Disclaimer: Nintendo owns this stuff for a reason. So that I don't f*ck it up.

A/N: Well, it looks like I've been hit by the great Farla! If you want to know what she's said, check the reviews. If you already know what she's said, I can only say this: all will be explained in due time, my Rainbows.

Chapter 4: Dream

"Let's go, Roggs! Use Tackle!" Touya shouted, directing his precious friend into battle against N's Purrloin.

"Purrloin, use Growl," N said, watching as Purrloin carried out his command, causing Roggs to hesitate for a split second before plowing into Purrloin at reduced power.

"Now, Scratch attack!" N shouted, watching as Purrloin raised her claws in preparation for the attack.

"Roggs, protect yourself with Harden!" Roggs covered himself in a silvery glow that faded to allow the Scratch to bounce off harmlessly.

N smiled at the move. "Excellent thinking, Touya!" he called across the battlefield. "But this battle's only getting started. Purrloin, try another scratch attack!"

"Roggs, intercept the attack with Headbutt!"

The two Pokémon flew at each other, each intent on hitting the other before they could get hit. When they collided, they flew apart with such force that Touya knew that Roggs Headbutt attack had landed.

"Roggs, use Sand-Attack!" called Touya through the dust that obscured the battle from his view. Purrloin's anguished cry a second later told him the attack had hit home, dropping Purrloin's accuracy significantly.

"Purrloin, use Growl!" N called out to his Pokemon.

"Roggs, don't give them the chance! Follow up with another Headbutt!" The dust was getting worse, and it was all Touya could do to make out the silhouettes of the Pokémon barely ten feet in front of him.

"Purr!" came the cry that told Touya that not only had the attack landed, but had also knocked out N's Purrloin.

"Purrloin, return!" called N, and Touya heard the distinctive sound of a Pokéball returning a Pokémon to its Trainer. The dust finally settled, and Touya saw N walking towards him. "Hey," he said. "Good job. You sure gave Purrloin a run for her money. Oh, speaking of which," he added, pulling out a sum of Pokédollars. "You won."

Touya stared at the money. "I can't take this," he said.

"What? Of course you can. You won." N replied, pressing the cash into Touya's hand.

"No, I can't take this much from you, it's too much."

"You won, right? That means I have to pay up. League rules," N said. "Besides, it's really not that much for me. I have plenty if I need it."

Touya reluctantly accepted the bills. "All right," he said. "But I'm coming with you to heal Purrloin."

N looked at him with amusement on his face. "Well," he said. "I guess I could use the company. Besides, your Roggenrola took some bad hits during the fight. You should probably heal him as well."

Touya looked down at Roggs, seeing for the first time the deep scrape Roggs had suffered at the claws of his opponent. "Yeah, you're probably right about that. Let's get going," he said, scooping up the Rock type Pokémon in his arms and walking towards the Pokémon Center with N. Lily followed along behind faithfully, tail wagging with excitement at the idea of spending time with a new person.

N proved to be surprisingly easy to talk to as they waited in line to heal their Pokémon at the Center. As it turned out, N could indeed understand Pokémon and speak to them in their language, a skill that he often practiced because he felt the need to be respectful. He proved this after conversing with the tired Roggs in the same series of high pitched chirps and cries, mimicking them almost perfectly. When he was done, he recited everything about how Touya and Roggs had met Lily from Roggs' perspective perfectly, including even the tiniest of details.

Touya decided then and there that this guy was worth sticking around for. Anyone who reach that level of understanding with Pokémon was definitely worth getting to know. And hey, he might even actually pay attention to Touya, unlike Touko and her friends.

"So, about your friends," N began, snapping Touya out of his thoughts. "Why are you friends with, ah, Cheren, was it?"

Touya shrugged. "I'm not, really."

"Why not?"

"Because he's an asshole," Touya shot back.

"Then why spend so much time with him?"

"He's really more my sister's friend, so I do have to spend time with him unbearably often."

"Sister?" N cocked his head to one side in curiosity. "You didn't mention you had a sister. Who is she?"

Touya glanced away, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with N's rapid fire questioning. "Touko," he mumbled. "But, enough about me, where are you from?"

Now it was N's turn to feel uncomfortable. "I… grew up in the forest, kinda away from all the major cities."

"Really? So it was just you and your family living out in a little house in the forest? I've always wondered, what's it like to grow up like that?"

"It's wonderful. Every day I would go out and play with the Pokémon in the forest. They were a family to me. Every day I would wake up to the sound of the chirping Pidoves, and eat breakfast with the Patrats. I got to play games with the Zorua, which is a lot more confusing than it looks, and at night I would lay with the Deerling and the Sawsbuck and stargaze. It was wonderful there," N said, looking incredibly homesick and like he might be about to cry.

"N… I'm sorry I asked. I didn't realize – "

"No," N cut him off. "It's not your fault. I just can't help but worry about my friends. I think about all the Trainers going out there, and I – "

"Hello, and welcome to our Pokémon Center! Please, allow us to heal your Pokémon to full health!" the Nurse Joy behind the counter called to them eagerly, causing Touya and N to realize that they were next in line.

"Oh, uh, here," N said, offering the Nurse Purrloin's Pokéball.

"Thank you, sweetie!" Nurse Joy said, causing N to blush a little. "And you," she said, turning her attention to Touya. "You'll need to put your Pokémon in its Pokéball before we can heal it."

"Oh," Touya said, looking down at Roggs. "He, uh, doesn't have one," Touya admitted sheepishly.

N looked over at Touya in shock. "You mean you didn't catch it?" he asked.

Touya shook his head. "He wanted to come with me after we saved it from that Herdier."

Confusion flashed across N's face. "What Herd – oh," he said with understanding. "So I led it to want to join you?"

Touya nodded before Nurse Joy cleared her throat. "Excuse me," she said. "We do have Pokéballs for Pokémon who need them. Would you like to use one?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," Touya said, more preoccupied with the look of guilt on N's face. "What?"

N looked down at the shorter boy. "Nothing," he said, smiling. He nodded towards Nurse Joy, who held out the empty Pokéball for Touya. A Luxury Ball, he noted, surprised that the Center would just give out such an expensive ball. N, however, nodded approvingly.

"That's good of them," he said. "They gave you a good ball to keep Roggs in."

"That's right! Before I forget, do you have any other Pokémon who need one?"

"Umm… yeah…" Touya said, afraid of taking advantage of the Center's hospitality, but at the same time wanting to give all his Pokémon the best he could. It turned out to not be an issue, and they got their Pokémon healed and left.

Touya walked to edge of town with N, Roggs in his arms and Lily at his side like always. They stopped and sat down on a nearby bench, letting their respective Pokémon roam freely while they talked.

"So Touya," N started. "What is your goal on your Trainer journey?"

Touya shrugged. "See the world and make new friends, I guess. I've never really thought about that, though. I mean, everyone's telling me to go fill the Pokédex and become the Champion, but I don't really know if I want to do that. I just… I don't want to try to force my Pokémon to do something they don't want to. And given Roggs' past, I don't think he's really fond of the idea of battling a whole lot. So I don't want to force him to fight. Then there's the whole filling the Pokédex thing. If I did that, most of the Pokémon I caught would probably never even get to see me. I don't want to do that. I want the Pokémon I catch to be outside with me all the time. It just feels wrong to trap them all the time. Hell, you saw that at the Center. I hadn't even put Roggs and Lily in Pokéballs until I had no choice."

N nodded. "That's a good way of thinking. You're putting your Pokémon's' interests first, rather than you own. Not many Trainers do that anymore. But I do want to tell you something," he said, watching poor Roggs struggle furiously to keep up with Lily's speed. "Roggs enjoys the idea of battling. He told me so in our battle earlier. He loves the thrill of even combat. I have little doubt that if you really wanted to become the Champion, he would follow you without question. What he doesn't like is the strong picking on the weak, like he's been experiencing all his life. Keep that in mind. Oh, and Touya?"

"Hmm?"

"Keep thinking about your goal. That's what's going to be driving you for at least the next few months. Now, I'm afraid I must go. Perhaps we'll meet again soon." With that, he disappeared for third time that day.

That is starting to get really annoying, Touya thought, watching as Roggs finally caught up with Lily, bringing her to the ground with a well timed tackle.

"Yo, Touya!"

Bianca ran up to him, panting. Touya smiled and nodded his greetings. He'd always had a soft spot for Bianca, because of the way she always went out of her way to try to make it up to Touya when he got left out. It wasn't what he wanted, as he'd rather just be included in the first place, but neither Touko or Cheren really seemed to care much when Touya was left out. No, that wasn't quite right. They did care, but all they ever did was apologize and promise to include him next time. They didn't try to make it up to him like Bianca. He appreciated how much Bianca cared even more as a result, treasuring the times that the two would spend alone on occasion. Several times, Touya had comtemplated showing her Numeva Caverns, but something always held him back. He liked spending time alone with Bianca, but for some reason he didn't like the idea of being in a secluded area with his friend.

"Hey, I heard about the speech by those Team Plasma freaks." Bianca said cheerfully. She did everything like that. Touya sometimes wondered if it wasn't sometimes faked. "Pokémon Liberation? What a dumb idea, don't you agree?"

Touya started at the mentioning of the topic. He hadn't really thought about it a whole lot, and wasn't really sure where he stood on the matter. "Umm… yeah, I guess so," he said, to satisfy Bianca.

"Anyways, I've heard Cheren and Touko have already gotten on the way to Striaton City. I guess it's too late to catch up to them, huh?"

Touya looked up at the sky. Sure enough, it was close to nightfall, which meant it would soon be too dark to travel safely. "You're right," he said. "Why don't we go get rooms at the Center? I'll pay," he offered. Bianca shook her head.

"No way, silly! You're always paying for us, it's my turn to help you out! Come on!"

That night, Touya sat on the edge of his bed, deep in thought. The idea of Pokémon Liberation had certainly proved controversial in the lobby. It seemed that no one could convince anyone else of their perspective's correctness, regardless of how well they argued. Touya had listened to the arguments for about an hour, hearing out both sides of the discussion, though he doubted it could be called such anymore. Still, both sides had some incredible arguments. If anything, he was even more confused on where he stood.

A sudden chirp in his ear brought him back to earth. "Huh. So what do you think, Roggs?"

Roggs chirped in confusion. Touya smiled. "That's right, I forgot. You're a rock type, not a psychic. I was asking about Pokémon Liberation. Do you really think it would be better if we were separated? Just you and me?"

Roggs cried out in alarm, throwing himself against his Trainer. Touya fell back onto the bed, wrapping his arms around his friend. "Yeah, I don't like the though either. But I wonder if it would be better for the world on the whole?" Roggs threw his entire body up and down, a gesture that he had picked up on after watching humans shrug.

Touya smiled. "Yeah, I don't know either. We'll figure it out eventually, I guess. In the meantime," he added, "it's time for bed."

Roggs chirped sadly, trying to convince Touya to let him stay up. "No can do, pal. We gotta get up bright and early tomorrow if we want to take on the Striaton Gym and visit the Dreamyard tomorrow." Roggs resigned himself to the situation, allowing Touya to carry him over to the blankets he had set up for his Pokémon to sleep in. Lily was already sound asleep, and Roggs drifted off soon after.

Touya stayed up a little longer, watching the friends he had made drift off to sleep. Was it really just that morning that he'd met them? It felt like a lifetime ago. His last thought as he drifted off to sleep was that if travelling was like this every day, he never wanted to settle down.

A/N: Gah, it's so hard for me to stop writing when I get really into it. Can you believe I've only just finished the first day? Touya's right – it feels like forever ago. Also, I'm sorry if the battle disappointed anyone, it's the first time I've tried to write one, so I don't think it was very good. Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing this! There is definitely more to come – lots more, in fact – so don't think I'm ditching this! And with that, I bid you adieu – at least until the next chapter. Stay wonderful, my Rainbows.