Thursday Night

Milo Jetton yawned and rubbed his eyes as he continued reading a chapter from The Biology of Tepig. Until he found another job, Milo knew that the majority of his weeknights would be spent in his room studying after he came home from battling team practice. He closed the book and glanced at Raichu, who was curled up and fast asleep on his bed. He felt himself dozing off, but before he could fall asleep at his desk, the door to his room opened and Milo jumped up.

"Why are you so jumpy?" his father asked as he walked into the room. Mick Jetton was a large man with tanned skin, serious dark brown eyes, and an intimidating build that he had maintained even after retiring from the military. He kept his head shaven, but Milo could not recall his father ever going to a barber. He assumed that he either shaved his head himself or that his hair was simply too afraid of him to grow back. Either option seemed possible.

Mr. Jetton looked around for a moment and arched an eyebrow. "Milo, if you're hiding another girl in here, you're going to be in more trouble than you can imagine."

"No girls, Dad…" Milo replied with a yawn. "It's just me, Raichu, and a science book. Feel free to search the closet or look under the bed. You probably won't find any girls, but maybe you'll find something of interest."

"You know that mouth of yours is going to get you into a lot of situations when you go away to college in a couple of years," Mr. Jetton said. "Anyway, you've studied enough for tonight. I need you to go pick up a pizza from Ronnie Rapidash." He glanced over to Raichu. "And take that rodent with you."

Milo let out a fake gasp as he stood up. "Dad, that's no way to talk about Lulu!"

"Just…go…" he said as he tried to stifle his laughter. "I'll let you take my car, but it better come back in one piece or…"

"I'll be in pieces?" Milo finished.

"That's my boy," Mr. Jetton said as he patted his son on the back and left the room.

Milo threw on his shoes and quietly approached Raichu. He knew that he had to be gentle when waking the electric Pokémon or he would be shocked with enough volts to send him to the hospital. However, before Milo could reach him, his cell phone went off and Raichu's eyes shot open. He yawned and let off a few sparks from his tail, but Milo was cautious enough to move a few steps back.

"Raaaai!" he said with another yawn as he got out of bed.

"We have to go pick up a pizza," Milo informed him as he checked his phone. "I figured it was from Trevor. There's a party at his place on Saturday. I guess it'll be alright if we go hang out for a bit. Anyway, come on, we need to get going."

Milo and Raichu quickly made their way out of his room and down the stairs, avoiding Plusle and Minun as the young Pokémon ran around the house. Milo spotted his mother sitting at the table in the kitchen working on what appeared to be a jigsaw puzzle. She looked up and smiled when she heard him entering.

"Would you like to help me, Milo?" she asked in her slight accent. "Puzzles are good for your mind. A strong mind helps build a healthy body."

"I'd love to, Mom," he told her. "But I have to go pick up the pizza before Dad's hair fall out…well, he doesn't have any on his head, but his eyebrows can go at any moment."

Milo went to grab the keys off of the counter before going into the living room and retrieving his letterman jacket from the coat rack. The jacket was blue and light gray with black sleeves. On the back of it was a logo of Glalie, the school mascot. Milo considered the jacket his pride and joy, mainly because it looked cool, but also because it reminded him of how much he had grown as a trainer and as a person in general. He could not bear to imagine what his life would be like had he not gone on his journey a few years ago.

"Wait, Milo, we're coming too!"

His thoughts were interrupted by his sister rushing into the living room with Plusle and Minun following close behind. The ten-year old grabbed her coat and Milo had the urge to complain, but did not go through with it. Lulu could be irritating at times, but there would only be more drama with her if he did not allow her to come with him. Every time that Milo saw her shoulder-length dark hair, olive skin, and brown eyes, he remembered how people would often say that she looked like him in a wig and how much it bothered her. For his part, Milo did not see an exact replica. They had the same skin tone and thin faces that they had inherited from their mother. However, Lulu's eyes were dark brown while his was light and her hair was a mousy brown color while his was jet black.

"Miiii!"

"Pluuuu!"

"Raaai!"

Lulu led the Pokémon outside as Milo informed their mother that they were leaving and closed the door.

"We're taking Dad's car," he told his sister.

"Good, then I got front seat!" Lulu replied. "Sorry, Raichu, Plusle and Minun will keep you company in the backseat though."

"Rai…" he uttered as the two young Pokémon gave off mischievous grins.

After everyone was inside the car, Milo made sure that he had all of his poké balls on him before hopping in and pulling out of the driveway.

The ride to the restaurant had not been too grating for Milo. Lulu had spent most of the time singing to the radio while Raichu was in the backseat being tortured by Plusle and Minun and Milo was watching the road. He had driven down the path so often that he was almost certain that he could do it blindfolded. Orchid Ridge was a small town compared to the ones in Kanto that he had visited on his journey. It had gotten its name from all the flowers that bloomed in the spring around the ridge and Milo was not sure what region it was a part of. The town was the closest to Kanto, but did not consider itself part of that region. It was just a lone settlement on a ridge in the middle of nowhere.

"It's been a while since I've actually been to Ronnie Rapidash's Pizzeria…" Milo thought aloud. "Dad was just too cheap to have it delivered."

"Well, come on!" Lulu said. "I'm starving! Let's go get it. You have the money, right?"

Milo suddenly wondered if Freddie Pierce was working at the pizzeria today and if he could find a way to get a discount. He had never been too passionate about battling and did not decide to get a job at the battling center like most of the teenagers in town. He had been best friends with Milo when they were children, but they drifted apart when Milo returned from his journey and started hanging out with Trevor Gage and the other athletes. While he did somewhat regret allowing himself to grow apart from Freddie, he was more than happy to end his 'friendship' with Zane Mattel. Just thinking about the infuriating smirk that his rival always had on when he was causing chaos was enough to make Milo's blood boil. He was one of the few people who could truly upset him.

"Alright everyone, let's get out," Milo told them. "Lulu, make sure your Pokémon don't destroy anything in the restaurant."

"Yeah…whatever…" she responded in an annoyed tone.

They headed inside of the small pizzeria and found it surprisingly busy as they quickly got in line. The workers behind the counter were moving from place to place and Milo was confused as to what was going on. The manager, Ronnie, was at the cash register when they finally made it to the front of the line.

"Ronnie, what the hell is going on here?" he asked.

"Short on workers…" the portly man answered. "I can understand the other two calling in sick…but it's not like Freddie to miss work. What's worse, he didn't even call in. He just didn't show up. I tried to call his phone twice, but no answer. You have any clue where he might be up to?"

Milo shook his head. He and Freddie only talked a few times a month at most and it was usually just a quick greeting when they passed each other in the hallway at school.

"I'm sure he probably has a good reason for bailing on you though," Milo stated. "He'll definitely show up tomorrow and explain what happened. If not, I'll talk to him at school and see what's up."

Ronnie nodded his head before giving Milo the pizza and bidding the young man goodbye. He led the others out of the restaurant and ignored Plusle and Minun trying to get the pizza out of his hands. Milo thought about Freddie and remembered the rumors of people disappearing lately, but quickly shook the thought out of his head. No one from his school that he knew of had vanished and Freddie was likely sick with one of his usual ailments.

"Do you see that car up there, Milo?" Lulu suddenly asked. "Is it…"

Milo quickly looked up and saw a red and black sports car approaching at a fast pace. He knew exactly who it was and cursed himself for not hurrying out of the restaurant. The fact that he had absolutely no back up made the situation much worse. Milo handed the box of pizza to Lulu before stuffing the keys in her hands.

"Get in the car and lock the door," he told her urgently before turning to the Pokémon. "Plusle, Minun, go with Lulu and if anything happens, be prepared to go all out. Raichu, get ready for a battle."

"I'm not afraid of them!" Lulu yelled at her brother. "And I'm not leaving you alone to battle them."

Milo shot her the most terrifying glare that he could muster and after a few seconds, Lulu growled in defeat before heading to the car with her Pokémon. Raichu let off a few sparks and stared forward with determination. Once he heard the doors lock, Milo reached for Floatzel's poké ball as the sports car crept up beside him. The car stopped and two young men in camouflage jackets emerged from both sides. The white octagonal logo on their shirts confirmed Milo's suspicions and he knew he had no choice but to battle.

"Alright, kid…" one of them said in a tone of disinterest. "Just hand over all of the Pokémon and no one has to get hurt."

"Check out the jacket, man," the second one started with a grin. "He's part of the battling team over at the high school. That means his Pokémon must have some value!"

"That is a nice jacket…" the first man remarked. "Hand that over too."

Milo did not say a word and stared them down. They did not appear to have any weapons aside from the poké balls attached to their belts and although Milo was scared, he did not have a choice but to stand and try and take on the thugs. Lulu was likely watching from the car and he had to stay calm in order to keep her from doing something rash. He glanced at Raichu and let out a deep breath before returning his attention to the thugs.

"If you want this jacket…" he began. "You have to earn it just like I did."

"That sounds like a challenge to me!" the second man said as he reached for a poké ball. "Come on, let's wipe the floor with this punk…"

"Sounds like a plan…" the first thug added. "Show us what you got, kid…"

Milo strangely found himself thinking of what his father had said earlier about his mouth being the death of him and he could picture his 'I told you so' face. He also realized that all of this could have been avoided had his father simply had the pizza delivered to the house in the first place. It always led back to Mick Jetton even in life-threatening situations. He had to admit that the man had a powerful presence.

"Let's do this…"

Milo took one last breath and tossed Floatzel's poké ball in the air.

A/N: It looks like our protagonist has found himself in a predicament already. And they say nothing ever happens on Thursdays.

Mega thanks to my good friend, Money Stax for helping me out on this even if he came over my apartment and drank all my lemonade. This is a sort-of collaboration, but I'll be doing the majority of the actual writing with a lot of input from Stax since we have a very similar style.

OC's are accepted at my forum or by PM. Feel free to PM either one of us if you have a question. The OC form is in my profile.

Adios!