Astro.

On Route 202, the Next Morning.

I'd thought sleeping in a tree for the night would keep me out of sight of travelers, but like most of my plans, it just didn't work out.

I woke up to the feeling of being stared at, something I was rather used to. Whoever they were(there were two of them), they were amazed to see a Lucario, up sleeping in a tree, because apparently that's not a normal thing that normal Lucario do. Once in a lifetime opportunity, one of them thought.

The other one had a Pikachu. He asked it to use Thunderbolt on me. I pulled myself out of my sleep, too little too late.

"Hoe, don't do it-!"

Pikachu shocked me with a strong jolt of electricity, and the attack knocked me off of the branch I had been sleeping on. Electricity burned in my veins as I tumbled to the ground, growling and shouting my protests. I hardly felt the impact from hitting the packed dirt road, but I did end up feeling a little bruised later.

"OH MY GOD!"

Pikachu's trainer, a raven-haired guy with a sour look on his face, threw a pokeball at me, and naturally, it didn't work. Because I already have a trainer. He caught the pokeball as it bounced back at him, confused. I laid there, twitching with electric paralysis, while he pondered the possibilities of what could have possibly happened. The two of them probably wrote off my scream, thinking their minds were playing tricks or some shit.

"Huh?" He tried throwing the pokeball again, and scowled at me when I still didn't go inside. "That...that's never happened before."

"Maybe it's the pokeball..." His companion, a dirty blonde man with obvious brown roots, suggested as an attempt to help. "Try a different one, Col."

"I have a trainer, you idiots!" I could hardly move, but I sure as hell could shout. My nerves felt shot as I growled out at them. "You just tried to capture a pokemon who has a trainer! Did you not even [expletive deleted] consider that?!"

Pikachu growled at me for barking at his trainer like that. Col, his trainer, was astonished to hear me.

"Di...Did that Lucario just tell us he has a trainer?" It's tiring to have to keep in mind, few people are used to me. "Kent?"

"I think you just attacked someone else's Lucario, Col." Kent sounded a little fearful of me, and his aura read the same. "And I think...Pikachu paralyzed him..."

"If you mother[expletive deleted]s don't do something about it in ten seconds..." Paralysis washed over me again like a painful shower, further exacerbating my anger at them. "...W-we are definitely going to have a problem."

Kent and Col took my threat very seriously, and started rifling through their things for a Parlyz Heal.

{Heh, I remember that...you're rather intimidating on the first meeting, Astro.}

Natalie.

"Aaron used to be a really cool gym leader, I've been to his old gym...the girl who runs it now is pretty nice, she even kept it mostly the way he had it before! I think Aaron used to help her train, I dunno why he started doing stuff with the professor...why did you, Aaron, what's up with that?"

Aaron laughed as Michelle droned on and on about him. "By the time I turned twenty, I was just sick of the whole gym leader schtick," He explained to me and Drew. "I stayed with it as long as I did because it was good money."

It was about eleven, and we headed up the rocky path Aaron told us would bring us to Floaroma Town. I'd asked Aaron something about where he was from, and Michelle had started telling us everything she knew about him. It looked like it embarrassed him, just a little, but he never told her to stop.

Drew rolled his eyes and scoffed at Aaron's attitude about it. "Why would you give up a position as a gym leader?" He asked. "It sounds to me like that's a pretty good job when you're young."

"Not if you don't have your heart in it," Aaron countered. "Like I said, I was in it mostly for the money. I took the job when Ms. Bertha offered to me when I was your age, but when something I was more interested in came knocking, it was no problem to throw in the towel and turn in my two-week notice."

"You quit being a gym leader, just to be Professor Rowan's assistant?" I asked. "Wow. You must've really hated it."

Aaron shook his head. "No, I just...like I said, had no heart in it."

Something like that, it seemed pretty unthinkable to Drew. He shook his head as he listened to Aaron, and I could hear it in his voice that he was judging him.

"What did you specialize in?" I asked, to change the subject a little. "Grass types, I guess?"

"Ideally, I would have. But with the Eterna Forest nearby, bugs were easier to come by, and my little Leafeon was still an Eevee. But, both grass and bug type pokemon were welcome to take home in the gym while I ran it, including my precious little Paras."

"They have Paras in Sinnoh?" Drew groaned. "Those damn mushrooms on their back, the spores make my throat close up..."

"Yeesh. That's rough." Aaron readjusted the backpack on his back. "Paras are kind of a rough find in Sinnoh, but they've still been spotted every now and then in the mossy Eterna Forest."

Drew groaned wordlessy, rolling his eyes. Drew hated forests, and moss, and everything in between. It was a wonder he ever liked helping out Grampa and Tracey.

Michelle kept on chirping on about Aaron while he laughed and blushed "modestly"(he was eating the shit up, really), and me and Drew kept on bouncing back sass and questions at them, respectively. We were having a nice time on our way to Floaroma Town.

We eventually hit a small line of caves heading up north, which Aaron told us was a sign we were on the right path. As he set down his backpack to pull out the map Dee had given him, a small rumble came from inside the caves.

Aaron's arms and shoulders tensed at the sound. He looked inside the mouth of the cave.

"Kids...please step back away from here." Every word he said was careful and measured. When we were reluctant to back away, Aaron turned his head and barked, "Did I stutter?!"

"It's probably just some pokemon in the cave," I rationalized. "Really, Aaron, there's no reason to-"

"I didn't ask you to tell me what you think it probably is, I asked-!"

Another, louder rumble cut Aaron off, followed by a teenage boy's scream. Aaron immediately jumped up, slinging his backpack back over his shoulder. He hastily pulled out a pokeball, calling out, "Volbeat, use Tail Glow!"

A chubby red bug pokemon came from the pokeball, flitting in the air with tiny wings. Its big, round yellow tail lit up, and Aaron pointed towards the cave.

"Follow me in there, kids," Aaron instructed. "And be quick about it!"

"Aaron, what has you all worked up?" I demanded. "Just tell us, instead of barking orders like that!"

He threw his head over his shoulder as he dashed into the cave, shouting, "I know that shout belonged to Barry! Him and Max are probably in some trouble!"

At the sound of her brother's name, Michelle followed Aaron without a complaint. Lenny jumped down from my arms and ran along side me and Drew as we did our best to keep up.