Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews :) I know this story is off to a pretty slow start, but it'll pick up in pace soon.

Chapter 4

Rowan looked mildly surprised. "No?"

"No," repeated Lucas. "I'm sorry, sir, but we have school to attend. We can't leave home to travel throughout Sinnoh like you suggest. No offence, but that would be a bad idea."

Rowan raised an eyebrow. "What do you learn in school anyway?"

"Battle theory, Pokemon habitats-" Lucas began, but Rowan cut him off.

"In that case, would it not be better to be out there experiencing it yourself?" he asked. "How can you know the beauty of a Smeargle's art unless you are out there, watching it work? How," he continued, "can you understand how the behaviour of a Sudowoodo complements its camouflage unless you are out there in and amongst the trees trying to spot the difference? Need I say more?"

"Still, sir," Lucas argued, "we have exams and grades-"

Rowan seemed to be getting mildly annoyed. "I would think that you would put the safety of Sinnoh and everyone, human and Pokemon, living inside, as higher up on the list of priorities than petty grades. Besides, Dawn here," he indicated the girl next to him, who smiled and waved, "should be in school too. She took study leave- which happens to be a system the Pokemon League is implementing and I can help you to apply for, by the way- to help me with this."

"We're in, sir!" Damion yelled, "don't listen to him, he probably hit his head a bit too hard or something."

"Still, professor," Lucas insisted, "We can't be involved. It's too dangerous- too..."

Rowan cut him off with a regal wave of his hand. "Enough," he rumbled. "Excuses. Now tell me... what is the real reason you don't want to go?"

Lucas stared. A few heartbeats later, he replied, "Sir, I just told you the real reasons. I'm sorry, but I-I really can't help you." Saying that, he turned on his heel and walked straight out of the lab, leaving Damion standing foolishly in the lab. Stunned, Damion's mouth opened and closed a few times before he fully registered what had just happened. He made to go after Lucas, but a large hand clamped onto his shoulder.

"Boy, stay here for a while," Rowan requested. He turned his head slightly and made a small jerking motion to the girl, who nodded in response. "Dawn?"

"On it, professor," Dawn grinned, before grabbing her bag, which had been leaning against the foot of the table, and following Lucas on his way out of the lab.

Lucas slammed the front door of the lab behind him as he ran down the dirt path, his feet kicking aside fragments of gravel as he passed. He could hear slight crunching noises from behind him, knew someone was following him, and didn't really care. Then, he saw a flash of brown amidst the green grass, and stopped short.

It was a Hoothoot- a small, brown owl with large black markings around its eyes. The little bird seemed to be hurt- there were several deep lacerations around its flank, and its right eye was swollen shut. It took a few short hops towards Lucas on one stubby foot, hooted feebly and collapsed.

Lucas, abandoning all thoughts of getting away from Sandgem, bent down to pick up the Hoothoot with both hands, raising the small Pokemon from the ground gently. It was unconscious, and did seem to be badly injured. But who could have done this to the owl? As far as Lucas knew, Hoothoot were pretty rare around the area- they tended to favour Southeast Sinnoh- and were mostly harmless, eating only small insects.

He heard a soft voice from behind him. "L-Lucas?" a feminine voice came. "That's your name, right?"

"What do you want?" Lucas snapped unnecessarily harshly, still distressed both from the condition of the Hoothoot and what had occurred in Rowan's lab.

"Those injury marks..." Dawn whispered as she saw the unconscious Pokemon Lucas was holding gently. "Starly. They're very aggressive, and... and territorial. They don't l-like sharing their territory with other Pokemon, especially if they eat the same kind of food...when the weather changes forced them here, they must have t-taken over and forced the poor Hoothoot out of its territory... here," she said, reaching into her bag and handing Lucas a Potion.

Lucas took it from her with a wan smile, spraying the medication onto the Hoothoot's wounds. "Thanks," he muttered.

"We'd best get it to a Pokemon Center," Dawn suggested, patting him on the shoulder slightly and nudging him gently in the direction of the Center, which happened to be down the road. "Those injuries look bad, I don't t-think a Potion is enough to heal them completely."

Without reply, Lucas followed her down the path into the Pokemon center. Handing Hoothoot over to the nurse, who had been quite shocked at the condition of the Pokemon and had promised to take care of it, Lucas and Dawn sat down at one of the sofas in the waiting area, beside a rack of magazines.

After a moment of awkward silence, Dawn turned to Lucas. "Why didn't you want to go?" she asked softly. "Most people I know would jump at the chance!"

Lucas leaned forward slightly, kneading his hands and his brows furrowed. "I guess I don't like Pokemon that much," he replied in an even voice- but even so, Dawn could detect a slight quavering in his words.

"From what I saw- the Hoothoot- you don't seem like an unkind person," Dawn pressed. "You seem like someone who does love Pokemon."

Lucas said nothing, only lowering his head further.

"You don't understand," he said finally.

"Try me," Dawn said. She placed her hand on his arm, but he jerked it away, causing her to frown. "Tell me. Maybe if you e-explain I might understand."

Lucas turned to look her in the eye. "You'd listen?"

Dawn nodded sincerely, her brown eyes looking straight into Lucas's obsidian pupils.

Lucas stood up. "No. You wouldn't understand. Besides, I hardly know you."

Dawn stood up too. "Please come with us. The situation's really serious." She could tell Lucas was trying to contain his emotions. It was evidently a struggle, she could tell by the maelstrom of emotion she could see in his eyes, even if the rest of his face remained stony. "Would you rather see more Pokemon like t-that innocent Hoothoot get hurt?"

Lucas's impassive facade cracked temporarily. The sides of his mouth tightened slightly, and Dawn thought she saw a glint in the corner of his eye. A tear? Or a trick of the light? She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, it was gone.

Dawn knew she was getting to him. "Please," she pleaded.

Lucas turned his head to the side and gave a grunt, which she took as consent. The girl grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the lab, where Rowan and Damion were waiting. Damion gave him a huge grin, which Lucas returned with a sour look. Rowan looked unsurprised once again- was he precognitive or something?

"I entrust the two of you with these Pokedexes," Rowan said, handing each boy one of the red devices he had showed them before. "I will call your schools directly and inform them that you will be going off on your Pokemon journey early- do not fret, you will be seeing most of your friends in some time when they are officially allowed to begin their journey in a few days time. Consider this... a headstart," Rowan winked, the first sign of anything but stoicism from the elderly gentleman. Dawn couldn't help but notice that Lucas seemed none to happy about that. "You may go ahead and challenge the gyms. Battle other trainers. But don't forget your mission," he looked them in the eye. "Find whatever is behind this weather change. And be careful."

He reached back to his desk and took out two Pokeballs- Chimchar and Piplup. "I will give these two Pokemon to you," he said, and as expected Damion exploded in excitement. "Take good care of them, and they will be the best partners you could ever ask for." Lucas took Chimchar's Pokeball, albeit with a certain degree of hesitation, and Damion snatched Piplup's Pokeball and immediately released the small penguin, which looked slightly grumpy, clashing fantastically with its cute looks. Lucas released Chimchar, the small fire monkey whooping in delight, as Dawn released Turtwig from a Pokeball she was carrying in her bag. The three Pokemon looked at each other for a second- Turtwig giving a large smile to the others, Chimchar grinning mischievously and Piplup giving an arrogant smirk. Damion gave another of his signature overly-large grins, Dawn shot Lucas an encouraging smile, and Lucas's face remained totally impassive.

Damion lifted Piplup into the air. "What shall I call you?" he asked the small penguin, which seemed unhappy at having its feathers ruffled. Shrugging Damion's hands off, the penguin leapt onto his head, nestling in his flaxen hair. "Pippy?" This was immediately rewarded with a sharp peck on the forehead, causing Damion to yell in pain. "Guess you don't like that, huh? Erm... Luppy?" Piplup pecked him again, harder this time. "Coro?" Piplup didn't seem to have any disagreements, so that was it.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I get the crybaby. Wonderful." Chimchar was hugging his leg affectionately. "Huh? Erm... I guess I should give you a nickname. What should I call you? Damn, wait. Why should I? I don't even like you in the first place. Why am I doing this again?"

Dawn's Turtwig had apparently been with her for some time already- it already had a nickname, Terra.

"Where to next?" Damion asked.

"We should go home to tell our parents about this," Lucas gave him a pointed look.

"Oh, yeah. Right." Damion gave a sheepish grin, before taking off at full speed in the direction of Twinleaf. "Race ya there!"

Lucas sighed, waving a goodbye to Dawn as he went. "We'll meet here tomorrow morning, then," he said before he walked after Damion, totally ignoring his challenge. He had other things to think about.

Had he done the right thing, he wondered?