Lu felt his life had a lot more intrigue and wonder since his trip to the city. Sadly, he couldn't wander too far from home, as it would be left unlocked for him. Dad had called this a "big responsibility," and that he shouldn't wander too far because of it. However, this didn't dissuade Lu from trying. He knew that they didn't get visitors, and the mailbox to the house was beside the dirt road exit beside the highway, so not even there mailman would visit.

He never was far away for too long. The door to the house was unlocked for him and him alone. The trust placed on him gave him a sense of pride, which often conflicted with his newfound desire to explore. He started to become friends with the neighboring pokémon. His mannerisms and clothing worried the elders, while the youth found him quite exotic. Despite this, he made some friends who accepted his weird mannerisms and even found them charming.

Sadly… friendships with wild pokémon never seemed to last. They would either migrate away with their family and never be seen from again, or they would become busy taking care of their families and "communities". The little pokémon were always jealous when Lu said he had no such responsibilities, or awestruck that the few responsibilities he did have were so much different from their own. Many rattata, fletchling, fennekin, and other forest dwelling pokémon came in and out of his life so often, he developed a conflicting twist of emotions of nihilistic acceptance and a hope that "this time could be different." The first time he had dad to comfort him, assuring him "Cherish your time with others.", "If you're lucky, you will bump into them again.", and "Wild pokémon don't have our luxuries."

That last line stuck with him throughout the years. As his schooling became laxer as dad started to run out of things to teach, he was given more and more athletics and physical training. Simple aerobics exercises became the norm for Lu. After breakfast, dad would quickly go through a simple aerobic exercise for him before leaving to do his job. He would refuse to let Lu join him with the excuse that it was dangerous, and Lu's frustration grew. His frustration was not left unnoticed. For Lu's second birthday, he gave him a key to the house. This little key was boxed within an intricate series of presents with messages giving excitement to the gift within that box. The fourth box contained the actual key, and upon it's unboxing brought Lu much joy.

From then on, Lu started to explore much further into the forest now that he could lock and unlock the door behind him. He found old friends, made regular visits, and helped with chores; the more violent chores he decided to not stick around for. While he had a lot of fun exploring the forest with friends, his thoughts somehow turned to Stardust City at the end of the day. Within two months of receiving the key, he started racing himself to places he had been: the lake, his friends' tribes, and back to the house. He timed himself, his trips becoming faster and faster. It started to take ten minutes to sprint to the lake as opposed to an hour walk when he goes with dad. Visits to his friends took less and less travel time as well, and soon these distances wouldn't be enough to wind him.

At the end of the two months mentioned, he couldn't wait any longer. He had to try a quick little visit to Stardust City. He took his time walking to the highway that led him to his magical destination, a little scared of what dad might say if he caught him. Despite the fear of potential trouble, he continued. He only had to be faster than dad, and speed was the one thing he practiced the past few months. That and endurance. As he looked over the horizon towards Stardust City, he could feel his confidence surge! He could do this, he knew he could! It's just a very long straight line he would have to run.

Lu took a deep breath, then another. After his second breath, he took a step forward, and then another. Slowly he built his speed up to a brisk run, then from there he quickly broke into a full sprint. He ran as fast as he could down the unoccupied highway, a towering building looming from far away coming ever so closer the faster he ran. He noticed some foot traffic: trainers riding on their pokémon going in both directions up and down the road. It was the only traffic on these roads until he reached the first suburb after about twenty minutes of sprinting. Here was his first obstacle: vehicles started to get on and off the highway, but now there was a sidewalk on either side of it. For now, the sidewalk was his and a handful of trainers. Easily, he weaved around and jumped over the trainers that were in his path, leaving them startled or confused at what just nearly collided with them. He sped along, shouting "Excuse me!" as he sped by each person, at least until he met his next obstacle. Within another fifteen minutes, he had managed to sprint to the sign he missed the first time. He gradually came to a stop as he approached, getting a good read of this side of the green sign. 'You are entering Stardust City. Starman welcomes you!' Starman… this name filled Lu with a curiosity that stopped him in his tracks.

The foot traffic had stopped moving to get a look at the blue blur that they were dodging. A lot of the crowd was upset, but the words "cute" and "adorable" were thrown around despite the apparent anger of the crowd. A lithe girl in a sporty-blue spandex top with matching shorts leaned forward but turned her head back as she brushed some of her black, straight hair behind her ear to face the rest of the crowd as she called out "He's probably lost or something! Everyone relax!" and on that cue, someone from the crowd asked rather loudly for a pokémon ranger as another person expressed disinterested concern. Lu twitched his head around nervously, thankful that the highway became an overpass after the sign and not before, but when someone pointed out Lu's odd behavior, quickly everyone's anger became one of concern. The lithe girl took a kneeled step closer with a hand outstretched as if he was some sort of wounded animal and she said "Hey little guy… it's ok. We aren't going to take you back to wherever you ran from." and upon saying that, some people within the crowd started to 'Aw' audibly to what they thought must have been some sort of revelation.

"Uh… n-no its ok. I'm just visiting." Lu nervously insisted as he started to back up to the edge of the sidewalk. One person just said how cute it was that he could talk, in response as the girl in the blue spandex just smiled as she kept kneeling, trying to keep eye contact with Lu. "You're a performing pokémon, aren't you?" she asked as she reached into one of her many pouches attached to a brown belt on her waist and pulled out a yellow berry. She gently offered it to him with a fully extended hand which Lu tried to decline politely with waving his hands. "No… and no thank you." Lu said as kind as he could with a small crowd of people staring at him as he backed cautiously onto the grass between the highway and the suburb. "Come on… I'm not going to hurt you." she sweetly encouraged. Lu turned his back to the girl, and before he sped off, he waved as he said "Probably not, but I gotta go now. I'll see ya later." Off he went, down the grass, a slight detour in his plans as he dashed down the sidewalks, following the obstructed overpass the best he could from the suburbs down below.

He ran a good few miles zig-zagging his way into the city until he started hopping fences. After he jumped a few fences and almost got his foot caught between two wooden posts, he decided to just jump from rooftop to rooftop. This took more effort than it was worth, however, as he spent more time slowing down to make each jump properly. The instant an on-ramp onto the overpass stood between him and a building on the other side, he jumped onto the parapet and ran up it to get back to the highway. The only barrier that kept him from running on the sidewalk of the highway again was a lack of sidewalk. He grumbled as he looked around his surroundings, turning to sit on the parapet. He smiled softly as he contemplated his progress. He made superb time despite the crowd slowing him down. The sun didn't move much in the sky. If he could glimpse at a clock, he would get a better of how much time had passed. His thoughts were interrupted by the shadow of a bird from up above, quickly sneaking across the clean sidewalks and mostly-similar homes. He could tell it was a braviary, but beyond that he couldn't tell anything else about it.

Or at least until its silhouette looked right at him, he could tell it took an interest in him. It glided in a tight circle downward and back the way it came, staring at Lu the entire time it made its turn until it couldn't keep looking. He felt a growing unease from within as he stood up to resume his journey to the city proper. He climbed his way down the side of the on-ramp and back onto the roof he had just jumped off then he leaped to the streets. He made his way around the overpass, and he went back to safely dashing on the sidewalks, the few trees covering for him as he zig-zagged his way to the heart of the city. The houses grew bigger and more densely packed as he ran inwards towards the center of the city. He was soon forced to slow down as the sheer number of people and pokémon on the sidewalk forced him to concentrate on not bumping into anyone. The sheer energy of so many people bustling around him brought an eager smile to his lips as he worked his way deeper and deeper into the city. There were so many cars honking on the street, people talking on their phones and pokémon from all over making various noises. He jogged his way further into the city as he eyed the many buildings and the storefronts at ground level. As big as the buildings were this far in, they only seemed to get bigger and bigger. Further inward, the buildings had signs on them some of which were animated with sound advertising sodas, pokéballs, clothing, plays, movies, there was an advertisement for everything!

The only thing that mattered though, was reaching that very tall building, which none other was as big. He jogged the fastest he could within the bustling streets, politely saying" Excuse me!" every time he squeezed pass people's legs as he reached closer and closer to the behemoth of a building until finally… he reached it. All roads led to this building which sat alone within a roundabout, every sidewalk with its own footbridge to the center and a lone street with metal barricades that went under the building. The building itself was cylindrical all the way to the top, sections of the building narrower than the previous as it went higher and higher. He stared up at awe of this imposing structure, which welcomed visitors who entered it as the "Sky Needle" with a bright monitor which curved around the building's shape right above the main entrance. Above the sign, behind a digital billboard was the head of that same braviary peeking around from behind. His eyes locked at the rather well-groomed hawk, getting a better look as it looked back with eyes widened by mild shock and embarrassment. The plume of feathers behind its "feather crown" were quite smooth against its neck. After a few moments of staring, it took off and quickly went back in the direction that Lu came. Lu cautiously went off in a random direction, eyes focused to the sky as he found a trainer walking an arcanine to hide behind.

He walked cautiously next to a large arcanine, both it and its buff male trainer not paying Lu much mind for three city blocks. Once they crossed to the fourth block, the trainer shooed Lu away and the two increased pace. Lu found himself innocently backing into a nearby deli and quickly he bumped into the shins of a rather large man. This man just looked down at Lu before gently scooting him aside with his leg, holding a phone to his ear as his other held onto a briefcase with a bunch of sandwiches on it. Lu called out "Rude!" before turning back to the inside of the deli. Some people turned to stare but others minded their own business, waiting in a modest line of at least five people at the register. Some of these people carried a few bags of groceries, while others waited to make an order for food of some sort. Lu got in line behind of a lady holding a plastic bag of groceries, where he looked around the cozy wooden interior of the deli and the meager number of aisles. It was nothing like that other store he visited with dad. It felt a lot more… comfortable. The wooden interior felt very reminiscent of the wooden interior of home. It had much more food though. Even right next to him there was candy and other snacks within arm's reach, so he grabbed an arm full off snacks, one of each kind! He held out his hoodie and he cradled the snacks within, beaming as he waited for his turn at the register. He held his enthusiasm all the way to the cashier, a big eager smile complete with wide eyes as it became his turn. He held his bundle of snacks in his shirt as he lept up to the counter, then he spilled the contents to the cashier. The cashier's dumbfound look as this little riolu dropped a bunch of candy and other snacks onto the counter grew as he gathered his words.

"Are… are yah picking up an ardeh?" the portly man asked in a thick accent as he sifted through the colorful bags of candy. "No! I want to know the prices of these!" Lu asked as he took a seat on the counter. The cashier asked "Haw are yah ganna pay for this?" as he calculated the price of everything into the cash register. As Lu opened his mouth to respond, the man continued with "That's ganna cahst yah three thousand P's." Quickly the wind was taken from Lu's sails, and his smile became a disappointed frown. "Oh... I thought that I could find the money… but I don't think I can find that amount before the end of the day…" he said defeated as he stood up. Before he could jump down from the counter, the cashier spoke "Hey, hald up." and Lu stopped, looking to the cashier with an inquisitive brow raised and a tilt to his head. The cashier walked to a metallic toaster oven, one of four that hung over a long counter. He opened the left-most toaster oven and he pulled out a wrapped sandwich all ready to go. He headed back to Lu then handed him the sandwich, who eagerly took it from the cashier's hand. He eyed the sandwich with reverence, then turned his eyes back to the cashier as he beamed brightly, tail wagging a mile a minute. "Really!?" Lu asked as he held the sandwich to his chest like a prize of some sort. The cashier looked into Lu's puppy eyes as he told him "Uh, yeah. The custamer neveh picked up his ardeh. Yeu can have it ah guess." Lu's tail stopped beaming as he eyed the sandwich to then turn his head back to the portly cashier. "Is it safe to eat?" he asked as he looked it over. The cashier just nodded as he waved a hand dismissively and said "Yeah, it's just been in there for ah day. It's geud." which brought Lu back to happily wagging at his rather large meal. Before he could hop off the counter though, a chocolate milk was slapped onto the counter, Lu's eyes somehow grew bigger with awe. "Dan't get tew used tah this." The cashier said with a big smile of his own. Lu grabbed the chocolate milk and he stuffed it into his hoodie pocket as he said many thanks to the kind cashier. "Yah welcome. Now then, get an aut ah here and enjay ya day!" The cashier said as Lu scampered out and back onto the street.

With his gift in hand he took a step down the sidewalk, and this is when he felt a familiar presence. His dreads floated up as he started to look around with his aura. That's when he noticed perched on the awning of the deli was the same braviary as before. It hadn't noticed him though as it's head rotated back and forth slowly. Lu took a quick note of the deli he just walked out of before staring at the head of the braviary. As it looked fully to its left, he made a quick dash to the right then quickly he dived into an alley and continued running. He emerged quickly on the other side and quickly he crossed the street to go through another alley way. He dodged cars and people walking from both sides, desperate to escape his airborne stalker. He ducked into another alleyway, and quickly he came upon a floating object just about head height. Upon trying to step around it, it had shifted in front of his movement and the two collided with a loud metallic thunk. Lu had fallen back onto his butt, dazed from smacking his head, but the object had crashed to the pavement rather hard.

As he regained his bearings, one hand rubbing his head as his other arm cradled his meal, he looked up, and he saw laying in front of him was a magnemite also recovering from their collision. Quickly, Lu took his free hand and he helped the magnemite up, pulling it by one of its magnets back up into the air as he frantically apologized. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Lu said as it stabilized itself in the air. It looked back at Lu, it's eye narrowing apologetically as it buzzed then made a quiet yet high-pitched noise. Its noises confused Lu briefly, at least until Lu tried telepathy. "Can you repeat that?" he asked. "You can read my mind?" the magnemite asked as it hovered closer to Lu. He just nodded as he smiled to his new potential friend. "Yeah, I got aura and a little telepathy. Cool huh?"

"You can talk to everyone!" the magnemite thought as it spun around happily, magnets wiggling back and forth as it did so. "I was about to head to the gathering spot-" it started to think to Lu, but it started to speak as if it was unsure "but you wouldn't know what that is, would you?" Lu just shrugged as he explained "Well… I'm visiting… so no." The magnemite sprung to life, hovering behind Lu as it started to push him using its little screws under its eye. "You're going to have fun! I HAVE to show you this place!" it insisted with heavy emphasis on "have"… or was that just in his head? Regardless, he went along with the pushing until it stopped and just eagerly Led Lu to the "gathering spot". The walk there was relatively quick, mostly because the magnemite constantly pushed Lu towards the destination with a fervent eagerness. The entire time Lu kept a paranoid watch for the breviary as they crossed streets and through relatively clean alleyways.

After Lu climbed a large fence, they stood before a rather large playground assembled with debris and garbage. Loosely cobbled together tires of various sizes were the foundation of a few sheets of plywood for a ramshackle house, a rope ladder constructed of what seemed to be recycled wood was the only entrance into this little shack. Protruding from the left and right sides from the shack were smooth, thick pieces of sheet metal curved to form curved slides on either side. The slide on the left curved to spiral the entire way to the ground, while the other slide was a simple steep slope to the ground. On the roof of the shack is a pole and wires that connected to similar poles on the roofs of the nearby buildings. Around the shack were metal poles poking out of tires, bent over to pierce the tire next to it to create some sort of asymmetrical bridge of multiple heights. There were two entrances to the shack which tire some debris were no tin the way, both in front and behind the shack proper. Any alleyways connected to this lot had tall mesh fences at the entrance to the alleyways themselves, four long alley ways total separated the buildings around this makeshift playground.

As impressive as this all was to Lu… he looked over to the shack in the middle of everything before he walked towards it, asking his hovering friend "I don't think you gave me your name." The magnemite raised its magnets as its eyes widened to this news flash, and quickly it tried to correct this. "Oh! Sorry sorry! My name is-" then suddenly as it communicated its name, a series of high pitched noises went through Lu's head. Confused, his head tilted as he asked it once more for its name, then again, the same series of noises went through his head. "Can I just call you Beep?" he asked politely. The magnemite just nodded to this, a little defeated as it said "Yeah…"

"So Beep… can I eat in the house there?" he asked as he pointed to the shack. "I don't see why not." Was Beep's reply before it floated off somewhere to the right, while Lu made a dash for the shack. He jumped half way up the rope ladder then grabbed on with his free arm to quickly scurry up to the outcropping platform of wood that served as a landing for people to step on. Finally, he could sink his teeth into the delectable looking wrapped sandwich, the aroma of which teased him since it was handed to him. He could detect a scent bacon, and out of curiosity, he unwrapped it from its aluminum foil wrapping, and he removed the long piece of bread on top. Sure enough, long pieces of bacon that stretch the span of the sandwich was seen under lettuce and pickles. Mayonnaise was evenly layered with provolone, pastrami, tomatoes, and spinach. This beast of a meal only got better. Gingerly, Lu placed the bread back on to make the hero complete once more. Savoring this moment, he raised the sandwich to his mouth… and with it rose a pair of magnets. The magnets got closer, obscured behind the sandwich was the rest of Beep.

"It's just us here it seems." Beep said as Lu lowered his meal to look at it eye-to eye. "Usually at least one of the slowkings are here. Sorry that it seems so empty." It apologized sincerely as it floated to hover next to him. "How many are there normally?" he felt the need to ask. Beep's only response was a simple "Two." After a few moments of silence, Lu raised the sandwich to his lips once more, and Beep watched. While uncomfortably close, it watched in awe of something it could never do unfurl happen right in front of it, as Lu leaned away to create a little breathing space between himself and his eager observer.

"What is it like to eat?" Beep probed. Lu sighed as he lowered his sandwich yet again, then turned to face the curious floating ball of metal. "I don't know how to describe that." he politely told Beep. It just nodded quietly as it looked at Lu, then spoke up after a few moments of silence. "You never gave me your name." it announced bluntly to him, who went on to savor a bite out of his sandwich finally after involuntary procrastination.

He could taste the different meats, combined with the condiments and greens within the sandwich was one of the tastiest foods he has ever eaten. The fact that the sandwich itself was a little dry only hinted to how it could taste fresh. This very idea of eating such a great sandwich in its prime brought a smile to his face… at least until a piercing beep struck his ears.

Lu winced as the sound briefly pierced his hearing, and he quickly turned his head back to Beep.

"WHAT?!" he shouted in surprise.

"What?" Beep asked, no longer making any noises.

"What?" Lu repeated, this time much nicer in tone as he dove back in for another bite.

"Are you ok? You spaced out when I asked you your name." it said as it watched him eat, this time further back without invading his space. "Did you forget it?"

"No, it's Louis. You can call me Lu if you want though." he said with a smile now, mouth full of a tasty meal. Moments of silence passed, only the sould of Lu's quiet eating was audible between the two. He thought of something fun as he swallowed a bite. "Ever heard a ratatta?" he would ask with a big grin on his face right before reaching forward for another bite from his large meal. Beep tilted slightly as he looked to Lu curiously. "Yeah." it said as it watched Lu lower his meal. He swallowed what he had, and after a deep breath he started to chitter and squeak. His hands moved in front of his mouth as he imitated a ratatta, and Beep's eye elated before spinning around. "Oh my gosh, that's so cool!" it exclaimed before it started to attempt imitating alongside Lu. Its attempt was quite futile, making only beeps of different tones. The two had fun despite Beep's inability to not sound like a circuit board, and they both made weird noises of things they knew. They caught the attention of the odd passerby, but otherwise no one seemed to care of the two pokémon imitating other pokémon.

Beep was the one to interrupt the fun when he turned his head up towards a roof viewing the lot. "Do you have to go?" it asked before turning back to face Lu. Out of curiosity, he followed his eyes to where Beep looked, and sure enough… there was that bird again! His eyes narrowed as he stared at the bird, looking him directly in the eyes as he held what remained of his sandwich. This time… it just looked back sternly at Lu, unblinking as Lu grasped his bottle of chocolate milk and stuffed it into his hoodie pocket. "It looks like it." he replied as he held his sandwich to his chest. "I think he wants me." Beep started looking at the braviary with worry in its eye. "So… what are you going to do?"

"Run." he said as he stood up. "It was great meeting you, Beep. I'll come back another day, alright?" Beep rotated to face Lu, but as it asked "Where do you live?" the braviary spread its wings, and Lu leaped from the platform. He landed hard against the hard cement then sprinted off back to the fence. The breviary dived towards him the instant he made a move. He had nowhere to go, he couldn't jump the fence in one leap with his hands full and the braviary landed before him. With his feet on the ground, the braviary blocked the way back into the lot as well. He glared at Lu almost as if it was chastising him, his mind absent of thought except for a constant reminder not to hurt the riolu. It took a step towards Lu with some sort of authoritative grace, and then received a nasty shock from behind. A loud boom reverberated in the alleyway as the braviary took a fall, and behind the braviary was Beep. It waved to Lu with a magnet, and Lu waved back with a grateful smile before clutching the sandwich yet again. He leaped his way back up and then over the chain-link fence. He turned sharply, and he traced his path back the way he came. Weaving through alleyways, retracing his steps as the loud sound of a series of loud piping could be heard following. It was up, and it was angry. He dashed off as fast as he could back south, the setting sun his only source of direction when he could see it from behind the towering buildings. He ran as fast as he could across the busy streets of He ran as fast as he could across the busy streets of Stardust. He leapt onto the roof of cars and between people's feet as he attempted his escape, the braviary unobstructed as he soared after him. The two remained relatively equidistant throughout the chase back to the highway. Once he could reach the section with sidewalk, he could outrun it… or at least that was his plan.

The braviary started piping after a mile chase of silence through the suburbs. Lu could feel another presence getting closer and closer from the ground level, somewhere off to the right. He looked for aura traces of this new entity, and soon enough a sceptiole suddenly entered his aura sense from the right. Quickly it closed the distance between them then attempted a leaping grab at Lu! He saw it coming and slid under the sceptile's hand. It got off its belly and onto all fours while Lu instantly recovered from his slide and continued his sprint, not stopping for anything. He turned around a street corner and sure enough there was the braviary again, this time diving in at breakneck speed! Lu stopped moving, and in a split decision he fell onto his back, holding his sandwich up in sacrifice as he turned his head and closed his eyes. He dove from the sky, talons open when Lu fell backwards. The talons grabbed and picked up the sandwich from Lu's grasp and off he flew with the tasty sacrifice… at least for a short while. When he lowered his head to see exactly what it was he picked up, Lu stopped watching him fly off and he immediately turned tail. His sorrowful sacrifice was short lived, but not in vain. The distraction let him get back to the highway safely, and once he got onto the sidewalk he ran as fast as he could. The only obstacles now were other people. He felt confident in his ability to make it back home safely. The sceptile stayed on his tail though, and the braviary despite being hot on their tails, was getting tired and started falling behind. As the foot traffic thinned, Lu gained speed and the sceptile kept pace. After what felt like a good fifteen minutes of straight sprinting, the braviary was no longer around. The sceptile's stamina was tested too, and soon it started slowing down. It audibly panted as the long-distance sprint started to take a toll on him. Lu was smirking as he felt an air of superiority; outrunning these stronger, more evolved pokémon was a big ego boost! At least until the sceptile decided to make a sharp turn into the dense forest beside the road.

Lu was quite concerned for the rest of his run, no longer able to see his pursuer. The instant he made the turn onto the dirt path, he took the house key from his pants pocket and shoved it into the lock as soon as he could. His breathing was ragged and heavy from the long run, mixed with the adrenaline he got from being chased out of the city. All and all… it was a very interesting day. He honestly couldn't wait to go back, even if he had to figure out how to stop those two in the future.

Speaking of obstacles, the door knob turned and the door slowly opened. Quickly, Lu patted his clothes flat and then casually leaned against the table. Much to his surprise, it wasn't dad who popped his head through the doorway, but that sceptile. Lu panicked as he backed under the table, the sceptile panting as it walked calmly into the house and over to the table. It kneeled and it looked Lu in the eyes, trying to attempt some sort of friendly smile as it heaved. A pair of combat boots stepped quietly behind the sceptile, slowly it got closer and closer to them both. The instant it got close to the sceptile, a pair of arms wrapped around the sceptile's neck as a foot stomped roughly onto the tail. He peeked his head out from under the table, and there was dad, choking it out with some sort of strangle hold.

"You see…" dad begun as he lifted it by its neck, flailing its legs as it tried to swing its arms back to hit dad with the leaves on its wrists. "The key to subduing a sceptile…" he explained as his own grunts interrupted his lecture occasionally, the sceptile resisting through flailing its limbs and crying out the best it could with a muscular arm wrapped around its neck. "Is… you have to pin the tail as you keep the feet off the ground…" The sceptile at this point squirmed less and less within dad's hold, eyes slowly lidding. "Or it will whack you. So… you need… to have a firm grasp around its neck like so, pinning one arm above its head… or it will stab you…" Now the sceptile was starting to fall unconscious, its thrashing declining in intensity. Dad spoke calmly now as its resistance to dad dwindled then fell limp. "but if you don't want to risk getting hurt fighting a sceptile…" he would say now as he held it for a few more seconds after it passed out, laying it on the floor gently after he was satisfied it was unconscious. "then don't provoke it." Now he spoke to Lu accusatory in tone as his brow furrowed. "What did you do?"

"N-nothing!" Lu protested. "He followed me from the forest!" Now dad's brow lifted as he informed him with "Sceptile aren't native to Rokuda." as he went into the back room. Lu panicked silently, a hand tugging lightly at one of his dreads tried to think of some sort of excuse. Dad emerged from the crafts room as Lu he tried to speak, and a familiar feminine voice called out from the front of the cabin "HEY! YOU IN THERE!" as dad started to hog-tie the sceptile's limbs to its tail. Lu cringed and hid his face in his hands as he realized the possibility of talking his way out of punishment vanished. Sure enough, when the front door opened, there was the girl that offered Lu the berry earlier in the day. Lu followed dad to the front door and watched the two talk from between dad's legs. The athletic lass was quite livid as she shouted accusations. "WHERE IS JESTUS!?" Dad just raised his eyebrow at her senseless shouting, at least until she spotted Lu. She pointed to him now, shouting "YOU! WHERE IS HE!?" she cried out, her voice raising in volume as her worry rose.

Dad just grunted as he unslung the rifle from his shoulder and he pointed it in her direction, making a show of racking the next round The previous bullet ejected from the port. Quickly the girl calmed down almost as her hands raised. "Let's try this again." dad calmly instructed as he kept his rifle level. "My name is Aldo. Everyone calls me Al. What's your name?"

Her voice shook as she eyed his rifle. "C-Cami. My friends call me Cami." She said nervously as her eyes drifted to the bullet in the grass, the bullet bright blue with a white stripe around its base contrasting with the grass, the case itself a boring brass color. "Your bullets aren't lethal." she noticed as her hands lowered cautiously. "See? I don't want to hurt anyone." he replied as he cautiously lowered his rifle. In doing so, Cami started to walk forward, and dad quickly pointed as he gruffly spoke "You stay there. You came to my house screaming nonsense."

"I just want Jestus back." she pleaded. Dad would look back to the unconscious sceptile in his dining room as he replied "Is Jestus a sceptile?" Cami nodded eagerly. "I'll go get him, wait right here." he spoke as he turned, prompting Lu to scurry away. He pulled the chocolate milk out from his hoodie pocket as he watched dad carry the sceptile out of the house by the rope as if he was luggage. Cami's eyes lit up as she saw Jestus carried out to her. Jestus was placed a few feet away from Cami, and the instant dad took a step back she ran over to untie him. Frantically, she removed the rope from around his limbs as she cooed words to him gently, Jestus still unconscious in her arms. After returning Jestus back to his pokéball did dad approach Cami.

"You should take him to a pokémon center." He advised as he watched her put the pokéball on the side of one of her fanny packs. Her head turned to him, alarmed of his advice and the ominous implications that came with. "What did you do to him?!" she asked, eyes glued to him as he casually explained "A pokémon broke into my house and harassed Louis there, so I knocked him out." He said, pointing to Lu as he took a swig of his chocolate milk, waving to them both as he was pointed at.

Cami stood up as she looked dad in the eyes, then apologetically said "I'm sorry for my sceptile invading your home… and chasing your riolu… and stalking him." Dad turned his head towards Lu, looking a bit aghast at this news who would in turn chug the rest of his drink before heading back inside to jump onto the dining-room table. "I'm… sorry?" he asked, mouth borderline agape as he tried to wrap his head around everything. "Where did this take place?" Cami took a deep breath, starting her explanation nervously as she exhaled. "So… I saw your riolu running on the highway and he stopped in front of the welcome sign. He looked lost so…" her face started to turn red from embarrassment as she started looking at dad with the side of her face as she said "I MAY have thought he was running away from abusive trainers or something, and I thought that since he was wearing clothes he didn't know how to fight, so I MAY have convinced my sceptile and braviary to keep an eye on him so he wouldn't get in trouble… and I MAY have exaggerated a LIIIITTLE too much… I guess they took it upon themselves to try to bring him to me… but…" Cami paused to gulp briefly. "Well… one thing led to another, and it turns out that your riolu is so fast he outran my sceptile and braviary… and well… here we are."

Dad nodded silently to every word. "Thank you, Cami. There's no hard feelings." he said as he started to wrap things up. Meanwhile, Lu sat on the dining room table, awaiting the stern talking to he was undoubtedly going to get. He spied on them both, listening as Cami revealed to dad exactly where he went today, watching dad's aura to see just how much trouble he was going to be in. While he was talking to Cami, dad seemed somewhat upset, his aura moving faster and gaining a red tint. It was when Cami waved goodbye and called out her braviary to fly away did dad's aura suddenly spike and become bright red. He calmly entered the house, a huge contrast to the anger that he knew he was feeling. He calmly approached him and looked him so deep in the eyes Lu swore he looked into his soul.

"You managed to run to the city and back, get a group of pokémon to chase you the entire time…" he paused to take a deep breath as he closed his eyes and rested his head on the pam of his hand. Upon finishing his breath, he removed his hand and asked "What else did you do?" Lu shrugged as he cautiously informed "I… just met some people… got a sandwich and drink… I made a friend… and then I left."

"How did you get them?" dad asked incredulously in tone.

"I just walked in and he gave it to me."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Dad folded his arms, studying Lu as he listened to his responses. From Lu's calm tone but nervous sitting posture he suspected that Lu was telling the truth, and he leaned forward to pat Lu on the shoulder. "You do remember when that lady harassed us, right? You remember how she did it just because she didn't like that you were there?" Lu would nod as the mood became a lot more somber. "Yeah… I do."

"You realize there are people much worse in dark alleyways and other shady areas, right?"

"I suspected they exist… but you didn't exactly say that I couldn't go either."

"I thought you were smarter than that." were dad's final word on the matter before silence filled the room. Lu looked up to dad and he asked "Am I in trouble?" to which dad replied "Yeah… I'm not going to punish you as much as I should… but yeah." Again, more silence filled the room before dad spoke up this time. "I think it's time that I teach you how to defend yourself." Lu smiled a bit to this news, since honestly this seemed like a fun subject to learn. Dad had a few things on his mind though, as his gaze would return to the floor during silences. "So… I'm not going to go out for a while just to make sure that you learn this properly. You'll find out that if there's anything I know how to do, it's going to be this." he would say with a smile as he looked at Lu. "Also… how the hell did you get to the city?" he asked, his smile disappearing into a more quizzical lip lift. Lu was more than happy to reply with "Well… I like running… so I kept on running until it was easy."

"You literally ran there and back?" he asked, with more disbelief than ever. "I don't know if I should be impressed or worried." he added almost as a thought out-loud. Before dismissing Lu, he announced "You're grounded until I say otherwise. Understand?" Lu understood, but he still protested to no avail. He was sent to bed with the promise that dad was going to be with him the entire time, ready to lift the punishment depending on how fast he could learn to fight. To be honest, this wasn't sounding like too bad of a punishment.