"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Chu, is that you? I see that you've gotten back safely!"

"Hello, Ms. Lilligant! I was just doing an errand for my mom!"

Both Chu and Ray had arrived at the village after a small walk that didn't take too long at all, which now brings us to the present where both of them had walked through a small gateway that lead into the village. Now that Ray could see it close up, he realised that the place had buildings made of wood and was quite a nice and quaint place.

Right now, as they were about to go further into the town, a feminine voice had called out to them before they could go any further. When they looked to see who it was, they saw that it belonged to a rather feminine looking pokemon that walked over towards them, and they seemed to be holding a basket full of items.

They donned a scarlet flower with white-spotted petals upon her head, said flower having golden filaments with red anther, resembling a crown. She possessed dark green, linear leaves under the flower, and light green, linear leaves underneath the darker leaves. One of the light green leaves, on the back of her head, is about as long as her body and resembles hair.

Two light green leaves loosely hang down from her head. Her head and abdomen are white and her eyes, which resembled seeds, are a light shade of scarlet. She has dark green, linear leaves for arms, and a golden sepal under her neck. She wore a large, light green, tulip-shaped collection of leaves, resembling a dress.

"That's nice of you, just make sure to be careful while you're out there. Hm? Who is this young one?" Lilligant wondered as she took notice of Ray, who was just standing near Chu and was looking around at the village while still holding the bag. Ray turned his head after hearing this. "A friend of yours?"

"This is Ray! I met him while I was coming back from my errand!" Chu responded as Ray walked on over next to her. Ray could see that the basket that Lilligant was holding had what he could determine were berries along with other vegetables. "This is Ms. Lilligant! She runs the store where you can buy all kinds of berries and also vegetables. Flowers are also sold!"

"I see. It's a pleasure, Ms. Lilligant. My name is Ray."

"Oh~, a polite young man you are. My name, as you know, is Lilligant. It's nice to meet you." Lilligant giggled as she took a small bow at Ray, to which he returned the gesture. She then pointed towards a building in the distance that was made of wood and had a green roof. There were also flowers and shrubbery decorated around the place. "That is my shop. Come on by whenever you need something!"

"Thank you, I'll make sure to check it out."

"Mm. Also, what was the errand anyway, Chu?"

"It was to find ingredients for dinner. Majuri Berries specifically! I wanted to go and get something that would make dinner even better, and these berries are just what we needed!" Ms. Lilligant seemed surprised by the reply as she panicked a bit. "What?! Those berries grow in rather dangerous places, are you okay?"

"I'm just fine, Ms. Lilligant. I was lucky to have Ray with me!" Chu said with a smile. Ms. Lilligant smiled though with a sigh as she then said. "I see, that's good. But, just be careful whenever you're out there. We don't want you getting hurt just to get your hands on those berries, just because they're delicious. Your parents would have been fine with any berries."

"I know, I'll make sure to be careful..."

"Good. I'll see you both some other time then, have a nice day."

"See you, Ms. Lilligant!" Chu waved as Lilligant began walking towards her shop. Ray was doing the same as they soon watched as she entered into the shop, to which Chu then turned to face Ray as she gave him a smile. "Alright, Ray! Let's get going to my home, I can't wait to get those berries to my mom!"

"Alright, alright! Chill out. Where even is your place?"

"Not too far from here! Just follow me!" Chu once again pulled on his arm as he sighed with a small smile on his face. He began walking as she proceeded to still tug his arm as they walked, and it really didn't take long before Ray took notice of the same house that he saw with a yellow roof while standing atop of the cliff.

The house was rather large, though that might have been just because he was incredibly small as a Pichu. It was a fancy designed house that appeared to have a second floor and also painted with different tones of yellow and also the colour white for the walls, to be honest, it was an interesting looking house.

"Mom, Dad! I'm home!" Chu shouted as she ran towards the door of the house, while at the same time still tugging Ray's arm. When they arrived at the front door, Chu began knocking on the door as they then waited patiently. It didn't take long though before the door began to open up, to which Ray then saw someone poke their head out.

"Oh, Chu dear! I'm so happy to see you're safe." A feminine voice came from the person who answered the door as Ray looked to see the door opened completely up, with the pokemon that answered it now in full view. From what Ray knew, the pokemon appeared to be a Raichu, the final evolution of Pichu.

Raichu is covered in dark orange fur with a white belly. Her bifurcated ears are brown on the outside, yellow on the insides, and end in a distinctive curl. There is a circular yellow marking on each cheek where her electric sacs are, and she has a triangular, dark brown nose. Her arms and feet have patches of brown fur at the end, and the soles of her long feet are tan with a circular orange pad in the centre.

On her back are two horizontal brown stripes, and her long thin tail has a lightning bolt-shaped end that appeared to be chipped at the tip of the bolt. The Raichu in front of him also appeared to have a slightly lighter-toned body than a normal Raichu would have, the reasons for such were unknown to Ray, but it didn't matter. A Raichu nonetheless.

"Hey, mom! I got the berries!" Chu stated. Chu then stepped aside to show Ray standing behind her with the bag still on him as he was just watching silently, her mother seemingly tilting her head in confusion as she saw him. It was a normal action for this situation, she didn't know who he was.

"Who is this young one, dear?"

"Oh, this is Ray! I met him while I was in the forest, he helped me out in collecting the berries and all!" Chu explained as Ray bowed slightly towards the older pokemon. Chu's mother was surprised by the act, but did the same as she smiled at him. "I see. I'm grateful towards your assistance, young one. My name is Lissiana."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Lissiana. My name is Ray."

"A polite young one too! How about you come in for dinner? It's the least we can do seeing that you helped my dear Chu with her errand." Lissiana had offered. Ray seemed conflicted on what she should honestly do, he seriously did not want to intrude on them. "Are you sure, miss? I don't want to intrude..."

"It's no issue at all! Please, do come in!" Lissiana insisted as Chu smiled and grabbed his hand. Ray was surprised when she began to drag him into the house while giggling, it still kind of bothered him though that he was going into their house. Now that he was inside the house, he looked around at his surroundings.

It was a nice decently large house, being made mainly of wood as the first floor of the house was basically one huge room that consisted of a large kitchen that you could view the living room from with chairs and a large couch from what he could see. The final things he saw were a couple of windows and also a set of stairs leading to the second floor.

"Where's dad, mom?"

"He should be coming home from work anytime soon now. He had to stay back for a bit due to certain difficulties with the place." Lissiana responded as she closed the door behind them. Ray seemed confused by the statement, which Chu noticed and explained. "My dad works as a manager at the powerplant! He makes sure everything is in order."

"I see." That was interesting. Ray figured that this world, compared to the other mystery dungeon worlds from the games, was more advanced. If there pokemon here knew how to function with machinery, then that was a rather interesting thought. Pokemon can definitely be as smart as humans when it comes to enginuity.

"Why don't you show Ray around the house, Chu? Dinner won't take long at all." Lissiana suggested as she walked on over towards the kitchen. Both Pichus ran over towards the kitchen as Chu was the one that hopped up onto the counter as Ray just walked on next to Lissiana. "Sure! Let's go, Ray!"

"Yeah, hold on. Here you go, miss." Ray said as he took the bag off his shoulder and handed it over to Lissiana. The female Raichu was surprised by how heavy the bag was, it was full to the brim with all kinds of items, so it was understandable. "Oh my. You must be quite strong to be able to so easily carry the bag! You two have collected all kinds of things I see."

"Yeah! They were items we found while making our way here." Chu explained. Ray noticed how she hadn't mentioned that they went into a mystery dungeon, though it was understandable as he figured her mother would freak out, the place was dangerous. Lissiana took out all the berries that she needed, she was surprised by the Majuri Berries though.

"Alright then, I'll get started on dinner. You two have fun and I'll call you when it's ready." Chu and Ray nodded their heads, to which Chu then grabbed Ray's hand and tugged it as she was pointing towards the stairs. "Let's get going, Ray! I want to show you my room as well as the other places in the house!"

"Alright, slow down. I'm coming." Ray followed after Chu as he saw her running up the stairs, Lissiana just giving a warm smile as she watched them both disappear up to the second floor.

When Ray and Chu arrived on the second floor, Ray had noticed that they were now in a hallway of sorts with three doors that lead to different rooms. He didn't know which room led to what, the doors didn't have things like labels or anything to indicate what was what. Though, he really didn't see the point of having them if Chu and her family already knew what each door was what.

"This is my room, Ray. Come on in!" Ray followed behind Chu, who had run on over towards the door that was closest to them. Normally, back in his world, females were more cautious to letting boys come into their room, which he honestly found ridiculous as he didn't see what there was to be hesitant about. It seemed that it wasn't really a problem here... or Chu was just weird.

Ray walked in calmly as he looked around, which caused him to raise an eyebrow at everything that he saw. It was an... interesting room. The walls were painted yellow and there were many things that you would find in a teenager's room back in his world, the bed was small enough to be a perfect fit for Chu with a yellow colour.

He also saw that there was a desk with a bunch of books as well as pens and stuff placed onto it, and in the corner was a large bookshelf that had books stacked along with a ladder that he assumed Chu used to reach the ones higher up on the shelf. The final things he really saw the in the room were a large full-body mirror, a box of sorts in the corner, and a bunch of pillows of sorts on the ground as well as a light on the ceiling.

"There's not too much, but it's my room nonetheless! What do you think?" Chu asked as she ran up to her desk and jumped onto the chair before taking a seat as she faced Ray with a smile on her face. Ray shrugged his shoulder as he respondered. "Pretty plain to be honest. There's not too much that's in here."

"Yeah... I don't really put too much into my room. But, the real things are in the other room!" Chu jumped off of her seat before pulling Ray out of the room as they went over towards the door that was at the end of the hallway, skipping over the room which he assumed must have been her parents or something. It would be rude to just go in their afterall.

"What... is this room?"

"It's the playroom! Mom and dad made this room for me a few years ago for me, there's so much to do here!" Chu replied as they both entered the room. Ray looked around in interest at everything that the room had, and was rather surprised by the variety of items that he could identify in the room.

There were basic playground equipment like slides, see-saws, merry-go-rounds, and even tubes that took up the third-dimensional space of the room. What caught his attention more were the technological things, that being a ceiling fan, lighting, and also... "Why in the world do you have a fridge in here?"

"I mean... you get thirsty after playing, right?" Chu responded with a sweatdrop as she gave a nervous laugh. Ray had noticed that there was this small fridge in the corner of the house, which he assumed was indeed filled with different kinds of drinks. Ray shrugged at the explanation that Chu gave him, she wasn't wrong.

"Hm? What is this...?" Ray and Chu were just hanging around in the room, though Ray seemed to notice something. On the walls were paintings, one being a picture of some kind of symbol or emblem, another being a picture of a group of three pokemon standing next to each other, and the final one being a picture of Chu and her family, though there was another member on there, being a Pikachu. "What's that symbol, Chu?"

"Eh? Oh! That's the symbol for the Pokemon Rescue Team Association!" Chu responded as she ran over to where Ray was standing. The symbol of a Pokeball that was coloured white that was outlined in black, it also appeared to have a pair of golden angelic wings with a shiny tint. "It's an association of professional explorers that explore the mystery dungeons and go about helping other pokemon on jobs!"

"I see, then that means this is indeed a mystery dungeon world... no doubt." Ray muttered to himself as he held his chin. He then noticed the excited look in Chu's eyes as she stared at the emblem, just by seeing this, he had an idea as to why. "I assume from that look in your eyes that you want to join them?"

"Of course! When I am able to, I'm going to go join the association!" Chu replied as she smiled brightly. Ray was amused by her excited attitude when it came to this, it was pretty much the same as the partner pokemon from that Super Mystery Dungeon game, except Chu didn't seem as... overwhelming. "I want to be as great as my sister!"

"Your sister?"

"Yeah. She's the Pikachu that you see in these two pictures, her name is Emma! She's a part of the Elite Rescue Team, Team Illuminate!" Chu said with a big smile on her face. Ray could clearly see the admiration she had for her older sister, which could be seen in the photos, also being next to the two other members of the team. Being an Emolga and Heliolisk.

"How come her team is made up of only eletric-types? Is there a reason for that?" Ray understood that when Chu said they were an Elite team that it must be a ranking system of sorts, but what was up with the electric-type correlation? Was that just because the team was based on the type, or something else?

"Oh! The reason for that is that the association is separated into different division for every type, that being electric, fairy, fighting, and so on!" Chu explained simply. It was a short and simple explanation, but an easy to understand one as it told him everything he needed. That was certainly different from the games. "Then what's holding you back? Why don't you try joining?"

"The thing is that I'm kind of occupied with school at the moment... though I will certainly try joining after graduating though! And that's going to be really soon! In around a week or so actually!" Chu said with an excited expression. Ray seemed a bit surprised, she went to school? "I'm going to take the test, and then get into the association!"

"Then I'll cheer you on for sure, and a test?"

"Yep! While I don't know what the tests will involve completely as they change every time they are held, I know that a written test is always something that occurs." Ray nodded his head at this. Knowledge was also a vital thing, strength wasn't always something that would help you on the battlefield. He then saw Chu running towards her desk.

He just watched in confusion as she seemed to be digging through her books that were placed atop of it, he waited patiently before she walked back over towards him with a decently large book that she was having some difficulty carrying. It was white in colour and had the Pokemon Rescue Team Association symbol on the cover.

"This is the book of all the information that is said to be needed to be known for the tests! I've been studying it along with my school studies in preparation for them." Chu explained as Ray walked on next to her and stared down at the book that was on the ground. The book was bigger than they were, flipping heck.

"There must a damn lot... Let's take a look here." Ray said as he flipped open the cover. When he looked at the first page, it showed to be a table of contents and what you could find in the book, each labelled with a page number. He noticed that the materials were all things he was familiar with. 'Pokemon types, weaknesses, strategies, pokemon law, statistics and information all kinds of pokemon, and even regions? Talk about rough, while it may be easy for people in my world, this is a bit much...'

If all of this type of stuff was seriously going to be going on a test, then this whole Pokemon Rescue Team Association must be very damn serious about who they let in. It is never this difficult to get into such a thing in the games, but considering this wasn't a game, he should probably expect more than he should.

"Children, dinner is almost ready!"

"Oh, mom's calling us!" Chu exclaimed. Ray closed the book after the voice of Chu's mother had sounded into their ears, and she was certainly not lying, dinner really didn't take that long to prepare. He picked up the book before placing it back where Chu had taken it from as they both headed for the door.

"Mom, we're here!"

"Great! Dinner will be ready very soon, can you wake up your father?" Lissiana requested as she could be seen plating something after taking it off of what appeared to be a frying pan of sorts. Ray just got down from the stairs as Lissiana noticed him coming down as he walked over next to Chu. "How did you find the house, Ray dear?"

"It was interesting."

"I see. Just wait a bit, dinner will be ready very soon now." Ray just nodded his head before Chu then tugged his arm and began pointing towards the couch, to which he looked to see that there appeared to be a male Raichu sleeping on it while releasing snores. Being a darker shade than Lissiana and also bigger. "Who's that?"

"That's my dad! How come he's sleeping?"

"Your father was exhausted after having returned from work and immediately passed out on the couch. Mind waking him up, dear?" Lissiana said as she did so with a few giggles. Ray sweatdropped when he saw that the Raichu literally had a snoring bubble, he didn't think that would really happen despite going into this world. Anime stuff.

"Sure! Let's go, Ray!"

"O-Okay?" Ray replied simply as he followed on after Chu as they ran towards the couch. When they did, they stopped right in front of it to see Chu's father sleeping peacefully as his mouth was slightly open. He thought Chu's mother was decently bigger than them, but damn her father really outclassed them in size! He was a good bit bigger than a normal Raichu. "How do we wake him up?"

"Just like this. Wake up!" Chu shouted loudly. Ray was not expecting such a loud shout, especially from someone like Chu, it kinda honestly terrified him. He flinched heavily as the sound travelled through the house, he gripped his ears in pain as they were quite sensitive. It seemed to work wonders though as her father seemed to jump slightly in his sleep.

"Wh-Wha?! Huh?" They both watched as Chu's father slowly began to open his eyes as the sleeping bubble popped. He blinked his eyes a few times as exhaustion was still present on his expression, though he then turned his head to the left to see Ray standing and blinking at him. "Chu, is that you? You've gotten a lot more adorable since the last time I saw you..."

Her father then reached his hand out and patted Ray on his head, earning a massive sweatdrop from the male as he heard those words. He looked to his right to see Chu had a massive tick mark appear on the back of her head as her right eyebrow was twitching constantly, Ray could see Lissiana holding in a big laugh.

"Dad~!" Chu shouted in anger as she released a powerful Thunder Shock onto her father as Ray watched with a massive sweatdrop still present on the back of his head. He was lucky that he wasn't caught up in the shock, it would have definitely hurt. Her electricity was as powerful as his, and it was no joke. Theirs was probably stronger than Ash's Pikachu.

Seriously though, that kid's Pikachu was seriously an anomaly. How do you go from defeating a Latios to losing to a damn Snivy? How does that work? Pikachu must have seriously let himself go after each of their journeys, because there was no way you can seriously get that weak so fast. Their electricity as of right now, for both Chu and Ray, were probably peak prime Pikachu status! Maybe more!

'Seriously, how do you do that?' Ray thought in his mind. True, Pikachu wasn't able to access his electric-type moves, but he should not have fainted so easily, a single Iron Tail should have whooped that Snivy's ass to the next dimension. Ray watched as the attack stopped, to which Chu's father fell back onto the couch with ash on his body as his eyes were replaced with swirls.

"Wh-What was that for?" Chu's father groaned as he slowly got up from the couch as he stumbled a bit. Chu just crossed her arms with a big pout as she turned her head to the side, her father seemed to blink a few times before looking down at them, to which he seemed confused. Why were there two Pichus?

"Huh? Chu, did you multiply?"

"No, dad! This is a friend of mine!"

"O-Oh! Sorry about that, you're not even a girl! My exhaustion must have really affected me." Chu's father laughed. Chu didn't seem amused as she crossed her arms, still holding her constant pout. Her father then smiled towards Ray. "Nice to meet you, young man. You must be Ray. My wife told me about you when I came home."

"Nice to meet you, sir. It's a pleasure."

"Please, just call me Volter. It's my pleasure."

"Anyway, dad. Mom says that dinner is ready."

"Oh, I see. Then how about the four of us go and enjoy it?" Volter said before stretching his arms as he then gave a smile. Chu rolled her eyes before the three of them headed off towards the kitchen table. To which the three of them jumped up onto the chairs, both Chu and Ray going on the taller ones.

"Glad to see you awake, dear. Why don't you all dig in?" Lissiana said as she had finished plating and setting up all of the food. Ray looked at it all and saw that she had made all kinds of food, ranging from the main item being a type of stew and also having things like muffins or something for sides. He had to admit, it really smelled great.

"It looks amazing! Let's eat, shall we?" Volter said as they all nodded. That was when they all began to dig in, both parents eating at a normal pace as Chu seemed to eat rather... fast. She looked really happy at least. Ray didn't eat so fast, he never really ate much at all, he probably could, it's just that he really never felt hungry that much.

"So, how come you were in the forest, Ray dear? Were you exploring?" Lissiana asked curiously. Ray responded by shaking his head as he heard the question, Volter also seemed curious as Chu already knew why. "To be honest, I don't really know why I was in the forest. I just kind of woke up there, don't know how."

"Really? That's certainly strange..." Volter said with a confused tone. Lissiana was the same as she seemed confused by the response, Ray had to have gotten there somehow, just how though? Ray didn't have an answer for that, he was as clueless as they were. "Where do you come from, Ray? Maybe we can help you get home."

"Well, I come from a place called Australia. Heard of it?" Ray asked. He highly doubted they did, Australia doesn't exist in the pokemon worlds, nor do any other countries from his world. These worlds had regions that were based off countries. They all shook their heads at this as Chu then asked.

"What is Australia?"

"It's um... a region. My home." Ray half-lied. He wasn't lying, not fully at least, he pretty much just said Australia as a region from the pokemon world, which wasn't true, but at least he wasn't lying about it being his home. Volter seemed to frown a bit. "I don't recall a place being called that. I'll see if I can help you in any way."

"Your parents must be worried sick about you, poor dear." Lissiana said with a frown on her face. Ray, as well as Chu, flinched at that. Ray gained a bit of a dark look on his face as Chu gained a concerned one. Her parents seemed confused by this. Chu then said. "M-Mom, Ray doesn't exactly like the life he had with his parents! I don't know why, but something must have happened."

"O-Oh! I apologise dear, I had no idea..." Lissiana apologised sincerely. Ray just sighed as he shook his head and gave a small smile, it was fine, she didn't know about it. Even Chu didn't really know why he didn't like the life with his parents, it wasn't exactly something he wanted to share right now.

"It's fine."

"Moving away from that subject." Volter interrupted. He wanted to get away from this subject as he could easily see that Ray was not comfortable with it, he didn't know why, but he didn't want to force the boy to talk about anything he didn't want to. "Since you don't know how to get home, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know really. Guess I'll let things happen as they do."

"I know! Can Ray stay with us?" Chu suggested suddenly. They all seemed to widen their eyes at this as Chu said this, Ray being the most shocked as he stared wide-eyed at the young Pichu. He had not expected this... "Since Ray has nowhere to go right now, can we let him stay here? Please!"

"Um... I don't want t-..."

"I see no problem with it."

"E-Eh?"

"Agreed. I think that's a wonderful idea." Ray just blinked in complete shock as he heard the words of her parents. He had not expected them to agree to letting him live with them so easily, he hadn't even expected Chu to suggest it. Ray then seemed hesitant as he then said. "I really don't want to intrude... I should be fine on my own..."

It was true, he did know basic survival skills as well as cooking. He had a lot of spare time back home, so he had learnt a bunch of stuff that could potentially assist him in life for the future. Plus, he knew that there were all kinds of berries out there that he could eat, and they tasted really good, also that he was decently strong, so he could defend himself.

"Nonsense, Ray. I personally believe that having another male in this household would do me good, after Emma left to be at the association, Chu had become a handful." Volter sighed. This earned him another shock from the young Pichu as Ray sweatdropped along with Chu's mother. "As you... can see."

"Anyway... We certainly don't mind at all, Ray dear. Feel free to stay here as long as you like, we'd love to have your company." Lissiana stated. Ray sighed as he could tell that they weren't going to back down on the idea, so there was really no way he could deny the offer. "I guess I have no choice... please take care of me."

"Yes! This is going to be so fun, it became so boring after Emma left!" Chu cheered as she unconsciously hugged Ray, catching him by complete surprise. Chu realised what she did and quickly let go as a red flush appear on her face as her mouth wobbled in embarrassment, both her parents seemingly smirking.

"You can stay in Chu's room. She has all those pillows on the ground for who knows what?" Lissiana giggled as she said this. Chu seemed to snap out of her previous embarrassment as she seemed to pout towards her mother. "They're there for a reason! I put them there because I can have two places to alternate my sleeping."

"I still don't understand the reasoning for such a thing..." Volter sighed as he shook his head. Ray was glad that he had a place to sleep at least, though he hoped that Chu didn't mind the fact that a boy was going to be sleeping in her room at the same time as her. "I hope you don't mind me sleeping in your room."

"Not at all! You sleep on all those pillows!" Chu smiled. Ray sweatdropped as he remembered the insane number of pillows that he saw on the floor, why did she seriously have so many of them? Lissiana then noticed the time as she then said. "Eat up fast, then get ready for bed, the both of you. It's getting late."

"Ye, mom/Ms. Lissiana." Chu and Ray replied simultaneously. Volter chuckled at this, along with Lissiana, to which he then faced Ray before saying with a chuckle, confusing Ray. "Also, probably should warn you about Chu. You may be surprised when you wake up, just telling you that in advance."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"You'll see..."

"Mm? What are you talking about, dad?"

After dinner, both Ray and Chu were now preparing to go to bed as they were now in Chu's room. Ray was busy setting up the pillows into a comfortable position for him to sleep as Chu could be seen quickly reading up a bit on the Pokemon Rescue Team Association study book as she was on her bed.

"It appears that it's past midnight now. We should probably get to sleep, Chu." Ray voiced. He had just finished placing the pillows, as he turned to look out the window of Chu's room to see that it was indeed pitch black outside. Chu turned her head upwards from her book as she looked down at Ray.

"Okay. I am getting pretty tired." Chu yawned as she closed the book before sitting up and began to take it back to her desk to put away. Ray sighed a bit with a smile as she was having difficulty, he walked over before taking the book and putting it back for her. "Thanks a lot. It's really heavy..."

"No problem. You ready to get to sleep?"

"Yep!" Chu then ran up to her bed before jumping onto it as she positioned herself as she layed down with her head now resting on her pillow. Ray just chuckled a bit at the act before walking over towards the light switch near the door as he flicked it off, causing the room to be covered in darkness, the only light allowing them to see a bit was the moonlight.

Ray then walked on over towards the pillows that he had set up before calmly laying down on them, they were pretty comfortable actually. He had placed them in a way that when he layed down, they wouldn't hurt his spine or anything at all, he didn't want to have a sore back or something when he woke up.

"Ray, you still awake?"

"Literally haven't closed my eyes yet. Something wrong?"

"No, just that I wanted to say thank you for helping me get back home. Without you, I probably would have just kept searching without success." Chu said honestly as she was getting comfortable in her bed. Ray just laughed a bit before replying. "No worries. I'm the one who should be thank you for letting me stay here."

"No need to thank us. Like my parents said, stay as long as you like!"

"I appreciate it. Anyway, how about we get to sleep? It is pretty late."

"Alright, that would be a good idea. Goodnight, Ray."

"Goodnight, Chu."

With that, Ray closed his eyes, along with Chu doing the same, as they both let sleep take them over. Though, Ray seemed to stop as a thought crossed his mind. What in the world did Volter mean by that he might be surprised when he woke up? What was that supposed to mean anyway?

'Whatever... probably nothing.'