Turn 11: Surely you are Mistaken

Location: Icirrus City

Time: 9:45 AM September 15th

Condition: Clear

"Shirley what are you doing here?" Lelouch asked.

"Excuse me?" She huffed she pulled out a piece of parchment. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Out of the blue after a Team Rocket attack, you decide it's a good idea to just leave us and not explain anything except for this stupid little paper that says: you're going on an adventure and taking Ohgi with you."

"Shirley this really isn't a great time." Lelouch insisted.

"Next thing I know you're on Television announcing to the world that you're a part of Team Plasma and have declared war on Team Rocket." Shirley ignored his pleas. "And people all around me are calling you a terrorist, and looking all over for you, because of bounty money!" Shirley wadded the paper up and threw it at Lelouch's head.

"I can explain all of this just please can we not do it here?" Lelouch begged.

"Why so you're girlfriends don't have to hear it?" Shirley waved a hand gesturing to the two in the cabin.

"Girlfriend?" Rosa's heart skipped a beat at the idea.

"It really isn't like that. That girl's sick and I'm having my friends here take care of her. You'd know that if you'd just give me a chance to explain." Lelouch told her.

"Alright then, I'll give you five minutes, now explain." Shirley told him.

"Five minutes?" Lelouch whined. "That's too short."

"And it's getting shorter." Shirley pointed out.

Lelouch thought long and hard on how to respond. He couldn't think of anything, no words that could explain what was going on, not in less than five minutes anyways. He could have quoted one of his many speeches he'd crafted but that felt a little dishonest. He wasn't sure she'd understand if he talked to her all day about it. "Well you see… what I mean to say is… it was… I… I…" He'd defeat team rocket on numerous occasions, beat the elite four at age eight, and started a movement that now holds contention for control of Unova, but this was hands down his most difficult challenge yet. Unlike with other things there was no strategy that he could employ.

"I'm waiting." Shirley reminded him as he thought.

This is bad. Wait is it bad? What are exactly the consequences of not telling her anything? What's the worst she can do? Well she probably would never speak with you ever again. We're close friends and I don't want to ruin that because of this. So I guess the question is what do you treasure more…

"Lulu!" She shouted and then slapped him forcing him out of his thoughts.

"Hay." Lelouch whined while rubbing his cheek. "I'm thinking alright."

"Since you can't come up with some stupid lie to explain this, how about you just show me what you've been doing." Shirley suggested.

"That's a great idea." Lelouch exclaimed, glad to not have to explain this anymore.

"Ohmigosh!" Shirley gasped. "Ohgi's so big now."

"That's kind of what pokémon do, they evolve." Lelouch pointed out. "Anyways as I was saying we train here against each other. I carefully select who will be training against whom to provide the top EV yields and maximize team strength. Ohgi here has reached maximum level so I usually set him up against groups of people in order to have them train against superior forces."

"Right." Shirley gave an unsure smile with a lowered eye brow. "You always were better with this stuff then I was. But hay, I thought most trainers trained against wild pokémon."

"Yeah, but that kind of goes against everything we stand for. We don't want to needlessly injure pokémon." Lelouch said.

"And why are you out in the middle of nowhere when you train then?" Shirley continued.

"I don't want to draw any unnecessary attention. The fewer the people who know we're here the less chance people will come after us." Lelouch explained.

"I've got a question though." Shirley started.

"Okay, go ahead." Lelouch said.

"Ever since we started this whole tour I haven't seen any poké-balls." Shirley pointed out.

"We also don't believe in poké-balls. Their crude and force a pokémon to join with you and do things they don't agree with. Team Rocket and hundreds of other competitive battlers imprison, breed and mistreat hundreds of pokémon, most of them to be abandoned like trash." Lelouch explained. "You can't be abandoned if it wasn't your choice to join in the first place, not to mention if you don't want to be there you can just leave. Right?"

Lelouch turned to her and she looked as though a light had gone off in her head. Her face became less tense and a gentle smile grew on her lips. "I think I understand now Lulu."

"You do?" Lelouch asked. He wasn't certain what he said but he was certainly glad she wasn't mad at him anymore.

"Yeah," She nodded in response. When he started about the poké-balls and the professional trainers Shirley finally understood. She wasn't going to tell him her reasoning for believing him, but she knew why he did what he did. It was for Nunnally. Knowing this she couldn't really be so mad at him. She gave him a loving smile. "It's because you're a good person."

Lelouch blinked at her for a second as if he didn't quite understand what she was saying. Perhaps he was over thinking it like he always did. "Okay."

"Well, I'm really glad you indulged me like that. So thanks Lulu." Shirley told him holding her hands behind her back.

"Anytime." Lelouch told her. "Can I ask a favor though?"

"Sure." She nodded.

"How did you find me?" Lelouch asked.

Shirley's brows lowered as if thinking. "I'm not really sure. I was just wondering around looking for you and then I saw a couple of people talking about you and I asked."

"That easy huh?" Lelouch asked. "Thanks anyways."

"Well I better start heading back to Striaton. I wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting." Shirley started but then she felt Lelouch grab her hand. She turned to look at him. "What is it?"

"Just." Lelouch paused as if thinking carefully about his next words. "Be careful."

"Okay." Shirley said as he let go. She started southward. "Wonder what that was about."

Lelouch waited until Shirley was at a save distance before he called, "Chris." Chris ran up as fast as he could with C-Sharp following closely behind.

"You called boss?" He asked.

"I want you to follow that girl until she makes it safely to Striaton City." Lelouch told him.

"Striaton City?" Chris exclaimed. "That's a long way down."

"Yes, and she can't know that your following her so take a pidove along with you." Lelouch continued.

"Are you sure? That's an awful lot of trouble for some random girl." Chris stated.

"I'm sure, now go." Lelouch told him.

"Alright fine." Chris rolled his eyes and left to prepare himself.