'Air and wind is free, it can go anywhere it wants to, yet sometimes there are some places it cannot enter'

Ever since that night, I didn't feel as I used to be. The only thing different was Shelvina the Snivy's presence in my trip. It's not that I don't like her, or I want to be alone, it's just that I'm not used to be with someone else for so long other than my parents . . .

My parents . . . How I miss them . . .

"Hey, are you all right?" Shelvina asked me. I snapped out of my trance. "Loner, you've been quiet for most of the time in our trip, are you feeling alright?" Shelvina asked.

"I am fine, Shelvina!" I said in a strange tone; it sounded half-furious, half-soft. Shelvina was clearly worried on my condition, and that was what made her even more in a hurry to get to Nimbasa. Me? I am totally fine with how this is going. I think she's just overreacting.

Although... ah, nevermind...

It was high noon when we got to Nimbasa City, and for me, high noon is probably a time I would avoid being in a city. People are walking here and there with their Pokemon, going to Pokemon Centers, having lunch, discussing today's work, wild pokemon stealing food from unsuspecting people . . . I mean, this is all normal . . . for Shelvina at least. She was absolutely happy at the sight of the crowded square. But me, being a loner, out here is a nightmare. Therefore, it was instinctive that I immediately ran behind a stack of boxes in a dark alleyway. Out there is definitely not the place for me. I felt something with my fur – someone or something was moving in this alleyway. I did not want any more attention on my tail, so I stayed where I was, completely silent and unmoving.

It was stressful, knowing that something in front of you could eat you and yet you can't see what it was. Suddenly, a pair of green eyes appeared out of nowhere. It was scanning the area. I remained still. Whoever had those green eyes did not see me under the cover of the dark alleyway, and left towards the light. I looked to what stepped out of the light. It had blue fur, with streaks of white lines on its 2 tails, white-tipped hands and covered ears, and a white furry 'scarf' and a tuft of fur on its head with the same color. It was a Meowstic, and a male.

Shelvina wandered all over the place, looking for me, and she ran into the Meowstic by the alleyway. "Um, excuse me?" I heard her ask. The Meowstic looked at her, plain-faced. "Err, do you have happened to see a ... Lillipup, wandering around here?"

The Meowstic did not answer, instead raised both its ears. The symbols on it started glowing blue. Not long later my entire body was starting to glow blue as well, and I started rising above the ground. I quickly realized that the Meowstic was using Psychic, and he used it to literally fling me out of the alleyway and I skidded across the road.

Well, that was a rather painful landing.

I looked up to see Shelvina, clearly cross at me, and that Meowstic behind her. "There you are!" she yelled at me, "Why in the world did you even run into that dark alleyway!?". I did not answer, but only stared at her. She continued yelling and complaining at me for the next 5 minutes until she had nothing else to say. I have to say, her voice is really loud. My ears were about to explode.

She walked into the crowded square, probably to cool off, leaving me with the Meowstic. He only stared at me. I don't know much about Meowstics, but one of the most common knowledge of them is their emotionless and expressionless face. He brought me up to my feet. We stared at each other, not talking, not interacting. I have no idea how long we stared at each other's eyes, but it was as long as the time Shelvina needed to cool off. "What's the matter with you guys?", she asked us, anger can still be heard in her tone, "Have you become enemies in just half an hour?"

Wait, did she just say half an hour!? I stared at this Meowstic for half an hour!?

The Meowstic answered first, "Ah, it's nothing" he said plainly at Shelvina, "We were just . . . getting to know each other." He decided to start a conversation to keep the pressure off. "Anyway, my name is Maverick," he said bowing down, "What about you guys?"

"I'm Shelvina" Shelvina answered Maverick, "And my Lillipup friend over here is Loner". I haven't gotten used to her calling me that. "Loner?", Maverick said, "That's a strange name". "Don't judge" I told him. "I didn't say that I did," he replied, "And isn't that a strange name for a female?" he added.

Is my voice really that high that even Maverick thinks I'm a female?

I asked him,"Maverick . . . is my voice really that high?"

He seems to understand the point of my question. "Ah, sorry, you must be male then," Maverick said, bowing to apologize, "and yes, your voice is that high". I did not say anything else, and neither did Shelvina nor Maverick. A minute passed, then Maverick spoke again, "So you two are going to Nuvema Town?" Shelvina was surprised that he knew this.

"How'd you know?" she asked him.

"I'm a Psychic-type, how do you think I know?" he replied. Shelvina let out a long "Oh".

I turned around, not facing them while they chat. I did not want him to join us. In fact, I'd rather be alone again, without Shelvina. I guess it's just who I am : a loner. I don't know why I feel this way, it's just . . . unexplainable. I stared off into the sky above. The clouds look like other pokemon to me. So I just stared at the ground and started thinking about some things. I can hear it, the sound of people running in the forest, gunshots fired, and the sound of a large truck revving. Then I realized that tears were coming out of my eyes.

"Hey, are you alright?" I heard a voice ask. It was Maverick. I can feel him and Shelvina stare at me. I turned around and faced them, "It's nothing . . .", I told them, wiping the remaining tears off my eyes, "I just . . . I was thinking about my parents . . .". I did not mean to say that, but I could not think of any other reasons, a thousand memories were flashing in my eyes. Shelvina told Maverick a bit about me.

"Ah, homesick?" he asked me. I nodded. "It's all right, even pokemon that belong to trainers feel that sometimes, and that's one of the reasons pokemon get set free : to be back where they belong." I smiled at his kind words.

"I need to go first." I told Maverick and Shelvina, and I walked away from them while they continued chatting.

I went back into the alleyway where I found Maverick. It felt much nicer here. I had always been comfortable being alone. Maybe that was because . . . I never had any friends. The only pokemon that were involved in my past as far back as I can remember were only my parents. I don't want to remember what had happened back then, not with the mind-reading Meowstic nearby.

Besides, reopening a stitched wound hurts a lot.

I took the advantage of the dark alleyway to get a safe place to nap.

It was around 2 p.m. when I woke up. I quickly managed to sniff out Shelvina and Maverick at a nearby cafe. "By the way," Shelvina looked at Maverick, "aren't Meowstics supposed to be in the Kalos region? Why are you in Unova?"

"Good question," Maverick said, "I hitched a ride on a boat going to Unova. I heard good things about that region and that they have interesting pokemon." Maverick looked at me. "Loner . . . Shelvina told me about you while you were . . . not present . . . I'm surprised that you've evaded so many trainers and pokemon!" I gave him a weak smile as a reply. "Our next stop is Castelia City" Maverick said, "It's a long way to get there . . ."

Maverick was right. We've walked 6 hours now and no sight of Castelia City. So we decided to spend the night at a small cave. There were other pokemon in the cave, like Duckletts, Emolgas, and Roggenrolas. I settled in for the night when my ears perked up hearing Maverick's conversation with Shelvina. "Hey, since you're going to the Kalos region, can I come too? I'm kinda homesick as well." Maverick asked Shelvina.

"Sure!" she exclaimed, "Three is better than two!".

Great. Just, Great. Now Maverick is with us too? I feel terrible. I want to ditch them so badly, but something inside me just tolerates it. I don't know what . . . a word popped in my head : 'Kindness'. I ignored it, my 'inner self'. I am a loner, that's all I am. I recall no friends, no happy memories with friends, or even trying to find friends.

No. Friends. At. All.

A voice kept yelling in my head, "You do, you do have friends!". I kept ignoring it. Shelvina and Maverick are not my friends. They are . . . acquaintances. I decided to stop thinking, and go to sleep. But I couldn't sleep, mind racing. I prayed that I will get a dreamless sleep, and finally fell asleep.

I have no friends, none at all.