eyes. He nudged Lu gently, who stirred awake, then turned over. “NOW you want to sleep, huh?” he asked incredulously as he got out of bed. He turned to lean over Lu to whisper, “I know it might be soon, but I have to start teaching you things you need to know. I’m not gonna be here your entire life.” To ease him awake. His only response was to angle his ear towards dad as he snoozed. Dad sighed before he got his clothes and left to take a shower. He returned to the sight of Lu still asleep in his bed. He carried Louis to the sofa, who awake to the sight of index cards on the coffee table.
He was gently seated before dad went off to the rear right door. Lu watched him leave, a confused tilt to his head as he turned back to take a better look at the index cards. He took a single white card, and on it was just the letter A, both upper case and lower. As Lu turned it around dad called out, “Smile!” and as Lu turned to face him, a camera flash surprised him, causing him to fall onto his back. Dad just chuckled as he took a seat next to him before lifting him back up. “I’m probably going to be doing that a lot…” he admitted with a big amused smile on his face. “So maybe get used to it.” After a quick look at the picture preview, he set it onto the coffee table then turned his attention to Lu. As Lu blinked, he took the note card, then turned it to show him the letter, “Repeat after me… A. Eeeeyyy…”
For hours, Lu practiced pronouncing the letters on each notecard. His progress was quick! Within that day, he had managed to say his first word! As the days passed, Lu grew restless. During his studies, he fidgeted and would frequently stare out the window. Any time this became distracting, dad would place Lu on his feet, and he would teach him how to walk. Left foot, right foot, he marched around the house and he loved it. Lu frequently demanded to be lifted and loved his time spent with dad. “Up! Up!” he would eagerly demand with his arms up high.
“Looking to be with your old man?” dad teased as he picked him up and held him above his head. Lu laughed as he was spun, but almost as fast as he was picked up he was put down again. The fun had ended much too soon for his likes, and he called out to dad who was headed to the front door. As dad turned and their eyes locked, Lu stood up and he raised his arms, a hopeful smile on his face until he fell backwards. “Sorry Louis… daddy has to go out. I’ll try to get you a little something,” was all he said with a smile and thumbs up before he exited and the front door locked with a click. Lu smiled weakly at the promise, but shortly after he crawled to the door and reached desperately towards the doorknob. After a few minutes of fruitless scratching, he turned his attention to the rest of the room. With only a quick glance, he decided to make a beeline for the sofa then climb onto a seat.
He turned around and sat on the right-most cushion. The comfortable feeling of the springy cushion pushed him back up and he smiled. He bounced softly, increasing his vigor with disregard to the noise of the sofa colliding with the coffee table. With enough banging, the remote that sat on the table edge fell to the floor and turned on the T.V. He dropped himself to the floor to approach the remote, as the sound of a DVD menu played from all around him as a menu appeared on the screen. Slowly he picked up the remote, carefully examining the strange device. He pressed the big round button in the middle and the movie started to play. He watched the opening credits scroll up from the bottom and took a seat as the music commanded his attention.
Lu loved everything about the film! The instant the credits finished, he picked up the remote and swung it around as he made swooshing noises with his mouth. Despite having fallen over constantly he had fun swinging his imaginary sword around, vanquishing imaginary foes. He stumbled his way into the kitchen and his eyes lit up upon seeing a roll of paper towels on the edge of the kitchen counter. He grabbed the nearest chair and quickly the paper towels were nabbed. With the remote discarded and the paper towels removed from the roll, the chair was experimentally bopped, then harder again. Soon he started banging it against everything around him. It was great, but something was missing. He hurried into dad’s bedroom, and leaped up to the robe that hung from the back of his door. They both dropped to the floor and Lu emerged wearing the oversized clothing. He headed back out to the kitchen as he swung the “sword”, the sleeves of the robe would swallow his arms often. He struck everything around him with the tube, a satisfying hollow thunk accompanied each strike.
The sound of the front door being unlocked halted him in place. He scurried as fast as he could towards the door then sat up. Surely enough, dad opened the door. Bewildered, he looked over Lu and his robe. Seeing Lu raise the cardboard tube triumphantly over his head to greet him prompted an eyebrow to raise over this bizarre scene. Slowly, the memory of last night crawled into his mind, and dad winced as he slowly scanned the room. Lu stood up and raised his other arm as he early said “Up!” Dad obliged and picked up Lu, wrapping him up in his robe as paper towels fell  in clumped balls as the robe bottom was upside down. “Is this how you greet me? Stealing my clothes and my paper towels?” dad asked as he stifled a laugh. Lu’s response was to make a “Bzzt” sound as he touched the cardboard tube against dad, who cried out in playful and ham-fisted pain. He dramatically limped his way to the sofa then dropped Lu onto it. With a last gasp, he collapsed next to Lu, and makes a whimper.
“Were you doing this all day?” he  asked as he sprung up to his feet to quickly get to the front door. Lu’s response was an excited “Mhm!” as he sat firmly on the sofa, all giddy as dad came back in with shopping bags and a big smile. The groceries were stuffed away as Lu fiddled with the remote. He made his way to the sofa with wrapped treats and replaced the remote in Lu’s hand with a treat. Lu crawled into dad’s lap as he started the movie once more. ”I hope you don’t mind watching it again,” he said as he wrapped an arm around Lu, hugging gently as he opened his snack. Dad sighed as he settled in, Lu starry eyed stared at the opening text crawl once again. The rest of the night was uneventful, except for random bops from the cardboard tube.
Dad wanted to do his best to raise Lu to be happy and healthy with the time he had left, but could he do it right?

	The two slept as the sun rose over the trees. It shined bright and disturbed the slumber of dad. With a quiet grumble he slowly arose as Lu continued his snooze.
With Lu still sound asleep on the sofa, dad arose to cook breakfast. He rubbed the stubble on his face as he thought of a tasty breakfast. With an idea in his head he started to cook, serving a nice hearty breakfast for them both gave him a nice fuzzy feeling. When it was time to serve the food, Lu was already awake and sitting on the dining room table when dad turned to put the food down.
	“You sit on the chair, not the table,” he lightly scolded. Lu responded with a nod and a quiet, “Oh,” before he sat on a chair. His arms outstretched on the table. “Good morning, Louis! Are you ready for eggs and bacon?” Lu’s tail wagged as he sniffed loudly, his gaze drifted from dad to the stove. He pointed to the stove as he asked, “Eggs?” “Bacon,” was all dad said as he turned back to breakfast. “What I like to do is fry the eggs in the bacon grease…”
	Months passed as dad gave Louis a general education. As he learned to walk, he was taught to talk among other things. Usually before dad left to work. The two were content. It was during a dip in a relatively nearby lake when Lu randomly asked, “Dad, why do we wear clothes?” The trees around them tried to hold on to the few green leaves that they still had; the discarded orange, brown, and yellow scattered across the forest floor. Dad took a deep breath as he mulled over potential answers. “Well… you see…” he started, but instead found himself fumbling his words until he coherently spoke, “why are you asking anyway?” Lu powered on and said, “well you always wear specific clothes before you leave to do your job, why bother?” Dad mulled over his answers as he spoke, cautiously saying “Well… clothes are comfortable… and they have pockets… and I wear what I wear to be harder to spot when I work.” Louis incredulously raised a brow to dad’s series of answers, and he followed up with “But… all the time? I can always see you clearly!”
Dad was one to raise a brow this time to Lu’s reply. “What does that mean?”
“Well…” Lu explained as he smiled with pride, chipper to be able to be the one giving the answers. “I know what your aura looks like-“
Quickly dad raised a hand to pull back on the metaphorical reigns of Lu’s answer. “What does it look like?”
“It ah… kind of spikes out and coils as it moves…” Lu started to explain, but once again was interrupted. “You can use that reliably now?” dad asked as he crossed his arms with a knowing smirk.
“I like to play with it in the shower…” Lu admitted with embarrassment. This new brought a revelation to dad, who quickly interrupted Lu to accuse “Is that why you’re in there for so long?” Lu nodded gently as he added an addendum to his confirmation. “I mean I’m still kind of getting used to it… so as I was saying-“ the last part of his thought he quickly and loudly said in an attempt to pre-emptively interrupt dad before he could do the same to him. “I can always see you. So… why bother?” he continued.
“Well Lu… every little bit helps.” he said as he kneeled down to give Lu a pat on the head, but still he wasn’t satisfied with this answer. “Then… why is it needed at home?” Dad sighed as Lu’s persistence wore at him slightly. “You see… the body is self-cleaning to a degree…” he started, Lu staring with a slight smile as he listened. However, that smile slowly faded as the details became more and more graphic. His smile had become a full-on grimace as dad had come around to the ending of his explanation. “That’s gross!” Lu exclaimed as he grabbed at his dreads. “Dad, I need more clothes! I can’t keep wearing my robe, it’s probably fiiilllthyyy!” With a quiet mutter, dad tries to roll back his damage done as he covered his face with his hand. “Lu… you wash yourself, right?”
“Uh… yeah.”
“And your robe gets washed, right?’
“Yeah?”
“So… what’s the issue?”
Lu looked at dad as if he grew a second head as he frantically shouted “I haven’t been wearing underwear the entire time, DAD!!!”
All dad could do was rest his face in his hand as the realization that their talk wasn’t without consequence fully sunk in. “So… you don’t want me to throw you into the lake anymore?”
“Not without swim shorts!”  Lu loudly exclaimed as he looked dad in the eyes with a pleading expression. He looked back with equal plead to his face as he tried to convince Lu to stay.
“We just got here! Do you really want to go RIGHT this instant?” he asked with a slight whine to his voice, to which Lu responded with an eager and desperate series of nods. Dad’s sigh was louder as his nose crinkled and mouth frowned, surrendering to Lu and his irrational need. Once properly dressed, the two hiked back home and went straight to dad’s truck.
From there the two endured a two-hour drive to the only nearby city. The skyline of said city was so big, it could be seen from behind the trees after only an hour of travel. The densely packed buildings dwarfed everything around them, the tallest of which was round and in the center of every other building. It looked much like a polygonal needle, due to the building becoming narrower within sections as opposed to gradually over distance. All of the buildings except that one had blinking lights on them, and animated signs that couldn’t be fully seen from behind the trees. They were quite colorful, and Lu shifted in his seat in the back of the big pickup, trying to achieve a better glimpse at these dancing images from behind the obstructive foliage.
Soon though, the densely packed trees gave way to homes. Lu was staring at the people and Pokémon wandering around the suburbs beyond the dividing fence on either side of the highway as the truck barreled on through. As traffic became more and more dense, the presence of foliage became less and less prevalent. Even the grass gave way to organized street planning and proper sidewalks. The homes were quite nice despite this. Each home looked like the ones they saw earlier in the trip, but better and sometimes bigger. The homes lessened in quality the further in they went, but the homes seemed to house multiple families, looking completely different from the other homes they saw earlier. As they went in further Lu noticed the near-total absence of grass, and only areas of trees. Everything was so foreign, even the air felt different... this immensely excited Lu! Instead of trees there were street lights and lamps all over the place! All of these forms of modern convenience clashed beautifully; the greys, blacks, and light-blues were just as nice as the greens and browns of the forest back home! Dad navigated the truck over to a large mall on the outskirts of the towering cityscape proper and he parked the truck. As soon as the engine was turned off, Lu leaped from the truck and he slammed the truck door closed before running over to dad.
“Dad, why have you never taken me here?!” he asked, beaming with energy as he looked around at everything as fast as he could. Before he could spin around too fast, dad placed his hand on Louis’ head to gently pat it, trying to calm him down. “Because you’re quite young. Also, you run so fast I’m afraid you’ll run off and get lost!” He teased Lu with a playful smirk and raised eyebrow as the two’s eyes met.
“Nuh uh! I’ll aalllwwaayys find you!” Lu said as he happily reached out a hand for dad to grab. Through the permanently open doors of the mall’s dedicated Poké-mart, one could see right behind the entire row of registers was an aisle perpendicular, unceremoniously displaying all sorts of potions, elixirs, and all kinds of medicine any trainer could need occupying the entire wall facing the entrance. This aisle, roughly about six feet in height with multiple shelves showed hints of multiple aisles that reach the ceiling, much like warehouse storage. With Lu’s hand in his, dad led Lu into the Poké-mart, and almost as soon as they went through the automatic doors, Lu tugged his hand free and ran towards a random aisle. Dad’s perplexed expression from this random gesture, especially after what Louis just said prompted him to return with a shameful frown and a telepathic apology. However, before dad could get in any form of ‘I told you so.’, an employee made her way from a nearby aisle and quickly greeted them both.
“What a cute little scamp! Hey! I’m Sarah!” she said in a pleasantly rehearsed tone complete with a smile and wave, but before dad could introduce himself, she continued on to say something more genuine than her practiced greeting line from before. “Don’t tell me… you’re a Pokémon hunter and you’re looking for clothing for your little helper here, aren’t you?” she asked as she bent over Lu to tussle his left dread. “We understand the need to hide the more… fluorescent colors of your hunting Pokémon. However, riolu and lucario are not very common, so I’m afraid to tell you that we don’t have gear for either of them!” Dad just stood agape as Lu enjoyed his petting, even wagging his tail and tilting his head for her hand. Sarah eventually caught her eager mistake when she looked back up to dad and quickly stood back up, flustered as she tried to correct herself. “I-I’m ssoooo sorry sir! I got a little too excited there!” she said before she nervously chuckled. Dad chuckled alongside her, wanting to calm her down. “Heh… so… I’m Aldo… and this here in the robe is Louis!” Upon being introduced, Louis waved as he said “Hello Sarah!” who then immediately swooned over his greeting. “Oh my gosh he can talk!? That is ssooo cute!” she gushed before dad snapped his fingers to get her attention again.
 As she laughed nervously yet again, Lu turned his head to contemplate her words as dad snapped his fingers to get her attention. “Please focus… we aren’t here for hunting gear, we are here for regular clothes.”
“’Regular clothes?’ You mean like costumes?” she asked as she put a finger to her chin to think. “Oh! Spoiling the guy, are ya?” she asked as her eyes narrowed with a sneaky grin. Her smile turned apologetic as she explained: “I’m sorry to say that since Riolu and Lucario are both exotic Pokémon, there isn’t a demand for clothing that fits them. The only thing we have that will fit him are our generic one-size-fits-all canine booties. Anything beyond that will require a specialty store.” With a simple twist of her torso, she pointed towards the far side of the store as she instructed “Our store organizes apparel by zoology; canines are the aisle by the wall. If you need anything else please don’t hesitate to ask! Have a wonderful day, sir!”
Lu thought about Sarah’s comments as they walked back to the exit. Why was it cute that I knew how to talk?  Spoil me how? As the two reached the exit, Lu tugged at dad’s arm gently to get his attention. “Dad… why was I cute knowing how to talk?” he asked the instant their eyes met. The slight frown to Lu’s mouth let dad know that this wasn’t going to have a punch line. “Not a lot of Pokémon know how to speak english.”
“Why?”
“For one reason or another… they just don’t bother learning. They only learn how to talk from other Pokémon”
This answer only confused Lu, who tilted his head in response. “So… what language do they learn?”
Dad sighed as he tried to think of an appropriate answer. Silently, he placed a hand on Lu’s head as he calmly said “They learn whatever language it is they are taught in the wild.”
“What if they are raised with humans?”
“Well… somehow they start understanding all Pokémon. I don’t know why.”
“So… what you’re saying is that I’m awesome!?” he asked with a cheerful tail wag and ecstatic beam. This happy line of thinking left dad smiling, although because of relief. “Yeah buddy, you’re the best!” he exclaimed before he grabbed him by the hand and walked towards the exit, but Lu somehow managed to hold dad from leaving.
“What’s wrong?” he calmly asked as he kneeled down to Lu’s eye level. “They said that they had shoes that fit me.” Lu said in a matter-of-fact tone as he pointed back into the store. “You wanted shoes too?” dad asked with hesitation, which was answered by eager nodding from the little guy. “If I’m getting clothes, I may as well get shoes too.” He said as he practically dragged dad back into the store. Lu hurried them both towards the aisle Sarah mentioned. Past the shelves that were in the center laid an unobstructed view of the rest of the store, revealing isles that went from the floor to the ceiling much like a warehouse; Lu caught on this design as he looked around, these aisles were not nearly as flashy as the center aisle that blocked it. That aisle proudly displayed pictures of the wares it carried and even about other wares on the other side of itself. The attention-grabbing bright white of the shelves out front made the rest of the wood and steel of the other aisles appear very drab. On a second look around himself, Lu noticed that the kids, teens, and their Pokémon did not go past that aisle. He felt like such a cool kid, going where only the grown-ups went!
Lu once again let go of dad’s hand to have a look around every shelf in the first aisle of this special zone, although he would be sure to push dad forward after he looked around a section of shelf. Despite his search, it was dad who found the boots that Lu looked for ever so eagerly. Unlike the other products, they hung from the steel supports of the shelves within cheap plastic packaging. Dad took one off a hook and he examined the 4 pack of boots. They seemed to be made with quadrupeds in mind, but every boot looked and when felt through the packaging was made from the same rubbery-cloth as the boot next to it. Lu stared in awe of the boots, which dad frowned in disapproval towards. He leaned toward Lu to hand him the boots, which he took eagerly to feel.
“Do you… really want that?” dad asked as he stood back up. Lu beamed the hardest he could as the plastic crinkled under his roaming digits. “Why wouldn’t I? There’s 8 pairs of boots!” he responded as he started grabbing at the paper folded over and stapled to the plastic. He was quickly stopped by dad before he could tear into anything. “It’s… cheap.” dad said, with a brow raised in confusion, which contrasted Lu’s eager smile complete with wide eyes. “There aren’t any others though! Not here at least.”
Dad just fumbled his words as he tried to come up with reasons why Lu shouldn’t want these boots, but it proved futile as Lu just held on to the package, reassuring dad how he would be careful with the boots and take care of them. With a defeated sigh, dad caved in once more, and Lu quickly tore open the package to get to the first pack of boots. The few people around them stared. Dad realized that their eyes were fixated onto the odd visage of an incredibly buff old man arguing with a child pokémon in a dark brown robe. Their gaze moved onto him once the two stopped though, and he could feel their eyes silently judging them both. Lu looked around at everyone as he used aura, a little nervous from so many staring people looking at them both.
With a quick ‘Excuse me.’, dad signaled Lu to follow him as they headed back towards the entrance, however before they could round the bend, a middle-aged man that was watching the two gently placed a hand on dad’s shoulder as he said “He won’t be a good hunting dog if you treat him like that.” and as quickly as the hand was placed on, it was removed as he continued on with his own business as dad tried to mutter “That’s not why I’m… here…”. He just shrugged the guy off though as he turned back to leave the store, Lu relaxing as they headed to a self-check-out register. Lu had already donned a pair of his boots, stretching side to side with awe as he watched his boots stay tight against his legs, each paw pad comfortably resting into its own sole, even the pads that he doesn’t stand on. His elation spread to dad, who slowly smiled as he felt Lu’s joy. As they headed back into the parking lot, Lu was quick to tug at dad’s hand as he called out “Dad! Daaaad!”. Dad looked down to his little energetic bundle of joy eagerly calling for his attention, and he answered “Yes?”
“Where did you get my robe?” Lu asked as he bounced in place.
“Right there.” He said, pointing to the section of mall outcropping relatively near-by that read ‘Trainer Couture’.
“Why don’t we just get clothes there?” he asked as he started to grab and pull dad there by his arm.
“You’ll settle for anything, huh?” dad asked with a cocked eyebrow and amused smile. He started to chuckle when Lu replied with “Yep!” as the two continued on and into the store.
From the outside, it had automatic doors that worked. Once inside, one could see a cool color scheme of blue and white, mannequins at the entrances, and a busy atmosphere of people walking this way and that. A distinct lack of pokémon was also noticed. The few pokémon that were there were small enough to fit inside of a purse or hoodie or were there with a child. This didn’t bother Lu any, who eagerly followed dad upstairs. The mannequins on the second floor were smaller and had vehicles and cute pokémon decorating the walls. Clearly, this floor was dedicated to children and younger. On the far-left wall was pajamas and other nightwear for kids, and along that wall was a rack of robes like the one Lu is wearing. Dad points to the rack and he says with a smile “This is exactly where I got your robe.” as Lu’s eyes widened, comparing his robe to the others. His robe faded with time, but it was still one of these for sure. “I’m wearing THAT robe!” he exclaimed with a pointing finer and wagging tail. Dad just chuckled as he said “Yep… you sure are… now go look around for something else you want.” He said as the sound of footsteps could be heard. Both the sound of Lu’s soft pitter-patter, and the sound of heels approaching. When he turned towards the noise he saw a woman, blonde hair in her blue uniform standing at attention in the middle of the aisle.
“Hello, sir, do you need help?” she politely asked as she looked up to meet his gaze.
“No thank you miss… Lindsey. I’m quite alright.” He politely responded with a genuine smile.
“I think you need help.” She responded in her same polite tone as before, a little grin expanded her smile as they talked.
“Excuse me?” dad said, his eyebrows furrowed to her brash behavior.
“Yeah… you seem to be confusing that riolu.” She said, her polite voice held throughout her chat. “He’s going to think that he’s people if you treat him like that, and he’s going to have a baaaaad time with other pokémon.” As dad opened his mouth to rebut, Lindsey was quick to speak over him saying “It doesn’t matter how lonely you are, you’re going to ruin that riolu’s life treating him like a human child.” After her diatribe, Lindsey paused for a few seconds as dad frowned, his immeasurable displeasure and annoyance towards the rude employee peeking through a semi-squinted eye. After a few seconds of staring, Lindsey finally spoke. “Will that be all?” she asked in a disgustingly sweet tone.
“Who’s your manager?” was dad’s only reply, his tone calm yet rife with discontent. “Have a good day, sir.” was Lindsey’s last reply, a rather smug smirk subtly formed on her mouth as her words left her lips before she walked away... It was at this time Lu came by, barely holding a basket with a few hoodies, plain t-shirts, cargo pants and shorts. He shifted through it and noticed that all the clothes were solid colors, not a design to be seen. “You didn’t want anything with pictures?” dad asked as he shifted the contents around. “Nah.” Was Lu’s simple reply. “The graphic designs were very babyish… I didn’t like any.” Amazed by Lu’s use of big words, dad leaned down to pet him, but he started to talk at the same time he was being pet. “So… who was that?” Lu asked as his smile faded away. “Her aura was mean... was she being mean?”
Dad just gave Lu a little smile and a thumbs up as he said “Yeah, but daddy took care of her… lets find a changing room and see if any of this actually fits you.” before he started to lead Lu forward. Many of the kids they passed by would steal glances before they continued their own way or would point out how cool that riolu was. Lu kept an omniscient eye out for Lindsey without paying attention to much else. Dad’s answer did indeed comfort, but he read from dad’s aura that she got under his skin regardless. Dad noticed Lu’s constant spacing out and constant rising then falling dreds between trying on articles of clothing. “Are you ok?” dad asked after all the clothes were put back into the basket to leave. “She’s waiting outside.” Lu telepathically warned dad. He let out a sigh before he whispered “Don’t let her distract you from your fun. You were spacing out so much I thought you were getting bored.” He said as he lifted the basket up. “Come on, lets get out of here.”
As they exited the dressing room to the registers, they were stopped just past the exit by Lindsey, who didn’t give dad any room to get past without knocking into her. Her same eager and chipper smile betrayed her intentions, as she opened with “Hello again, sir! I see that you still need help!” as she looked him in the eyes. Her gaze drifted down towards Lu, who stared back with a serious scowl and furrowed brows. She kneeled to pet him as she opened her mouth, but his sudden step backwards broke her concentration. “Come here, little guy!” she cooed, as dad kept a close eye on them. He hadn’t seen Lu like this before, and curiosity bettered his judgement of intervening. Lindsey took an awkward crouched step towards Lu to pet him, but this time Lu batted her hand away as he sternly demanded “Don’t touch me.” Lindsey didn’t falter and again she reached her hand out to stroke his ear. This time, Lu smacked her hand away as he screamed “I SAID NO!” and the sound of silence filled the entire floor. Curious kids, parents, and the pokémon that accompanied them both turned their head in alarm and curiosity towards the shout. Lindsey was quick to stand up the instant Lu screamed.
Quickly, dad stood between the two as Lu gave Lindsey the meanest of glares he could muster: a full frown and narrowed eyes as he stared unflinching at her. The three stood in an awkward silence; Lu staring up into the depths of her soul from behind dad’s leg as dad stared down into her eyes, Lindsey with her head turned away towards the aisles with her eyes focused on dad. Before long, a fresh-faced mall-cop in a neatly ironed uniform cautiously entered the scene with a pokéball in hand. “What’s going on here?” he demanded more than he asked. He looked over all three of them, and quickly Lindsey started stammering out “Th-th-the riolu just screamed out loud for no reason!” to the mall cop, identified by a yellow ID tag as Mark on his left pectoral. “I heard a child scream.” Mark retorted as he looked around, which Lu quickly responded to with “Th-that… was me…”, his voice suddenly shaken and eyes watery. He breathed heavily, on the brink of tears as he looked into Mark’s eyes. “S-she was touching me… and I didn’t like it… s-so I said no… b-b-but she kept touching me anyway s-s-so I screamed then dad came and-“ Lu started, but was quickly interrupted by Lindsey who quickly assumed a position between the two and Mark to loudly protest “This little shit is lying!” but mark sighed as he put his pokéball back onto his belt. “Lindsey… you’ve gotten warnings about harassing customers before, but this time I have to take you to your boss.”
“What? Why?” she asked with sass in her voice as she fixed her hair in an attempt to keep a level head. “You know why.” was all Mark said as he crossed his arms and raised an expectant brow towards her. She seemed to lose her regained composure as she exclaimed “Since when have we listened to a pokémon?!” which just received a serious toned reply from Mark. “We are skeptical of biased translators, but this time the pokémon knows english. I HAVE to treat it like any other report.” Once he finished his statement, he turned towards dad and said “I’m so sorry this happened sir. If you can wait here-“ until dad interrupted him by saying “No-no its fine. As long as she gets in some kind of trouble we’ll be fine.” he assured the enthusiastic mall-cop before they turned to Lu. He still sniffed every so often as he held dad by his pant leg. As Mark turned to Lindsey, Lu quickly looked up to dad and gave a thumbs up with a big goofy smile before just as quickly burying his head back into dad’s pant leg.
Lindsey only caught a glimpse of Lu’s thumbs up, but it was all she needed to righteously announce “HE’S FAKING IT! LOOK!” upon deaf ears. Mark apologized as he escorted Lindsey out of the store and into the mall proper as she kept loudly saying expletives about how they both had to have planned this. When dad turned his attention from the spectacle of Lindsey metaphorically digging her grave deeper back towards Lu, he noticed that he was fully dressed in a black hoodie, rubberish boots, and blue shorts; his old robe in the large basket where both articles of clothing used to be. “How do I look?” he asked as he flipped the hood up and over his head, covering his eyes with the hood as his tail wagged a mile a minute. “Like a cool dude, but I think we’re gonna have a talk during the car ride home.” Lu’s tail stopped wagging as he moaned “Aaawwwwww whhyyy? She was being mean.” To which dad replied with an amused smile “I know… it’s gonna be a short talk.”
After dad paid for the clothes, the two left the department store the way they came and had returned to the truck. As dad promised, he brought up what had happened in the store to Lu as he merged onto the highway. “You handled that quite well… but please don’t rely on deception like that. You might cause permanent trouble for someone who doesn’t deserve it.” Lu just tilted his head in response to dad’s diatribe. “Huh?” he asked as he flipped his hood up and over his head. “I thought you wanted her in trouble?” he asked as he played with the strings on his hoodie. Dad just shrugged as he said “Yes I did, but I don’t want to have her lose her job. Your acting could have cost her that.” Lu looked back at the city as they drove, or at least the best that he could from the passenger-side window. “You thought I was a good actor?” Lu asked, eyes wide with awe from what he perceived to be a compliment. “I mean… you did great until you broke character.”
“I didn’t want you to be worried.” Was Lu’s answer as he turned his head to face him with a genuine smile.
“I’ll admit I was a little worried-” he started, but then quickly cut off his train of thought by saying “Louis!” loudly. Once Lu was fully focused on him, he continued his previous talk. “Don’t be a manipulator. You’ll lose friends that way.” were dad’s final stern words on the subject matter, and Lu nodded silently at dad before turning his head forward, letting the strings go before silence befell the two.
When he took a good look out of the windshield, he realized just how much time had passed. The excitement of getting his own set of clothes and being inside most of the day made him miss most of the sunlight; although most of the time spent was travelling to the city. They drove into the sunset, and as they left the city, Lu noticed a sign saying ‘You are now leaving Stardust City. Starman awaits for you!’ Lu turned his head to dad before turning to try to look at the sign behind them. “Did I miss that sign earlier?” he asked as he pressed his head against the window, but only managed to look quite silly from his fruitless attempt. “Yeah, you did. Put your seatbelt on!” dad barked as he turned to realize Lu’s lack of a seatbelt.
He clicked the belt into place before he turned to dad with a smile and twinkle to his eye as he said “So… how do people act?”

	Lu felt his life had a lot more intrigue and wonder since his trip to the city. Sadly, he couldn’t wander too far from home, as it would be left unlocked for him. Dad had called this a “big responsibility,” and that he shouldn’t wander too far because of it. However, this didn’t dissuade Lu from trying. He knew that they didn’t get visitors, and the mailbox to the house was beside the dirt road exit beside the highway, so not even there mailman would visit.
	He never was far away for too long. The door to the house was unlocked for him and him alone. The trust placed on him gave him a sense of pride, which often conflicted with his newfound desire to explore. He started to become friends with the neighboring pokémon. His mannerisms and clothing worried the elders, while the youth found him quite exotic. Despite this, he made some friends who accepted his weird mannerisms and even found them charming.
Sadly… friendships with wild pokémon never seemed to last. They would either migrate away with their family and never be seen from again, or they would become busy taking care of their families and “communities”. The little pokémon were always jealous when Lu said he had no such responsibilities, or awestruck that the few responsibilities he did have were so much different from their own. Many rattata, fletchling, fennekin, and other forest dwelling pokémon came in and out of his life so often, he developed a conflicting twist of emotions of nihilistic acceptance and a hope that “this time could be different.” The first time he had dad to comfort him, assuring him “Cherish your time with others.”, “If you’re lucky, you will bump into them again.”, and “Wild pokémon don’t have our luxuries.”
That last line stuck with him throughout the years. As his schooling became laxer as dad started to run out of things to teach, he was given more and more athletics and physical training. Simple aerobics exercises became the norm for Lu. After breakfast, dad would quickly go through a simple aerobic exercise for him before leaving to do his job. He would refuse to let Lu join him with the excuse that it was dangerous, and Lu’s frustration grew. His frustration was not left unnoticed. For Lu’s second birthday, he gave him a key to the house. This little key was boxed within an intricate series of presents with messages giving excitement to the gift within that box. The fourth box contained the actual key, and upon it's unboxing brought Lu much joy.
From then on, Lu started to explore much further into the forest now that he could lock and unlock the door behind him. He found old friends, made regular visits, and helped with chores; the more violent chores he decided to not stick around for. While he had a lot of fun exploring the forest with friends, his thoughts somehow turned to Stardust City at the end of the day. Within two months of receiving the key, he started racing himself to places he had been: the lake, his friends’ tribes, and back to the house. He timed himself, his trips becoming faster and faster. It started to take ten minutes to sprint to the lake as opposed to an hour walk when he goes with dad. Visits to his friends took less and less travel time as well, and soon these distances wouldn’t be enough to wind him.
	At the end of the two months mentioned, he couldn’t wait any longer. He had to try a quick little visit to Stardust City. He took his time walking to the highway that led him to his magical destination, a little scared of what dad might say if he caught him. Despite the fear of potential trouble, he continued. He only had to be faster than dad, and speed was the one thing he practiced the past few months. That and endurance. As he looked over the horizon towards Stardust City, he could feel his confidence surge! He could do this, he knew he could! It’s just a very long straight line he would have to run.
	Lu took a deep breath, then another. After his second breath, he took a step forward, and then another. Slowly he built his speed up to a brisk run, then from there he quickly broke into a full sprint. He ran as fast as he could down the unoccupied highway, a towering building looming from far away coming ever so closer the faster he ran. He noticed some foot traffic: trainers riding on their pokémon going in both directions up and down the road. It was the only traffic on these roads until he reached the first suburb after about twenty minutes of sprinting. Here was his first obstacle: vehicles started to get on and off the highway, but now there was a sidewalk on either side of it. For now, the sidewalk was his and a handful of trainers. Easily, he weaved around and jumped over the trainers that were in his path, leaving them startled or confused at what just nearly collided with them. He sped along, shouting “Excuse me!” as he sped by each person, at least until he met his next obstacle. Within another fifteen minutes, he had managed to sprint to the sign he missed the first time. He gradually came to a stop as he approached, getting a good read of this side of the green sign. ‘You are entering Stardust City. Starman welcomes you!’ Starman… this name filled Lu with a curiosity that stopped him in his tracks.
	The foot traffic had stopped moving to get a look at the blue blur that they were dodging. A lot of the crowd was upset, but the words “cute” and “adorable” were thrown around despite the apparent anger of the crowd. A lithe girl in a sporty-blue spandex top with matching shorts leaned forward but turned her head back as she brushed some of her black, straight hair behind her ear to face the rest of the crowd as she called out “He’s probably lost or something! Everyone relax!” and on that cue, someone from the crowd asked rather loudly for a pokémon ranger as another person expressed disinterested concern. Lu twitched his head around nervously, thankful that the highway became an overpass after the sign and not before, but when someone pointed out Lu’s odd behavior, quickly everyone’s anger became one of concern. The lithe girl took a kneeled step closer with a hand outstretched as if he was some sort of wounded animal and she said “Hey little guy… it’s ok. We aren’t going to take you back to wherever you ran from.” and upon saying that, some people within the crowd started to ‘Aw’ audibly to what they thought must have been some sort of revelation.
	“Uh… n-no its ok. I’m just visiting.” Lu nervously insisted as he started to back up to the edge of the sidewalk. One person just said how cute it was that he could talk, in response as the girl in the blue spandex just smiled as she kept kneeling, trying to keep eye contact with Lu. “You’re a performing pokémon, aren’t you?” she asked as she reached into one of her many pouches attached to a brown belt on her waist and pulled out a yellow berry. She gently offered it to him with a fully extended hand which Lu tried to decline politely with waving his hands. “No… and no thank you.” Lu said as kind as he could with a small crowd of people staring at him as he backed cautiously onto the grass between the highway and the suburb. “Come on… I’m not going to hurt you.” she sweetly encouraged. Lu turned his back to the girl, and before he sped off, he waved as he said “Probably not, but I gotta go now. I’ll see ya later.” Off he went, down the grass, a slight detour in his plans as he dashed down the sidewalks, following the obstructed overpass the best he could from the suburbs down below.
	He ran a good few miles zig-zagging his way into the city until he started hopping fences. After he jumped a few fences and almost got his foot caught between two wooden posts, he decided to just jump from rooftop to rooftop. This took more effort than it was worth, however, as he spent more time slowing down to make each jump properly. The instant an on-ramp onto the overpass stood between him and a building on the other side, he jumped onto the parapet and ran up it to get back to the highway. The only barrier that kept him from running on the sidewalk of the highway again was a lack of sidewalk. He grumbled as he looked around his surroundings, turning to sit on the parapet. He smiled softly as he contemplated his progress. He made superb time despite the crowd slowing him down. The sun didn’t move much in the sky. If he could glimpse at a clock, he would get a better of how much time had passed. His thoughts were interrupted by the shadow of a bird from up above, quickly sneaking across the clean sidewalks and mostly-similar homes. He could tell it was a braviary, but beyond that he couldn’t tell anything else about it.
	Or at least until its silhouette looked right at him, he could tell it took an interest in him. It glided in a tight circle downward and back the way it came, staring at Lu the entire time it made its turn until it couldn’t keep looking. He felt a growing unease from within as he stood up to resume his journey to the city proper. He climbed his way down the side of the on-ramp and back onto the roof he had just jumped off then he leaped to the streets. He made his way around the overpass, and he went back to safely dashing on the sidewalks, the few trees covering for him as he zig-zagged his way to the heart of the city. The houses grew bigger and more densely packed as he ran inwards towards the center of the city. He was soon forced to slow down as the sheer number of people and pokémon on the sidewalk forced him to concentrate on not bumping into anyone. The sheer energy of so many people bustling around him brought an eager smile to his lips as he worked his way deeper and deeper into the city. There were so many cars honking on the street, people talking on their phones and pokémon from all over making various noises. He jogged his way further into the city as he eyed the many buildings and the storefronts at ground level. As big as the buildings were this far in, they only seemed to get bigger and bigger. Further inward, the buildings had signs on them some of which were animated with sound advertising sodas, pokéballs, clothing, plays, movies, there was an advertisement for everything!
	The only thing that mattered though, was reaching that very tall building, which none other was as big. He jogged the fastest he could within the bustling streets, politely saying” Excuse me!” every time he squeezed pass people’s legs as he reached closer and closer to the behemoth of a building until finally… he reached it. All roads led to this building which sat alone within a roundabout, every sidewalk with its own footbridge to the center and a lone street with metal barricades that went under the building. The building itself was cylindrical all the way to the top, sections of the building narrower than the previous as it went higher and higher. He stared up at awe of this imposing structure, which welcomed visitors who entered it as the “Sky Needle” with a bright monitor which curved around the building’s shape right above the main entrance. Above the sign, behind a digital billboard was the head of that same braviary peeking around from behind. His eyes locked at the rather well-groomed hawk, getting a better look as it looked back with eyes widened by mild shock and embarrassment. The plume of feathers behind its “feather crown” were quite smooth against its neck. After a few moments of staring, it took off and quickly went back in the direction that Lu came. Lu cautiously went off in a random direction, eyes focused to the sky as he found a trainer walking an arcanine to hide behind.
	He walked cautiously next to a large arcanine, both it and its buff male trainer not paying Lu much mind for three city blocks. Once they crossed to the fourth block, the trainer shooed Lu away and the two increased pace. Lu found himself innocently backing into a nearby deli and quickly he bumped into the shins of a rather large man. This man just looked down at Lu before gently scooting him aside with his leg, holding a phone to his ear as his other held onto a briefcase with a bunch of sandwiches on it. Lu called out “Rude!” before turning back to the inside of the deli. Some people turned to stare but others minded their own business, waiting in a modest line of at least five people at the register. Some of these people carried a few bags of groceries, while others waited to make an order for food of some sort. Lu got in line behind of a lady holding a plastic bag of groceries, where he looked around the cozy wooden interior of the deli and the meager number of aisles. It was nothing like that other store he visited with dad. It felt a lot more… comfortable. The wooden interior felt very reminiscent of the wooden interior of home. It had much more food though. Even right next to him there was candy and other snacks within arm’s reach, so he grabbed an arm full off snacks, one of each kind! He held out his hoodie and he cradled the snacks within, beaming as he waited for his turn at the register. He held his enthusiasm all the way to the cashier, a big eager smile complete with wide eyes as it became his turn. He held his bundle of snacks in his shirt as he lept up to the counter, then he spilled the contents to the cashier. The cashier’s dumbfound look as this little riolu dropped a bunch of candy and other snacks onto the counter grew as he gathered his words.
“Are… are yah picking up an ardeh?” the portly man asked in a thick accent as he sifted through the colorful bags of candy. “No! I want to know the prices of these!” Lu asked as he took a seat on the counter. The cashier asked “Haw are yah ganna pay for this?” as he calculated the price of everything into the cash register. As Lu opened his mouth to respond, the man continued with “That’s ganna cahst yah three thousand P’s.” Quickly the wind was taken from Lu‘s sails, and his smile became a disappointed frown. “Oh... I thought that I could find the money… but I don’t think I can find that amount before the end of the day…” he said defeated as he stood up. Before he could jump down from the counter, the cashier spoke “Hey, hald up.” and Lu stopped, looking to the cashier with an inquisitive brow raised and a tilt to his head. The cashier walked to a metallic toaster oven, one of four that hung over a long counter. He opened the left-most toaster oven and he pulled out a wrapped sandwich all ready to go. He headed back to Lu then handed him the sandwich, who eagerly took it from the cashier’s hand. He eyed the sandwich with reverence, then turned his eyes back to the cashier as he beamed brightly, tail wagging a mile a minute. “Really!?” Lu asked as he held the sandwich to his chest like a prize of some sort. The cashier looked into Lu’s puppy eyes as he told him “Uh, yeah. The custamer neveh picked up his ardeh. Yeu can have it ah guess.” Lu’s tail stopped beaming as he eyed the sandwich to then turn his head back to the portly cashier. “Is it safe to eat?” he asked as he looked it over. The cashier just nodded as he waved a hand dismissively and said “Yeah, it’s just been in there for ah day. It’s geud.” which brought Lu back to happily wagging at his rather large meal. Before he could hop off the counter though, a chocolate milk was slapped onto the counter, Lu’s eyes somehow grew bigger with awe. “Dan’t get tew used tah this.” The cashier said with a big smile of his own. Lu grabbed the chocolate milk and he stuffed it into his hoodie pocket as he said many thanks to the kind cashier. “Yah welcome. Now then, get an aut ah here and enjay ya day!” The cashier said as Lu scampered out and back onto the street.
With his gift in hand he took a step down the sidewalk, and this is when he felt a familiar presence. His dreads floated up as he started to look around with his aura. That’s when he noticed perched on the awning of the deli was the same braviary as before. It hadn’t noticed him though as it’s head rotated back and forth slowly. Lu took a quick note of the deli he just walked out of before staring at the head of the braviary. As it looked fully to its left, he made a quick dash to the right then quickly he dived into an alley and continued running. He emerged quickly on the other side and quickly he crossed the street to go through another alley way. He dodged cars and people walking from both sides, desperate to escape his airborne stalker. He ducked into another alleyway, and quickly he came upon a floating object just about head height. Upon trying to step around it, it had shifted in front of his movement and the two collided with a loud metallic thunk. Lu had fallen back onto his butt, dazed from smacking his head, but the object had crashed to the pavement rather hard.
As he regained his bearings, one hand rubbing his head as his other arm cradled his meal, he looked up, and he saw laying in front of him was a magnemite also recovering from their collision. Quickly, Lu took his free hand and he helped the magnemite up, pulling it by one of its magnets back up into the air as he frantically apologized. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” Lu said as it stabilized itself in the air. It looked back at Lu, it’s eye narrowing apologetically as it buzzed then made a quiet yet high-pitched noise. Its noises confused Lu briefly, at least until Lu tried telepathy. “Can you repeat that?” he asked. “You can read my mind?” the magnemite asked as it hovered closer to Lu. He just nodded as he smiled to his new potential friend. “Yeah, I got aura and a little telepathy. Cool huh?”
“You can talk to everyone!” the magnemite thought as it spun around happily, magnets wiggling back and forth as it did so. “I was about to head to the gathering spot-“ it started to think to Lu, but it started to speak as if it was unsure “but you wouldn’t know what that is, would you?” Lu just shrugged as he explained “Well… I’m visiting… so no.” The magnemite sprung to life, hovering behind Lu as it started to push him using its little screws under its eye. “You’re going to have fun! I HAVE to show you this place!” it insisted with heavy emphasis on “have”… or was that just in his head? Regardless, he went along with the pushing until it stopped and just eagerly Led Lu to the “gathering spot”.  The walk there was relatively quick, mostly because the magnemite constantly pushed Lu towards the destination with a fervent eagerness. The entire time Lu kept a paranoid watch for the breviary as they crossed streets and through relatively clean alleyways.
After Lu climbed a large fence, they stood before a rather large playground assembled with debris and garbage. Loosely cobbled together tires of various sizes were the foundation of a few sheets of plywood for a ramshackle house, a rope ladder constructed of what seemed to be recycled wood was the only entrance into this little shack. Protruding from the left and right sides from the shack were smooth, thick pieces of sheet metal curved to form curved slides on either side. The slide on the left curved to spiral the entire way to the ground, while the other slide was a simple steep slope to the ground. On the roof of the shack is a pole and wires that connected to similar poles on the roofs of the nearby buildings. Around the shack were metal poles poking out of tires, bent over to pierce the tire next to it to create some sort of asymmetrical bridge of multiple heights. There were two entrances to the shack which tire some debris were no tin the way, both in front and behind the shack proper. Any alleyways connected to this lot had tall mesh fences at the entrance to the alleyways themselves, four long alley ways total separated the buildings around this makeshift playground.
As impressive as this all was to Lu… he looked over to the shack in the middle of everything before he walked towards it, asking his hovering friend “I don’t think you gave me your name.” The magnemite raised its magnets as its eyes widened to this news flash, and quickly it tried to correct this. “Oh! Sorry sorry! My name is-“ then suddenly as it communicated its name, a series of high pitched noises went through Lu’s head. Confused, his head tilted as he asked it once more for its name, then again, the same series of noises went through his head. “Can I just call you Beep?” he asked politely. The magnemite just nodded to this, a little defeated as it said “Yeah…”
“So Beep… can I eat in the house there?” he asked as he pointed to the shack. “I don’t see why not.” Was Beep’s reply before it floated off somewhere to the right, while Lu made a dash for the shack. He jumped half way up the rope ladder then grabbed on with his free arm to quickly scurry up to the outcropping platform of wood that served as a landing for people to step on. Finally, he could sink his teeth into the delectable looking wrapped sandwich, the aroma of which teased him since it was handed to him. He could detect a scent bacon, and out of curiosity, he unwrapped it from its aluminum foil wrapping, and he removed the long piece of bread on top. Sure enough, long pieces of bacon that stretch the span of the sandwich was seen under lettuce and pickles. Mayonnaise was evenly layered with provolone, pastrami, tomatoes, and spinach. This beast of a meal only got better. Gingerly, Lu placed the bread back on to make the hero complete once more. Savoring this moment, he raised the sandwich to his mouth… and with it rose a pair of magnets. The magnets got closer, obscured behind the sandwich was the rest of Beep.
“It’s just us here it seems.” Beep said as Lu lowered his meal to look at it eye-to eye. “Usually at least one of the slowkings are here. Sorry that it seems so empty.” It apologized sincerely as it floated to hover next to him. “How many are there normally?” he felt the need to ask. Beep’s only response was a simple “Two.” After a few moments of silence, Lu raised the sandwich to his lips once more, and Beep watched. While uncomfortably close, it watched in awe of something it could never do unfurl happen right in front of it, as Lu leaned away to create a little breathing space between himself and his eager observer.
“What is it like to eat?” Beep probed. Lu sighed as he lowered his sandwich yet again, then turned to face the curious floating ball of metal. “I don’t know how to describe that.” he politely told Beep. It just nodded quietly as it looked at Lu, then spoke up after a few moments of silence. “You never gave me your name.” it announced bluntly to him, who went on to savor a bite out of his sandwich finally after involuntary procrastination.
He could taste the different meats, combined with the condiments and greens within the sandwich was one of the tastiest foods he has ever eaten. The fact that the sandwich itself was a little dry only hinted to how it could taste fresh. This very idea of eating such a great sandwich in its prime brought a smile to his face… at least until a piercing beep struck his ears.
Lu winced as the sound briefly pierced his hearing, and he quickly turned his head back to Beep.
“WHAT?!” he shouted in surprise.
“What?” Beep asked, no longer making any noises.
“What?” Lu repeated, this time much nicer in tone as he dove back in for another bite.
“Are you ok? You spaced out when I asked you your name.” it said as it watched him eat, this time further back without invading his space. “Did you forget it?”
“No, it’s Louis. You can call me Lu if you want though.” he said with a smile now, mouth full of a tasty meal. Moments of silence passed, only the sould of Lu’s quiet eating was audible between the two. He thought of something fun as he swallowed a bite. “Ever heard a ratatta?” he would ask with a big grin on his face right before reaching forward for another bite from his large meal. Beep tilted slightly as he looked to Lu curiously. “Yeah.” it said as it watched Lu lower his meal. He swallowed what he had, and after a deep breath he started to chitter and squeak. His hands moved in front of his mouth as he imitated a ratatta, and Beep’s eye elated before spinning around. “Oh my gosh, that’s so cool!” it exclaimed before it started to attempt imitating alongside Lu. Its attempt was quite futile, making only beeps of different tones. The two had fun despite Beep’s inability to not sound like a circuit board, and they both made weird noises of things they knew. They caught the attention of the odd passerby, but otherwise no one seemed to care of the two pokémon imitating other pokémon.
	Beep was the one to interrupt the fun when he turned his head up towards a roof viewing the lot. “Do you have to go?” it asked before turning back to face Lu. Out of curiosity, he followed his eyes to where Beep looked, and sure enough… there was that bird again! His eyes narrowed as he stared at the bird, looking him directly in the eyes as he held what remained of his sandwich. This time… it just looked back sternly at Lu, unblinking as Lu grasped his bottle of chocolate milk and stuffed it into his hoodie pocket. “It looks like it.”  he replied as he held his sandwich to his chest. “I think he wants me.” Beep started looking at the braviary with worry in its eye. “So… what are you going to do?”
“Run.” he said as he stood up. “It was great meeting you, Beep. I’ll come back another day, alright?” Beep rotated to face Lu, but as it asked “Where do you live?” the braviary spread its wings, and Lu leaped from the platform. He landed hard against the hard cement then sprinted off back to the fence. The breviary dived towards him the instant he made a move. He had nowhere to go, he couldn’t jump the fence in one leap with his hands full and the braviary landed before him. With his feet on the ground, the braviary blocked the way back into the lot as well. He glared at Lu almost as if it was chastising him, his mind absent of thought except for a constant reminder not to hurt the riolu. It took a step towards Lu with some sort of authoritative grace, and then received a nasty shock from behind. A loud boom reverberated in the alleyway as the braviary took a fall, and behind the braviary was Beep. It waved to Lu with a magnet, and Lu waved back with a grateful smile before clutching the sandwich yet again. He leaped his way back up and then over the chain-link fence. He turned sharply, and he traced his path back the way he came. Weaving through alleyways, retracing his steps as the loud sound of a series of loud piping could be heard following. It was up, and it was angry. He dashed off as fast as he could back south, the setting sun his only source of direction when he could see it from behind the towering buildings. He ran as fast as he could across the busy streets of He ran as fast as he could across the busy streets of Stardust. He leapt onto the roof of cars and between people’s feet as he attempted his escape, the braviary unobstructed as he soared after him. The two remained relatively equidistant throughout the chase back to the highway. Once he could reach the section with sidewalk, he could outrun it… or at least that was his plan.
The braviary started piping after a mile chase of silence through the suburbs. Lu could feel another presence getting closer and closer from the ground level, somewhere off to the right. He looked for aura traces of this new entity, and soon enough a sceptiole suddenly entered his aura sense from the right. Quickly it closed the distance between them then attempted a leaping grab at Lu! He saw it coming and slid under the sceptile’s hand. It got off its belly and onto all fours while Lu instantly recovered from his slide and continued his sprint, not stopping for anything. He turned around a street corner and sure enough there was the braviary again, this time diving in at breakneck speed! Lu stopped moving, and in a split decision he fell onto his back, holding his sandwich up in sacrifice as he turned his head and closed his eyes. He dove from the sky, talons open when Lu fell backwards. The talons grabbed and picked up the sandwich from Lu’s grasp and off he flew with the tasty sacrifice… at least for a short while. When he lowered his head to see exactly what it was he picked up, Lu stopped watching him fly off and he immediately turned tail. His sorrowful sacrifice was short lived, but not in vain. The distraction let him get back to the highway safely, and once he got onto the sidewalk he ran as fast as he could. The only obstacles now were other people. He felt confident in his ability to make it back home safely. The sceptile stayed on his tail though, and the braviary despite being hot on their tails, was getting tired and started falling behind. As the foot traffic thinned, Lu gained speed and the sceptile kept pace. After what felt like a good fifteen minutes of straight sprinting, the braviary was no longer around. The sceptile’s stamina was tested too, and soon it started slowing down. It audibly panted as the long-distance sprint started to take a toll on him. Lu was smirking as he felt an air of superiority; outrunning these stronger, more evolved pokémon was a big ego boost! At least until the sceptile decided to make a sharp turn into the dense forest beside the road.
Lu was quite concerned for the rest of his run, no longer able to see his pursuer. The instant he made the turn onto the dirt path, he took the house key from his pants pocket and shoved it into the lock as soon as he could. His breathing was ragged and heavy from the long run, mixed with the adrenaline he got from being chased out of the city. All and all… it was a very interesting day. He honestly couldn’t wait to go back, even if he had to figure out how to stop those two in the future.
Speaking of obstacles, the door knob turned and the door slowly opened. Quickly, Lu patted his clothes flat and then casually leaned against the table. Much to his surprise, it wasn’t dad who popped his head through the doorway, but that sceptile. Lu panicked as he backed under the table, the sceptile panting as it walked calmly into the house and over to the table. It kneeled and it looked Lu in the eyes, trying to attempt some sort of friendly smile as it heaved. A pair of combat boots stepped quietly behind the sceptile, slowly it got closer and closer to them both. The instant it got close to the sceptile, a pair of arms wrapped around the sceptile’s neck as a foot stomped roughly onto the tail. He peeked his head out from under the table, and there was dad, choking it out with some sort of strangle hold.
“You see…” dad begun as he lifted it by its neck, flailing its legs as it tried to swing its arms back to hit dad with the leaves on its wrists. “The key to subduing a sceptile…” he explained as his own grunts interrupted his lecture occasionally, the sceptile resisting through flailing its limbs and crying out the best it could with a muscular arm wrapped around its neck. “Is… you have to pin the tail as you keep the feet off the ground…” The sceptile at this point squirmed less and less within dad’s hold, eyes slowly lidding. “Or it will whack you. So… you need… to have a firm grasp around its neck like so, pinning one arm above its head… or it will stab you…” Now the sceptile was starting to fall unconscious, its thrashing declining in intensity. Dad spoke calmly now as its resistance to dad dwindled then fell limp. “but if you don’t want to risk getting hurt fighting a sceptile…” he would say now as he held it for a few more seconds after it passed out, laying it on the floor gently after he was satisfied it was unconscious. “then don’t provoke it.” Now he spoke to Lu accusatory in tone as his brow furrowed. “What did you do?”
“N-nothing!” Lu protested. “He followed me from the forest!” Now dad’s brow lifted as he informed him with “Sceptile aren’t native to Rokuda.” as he went into the back room. Lu panicked silently, a hand tugging lightly at one of his dreads tried to think of some sort of excuse. Dad emerged from the crafts room as Lu he tried to speak, and a familiar feminine voice called out from the front of the cabin “HEY! YOU IN THERE!” as dad started to hog-tie the sceptile’s limbs to its tail. Lu cringed and hid his face in his hands as he realized the possibility of talking his way out of punishment vanished. Sure enough, when the front door opened, there was the girl that offered Lu the berry earlier in the day. Lu followed dad to the front door and watched the two talk from between dad’s legs. The athletic lass was quite livid as she shouted accusations. “WHERE IS JESTUS!?” Dad just raised his eyebrow at her senseless shouting, at least until she spotted Lu. She pointed to him now, shouting “YOU! WHERE IS HE!?” she cried out, her voice raising in volume as her worry rose.
Dad just grunted as he unslung the rifle from his shoulder and he pointed it in her direction, making a show of racking the next round The previous bullet ejected from the port. Quickly the girl calmed down almost as her hands raised. “Let’s try this again.” dad calmly instructed as he kept his rifle level. “My name is Aldo. Everyone calls me Al. What’s your name?”
Her voice shook as she eyed his rifle. “C-Cami. My friends call me Cami.” She said nervously as her eyes drifted to the bullet in the grass, the bullet bright blue with a white stripe around its base contrasting with the grass, the case itself a boring brass color. “Your bullets aren’t lethal.” she noticed as her hands lowered cautiously. “See? I don’t want to hurt anyone.” he replied as he cautiously lowered his rifle. In doing so, Cami started to walk forward, and dad quickly pointed as he gruffly spoke “You stay there. You came to my house screaming nonsense.”
“I just want Jestus back.” she pleaded. Dad would look back to the unconscious sceptile in his dining room as he replied “Is Jestus a sceptile?” Cami nodded eagerly. “I’ll go get him, wait right here.” he spoke as he turned, prompting Lu to scurry away. He pulled the chocolate milk out from his hoodie pocket as he watched dad carry the sceptile out of the house by the rope as if he was luggage. Cami’s eyes lit up as she saw Jestus carried out to her. Jestus was placed a few feet away from Cami, and the instant dad took a step back she ran over to untie him. Frantically, she removed the rope from around his limbs as she cooed words to him gently, Jestus still unconscious in her arms. After returning Jestus back to his pokéball did dad approach Cami.
“You should take him to a pokémon center.” He advised as he watched her put the pokéball on the side of one of her fanny packs. Her head turned to him, alarmed of his advice and the ominous implications that came with. “What did you do to him?!” she asked, eyes glued to him as he casually explained “A pokémon broke into my house and harassed Louis there, so I knocked him out.” He said, pointing to Lu as he took a swig of his chocolate milk, waving to them both as he was pointed at.
Cami stood up as she looked dad in the eyes, then apologetically said “I’m sorry for my sceptile invading your home… and chasing your riolu… and stalking him.” Dad turned his head towards Lu, looking a bit aghast at this news who would in turn chug the rest of his drink before heading back inside to jump onto the dining-room table. “I’m… sorry?” he asked, mouth borderline agape as he tried to wrap his head around everything. “Where did this take place?” Cami took a deep breath, starting her explanation nervously as she exhaled. “So… I saw your riolu running on the highway and he stopped in front of the welcome sign. He looked lost so…” her face started to turn red from embarrassment as she started looking at dad with the side of her face as she said “I MAY have thought he was running away from abusive trainers or something, and I thought that since he was wearing clothes he didn’t know how to fight, so I MAY have convinced my sceptile and braviary to keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t get in trouble… and I MAY have exaggerated a LIIIITTLE too much… I guess they took it upon themselves to try to bring him to me… but…” Cami paused to gulp briefly. “Well… one thing led to another, and it turns out that your riolu is so fast he outran my sceptile and braviary… and well… here we are.”
Dad nodded silently to every word. “Thank you, Cami. There’s no hard feelings.” he said as he started to wrap things up. Meanwhile, Lu sat on the dining room table, awaiting the stern talking to he was undoubtedly going to get. He spied on them both, listening as Cami revealed to dad exactly where he went today, watching dad’s aura to see just how much trouble he was going to be in. While he was talking to Cami, dad seemed somewhat upset, his aura moving faster and gaining a red tint. It was when Cami waved goodbye and called out her braviary to fly away did dad’s aura suddenly spike and become bright red. He calmly entered the house, a huge contrast to the anger that he knew he was feeling. He calmly approached him and looked him so deep in the eyes Lu swore he looked into his soul.
“You managed to run to the city and back, get a group of pokémon to chase you the entire time…” he paused to take a deep breath as he closed his eyes and rested his head on the pam of his hand. Upon finishing his breath, he removed his hand and asked “What else did you do?” Lu shrugged as he cautiously informed “I… just met some people… got a sandwich and drink… I made a friend… and then I left.”
“How did you get them?” dad asked incredulously in tone.
“I just walked in and he gave it to me.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Dad folded his arms, studying Lu as he listened to his responses. From Lu’s calm tone but nervous sitting posture he suspected that Lu was telling the truth, and he leaned forward to pat Lu on the shoulder. “You do remember when that lady harassed us, right? You remember how she did it just because she didn’t like that you were there?” Lu would nod as the mood became a lot more somber. “Yeah… I do.”
“You realize there are people much worse in dark alleyways and other shady areas, right?”
“I suspected they exist… but you didn’t exactly say that I couldn’t go either.”
“I thought you were smarter than that.” were dad’s final word on the matter before silence filled the room. Lu looked up to dad and he asked “Am I in trouble?” to which dad replied “Yeah… I’m not going to punish you as much as I should… but yeah.” Again, more silence filled the room before dad spoke up this time. “I think it’s time that I teach you how to defend yourself.” Lu smiled a bit to this news, since honestly this seemed like a fun subject to learn. Dad had a few things on his mind though, as his gaze would return to the floor during silences. “So… I’m not going to go out for a while just to make sure that you learn this properly. You’ll find out that if there’s anything I know how to do, it’s going to be this.” he would say with a smile as he looked at Lu. “Also… how the hell did you get to the city?” he asked, his smile disappearing into a more quizzical lip lift. Lu was more than happy to reply with “Well… I like running… so I kept on running until it was easy.”
“You literally ran there and back?” he asked, with more disbelief than ever. “I don’t know if I should be impressed or worried.” he added almost as a thought out-loud. Before dismissing Lu, he announced “You’re grounded until I say otherwise. Understand?” Lu understood, but he still protested to no avail. He was sent to bed with the promise that dad was going to be with him the entire time, ready to lift the punishment depending on how fast he could learn to fight. To be honest, this wasn’t sounding like too bad of a punishment.

	The sun was over the tree-line when Lu was awoken from dad’s stirring. He yawned a good morning, as was the tradition before going back to sleep. Dad gently stroked Lu’s head before giving his dread a light tug. “Time to wake up,” he said gently. Lu groaned before he turned over and dropped to his feet. “I want to show you something important… so you know that I know what I’m doing.” Lu tiredly looked up to dad as he talked, then nodded with a yawn after dad finished his statement. He followed dad to the sofa, then leapt up to take a seat.
Dad took a seat next to Lu, who crawled onto dad’s lap as he pulled a book off the coffee table. The book was opened with a bookmark on Lu’s lap. The pictures were familiar at first; pictures of Lu blowing out a birthday candle, them both doing something silly, and Lu having his height measured at the hallway entrance. Dad flipped backwards though the pages and pictures of Lu looking towards the camera in various silly poses started appearing in the plastic pages, soon followed by pictures of Lu being scared as he looked at the camera. Lu placed a hand on the page and he halted dad’s progress. “When were these taken?” he asked as he observed images of himself shocked paired with images that were obviously taken moments before. Dad just stifled a chuckle as he told him, “Flashes used to make you jump! Heh… sorry buddy,” As he continued to hold his chuckling back, a smile on his face that he couldn’t conceal. Lu folded his arms as the pages turned. “Well… I don’t remember any of it…” he said with a scowl towards dad’s enjoyment. He placed a hand on the page, then turned to face dad. “Why am I grounded again? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It’s for your own good. I made a mistake letting you play with wild pokémon before teaching you how to fight,” Was dad’s simple reply as he gently moved Lu’s hand from the book. Lu pouted as he folded his arms, the pages gently turned backwards. He stopped flipping on a page filled with pictures of him in padded gloves and baggy shorts, but Lu continued turning further back. “Start from the beginning if you’re keeping me here!” he eagerly demanded as he looked up at dad with a wide smile and big puppy-dog eyes. “Your eyes are very red,” was his playful response as he grabbed the cover of the album and flipped every page at once to the first. “Look, with your red eyes,” he said as his finger slid over a man holding his wife. “This is my dad.” He was clean shaven with a little stubble, a masculine face very similar to dad’s. His finger slid to the delicate woman beside him. “This is my mother,” he explained. This woman was an opposite to the rough, muscular man beside her. Her hair flowed to her shoulders, and her face was gentle. The two embraced lovingly, only their waists shown in front of a backdrop of forest and a castle.
“This was taken during a trip they had… I don’t know,” he explained quickly, his finger flew from image to image. Lu spoke up, holding the next page down as dad reached to turn it. “I wanted a little more detail than… this,” he said as he looked dad with fake sorrow in his eyes. This didn’t deter dad at all, who just slid his finger under the next page. “You can’t seriously expect me to remember everything they did when I wasn’t alive.” Lu lowered his head and moved his hand aside as the next page was lifted. “No… I guess not…” Dad continued with summarizing each image until he reached an image of his mother holding a newborn baby. “And this is me,” he said with a humble smile.
He briefly talked about where he was born… how it was right in Stardust City. Pages turned, and dad talked about being an only child raised in the suburb. He spoke of his time at school as a picture of dad as a child covered in bruises surfaced. “Why were you hurt?” he asked as he looked carefully at the image, dad’s smile still plastered across his face as he took a tattered selfie with an unconscious sentrent. “Ooohhh… I remember that!” he said fondly as he pulled the book closer. “Some kids were being bullies and sent their pokémon out to take kids’ lunch money!” A chuckle escaped his lips as Lu looked at the unconscious pokémon. “I almost got in trouble, but some kids recorded the whole thing!” Another chuckle escaped him as he wistfully said “I wish I saved it...” The page was turned, and his school life stories consisted mainly of altercations after that photo. What became pictures of dad in tattered clothes and a smirk were followed by pictures of him in a gym with boxing gloves on. “Here comes the beginning of what I actually wanted to show you, so listen up.”
He brought the book close, and pointed to a picture of him in a boxing ring wearing a tank top and shorts, up against a much larger person in similar attire. “You just went to fighting people bigger than you?” Lu asked as he observed the pictures on the same page. “Nah…” Dad explained, “My parents sent me there to learn how to fight. That was my instructor.” With a smile, he placed a hand on Lu’s shoulder. “Now I’m going to teach you everything I know.” They smiled at each other, Dad gently stroking Lu behind his ear with his head canted to the side. “So… what else did you do as a kid?” Lu asked as dad gripped the album and turned the page. “Is it more fighting? Did you become a bully?” Dad waivered in his voice as he tried to explain himself. “I did fight more… but no one who didn’t deserve it.” “You mean like the bullies? Were you a hero?” he asked starry-eyed. Again, Dad was unsure how to respond to this. “No… I was just a guy… but maybe you should let me continue and see for yourself?”
Lu nodded as he shivered lightly with anticipation as the page was turned again. “So… I continued with fighting. I decided to take up a mixed martial art called kick boxing, and it turned out that I was quite good at it!” Multiple pages were turned until on the left-hand side of the album were professionally taken photos, and on the right seemed to be more amateur versions of the pictures on the left from a different camera. “This was my first amateur fight. I ACTUALLY managed to impress some people on my first fight!” he boasted proudly as he turned the page again. The pictures of fights started to appear less in frequency in favor of more mundane images. “I shot my way to the top, and I never lost a single fight!” he said as he gave a little nudge. Lu stared, enthralled by his words.
The joy from reminiscing of past fights soon left Dad, and his words became more solemn. “Sadly… I only ever stayed in the amateur league. No one wanted to sponsor me because… get this… winning all the time is boring.” Lu’s head tilted from this baffling turn of events. “But… wouldn’t they want that?” Dad’s response was a sigh, followed by a smirk that grew slowly. “Yeah… but if I had been accepted, I wouldn’t have met my wife.” He turned the page a few more times, skipping past shots of scenery until he reached a picture taken within a gym somewhere, a scientist in a lab coat held Dad’s arm up like a referee as an unconscious hitmonchan slumped on his shoulder. Lu was completely mind blown by what he saw. “You fought a hitmonchan?!” he excitedly asked as he leaned forward. “They are like… super tough and good at punching!” He would receive a pat on the head by Dad with a little chortle, Lu’s excitement rather amusing. “Yeah… I won too.” He gave a proud smile before he added with a shrug “And shot… I guess.”
This didn’t bother Lu any though, whose reverent smile never faltered. “So… the person who owned that hitmonchan was a founder of a new research organization called ‘Holliway Studies’ who were so impressed with my fighting they hired me to protect their researchers.” Dad gave gentle rubs to Lu’s head as he continued his story. “It was through them I met my wife,” He said as the page turned, revealing a group photo of young men and women in lab coats. Far to the left, Dad could be seen with his arm wrapped around the shoulder of a woman clad in grease-stained overalls. They both were the eldest of everyone in the photo, and they both looked quite happy. “This is Elena, rest her soul.” He gently rubbed the photo, wistfully gazing. “We got along great since day one. She was great with her hands.” He turned the page, more group photos taken in exotic locations with people both new and familiar. “She wasn’t a scientist, but she kept everything in tip-top shape better than those egg-heads ever could. My job was to keep everyone safe as they mingled with the wild pokémon.” He lowered the album to say “I learned about hunting on the job… and honestly… the things they taught me about pokémon psychology and physiology really sped things up.”
“So… you knew nothing about hunting when they hired you?” Lu skeptically asked. “Well… like I said… they helped... but look at how good I am now!” Dad boasted. Lu’s brow lifted skeptically. “I haven’t ever seen you work.” The book was laid back onto their lap as Dad waved away his criticism. “I’ll take you along some time,” was his simple reply as he turned the page to continue his condensed biography. Onward he wrapped up the remaining pictures of his exploits; the exciting adventures and misadventures him and his coworkers got into, and the exiting things they have done. He showed Louis the last picture he took with his friends and coworkers before he moved on to how his life changed when he settled down.
Pictures in the album showed that the two had bought a house in the suburb and eventually had two sons. Dad hunted when there was a “bounty” for a rather dangerous pokémon, and Elena took up a job as a mechanic for the suburban district’s police force. A tododile started appearing in pictures, usually next to the youngest child. He explained how the youngest, Fred, found the tododile. The two became inseparable, and eventually left off on their own pokémon adventure. His eldest, Luca, worked hard to get the skills to fly any aircraft anywhere, and ended up becoming a rather successful bush pilot for hire. Once the kids were gone, dad went back to occasional hunting. He had become somewhat famous for his ability to catch anything, but seldom hired for only picking to hunt pokémon that were dangerous. His jobs mostly involved protecting people, or subduing pokémon that had for one reason or another become dangerous. Dad moved into the woods when Elena passed away, unable to be rehired by Holliway Studies when they became a hybrid pokémon and daycare center. There he stayed in solitude until Lu came into his life.
The book was closed, a satisfied sigh was heard escaping dad after what must have been a condensed recap of his life condensed into a few hours. Lu re-opened the album book almost as quickly as it was put down, he flipped through the pages as he asked “So… where is my mom?”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t see or hear a mention of MY mom once.”
Dad’s tone grew accusatory as he stated “I don’t think I like what you’re implying…” but he was surprised by a serious and rather upset look on Lu’s face. “W-what do you mean?”
Dad hesitated slightly as he carefully thought out his words. “I guess you’re mature enough to know… that I found you in the woods.”
“You… found me?”
With a pained exhale, dad continued to explain “I found you. Just… hidden under a bush.” Lu looked forward, then after a pause of silence, he moved the album aside before dropping to his feet. He turned to dad with a pained expression on his face. “I’m… adopted?”
“This wasn’t obvious?”
	Louis turned his head away, unable to face him. “I… guess I should have known?” He was at a loss of words. Dad was quickly beside him, on a knee as he pat Lu’s shoulder. “I’m… uh, sorry that I didn’t teach you this… do you want to hold off our plans for tomorrow?”
“No… boxing sounds fun… I just…” His head turned to face dad properly, the two looked each other eye to eye as he spoke. “Can you show me where?”
“I don’t see why not.” He gave Lu a comforting pat on the shoulder. “We’ll go after we’re done.”
	One meaty breakfast later, and the two were outside. Dad wore pads on his hands, emblazoned in the middle of each was a target. “How was breakfast?” he asked as he raised his fists, targets towards Lu. “It was great. Bacon is amazing,” Lu said as he raised his fists. “So... what are we doing exactly?”
“I’m going to teach you how to stand properly...” He spoke as he gently moved Lu’s arms in front of his face. “and we move up from there.” His eyes looked up and down Lu’s amateurish stance, gently he pushed Lu by the back to crouch him forward. With a pad on his chin… dad contemplated Lu’s stance. “Is there any chance that you can do something about your tail?” Lu turned to look at his tail, then back at dad as he asked “What’s wrong with it?”
“It sticks out. You need to tuck it away or something.” On that prompt, Lu held his stance as his tail pressed firm against his back. “There you go, buddy! You’re much less likely to get grabbed like that!” Lu’s tail started to wag on the compliment he got, then got a soft bop on the head with the pad. “You have to hold it tight against you. You can’t give anyone a chance to grab it. Got that?” Lu gave a few more wags as he smiled, then quickly tucked it against his back once more.
	With a padded pat on the head, the two continued with lessons. Dad explained the importance of balance and movement. He assumed a proper fighting stance to bob and weave in demonstration. Lu followed what he saw, bobbing and weaving as dad did. “That’s it… keep your feet properly spaced, your bodyweight should be distributed evenly between both legs.” He continued, throwing out a few slow jabs for Lu to watch. However, Lu’s foot work was wrong, and he was quick to tap Lu’s head. “What are you doing with your feet? Your leading foot should be flat on the ground.”
“It is,” was Lu’s reply as dad pressed down on Lu’s knee. As Lu’s foot flattened completely, his mouth opened as he winced. It wasn’t a painful feeling, but it felt incredibly weird as a jolt of numbness shot up his leg. His body shivered to the core as dad realized this was his fault then quickly apologized. “Are you ok? What happened?”
“I… don’t know. I never stood on my foot like that before,” Lu replied as dad lifted his leg up, trying to examine his foot the best he could through the rubber bootie. “It’s fine now. Can we continue?” Dad relinquished his grip and Lu stood back on his feet, more specifically his tips. “Do you ever lose your balance?” he asked as he stood up properly, watching Lu’s feet carefully as he resumed bobbing and weaving. “Not unless something knocks me over, no.”
Dad apologized with a gentle pat, then he held the pads outward. “Show me what you got.” Lu held the stance firmly, then he swung his fist around, and tries to hit the pad on the downward swing. After the third swing of this wild flailing, dad flatly asked “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m trying to do a hammer arm,” was Lu’s bashful response as he reassumed his fighting stance. “Why? You’re much too small to be able to do that.”
“It would be cool if I could?” was Lu’s embarrassed reply as he continued on with regular jabs, putting as much force as he could muster behind every single strike. Each strike was forceful, but never struck middle of the pads. “You’re not hitting your marks,” was dad’s warning as he watched each wild blow. “Don’t worry about hitting it as hard as you can, just worry about hitting it in the middle.”
Lu returned his statement with a smile and a nod. His next strikes were weak, but hit the middle of the pads. “Lead each punch with your shoulder, aim to hit the targets with your middle knuckle.”
Hours passed, the sounds of grunting and the slaps of fists hitting leather filed the air. It was then that Lu spoke up, asking “So… can we go yet?” as his fists lowered. “Please?”
Dad sighed at first, but a smile grew on his lips as he answered “You made great progress. Let me get my keys-“ but was quickly interrupted by Lu blurting “I’ll go shower real quick!” Dad couldn’t help but feel tickled from his random declaration. After taking his own shower, the two got into dad’s truck and headed straight out to the highway. Back onto the dirt road to drive deep into the woods. The driving became walking when the dirt road ended, the two crunched through the sticks as they retraced dad’s mostly forgotten steps. The travel wasn’t quiet, Louis held conversation with questions about that time. Dad answered what he could as he led the two back to the thicket. He pulled some branches aside as he waved Lu through. “Here it is.” He looked around the familiar foliage as he pointed at a specific bush in front of them. “I am very sure this is where I found you.” Lu walked unconfidently to the spot, then closed his eyes. His dreads lifted as he looked at the surrounding aura.
Minutes passed, dad watched Lu in silence as he used his aura. “So… what are you doing?” he finally asked. “I’m… not sure, really,” was Lu’s response as he continued his work. “I thought I could find something… I guess. A trace, maybe?”
“I very much doubt you’ll find anything. Remember; I found you years ago.” Louis’ dreads dropped back to their resting position against his head as he turned to face him. “I know… I was curious, I suppose.”
“So, are you done yet?”
“No. Not yet. Give me a few minutes?”
“What are you doing?” he was a little confused as Lu beckoned him over. “A friend lives kinda close by! We can ask around! Come on!” He ran into the woods as dad attempted to protest. He sprinted towards the sound of Lu’s beckoning voice, running deeper and deeper into the woods after the blue blur. He chased him through the forest and over a river, heaving as he kept pace. He nearly tripped over him when he came to a sudden stop. “What… the hell?” dad asked as he doubled over in exhaustion. Lu shushed him with a finger before he quietly spoke, “One of my friends might be around here. Please be quiet while I get her.” Louis creeped forward as dad whispered, “We have been out TOO LONG!” upon deaf ears. “We are leaving after this!” he whispered louder as they crept forward upon a habitat of fennekin and the rest of their evolution line.
Lu dragged dad behind a nearby bush. “Why-“ dad started, but Lu quickly hushed him. He tapped the side of his head with one of his digits. “Just think at me.”
“Why are we sneaking around? Are they your friends or not?”
Lu gave an unsure shrug. “Yeah… but… not all of them” he communicated as he poked his head through. As dad attempted to protest, he shushed him with a finger as he scanned the fox pokémon before them. “Hey. Hera!” Lu communicated to a fennekin that was all curled up. Her head groggily raised to look around in a sleepy stupor. Louis continued to beckon her towards the two’s hiding spot, waving the instant she was looking at them. “What are you doing? It’s late!” Her eyes widened as she registered dad’s prone form. “Why is that here?!” she communicated in a panicked, rushed thought. “It’s fine, he’s my dad. Are you guys allowing visitors?” Lu asked as he tilted his head to see behind her. She was dumbfounded in her sleepy reply. “He- you-“ she stammered with her cluttered mind. “No, it’s way too late for visitors!”
“Are you sure? I need to ask your elders a question.”
“Yes, I’m sure!”
“Can you ask them to make one exception for me? Pleeeaaase?”
Her eyes squinted as she stared. “Fine,” was her reply. She silently marched off a little further into the pack to disappear behind a cave. Dad released a breath that he didn’t know he held as he tapped Lu’s leg. “So… what happened?”
“Well… I asked my friend if I could speak to her people’s elders, so she is going to find out if I can.”
With that said, Hera walked back to the two with a duo of Delphox, whose auras revealed them to be a male and female. With sticks drawn, the pair held out their free hands to the bush and the both of them were lifted out from their hiding place. The two struggled as telekinetic force carried them towards the rather upset delphox, their eyes fixed at dad. Hela’s large ears folded back as the left angrily stared at her. The right turned its attention to Lu. “Why did you bring a human here?!” she demanded. Louis nervously replied, “He- he’s with me. It’s fine.”
“No… it’s not fine! Even one human learning of our dwelling is every human knowing!”
Lu’s arms flailed by the elbows as he attempted to pacify the mad delphfox. “He’s cool! I promise!” She let out an exasperated sigh after she finished thinking, ” We tolerated your presence while you were an innocent curiosity, but now you’re a problem.” Louis continued to protest as his legs kicked. “W-we just ran over looking for answers! Let’s not focus on shoulda-coulda-woulda.” Once again, she let out a sigh as she stared. “This question must be very important...would you be willing to fight for the answer?”
His eyes widened at that idea, to which she smiled back. “What’s wrong? I thought you aura dogs were honorable warriors.”
“Do I have to?”
“After what you did, yes.”
Louis turned to dad, who patiently watched their conversation as he was suspended in the air. He spoke enthusiastically as their eyes met, “So… did you get your answer?” but he was met with a nervous reply. “She wants me to fight for the answer… because I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
“So… are you?”
“Should I? What if I lose?”
“Do you have to win?”
Lu lowered his head in thought to ponder his choices, then he looked back to the delphox to ask “Do I have to win?” She too had to ponder before she responded with “No. Just show us how badly you want it.”
“Us?” Lu was lifted higher into the air, able to see all the other fennec intensely focused on their scuffle. He gave a little wave to the onlookers as he communicated, “So… who do I have to fight?” The elder delphox lowered Lu to his feet, as the one that held dad pinned him to the nearest tree. She answered coldly with, “You can fight me,” and she readied her stick, free hand extended forward as her stick was held close to her side as a fire spontaneously ignited at the tip. Lu nervously raised his arms as he assumed a boxing stance, his dreads lifted by his aura. “This doesn’t seem fair… why you? Why at all?” He was lifted into the air once more, his body much more constricted by the ethereal force. He flailed as much as he could as she dragged him against the ground. “Because I challenged you. Because if I beat you and whatever else your human sends out, maybe they will stay away.”
Louis was picked up once more to be flung against a different tree. He stood up, just to be lifted into the air and turned to face her. “Why don’t you run away? You’re great at that.” Once more, he was flung against the wall as she continued her taunting. He shakily stood to his feet as he faced her when a whistle from dad caught his attention. “Don’t let them mess with you!” he demanded as he looked him straight in the eyes. He silently watched as dad then started to wiggle against the tree. The more he moved, the more space he created for his limbs as the delphox holding him struggled. It held its head with its stick hand as a pain obviously arose. It released dad as it rubbed a temple with its free hand, then quickly extended its free hand once more. As soon as dad touched the floor he was pressed against the tree once more, but he was able to wiggle free much sooner than before. It pointed its stick as it growled at him, and dad raised his hands as he scowled back menacingly.
Louis tried to run to dad’s aid, but he was intercepted by psychic energy. He was forced to look her in the eyes once again as a mocking chuckle escaped her lips. He flailed harder as he was flung against the same tree, a louder thunk emanating from this impact. As he was lifted into the air once more, dad called out, “Don’t just flail! Use back and forth motions!” Lu’s struggles became more concise until he forced her to release him. She growled when she was forced to release him from her hold, but a smile crept on her face as she stared at him. “I hoped you wouldn’t catch on,” she said as the fire on her stick puffed into a bigger flame. She leaned forward before she suddenly broke into a sprint. She reached him within moments, swinging her stick with precise strikes. Lu raised his arms to block the attacks, but still felt the sting of each strike. He threw straight punches out to little effect. She took every punch head on, then smacked him to the ground with a hard strike upon his head.
Lu once more stood up, standing ready as he read her aura. He was done being entertainment. “Please… just answer my question. It’s not a hard one. Please…” he pleaded. “Have we fought enough?” Her reply was simple, “I believe you were punished enough. Ask your question,” she said as she sheathed her stick back into her tail. Her friend followed suit as the other fennecs that watched started to gather at the edge of their dwellings. They watched as Louis clasped his hands together as he pleaded, “Please… I was found around here as an egg years ago. Do you know of any… aura dogs that live around here? Or possibly come around?” The elder gently rubbed her chin as she eyed him over, “You don’t look like you come from a familiar lineage… but I haven’t gotten to know any aura dogs.” Moments of silence passed before Lu decided to reply. He incredulously asked, “Is… that it? Do you have anything that I can use?” but was met with a nonchalant shrug as she replied, “My people have not encountered aura dogs since we moved from our previous home… besides you.”
He stood in disbelief, his mouth slack-jawed as well as a little sore from the brief beating he had received. She communicated with her delphox partner briefly, a little more understanding in tone when she turned back towards Lu to say, “My equal also knows little of your kind. I apologize that we could not be more useful,” as she keeled down to meet him eye to eye. He couldn’t contain his sigh any longer, and with it escaped a quiet whimper. “Hey hey…” she continued sweetly, “you will find your heritage one day.” She smiled at him until he smiled in return, but then promptly wiped it away when she said, That said… I don’t want to see you around here again. Tell your human the same goes for him.” Louis blinked after this emotional whiplash, and after a moment of silence he was ordered to leave.
The two started their walk back to the truck, the way illuminated by dad and his flashlight. Lu quietly followed close behind dad, his head hidden in his hoodie. Eventually, dad broke the silence when he asked, “So… that didn’t go so well, did it?” which received a solemn response of, “Nope.”
“Did you get anything useful?”
“Nope.”
“So what happened?”
He inhaled deeply, then spoke as he exhaled, “We aren’t allowed back.” Dad just gave a chuckle as he spoke, “Well, I go where I want… you aren’t losing a friend, are you?”
“No. I can just hang out with her outside of her home.”
Dad replied with a shrug. “So… who else can you ask?” Lu spoke with uncertainty, “No one… I think,” as he looked to the ground in defeat. “I got beat up for no reason, today sucks.”
“You just need more practice. Everyone starts out at the bottom.”
The two talked about fighting and techniques as they made their way back home. Bruised and humiliated, Lu sunk into bed to forget the awful night he just had. Surely the future would be more promising.