"That was almost too easy, but then again, it always is" Kyle said as he went up to shake hands and collect his badge from the Rock City gym leader. He shook his head but not from being upset, he was just in shock of how badly he was beaten. "You made the perfect choices, I've never come up against a trainer as calculated as you" the gym leader said feeling like maybe he was getting too old for being a gym leader if kids these days can outsmart him so easily. Kyle added the pin to his jacket and spoke without looking at the gym leader directly "Pokemon is just like a rock-paper-scissors battle. Everything has a weakness and everything has a counter. Unfortunately you always went rock so you were easy to predict".

He almost started to feel annoyed at the attitude of this kid but he thought about it for a minute "You're right... I do only ever use rock types. Maybe I should always keep and ice type as my third to counter people that use grass... I don't like taking advice from kids but you're probably right. I need to rethink my strategy for the next trainer". Kyle was walking off as he said to the leader "I'm not a kid... and I need a counter for the next gym... She uses fire so I'm off to get a water pokemon. Cya around" and he walked off.

Kyle was a rare type of trainer, he was older than many trainers at 20 years old due to his mother preventing him from leaving earlier which made him jealous of others and a little resentful towards his family. He made up for lost training time by being ruthless. Other trainers sought to make friendships with their pokemon, some just wanted to have as many as possible. Kyle didn't care about filling his pokedex, only winning the pokemon league. He left the gym and sat down on the tables outside with his travelling friends, a 18 year old girl called Hayley and 19 year old guy called Jarrad. The trio had been on the road for 3 months and it was another 4 until the pokemon league finals so they had to rush it as they started training significantly later than most trainers who started years earlier.

"Well that was fast." Hayley said to him. "Yeah that guy has obviously never fought a trainer that actually thinks, instead of battling using their heart or some nonsense". Jarrad just smiled and nodded. "You guys aren't going to have a problem seriously, just go in, I'll wait."

Hayley got up and without saying anything went into the gym as Kyle and Jarrad just watched her walk up. "I actually think its for the best we agreed not to watch each other fight, you can never learn the optimal counters if you just know what the gym leader will do. The elite four wont give us a chance to see each other fight either" Jarrad said. Kyle looked towards Jarrad "I'm glad I found you two to travel with, it really forces me to step up my game. I'd hate it if I travelled with people that didn't take this seriously."

The two remained silent as the waited for Hayley to come out and to Kyles amazement, she was actually faster than he was. He was a little upset at this and said nothing as Jarrad went up next. Within minutes he was out too, again faster than Kyle was. "I feel bad for the gym leader now, being stomped like that" Kyle said, laughing to himself but deep down he was worried that his friends beat him easier than he did.

Kyle knew that his biggest threat to win the pokemon league wasn't the elite four, it was Hayley and Jarrad. He couldn't travel alone though, he tried it and it made him highly depressed. He was thankful they were his friends and driving him to succeed but outside of pokemon battles, he felt like he had little in common with them.

The three wasted no time in heading towards the 5th gym, they let their pokemon out for a short while to run around. At the moment, Kyle only had a Combusken, Abomasnow and Sceptile. His strategy was to raise a few pokemon to higher levels than multiple pokemon lower levels but the next gym, fire, needed a water type. Kyles pokemon had their exercise and he put them back in their pokeballs as they walked onwards.

This road towards the 5th gym was a particularly long one and Kyle had a lot of time to think to himself which ended up worrying him greatly. Hayley and Jarrad seemed to get along fine together, in fact a little too close for Kyles liking. He wasn't interested in Hayley, he thought she was too snobby from her rich upbringing but it made him feel lonely sometimes. He absolutely could not let the two beat him at the indigo league, his biggest fear was them beating him and him being sent home while they remain leaders. Kyle couldn't easily move back home since he chose to quit school to pursue this career, it had to work. Ever day, every minute that passed, he felt like Hayley and Jarrad were becoming stronger trainers.

"Hey Kyle, we don't need a water pokemon so we can go up ahead or wait for you if you want?" Jarrad said. "Umm yeah go ahead don't wait, this wont take long I'll catch up" Kyle said, almost breaking out of a trance of his deep thought. Jarrad and Hayley thought nothing of it and walked up as Kyle took a detour on the road to a nearby lake. Lake Kintaro wasn't exactly a popular place and in fact was only accessible via a pull-yourself cable car as the lake was atop a mountain, but Kyle headed here for a reason. He wanted rare water pokemon. Coming up against a gym leader with something common like a Squirtle or Mudkip was asking for trouble, the leaders probably fight them daily. This region was filled with more hostile, higher level pokemon and wasn't safe for people alone. Kyle released his three pokemon to walk with him.

The trees became very dense very quickly as the began to block out the sun. Kyle pulled out his pokedex, he knew what he wanted. He had heard that Kingdras existed near this lake. "I know you're here... lets make this quick" Kyle was thinking to himself, actually feeling a little scared even with his three personal bodyguards. Kyle moved over to the lake side and stared skimming rocks across the surface to disturb the pokemon and sure enough, some started to show up to see what was making the noise. He aimed his pokedex at them to get readings.

"Mudkip. Level 27"

"Wartortle: Level 29:"

"Sirskit: Level 26"

"... What is this I need a level 35 at least!" Kyle thought. He knew Hayley and Jarrad had level 35 water pokemon, if he caught a level 29 pokemon he would never have time to train it up high enough and be able to keep up with the others, they might just go on ahead without him".

"Squirtle: Level 28"

"Poliwhirl: Level 25"

For 30 minutes this went on. ".. DAMMIT" Kyle yelled, muffled as he sat up. He wasn't even close to getting what he needed. Never in his life had something been so frustratingly difficult. His mind raced to Hayley and Jarrad, probably having fun and chatting about life after the elite four... Kyle got up and stormed off, recalling his pokemon to go and look somewhere else. As he was putting his pokedex away he went to put it in his pocket as it suddenly spoke.

"Lucario: Level 41"

Kyle instantly looked up but saw nothing, the only thing in front of his was a waterfall. He stared for a moment and aimed his pokedex back at it.

"Lucario: Level 41"

Kyle ran towards it and fumbled trying to pull out his pokeballs, they were stuck on his belt. As he approached the waterfall he stumbled, flying through the water and landed in a shallow pool. He quickly got up and grabbed his pokeballs to throw them when he saw what his pokedex had scanned. It was indeed a Lucario, but it has bruised and beaten. Kyle stood there frozen in the pose about to throw them, as the Lucario cowered in the corner. It didn't attempt to move and Kyle eventually loosened up, not sure entirely what to do. Part of him thought "its weak, it will be easy to catch!" but that was instantly shut down by the part of him seeing something so afraid of him. "I... I'm not going to hurt you" Kyle said, returning his pokeballs to his belt. He noticed the Lucario was actually a female, she had no chest spike. Kyle pulled up the pokedex again to scan her.

"Lucario. Level 45: Fighting and Steel pokemon. Lucario is a rare pokemon capable of using fighting, steel and dragon moves. Highly loyal, this pokemon will fight by a trainer until the very end and its signature move, the aura sphere, can never miss." Kyle also noticed the pokedex saying Lucarios were only 3'11" but this one was clearly much taller, she looked to be more like 5'2" at least.

'She looks tall and powerful. With fighting and dragon moves' Kyle thought to himself. 'this would be brilliant in the later gyms. I was going to get a steel pokemon later but this could work right now'. Kyle, being himself, just asked her "Do you know any dragon type moves" before realising "what am I doing you cant talk." The Lucario looked up at him [w..what? Why... I do yes...]. Kyle was caught staring at her again before realising it was telepathy. He quickly looked at his pokedex and sure enough at the bottom, a note that some Lucarios were capable of it, but not all. It was a rare genetic trait.

"That's amazing... I just need to know if you do." She looked up at him, still a bit teary eyed as she said [I can use dragon rush], not sure what Kyle was planning. Kyles eyes lit up, he may just have found a very useful pokemon. Once again he had the urge to capture her but he couldn't in this state. "What happened to you, is it safe here?" Kyle asked, now sitting down. The Lucario looked up at him and felt a bit more calm, he seemed to actually want to help. [… I couldn't fight them all, I had to run. I don't even know where I am any more. I've been lost for a long time]. Kyle was scared now before she interrupted him [they are far away though... not here] she said as she removed her paws from her legs where she was putting pressure on them to what seemed like trying to stop a small cut from bleeding. She leaned forward and scooped up some water to try and clean her injury.

Kyle started thinking about how long he had been out and he'd never catch up to the others. He wanted to know more about her but there wasn't time "I... There's no other way to say this but I think I could really use a pokemon like you on my team." The Lucario stared at him a little angrily [What? Use me?]. "No its not like you think, I just cant stay here, I have to go. I came to this place to find another... a new um... team mate and I could catch you but... don't take this the wrong way, I just really want a fighting type on my team and if you use dragon rush that is amazing" Kyle said very nervously.

[… does this mean I can escape this place? I've had enough of being alone I need to get out of here] she said. As she said she had enough of being alone, this struck Kyle hard, he knew how that felt. "Yes I can get you out of here and heal you up, I want to help you" Kyle said hoping she would agree. A small part of Kyle thought she was actually very cute. He could have easily caught her at any time but he knew inside, maybe this particular pokemon would be better if she came willingly.

[I used to have a trainer in the past, they taught me everything I knew. But its been so long.] Now Kyle was very interested "so you know about pokemon gym battles... there's a gym coming up soon you could fight in, I'll give you a chance if you want you are a high level after all, you should do well." This made her eyes light up. "I guess, you really like that?" [Fighting with for a purpose is better than fighting to survive. I've been lost and alone for years... so yes]. Kyle just nodded and aimed the pokeball at her. She didn't move at all as he threw it, not too hard, and it captured her.

Kyle stared at the pokeball in his hand for a minute with a lot of thought running through his head. He never expected to find a Lucario in this place, such a high level one too. He looked towards the lake as he remembered the entire point of coming here was to get a water pokemon when it hit him. Lucario was a steel type. The next gym was fire. "... shit" he said to himself, he knew that steel was weak to fire. Lucario would probably just be a liability, he still had nothing for the next gym. His mind raced on what to do next, did he catch a water pokemon or try to win without one. Kyle looked at his watch as his decision was made for him. There was no time, he had to go. 'even if I lose at least I can change my strategy, Sceptile is useless I might need to drop him, if I stay here I'll never catch those 2 and I'll be alone again' and with that, Kyle sprinted off the way he came to catch up with the others.

He ran for almost 10 minutes before up in the far distance on the road he saw 2 tiny shapes which must have been the others. Kyle took the time to have a short break 'I'll just catch up to them by walking fast, I'll get there soon' he thought to himself as he took out a drink and snack to eat while walking quickly.

As soon as his mind was clear again and not hungry he focused intensely on what had just happened. The Lucario was injured but not too badly, she would need to stay at a pokemon centre. He wondered what could have injured her since she was so much higher level than the other pokemon nearby, they shouldn't have been able to touch her. He had to figure it out and also what to do about the next gym. Every time he tried to think about that though his mind returned to thinking about her. He had never seen a Lucario in the wild before and he thought they looked very cool. Kyle remembered the moment when she moved her arms to scoop come water up and he saw her full body... 'dammit' he thought to himself as he bit his lower lip. 'I need to stop being a pervert'.