The two stood there for what seemed like hours as Lily tightly embraced him, tearfully laughing into his shoulder. Alex stood stiff, highly confused by what was going on.

"I thought you didn't like me!", Alex shouted over Lily's crying.

"I don't like you!", she gasped, "I'm just so happy to see someone from home!"

Finally, she pulled away from him, wiping her eyes. Alex remained still, shell-shocked by what had just happened. The front of his shirt felt wet and hot from Lily's hug and the smell of dirt and body order lingered in the air around him. He coughed and wiped a few leaves off his chest.

"When was the last time you went back?", he asked.

"Oh, It's been a while now", she said," But tell me, when did you FINALLY get your license?".

"Eh, pretty recently", he lied.

"Well, at least you did. I always thought that you'd NEVER get it.", Lily laughed.

"Eheh, yeah...", Alex mumbled.

"What did you choose as your starter?", she asked, leaning against her Meganium.

"Oh...Uh, I chose Skip as my starter...since a year before I got my permit...", the young man replied, sheepishly holding up Skip.

"Wow, pretty ballsy...", Lily observed, putting her hands on her hips," Going out into the world with nothing but a retarded fish..."

"Hey!", Alex shouted, "He isn't that bad, he's learning!"

"Yeah, but you could've gotten such a much better pokemon", she sighed, "I bet you would've picked a Cynaquil."

Alex frowned. Cynaquil was the starter that his brother had chosen.

Lily clapped her hands together, "Well, why don't you show me the rest of your pokemon? Hopefully whatever else you have is better than that...thing ".

"Oh you just wait and see...", boasted Alex, hiding his anxiety.

He reached down to his belt and grabbed Fae's pokeball, deciding that Mari would only make him look even more pathetic. Besides, he was sure that not even she had a shiny pokemon.

"Go, Fae!", he shouted, throwing the ball.

Fae appeared on the field and turned to face Lily. The girl stared at the psychic pokemon, dumbstruck

"Oh. My. GOD!", she said," How the hell did you find a shiny pokemon?"

"I guess it was just luck...", Alex said, savoring the moment.

"I've never seen one in the flesh before...", Lily gasped, picking up the Ralts, " Especially one this cute!".

She began to cuddle Fae like a toddler, who didn't appreciate the attention. Alex gingerly took his pokemon back.

"She's not a doll, you know", he said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, sometimes I just forget that cute pokemon like that are wild animals", she blushed, playing with her hair.

Alex laughed, surprised to see a side of Lily that wasn't abrasive or demeaning. When they were kids, everything she did was just to show him how much better she was than him, and in a way, she was. Better grades, more friends, pretty much anything that he had ever tried to do she trumped him. The only time she ever acted halfway decent towards him was when neither of them had anyone else to play with, and even then she was still a bossy know-it-all. But now, even with the snark, she seemed almost-

"What's in that other pokeball?", Lily asked, pointing at his belt.

He jumped slightly and tried to hide it under his jacket, "Eh, it's nothing, don't worry about it..."

"Come on, let me see it", she whined, "Is it a Magikarp?".

"Ok, you want to see it?", asked Alex, frustrated, "Here you go."

He tossed the pokeball and Mari came into view, crouched on the ground. Shaking slightly, she looked over at Alex and immediately froze, her breathing becoming shallow and the orb on her tail beginning to spark. Lily remained silent and began to slowly approach the sheep pokemon, hands poised. He realized what she was going to do.

"Don't!", Alex yelled.

His voice startled Mari, who jumped up and tried to run into the tall grass. Immediately, Lily pounced onto the Mareep and held onto her tail, her gloves protecting her from the electricity. Alex watched as she seamlessly pulled a dark, strip of a gauze-like material out of her pocket and wrapped it around Mari's head, covering her eyes. The pokemon went from being terrified to confused, her orb going dark as she calmed down.

"What did you do?", he asked, amazed. He walked over and touched Mari's head, who remained still.

"Couldn't you see that she was going to attack you?", Lily stressed, gesturing to the pokemon, " You definitely need to train your Mareep, I've never seen a pokemon that was so nervous."

"Hey, it's not my fault!", Alex insisted, "My brother had her before me!"

Lily rolled her eyes, "That doesn't matter, she's your responsibility now."

Alex let out an angry sigh and looked over at his pokemon. She was calm now but how long would that last until she'd be trying to run away or shock someone. He sat down and buried his face into palms.

"Listen, Lily...", he said, fatigue in his voice, " I have no idea what I'm doing. I...".

He considered telling her everything, telling her everything that would expose him as a fraud. He knew that forging a fake ID might at best mean paying a fine or at worst spending several years in prison, but had no idea what would be the result of impersonating a training. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad?...Bullshit, of course it would be, considering his luck...He took a deep breath and looked up at Lily.

"I need your help", he said.

An array of emotions passed over her face, ranging from disgust to pity. Finally, she gave a sympathic smile and took a hold his hand, hoisting him up.

"My camp is just a few yards away, come on," she said, leading him.

Alex wordlessly complied as he followed Lily. He grabbed the nape of Mari's neck and pulled her along while Skip happily waddled after them. A few minutes later, they came upon a small campsite made of a makeshift fire pit and an old, tattered tent. Chiklet was the first to arrive, immediately laying down in front of the tent as though it was something he had done a thousand times before. Alex watched Lily as she pulled a line of nylon rope out of her backpack and fashion it into a harness around Mari. She handed him the end of the rope as well as a plastic bag filled with what looked like homemade feed.

"My Sandslash used to have a problem about being in open spaces too", Lily explained," All you have to do is just lead her around town for a while and reward her when she stays calm. Eventually, she'll learn that there's nothing to be afraid of."

Alex looked at the rope and feed in his hands, "Lily...I don't know if I can-"

"Oh shut up, you big baby!", she sneered, pushing him away, "You said you need help, so I'm helping you. I'll meet you back in town in a few; I heard that it was going to rain tonight so I'm going to pack up everything before it gets wet."

She began to take down her tent with the help of her Meganium and neatly folded the tarp into a compact square. Alex started to walk to town, looking back as he quietly fed a handful of feed to Mari.