hi! Today's Christmas! Here's my present from me to you. A more uplifting sort of chapter here. I just hope that it's not too boring for you guys so far, it's just that I like to include details to my stories that make it more 'life like', y'know what I mean?

I will definitely include some action in a bit, at least until I'm pleased with what I got down.

Well, good luck then! And happy holidays!

I finally decided that I should leave this place. I don't know any specifics on where I should go, but it's better than sitting down and doing nothing. In fact, I still don't know where I am at the moment...

Maybe I should find a landmark or something? It's better than having no plan at all. When I do, I'll decide from there where I would go... live? Now that I mention it. What am I going to do with my life now? I already cried my eye sockets out over a huge loss, and now what else? Just live?

No.

I just simply can't do something that innocent, it would feel too weird for me. It would also question if my true happiness came from before or after I lost my family. In fact, I'd rather be happy back then than right now, so I could preserve my memories for them.

But, is that as wrong as it sounds?

I feel somehow empty inside. It's like no matter what I choose I will always end up having no family. I don't like it one bit, but it is how it is. I'm officially finished with being hurt and crying and tears and being at a loss, or in my case, losses.

But it isn't that simple, is it?

Okay then, now I'm just running in circles here. What can I do? What is it that only 'I' can do at a time like this? I'm pretty textbook smart, but I'm in no way a 'social' kind of pokemon, I don't even know how to make friends...

I can always.. No, I can't just do THAT.

Hmmm...

Maybe I can... no. I just don't have enough information on my current location, so I can't wander around until I find something I can recognize... I could potentially get lost.

The only way to get information is to get off of my hindquarters and search for it I guess. I spent enough time in here to recite everything in my poem book twice..

"Wait!" I say aloud. How could I forget about that?

I closed my eyes and held the clip that was in my scarf with my paws. The clip processed the image of everything that was in the space purely through my thoughts. In it I saw the many gadgets and foods that was stuffed in there, I skimmed through the whole deal until I saw it, my poem notebook.

The book materialized when I pressed the button and it landed in my paw. I held it close to my heart for a couple of seconds.

Sophia gave me this book as her very first gift for me on my 6th birthday. I told her that I was very interested in poem writing and she gave me this pocket notebook. She didn't know when my birthday was at the time so it was given to me as a late present.

I opened the book to it's first page, it had my very first poem I wrote. I decided to look at what I wrote down back then:

Page 1. My first Poem!

This is the very first page!

RageCandyBars are all the rage!

I get sick when I eat too much!

But don't worry because I can have more for lunch!

My best friend's name is Sophia!

She can dance beautifully like a ballerina!

My mom and I like to relax and watch the stars!

But every time I jumped at them I wouldn't get very far!

I can recite Pi at up to 16 decimals!

But without my regulator my control is abysmal!

It ends there. I sweatdropped at the amount of exclamation marks I used at the time, I really went ham with that particular punctuation didn't I? But still, I was so young back then, there was so many things that I didn't know about the world that I do now... Well, at least in the future, technically.

I pretty much wrote it in the first day and second I got the notebook, so it isn't all that good content-wise. It was only until later on in the pages that I got the hang of poetry. Anyways, I'm so glad they packed it, it really relieves me...

"Hey! Don't go spilling it! Slow down!" I heard the voice and the pitter-patter of feet coming from the other side of the only door in the room, it must be the two little Riolu's. I put the notebook back in the clip and waited for them to come in.

The door flung wide open as the notebook dematerialized just in time. "I got your water! I didn't spill any, I swear!" Alain, the male Riolu, spoke in rapid breaths. He must've ran the whole way it seems. His sister Sheila, the slightly older and shinier female, came in through the door shortly after. She didn't seem so out of shape as her brother was though.

Alain handed me a half-filled glass cup that clearly looks like it used to have more in it, the bottom of the glass was soaked. I chugged down the rest of what was left. I instantly found out that I was really thirsty! I guess I wasn't really keeping track of my diet and intake of water, because of previous.. 'Distractions'.

The male Riolu hopped in place right beside me. "My dad told me to look after you while he was at work." Alain then looked at his sister in an irritated fashion. "An' he said that I don't need any help from my sister at all, an' that I should be the only one to babysit him."

Sheila huffed. "He didn't say that! I was there when he spoke to us and left. Don't go lying about everything so you could have your way."

She walked over to me and hugged my arm tightly. "He said that we should both show him around our house so he could get comfortable. He said that he could stay here until he got better again."

Suddenly, Alain was at my other side and snatched my arm into a strong grip. "I'm not lying! I'M gonna be the one to show him around!" He pulled my arm to his side, moving my upper body like a ragdoll. I had to catch my balance so I didn't topple over and crush the small Riolu.

Sheila tugged her side harder as if it was a tug-of-war. "I didn't say you WEREN'T going to do that!"

"But I wanna do it myself!"

They swung me back.

"You can't even read yet, what if you lead him to the girls bathroom by accident? You did it before and you cried saying there was no urinals in there!"

And forth.

"I didn't cry! An' why are you diggin' up the past again!? That has nothing to do with now! I know the difference even more now!"

And back.

"What I'm saying is that you're not capable of doing this by yourself!"

And then forth.

"I CAN SO do this on my own!"

Back..

"No you can't!"

Forth...

"Yeah I ca-" "ENOUGH!"

I couldn't take it anymore with their selfish attitudes! Their constant bickering got under my skin the moment they open their mouths!

The two quieted down, finally, it was never like this between Sophia and I.

And thus, I went into lecture mode. "What's the point of fighting over every little detail? There's no way to satisfy everyone, it's impossible. There will always be a conflict of beliefs, but if you let your beliefs get in the way of your relationships then you'll never be happy." I wasn't yelling at all, but it still had a heavy tone to it, I made sure to.

The two lowered their heads in shame. They have to learn their lesson through some harsh teachings sometimes, that's the only way they'll learn. If you're too gentle with them all the time then they may become too emotionally attached with each word they say, or become troubled with everything around them.

Like me...

If anything, I would like them to grow stronger than me, to lessen the devastation they take in the future. Even though I don't know them, I feel like it's my duty to do so. Perhaps it's just to fulfill my own selfish desire, or maybe I just want to help them out with their struggles. Either way, they need someone to teach them about the world.

Like how the institute taught me.

I gave my voice a gentle ring. "Why not just treat each other with respect? It's definitely way more fun that way, I swear it on my soul." I laid my paws on each of their heads to reassure them, their spirits seemed to re-Kindle on their faces. Seeing their attitudes u-turn made me smirk.

Alain grew a small smile. "Do you swear on your mother's grave?"

I inwardly flinched. I did my best so my facial features didn't change, though my smile did lessen a bit.

"Y-yeah, on my mother's grave I swear I'm not wrong."

Sheila tugged lightly on my arm. "Then let's get you settled in. Your room is over this way."

Alain held on to my paws with his own, Sheila did the same. Then Alain walked ahead of me. "Oh yeah! Didn't mom say that he could have THAT room?" Sheila just nodded at him and led me out of the room.

Just where am I going to stay for now? They seem to have a room in mind...

In only just a couple of rooms away was my room apparently. It was a simple room with little to no furniture, there was a descending ceiling that was supposed to be where the stairs were, and the room wasn't all that big. It was better than a small cubby-hole of a living space, I suppose.

The only problem I had with it besides the size was the descending ceiling... it was right on top and close to the head of the bed, meaning that if I don't remember the small roof, I'll be kissing that ceiling every morning.

Gee. I'm SO looking forward to THAT...

I guess I'll learn my lesson after a while, and besides, I don't know how long I'll be staying here so it probably won't matter.

Alain jumped on the bed in one swift motion. "And this is where you'll be sleeping at night." He was pretty small so he was far from jumping into the ceiling. ME on the other hand is another story.

Sheila just stood outside of the door. "We're not done with the tour yet, so no resting."

We followed behind her so I could see the remaining parts of the house...

"Okay! So we did the bathroom, the bedrooms, upstairs, downstairs, and... I think that's it." Sheila said as she gave me the rundown.

This house is pretty interesting. From what I could tell their mother worked in an office and their father worked at a school. Alain told me their workplaces weren't very far from here and that they were in the same building, in fact they were in the same area as this house, supposedly.

I didn't know the specifics of their jobs just by looking at their rooms, I wasn't able to dig around to decipher out the details, that'd be rude of course.

Alain held up a paw. "Oh! We forgot the most important place!"

Sheila's stance shifted straight up. "Oh, that's right, I forgot about that."

They both led me by the hand to the back of the house. We stopped at a wooden door, then they wordlessly stood by it and gestured their arms towards the door. They didn't say anything about what was on the other side of the door which was weird in of itself, they'd explain everything to the ground by now.

It seems that they want me to open the door by myself.

What is it that made them silent? Is whatever behind the door something they can't say? It made me more curious the more I thought about it. I reached out my paw and opened the door slowly. What I saw was amazing... And shocking!

Cinnabar Island!

And judging by the distance from here to there, I should be... in Pallet town! Hey, I didn't go very far from my original position! Is it possible that everything is in the exact same location in the past as it is from the future? That would be preferable, but everything is susceptible to change.. Even continents.

Still. It's nice seeing something like this. Cinnabar Island used to be so gloomy. Or should I say that it's about to be in a couple or more so years? It's the total opposite of what it 'used' to be though. It's gorgeous!

You can see the sparkling sea under the suns wide-covering and unexpecting gaze, the actual island is a bit foggy from here. It makes the view from this veranda look really enchanting!

If only everyone were to see this, their reactions would be so worth seeing...

"Umm, Arthur? Are you alright? You're looking weird again." Sheila's voice pierced my brain, causing me to snap out of it.

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Ah, yeah, I'm okay. Nothings wrong, I'm fine."

They seemed hesitant with me. I gave them a smile, I didn't want to dampen the mood, especially with kids like them. They took it as a 'now that's better', and we continued watching the sights silently together.

I feel like I'm going to be coming here pretty often in my free time, it's the perfect thinking spot too.

We kept watching until the sun began to set, it wasn't too high when we came out here, but it was getting late. Both Alain and Sheila yawned in unison with each other. I took that as a sign that they were done.

"Alright you guys, I guess it's time for bed."

They immediately shook their heads, both to say 'no' and to shake themselves awake. But their eyes said otherwise, they tried their best to keep them open, it was a pretty cute scene to be honest.

"If you go to bed right now you'll be able to get up that much earlier y'know?"

Their heads contemplated this thought, they both eventually agreed with me, Alain spent a longer time thinking than his sister though. Maybe these kids really DO listen to reason, that makes my life easier then.

I opened the door for them and they headed straight to bed.

I stayed behind.

I wanted to continue. I wanted to see it. The 'things' that I wanted to see since I was four. The things I only were able to see clearly when I saw them in books or by a description from my mother. The things I only was able to see clearly at that fateful night..

Will it show? Or will I wake up and realize that I'm dreaming, all because I don't really know what they look like at all. What if I can't imagine them whatsoever? Really. Just thinking about it makes me feel so melancholy, but for a different reason.

So I waited.

With the perseverance like that of a knight watching and protecting his king day and night.

Patiently with patience.

And I was rewarded. The sun went completely down, the night sky began to blanket over the horizon, and there I saw it. The first shining star of the night. The evening star, also known as Venus. It's not really a star as much as it is a planet, but it is awesome to see it in person nonetheless!

After that, the show began.

Star after star began appearing until it became countless. Eventually the whole world was swallowed by sparkles. It was even more beautiful than I anticipated, truly a sight to behold. Looking at it made me relaxed and excited at the same time. In fact, I could stay here all night and I still wouldn't get enough of it. This is all that I hoped for and more.

If I could, I would lay down and watch from the ground, everything was vastly visible anyways, not like before when I had to get on a big object and squint to see past the 'poison clouds' that made the stars hardly visible. This was clearly what I was born to do, I could feel it in my.. everywhere!

My body shivered. Not from the nightly cold air and winds, but from the sudden thought of that everything was really alright for me, the sense of burden have been lifted from my shoulders. Did seeing the stars start cleansing my soul?

I started tearing up. Not from sadness, but from...

Happiness.

I couldn't stop it, not that I tried to anyways. It just felt right for me. Crying. But for another purpose that's different from sadness. This is something I could get used to. Something that I can get comfortable with.

And so, this marks off another thing from my list.

"The stars are THAT beautiful to you?" A voice cut through my back. It didn't surprise me though, my aura somehow activated by itself for some reason. It felt strong. I mean, it was always strong, but this is a more 'I can control it on my own' kind of strong.

I turn around and found it to be one of the adult Lucario's, this one was the female that was in the back.

I decided to reply to her, she was my host after all. "Yeah..." That was all I said, however, it was all I needed to say.

"You DO realize you're crying at stars, right?" She deadpanned. I didn't heed her words. I don't even feel irritated one bit by it either.

"Did they do something to you? Like hurt you or anything?"

Those didn't sound like genuine questions. They were more like, I don't know, as if she was sarcastic and not at the same time.

She obviously doesn't understand me, or even seems like she wants to. I turned my attention back to the sky above.

"Did you know that 'the Morning Star' and ' the Evening Star' are actually one planet, Venus, not really stars like the name suggests?"

She didn't say anything. Instead she just stood there. I can tell from my 'aura feel' that she's uncomfortable.

I turn back to her again, but this time I smiled my most genuine smile.

"I love the stars."

Her uncomfortable aura faded immediately and another aura took it's place. Was it, Infatuation? I never really paid any attention to aura's like that, so maybe I'm wrong.

I've never used this ability before, it was too hard to maintain and handle, but I'm doing it like how an expert would. How did this happen? Do the stars give me power or something?

"U-um, your name is Arthur, right?"

The aura molded into one of embarrassment.

"W-what's your full name?"

What happened to that deadpan attitude from earlier?

Wait. My full name? Should I tell her my full name? I don't think it's a good idea to give her my real surname, what if I ran into my family members from the past? They wouldn't recognize an 'Arthur Verne' in their family, technically I'm not supposed to exist in this reality.

I want it to strike a resemblance to the original name though, something like Vernet? Wait no, that kinda sounds feminine.. Verny? Naw, too 'unorganized' sounding. Hmmm... how about Vero? Vero, Veeroh. Vero. Hey, that actually sounds decently pleasant! I'll go with that then.

"Arthur Vero." I replied to her.

Her aura turned into a light ray of happiness.

"Ah, okay then..."

Then reverted back to awkwardness.

I laughed happily. "Is that a new way to introduce yourself in today's standards?" Her face turned pink and so did her aura, back to embarrassment again?

"O-ah! Yeah, I meant to introduce myself." She coughed into her closed paw, most likely to ease her tension, she's surprisingly pretty easy to read. "My name is Sky."

As in the sky, sky?

Now I was interested in hearing her full name. "Your last name?" I asked her out of curiosity.

Sky perked up. "O-oh yeah, it's Verne, Sky Verne."

Uhhh...

What!? My relative!?

Ok! Now I know what you're thinking, 'Ew! Is he really going to have incest in this story?'. Then no, that's not where I'm getting at. This is the sort of 'life like' thing that I want in my stories. Not everyone is perfect and will know what what the hell is going on 24/7. The 'love at first sight' using Arthur's relative is the kind of thing I'm going with.

What I mean is that it's going to bring more options for me in the future of this story, to bring out the characters in a weird and different manner. What I hope for is a good way to set the stage for some drama in case I want to spice it up, if you know what I mean. And no, not in the way of the 'wincest'.

Ok, it sort of got weird for a second there. Well, until we meet again. 3697 words w/o AN's