Last edited on: 2021/12/26


Oh boy, Lucas was gonna get another earful from that airhead Barry, but he's prepared this time.

Barry's probably the most impatient guy he's ever known. He really hated waiting like it's his mortal enemy. Oh yeah, and he'll straight-up say how much he hates waiting for anyone, but he still doesn't have the guts for that in front of his parents. He'll always wuss out if it's his parents!

"Lucas! Where the heck were you, and what were you doing there?!" Barry pointed to the place from where Lucas came out from.

"I should've asked you that when you ditched me, ditcher!"

"Shut up! It was, um, a tactical retreat! I was saving myself before coming after you. I mean, look at you; you're in good shape. You can't blame me, and don't call me ditcher!"

Lucas groaned at Barry's rock-hard pride. Dang, nothing's gonna get through his thick skull!

Wait, maybe…

"Oh, I can blame you alright." Lucas was gonna show Barry his ripped t-shirt and bandages. That'll teach him! "Just take a good look at… at…"

W-wait, something's happening to Lucas. It's like something's not letting him get mad at Barry.

"Ha! What's up, Lucas? You… feeling… strange…?"

Dang, it's like Barry's feeling the same thing as Lucas. Whatever the heck that was, it felt good! It's like finally getting an award at Recognition Day, times ten!

Wait, why's he mad again?

"L-Lucas… I feel… Whoo!" Barry exclaimed. "I don't even know why I'm mad! How about you?"

"Yeah, this feels good! What the heck were we doing anyway?"

"Don't know, don't care!" Suddenly, Barry tugged Lucas to him. "Lucas, look!" he said while pointing around the lake.

Wow, there weren't this many pokémon before! There were bidoofs and bibarels running around, starlies and staravias chirping on the trees, psyducks and golducks swimming around, seakings and gyarados jumping on the lake, and weird blue spider pokémon water-walking on the lakeside. Dang, this was awesome!

Mes, are you doing this? I've never seen these pokémon before, like those gyarados and spider pokémon! Lucas thought.

After a few moments, the water pokémon began going back into the water, and the on-land ones went back to the bushes. Barry said that he saw shadows of a sun and crescent moon behind the thick woods. How weird, but it looked like the show's ended.

Also, that good feeling wasn't in Lucas anymore when the pokémon left for home. Dang, he hoped it'd be forever!

"Hey, Barry," Lucas turned to him, "that was kinda cool. Right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Barry replied impatiently, "but enough of that! I got something cool to tell you, Lucas, so hear me out!" He grabbed Lucas' arms and fidgeted like mad. Lucas wasn't really surprised 'cause he knew what Barry's gonna say.

"Another genius plan, Barry? 'Cause sign me out. I'm beat after today."

"Even better!" Lucas shivered. What the heck could be worse than his genius plans? "Lucas, I heard a pokémon cry. A really loud one too!"

"We're in Lake Verity, Barry. That could—"

"It's not just any random pokémon cry!" Barry cut. "It's the cry of the Lake Guardian! It sounded like, 'Kyau—n!' or something."

Lucas' eyes widened. Fricking impossible! How could've he heard it? Mes was with Lucas the whole time, and she didn't yell—

Oh shoot! That candy! Maybe what Barry said was true. Dangit, it's all Lucas' fault Barry's on Mes' tail, and just when they'd pinky-swore!

Just play dumb, Lucas!

"U-um, w-what do you mean, B-Barry?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Lucas! We all know about the Lake Guardian!" Barry scratched his head angrily. "Fine, I'll read out the exact words on that post we keep on seeing everyday at the entrance! Prepare to be amazed by my practiced memorisation skills!"

Rubbing his head, he began to say:

"According to legends,
the lake is home
to the pokémon said to be the
'Being of Emotion'.
It is because of this pokémon that
people and pokémon alike
can experience sorrow and joy."

Lucas look at him bug-eyed. Oh crud, he really memorised it? He quickly shook his head. It's not the right time to be shocked! "S-so who're we talking about, again?"

"Holy crap," Barry said with bug-eyes. "Don't tell me you actually forgot about Mesprit?"

What a relief. He actually bought it! "Y-yeah! Who's Mesprit? Don't know anything about mesprits."

"Oh c'mon, Lucas! You know, the Lake Guardian, the Being of Emotion, the legendary pink-head pixie 'mon! Don't you remember those weird stories back home?"

"O-oh, I-I remember now!" Lucas replied while nervously laughing. Uh oh, Barry's starting to look at him with a bad eye. "N-no, really! I do!"

Barry started laughing. "You're a bad joker, Lucas! C'mon, you live in Twinleaf and you don't know about Mesprit? Bullcrap, Lucas. Bull-to-the-crap!"

Lucas gripped his hand while smiling. I swear, Barry. Just a little more, and you're gonna get it!

"Anyway! That's why I'm here for you." Barry pumped a fist into the air. "The hunt for Mesprit begins today!"

Oh boy, Lucas kept himself from laughing. "Barry, don't be stupid. That's like finding a needle in a haystack! Besides, we don't even have anything on us to capture her." Barry quickly gave Lucas a weird stare. "What the heck are you doing, Barry?"

Lucas was weirded out, and he walked towards the way out. Barry followed him.

"Hey, don't leave me alone! What did you say?" Barry asked

"We need poké balls. P-O-K-accented E-space-balls. Tools for catching pokémon. Isn't that common knowledge right now?"

"That's not it, Lucas."

"What do you mean?"

"How'd you know that Mesprit's a she?"

Oh shoot, his tongue slipped. That stopped Lucas from walking, and he looked at Barry with a straight face.

"You just said 'her'. I don't even remember any of the town's oldies saying something about its gender."

Lucas stared at Barry for a moment. "Mesprit looks girly in those textbooks, so I'd imagine her to be a girl."

Shoot, that's another close call. Please don't kill me, Mes…! Lucas shivered when he thought of getting caught red-handed.

"Oh, I thought you checked its—"

"Woah-woah-woah! That's gross!"

Barry began laughing. Dang that airhead perv! "Anyway, it's not like you met her in person. Like you'll ever! She'll only appear in front of someone handsome and brave — yours truly!" He bowed like a gentleman to Lucas.

Lucas sighed. And that's where you're wrong, Sir Genius…

"That's why, I'll be catching Mesprit for us!" Barry ran to Lucas's front and grabbed his shoulders. Dang, it felt like something bad's gonna come up one more time. "This is something that's gonna make us cool and blow everyone away, especially Dad! Catching a legendary pokémon is gonna be the best summer experience we're ever gonna have in this wicked life, and I'm not backing out from this! And you, Lucas," Barry poked Lucas' chest, "are gonna help me get that dream come true! We'll share Mesprit together, but I'm gonna have more time with it!"

Okay, Barry's got to calm the heck down! He's always nagging about this plan and that. Lucas was not gonna join this crazy plan 'cause he knew what'd Mes do to him and Barry.

Oh shoot, her 'consequences'!

Thinking about it made Lucas scared. He didn't wanna see her acting all creepy and scary, especially when her eyes turned from golden to black! No siree, he wasn't gonna join his plan at all!

"Hey! Are you even listening, Lucas?" Barry asked. "I know you can't say 'no', Lucas!"

Lucas got out of Barry holding him. "Sorry, Barry. I don't wanna make the Lake Guardian mad. C-can we at least find something else to do?"

Suddenly, something dinged in Lucas. He quickly remembered that they painted a tree with honey a week ago or something. Oh yeah, they could go for that! "H-how about that tree we painted with honey? Let's just wait for some pokémon there! We can even use our poké balls we got from our parents." Lucas really wanted Barry to forget about that crazy plan of capturing Mes. Heck, that's crazy talk!

"I know, I know, but I hate waiting, Lucas! I don't even know how long we've waited for even a combee to get there!" Suddenly, Barry cheekily smiled. "Hold up, are you scared?"

Uh oh, he noticed!

"N-no! I'm not! I just wanna—"

"Ha! Scaredy-Lucas, scaredy-Lucas! You're not man enough!" Barry made a shape of an 'L' on his forehead and fricking stuck his tongue at Lucas!

"I-I'm not—"

"Nye-nye-nye-nye-nye! Scaredy-Lucas can't even man up to a legendary!"

Lucas didn't wanna yell, but he just couldn't keep it in! He hated being teased like that, hated it! He's even feeling his eyes getting—

No, I can't cry right now!

"SHUT UP!" Lucas yelled at his face. "I'll join your fricking plan, so shut up!"

"Finally! We'll get our poké balls from our houses. I'll get yours, alright? Alright! Race you! Don't make me fine you, Lucas!"

"Wait, what—"

But before he could even finish, Barry'd already made a beeline outta his face. Oh crud, this was bad! Lucas did not just say 'yes' to that!

Lucas quickly ran after him to Twinleaf. "Hey, Barry! I was joking, I — oof!"

Oh crud, what the heck did he bump into? Whatever it was, it's kinda buff, and he heard something fall.

"What in blazes?" someone said.

Opening his eyes, Lucas saw a white-haired in a brown coat. Frick, he crashed into a man! Wait, it's an old man!

"A-ah! Please excuse me, sir! I wasn't watching where I was going," Lucas said while bowing. "Oh, y-your briefcase, sir! A-allow me!"

Lucas saw his brown briefcase opened up on the ground. There were lots of papers, poké balls, and a weird red thingamajig lying on the ground, too! Lucas quickly stuffed them back in the briefcase, and he made sure it's tidied up! Dang, old guys were really scary if they're mad!

"Young man," the old man said, making Lucas jump.

"Y-yessir!"

"Please watch your step next time. Someone may get hurt. I came across another one of the same age as yours, presumably. He narrowly avoided crashing onto me."

"Y-yes, sir!" Lucas bowed one last time. "I'm really, really sorry, sir!"

"Now, now. I am also at fault for not watching my step, so to speak."

"Huh? Really, sir?" Lucas shook his head. What kinda reply was that? "I mean, I hope it wasn't too bad, sir!"

"Don't get worked up too much, young man. I understand what you mean." He quickly looked at Lucas' t-shirt. "What happened to your t-shirt? It appears to be ripped and sullied. Are you hurt in any way?" the man asked.

Lucas just remembered: keep it a secret! "I'm not hurt, sir. My shirt just got snagged earlier by a branch by the lake."

"Really? And that caused that much dirt?" The old man shook his head. "Do be careful next time. Here, I have a little something for your troubles and your efforts."

The man got some golden candy from his coat-pocket. He showed it to Lucas, and it looked like he's smiling behind his mustache.

"This is a candy from the Kanto region. It's rather tasteless upon first bite, but allow the sweet vanilla to melt in your mouth, and a majestic aftertaste will keep you in good spirits until your dinner time," he explained.

"O-oh no, sir. I can't accept things from strangers. Thank you, though."

"I insist, young man. Nothing harmful is in this, and I am no stranger to your small town as well. I take it that your parents even know me, and I'm sure we've met before. This is my thanks for arranging my briefcase's contents for me."

"R-really, sir? Then, I humbly accept your offer. Thank you once more, sir!"

"You're welcome, young man. Now if you'll excuse me," the man fixed his coat and patted his pants, "I have some research attend to. Until we meet again."

The old man went into Lake Verity. Lucas was weirded out at what happened.

Weird enough for Lucas, that old man looked pretty familiar…

I think… he was a speaker in school or something.

Well, whatever. Lucas just looked at the candy he had. It read, 'Aunt Merlinda's Best: Vanilla-Caramel — A product of Celadon Dept. Store'. Lucas wasn't really hungry, so he just kept it in his pocket.

Now, where's that—

And then, thud! Someone bumped into Lucas' back, and he knew who the heck that was.

"Dammit, Lucas!" Barry screamed at his face. "Watch where you're going! I'd be fining you a gazillion dollars if you weren't my friend! Whatever, I got the balls now!" Barry presented four of them, looking a bit dusty.

"Wait a minute! Did you just get two from my house?"

"Yeah! You said I could, right?"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did! Now, take these and follow me!"

Lucas stared at him hard when Barry shoved two balls into his hands.

But still, he's gotta pull himself outta his plan, ASAP! He didn't want anyone to get punished by Mes!

"Barry, I—"

"Race you to the legendary, Lucas! Time is money!" Barry cut him, again, and ran to the lake.

Oh crud, nothing's gonna get into Barry's head with that, but Lucas had to tell him! Lucas shrunk his balls and ran after him to Lake Verity. He saw his best friend standing and shouting by the lake with two poké balls on each hand.

"Mesprit! Come on out!" he yelled. "You're in there, I know it!"

Lucas ran to his back and shook him. "Barry, listen to me! I don't wanna join this crazy plan, and don't yell Mesprit! The Lake Guardian's gonna kill you!"

But Barry just didn't wanna listen, and he shook Lucas off him. "Don't hush me up, Lucas!"

"Barry, please! Stop!"

"Hell no!" Barry faced the lake and continued yelling. "If you don't show yourself, I'm gonna fine you!"

C-crud, he's not gonna listen, but Mes said he's gonna get it…

Hang on, didn't Mes say something else, that Lucas had to stand far away from Barry? Oh boy, Lucas didn't like ditching Barry, but he did it to Lucas when he ran away… Argh, what the heck!

Mes or Barry?

"Mesprit! Come on! Show yourself, please!"

Barry whistled, like he's calling for a poochyena or something. Dangit, that's just plain disrespectful!

That's it, Lucas was gonna follow Mes, and he slowly backed away. Barry's too stubborn!

Oh yeah, the old man's also in the area. While Barry's yelling for the Lake Guardian, Lucas looked for the old man around. He thought that the old man's becoming annoyed at Barry's stupid yelling.

Please don't get mad at us wherever you are, mister, Lucas prayed.

Suddenly, Barry shouted something that caught Lucas.

"Mesprit! If you don't show up, I'm gonna punch Lucas!"

That shocked and annoyed Lucas, and he ran to Barry. "What the heck are you doing trying to do? Keep me outta this, and I don't wanna join anymore!"

"Oh, shut up! You're in this even if you don't like it, and I figured that Mesprit'll come out if I followed those stuff in the movies, maybe!"

"That movie trick's not gonna work, Barry, and don't include me in it!"

Oh crud, he's really ignoring Lucas! Barry raised his poké ball and kept on yelling, "I swear, Mesprit! I'm gonna do it; I'm gonna beat my friend to a pulp!"

"Barry, cut it out already!" Lucas was becoming more and more worried, and he tried dragging Barry away. But no, Barry kept on shaking Lucas off.

"I know you can hear me, Mesprit! I'm really gonna do it! I'll smash Lucas flat! I'll gut him to the bone! I'll — gu-wargh!"

What the heck, something bright hit Barry square in the chest! Barry cried out in pain and landed on the ground.

"Barry!" Weird enough, a strong wind suddenly blew in. Lucas rushed to Barry, who's holding his chest in pain. Looking at his wrists, they're a bit red, and there's a sizzling sound from his chest.

"I told you not to do that, and now you've made Mesprit angry!"

"Crap-crap-crap! Why didn't you stop me, then?!"

"I tried to. You just didn't listen, you airhead!"

"S-shut up and help me up!" Lucas quickly helped him stand up. Barry patted his clothes. Just then, Lucas heard something coming right at him. "Move!" Barry shouted.

Barry shoved Lucas away and quickly rolled away. The attack missed and hit the ground with a small bang. Lucas landed on the ground, and his poké balls fell out. He quickly stood up, and he's a bit far from Barry.

Lucas tried to calm down. He knew that panicking's gonna bite his butt, so he looked around the lake for anything moving and anything dangerous.

Then, he saw it. A beam of bright stars was fired from the centre of the lake, but it's only going to hit Barry!

"Barry, look out!" Lucas yelled.

Barry dodged the stars, but then, another wave was shot to Barry. He used his arms to cover his face, and he fell to the ground. Some stars only hit his hands that covered his face.

"Shoot, that was close!" Barry exclaimed.

I know that move: Swift! It never misses! Lucas thought.

"Lucas, do somethi — woah!" Barry quickly rolled to his right and stood up to run away from the stars. Dang, they're only going for Barry, so it's really Mes who's doing this!

Lucas ran to the lakeside and saw something wavy-looking at the centre of the lake. There were even bright balls going around that wavy-looking thing, so those're where they're from!

That's Mes! She's busy punishing that airhead, too… I gotta stop her! Lucas thought.

"Mesprit!" he shouted in a serious tone. "Please stop this right now!"

Suddenly, the star-beams stopped firing, and it looked like that wavy-looking thing's staring at Lucas. For a moment, it just floated there. Lucas looked at Barry, and he's kneeling down and saying something Lucas couldn't hear.

"M-Mes…" Lucas said, a bit quietly. "I-it's a joke. I'm fine, s-see? I'm okay!"

"Kyau—n. Kyuki~" the silhouette cried.

"And!" Lucas shouted. "Just so you know:

"I'm not afraid of you!"

When Lucas said this, he wanted to remind Mes of their pinky-promise, and he hope she got his message. The spirit of Mes just quietly floated for a moment before disappearing.

At that moment, a pink flash of light blinded Lucas a bit. When he opened his eyes back open, everything seemed pretty normal. Even Lucas' clothes looked pretty cleaner than before.

"Woah, the pain's gone, Lucas!" Barry wondered. "That's totally wicked, too!" Barry put his arm around Lucas' neck and looked at the lake. Later, they picked up their poké balls and shrunk them.

"No more crazy pokémon hunting, please?" Lucas begged. "I've had enough 'genius plans' for today. I just wanna see if our honey bait worked…"

Barry nodded. "Yeah. Let's just wait for the tree with honey then!"

Lucas sighed. "Oh boy, it just gets weirder and weirder…"

"What in blazes is going on?!"

Oh, it's the old man moments ago. He also showed up from where Lucas bumped with Barry after seeing Mes. Oh crud, he looked steaming, and he's running up to the both of them!

"Crap, an old geezer! See you, Lucas! Thanks again…!" Barry said while running away.

"The heck, Barry? Don't you dare leave—"

"Hold it!"

S-shoot, that really echoed in his head, and it even stopped Barry from running away! Dang, old people and their weird tricks. Lucas called Barry back, and Barry grumpily went to Lucas' side. The old man stood in front of them like tower.

"So this… this is the generation entrusted to shape the future? All I see are irresponsible children looking for trouble. For shame, both of you, for shame."

Lucas bit his lip and looked away, shamefully.

"What would your parents think of you, endangering yourselves and causing mayhem in this sacred area? Not to mention infuriating the very Guardian of Lake Verity, Mesprit, for your silly little games." The old man gave Barry an icy glare. "I deduce that both of you are partners-in-crime for the chaos that ensued within Lake Verity, but I believe that it's all thanks to the mastermind of the duo, Barry. What would your father think of you?"

"S-sir, I—"

Lucas lightly hit Barry with his elbow, and it looked like Barry got the message. Looking ashamed, Barry looked away.

"At least your other friend comes off to have grown out of his childishness, from what I can observe now, that is. However!" The old man focused on Lucas, now. "None of your disastrous plans would be set in motion, had it not been through your combined efforts, am I right, Lucas?"

All Lucas could do was stoop his head down. Nobody could really talk when old people were yelling at them.

"Please face me. I am talking to both of you. Children these days neglect their respect, it seems," the old man said. "Know this," the old man raised his pointer finger of his free hand, "I will not turn a blind eye to the events that have just transpired in front of me during my extensive research. Aside from disrupting my concentration, you have disturbed the peace of Mesprit herself. Clearly, both of you deserve to be severely punished."

Lucas quickly shut his eyes, and he felt that Barry did the same. Oh boy, he really hated getting punished by old people.

"That is, if I was too old and cranky for my age."

"Huh?" the boys said together and then looked up to the old man.

"I am mad at you both, yes, yet seeing as you are all but hurt, I intend to reserve my punishment for another time." A smile appears to have formed under his mustache. "If you are fine and well, mostly thanks to the Lake Guardian, it's best if I do not make you feel any more discomfort to the point of no return."

"So that means… what, exactly, sir?" Lucas asked while scratching his head.

"I think he means that if we're just okay, he won't yell or get mad real hard at us anymore," Barry filled in.

"What a crude way to interpret it," the old man commented, "but that's a good explanation in your breadth of knowledge."

"Then that means we're good, sir?" Lucas happily asked.

"No, not entirely," the old man replied, and Lucas became bummed out. "Both of you still have to redeem yourselves."

"H-how, sir?" Lucas asked.

"That's for both of you to find out. Now, I must be off since my work here is through. Excuse me." The old man fixed his tie before going out of the lake.

That's a pretty lazy reply. I think Barry thinks so, too, Lucas thought. Looking at Barry's annoyed face, maybe he's right.

"Oh, and another thing." The old man stopped and looked at them. "Please do take extra care of yourselves next time, and extend my regards to your parents." With that, the weird old man left the lake.

Barry and Lucas were now left alone in the lake. Well, that old man had a scary look, but it's like he's kind deep inside.

Lucas wanted to break the ice first, so he asked, "What did you think he's gonna do, Barry?"

"Beats me, but I guess all we have to do is wait for that honey tree to attract some pokémon."

Lucas felt that Barry's answer's kinda weak. It's not like Barry to be behaved. "Let me guess, those man's words touched your heart, right?"

"Yeah, true," Barry admitted. "I don't feel like creating any genius plans right now."

He's still thinking about that…? Lucas thought.

Suddenly, something snapped near them, and a tree's rustling near the lake's entrance! Lucas what that meant, and it looked like Barry got it, too.

Barry looked at Lucas with a smile. "I know you heard it!"

"Yeah, Barry. Let's go!"

They got their poké balls out, and they hid near the tree they'd painted with honey.

Oh yeah, they hit the jackpot!