Chapter Three. Before you start reading this chapter I will like to say that this chapter and from on we'll be seeing a different side of Parker. As Parker has always lived at the Dojo he never got a chance to be social with kids his age, thus his father created what we will see now as a social mess. Now, besides the fact that Parker must train so he can become strong enough to defeat his father, he must now climb this social barrier that he has never been face with before in his life. To make things simple, Parker has no idea how to communicate with the people outside his home as living at home with is family was all he knew. So, pretty much while kids were at school learning how to make friends and be social, Parker was at the Dojo isolated from life simply training day in and day out.

Parker kicked through the thick layer of fallen leaves that covered the ground like newly fallen snow, his shoes becoming dirtier with each step he took. His eyes slowly rose up to glare at the dirt road that was located a few meters to his left, he had seen a few travelers on the road since he left home but there weren't to many. Yet, Parker found himself traveling on the side of the road instead of traveling on the main road. It wasn't that Parker was afraid that a traveling trainer would spot and challenge him to battle, it was more of a social problem that he had...

Things were different.

Life outside the Dojo was almost like a mysterious world to Parker.

Besides being sent out to the village as a kid to help his mother with groceries he barely interacted with kids his own age, besides his siblings who he had known since birth and the Dojo's students. Even then the martial arts students were much older then him and were all so stern, and serious all the time. To make things short and simple... Parker was sort of, socially awkward.

No, socially awkward wasn't the way to put it.

He was socially handicapped!

The only kids Parker ever hung out with were his siblings and that was different, they were all related and lived together. Being out here all alone besides his Pokemon was all so different, Parker knew that this was what he wanted but now he never felt so alone in his life. He had never been taught how to properly make friends, all his friends he had were born into the same family as he was so he never had that problem.

"Hey, you!" A voice called out as Parker froze up praying that no one was calling him out, he had really thought that he was deep enough in the tree line that no one on the road could spot him! Scanning the road he quickly realized there was no one traveling on it for nearly a mile, but how could that be possible when he clearly heard someone yell at him?

"Over here, dummy!" The same voice called out slightly harsher causing Parker's to annoyingly follow the sound of the echo of the insult, his investigation leading his eyes to fall upon a girl about his age leaning against a tree a few feet in front of him. She had black hair that was done in a bun in the back with some sort of chopstick going through the bun, Parker assumed it was some sort of fashion statement but it him it was a waste of a chopstick. She wore a pair of worn out running sneakers so Parker assumed she had been traveling for some time, she wore jeans that were tight something that Parker didn't understand why girls did to themselves, and she wore a white v-neck t-shirt with a tight fit black sweater made from Mareep wool.

Parker just stood there starring at her, his mind racing as he tried to figure out how to confront this situation. He had read in one of his mother's bahroom magazines that girls like it when you complimented their hair, so he thought that'd be a good start. Yet, whenever he'd confront Sarah when she'd call him a rude name he'd respond with the same insult... So, maybe he could do a mixture of those two in order to socially confront this girl.

"I like your hair it looks soft... You dummy," Parker exclaimed trying to act as confident as possible.

The girl just starred at him in awe, "Are you alright in the head?"

Parker just stood there in confusion...

'What did I do wrong? I followed the magazine and acted the way that I do when Sarah insults me?' Parker thought to himself as he was confused why the girl would ask him such a question, personally he thought he was excelling at this social thing.

"Never mind you're obviously broken," The girl sighed heavily as she turned around and started walking the opposite way, leaving a very confused Parker standing all by himself. The boy unsure what he did wrong as whenever he called Sarah a dummy they'd just laugh, plus the artcle title in the magazine was called, "How To Grab Her Attention In 10 Ways!"

Maybe he should attempt the other nine was to grab this stranger's attention...

"Wait!" Parker cried out racing forward after the girl who simply turned around in curiosity and annoyance. The sounds of nuts and leaves crunching under his footsteps were loud as Parker quickly caught up with the girl, his mind flashing back to the article that he once read while in the bathroom. His memory scanning the article page until he finally decided which next step he'd take in order to grab this stranger's attention, "Your buttocks looks great in those jeans!"

SMACK!

Parker could feel his legs dangling in the air as his butt hit the ground with great force, his eyes wide as his left cheek burnt with pain as if someone had lit it on fire. The girl stood over him her eyes filled with annoyance at his comment about her, but her face a light tint of rosy red at his sudden compliment. The two strangers just stood there in place, the girl still with the back of her hand red from her attack and Parker on the ground in pain. Parker had been trained to take hits, but he wasn't ready for combat outside the fighting ring.

"What is your deal?" The girl cried out as she didn't understand what was Parker's malfunction.

Parker quickly scrambled to his knees and bowed his head down lowly as he knew that this was a universal sign for apology, both in the Dojo and in the outside world.

"Uh... You alright?" The girl asked unsure what to do at the moment.

"Um-uh... I just wasn't... Um, exactly sure how to respond to your vocal invite to conversation!" Parker cried out with his head still down low as talking to this girl was nothing he had ever experienced when dealing with; his mother, Sarah or even Tia!

The girl just looked at him with a puzzled look on her face, "Should I call an ambulance or something?"

"N-No... I'm fine trust me... Uh, just new to all this," Parker stated as he struggled to explain the awkward situation he was in.

The girl continued to look at him with an odd glare, "Oh... So you're knew to traveling just like me?"

Parker awkward rubbed his neck, "Um... Yeah, that's one thing I'm new at."

The girl looked at his weirdly as she simply wasn't understanding.

"Oh, so that would explain how uncomfortable you're making me!" The girl cried out as she stood before Parker who had just explained the whole reason why he is acting the way he is. All the way from how he never really had any friends besides his family, to the magazine article, and all the way to him never really talking to the opposite sex too much. Naturally, Parker told her every bit of detail he could as he was unsure if that was the socially expectable thing to do, but at this point he realized he didn't have that much dignity to save.

"Yes, but if it makes you feel better your hair and buttock are the nicest I've ever seen! All the women at my village were old and had gray hair!" Parker stated in a serious voice as deep down he thought that if he still attempted to follow the article by complimenting her that he could possibly patch up things between him and the stranger.

"That's not exactly a compliment," The girl sighed lowly as she face palmed at Parker's innocence.

Parker tilted his head slightly in confusion as he didn't understand how that wasn't a compliment, as in his head he had said that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and compared her to all the women in his village. The girl sighed heavily as she could tell that Parker's little brain was trying its best to understand what the girl was trying to say.

"Well it was... Um, an experience meeting you," The girl stated awkwardly as she was unsure how to put it and began to walk away. As she walking along the side of the road hidden by the tree line she could hear the sound of leaves crunching behind her, it was obvious that the boy was following her. Increasing he pace she could hear the boy gasp at this and suddenly increase his. Realizing that this was the sort of situation her mother had warned her about she spun around, "Stop following me, or I'll call the Police!"

Parker was taken back at this as he didn't want to get arrested on his first week traveling, "I'm not following you!"

"Oh, really?" The girl growled at him as she folded her arms and gave him an angry glare, but upon glaring at him she realized by the frighten look on his face that he was truly taken back by her accusation. Sarah looked at him weirdly as if he was some sort of Pokemon from a different planet, he looked like a normal boy, walked like one, but yet he acted like a five year old. A five year old was still awkward as they had yet to flourish in social situations and were very innocent.

In a social stand point Parker was like a five year old.

"I guess you weren't following me, just heading the same way as I am," The girl sighed heavily as Parker nodded happily as the reality was that she was the one who threw herself into this situation. She had gotten lost while following the road within the woods and wanted to confirm that she was still following the correct road, but it was just her luck to run into some weirdo when doing so. She sighed as he had a habit of getting herself into weird situations, "Names Laura Waterso Seshi."

Parker smiled weakly as he was confident in introducing himself as he had to do that many times at the Dojo, "I'm Parker Winters."

Laura smiled at Parker's response as she was happy to see that he had given her a normal one for once.

Realizing it'd be unavoidable for the two of them not to travel with each other as they both were going down the same road Laura decided to allow Parker to join her until their destinations would separate them. Laura was slightly uncomfortable traveling with a complete stranger, especially with such a strange one but she knew that she could place him back in line if she needed to. In the corner of her eye she could tell Parker was debating in his head with himself if he should say something, between the twiddling of his thumbs and how he'd randomly open his mouth as if he wanted to speak, she could tell he was just unsure how to say it or if he should.

"What's on your mind... Uh, Parker?" Laura asked curiously as she found it weird calling this complete stranger by his first name.

Parker was taken back by this, as he quickly realized how obvious he was being that he wanted to say something. "Um... I just was curious as to why you were traveling on the side of the road, instead of on the road like everyone I've seen so far?"

Laura was taken back by his question, "I don't need to answer that."

Parker was slightly surprised by her answer as he didn't think he was asking for much from her, "Oh, sorry for asking."

There was silence between them...

"Why were you traveling on the side of the road?" Laura retorted his question right back at him with a victories sigh at the end.

Parker grinned awkwardly, "Isn't it obvious."

Laura gasped lowly at his question as she could tell his words were slightly filled with hurt, her eyes glared downwards as she in most cases she wouldn't care at all if she hurt someone's feelings like that, but Parker was different he had this look of innocence to him that made her feel guilty. She felt like she had just stolen candy from a baby in some way...

"I've been traveling on the side of the road for the past three weeks of my Pokemon journey..." Laura sighed lowly as the reality was that her journey wasn't what she had expected, it was filled with lonely nights and lonely days.

"Why is that?" Park asked as he was curious why someone how most likely had gone to school and made lots of friends would take such a lonely path.

Laura looked up at Parker and gave him a smile, "Unlike you I'm not much of a social Butterfree!"

Parker quickly clasped his fist with his other hand in victory, "I knew I was getting a hold of this whole social thing!"

Laura sweat dropped as she quickly realized that Parker didn't even understand what being sarcastic was.

Laure sighed loudly as it was followed by a soft giggle, "I've never really got along with the kids back in my school days. While they all would play on the jungle gym, I'd prefer to read a book and just be by myself. I guess I shouldn't complain, I did this to myself."

Laura smiled weakly as she explained to Parker all this, she realized that this was the first time in her journey that she actually didn't feel alone. Although, when she thought about her journey a few weeks ago she didn't expect that one day she'd be traveling on the road side with a complete social outcast like Parker, but in some way she had to admit it was better than traveling all alone.

Parker once again clasped his fist with his other hand in joy, "Did you really mean it when you said I was a Social Genius!"

"I never said that!" Laura cried out with a sigh then followed by a giggle at how odd Parker was.

I know all of you are probably so confused as this Parker is not the same Parker that you read in the last two chapters, but think about it. He was home schooled, never allowed to really leave the Dojo except for training, and was expected to training nearly everyday. The reality is that in a home setting like the Dojo he was fine as it was his comfort zone, but in a lonely world while on his journey he is truly a social outcast.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and share your thoughts with me!