Here's the fifth chapter of Worlds Apart! I decided to release it a day early because I was in a good mood, and because as I write this, I finished writing Chapter 7 this morning. I'll move a different update back a day as a result, because my ultimate goal is to release the final chapter in mid-June, on my birthday.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this. Happy reading!


The next few weeks went by painstakingly slowly. Zen spent a significant amount of time pacing around the house, feeling incredibly restless.

Of course, in the same way Valentina could not replace his parents, this pacing could not replace being as free as a Flying type, allowed to roam the woods to his heart's content. Since it was the best he could do, though, Zen had no choice but to settle for it.

If winter had been miserable thanks to the frigid temperatures, summer ended up being even more unpleasant. The cave's insulation had prevented it from getting too cold in the winter, but it had also protected it from the summer heat.

That was not the case now. On several occasions a day, the Shiny Riolu thought about how amazing it would be to shave off his fur coat. Even if he looked ridiculous after that was done, it would have the benefit of him not roasting alive. It would also give the hunters less reason to go after Zen, since he wouldn't be golden anymore.

At least, that's what he hoped.

Valentina wouldn't hear this idea, though. Twice Zen proposed it, and twice it was rejected.

"You'd only be a greater trophy. Besides, you need to show some modesty, and that won't happen if you have no fur."

As summer crept in, Zen realized that he was getting closer and closer to the first anniversary of moving into this house. In a few months, he would have lived with Valentina for a year, which was rather startling.

He didn't mention this to Valentina, but he had to wonder if she realized this too. Of course, there were more pressing things to worry about.

The man with the pickup truck, Cedric Nale, drove away in said truck some days. He would return a few hours later with several fur pelts from different Pokémon species - a few Vulpix, a Growlithe, and others. Zen knew this, because he took to watching their new neighbors from his bedroom's window.

"You can't go outside without my supervision, Zen" Valentina told him one evening over dinner. "I know you want to, and I know being cooped up inside sucks. But it's better than being dead."

The Riolu boy sighed. He knew, of course, that his new owner had a point. But it was still hard to accept that his life had changed forever, even after almost a year without his parents.

As much as Zen cared about Valentina, he started to feel as though he would go insane if he stayed inside too much longer. The woman might have had a vast library, but most of it had been depleted by now. There weren't many books left to read; the young Riolu could reread them, but that would take away the suspense when he already knew what was going to happen.

He needed another diversion from his boredom. He would lie awake in bed, sometimes for over an hour at a time, thinking about this. One night, he reached a solution.

Zen turned the idea over and over in his mind, like a stone. And then, when it became irresistible, he decided he'd go for it.

One of these days, I need to wake up before Valentina and sneak out of the house. And then I'll find the Zorua, and we can explore the woods together!

As enthusiastic as he was about this prospect, something also felt very wrong about it. Disobeying his owner felt akin to throwing a prized heirloom in the trash, or kicking someone he loved.

Valentina had given him a home, after all, and he was about to reject one of her ground rules. His stomach churned at the seeming wrongness of it, and he tossed and turned, every other shift causing him to face outside, to look at the other house.

Somewhere around there, that Zorua is sleeping, or at least trying to. Maybe he also thinks about me; or rather, wonders who lives in this house. Well, he'll know soon enough.

The next morning, Zen woke just before the sun. He considered triumphantly springing out of bed and bounding out of the house, but he knew that would likely wake Valentina up; she was a light sleeper.

It took everything for the Riolu boy to calmly stand up out of bed and tiptoe his way into the hall. He was aided by his relatively small frame, but the creaky floorboards didn't help him in this effort to be quiet.

If she's awake, then I have to pretend I was just hungry or something. And then she'll wonder why I haven't snuck into the kitchen like this before.

Zen was in the kitchen now, and he'd heard no sign that Valentina had stirred. The morning twilight outside was beckoning him - he had to reach it before his owner realized what was happening.

He opened the door, which made more noise than he would have liked. But then, once he'd stepped over the bottom of the frame, that was it.

He was free!

The mild early morning air felt heavenly against his fur. A light breeze also felt great, and Zen stood there for a good half minute, just taking it all in.

But then he realized that Valentina might see him through a window, which added another layer of guilt. He was deceiving the woman who'd given him so much already.

This is worth it. I need to have some time outdoors. That's it, just an hour or two is all I need.

The young Riolu shuffled down the dirt driveway towards the other house. He took it slowly so as not to roll his ankle on the gravel. But once he was back in the grass, Zen kicked it into a higher gear.

It wasn't long before something else occurred to him, though.

Where does the Zorua live on this property? Because if I have to go inside the house, it's not happening.

The young Riolu took a deep breath as he ran around the yard. It still wasn't fully light yet, but his keen eyes could make out a small, dark gray shape in what appeared to be a miniature house.

"Who's that?" a small, high voice exclaimed. "You're not going to kill me, are you?"

Zen laughed for the first time in a long time. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you're getting really close to my house. And I've never seen a Shiny Riolu before!"

It was then that Zen realized that the voice, presumably belonging to the Zorua, sounded genuinely worried. The Riolu boy sighed, regretting his earlier laughter.

"I'm sorry I spoke that way," Zen admitted. "But I've got no intention of harming you. In fact, I'm rather lonely."

"You and me both" announced the Zorua. "But I still wonder how you found me. I've never seen you before, like I said."

Zen moved closer to the Zorua's den. He kneeled down and smiled.

"I'll tell you what, Zorua. You're lonely, and so am I. So why don't we become friends?"

The Zorua boy rolled his eyes. "That's not how it works, Riolu. Pokémon don't just agree to become friends like that. You don't ask someone for their friendship - it just happens."

Zen chuckled awkwardly, feeling his face flush. "I mean, I guess you're right."

"I mean, don't you have friends somewhere?" the Zorua boy asked Zen. "If you've made a friend before, you'll know how it's done."

"I do," Zen replied. "Or at least, I used to. I don't live at home anymore, so…".

As he was finishing that sentence, the Riolu boy realized he was throwing Valentina under the wagon. He wasn't making it clear enough that he saw Valentina's house as his new home, but like the woman said herself, the cave would always be Zen's real home.

"How old are you?" the Zorua boy asked Zen. "Because if you're a Riolu, you can't be more than twelve or so, and that's a bit young to leave home."

"Seven," Zen said.

The Zorua boy gasped. "Same here!" he exclaimed. "But…why did you leave home, then? I'd hope your parents are loving, no?"

The Riolu boy sniffed. "I mean…they were. I had great parents, but I decided to strike out on my own for a bit. It was nothing personal."

The Zorua frowned. "And they're okay with that? If I ran away from home, Cedric would flip out, and if I asked him if I could, he'd say no way. I'm surprised they'd let you leave."

"Yes, well…" Zen trailed off. Once he got to know the Zorua boy better, he felt that he would be more comfortable telling him his life story. Right now, though, he was still a bit cagey about that aspect of his past.

"So what's your name?" Zen asked, trying to steer the conversation away from these dangerous waters. "Mine's Zen."

The Zorua boy nodded. "That's a nice name. Nothing wrong with Zen. I'm Rizal."

"Wow," the Riolu mouthed. "Rizal is just…it sounds really grand."

"Perhaps that's what Cedric was going for when he named me. Of course, when he hunts, he's always looking for grand trophies to display. It's all about fame for him."

Zen's heart quickened, but he tried to keep his breathing steady. He didn't say anything, preferring instead to wait for Rizal to break the silence.

"Now, he always tells me I'm too young to go on a hunt. When you're older, he always says. But how old?"

"I don't know. Older than seven, I guess."

Zen could hardly believe his ears. By the sound of it, his potential new friend was just as interested in hunting as his owner was. A Zorua might not be able to hold a gun, but they still had pretty sharp claws.

But how would he ever explain to Rizal that hunting was a sensitive subject for him? How could Zen tell the Zorua boy that his parents had been killed that way, and so he didn't like talking about it?

He couldn't.

A perfectly rational individual would have turned around and headed for the hills. They would have put as much distance as possible between themselves and Rizal, because the Zorua was a potential threat.

But Pokémon don't always make rational decisions. As frightened as Zen was at what Rizal had just said, the Riolu boy was still eager for companionship. He'd spent the better part of the year alone, save for Valentina.

He needed someone else to talk to, whether he liked it or not.

"Why aren't you saying anything, Zen?" Rizal asked the Riolu boy. "I asked you a question, and in general, when someone asks a question, you are supposed to answer."

Zen sighed. "Sorry. Just zoned out a bit. Anyway…you said you were going to go hunting with Cedric?"

I have to act normal. I need him to think that nothing's wrong, or else something will go wrong, and that something might be that I end up in big trouble with Valentina, or worse.

"Yes," Rizal replied. "But I don't know how much older I have to be…maybe it's not until I evolve."

"Evolve?"

The Zorua boy glanced at Zen skeptically. "You know what evolution is. You're going to become a Lucario once you're old enough, or…doesn't it have to do with when your happiness reaches a certain level?"

Zen snorted. "I guess so…I haven't given it that much thought, really."

Man, I'm really bungling this, aren't I?

"Well, we're still young, so you don't need to think about it all the time," Rizal assured him. "But one of these days, you'll be excited to become a Lucario. And then you'll be able to sense aura even better!"

Zen sighed as he suddenly understood something. If he could read Rizal's aura, he might know whether or not the Zorua boy wanted to harm him.

Why would he want to harm me, though? It's not like we have a grudge. It's not like he knows about his owner's desire to shoot me. Hell, I don't even know if Cedric does want to shoot me.

But, in the midst of all the warring thoughts inside Zen's mind, it was hard to concentrate on trying to read Rizal's aura. He just couldn't think as clearly as he wanted to.

"Listen, Rizal, I don't have much time," the Riolu boy said. "My owner will wake up soon, and she can't know that I snuck out so early. She's a pretty strict woman."

The Zorua frowned. "What's it to her if you break the rules a bit? It's your life."

Zen shrugged. "My owner has given me a lot. The least I can do is obey her whenever I have to. And, since I'm still a kid, I don't really have any choice."

"What's her name? What's she like?" Rizal asked.

The Riolu was more than a little taken aback. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel mild excitement when he realized that the Zorua was curious about him. Rizal wanted to get to know him, something that Zen hadn't experienced in quite some time; indeed, not since he'd met Valentina.

"Her name's Valentina. And, well, she's strict, but she is quite kind as well. She's got a library of books, and she's also an excellent cook. Her meatball soup is the best thing ever in winter, got me through it."

"How long have you been living with her?"

"About…must be eight, nine months by now" Zen replied. "Sorry that I don't know the exact number, it's easy to lose track of time."

"I understand. Last question: How did you find Valentina?"

The Riolu boy chuckled a bit, before realizing that this was no laughing matter at all. In fact, it was a question he was frightened to answer, because it would reveal the truth. And in this case, the truth would not set him free; quite the opposite.

"I'm afraid that's a bit personal, partner" Zen said. The addition of the word partner sounded great in his mind, but once he'd actually said it, not so much.

Rizal laughed lightheartedly. "Partner? I mean, what makes us partners? Are we going to be friends?"

Zen's heart leaped. Here he was, getting what he'd wanted out of this interaction. He desired friendship, and that's what he would receive.

"Of course! If you want to be, obviously."

The young Riolu could barely contain his joy. It was hard to believe that after so long, so much time with only Valentina for company, he had a new friend.

"Sounds like a deal! Want to shake on it?"

After Zen and Rizal shook one another's paw, the Riolu boy bade his new friend goodbye and turned around to head back to Valentina's house. The sun had come up now, and if his owner wasn't awake already, she would be soon. He didn't have much time.

The Riolu bounded up the steps to the porch, then opened the door rapidly. This would prove a big mistake.

The door squeaked considerably on its hinges, a sound that made Zen's teeth hurt. The most important thing, though, was that he'd gotten inside without Valentina noticing.

Or, at least, he thought he had. That was mistake number two.

A tall, skinny woman with white blonde hair stood at the stove, cracking an egg into a sizzling pan. The sizzling was making noise, of course, but it could only drown out so much.

"Who's that?" Valentina gasped. "Can't have been the wind."

Zen sighed deeply once more. He'd come so close to detection, it was hard to believe she hadn't noticed him. Then again, one can't count their Combusken until they've hatched.

Valentina swiveled around, then half gasped, half screamed as she saw the Riolu boy standing in the doorway.

"Zen!" she exclaimed. "I thought you were a beast of some sort; you must have been running, that's the only way you could have been so loud!"

"Well, it's an old house," Zen responded, trying to sound nonchalant. He just had to act naturally, and maybe he could get away with this.

"Yes, but it's not that old," Valentina said. Then, getting a better look at Zen, she exclaimed, "Hold up! You're covered in dirt; have you been outside?"

Oh, this is not good. Not good at all.

Zen spent a few seconds weighing whether or not he should lie. Ultimately, however, doing so would be useless, since Valentina would see right through it.

Slowly, with significant trepidation, he nodded.

"Zen! I thought I impressed upon you just how dangerous it is out there! If the wrong person sees you, you know what's going to happen!"

The Riolu boy frowned. "But Cedric didn't see me. He was probably still asleep, because all I saw was his Zorua."

"That doesn't matter," Valentina snapped. "He could have seen you, and that's terrifying in itself. And if he had a trigger finger this morning…I don't need to wonder what would have happened."

"But I didn't go inside," Zen replied. He was casting around for any way to get out of trouble, but the avenues for doing so seemed to be getting fewer and fewer. "I just went to the little house next to his and talked to his Zorua."

Valentina frowned. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I needed someone else to talk to, okay?" the Riolu boy said. "It's not that I don't love you, but it can get lonely here sometimes when it's just the two of us."

His owner's eyes widened, and her anger seemed to spike once more.

Zen prepared for the worst; he expected to be yelled at until he had a seizure. He half expected that Valentina might slap him, even though she'd shown no tendencies towards corporal punishment before.

Instead, Valentina sighed angrily. She looked away from Zen for a moment, then back at him. And she spoke once more, this time in an exasperated tone.

"Look. I know you wanted to have a new friend, and I understand that. But you can't forget about me, too. If you died, I would be all alone again, and you don't want that for me, do you?"

The young Riolu's heart sank as he realized that she was right. He hadn't been considering Valentina when he'd run out of the house this morning, except as someone he needed to avoid. But she was also a living being, with feelings and desires as well.

"I don't," Zen repeated. "I…I'm just so sorry. I didn't think about that when I went outside. I guess I just didn't think it was that dangerous."

"Oh, it was dangerous all right," Valentina responded. "I would think that after what happened to your parents, you would know better than to go out on your own like that. I love you dearly, Zen, but you can't do things like this. You just can't."

The Riolu boy's blood began to simmer. Even with his connection to Valentina, he couldn't overlook the fact that she'd just invoked his parents. He clenched his paws into fists.

"That's a bit of a sore subject for me still," Zen said through gritted teeth. "You just reminded me of that."

Zen couldn't help but picture the scene back at the cave from that dreadful day. He hadn't been there, he hadn't even seen it, but the imagination can run wild when you don't want it to.

Raine and Nathaniel Lucario had just yelled at their son to leave the cave. This had happened after the first gunshots had been heard just outside of it.

Raine knew that her son would be safer out in the open. Especially if he ran in a zigzag pattern, it would be more difficult for the hunters to shoot him, but even if he didn't, he was a moving target outdoors. Here, there were only so many places he could hide.

The hunter, meanwhile, whom Zen pictured as a stocky man with a beard, pointed his rifle into the cave. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he exclaimed in a singsong voice, as though this were just a regular game of hide and seek.

Nathaniel picked up a chair from next to the table and carried it over to the cave's exit. It might not do much to barricade the doorway, but it could still be used as a weapon if necessary.

Another gunshot rang out from the entrance to the cave.

"Nathaniel! Be careful!" Raine shouted at her husband.

"Raine! Be quiet!" the other Lucario half whispered, half shouted at his wife. Of course, this instruction was pretty futile, because there was simply no way they could hide for long. The cave was a pleasant home, but it wasn't a big one.

Zen shivered, opening his eyes. He couldn't take it anymore; he didn't want to think about his parents any longer.

He might have had pleasant memories of them before, but now they were just painful to think about. Even thinking about his parents was difficult, because these thoughts served as a reminder of what could have been. What should have been.

"Zen? Are you okay? You haven't said anything."

The Riolu boy snapped out of it. "Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. "I was just thinking about stuff, that's all."

"Well, it's important to focus on the conversation when you're having it" Valentina responded curtly. "And you know that I don't like raising my voice, but I do it when I have to, and I felt that I had to raise my voice there."

Zen nodded. "I understand, Valentina. You can punish me, you can do whatever you want. I can't stop you."

Valentina frowned. "I wasn't going to punish you. I'm still not going to. The only 'punishment' I'll give you is that I'll further enforce this rule: You are not to go outside where I can't see you. Do you understand why that's important?"

"Yes, Valentina" the Shiny Riolu responded morosely. "I understand."

"Very well. It's almost time for breakfast now, so why don't you go sit at the table? We'll have a nice meal together, just the two of us."

Just the two of us. Another stark reminder, whether she realized it or not, that the hunters had taken away everything Zen had considered "normal" in life. Someday, his loss might be easier to ignore, but it would never be easier to accept.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. The young Riolu polished off his entire plate without tasting any of it, and he found it heavily awkward whenever he looked up at Valentina. The woman seemed, too, to find it uncomfortable, as though she regretted talking to Zen that way.

Neither of them said a word during the whole meal, not until Zen asked to be excused from the table, and Valentina granted this request.

The Riolu boy made his way back to his room and sat on his bed, crossing his legs as he did so. He then lowered his head, feeling the tears form in his eyes.

Valentina was still his new family, of course. Nothing would change that. But somehow, it felt as though their relationship had changed irrevocably after today. And it was all his fault.

Zen looked outside the window at the other house and cried.