I walked through the forest, bored out of my mind. Man, being an upcoming warlord stinks. I don't have a bonded pokemon yet, I have a permanent body guard, and all those idiots want to talk about nowadays is politics. Don't get me wrong, my body guard isn't the worst person in the world, and I'm sort of glad we aren't all trying to kill each other and have settled for more peaceful measures. But without fighting, there was nothing to do.

"Hey, Rota?" I said, addressing my body guard. She was pretty cool because she got the fact I didn't like her around, so she kept her distance unless I talked to her.

The trees above me rustled. "Yes, my lady?"

"Well first, I've told you a million times to not call me that. And second, what were they talking about back in the castle?"

"Well it appears the peace that Tayoa brought after uniting all of Ransei is starting to fail. People are starting to fight again, but know one knows why."

I raised an eyebrow at this. What something interesting going to happen? Tayoa, the warlord of Aurora, was of great interest to me. I had never actually met the guy, but I was very fascinated in the story of what took place on infinite tower. I did as much digging as I could, but being a weak warlord without a link in the kingdom of Greenleaf, you didn't get to go a lot of places.

I sighed and leaned against the tree. "Well, not like it matters to me. Without a partner I can't fight."

"I have offered many a time to fill this part," Rota said.

"You know you couldn't stand the thought of being tied to a warrior. Didn't you tell me you were as the wind or something when I first met you?"

"Sunlight. You cannot trap me or get rid of me. Always, even in the night, I am there, just sometimes differently."

"Yeah, so you would consider me trapping you."

"Well don't forget, there is that one pokemon of yours."

I scowled at the trees. "You know I can't pick him. Even if Motonari was okay with it, no one in the entire kingdom would trust me." There was a pause. "So what do they think is causing the fighting?"

"There have been rumors of a monstrous pokemon, appearing very briefly, but causing mass destruction. Another states there are people with the power of pokemon themselves. I believe both are possible, but rather unlikely."

"Naturally." I grabbed the gold band off my wrist and started tieing up my long, brown hair that went entirely down my back. Man, I hated how I was forced to wear it. My hair color wasn't even brown. I still don't get why I was born in this kingdom.

"Well, then I suppose we should be heading back to the castle." I started jogging back the way I had come, grateful for my light armor. Most warlord's armor covered a large amount of their body, excluding some, such as Nene and Kunoichi. I followed more of Nene's style, with a vibrant green breastplate, long brown gloves, and a short chain mail skirt, which looked like it was made of many tiny leaves. I didn't care too much for the armor, but it was manageable.

I had almost made it to the castle when something moved to my left. I whirled in the direction, but whatever the disturbance was had vanished quickly. I ignored it and kept moving. When I cleared the forest, I saw the shadow of Rota pass above me, entering a castle window. I entered through the secret entrance in the back. I hated using the front, because some idiot decided that it would be a good idea to put a stupid hedge maze in front of it.

I ran through the castle, finally making back to Motonari's office, which was basically his personal library with a desk in it. I slipped in, not making a sound, and leaned against the wall, like I had been there the whole time. Motonari probably already knew I was gone, but that was okay.

The warlord sat at the top of the table, Serperior at his side. One of the warriors was giving him a briefing. "So there has been an order from Taoka to stop fighting by defeating the warriors attempting to engage in it."

"Well that's stupid," I said.

The man jumped and looked at me. Motonari didn't even bat an eye. He was reading the papers in front of him. "Why do you say that, Monokaji?"

I swallowed my disgust. I hated my name. "We want to stop fighting by just jumping in and fighting them? Yeah that will go over great. Besides, we should at least look into why they are fighting before we make any decisions."

"I'm sure you want to dig into it," he said, taking another paper in hand, "but you aren't able to leave unless you get yourself a partner."

I growled. "Well there has to be something you can do then. Go talk to Taoka, and Rota and I will watch over the castle. Just get him to try to look into this a bit."

He looked up from his papers, and smiled. I couldn't help but smiling back. Motonari was actually pretty cool. Everyone found me to be a problem, but he was so laid back, he just smiled. When I screwed up, when I did something right, he would smile, and no one smiled at me. "That sounds doable. Will you and Rota be okay while I'm gone?"

"Of course, my Lord," Rota said, her voice ringing from the rafters above.

He stood up. "Very well. I'll see what I can do." He started out of the room. "Follow me."

I followed him out of the office. He started leading me to my room. "You know, you are a strange person. Most born in Greenleaf have a certain special bond with grass type pokemon. I don't see why you haven't found a partner yet."

"Because no pokemon feels right." This was the truth. I wanted to find the right pokemon the first time.

"Well say the one that did feel right wasn't grass affiliated. What would you do?"

"Probably keep looking, searching for the grass type pokemon this kingdom wants their warlord to have."

"Wrong. I know you better than that. You would tell Greenleaf to deal with it and make that pokemon your partner. Now, I've avoided having to deal with this, because I didn't want to rush you, but I do feel as though war is coming again, and I want you prepared."

We made it to my room, and he opened the door. Sitting on the bed was a pokemon I loved dearly, but hid the love from all others. A small red and black striped dog with a giant bushy tail.

"Growlithe!" I exclaimed. "I told you not to come in the castle!"

"He didn't. I brought him in," Motonari said. "I've seen you out in the forest with him. There isn't a more perfect pokemon for you."

I walked over and picked him up. "Yeah, but, aren't you worried about the kingdom's support?"

"We have bigger issues to worry about. While I'm gone, I want you two to train. Take him out for battles. Maybe recruit some warriors. I'll be back in about a month, so it won't be too long."

I nodded. "Sure. Will you and Serperior be okay?"

"Of course. We are the rulers of Greenleaf, after all." He smiled some more. "Take care."

He walked out of the room. I sighed and sat on my bed. I hugged Growlithe. "Thank goodness. I'm glad he's letting me pick you." He barked his approval. I set him down. "Well, we better get to work. Their's a heck of a storm coming. I can feel it."