I didn't bother asking any more questions for quite some time. For a while, everything fell into a routine as we hunted Magikarp as normal, we playfighted as normal, we told stories as normal, we slept as normal, repeat and repeat. Although I was satisfied with the answers I got and faced every day as it came, over time, a pit grew in my stomach and I didn't realise what this hunger was until I saw a bird Pokémon perch itself atop the trees as I walked across the shore. It probably knew there was more out there, and that's what I felt was missing, the sense of being connected to the rest of the world.

I felt a burning sensation in my paws and sprang towards the forest, climbing to the treetops in no time. That's when I saw a Pokémon a few trees away, preening its feathers. I balanced myself on one of the highest tree branches and jumped from tree to tree in an effort to get close to it. Soon enough, I was within paws length of it.

Now, some details for me are a bit fuzzy, since it was a long time ago and I don't remember every weird looking thing under the sun, but if memory serves me correctly, I believe it was a Wingull I saw. It had that same blue streak across its coat, after all.

Anyway, it eyed me cautiously, and suddenly, I felt giddy. This was my chance to find out about the outside world. My chance to talk with something else other than Riolu and Lucario. Who knows. Maybe as a bonus, I could've hunted it and brought it back for my parents to cook. Don't knock it until you've tried it, after all.

"Hey, can you tell me what's out there?" I asked. It just blinked.

"More idiots like you asking us random questions."

"That's it? C'mon, there has to be somethin' else."

It took flight and fluttered above me. Then, a white runny liquid hit the top of my head and ran down my face. I don't need to mention what it was.

Panicked, I lost my footing and fell off the branch. I got smacked by all sorts of different branches on the day down until a bush broke my fall, not without scratching me with those brambly bits. To say I was sore afterwards was an understatement. Nothing was broken, thank his holy ass, just bruised and battered all over. To add insult to injury, I stank. I had to get the acrid stench off of me as soon as I could, so I limped to the closest stream I could find in the forest running from the lake and dunked my head in it several times to wash it off. Even after I rinsed off the droppings, a whiff of it still lingered.

Pro tip number one: if you talk to any unknown Pokémon unannounced, especially bird Pokémon, they probably won't stick around for the conversation. At best, you'll get a face full of bird seed.

I ran my paws through my coat to find all sorts of splinters sticking to it. I tried to pick most of it off but I wasn't sure if it had gotten in places I couldn't reach. I had to get them out or they probably would've gotten septic, even though I had no idea what 'septic' meant at the time. It was something Trunks told me after all.

Lo and behold, I picked up his aura not too far off, straight from the path of the stream into the lake. Although my legs were sore, I found my way there without trouble. He had already occupied himself, meditating by the lake at the edge of the bank. The tire swing swayed lightly in the breeze far away. Once I stepped into the clearing, he turned around and scoffed.

"Alright," he said, "What trouble have you gotten into now?"

I scratched my back.

"I got splinters in my butt."

"Seriously? Alright, come here then."

I sat on the bank beside him, dipping my paws into the water, and Trunks started combing through my fur.

"You don't always need to climb so high, you know."

"And what's the problem? I was just takin' a peek up there."

"Yes, but you're going to break your neck if you keep falling." He paused as he pulled out something brambly behind me. I winced. "And you could use a long bath too."

I sat in silence while he kept checking for splinters, and I thought back to what Mom had told me a while back.

"Tell me, why do you want to get off the island?"

"How'd you know?"

"Your aura, of course."

"Well, why not?" I said, kicking the water, "I wanna see the world out there."

"There's nothing out there but predators and starvation. That's all."

"Aw c'mon, Mama told me you had experience out there before, can't you tell me more?"

"No. Trust me when I say you don't need to know."

I pulled myself away from his grasp and turned to him, giving him those little Riolu eyes.

"Please? I swear I won't be upset or anythin'. I kinda know the world sucks already, so at least tell me more about that."

He brushed a few more shavings off my coat, then leaned in closer to the point where his muzzle touched mine, gazing at my with those eyes. Those blood red eyes. Even when it's coming from your own kind, the glare of a Lucario can still send shivers down your spine.

"Alright, you want to know how the world out there works? You're completely on your own, with the threat of death lurking all around you. You must always be on alert, never letting your guard down for a moment, or else..."

He clapped, snapping me out of his trance.
"You're gone."

He stared into the lake ahead of us, and up to the hanging tire.

"There was a family, just like us, who we kept company for a little while. Some of them were just about your age. They still had to look out for themselves, as whenever we rested, we had to cover our own families in shifts to make sure nothing else lurked around. One such Lucario, who was supposed to be on shift for that night, forgot about it and rested with his family. We were woken up by their screams, and when we came to check on them, they..."

Trunks' voice trailed off and he rubbed his eyes, taking a deep, ragged breath. I looked on, wanting to get closer to him, but pulling away. I didn't really know how to comfort him in times like that. So I waited for him to pull himself together, and in time, he looked at me once more, resting his paw on mine.

"Out here, you don't have to worry about any of that. You have a constant food source. There are no tall creatures with poisonous claws lurking about. There are none of those bastards invading our habitats either. Both Mom and Dad worked so hard to get us here, and now here we are, living in peace. You should be thankful for that."

"Yeah, I am. But isn't every day here kinda the same? Don't you get bored?"

"Well," he hesitated, and I felt a tinge of sadness in his aura if I didn't already, "I would be lying if I said this isn't boring, but I'd rather be that instead of in some other creature's stomach."

I opened my mouth to say something but decided against it. I knew he was right. From the stories Mom told and all that, I thought of myself in his shoes. Well, you know we don't wear them, but you know what I mean. I imagined myself on my own, defending myself from creatures much faster, stronger and less caring than me, as I would later find out first hand. Still, there was that itch to find out, like sticking your paw in a Combee's nest.

Mercifully, he let me go and patted my back, letting me know it was okay to move on before he got stuck in another one of his rants. He smiled to me.

"There, it should be fine now. Make sure to clean those wounds or else they'll get infected."

"Okay," I said, and took a dip in that lake. I closed my eyes and let myself float on the surface, water lapping gently at my face, with Trunks meditating in the background.

You know, I never got why certain Pokémon are so obsessed with meditating. I never saw the need for it in GeL, unlike some other Pokémon, and later than that, I found myself training with some withering old Medicham on a whim, and it was ass-numbingly boring, literally. Why would any Pokémon or human think it helps to sit still, doing nothing for hours on end? Whoever came up with the idea should've been thrown into the sea from up high.

When I opened my eyes next, I noticed Trunks was gone, so I thought I'd go off on my own and swim out. It still hurt to walk, but nevertheless, I skipped through the woods and felt an even stronger resolve in me. I had to find a way off the island somehow. I was sure I could've taken what the world threw at me. Or was I? Trunks' story still lingered in my head, following my around like a homing cloud, but still, if I didn't find out what obstacles the outside world entailed, I never would've been satisfied. All I had to do was search the island for a route to the closest neighbouring bit of land and go from there. I skipped for a while, unaware of where I was heading.

When I finally came out of the woods into the shore, that's when I saw it for the very first time with my own eyes. It was a human.

I froze at the sight of it. Or rather, she and her Prinplup. Again, I didn't know at the time what species it was exactly, but with that beak and that deep blue body, it does kind of narrow it down. But yeah. I don't know what I expected humans to look like, even when Mom gave me an idea of their appearance. She made it sound like they were monsters, but to me, they just seemed like another species, like a Pokémon. Although I didn't know it yet, she was a trainer, just like Mom said: she grew hair, wore clothes and had smooth skin. She was dripping wet for whatever reason and didn't have a lot of clothes covering her.

For that moment, time stood still. When she saw me, she whispered something to that blue Pokémon of hers and it stood in front of her in a battle stance.

I realised the kind of situation I was in rather quickly. I was about to get into a fight and I was still standing there, dumbstruck. At the same time though, there was a chance they only looked to defend themselves from a wild Pokémon, and only acted out of survival instinct. I had questions as well, and driving them to attack me was the last thing I wanted to happen. A friendly approach seemed better than a pointless fight after all. I snapped out of my headspace and called out to them, waving a paw in the air. The Prinplup eased its stance a little and I slowly approached them. The girl's expression was still a little unsure.

"I'm not gonna harm y'all," I said, "I just wanna talk, okay?"

The Prinplup held its paw out to the trainer. It could've been a ceasefire or a command to attack, but thankfully the trainer smiled, letting me know we were at peace with each other. She crouched so she could be at my level.

She then went on to speak. Her mouth moved, but I couldn't understand a word of what she said, but either way, her voice was reassuring and warm in a way you wouldn't get from a Riolu or Lucario, which mostly sounds like we're hacking up hairballs.

Anyway, she chuckled and started petting my head. Those hands. Joy overtook reason and I growled the same way I would've with Mom. Then that squawky voice had to ruin the moment.

"Ugh, I'm going to vomit."

I couldn't hear what the human was saying, but the way they went back and forth with each other as if they understood each other seemed strange to me.

"Wait," I said, "Can you understand her?"

The Prinplup scoffed.

"Yeah, duh."

"No duh! Can she understand you though?"

"Nope. She just has a good ear for disapproval."

That was a let down. Even if Mom told me beforehand, I wasn't used to being ignored like that. Still, that wouldn't stop me from getting my way if I could make the Prinplup relay what I said back to her, somehow. The trainer continued petting me.

"How'd you get here?" I asked.

"Surfed here."

"Surfed? Nevermind. Say, can you take me with you for a bit? Just for a little, tiny bit. I wanna come back here though."

The Prinplup put his flipper on the girl's shoulder and pointed to her belt, then back to me. I looked up to see several shiny balls coloured red and white. No points for guessing what their purpose was. I didn't know at the time so I just stared at them until the trainer pulled away from me. She smiled and said something else in that same warm tone, then pulled out on of those balls and held it in front of me. She looked at me expectantly, pointing to the Pokéball she held up. I raised my paw to it.

I wonder what would've happened had I touched that Pokéball and went with her. She seemed nice, after all. I probably would've avoided all the stuff that happened at GeL beforehand. Maybe we could've spent the rest of our days together if she was planning on taking me. But I wouldn't be here talking right now and I wouldn't have met you guys if I did.

"GET AWAY!" Dad's voice resounded through the air. The trainer broke off from me and in turn, I looked to Dad as he dashed towards the two. Not knowing what else to do, I ran away from them, getting as far as I could in the way of the ensuing battle.

Without prompt, Dad threw an aura sphere at the Prinplup's head. He blocked it with a flipper, knocking him back several places. The trainer ran to his place and pointed at Dad, shouting a command of some sort. He spouted a stream of water from his mouth. It was quick, but Dad was quicker, dodging to the side as he threw a punch at his face. It hit. Even when the Prinplup fell to the floor, Dad still didn't stop. Punch after punch, the Prinplup could only shield himself. Then, the girl stood between them.

I could see how fearful she was through her pained expression and her aura. When you're faced with a creature that has freaking spikes in their paws, you're pretty much at their mercy. Nevertheless, she spoke in a calm voice to him, although I wasn't sure how much good it would do. Would he even understand her?

"Get out," he said in human tongue. Those were the first words I understood in human. He said it so plainly, yet from his aura, I knew he was hiding a massive amount of anger, so it had an impression on me.

She helped the Prinplup to his feet and departed not long after, setting sail on its back to surf across the sea.

I stood in silence. I hadn't seen Dad act like that before, not even when he was telling us off. Then, he walked towards me, still having that raging look on his face. My heart quickened a bit as he approached. I bet he could've killed me right then and there if he willed it to. Then, he knelt down and picked me up, cradling me in his paws.

"Are you alright, young pup?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good." He gently lifted me down to the rocky floor and I saw his expression was a bit more relaxed, although those red eyes still stared into my soul. "In the future, if you're ever to meet one of those things again, run as far as you can. Don't go up to them. If they let them capture you, they will make your life a living hell, do you understand?"

I didn't know what to say at the time so I just nodded and went along with it. My family came not long after, giving me lots of relieved hugs, and we had a big serving of Grilled Magikarp not long after. We ended the night with our usual set of stories and all was well again. Well, sort of. Despite what Dad told me, meeting a human for the first time wasn't even a bad experience, a far cry from what Mom made it out to be. That itch inside still nagged at me, and it was something that could only be scratched by meeting another human again. Those thoughts within me faded away as I dozed off.