When Lyra came out of the arena, she was laughing and smiling. Jay jay, Ta'jean, and James were all behind her, all of them had a smile on their faces too. Aaron and Togi ran towards Jay jay.

"You won!" Togi jumped onto Jay jay. "You won you won you won!"

Aaron chuckled and removed Togi. "She has been like this the whole time you were away."

"Well, at least she is enthusiastic." Jay jay patted Togi's head. Togi laughed.

I patted Ta'jean on the shoulder. "Good job."

"I screwed up quite a bit, though..." Ta'jean scratched the back of his neck.

"But you still won," Aaron said. He came over to us. "And that is all that matters."

"I guess..." Ta'jean looked disappointed.

Lyra was busy talking to a receptionist. James was by her side. He had an arm around her shoulders while she had one around his waist. The two were finally close again. It seemed that Lyra was right. All he needed was to blow off a little bit of steam.

Lyra pointed to something on a shelf behind the receptionist. The receptionist turned around and plucked a small, red stone from the shelf. She then handed it to Lyra. Lyra gave her a card. The receptionist swiped it, then handed it back to Lyra, smiling.

"Come on!" I patted Ta'jean on the back. "Don't be so down!"

Ta'jean looked at me out of the corner of his eye, a little smile on his face.

"Okay team!" Lyra came over to us, as enthusiastic as ever. "It is still pretty early in the day. So were are going to go through the National Park, up Route 37, then rest at Ecruteak City, where the next gym is. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded. Togi let out a happy cheer.

Lyra nodded. "Then lets do this!"

The National Park was right next to the Dome. It was a large patch of long grass in the shape of a pokeball, with a fountain in the middle. A few trainers were waiting eagerly there, and we gave them more of a battle than they expected. In no time at all, we were already on Route 37.

We were walking under the trees on Route 37, trying to avoid the intense glare of the sun, when it finally hit me. This Route was the one my pack lived in. It was on this Route that I was hatched and raised. It was from this Route that I fled, and was caught by Lyra.

I stopped behind the rest of the team. James and Lyra, walking hand in hand. Jay jay and Aaron on either side of Togi. Ta'jean, who was walking next to me, now turned around and was looking at me, confused. "What is it?" He asked.

All the sounds, all the smells, it was all too familiar. I felt like I was going to faint. Then I heard a familiar, calming voice come from deep in the trees.

"Lector...?"

That name...it had been so long since I heard it.

I turned to my left, completely ignoring the whole team now. Deep in the forest, peeking out from behind a tree, was a face I knew all too well. She was a growlithe, like me. She was much smaller though, nearly half my height. She had the same orange pelt, with the same black stripes going across her back. Her tail was shorter than mine, barely falling to the center of her legs. Her hair was short and choppy, with those round, orange ears poking out. Her torso was the same pale yellow as her hair and tail.

"...Nina?" It came out as a question, even though it wasn't one. I knew very well who the young growlithe was.

"Brother, is that you?" Nina came forward. She threw a wary glance in the direction of my team. Ta'jean was the only one who noticed her. He kept his distance. The others didn't seem to notice yet, but when they did, it wouldn't be pretty.

"You finally came back!" Nina ran forward and jumped into my arms. I laughed and spun her around before putting her down. It was a habit, something we always did after we had been separated for too long. "Mother and Father have been so worried!" Nina paused for a second. "Actually the whole pack has been worried!"

Nina grabbed my hand and brought it to her cheek. "We are sorry for every thing that happened." She spoke in a quiet voice. "Oh Lector, where have you been?"

I felt a pang of guilt in my chest. I gently removed my hand. "Listen Nina..." I was unable to continue.

"Wha...?" Nina looked over to the team, who had now all taken notice of the commotion. They were all looking, waiting to see what would happen. "You didn't..."

"Kenji? Is everything okay?" Lyra asked.

"Kenji?! Kenji?!" Nina had a look of disbelief on her face. She took a step back from me. "Lector...you have been Named! You have been Caught! You...you're a trainer's weapon now!" She pointed a shaky finger at me as she continued to walk back. She backed into a tree. She kept her back pinned up against it, almost too afraid to move.

"Nina, that's not it..." I came walking towards her with my hands held out in front of me. "That's not it at all."

"Stay back!" Nina yelled. A shower of fireballs came out of her mouth and landed on my fur, where they slowly died off. She knew fire wouldn't harm me... So that must have been a warning shot. "Stay back or I will hurt you..." She was growling at me now.

"Sister, plea-"

"James! Bite!" Lyra didn't know what was going on at all. It wasn't like she could understand our conversation. All she saw was Nina trying to attack me. So she was going to defend me. But I couldn't let James attack. He would kill Nina. She was so weak, and he was so strong.

James was running forward. I held an arm out. James ran straight into it. He looked down at me. A look of concern, maybe. But there was also the usual anger in there. "What the hell, Kenji?!" He must have not heard any of the conversation either.

I looked over at Nina, who seemed traumatized. "Run! Run back to the pack! Tell them I will never return! Tell them I died!" Yes, in the eyes of my pack, death would be much more honorary than becoming a 'weapon' for a trainer.

Nina stayed. Just staring at me. "I said to run, you idiot!" I was yelling now.

Nina seemed to be awoken by this and she immediately took off. She ran through the trees and was gone in the blink of an eye.

"Someone seems to be having family problems." James smirked.

"Shove it!" I growled. I was not in the mood to deal with him.