So..long time no see :'D I know it's been a while, and I give y'all permission to beat me to a bloody pulp for not uploading in so long. Thing is, during the summer, I have no internet save for maybe a few days once every couple of weeks and then once the new school year started, college has kept me extremely busy. Over the last couple days I finally wrote the last 1000 or so words for this chapter. Even though it took so long for this chapter, I haven't been neglecting the entire story as I have written parts of some later chapters. More specifically my favorite parts of this story so far ;) But with that, I hope y'all enjoy this chapter and I don't own Pokemon

Chapter 9: Lucina Alfaro

"...After we're done, we should go to Miltank's Dairy! Miss Whitney makes the best ice cream around!" She finally decided.

I agreed with her and we set off. I really could use some supplies. After all, it wouldn't be fair to Sly if he was the only one who contributed to the equipment.

After walking a short way, we came across a place labeled 'Raichu's Market' that was run by none other than two Raichu. Their names were Proton and Fate and were brother and sister. They sold multitudes of berries, herbs, medical supplies including bandages and gauze, rope, and so much more. By the time I had finished gathering what I need and stuffing them into my bag, a third of the poke I received from Argos had been depleted.

Tsubaki started to lead the way to Miltank's Dairy when I noticed a colorful little shop a few feet from it. Titled 'Leavanny's Boutique', Pokemon were coming in and out, each wearing some kind of bandanna, scarf, or other sort clothing or accessories. While I never cared too much for fancy jewels or clothing, I was interested to see what they had. Maybe I could even find something to cover up my scar for the time being.

"Hey, Tsubaki? Can we look around in there real quick?" I pointed to the little shop.

"Hm?" Her eyes traveled to where I was pointing and she smiled. "Sure! Emil always has beautiful accessories! I've been meaning to look for a new scarf too, so this is perfect!"

With that, we entered the green, yellow, and blue tent to be met with an attractive Leavanny. "Welcome to Leavanny's Boutique! My name is Emil and I'm the owner of this establishment! Please feel free to look around and notify me if you find anything that interests you!" He greeted us with a bright smile and promptly left to help another customer.

"Is there anything particular you'd like to look at?" The Goodra asked.

I shook my head. "No, not really."

With that, Tsubaki left to browse through the various scarves and I was left to my own devices. I searched through the different items, but so far nothing really caught my interest. I was about to give up when I spotted an assortment of different colored bandanas.

They were in a wide variety of colors. They ranged from having one to multiple colors with various color combinations and designs. I was about to pick up a plain, dark purple bandanna when I noticed a rather unique one. The bandana was primarily black with blue edges and small red intricate designs scattered across the surface. My paw tips ghosted over the fabric and marveled at the silky smooth texture. It was beautiful, but that's not what drew me to it. I felt somehow drawn to the piece of cloth. Gently picking it up, I swiveled my head around before finally spotting the Leavanny finishing up a transaction with my companion.

"Oh! Are you finished?" She asked as I approached. A new scarf sat at the base of her neck. Most of it was a bright, vibrant, scarlet red and slowly changed to sunset orange which changed to a daffodil yellow towards the ends. It was very pretty.

After I nodding towards her, I gave Emil 250 poke for the item and we exited the establishment.

I tried tying the bandana on over my scars, but it turned out to be annoyingly impossible. "Tsubaki, can you help me put this on?" I turned to the Goodra.

"Sure thing!" She giggled at my annoyance and carefully tied the piece of silk on my arm.

I examined it, turning my arm which way and that. "Thank you." I smiled, satisfied with the way it looked.

We continued on, passing a few other shops along the way until we made it to Miltank's Dairy. The tent was colored brown and cream with pictures of milk bottles and ice cream decorating it. Walking in, there were multiple tables scattered throughout the tent, at least half of them were filled with various Pokemon. Toward the back, standing behind a counter stood a lone Miltank as she dealt with a line of customers.

A few minutes later, we were at the front of the counter. "Hello, darlins. Welcome to Miltank's Dairy! My name is Whitney, what can I get for ya?" She smiled warmly at us.

"Hello, Miss Whitney! May I have a Pecha Berry Sundae with melted Sweet Hearts on top, please?"

"Sure thing, sweetie! That'll be 100 poke. Now, what can I get for you?" She asked sweetly as Tsubaki handed her the coins.

While we were waiting, Tsubaki told me what all could be ordered here, along with all the various combinations, so I had already planned out mine. "May I have a Kasib Berry Sundae with Leppa Berry shavings?"

"Of course, dear! That'll be 150 poke!" I handed her the small pile of coins and she directed us to sit down at one of the many tables while she fixed our orders.

We sat at a table near the far end of the tent where we sat a little far off from the rest. "Kasib and Leppa, huh? That's unusual." My companion laughed.

I stared at her, confused. "It is?" It didn't seem unusual, at least to me that is.

"Well, I don't know too many Pokemon who'd want such a spicy berry in their ice cream." She continued to chuckle.

"Oh." I tilted my head to the side, not entirely sure why she found that so funny. I guess she was right in a way though. Ice Cream was a very sweet, frozen treat and putting Kasib Berries in it made it even sweeter. Leppa Berries on the other hand were incredibly spicy, something that you don't normally put in something such as this. I loved the combined flavors of the two, however. It made my mouth water; it was my favorite.

After the Goodra had finished with her little laughing bout, we spent the rest of the wait talking about various missions that Exploration Teams went on. Besides the ones that Tsubaki had already told me about, there were also missions where Teams went on to explore uncharted areas; Mystery Dungeons or various other places that hadn't been discovered yet. It honestly sounded quite thrilling, but it had a sense of danger as well. Having not been explored before, nobody knew what what to expect in these places. Often times there would be extremely powerful Pokemon at the end, other times there would be lethal traps set up through them. It was always a gamble and were reserved for Hyper Rank Exploration Teams or higher. Team Delusion was currently Diamond Rank, but even if Sly had met the required conditions sooner, now that I had been added onto to the team, the Guildmaster would never let Sly take on those kinds of jobs until I was more experienced.

The friendly Miltank soon came with our treats and we slowly and silently ate. It wasn't until halfway through our meal that I looked down at my explorer badge and noticed a peculiar sight: the small imitation sapphire was beginning to glow.

"Um...Tsubaki? Why is my badge glowing?" I glanced at her curiously.

Surprised, she pulled out her own. "Oh! I was supposed to tell you about that! The gems in our badges glow when something important is happening at the Guild. Usually it's an announcement about especially dangerous outlaws or special missions that take the utmost priority."

"Oh.." I marveled at the now glowing badge as I turned it over in my paws.

"Yep! We should get going then, don't want to keep the Guildmaster waiting~" Tsubaki practically sang as she all but dragged me out of the tent.

By the time we had arrived, the request room had been almost jam packed. Up at the front of the crowd as Darian and Miss Blair...and standing beside them was an all too familiar Lucario.

My mother was here and I could sense the auras of my grandfather and a few of the guards. I wanted to run, but it was too late. More Pokemon had appeared behind us and I was effectively trapped. I was dead, there was no way I could just lay low, and they were here to report me missing. Considering the circumstances, I already knew what they were here for.

"Hey, Lucy. Do you know that Lucario? She looks a lot like you." Tsubaki looked between the queen and myself.

Shit….I literally couldn't lie to her in this situation. She'd find out within the next few minutes anyways. Dammit! Why did I have to have the same features as them? Couldn't genetics have made me look like a normal Lucario like my grandmother? Most of the royal family, aside from anyone who was married into it, had bright blue eyes and black, spiked markings on the tips of our ears (like that of a Pikachu). These were traits inherited from my father's side generations ago and unfortunately genetics chose to make them the dominant traits.

Before I could start, however, Darian stood atop the raised platform and stomped his hoof twice. The entire room became silent in a heartbeat as his proud and noble figure loomed over us. "Guild members, I have called you for a special request. With me today is Queen Aurora, one of the rulers alongside King Darnell of one of the many Lucario tribes to the south of Daylight Square who are currently looking for their missing daughter! Now, I will give the floor to Queen Aurora as she will discuss the details of this mission and I expect each of you to behave as expected of you." With that, he gave the crowd a meaningful look and stepped down from the platform.

Full of arrogance and royal upbringing, my mother ascended the stairs to stand above us, looking smug and disdainful as always. She cleared her throat and began speaking, ice dripping from every word. "As your...guildmaster...has stated, our daughter, the eldest princess and next in line to the throne, has gone missing. As we had just finished finding her a mate and was set to marry last week, King Darnell has begun discussions with other royalty in our vicinity in case any of them had anything to do with her disappearance. While he is now visiting another tribe of Lucario, I have come to seek help from your guild. Our daughter's name is Lucina Alfaro, otherwise called "Lucy". She is a Lucario of normal stature, with bright blue eyes and black markings on the tips of her ears, not easy to miss at all. However...I now see that a search will be unnecessary." She ended as two pairs of paws grabbed me from behind and forced me onto the platform beside mother where she promptly shoved a Gracidea flower onto my head.

"Behold, Princess Lucina Alfaro!" She gestured to the crowd of confused and shocked Pokemon.

I brought my head down in shame, unable to meet the eyes of my fellow guild members, especially those of Tsubaki, Gale, and Drax as their auras displayed that of sadness, confusion, and a hint of betrayal.

"Now...for one last order of business." She swiped my badge from the strap of my bag and held it for all to see, her eyes ablaze with anger. "How dare you lie to me! Did you not tell me that there were no Lucario located in this vicinity? Let alone at this establishment?"

"Yes, I am aware of what I said." Darian gazed at my mother calmly, a first I had seen anyone act toward her.

"Why? Why did you try to keep her from us, you oaf?!" She practically snarled at him.

Miss Blair growled from her place beside Darian, taking her wand from her tail and pointing it at Aurora. "You will respect our Guildmaster while you are here! If you cannot do that, then I suggest you leave at once!" A bright orange and red flame appeared on the tip of her wand.

"Do not speak to me you draggle-tailed guttersnipe! My business is not with you!" The two guards who grabbed me now stood in front of mother, Bone Rushes at the ready in case Miss Blair decided to attack.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Darian finally shouted, effectively bringing the room to a dead silence. Not even mother dared to speak back.

"I did not tell you that Lucy was here because it is not our decision to force her into a life she does not want. While I do not agree with running away, I venture that it was the only way she would be able to freely live her life. She has the right to do as she pleases, and nobody can tell her otherwise. Lucy may have had a duty to your people, but it does not rule over her life. She is free to make her own decisions, and if that is to forfeit her place as Queen, then so be it."

"Duty? And what would you know of duty?" She scoffed, now mocking the Sawsbuck.

"Mother! That's enough!" I finally snapped.

I was embarrassed, ashamed, and extremely pissed off. I'd had it. Darian was right. I can make my own decisions about my own life, and I'll be damned if I just let mother take me back to that nightmare. Being a princess might be ok for some people, but I hated it. I wanted to be an explorer, and that's exactly what I was gonna do!

"Excuse you?" The older Lucario stuttered in surprise. I had never talked back to anyone, let alone her.

"You need to leave." I glared at her. "Right now."

Of course, mother just giving up and leaving now would be too easy. She always had to make a spectacle out of everything.

"How dare you talk back to your mother! You are coming with me, whether you like it or not, and you will marrying Prince Nexus!" I could see the fury in her expression.

"But I don't want to marry Nexus! I don't want to be Queen! I don't want any of this! I just want to be Lucy, I want to help other Pokemon, and travel, and make new friends. Why can't you understand that?"

Would I ever be able to convince her to let me stay, or would I be doomed to go back to a life I didn't even want?

~Sly~

My brow raised as my annoying partner was brought to the platform. She was a princess? She looked so ashamed standing up there, whether it be from the embarrassment that was her mother, or the fact that she hid her identity from her friends. Or it could be both, although I didn't really care to be honest.

Her mother continued to rant and continue to banter with Darian, Blair, and her daughter and I was an inch away from blasting the obnoxious Lucario with a Flamethrower. She was incredibly irritating.

Annoyingly enough, my ears started to twitch when she started raising hell over Lucy leaving this 'Prince Nexus' at the alter. So she was supposed to be married. What did I care?

Groaning, I slapped a paw over my face, completely irritated at this point. Please let this end soon.

To be honest, this isn't the place where I was originally gonna stop this chapter but after getting to this point my mindset was just fuck it. I'm done. I'm done with this chapter. I'm uploading this right now. Also, since I've now put Lucy's last name into this, I'm gonna go ahead and list the last names of the more major characters down below. NOW hopefully it won't take me nearly as long as it did this time to upload, but I'm not gonna promise anything as of yet. Bye for now~

List of characters:

Lucina (Lucy) Alfaro

Sly Redfox

Blair Irvin

Darian Ibarra

Tsubaki Valentine

Drax Faber

Gale Finley