POV: Lura, 914 BBF

{Welcome to your second chance then.}

[Let's hope this one's better than my last.]

When Lura woke up, she was on her bed inside the house. Sunlight was streaming in from her window, which was apparently what woke her up. On her right shoulder, she felt a throbbing chill, that seemed to fade even as she noticed it. She felt… different. First, she was very tired. Second, she felt more… powerful. And then there's the fact that it was awfully quiet, to quiet to be the middle of the day.

She got out of her bed and made her way to the stairs that led to the Peterson's rooms. At the top, she paused. She heard voices coming from Gary's parents room. They sounded angry.

Lura ran to the door and shoved it, causing it to crash open. Inside she saw Gary and his father standing by the foot of Charles' bed, with Mom sitting down on it, hands buried in her face as she wept quietly. Both Gary and his dad were in the middle of an argument, although once the door opened they stopped and looked towards her in shock.

"Lura… is that you?" Gary asked softly. What does he mean by that, she thought? Of course it's me! She nodded to let him know it was.

"But… when did you evolve?"

Wait, what?! Lura looked at her paw, and then let out a little squeak of shock. Instead of the creamy brown that her paw had been, it was a pale blue, with thin hairs on it rather than the fluffy fur she had had before. She twisted around to look down her back and say the same short blue fur growing down her back, and her tail had become a beautiful fin, which curled elegantly upwards and downwards as it moved on its own.

"Wha-what happened to me!" she cried. She turned her attention back towards Gary and Charles, searching for an answer. Gary just look stupefied, whereas his father had a slight grin on his face, although it was only a small one.

"Well, Lura, I do believe congratulations are in order. You've become a beautiful vaporeon, although I am not sure how. I guess that you have a higher affinity towards water than anything else. And maybe that mark on your shoulder had something to do with it as well."

Lura turned her head to look at where Charles had indicated. Indeed, on her right shoulder there was a small, black image of a creature, mouth open in a silent howl. I suppose that's the mark that Wolfe gave me. I wonder what kind of creature it is? She turned her attention back towards Gary, silently pleading for him to say something with her eyes.

Gary shook himself and then smiled at her. "Congrats, Lura! I was going to be getting you a water stone at some point in the future anyway, so you just saved me a lot of money too. You look awesome!"

Lura beamed at him, glad that he approved. Now that the shock of finding out that she was not an eevee anymore had worn off, she had to admit that she might like this form a lot better. It was certainly prettier than her last one.

Gary turned back to Charles. "Father, I don't care if you disapprove or not, I am not leaving. I will ask our Lord to station some soldiers here. 20 men should be more than enough to kill this Wolfe person."

Charles glared at his son. "You aren't listening to me, are you?! I'm telling you that if you ask for the soldiers, the only thing that will happen is more people will die. There isn't any doubt! You may not know of Wolfe, but I do. He's the nightmare of soldiers everywhere! Every time they go in to battle they always have a fear in their hearts that they will run into him and his partner. The only reason we even won the war against the Memories is because we paid a higher price for him than our enemies did! The man's a demon! He can't be killed! Many men have tried! Do you want to know where they are now?"

Gary just mutely shook his head.

"They're all dead, son! If you try to fight him, you will be to! Don't you see what I'm trying to tell you? Our only chance of survival is to do as he said and run. We can go to Nor and stay there for a time, then buy a new plot of land and restart our farm. It's our only chance!"

This time it was Gary who glared at his father. "There is no way that a man cannot be killed. Everyone has their weaknesses, and I'm certain he has his as well."

Charles looked at him incredulously. "Son, you are too young to know what the Memory war was like, but I'm not. Hell, I fought for our Lord myself! I was on that field outside the gates of Taria! I fought in that battle, that war! I saw that man, no, that demon named Wolfe as he fought! I saw him slaughter hundreds of men without seeming to break a sweat! Him and his partner! He's ruthless, with no morals to hold him back! And if it weren't for his whim of telling us, we might already be dead! The one reason, the absolutely only reason that we are still alive, is that in his fancy he decided to give us a chance to escape and live out our lives! That's the only one! Because of the whim of some demon!"

Gary looked down at his feet before speaking again, "I'm sorry father, I know how you feel about this, but my decision stands. I am staying here. You and mom should leave though. I will talk to our Lord in a few days and plead for his help. You will not change my mind."

Charles was quiet for a while. Lura swore that she saw tears in his eyes as he stood there. Gary then looked towards Lura. "I will be taking Lura to our friends in Forn as well, so that they might look after her. I don't think it would be a good idea to have her here where there might be fighting, or for her to move across the territory to Norovia. They also have their own pokemon as well, so she should have company."

Charles shook his head sadly. "I know I won't change your mind son. You take after me too much for that to happen. I agree that she shouldn't be here. Our friends owe me for past debts, tell them that taking care of her will cover all of them. Also, tell Stephen that she is marked by the wolf. He knows of him, hell, he knows him better than I do. He was part of the Mercenary Corps alongside of Wolfe. He'll understand the situation. It would be best if you were to go sooner rather than later."

Gary nodded. "I understand, father. We'll leave in two days' time. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for any trouble I may have caused you. I only ever tried to do right for you, though I know I am no perfect son. At least I tried." And with that, he walked out the door and down the stairs, leaving Lura with his parents, who were now both openly crying.

That day passed by slowly for Lura. It was filled with the sounds of quiet crying and wagons being loaded. Lura did what she could to help them, although she was very limited in what she could do. Mostly she just kept them cool by practicing with her abilities. She found out relatively quickly that she could now sense where any water was within a certain distance. It was like a soft tugging in her body, leading her towards it. For whatever reason, though, she felt a constant yet very faint tug towards the west.

At first she thought that it might be because of the town of Forn, which was pretty close by and obviously held a lot of water as it had a river running right through it, but for some reason that didn't feel right. She decided that she would ignore it for now, though it did leave her curious.

Another ability that she found she could do was create a little jet of water, which, when aimed upwards, created a fine, cooling mist, like that of a very light rain. This was very appreciated by Gary and his father as they worked outside in the heat moving large crates and sacks, as well as furniture.

"If only she could do that earlier, while we were working in the fields," Gary joked. Charles laughed and agreed with a hum. Lura just giggled with them.

Eventually the day came to an end, and the family turned in for the night. Lura, however, was strangely awake. She decided that she would watch the sunset again, although by herself this time. As the sunlight faded and darkness crept on, Lura found that she was strangely… at home. It just felt right to her to be sitting out there, waiting for the stars and the moon.

When she could finally see the stars surrounding the moon, she just had to let out a small smile. It was every bit as beautiful as it was last night, when she had first looked at them. She found it strange that, in all the years that she had lived, she had never once looked at the stars before yesterday.

"To think that I missed out on such beauty, for so long," she murmured. She sat there for a while, looking at the stars and the moon, and she felt that she could understand why Wolfe liked them all so much. Indeed, she found that she liked them as well.

Lura sighed once more, before laying down and resting her head on her paws, eyes still focused on the stars. She stayed like that till she fell asleep, and dreamt.

Lura's Dream

She was sitting at the top of a mountain, with the wind whipping all around her, blowing snow in her face and over her body. And yet, she didn't feel the cold, or the piercing wind which should have cut right through her thin fur. Instead, she felt warm and safe.

As she looked out from the mountain, she saw more mountains and ice and snow. In the valley below her she saw an army of men and pokemon, all marching in step. They all wore some form of grey armor, with black cloaks billowing out behind them as they marched in step. For whatever reason, she knew that they were off to a battle. Yet, she didn't feel any fear for them. Instead, she felt a sense of pride, as though she were somehow responsible for the magnificent sight of the warriors marching.

For they were her army, as she realized. Hers and her beloved's. She smiled softly as felt him next to her.

"What do you think, love?" she heard him ask in his entrancing voice.

"I think we did good, dear. We've raised a fine army, with soldiers worth at least six of any other. I think that it's safe to say that no one stands a chance," she replied to him.

He chuckled. "I agree completely. We will show them for trying to take what is ours."

She nodded, and then turned to look at him to continue the discussion. All she saw was a dark figure with no detail, as though he was in the shadows. She smiled at him.

"It's amazing how far we have come in so short of a time, all things considered. It seems like just last year that you and I met, yet I know it's been longer than that."

He nodded, before saying, "You realize that we first met over ten years ago, right?"

She looked at him, surprised. "Has it really been so long?"

He laughed. "My love, when you live for as long as you will, you'll find that ten years is not so long as one might think."

"And how long am I to live then?" she questioned.

"However long you want, my love."

Lura woke breathing hard. That dream disturbed her for some reason. She did not like the thought of having her own army. In her dream, it seemed as though she were a Queen, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

Oh well, she thought. It was just a dream. She looked up at the sky to realize that it was still dark, with the stars still bright above her. She smiled softly. I guess I was only asleep for a few hours.

As she laid her head down to go back to sleep, she felt a warm pressure on her back. She smiled softly as she fell asleep. Gary probably brought out a blanket for me. Then she fell back asleep.

Lura woke to birds chirping in the tree above her. She opened her eyes tiredly and yawned, before licking her lips and looking up. "Good morning," she said quietly. She then got up and stretched, shivering a little as the blanket covering her fell. She smiled and looked down at it before freezing.

It wasn't a blanket covering her. It was a cloak. Not just any cloak either.

It was Wolfe's cloak.

She stood there, staring at it for a moment, before a thought struck her. She immediately ran towards the house as fast as she could. He said that we would have a month! It's only been two days!, she thought as she ran.

She got to the house and immediately bolted inside. Then she let out a sigh of relief. They were all at the table eating breakfast with each other, all alive and well. I wonder what he was doing here then?

She made her way to the table, saying "Good morning," as she went.

"Good morning Lura," Gary told her. "I was wondering where you were last night. Guess you decided to sleep outside. Weren't you cold?"

Lura shook her head and smiled at him.

He shrugged. "Well, alright then. Come get something to eat."

A while later when Lura went back to where she slept the night before, the cloak was gone.

The day passed quickly for Lura, with a lot of banter going around the house. Lura was slightly curious as to why everyone seemed so happy. Then she realized that they probably wanted to have only good memories left of each other. She couldn't fault them for that.

When the day ended Lura again stayed up outside to watch the sunset and the first of the stars, though she didn't stay out the whole night this time. Instead, she went inside and slept with Gary. This would almost certainly be the last night she had with him. She didn't dream that night, she just slept peacefully and contentedly.

When they woke up in the morning breakfast was somber. It was Lura's last breakfast with them, and they all knew it. Their last meal as a family.

Once everyone was finished, Gary started putting on his boots. "Would it be alright if we took the cart into town?" he asked.

Charles nodded. "Of course, have a safe trip you two. Son, I will see you when you get back, and Lura… take care of yourself alright?"

Lura nodded. "Good girl. I don't know if we'll ever see each other again, but if you're ever near Nor come visit, alright?" She nodded again.

As Lura and Gary left in the tauros pulled cart towards Forn, Lura couldn't help but shed a few tears as she saw her home fading away behind her. Goodbye, she thought.

They were both quiet for a little over half the three-hour trip, before Gary started speaking.

"When we get there, I'm going to just take you straight to Stephen's, alright? I don't think that I will stop by on my way out, just because I might be in a hurry. But don't worry, you won't be alone. Stephen's surname is Bailey, and he has a wife and two kids, a daughter and a son. However, they are older and have their own homes elsewhere. The Bailey's have two pokemon, a jolteon named Talonko and a lucario named Rio. Stephen's wife's name is Betty, and she's an absolutely wonderful person, much like my mom. I think that you will like them all. They do live in town, however, so it will be a different environment than you are used to, but you should do fine. You're a smart girl, and I know you will be alright."

Lura nodded as she took in this information. She was excited to meet this Talonko, as she knew that one of an eevee's possible evolutions was a jolteon. She didn't know what they looked like, however. I didn't even know what a vaporeon looked like, till I became one, she thought.

The rest of the ride passed with Gary telling her a bit about the city itself, as well as a bit of history, namely the Memory war. Forn was the capital of their territory, Foria, which was one of six territories, the others being Norovia, capital being Nor, Taria, which had it's capital named after it, Darvia, capital being Daric, Widia, who's capital is Durose, and Memoria, capital being Meldine.

"A few years before I was born, around 25 years ago I'd guess, Memoria, the largest of all the territories, decided that it would try and conquer the entire continent, starting with Widia, then moving on to Darvia and finally Taria, where they were stopped. Forn was one of the first townships to send aid to the war, something that we have always been proud of. We've been staunch allies with Darvia for years upon years, and we're on good terms with relatively all of the territories, barring Memoria of course."

"The war lasted a total of four years, in which time around 26,000 Allies lost their lives to the Memories. The Memories, however, made one mistake which cost them the war, although I hate to admit it." Gary was quiet for a bit. Then he said, "I don't want to defend that man, neither do I want to compliment him or stoke his ego, but despite what father thinks, I do know a lot about the Memory war." He was quiet again.

Then he sighed and said, "The Memories' mistake was in underestimating Wolfe's abilities. They went to him first and made him an offer, asking him to fight for them as he they were aware he was an amazing warrior. He told them that their price was much to low to win them a war, and told them to screw off unless they wanted to be serious. They decided that it wouldn't matter which side Wolfe fought on, one man couldn't make that much of a difference."

He laughed shortly. "Well, sometimes one man can turn into thousands. Mercenaries were largely kept out of the war, as no-one wanted to pay for their services, although they always make good soldiers. When we, as in the allies, came up to Wolfe to ask for his assistance, he told us his price. We were desperate, so of course we agreed, although it was an insane amount. I don't know the number off the top of my head, but I know it was large enough to buy the whole of Forn twice over. But we paid it."

He started chuckling and said, "Now imagine the Allies surprise when the war arrives to Taria and Wolfe shows up, but not alone. He has a huge reputation, and a lot of influence. He used that influence and reputation to convince every mercenary worth his salt to fight for him. He showed up to the battlefield, on the plains outside of Taria, with 10,000 mercenaries behind him. They charged headfirst into battle howling as a salute to Wolfe, who ran right at the head of it."

Gary paused to take a drink of water from his water skin before continuing, "Needless to say the Memories lost that battle. However, Wolfe didn't stop there. He lead his Mercenary Corps and the Allies all the way back to Meldine, where they then took the city after a week-long siege."

Gary sighed again. "I used to admire that man. Did all the research that I could on him. Yet now I wish he never existed." Gary was quiet again. "I know I don't stand a chance against him, Lura. I know that I will probably be killed. But I can't just leave. That's my home, my entire life. I can't just leave it."

I understand, Gary. I do. It's my home too, Lura thought. Oh I wish you could understand me. However, she knew that he couldn't and wouldn't ever be able to.

The rest of the trip was silent. Not to long after Gary stopped talking, Lura got her first look at a city.

Forn was huge. They were cresting a hill when she saw it, so she could see inside of the immense wall that separated the city from the wilderness. The wall itself was easily 100 meters tall and looked to be around 20 meters thick. Past the wall there were thousands of buildings, with people visible in the streets. Further in there was another wall, and beyond that what looked to be a castle. Lura just gaped at it all.

Gary laughed at her. "Amazing, isn't it? Biggest city in the territory and third largest in the region." He smiled at her. "This is going to be your new home for as long as you choose it to be."

Lura just nodded, still gaping at the sight. She couldn't understand how anyone, human or otherwise, could build something so immense. It was just awesome.

After cresting the hill it took another half hour just to reach the gated entrance, where they were stopped by a pair of guards.

"Name?" one asked as the other started searching the cart.

"Gary Peterson, son of Charles Peterson," Gary replied.

The guard looked at him for a second, then asked, "Did your old man fight in the Memory war by any chance?"

"That he did! Do you know him?"

"Aye, I know him. I was in the same company as him. Good man that. How is he doing?"

Gary shrugged. "He's still alive for the moment. However, due to a family emergency he and my mom are relocating to Nor"

The guard looked surprised. "Long distance to be traveling. Is everything alright?"

Gary shook his head. "No, that's partially why I'm visiting town. The other reason is to drop off Lura here," he pointed a thumb at her, "with a family friend."

The guard nodded understandingly. "Aye, don't want to be taking a young pokemon to far from her home." The guard studied Lura for a moment, before his eyes caught sight of the mark Wolfe left on her. He widened his eyes. "Well mighty blessed are you young one, to have received the protection of one so great!" the guard then chuckled. "Ah, you'll go far with that mark right there. If you ever need anything, young Vaporeon, don't be afraid to ask the guards' pokemon for help. We'll be sure to do all we can."

Lura was shocked for a moment, but then she remembered her manners and smiled as she bowed her gratitude. Gary to looked surprised. "That's awfully kind of you sir," he said.

The guard shook his head with a smile. "Nay, it's the least we can do. After all, it's not every day that you get to meet one of the wolf's favorites!" he chuckled again. "That man saved my life multiple times. If you are special to him, then I'll treat you as one of my own kin."

Gary smiled when he said that. "I don't know how I can thank you for that sir. I was worried how Lura would be getting on in the city, as she has never been in one before. It's nice to know that she will be fine."

The guard smiled and then shook his head, "Don't worry about it." The other guard then signaled that they were clear. "Alright, you can go ahead Gary my boy, and tell your father Winston says hi!"

Gary smiled at him, and said, "Will do, and again, thank you!"

Gary shook the reigns and the cart rumbled forward again. As he guided them towards where they were going, Lura started drinking in all the sights. There were stalls on the streets everywhere, all selling some sort of goods. There were jewelry stalls, food stalls, trinket stalls and clothing stalls, as well as gambling stalls.

It was also loud and happy sounding. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and the air just seemed to radiate happiness. Lura couldn't help but smile because of it. From somewhere in the city there was the sound of music playing a cheerful tune. At one point they passed a large open space where there were hundreds of people dancing and clapping to a the music. Lura found herself wanting to go over there and join them, as it all looked so fun! She decided that she could be happy here. At the very least there was plenty to take her mind off things.

When they finally came to a halt outside of a rather large house away from all the noise and stalls, Lura was in a great mood. Something about the friendly atmosphere of the city just cheered her up.

"We're here," Gary told her. She nodded as she smiled at him. The house was a pleasant grey color, with flowers hanging out of the first and second story windows. It looked like it had a garden on the roof as well, although she couldn't be to terribly sure on that point, as she couldn't see the top of the house.

Gary led the way to the front door and knocked using the built-in handle. There was a shout of acknowledgement from somewhere in the house followed by the sounds of footsteps pounding down stairs. Soon enough the door opened, revealing a man who Lura took to be Stephen.

He was rather tall, taller than Charles and definitely taller than Lura. He had relatively short salt and pepper hair, and a cheerful looking face as he smiled at him. His eyes were a clear blue, which Lura thought suited him perfectly. As soon as he saw Gary his eyes widened. He stepped out of the door and pulled him into a hug.

"Gary! How are you doing young man?" he asked. Gary hugged him back as he laughed. "I'm doing fine for now. So are ma and pa."

Stephen put Gary at an arms-length and looked at him questioningly. "For now? What do you mean by that?"

Gary looked down at Lura for a second before looking back at Stephen. "Would it be alright if I talked to you inside? Away from Betty? It's kind of serious."

Stephen looked interested, and a little concerned, but he nodded anyway. "Of course! Betty is at the market for the moment, but Tal and Rio are here."

Gary nodded. "Those two are fine, I don't have to worry about them having an emotional breakdown. Also, this is Lura, whom I'm sure you remember me talking to you about."

Stephen nodded and smiled at her. "Greetings Lura. I'm sure Tal will be interested in meeting you. With that being said, come in, come in!"

Lura had to let out a little laugh as he rushed them inside. He led them through the house and to the dining room table. Immediately Lura could scent other pokemon, although she didn't know where they were at the moment. As soon as Gary and Stephen sat down, Stephen started talking.

"Alright Gary, I'm going to tell you straight up that I know you're in trouble. The fact that Lura has the wolf's mark is more than enough to let me know that. He doesn't give that mark to just anyone you know. He's only given it to three others, his partner being one of them. Who's after you and why?"

Gary looked surprised for a moment. Then he shook his head and said, "Well, that makes things simple. I don't know who is fully behind it, but the one being sent to kill us is the who you have mentioned."

Stephen's eyes widened again. "You mean someone has paid his price to kill you?! Who did you guys anger so much that they would go that far?"

Gary shook his head. "We don't know. Wolfe didn't tell us."

Stephen stared at him incredulously. "You mean to tell me that the wolf told you guys that someone was hiring him to kill you? Why?"

"We don't know. However, he told us that if we move to Nor he will not follow us. Said that the man wouldn't be able to pay his price for the distance."

"Ha! That sounds more like the Wolfe I know. So I'm guessing that you are here to tell me that you guys are moving to Nor? Because that is really your only other option other than death."

"My mom and dad are moving, but I am staying. I am here to call on one of the debts you owe my father. He told me to tell you that, if you take care of Lura, all other debts are paid off. Will you do that for us?"

Stephen looked at Lura for a split second before returning his gaze to Gary. "Of course!, She's always welcome here, especially as it provides a certain amount of protection for my own family. But Gary! Are you mad! You need to go with your parents, boy! You'll be slaughtered!"

Gary didn't acknowledge the second part of his statement, instead just saying, "Alright, thank you Stephen! You're a life saver, literally. Now I need to go and speak to the captain of the guard to request assistance. Have a great life Stephen!"

As he was speaking, Gary made his way to the door. Right as he finished speaking, he slammed the door shut, startling Lura and Stephen, who both just stared at the door in shock. Lura was hurt that he didn't even say goodbye to her. She sniffed once.

"It's alright dear. He's a smart boy. He'll come around, and when Wolfe gets there he will find no one home. Hell, the captain will pretty much order him to take his family to Nor. He'll be fine, you have my word on it," Stephen told her.

Lura looked at him sadly and nodded to show she understood. At that point they heard the sound of pawsteps coming down the stairs at a rapid pace. Then, from around the corner came yellow blur, moving much faster than Lura would have thought physically possible. It came to a halt at the door, before it turned around and ran into the kitchen before stopping at the door.

"Lura, meet Talonko, also called Tal. Tal, this is Lura. She's going to be staying with us for a while," Stephen told them. Lura gave him a small wave as he just stared at her with a slightly red tinge to his cheeks.

"Uh, hi there…" Lura said awkwardly. Still he just stared at her. Lura was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her. "Uhm, could you please stop that?" she asked him.

Finally he shook his head. "Oh, I'm sorry! I've just never seen a vaporeon before. Matter of fact the only other eevee evolutions I've seen are leafeon, sylveon and umbreon. We're kinda rare apparently. My sister is a leafeon, and my mother a sylveon. My father was a jolteon, but he isn't around anymore. And the umbreon that I've seen is Zero, he lives here in town. Anyway, hi! My name is Tal."

Lura put a paw over her mouth and giggled slightly. "It's nice to meet you Tal. My name is Lura."

Tal was the first jolteon she had ever seen. He was a little smaller than her, with mostly yellow fur, although around his neck he had some white fur making it appear as though he had a collar of sorts on him. His fur was slightly spiky looking and he didn't appear to have a tail. Overall she thought that he looked cute in a goofy sort of way.

Lura smiled at him. "And don't worry by the way, you're the first jolteon I've ever seen as well."

He grinned at her. "Great! That means that it's up to me to give you a good impression of us jolteons." Lura giggled at him again. He was very goofy. It was oddly charming.

Stephen just watched the exchange and laughed a little. "Well, I see that you are already getting to know one another. Tal, I'm putting you in charge of showing her around town, alright? You don't necessarily have to go out today, but at some point in the next couple of days you should, alright?"

Tal nodded at him. "Good. Alright you two, go do whatever it is that eeveelutions do."

Eeveelution? What's that, Lura wondered. Oh wait. Eevee and Evolution. Duh. She shook her head to clear. She faced Tal, who was looking at his paws contemplatively.

"So will you take me out and show me the town then?" she asked him.

"Sure! I would love to! We can go out now if you would like, otherwise we can wait a bit for Rio to wake up. Actually, now that I think about it we probably should go now so that we don't miss all of the fun stuff," was his reply.

Lura's head spun a bit. He talks fast, she thought. She shook her head again. "Alright, lead the way!"

With that, Tal showed her the way to the market. She learned a bit about the town from him, and a lot about himself. His sisters name is Rose, and she lives more towards the center of town with their mother. Tal had chosen to stay with the Bailey's willingly after Stephen gave him some food and treated his leg when it was popped out of place. Tal was a very friendly guy, and she found herself enjoying his company, even if he did talk a bit fast.

When they reached the market about an hour after they left the house, the first thing Lura noticed was it was crowded. The second thing was that it was loud. And it was crowded.

Although Lura didn't really mind it. She enjoyed seeing all the people, even if it was a bit overwhelming. After a while of looking through all the stalls, Lura heard the sounds of loud laughter coming from a group of people surrounding something.

"Hey Tal," she called. Once she had his attention she continued. "What's that over there? What are those people and pokemon doing?"

"Oh, that's probably a fight ring. We can go check it out if you want to," he replied.

Lura thought for a moment, and then nodded. She didn't see the harm in it, so why not. Also, there was a lot of laughter going on there, so it must be funny.

As they weaved their way through the ring of people, Lura could hear the bellows of some large creature ahead. When she finally got to the front she just had to laugh. There, in the middle of a ring, was a a large grey and orange pokemon that she didn't recognize. It was obviously upset and it seemed to be looking for something. You didn't have to think to hard to realize what.

On his back a dark pokemon that looked a bit like her in shape. It had a solid black pelt with yellow rings on its shoulders and yellow bands around its ears and tail. It was smiling brightly as it stood on top of the large pokemon.

"Where are you Zero!" it shouted. "Show yourself!"

There was more laughter, and the pokemon just became even more angry.

"ZERO!" it shouted.

Finally the pokemon, whose name was apparently Zero, answered him in a masculine voice that radiated ease, "I'm right above you, dimwit."

The pokemon froze, and then growled loudly. "Damnit Zero! Get off me and fight me like a man!"

Zero laughed. "If you insist my friend.'

With that he leaped off the pokemon with enough force to send its head down into the dirt. Lura was impressed that he had the much strength in his legs. He landed on the opposite side of the field from Lura, putting the big pokemon in between them, causing her to lose sight of him. Due to that, she missed what he did next. She also didn't notice that all the people and pokemon around her had cleared out of the way. She was to focused on the fight.

There was a dark flash, which outlined the large pokemon, and suddenly it came hurtling towards Lura at a speed even faster than Tal. Lura realized immediately that she would not be able to dodge and knew that this would hurt. She closed her eyes and braced herself. A split second later she heard a grunt followed by a sickening crack. A moment after that there was a thud, followed by nothing. Then, cheers broke out.

Lura opened her eyes to see the tail of the dark pokemon from earlier in front of her. He was holding his forepaws out and had a clear barrier in front of him, which stopped the pokemon from crushing her. She just blinked in shock. How did he get all the way over here that fast!? The pokemon known as Zero's right leg was at an odd angle, and as he dropped the barrier and put his paws on the ground, he immediately lifted his right one back up. It was clear that he broke it.

He looked back at Lura and they made eye contact for a second. His eyes were a deep shade of red, which she thought suited his appearance very well. Then he grinned and winked at her, before hopping across the ring of cheering people and pokemon towards a bored looking pokemon she recognized as a gallade.

Lura felt her cheeks heat up a little bit as she watched him leave. Then Tal was there asking her if she was aright

"I'm fine," she said. "But it looks like that pokemon broke his leg!"

"Serves him right, putting you in danger like that! That's Zero, the umbreon I was telling you about earlier by the way. He's had worse than this before. Now come on, let's go home. It'll be dark in around an hour."