Seconds passed after Louis recognised the Pokémon, which chuckled in response. Cautiously, and in a friendly manner, Louis approached the creature. The footsteps grew larger as the young adult brought the evolved Riolu in for a hug.
"I can't believe it's really you," said Louis.
However, the rounded spike on the creature's chest made Louis wince in pain, and he released the brief grip around the Pokémon's body.
"Last time I saw you, you were almost up to my knee," joked Louis.
"Are you sure you didn't shrink?" the Pokémon played along.
Both human and Pokémon laughed together. Louis brought the evolved Riolu in for a second hug, ignoring the pain from its chest-spike.
"Oh, Riolu..." paused Louis. "It's so good to see you again."
"Same to you," the evolved Riolu replied.
"And the name's Lucario now," it added.
Louis looked into Lucario's eyes.
"Lucario?" he said. "That's a pretty cool name."
Lucario smiled.
"But seriously, how did you know it was me?" the young adult questioned.
"I saw you talking to Suzuki and Roy just now," responded Lucario.
"Oh..."
The sounds of the cooling breeze blowing through the leaves in the trees emitted as both human and Pokémon remained silent, briefly.
"I guess you wanna see the rest of the gang?" inquired Lucario.
"Uh, yeah," answered Louis. "I was actually on my way to the lab."
"No need to do that. We're all at the field."
The young adult's eyebrows shot up as he stared at Lucario.
"Wait, Roy told me that Pokémon are kept at the lab for returning trainers," said Louis. "How did you-"
"It's a secret," answered Lucario, quickly.
They walked together in silence. Not a mean or moody silence, but a mature, thoughtful one. After a small amount of time, Louis decided to break the silence, curious about something.
"I take it the others have evolved as well?" he inquired.
"Aside from Braixen and Marowak, pretty much," answered Lucario.
"Oh really? So what do I call them now?"
"Well, Staravia evolved into Staraptor and Torracat can be called Incineroar now," explained Lucario.
"Now, I just gotta see them," said Louis, excitedly.
Lucario chuckled. To him, Louis hadn't changed a bit personality-wise.
"Just a heads up," added Lucario. "Incineroar is not what you would expect now."
"Oh?" replied Louis.
"Just wait till you see him. You'll be very surprised."
Minutes went by as the two individuals arrived at the field. Just like the main quadrangle, there were some new features added to this area. To the left, Louis noticed a stone fountain that had a sculpture of a Pokéball and Mudkip on top. The stone Pokéball was squirting water into the fountain, putting on a display.
Louis shifted his attention to the right and saw that the sakura tree was still there, blooming in the light.
"Glad to see the tree wasn't taken down," said Louis.
As he gazed at the tree, Louis noticed some movement from underneath it. He shifted his attention downward as he saw two Pokémon relaxing in the shade. One of which was Braixen, while the other was a large, greyish-brown bird Pokémon.
It had small red eyes, a yellow beak with a black tip, a circular white patch on its forehead and a black crest with a red tip that extended over its head, nearly reaching its beak.
Louis had a good feeling who the bird Pokémon was as he jogged toward the tree.
"Braixen! Staravia!" the young adult called.
The two Pokémon halted their conversation to bring their attention to the approaching human.
"It's been a while," continued Louis. "Look who's finally back."
The pair of creatures blinked twice and returned their gazes to one another.
"Did he just call me Staravia?" the bird Pokémon questioned.
"Yeah, but why?" Braixen replied.
Then, after a few seconds, memories returned to the two Pokémon as their eyes widened and looked at the young adult.
"Wait! Louis?!" they both exclaimed.
Louis smiled.
Braixen quickly dashed over to the human and wrapped her arms around his body.
"You're back!" she exclaimed.
Staraptor flew over to the pair during their embrace.
"It's about time," it said. "Wasn't sure what was going on."
Louis looked away nervously. Lucario approached from behind as Louis, Braixen and Staraptor reunited.
During their embrace, Louis could hear the sound of someone humming. After Braixen released her grip on him, Louis followed the sound, curious to see where it was coming from. His ears brought him to the fountain, where a relaxed Marowak was floating on the water with its eyes shut. It was the Pokémon that was humming.
Louis grinned.
"Hey, Marowak!" greeted Louis.
Marowak's eyes quickly widened in surprise.
"AH!" it yelped.
It grabbed its Bone Club and swung it at Louis, hitting him on the head.
"Ow!" Louis winced.
Almost immediately, Marowak realised what he had done.
"Oh, uh...sorry," it apologised.
"Nngh, what was that for?" groaned Louis. "Just because I can talk to Pokémon doesn't mean I'm immune to pain."
Soon, after Louis recovered, the young adult brought Marowak in for an overdue hug. The rest of the team appeared behind the pair.
"So, do you guys know where Incineroar went?" asked Lucario. "Louis still has to see him."
Braixen grinned.
"I know where he is," she said. "Follow me."
The group followed Braixen's lead as they left the field. They brushed by many trees and bushes, while some of the academy's student's watched on as Louis and his Pokémon passed by.
"Hey, is that who I think it is?" one student said.
"It can't be!" another exclaimed.
"Oh my word, it's the guy that punched Simon," said another.
Many sets of eyes stared at the young adult and his Pokémon as they passed by. Louis swallowed the lump in his throat, nervously.
'I didn't think I'd be that popular here,' thought Louis.
"They still talk about your battles here," said Staraptor. "You are something of a legend in this academy."
"Yeah, right," replied Louis.
After a while, the group arrived at a location that Louis had never seen before. There were trees blowing in the wind, the sun warming the landscape, and in the centre was a large wrestling ring.
"How long has this been here?" asked Louis.
"Just recently," answered Lucario.
Then, the young adult felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Braixen, who was now pointing at an unfamiliar shape in the ring with her wand.
"There's Incineroar," she said.
Louis focused his eyesight to whatever was inside the ring. What he saw made his jaw drop. Inside the ring was a large, bipedal Pokémon with a muscular build.
It had a short snout with a red nose, bright green eyes with yellow sclerae, tufts of red fur that extend from the cheeks, a grey torso with several black stripes, and a fiery belt that took the appearance of a championship belt in wrestling.
Louis noticed the thin red stripe that ran from the head to the snout, that formed a V-shape over the eyes. The young adult recognised the shape from the evolved Torracat.
"He's a freaking pro wrestler?!" exclaimed Louis.
"Told you he wouldn't be what you expected," said Lucario.
In the ring, Incineorar was busy practising some new moves on a sandbag. One of the moves involved spinning around ferociously, with its arms extended. Another one of his moves involved climbing a turnbuckle and performing an attack that resembled a mix between a frog splash and a move where he spun four-hundred and fifty degrees. At the end of the attack, Incineroar cheered and flexed.
"He's a bit of a showoff, though," said Marowak.
Louis felt a sudden sensation rushing to his feet. Something in the back of his mind was telling him to move.
Suddenly, Louis began sprinting toward the wrestling ring, with an eager fire in his eyes.
"Louis, what are you doing?!" called Marowak.
"Something I've always wanted to do!" he replied.
Incineroar continued flexing, unaware of the approaching human. Louis then slowly climbed up the turnbuckle, preparing for his surprise.
"Yo! Incineroar!" yelled Louis.
Incineroar stopped flexing.
"Huh?" Incineroar blurted.
It spun around to see the human standing on the turnbuckle. All of a sudden, Louis used all the energy in his legs to leap off the corner and head toward the big red Pokémon.
"THINK FAST!" the young adult yelled.
The end result, however, was not what anyone expected. Instead of taking Incineroar down to the ground, Louis merely bounced off the fire Pokémon and landed flat on his back.
Incineroar gazed downward at the fallen human.
"Lucky shot," mumbled Louis.
The other Pokémon outside the ring watched on in worry.
"Uh oh..." said Braixen.
Louis braced himself, expecting to be suplexed out of the ring. However, as Incineroar stared at the human, it simply reached its paw...or hand, down to Louis. The young adult opened his eyes and slowly panned his gaze upwards.
"That had to be the most dramatic way to say hello, don't you think, Louis?" said Incineroar.
To say that Louis was surprised at Incineroar recognising him would be an understatement. He grinned and grabbed Incineroar's hand, where he was helped back onto his feet.
"Yeah, I...couldn't help myself," replied Louis.
After a brief pause, Incineroar brought in Louis for a tight embrace, making Louis yelp. The other Pokémon became relieved that things didn't end badly for the human.
"Phew," they said in unison.
Soon, Incineroar released Louis from its wrapped arms, where they soon met each other's gaze.
"Man, I didn't think you'd evolve into a pro-wrestler, man," said Louis.
"Wasn't it you who said to expect the unexpected?" joked Incineroar.
"...ok, you got me there."
Out the corner of his eye, Incineroar noticed the rest of the party watching on from afar.
"Oh hey, the gang's all here," said Incineroar.
"Sup guys?" he called.
Minutes later, the party returned to the field. Louis was happy that he had reunited with his Pokémon, but he still felt uneasy about something. But he decided to put it aside and focus on what's happening. As the air grew warm with the rising sun, many questions were asked by the young adult's friends, while answers were given.
"Louis?" said Staraptor.
Everyone turned their attention to the large bird Pokémon.
"I don't wanna sound like a jerk, but..." she paused.
"...what took you so long to come back? We've been waiting for you to come back for years."
"Staraptor!" scolded Marowak.
"No, she's right," said Louis.
"I have been away for a long time," he continued. "...I'm sorry about that."
"Hey, no worries," reassured Braixen.
"Did something happen?" inquired Lucario, giving a curious look at the human.
Louis paused in thought. How could he describe his absence, without losing his composure?
Eventually, he spoke.
"...the last few years were kinda rough."
Incineroar saw the truth of it upon the boy's features, a now saddened gaze met the huge Pokémon.
"Hmm, he's not lying," said Lucario.
Louis took in a deep breath, hoping it could help ease his nervousness. Then, another question came to mind.
"Guys..." he began. "Has Azul come back?"
The five Pokémon turned to each other before returning their gaze to the young adult.
"Not yet," answered Staraptor. "I never thought a training program would last this long."
"Oh..." said Louis, solemnly.
Out of nowhere, the sound of a school bell rang across the island.
Then, a moment of panic displayed on Louis' face. He had no idea where to go next.
Sweat dripped from Louis' forehead.
"Um..." he whimpered.
"You go on," said Incineroar. "We'll catch up later."
Louis became surprised.
"But, what will you guys be doing?" questioned Louis.
"Maybe talk amongst one another," answered Marowak.
Louis nodded and sprinted away, trying to find the office to figure out where he was supposed to go.
"He seems a bit off," said Braixen.
As Louis rushed past numerous crowds of people, just to find the office, the young adult accidentally bumped into a Cinderace, startling it.
"Sorry," apologised Louis, before dashing away.
The Cinderace watched on as the boy sprinted. After a brief moment, the Pokémon's eyelids raised in shock.
YAY! Team Venus is finally back together again. ...well, ...mostly.
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