Happy Halloween, everyone! It's been a while but I'm back again with a new chapter in my fanfic. Enjoy!
Pokémon Journeys: Aaron's New Experience
Chapter 25: Breakout
Aaron had broken free from his imprisonment and left Simmons and Richards on the floor. As he opened the door leading outside to join the fight, a group of Team Rocket members armed with AK-47's stepped into the room to take aim at the superpowered college student. "Alright kid," one of the grunts said "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Aaron just grinned and said "Alright, I choose…" the trainer paused and used his powers to grab the assault rifles out of their hands and threw them out the window "The easy way."
The former prisoner began building up a ring of fireballs around him. The Team Rocket grunts were standing motionless too afraid to do anything. "What the fuck is going on!?" One of the thugs exclaimed.
"I summon the power!" Aaron shouted.
-Meanwhile-
Ryu was tied to a chair while a male and female member of Team Rocket were fiddling around with a mind control collar. Lopunny was standing by the door observing everything happening. "Why the Hell are these things not working?" The male grunt said frustrated.
"Give it here," The female thug demanded as she swiped the collar "Just do this and…huh?"
The two Team Rocket grunts heard the sound of rubble from outside, one of the grunts opened the door and saw a chaotic scene occurring as the warehouse was on fire. "HOLY SHIT!" The man exclaimed as he ran outside.
"Dan! Get back here!" The female grunt said before she was being lifted in the air mysteriously. She looked down and noticed this. "AH! What's going on!?" She exclaimed.
Ryu used his Psychic powers to send the female Rocket member flying toward the wall, knocking her out in the process and knocking out a knife which Ryu used to quickly cut the ropes with his powers as Lopunny began charging at him.
The Lucario got out of the chair and was just barely hit by Lopunny's Ice Punch. He stepped to the side to face his former friend and saw the spot where the brown and pink rabbit's punch landed. Ryu shrugged it off and said "Lopunny, it's me! Lucario! Don't you remember!?"
Lopunny seem unfazed as she charged at Ryu once again as the jackal prepared to defend himself.
-Umm…What other words are there for "meanwhile"?-
Layla was riding on top of Ken who was spitting out flames across the warehouse. Team Rocket members were in a panic and attempting to escape the raging Charizard. During this panic, the police were storming the front and apprehending members that happened to cross their path. After causing enough of a distraction, they landed on the second floor of the building.
Layla got off of Ken's back. She looked to the Charizard and said "Okay, since the police are taking care of Team Rocket, we can find Aaron!"
Suddenly, they saw a group of Team Rocket members run out of one of the rooms with a few large fireballs chasing after them as they split up. "Run! RUN!" Aaron shouted and then laughed menacingly as he exited the room. He used his powers to control the Stalking Flares still chasing the Team Rocket members and made the fireballs disappear. The trainer paused his laughter and realized something. 'Wait a minute, how did I do that?' He asked himself in his head.
"Aaron!" Layla shouted to bring her boyfriend back to reality as she hugged him in her arms.
Aaron shook out of his thoughts and returned Layla's hug "Hey Layla, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but what about you?" She asked with concern.
"Don't worry," the trainer replied with a smile "I'm okay, Layla." The trainer noticed Ken standing over to the side "Hey Ken, how are you doing?"
[I'm doing fine,] The dragon stated [I had fun causing a distraction with Layla.]
Layla smiled but then she pulled the Pendant of Arceus out of Aaron's backpack which she had with her. The Zoroark placed the mystical object around her trainer's neck and said "Try to hang onto it this time."
Just then, Aaron and his Pokémon heard a strange noise. They looked behind themselves and saw Selena standing next to Seth. "Selena? Seth?" Aaron said surprised and then asked "What are you two doing here?" The trainer then looked to his Zoroark who shrugged indicating she had no idea why they were here.
"I heard your conversation with Layla and Ryu earlier that you needed help," Selena explained "Did you forget that our minds are linked together?" The Chosen of Arceus glared at the Chosen of Cresselia. Selena then asked "What?"
Aaron sighed and said "Whatever, we'll talk about this later. We still have to find Ryu…" The trainer looked to his side with Layla and Ken, as well as Selena and Seth following suit. They saw Ryu and Lopunny fighting. "Huh…Speak of the devil," Aaron said.
Layla then exclaimed "We have to help him!"
Aaron threw his arm out in front of Layla. He looked to the vixen and said "No Layla, you go with Ken, Selena and Seth to help the police. I'll handle this myself."
The Zoroark nodded and looked to the Charizard, brunette and Gallade as they headed down to the lower level of the warehouse.
The fight between the Lucario and Lopunny was not looking good for Ryu. The jackal was simply trying to dodge Lopunny's attacks without trying to counter her. Eventually, Lopunny threw a Dizzy Punch right into Ryu's face, knocking him to a wall in the process. The steel fighter was going through too much at that point; the pain of getting beaten not just by anyone, not just his best friend, but the love of his life. The Lucario looked up and saw Lopunny preparing to strike with an Ice Punch. Ryu teared up and closed his eyes 'Goodbye, Lopunny…I'll always love you…'
Just as Lopunny was about to strike, Aaron threw a protective shield, stopping Lopunny from striking Ryu. "Hey!" The trainer said which caused both Lopunny and Ryu to turn their attention to him "If you're going to fight anyone, you might as well fight me."
The Lopunny stood motionless as she looked at Aaron. After a few seconds, the pink and brown rabbit walked slowly towards the trainer. She was not charging any more attacks which caused Aaron to be confused. Lopunny stopped in front of Aaron and was looking at the Pendant of Arceus; Aaron looked down with her and noticed it was shining brightly in front of her. The Chosen of Arceus looked to the rabbit who looked back at him. 'She's…connected to me?' Aaron thought.
Aaron watched as Lopunny slowly reached her paw out to touch the Pendant of Arceus. Just as she touched it, the artifact shined brightly causing Lopunny to scream as the necklace changed from a sapphire to a pink spinel color. A collection of memories were racing through her mind in an instant.
She remembered waking up in her den as a Lopunny. She remembered meeting a Lucario and many different Pokémon who helped her move into her home. Lopunny also had the memory of Team Rocket barging into her home, kidnapping her, and placing her under their control after holding her captive for over a month. Aside from these memories, the ones that she remembered well were the times she was around Lucario and their moments alone together and how much she cared about him.
Lopunny placed her paws on her temples; she was breathing erratically and building up energy within herself until she screamed one last time as she unleashed a huge storm of electricity that put a hole through the roof of the building. The attack was so powerful, that it shorted out the collar around her and broke it into pieces.
As the pieces fell to the floor, the lightning subsided and Lopunny calmed herself and she fell to the floor. Ryu witnessed this and exclaimed "Lopunny!" as he ran as fast as he could.
The Lucario knelt down and helped the Lopunny up. Her eyes were closed but she was still breathing. "Are you okay?" Ryu asked.
Lopunny's eyes slowly opened and closed a few times until she opened her eyes once more and said "Lu…Lucario?"
The rabbit looked to her side and gasped as she saw her best friend looking at her with concern in his crimson eyes. She immediately wrapped her arms around Ryu and held him tight. Fortunately, Ryu retracted his spikes at the last second. "Lucario!" Lopunny exclaimed in joy as she snuggled into his shoulder "I'm so glad you're safe!"
Ryu smiled and snuggled into Lopunny's shoulder in return and said "I'm glad you're safe too, Lopunny."
"I remember being under some strange human's control and hurting you. I'm so sorry," Lopunny said as she began sobbing.
"It's okay, Lopunny. You're safe now," The fighting-steel type replied. Aaron, who was off to the side, smiled to himself as he saw the reunion between Ryu and Lopunny.
Ryu and Lopunny pulled away slightly from their hug to stand up and look to each other. Lopunny sniffled, then smiled and said "I can't believe you've rescued me again, Lucario."
Ryu chuckled "My name is Ryu now, Lopunny."
"Ryu?" The rabbit questioned.
The jackal nodded "My trainer, Aaron, gave it to me. I can't take all the credit for rescuing you since he helped me find you as well."
Lopunny looked to the side and saw a human male waving and saying "Hey how's it going?"
The shiny normal type scanned the human with her eyes and noticed he had the Pendant of Arceus. Lopunny then realized "Wait! Is he the one that's connected to you?"
Ryu nodded "He is and he's helped me so much after I was abandoned by Richards."
"Richards…" Lopunny said to herself. The rabbit then said "He's the one who kidnapped me, isn't he?"
The blue-spiked Lucario nodded. Aaron interrupted the conversation "Okay Lopunny, I'm glad you and Ryu are reunited and all but we kind of have a situation downstairs."
"What's going on?" Ryu asked.
"Team Rocket is putting up quite the fight with their Pokémon from what Layla told me telepathically. We have to get down there and help out the police…Wait do you feel something?" The trainer questioned as he felt something he had felt many times before. He felt a huge power awaken inside him and it flowed to his hands causing a field of electricity to surround his entire hand which then disappeared.
"What was that!?" Lopunny said surprised.
"Lopunny, he's the holder of the Pendant of Arceus," Ryu explained "He has the power to learn the abilities that Pokémon connected to him know."
"So does that mean I'm connected to him too?" She asked.
Ryu nodded to confirm this "We can explain this more later but we have to help the police!"
"Wait!" Lopunny said grabbing Ryu's paw "I need to heal you Lucario…I mean Ryu."
Lopunny used her Heal Bell ability and used her soothing hands to reinvigorate the Lucario and heal his wounds. "Do you feel better?" She asked.
"Yes, thanks Lopunny. Now let's go help the police!" Ryu exclaimed.
"Stop right there!" a voice was heard. Aaron, Ryu and Lopunny turned and saw Hugh Richards step outside the interrogation room that Aaron left him in. "Alright Aaron," The conniving executive began "You may have gotten yourself free, you may have caused a ruckus with the police and gotten your dog's rabbit friend free but you are going to lose this war because Richards always gets what he wants and I want you to join Team Rocket!"
"Well," Aaron stated "I have just one thing to say to that Richards."
"What's that?" The Rocket Executive asked.
"Win Blast!" The Chosen of Arceus shouted as he shot a bolt of lightning from his hand which landed right in Richards's torso knocking him down onto the floor allowing Aaron, Ryu and Lopunny to escape downstairs.
Richards raised himself up and was enraged. The executive growled and said to himself "That punk is going to be in for the battle of his life when I get down there!"
Aaron, Ryu, and Lopunny reached the bottom of the stairwell. They stopped at the door that accessed the first floor of the warehouse. Aaron placed his hand on the door and looked to his Lucario and his friend. "You guys ready for a fight?"
Ryu nodded with confidence "I'm ready."
Lopunny stayed silent for a moment, she seemed nervous a little but she looked to Ryu and nodded. "Let's go," She said.
Aaron opened the door and saw the scene of a dozen cops fighting off a number of Team Rocket members with their Pokémon. The struggles were even and Aaron saw Layla and Ken having trouble with about six members attacking the Zoroark and Charizard with a barrage of attacks while Selena and Seth were occupied with helping the police.
Aaron used his Psychic abilities to fly towards Layla's direction. He was now floating above the group of Team Rocket members and shot a barrage of fireballs at a Team Rocket member and his Mightyena and a few bolts of lightning at another member along with his Murkrow. Ken fought off a member of Team Rocket and his Gloom and Crawdaunt.
Lopunny came to Ken's aid by using Thunderbolt on the Crawdaunt and landing an Ice Punch on Gloom freezing them in place. The Charizard was in awe at the speed of the rabbit. The shiny Lopunny looked to the Charizard who smiled and said [Thank you, miss.]
"You're welcome!" Lopunny replied cheerfully.
Meanwhile, Ryu came into the fray landing a Bullet Punch in the stomach of a Team Rocket member and using Psychic to send a Weezing to the other side of the warehouse. The Lucario was about to be struck in the back by a Team Rocket member's lead pipe backed up by his Croagunk but Layla assisted Ryu by sweeping the grunts legs and then shot a Dark Pulse at the poison-fighting type, knocking him unconscious even with the type disadvantage. Ryu looked behind him and saw the knocked out Team Rocket grunt and frog fighter. He looked to Layla with a nod and smiled.
Lopunny noticed the assistance that Layla had given Ryu. She was briefly stunned at this considering her previous experience with Zoroarks and how much she cared for Ryu but she decided to shrug it off for now.
Aaron and his Pokémon regrouped as they looked and saw Richards had arrived at the bottom of the stairwell. "AARON!" The Rocket Executive roared "I'm through with all of this! Drago! Get out now and end this!"
The evil former businessman pulled a Poké Ball from his belt and let out a Salamence who roared loudly. The businessman got on the dragon's back and flew towards Aaron to confront him. The blue dragon began charging a large amount of energy.
Aaron knew that this attack was a Hyper Beam. "Take cover!" He shouted to his Pokémon.
Aaron along with Layla and Ken, managed to find cover behind a large piece of machinery while Lopunny and Ryu did the same next to a stack of Poké Ball crates as the Hyper Beam attack created a large crater in the middle of the warehouse. The police, along with Selena and Seth, escaped the warehouse with many Team Rocket members and their Pokémon apprehended. Aaron saw the crater in the middle of the warehouse and thought 'Yep, he's an executive alright.'
Aaron looked to Layla and Ken and asked "Are you two okay?"
Ken nodded [I'm fine, Aaron.]
"Me too," Layla confirmed "Let's get out there and finish him; it's five against two!"
"No Layla," The trainer denied "I'm going to finish this; I'm not letting you get into danger."
The Zoroark glared at her trainer and said "Fine, but I'm going to help you when you get into trouble whether you like it or not."
"Wouldn't have it any other way," Aaron said with a smile. The trainer stepped out of cover and confronted Hugh in the fashion of a Wild West showdown with Drago next to the executive. "Alright, Richards, the jig is up. All your little weaklings got caught by the police and it's down you and me. Let's settle this like men."
The executive chuckled "You're dumber than I thought!" Richards then pulled out a handgun and shot Aaron right in the chest. The trainer fell down on his back.
Layla and Ken along with Ryu and Lopunny were all in shock. "AARON!" Layla screamed.
The businessman approached what he assumed was Aaron's cold and lifeless body. Something was off though. There wasn't a drop of blood in this spot where he shot Aaron in the chest. He was about to ready his gun but Aaron raised himself up and kicked the gun out of Richards's hands. The trainer then kipped himself back up to look at Richards. The Rocket executive tried to punch Aaron's chest but it hurt his hand like punching a concrete wall. Hugh hissed in pain and held his hand. Turns out the trainer had Psychic energy coated around him as a protective barrier. Aaron proceeded to punch and kick Richards until he was knocked into a box that was broken by Richards's bodyweight.
Aaron then turned his attention to Richards's Salamence, Drago, who was now enraged. The blue dragon then said in English "You pathetic whelp! I'm going to enjoy tearing into your carcass once I end you!"
The dragon charged another attack; Aaron reacted quickly using his Psychic powers to levitate himself at the last second as the Salamence used a Dragonbreath attack which pierced through the wall of the warehouse. Aaron landed on the ground to attack Drago. He was about to prepare a lightning attack but he went into an unconscious state as had a vision of something from Ultimate Marvel 3. He remembered, Storm, the character from X-Men who had control over the weather and he used one of his favorite supers in the game as he pointed to the dragon and shouted "Freeze! Ice Storm!"
Then a large hail of ice fell onto Drago. The dragon was being pelted by chunks of ice that were the size of enlarged Poké Balls. Soon the storm subsided and the dragon stood there shivering and weakened by the attack until he promptly fell to the ground.
Aaron snapped out of his unconscious state and saw that Richards and his Salamence were down for the count. Layla ran to Aaron and hugged him tightly "Aaron! You're okay!"
"That's right, Layla," Aaron said as he returned the hug "I am okay."
Lopunny witnessed the embrace that Aaron shared with the Zoroark. 'Wow, they must be really close,' The pink and brown rabbit thought with a smile.
The trainer and Zoroark pulled away slowly from the hug. He remembered what happened with Richards and Drago and then said "Since that's out of the way, how did I even use an attack like that? None of my Pokémon even know that move."
"Well, Aaron," Ryu began "Remember how I told you that you can use the powers in any manner you are familiar with?"
"Yeah…" Aaron confirmed.
"Well," Ryu continued "That's how. If you see or have seen any way of how to manipulate the powers then you can do it."
"Wait, so if I see it or have seen it, I can do it?" Aaron asked "Who am I? Tony Masters?"
"Who's Tony Masters?" Lopunny asked confusedly.
"I'll tell you later," Ryu whispered.
The trainer had so many things going through his mind and he asked his Lucario "Okay, I have to know, Ryu, is there any serious drawback to me using these powers? There has to be something! Can I have a wide variety of moves but not be a master any of them? Does it drain my energy? Do I have to absorb the souls of my defeated adversaries or anything like that? Because you don't get superpowers unless there are repercussions to them!"
"I don't know, Aaron. Except I think that the soul absorption part is not true," His Lucario shrugged his shoulders "I told you that I have knowledge of what it does, not what its drawbacks are."
Aaron sighed "I guess I'll have to find out sooner or later."
"Yoohoo!" A familiar sinister voice was heard. Aaron and his Pokémon turned and saw that Richards had gotten back up from his daze "Are you done talking to each other?"
"Richards!" Aaron shouted as he confronted the executive once again "Why don't you just give up?"
Just then, more members of Team Rocket surrounded Aaron while his Pokémon were confronted with the Pokémon owned by those members. The Rocket Executive then said "Because, Aaron, I always get what I want and you are joining Team Rocket and your Pokémon are going to a taxidermist!"
The trainer looked around him and saw the members of Team Rocket surrounding himself prepared to attack him. "Aww man, what do I do?"
"Aaron!" Lopunny shouted "I don't really know how it works but use your electric powers…if you have them anyway!"
The words "electric powers" echoed in Aaron's mind. Once again, he went into that unconscious state and remembered another attack, one that would allow him to use electricity against his surrounding foes. He went into a pose with his arms crossed and his fingers pointing away from his body in all directions. As the Team Rocket grunts got closer to Aaron the trainer shouted "THE FINGER LASEEERRRRS!" as a series of electrical blasts shot out of his fingertips and hit all the Team Rocket members around him. The grunts then fell unconscious as a result of the electrocution.
The trainer noticed Richards attempting to run away but the trainer rushed the Rocket Executive with his Psychic powers to aid in increasing his speed and then used an Ice Punch to freeze Richards in place.
The trainer turned and saw that Layla, Ryu, Ken and Lopunny defeated the Pokémon controlled by Team Rocket and smiled as he walked to his team. "Great work guys! That means you too Lopunny!" He said with triumph.
His Pokémon pointed behind Aaron. The trainer looked and saw the police led by Frank Holden along with Selena and Seth came into the warehouse. "Aaron," Frank said "Are you and your Pokémon okay?"
"I'm fine, Frank," Aaron confirmed and then turned to his Pokemon "Are you guys and gals hurt at all?" The group shook their heads. "Yeah I guess we're all fine," Aaron stated.
"Glad to see you and Ryu made it out in once piece!" Holden stated "You shouldn't worry about Richards; he didn't quite get out of our watch after he paid his bail. He's going to prison for a long time."
"Thank goodness," Aaron stated.
"Now let's get you and your Pokémon out of here," Frank said.
-A Few Minutes Later-
Richards was in the police car, he was recently thawed out and he was shivering cold with many blankets wrapped around him. "I'll g-g-get you! A-a-aron! Someday-ay-ay-ay!" The businessman shouted as the police car drove off to the police station.
Aaron and his Pokémon explained everything that happened to Frank, Selena and Seth. They told how Aaron and Ryu were captured and that Lopunny was kidnapped long ago around the same time that Ryu was kidnapped until Richards released him.
"What a story," Frank stated "Well, since Team Rocket's been dealt with I think I'll let you handle the Lopunny, Aaron. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do at the station."
"Alright thanks again, Frank!" Aaron said the officer.
"Anytime," Holden replied as he walked back to his police car.
Aaron and his Pokémon turned to Selena. Aaron then said aloud "Okay Selena we need to talk. As much as I appreciate you coming to help us out, you have to stop reading my mind without my consent. You could have at least announced yourself."
"What's wrong with me listening to your telepathic conversations with your Pokémon?" The Chosen of Cresselia asked.
'Because if you don't,' Aaron replied telepathically 'You might hear something similar to what I heard between you and Seth while I was unconscious.'
'Wait, what are you talking about?' Selena questioned.
'Well,' Aaron explained 'If I'm not mistaken, while I was drifting in and out of consciousness, I overheard you and Seth…Getting intimate.'
Selena was now shocked and blushed as she sighed "Okay, I'm sorry Aaron. I'll let you know if I listen in on your conversations."
"It's okay, Selena," Aaron replied "Just don't let it happen again. I'll try my best to do the same. Probably next to impossible when I get knocked out though."
'What do you mean they were getting intimate, Aaron!' Layla shouted in her mind.
'I'll explain later, Layla,' Aaron replied 'I didn't particularly enjoy hearing it, just so you know.'
"How did they even resolve that?" Lopunny asked Ryu not knowing about their telepathy.
The Lucario replied "That's something I'll tell you about later."
Seth then spoke for Selena "I'm glad that you're safe, Aaron Masters. The same for you, Ryu." Ryu nodded.
"Well," Selena continued "We're going to head back home, see you later everyone!"
"Bye!" Aaron and his Pokmeon replied as they bid the brunette and Gallade farewell. The front of the warehouse was now empty aside from Aaron, Layla, Ryu, Ken, and Lopunny.
"Mister…Aaron?" Lopunny said.
"Huh?" Aaron turned to look to the rabbit.
"You helped me and you've taken really good care of Ryu. I can tell that," Lopunny said "Since he's connected to you and I'm connected to you…I want to join you and your team."
"Wait, you want to join me?" Aaron asked.
The rabbit nodded shyly "Ryu trusts you; anyone who is trusted by Ryu is someone I know I can trust. I know you're strong and I'll help however I can."
"Lopunny," Aaron stated "I appreciate your offer but I just can't afford to do that. Even with my job starting Friday, I can't afford to feed you or anything like that."
"Oh no," Lopunny insisted "I won't be that much trouble. I don't eat that much. Also, I mostly eat fruits and vegetables if it helps make things easier."
"I don't know…" Aaron looked off to the side still thinking.
"Please Aaron," Lopunny said grabbing Aaron's hand with her paw "I want to do anything I can to help you and Ryu. Please let me join you."
Layla held back a low growl of jealousy as Aaron looked to the rabbit and read her aura. She definitely meant well and was being honest. The trainer smiled "Okay, you can stay with us," Aaron stated "But I need to give you a name."
"Oh, like you did with Ryu?" Lopunny asked. Aaron nodded. "Well…okay, what will my name be?"
"Umm…" Aaron thought for a while. The trainer hummed a little until he said "How about…Lily?"
"Lily?" The rabbit said aloud. The Lopunny gave it some thought and smiled "Sounds good to me!"
"Alright Lily," Aaron began to say as he pulled out a Poké Ball, "Now, I need you to get in this Poké Ball."
"Wait, you're putting me in that thing?" Lily asked a little terrified "How does that work?"
Aaron then explained "It's a Poké Ball; it's what allows humans to capture Pokémon in order to train them and transport them in a safe manner. You don't have to stay in it all the time but if there's a situation that I need you in it, I'll have you go inside it."
"It won't hurt me will it?" The Lopunny asked.
Layla, Ryu, and Ken shook their heads. Ryu answered for the group "No, you don't have anything to worry about Lopu-err, I mean Lily."
Lily was confused but she trusted Ryu and allowed Aaron to use the Poké Ball to capture her. After putting Ryu back in his Poké Ball, Aaron and Layla got on Ken's back to go back home.
As they were flying, Aaron had a thought 'OH SHIT! I forgot about the paperwork for my job!'
'Don't worry Aaron,' Layla spoke telepathically 'I had your dad took care of it while you were with Ryu.'
Aaron calmed down and sighed. 'Thanks Layla,' Aaron said in his mind.
'You're welcome' Layla replied cheerfully.
After minutes of flying, Aaron, Layla and Ken arrived back home. Aaron and Layla watched Ken fly off to the mountains. Aaron then yelled "Ken, if the weather looks like it will rain again, come back and we'll let you stay here."
[Will do, Aaron,] Ken roared back.
Aaron let Lily and Ryu out of their Poké Balls so that he could give Lily a tour of his house as he did with Ryu once before. She was already familiar with a few things around his house but not that familiar with some technology that was in his home due to the majority of things being absent in her previous home. She was introduced to Aaron's parents and his brother, Drew, along with Walter and she was treated as nicely as they treated all the Pokémon in their home. With Aaron's family welcoming her with open arms and being reunited with Ryu, Lily was happy to be living in a home and looked forward to spending time with her trainer and his Pokémon.
-Later that night-
Aaron and Layla were nearing the end of their run of Donkey Kong Country with Lily and Ryu watching. Finally they reached the final boss, King K. Rool. They had to avoid getting hit as the king of Kremlings jumped across the stage and dropped cannonballs on them. They had to go through many lives just to get to this point and they had died about twenty times just on the final boss alone.
"Layla, be careful. We've died a lot at this point" Aaron said to his Zoroark who was in control of Diddy Kong.
"I got it," Layla replied. After avoiding the short hops, the vixen tried to time the jump to avoid King K. Rool's crown throw but she jumped to late and she got hit. "Dangit!" She shouted.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of this," Aaron stated. He took control of Donkey Kong after Layla got hit and jumped on the King's head. After avoiding King K. Rool's hops, Aaron jumped over the crown toss and stomped on the Kremling King's head one final time knocking him down and ending the boss fight. As a giant banana dropped from the sky and onto the ship, the duo heard that triumphant fanfare as Aaron shouted "YEAH! We did it!"
"We beat Donkey Kong Country!" Layla exclaimed excitedly as she hugged her trainer who returned the hug.
Aaron felt a sense of satisfaction with completing one of his favorite childhood games; the fact that he did it with the help of Layla felt even better to him.
Lily was a little confused about what happened since she's never seen a video game before but was happy that Aaron and Layla were happy. Ryu was also glad to see the bond that Aaron and Layla shared and their happiness with beating the game.
"Man, that was so much fun," Aaron stated. He then looked to Ryu and Lily who were being quiet "Do you guys want to play something with us?"
Ryu shook his head "No, it would be kind of difficult since I don't have fingers."
"Oh don't give me that excuse," The trainer called the Lucario out "You have Psychic powers; you could easily use a controller with them."
Ryu grunted "Maybe some other time, I'm going to go downstairs and train some more outside."
Aaron shrugged and said "Suit yourself."
"I'll go down with him," Layla stated "I need to work on my attacks as well."
"Okay," Aaron replied as both the Lucario and Zoroark went downstairs.
Lily sighed thinking that they were going to do more than just training together. Aaron looked to Lily and asked "Do you want to play something?"
The rabbit looked to her trainer and said, "Sure, if it's alright."
Aaron smiled "You're more than welcome to play game with us, Lily."
Lily smiled and grabbed the Virtual Console controller, Aaron placed his hand on top of her paw and said "Hold up, we're going to play something else. It's a fighting game and I can teach you things easily."
Lily was a little concerned about playing a fighting game but she went with it and said "Okay."
Aaron turned off the Wii after Donkey Kong Country finished the credit sequence and went to the title screen. He then booted up the Xbox 360 and started up a game of Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. Aaron introduced Lily to the Xbox controller. She was able to hold it with ease as Layla was able to with her claws. Aaron showed her all the characters for her to go in training mode with and she wound up choosing Felicia, Amaterasu, and Rocket Raccoon.
Aaron saw this and said "Okay, that's a pretty good team. Not the best but it will work."
"Well, who do you use in this game?" Lily asked.
"Well," Aaron began "I'm not that good at the game but I know how to use Doctor Doom and Strider pretty well. Mostly because they have really good team synergy. I usually use those two with Wesker and sometimes Nova." Aaron finished stating this and Lily was a little sad. He then stated "That's not to say that your team doesn't have synergy. Your team actually has really good synergy. If it works then we'll stick with it. For now, let's just go over the basics of the game."
Aaron and Lily went into training mode with Lily's Felicia/Ammy/Rocket Raccoon team against Aaron's Wesker/Doom/Strider team. Aaron was mostly going over the game's basics and showed Lily a combo or two with each character. Lily tried many times over the next hour and eventually she got every character's basic combos down.
"This game's a little weird but I like it," The rabbit stated.
"Yeah," Aaron agreed "You just need some time with it, I've spent hours on it and I'm still learning stuff that people learned months ago."
Lily was curious about how Aaron played "Well, what can you do with your characters?"
Aaron smiled and replied "Plenty."
Aaron connected his controller and showed Lily the many things that Aaron could do with his team. He showed her everything he knew from basic combos to their great team synergy using Doom's Plasma Beam and Strider's Vajra assists. Lily was able to understand a little but she still didn't quite understand the game.
Eventually Aaron and Lily stopped playing the game. The trainer turned the TV and Xbox off and he sat down on the couch to check some stuff on his iPod Touch. Lily and Aaron sat silently until the rabbit spoke "Aaron…"
The trainer turned to his Pokémon. "What is it, Lily?" He asked.
"I know that I've been quiet about this," She continued as she placed her paw on top of Aaron's hand "But I appreciate everything you've done for me and Ryu."
"Oh," Aaron replied "It's not a problem. I mean, Ryu's helped me and Layla since we met him so I felt I owed it to him to help him find you."
Lily then asked "How long have you had Layla and Ryu with you?"
The trainer then answered "Well, Layla I met when she was just a Zorua a few months ago and I met Ryu exactly a week ago."
She then sighed "They seem like a really good couple after only being together for such a short time."
Aaron was confused by what she said but he realized what she was talking about. He then said "I wouldn't be too sure about that…Well, mostly because Layla's with me."
Lily's ears perked a little as she asked "What?"
Aaron turned to the rabbit and said "Oh…Wow, I guess we never brought it up. Umm…Layla and I are in love."
Lily's eyes opened wide. "You're kidding," she replied.
"No," Aaron said truthfully looking to Lopunny's red eyes.
"You and Layla are together?" The shiny Lopunny asked
"Yeah, me and Layla are together," Aaron confirmed "I know that you think it's weird for a human and Pokémon to be in love but she's helped me through a lot and I've helped her too. The fact that she's so sweet and fun-loving just made me feel great to be around her and I wanted to be more than just her friend and she felt the same. Layla and I plan on raising a family but I don't want to get into that until a few years from now after I get a career started."
"So does that mean Ryu doesn't have a mate?" Lily asked hopefully.
"I'm pretty sure he doesn't have one," Aaron stated "I haven't seen him with anyone else. Plus being kidnapped for a month and only been back in the world outside of a guy's basement for a week really hurts someone's chances of finding someone else at this point."
"So Ryu, might still care about me?" Lily questioned. Aaron grew a wide closed-mouth smile and just stayed quiet as he got up to go downstairs for a snack. "You're not going to answer me?" The rabbit asked.
"I'll let you find out for yourself," Aaron stated as he walked downstairs leaving Lopunny alone to her thoughts.
'He's alone?' She thought 'Even after all this time…Oh, Ryu…'
-Much Later-
Aaron and Layla were laying in bed together with the human clothed in only his boxers and the vixen cuddling close to his chest. The Zoroark was brushing her head against Aaron's chest as he was scratching the back of her ears. They enjoyed their time alone together until Layla climbed on top of Aaron and looked to him with a smile. "Aaron," She said "I was so worried about you today. I thought that I was going to lose you."
Aaron placed a hand on her cheek "I was worried about losing you too, Layla. But everything turned out okay in the end, right? Richards is going to jail, Lily is safe, and we now have the next two days to ourselves."
"Yeah, it was a good ending," Layla smiled wider and licked her boyfriend's cheek and continued "It was really sweet and brave of you to help Ryu. I just don't want Lily touching you too often."
"Aww," Aaron replied and then sang "Somebody's jealous."
"I'm not jealous," The Zoroark denied "I just wished she asked before holding your hand."
"Well, she didn't know," Aaron defended the Lopunny "She thought you and Ryu were together at the time…Honestly, I could see you and Ryu together…At least from a species perspective. I mean you are both canines…"
Layla placed her paw over Aaron's mouth causing his next words to be muffled until he stopped talking "Are you going to talk about my pseudo-relationship with Ryu or do you want me to show you that you're my boyfriend?"
The trainer pulled her paw off of his mouth. "Well, if I had to choose…" Aaron said before he pulled Layla in for a long passionate kiss. Aaron and Layla's tongues danced for what seemed like ages as they shared their intimate moment in bed together. They ended their makeout session after a few minutes and stared into each other's eyes.
"I love you, Aaron Masters," Layla said silently with a smile.
"I love you too, Layla the Zoroark," Aaron whispered "And I always will."
Layla giggled a little as she rested her warm, dark grey-furred body on top of Aaron's and cuddled close to his chest. The couple held each other close and caressed each other lightly until they fell into a deep sleep.
-Meanwhile-
Ryu was tossing and turning, finding it difficult to fall asleep on the couch. He tried relaxing his eyes for a little while. He felt like he was getting more comfortable and ready to fall asleep until he heard a voice "Ryu?"
"Hmm?" Ryu grunted as he opened his eyes. He looked to his side in the dimly lit game room to see Lily kneeling next to the couch. "What is it, Lily?"
"I…" Lily began shyly "I can't fall asleep…I was wondering…If I could…Join you? On your couch?"
Ryu thought Lily was acting so sweet. He always liked that about her. The Lucario nodded and retracted his blue spikes as he scooted a little bit on the couch so Lily could lie down next to him. After about twenty seconds of moving around, they eventually made room for each other so that they could look to each other as they laid on the couch. "I'm sorry to do this, Ryu," The Lopunny apologized "I just…I keep thinking about you."
"What about me?" Ryu questioned.
"Well," Lopunny said shyly "The day you went missing, I was worried about you. I couldn't find you in your den or anywhere around the forest. I went to sleep that night crying and I heard a voice calling to me."
"What did it say?" Ryu asked.
"It said," Lily said but then paused, "The voice said…'I love you, Lopunny.'"
Ryu gasped and just stared into Lily's eyes. "You mean…" Ryu began to ask "You heard me say that?"
The pink and brown rabbit nodded "I could tell it was you. I woke up immediately after I heard your voice. I never wanted to give up on finding you. I packed all the food that I could in a sack I found around the house to try and find you. I looked through the forest but those men…" Lily paused "…They kidnapped me and kept me captured in that house for about a month until they took me to that place where you and Aaron saved me. Then they…"
The rabbit paused and began to cry. Ryu held Lily close to him in a hug and patted her back "Don't cry, Lily. It's okay. You're safe now and in control of your actions. Team Rocket won't bother us for a long time."
Lily sniffled and smiled to the Lucario. "Ryu, umm…After you met Aaron and Layla, were you worried about me?" Lily asked.
"Lily," Ryu began "Of course I was worried about you. I tried looking for you the day before I met Aaron but I couldn't find you. The only clue I really found was this."
The Lucario pulled out the long pink ribbon he had in his pocket. Lily gasped "My bow! I didn't even know I lost it!" The rabbit then wrapped the ribbon around her left ear and tied it so that it now resembled a bow. Lily then asked "Where did you find it?"
The jackal then answered "I found it just outside your old house. I kept it to remind myself to not give up on finding you. When I met Aaron, I couldn't muster the courage to ask something like this right away. I had to help him with the Pendant..." Ryu then began to tear up "I'm sorry, Lily."
Lily saw the sadness in Ryu's eyes. She knew he cared for her but she needed to know something else. "Tell me Ryu…Do you…still love me?" The shiny Lopunny asked.
Ryu didn't even think at that moment. All he saw was Lily's beauty; in her eyes and in her aura. Lily stared into Ryu's crimson eyes and rubbed her paws through the cream colored fur on his back. Ryu's eyes went half-lidded along with Lily's. They pulled each other close and kissed each other for the second time in their lives. They felt the passion they felt their first night together, only much more intense as they moaned into each other's mouths. They didn't want to think about anything else. All they wanted to focus on was each other as they were teasing each other with their tongues.
Soon, they pulled from their kiss and Ryu looked into Lily's eyes and answered her question "Yes, Lily. I love you, with all my heart."
Lily smiled and moved on top of the Lucario. Ryu was a bit surprised but then Lily went in for another deep, loving kiss. They kissed for even longer than before as they moaned into each other's mouths and kissed each other's lips. Ryu's paws rubbed Lily's back until one of his paws went off on its own and went down to caress the rabbit's rear. They kissed each other for what seemed like forever until they pulled away again.
"Ryu," Lily panted "I love you. When you disappeared, I thought I lost my best friend. I was devastated. But now, you're safe and I realize that you're more than my friend. I love you and I want to be with you."
Ryu's eyes opened wide and he raised himself up forcing Lily to sit back up. "Lily," The Lucario said "Do you mean what I think you mean?"
The Lopunny nodded "Yes, Ryu. I want you as my mate."
Lily pulled Ryu close and reached down to his shorts and rubbed outside them causing Ryu to get an erection. The Lucario grunted with discomfort and said "Wait Lily, we can't do this!"
"Why not?" Lily asked "I thought you loved me?"
Ryu placed a paw on Lily's cheek "Lily, I do love you. You're the first friend I ever had and the first one who cared for me. I want to mate with you but we can't."
"But what about Aaron and Layla?" Lily asked "Aren't they mates?"
"They both agreed they weren't going to have children until Aaron could afford it," Ryu explained "He can't support a child right now; it's a miracle that his family can support me and Layla alone. He loves Layla and she loves him, but they want to wait until they're ready."
Lily's ears drooped down "Okay."
The Aura Pokémon saw the sadness in Lily's aura and said "Don't be upset, Lily. I'll talk to Aaron about our relationship. He might be able to help us with this. I'm not saying he'll let us mate. I'm saying that he could help us find a way to take things slow until we can have children."
"Do you really want us to have children?" The rabbit asked excitedly.
Ryu smiled "I do, Lily. I promise that we'll be able to have a child together someday."
Lily smiled and kissed Ryu's lips briefly. "I love you, Ryu," The Lopunny said.
"I love you too, Lily," Ryu replied.
The two hugged each other and fell back onto the bed. Lily cuddled into Ryu's shoulder as the Lucario had his arms wrapped around the Lopunny's back. They fell asleep, glad to be reunited with one another as friends and as lovers.
End of Chapter 25
Once again, another entry has concluded. I got to say, that this was longer than what I thought it would be. Hopefully it makes up for the shorter length last time and the long wait for this chapter. Oh man, I can just see the reviews "JonTron has more average time between updates than this guy does." I have to go to study for college a lot. It takes up a lot of my time. Seriously, the only free time I have either goes to watching YouTube or playing video games like-Oh my God! POKÉMON X AND Y CAME OUT EARLIER THIS MONTH AND IT'S AMAZING! (3DS Friend code: 3394-3860-8046)
In all seriousness, I apologize for the long wait on this chapter and I have said this before but I really do want this story to keep going it's just that I enjoy so many other things outside of writing. I'm getting heavily into League of Legends again and with all these new games coming out, I just can't wait to get my hands on the new 3DS and WiiU titles like Super Mario 3D World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. I know I'm rambling about video games but isn't that a good thing? Having a video game fan writing a fanfic based on a video game? Guess that's why it's called fan fiction…Yeah that was terrible.
So anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I want to give a big thanks to NinjAxXxRecoN for finding a few errors with the chapter. Let me know if there are any other errors since I rushed the writing for it to be released on Halloween. As always, remember to give me feedback either in the reviews or private messages. My name is Aaron, and I'll see you guys next time.