~THE NEXT DAY~
Dee had spoken to Joy about Lacey's condition and asked if she'd be able to stay for a while longer after she fully recovered. Joy said that she didn't see a problem with it if she made herself useful.
Lacey was still asleep when she went to tell her the news. Ryun on the other hand, hadn't left his sister's side the whole night, and was out cold next to his sister. Dee thought that the whole thing was rather cute, but decided not to wake the pair.
Ryun looked up and asked, "Are we leaving?"
"Not yet… but you should get ready to go soon," Dee said, "We're going to Pallet Town to see Professor Oak. I was supposed to see him yesterday, but…"
"Alright," Ryun said.
Dee left the room after seeing Lacey wake up and telling her that she'd be able to stay at the Center indefinitely as long as she made herself useful. Lacey nodded and thanked Dee before going back to sleep.
----
~THAT AFTERNOON~
Dee and Ryun got ready to leave the Pokémon Center. Ryun said his goodbyes to his sister and Dee called Professor Oak to let him know that they were on their way. Before they left, Joy gave Dee a Pokéball. She said that treating Pokémon was easier if they had a ball to go into, but Dee just smiled and said, "If a Pokémon wants to join me, I'm not going to capture them. No Pokéballs for me thanks."
Joy looked surprised at that kind of tactic, but gave the Pokéball to Dee anyway.
Dee took the ball and decided that it was best not to argue with a Nurse.
-----
Ryun and Dee made it through the city and out to the countryside surrounding Viridian City. They took a break on a hill overlooking the city and Dee brought out some food that she had gotten from the Pokémon Center. She built a small fire pit and put some logs in it to fuel the fire. Then she exhaled three times, like with the fight against the Beedrill, and on the fourth breath, she sent a few embers from her mouth onto the fire. The logs immediately caught fire and began to crackle merrily in the afternoon sun.
"Why did you start a fire?" Ryun asked.
"You don't want to eat cold food do you?" Dee countered.
"Well… alright," Ryun relented with a grin.
Dee smiled back at her first Pokémon and brought out a small cooking pot that Joy had included with the food.
"I've got to hand it to Nurse Joy, she really does think of everything," Dee said with a smile.
"Yeah…" Ryun said.
"So… why don't you tell me a little about yourself?" Dee asked.
Ryun looked taken aback at this and said, "There's not much to tell… My sister and I had a family… but it was torn apart by something… I can't really remember, I guess it's because I was too young at the time."
'Kid's been through a lot, apparently,' Dee thought to herself.
"I'm an orphan," Dee said aloud, "I was left at the doorstep of the orphanage when I was a baby. I've lived there ever since. It wasn't a bad life… but I really did want something more, y'know?"
Ryun nodded. He looked at the fire, which was now hot enough to cook food on and said, "Do you remember your family at all?"
Dee curled up and let her hands wrap around her knees. She bent her head forward a little and said, "Not really… all I know is that my mother was a Ninetails and that my father was human. All I have to remember them is this shard of a Fire Stone that my dad apparently gave to my mom before I was born."
Dee pulled out the necklace the her father had given her mother as she spoke. It was exactly like before, with the pearls a slight orange color in the fire light. The center pearl, which was the largest, had the shard of Fire Stone inserted into its core, to prevent it from accidentally triggering an evolution in Dee if she didn't want it.
Ryun looked at the necklace in wonder and said, "It's really beautiful."
"I can only imagine what my parents are doing… I don't even know if they're alive still," Dee said, "But I don't think that I'll have too much time to worry about that… We'll have some training to do between now and the Pokémon League."
Ryun nodded and looked up at the sky. It was starting to get a little dark, and the sun was already setting for the night. He also noticed that his stomach was growling and put a paw up to it in embarrassment.
Dee giggled at that motion and started to cook some of the food that Joy had given them.
About an hour after their conversation, their dinner was ready and they had started to eat. Dee and Ryun ate in silence that first night, a little too unused to each other's company as the night went on. After dinner Dee set up the tent for the night and looked at Ryun.
"You can sleep in here if you want, y'know," Dee said.
Ryun looked up from where he was sitting and blushed a little under his fur.
"Thanks," He said after a moment.
"I'd do the same for anyone, I'm just too Sweet for my own good sometimes," Dee said with a shrug. She climbed into the tent and climbed into her sleeping bag. Joy had thought ahead and provided one for Ryun as well, seeing as Dee had refused to put the Riolu into a Pokéball.
Ryun climbed in after making sure that Dee was sound asleep and crawled into his own sleeping bag. He looked at Dee for what seemed line ages, then fell asleep with some very entertaining dreams to keep him company.
