THE GIRL AND THE LUGIA

By kathlaida-princess

Summary: In order to bring his best friend back to the world he knew, a boy has to make a sacrifice and change into the most beautiful creature, the Sea Guardian itself, so that he could find out the reason why she left in the first place and he could tell her how he really felt inside… However, when the boy is kidnapped by a Pokemon Collector, things get complicated, as the girl must return the boy's love for him to be human again before it is too late.

With the special appearance of Lugia, my favorite Pokemon!

I sure hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Pokemon characters nor the places in the Pokemon World. And I don't own Friends either. If Friends belonged to me, Rosita would have been presented to us earlier. Blah, blah, blah. But I hope you enjoy this, though.

Author's Notes: I promised a quicker update, and here it is! And I hope this will make up from the last chapter, as I wasn't at my best (I can't believe the greatest year of my life has just passed…). Thank you Lost Yoshi (oh, this will be long… I mustn't be wrong when I say you don't care much about 'Friends', do I? Well, maybe it was a mistake of mine to put its characters in this fic… Anyway, 'Unagi' is actually a kind of sushi made from eels, but according to Ross, who is keen on karate, fighting techniques and everything that requires effort and great focus, you have 'Unagi' when you're totally aware of EVERYTHING that happens around you. That means that you will never be startled by anyone and you have great reflexes. You may have noticed Ross mentioning that Rachel yelled savagely 'DANGER! DANGER!' at him on this fic. Well, that part actually appeared on one 'Friends' episode because Ross (from Friends) used to yell 'DANGER! DANGER!' to see if one had Unagi. But when Rachel once hid behind his curtains and yelled at him, Ross just screamed like a girl (no kidding) and it was proved that Ross hadn't Unagi either. That's why I used that on my fic, but with Pokemon characters. Now, if you re-read the chapter with this information maybe you'll enjoy it a bit more. I'm sorry about this whole 'Friends' thing. But if you have any doubts that cause you problems to understand the fic, you can just PM me or search the web. About Ross, I agree with you, out of the six main characters from Friends, he is the oddest. And has huge mood swings. One second he can be completely happy and calm and the other he can be yelling and transforming into 'The Red Ross' (which also appeared in the series). But, contrarily to you, I think Ross fits perfectly on this fic, because everything he does is comic. Anyway, I'm describing all the main characters on this chapter, from Daniel's point of view, so that you can retain the basics from Friends. Lastly, you don't need to apologize. A reviewer's job is to give his opinion and, besides that, if I were perfect in writing, I would own tons of best-sellers translated in almost every language in the world! I'm here to learn, and I can only learn if I figure out what my mistakes were. Lol, patience is indeed a virtue that few possess (but battling a Snorlax with Rest can surely become too much distress… :)) (I made a rime!). I hope you like this chapter better) and HaloEver (I'm glad you liked it!) for your reviews! Now, on with the story!

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CHAPTER 10 (already!)

ADAPTATIONS

The next days passed by very quickly, as Daniel had so much fun and learned so many things. His next lessons went as well as the first ones, and he started to build a solid relationship with all of Karen's Pokemon, as well as with is new body and with Karen herself again.

The six spectacular creatures that joined him on his training and taught him all he knew about fighting were also the best friends anyone could wish for to spend the rest of their lives. He now could tell how Karen was able to spend those whole three years with almost no human company. After all, it was human disbelief and mock that sent her there in the first place…

She, and now Daniel, had there a friend for each occasion.

Chandler was there if they needed to cheer up (just kidding). He was always making up sarcastic jokes and loved to tease with everyone. He was terribly afraid of commitments; maybe that was why he was secretly dating Monica (even though almost everyone knew they were together).

When he wasn't with Monica nor Karen, he was always with Joey; they were the best friends, which was quite amazing, as they were completely different.

Daniel loved to swim with him. Chandler wasn't that brave at all, but it must have taken him much courage to learn to swim and he definitely was a great teacher. However, Daniel liked to see him on dry land better, since his fire attacks were absolutely astonishing and he just loved to stay there and stare at them. One of his personal favorites was Overheat, when the Typhlosion made the floor warm up to 113 degrees and then covered himself in a fire aura that spread like an earthquake and burnt everything on its way. Surprisingly, Daniel actually did something alike, with water instead, just using his psychic powers. He might have just discovered a new attack!

Rachel was the funniest female of them all. She was gorgeous, very clever, glamorous and most of all, very feminine and kind. She loved to spend time with the boys, tease with them and to gossip with the rest of the girls. But she was also a major troublemaker and she was a terrible cook. Daniel had to taste some cookies she had made. Rachel had told him they were from the same recipe from Monica's, but the taste was definitely not even alike. However, Joey seemed to like all of her strange meals. Daniel specially noticed Rachel deep affection for Ross.

During sunset, Karen usually sent Rachel to a patrol to see if there were new Pokemon in the area that she could sketch. On those last few days, Daniel would keep her company and she just kept chatting, chatting and chatting happily about everything. He loved to fly with her, especially when she used one of the most awesome flying attacks: Sky Attack. She would just start singing a sad but beautiful melody while soaring and her whole body would begin to glow. Then, she would just flap her wings once and her flight would gain an astounding speed, cutting everything in front of her like an immense blade. Daniel was still trying to master Aeroblast, the Lugia's most perfect attack, but he still couldn't come up with one.

Joey the Furret had to be Daniel's favorite Pokemon of the group! He was carefree, happy, charming and a sweetheart, but he was also very glutton and not very clever, but he was definitely the best! He was usually hanging around with Chandler, showing him how to meet some ladies, obviously completely oblivious to his friend's relation with Monica. He was also a great actor when it came to playing pranks on Marion, whenever she came by.

Daniel sure learnt a lot with him. With Joey, he began to show interest in keeping fit, surfing, being more daring and not caring about the other's opinions. He was the only one that could compare with Joey when it came to the "How're you doin'?" trick, the sentence that could grab any babe's heart. With Joey, he changed a lot from the lazy and unreasonably calm boy he was in L.A. and became much funnier, as far as a Lugia can be.

Joey mastered both land and sea attacks and Karen always counted on him when she needed to do heavy work. Joey's attacks weren't beautiful per say, but he loved to use a whole combination of them and that was absolutely amazing. His favorite combination was the one when he used Dig, Strength, Surf and finally Cut. First, Joey would dive in the soft soil of Karen's garden and would build a tunnel around Daniel. Then, he would use his Strength to elevate the huge patch of earth (as well as the young Lugia on it) and used Surf by the shape of a powerful water stream to propel everything on the air. Finally, he would attack the soaring enemy with a Cut of his tail. Usually, the power of the impact was so strong that the Pokemon would be instantly knocked out. However, Daniel would use his wings to fly just on the last moment and would avoid the crash. The only one not very happy with this was Phoebe, who took kindly care of the garden. Daniel got to improve his swimming and learnt to use Cut with his tail.

Joey was happy with his new student. He had become fit and flirty in a matter of days. After a day of hard training, Daniel would join him with Phoebe the Wigglytuff, and they just spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Daniel could tell Phoebe and Joey had something going on between them…

And speaking of Phoebe, Daniel surely had a lot of respect for her, but he knew he had to be careful around her, or he wouldn't understand what she was saying. Maybe because she just said this silly things, and matched perfectly with Joey in cleverness. But the Lugia liked her a lot still. She was always happy, she cared much about nature, flowers and singing, even though her songs weren't that beautiful. She had a special guitar that she used to play at night, when that whole odd family would reunite around the rocking chair on the front yard

Both Phoebe and Joey never let the child inside them disappear, and since they didn't care about the others' opinions, they had a relaxed and carefree living, never trying to please the others.

The training Daniel loved the most was the training with Phoebe, because she was the responsible of keeping him relaxed. With her, the young Lugia would just garden the back yard, water the plants, the flowers and fix the soil after Joey's combo attacks. When she had nothing to do, Phoebe asked Daniel to sing for her that mysterious Lugia song and tried to imitate him. She said it was a great improvement to her Sing attack. And her attacks were definitely the greatest! With them, Daniel developed his psychic powers. First, the Wigglytuff would Sing to him, with her calm voice, and would induce him to a sleep full of sweet, wonderful dreams. Then, she would use Dream Eater, where she used her own psychic powers to enter Daniel's dreams and eat them away. He would become weaker and weaker and Phoebe would grow stronger and stronger. Finally, he would wake up abruptly and the Wigglytuff would use a fatal move: Body Slam. She might be small compared to a Lugia, but the impact she caused was humongous and Daniel was instantly knocked out. Maybe that was the only non-relaxing part of their training… Later, Daniel learned a way to avoid Dream Eater. With all that practice, his psychic powers became stronger and he was able to create a psychic barrier around him during sleep, and Phoebe couldn't break it. You can learn a lot through relaxing!

Monica was the least feminine female, for she was far too competitive and athletic, but she was keen on keeping everything clean. Not to mention her excellent cooking abilities! She was the exact opposite of Rachel, but they were still the best friends.

The attractive Ampharos would spend half of her time swimming with Chandler, so, sometimes, Daniel had classes with Monica and Chandler at the same time. The other half of her time, she spent it cooking, cleaning and training the Lugia.

Well, Ross would teach him physical attacks and how to focus properly and Joey would tell him how to keep fit. But only Monica showed him how to improve his elemental attacks, the ones on which he used water, fire or electricity. And she specially minded the electricity, for Daniel's despair, as he was a both flying and water-type Pokemon and electricity was his main weakness.

But Monica wouldn't let him give up! They trained so hard that Daniel ended up knowing all elements weaknesses and strengths. But the ones he had were the ones that really mattered.

Monica had taught him simple tricks to overcome his weaknesses. Simple, but genial and quite effective. Maybe that was how she made Chandler gain the courage to swim. Daniel's greatest challenge was to reduce the effect electricity had on him. And he succeeded.

Daniel surely didn't know how Karen taught her Pokemon those amazing moves, but they sure did come in handy in battle and they were surely one of the secrets of Karen's great success. One of the most astounding moves he had seen was Monica's Zap Cannon.

Every Pokemon knew when Monica was using that attack, so every Pokemon stopped their chores to watch it. Maybe because she created a thunderstorm before she could perform the move.

It was a very quick and subtle thunderstorm. Almost immediately, the sky would be covered in dark grim clouds and thunders could be heard in the distance. Not even the shiniest sunrays could come across those terrible clouds, so everything would turn pitch-black…

Then, the thunderbolts would begin… But they were no ordinary thunderbolts. Instead of heading towards the ground, these thunderbolts headed towards Monica herself, or Monica's ears, if you may. It was her way to charge up electricity in order to perform her move…

She would lower her body a bit, her ears would start absorbing electricity and the red orb on the tip of her tail would start shining brightly and intermittently, first, slowly, and then, growing faster with each second, until it reached a moment when the orb was blinking so quickly that it seemed like it was just a powerful red light bulb. Meanwhile, a great ball of electricity would be forming on the similar red orb placed on her forehead. Finally, Monica would know the moment was right and would screech loudly, releasing the huge electricity sphere, an immense power that would wound Daniel badly… if he hadn't learnt a few tricks of his own…

The strategy was simple, almost too simple to stop such a terrible attack, but it worked. To prevent great suffering and a certain week spent paralyzed on a big bed, all Daniel had to do was use his psychic powers to create a thick veil of earth in front of him. Everyone knows electric moves aren't effective on ground-types, so they couldn't go through earth either.

Then, it was the Lugia's turn to attack.

Still using his psychic powers, he would send his earth shield towards Monica, she would fall back from the impact and would be unable to see clearly because her eyes would be covered in dirt. To finish her off, Daniel would use a powerful Headbutt attack and she would be certainly knocked out. And that was what he learnt from Monica: how to deal with the elements.

Last, but not the least, there was Ross. Daniel liked Ross, respected him and came to learn a lot from him, but he had to try hard to understand him. There's no other way to put it: Ross was weird, and was certainly unique. Who could figure that such little Togetic could feel so many emotions at the same time, know as much as he knew or own the respect that he owned?

Ross was the most intelligent of all Karen's Pokemon, including Daniel. He was mad about fossils and his greatest wish was to visit the Pewter Museum to see the fossils from Kabutops, Omastar and Aerodactyl. He knew almost everything there was to know about the Pokemon World History and begged Karen to watch all the educational documentaries they passed on TV.

Daniel relied on him to train his psychic and fighting abilities, as the Togetic was completely obsessed with karate and everything that improved his mind and focus. That was how he knew about Unagi, which one possesses when one's completely aware of everything surrounding one and can't ever be surprised. It was a bit risky to have lessons with a small yet powerful Pokemon that could be smiling and all happy on a moment and completely furious and becoming 'The Red Ross' on the other (there was one time when he was speaking gently to Daniel and then started screaming aloud at him just because he wasn't able to turn on the TV to the Pokemon Discovery Channel), but it was a worthy risk. Daniel ended up learning much more than he expected from him. Both his anger and cleverness came in handy during that unforgettable adventure, even if he only used them to defeat Ross more easily or just to know more about the amazing world that surrounded him.

The young Lugia obviously found out about Ross's crush on Rachel immediately and was great aid to him, as Ross couldn't handle it on his own and his trust towards Daniel had grown bigger by each day.

But Daniel's new friends weren't the only thing that made that adventure unforgettable: the whole Pokemon World also was!

He had always been the typical city boy, he loved to have everything he needed and needn't around him and loved to live in the greatest comfort, not caring much about the environmental issues nor how lonely a person can be a big city, even though there are millions of people around him.

Now, on that little piece of heaven on Earth, he finally noticed how blind he had been.

All around him was clean and beautiful. And it was when Karen would send him for a patrol with Rachel that he was the most conscious of it.

From high above, even higher than some clouds, the sunset was indescribable, such an explosion of warm and bright colors reflected on the fluffy pale clouds that filled Daniel's heart with joy and his eyes in amazement. And the fresh air he breathed! Never the smell of smoke, garbage, cars or of a busy city could be felt up there, there was just this absence of smell, and that simple inexistence made him wonder how he could even survive in LA. The feeling of flying, which he had always imagined, completed that whole set, a feeling that was far greater than he had ever dreamed of. The rushing wind, whispering wise and incomprehensible words on his ears, also rushing the beating of his already excited heart.

Much closer to the ground, inside the forest that surrounded Karen's house, the beauty was completely different, but still the same. There was life in every tree, every rock, in the very ground the two flying Pokemon overflew. Flying there, dodging every tree passing his way in a incredible speed, Daniel could always see a small Rattata nibbling on some leaves, hear the melodious song of a Swablu, feel the sweet scent of the numerous wandering Bellossoms and inhale the same fresh air, even if filled with the aroma of the surrounding pine trees. When the sun was already set on their way back to Karen's house, one would guess that the place would be quieter, but it was the exact opposite: life seemed to multiply under the mysterious moonlight. The Glooms agglomerated, the Hoot-hoots and Noctowls came out to hunt and there were Vulpixes hiding behind the bushes, waiting for their prey.

But the most beautiful place Daniel had visited there laid underwater.

Of course Rachel never joined him when he dived into the ocean on their daily patrol, but it didn't mean Daniel didn't have the greatest time. The water was so clean and transparent that one could mistake it with thin air if it weren't for the sunrays' magnificent light effect or the small groups of bubbles released by the living creatures there. The Lugia would spend loads of time there, blown away by the surrounding beauty. Magikarps swam peacefully around, just staring at the Sea Guardian with this dumb look. A large group of Corsolas would stroll along the seafloor, singing a cheerful chant. Sometimes, as the water was so clean, Daniel could also see a rare Dewgong or even the gorgeous Milotic.

During the few days the young Lugia spent learning and adapting, he go so attached to the Pokemon World that he even felt like staying there forever. However, he knew he had come there for one purpose only: to bring Karen back, apologize for everything he had done to her. He couldn't let that magical place put a spell on him…

And the first fruits of his success appeared when Karen and her strongest Pokemon finished his improvised room on the roof. Usually, when you hurry up something, it tends to end up being bad. That certainly didn't apply to Daniel's new room. It was just a big platform with a big and comfy mattress on top of it and a big blanket on the mattress. There was just a little roof covering the platform but no walls around it, so that the Lugia could sleep under the star gaze.

That night, he had flown up to his new room with Karen riding on his neck and he landed smoothly on the platform. He fell in love with the room on the very first sight.

"It's awesome, Karen, you did a great job!" he complimented her. "Thank you so much for this!"

The blonde girl thanked the dark for hiding her red cheeks. She still felt weird around that strange Lugia. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh, it was nothing, really. After all, legendary Pokemon need to be well treated!"

Karen made eye contact with the Lugia and the two just stayed there for a moment, dark brown eyes staring at emerald green ones and tender smiles drawing themselves upon their lips. But then Daniel noticed how stupid he must have looked, and broke the eye contact.

The young Lugia laid on the comfy mattress and covered himself with the blanket using his mouth. The night was warm, but a gentle breeze rushed in, and his feathers weren't enough to keep him hot. Daniel stared at the sky. He couldn't see the moon, but the sky seemed to have been powdered with diamond dust, for the stars were shining so brightly.

Karen must have felt the gentle breeze and the stars' wonder at the same time because Daniel noticed her shivering a lot. Feeling like being sweet with her, the Lugia stretched his long neck to her, pushing her towards his open wing under the blanket.

"Here, you'll feel better," he only said.

The blonde girl just put the blanket around her like a cape and stared thoughtfully at the stars.

First, Daniel looked at her deeply, noticing how much she had grown up on that place, feeling sorry for all the grief he had caused that was mirrored on her eyes, but then, he understood it was still too early to win her trust back, so he found a way to break the ice… by also gazing at the stars…

"The sky looks beautiful today…," he stated.

"Yeah…," Karen sighed, "It's always like this in this place, you can always see all the stars here."

"So I really have to thank you for giving me a room up here, for welcoming me to this beautiful house. It's wonderful to have a place to learn how to be a real Pokemon."

And he really meant all of it.

"It must be difficult to lose your mother forever," the girl said, "especially for a Pokemon…". She surely missed her own mother, but she knew she did the right think when she ran away. For both of them.

"It is," he said with a sooth tone. But Daniel didn't go on on that subject line, simply because the loss of his "supposed" Lugia mother was a story he made up. Instead, he made a new eye contact with the beautiful young woman by his side.

However, she didn't seem to handle his piercing deep brown look too long as she looked away soon after and Daniel noticed her blushing brightly under the pale starlight. But she got over it quickly.

"So, what do you think about my gang?" she asked.

"Your Pokemon? They're just amazing. I'm learning a lot from them, much more than I expected to learn from my own mother. This place, being here with them, with you, has been wonderful. You should be proud of your work."

And Karen just blushed even more. She didn't know why she was acting so weird around a Pokemon, but there was something that reminded her so much about Daniel… Was it his smile, his eyes, or just the way he said those compliments that made her feel so good? Maybe it was the combination of all three…

Then, suddenly, Daniel felt very weird and his mouth opened up broadly, letting out a big yawn, inducing Karen to laugh out loud.

"I never imagined I would see a Lugia yawning, but your arrival here just seemed to make all those little dreams come true. You don't need to thank me for nothing: I did everything with pleasure. I always wanted to meet a Lugia."

And it was Daniel's turn to blush, trying to disguise it with a shy smile, which transformed immediately into another yawn.

Then, Karen just giggled and awkwardly yet tenderly embraced Daniel's long neck tightly and said, "I guess you must be exhausted. I know my gang is nice and wonderful, but I also know they work a lot. I'll let you go to sleep now; actually, I need some rest on my own too…", and she also let out a small yawn. "I'm glad you like to be here, you brought much joy to this place… I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

The Lugia nodded, but also replied, "Yeah, but I still have to leave you on the floor."

And the gorgeous legendary Pokemon just let her ride his back (A/N: why don't these things happen to me instead!) and landed gently on the floor. Then, she just hugged him good-bye one final time and went towards the front door.

"Good night, Karen," said the Lugia.

"Good night, Daniel," said the girl.

The last thing he saw before he fell asleep on his comfy mattress was Chandler and Monica hiding on Phoebe's well-treated garden.

And both the girl and the Lugia slept well that night.

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END OF CHAPTER

Ta dah! Don't I just love fluffy moments… I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic…

Yeah, I know I promised I'd update this fic as soon as possible, and, as a matter of fact, I kept my promise. I know I'm already on holidays, but I've really been very busy, and I'm happy I got to finish this already (time is a very precious thing, I really wish I could make more for me…)

So, I hope you liked this chapter (which is the longest I wrote till now) and I really appreciated if you clicked that review button and left your opinion…

Thank you for your time… See ya next chapter…

kathlaida-princess logging out…