The entire time until he caught up with Hayley and Jarrad, he couldn't stop thinking about her and where she came from, until he realised he needed a story fast to explain to them what happened. The truth was a little embarrassing. He finally came up behind them as they heard his footsteps "About time, did you get anything?" Hayley said. Kyle was very quick to answer "Yep, you might not believe it but I caught a high level Lucario near that lake". Jarrad stopped before laughing "Lucario? As in the steel type? That's going to ge" "shut up, I know that" Kyle instantly snapped. "I know its weak against fire but luckily I don't need it, my other pokemon are easily strong enough to win without a water pokemon. I actually got it for the 8th gym, dragon type moves are going to be very useful vs other dragons"
"... fair enough" Jarrad said "You're right anyway." Hayley agreed too "If you couldn't catch a water pokemon you can admit it" she said. Kyle calmed down "I tried, but this pokemon will be more useful, she's very strong." "Female lucarios are really rare from what I remember... that's pretty lucky you found one. They're cute" Jarrad said, Hayley gave him some sort of glare as if he was a creep for saying that and the three continued walking to the next town.
Once arriving, Kyle went straight to the pokemon centre to heal the Lucario as his friends went outside the town limits to train and they agreed they would train by themselves and meet up later. Kyle had no intention of this though, he wanted to find out more about this Lucario and more importantly, if she was strong enough to help him beat the next gym since he knew his current team wouldn't be able to and there wasn't enough time to train them up in just a day. Kyle took his pokeball back and quickly headed in the complete opposite direction of where Hayley and Jarrad were to an open field, he wanted her to be comfortable.
When he found a nice open area under a tree, he let her out of the pokeball. She was completely healed as expected and seemed very relieved to come out of there. As she appeared she looked around before saying to Kyle [I forgot what that was like.] as she sat down. Kyle sat down with her and awkwardly tried to avoid staring before simply asking "do you have a name?". [umm, I have always been called Lucario by my other trainer]. Kyle thought for a moment "would you like a different name? I think you look like a... Rachel" he said confidently. "Oh and my name is Kyle by the way" he added, she gave him a quizzical look before smiling [It's better than being called Lucario. Rachel. Hmm I can live with that]. She lay back slightly using her arms to prop her up as she looked into the sky.
"Ever since I put you in the pokeball I've been dying to ask you, what happened back there at the lake". Rachel looked away when she spoke [… I was lost and found a cave to sleep in. An Usarings cave. I should have been able to fight it off...] she drifted off looking very sad. "What's wrong?" Kyle asked, moving around slightly so she wasnt looking completely away from him. [I've forgotten so much of what I once knew...] she turned around to face Kyle. [I used to be a very strong fighter with my old trainer but... we parted ways. Well, she kind of abandoned me...]
Kyle sat there listening intently as Rachel turned to face him. [I'm only telling you this because I dont want you asking me all the time... but my old trainer, she was a good person]. For some reason Kyle thought her previous trainer was a guy. [We travelled together for years, she raised me to be so strong and taught me to speak but then one day she found a Rhydon and captured it. She told me... she didn't need two steel types and that I wasn't strong enough compared to the Rhydon and just like that, she dropped me. I was happy in how strong I became but sometimes... I don't know if it was worth... don't worry about that]
Kyle started to feel very bad, this sounded like something he would do. He never thought pokemon could have feelings like what Rachel was showing. Maybe it was just because she could speak that he could figure this out. [I am honest it has been years since I have fought along side a trainer. I willingly went with you because you don't know how ashamed I am that I couldn't defend myself back there at the lake. I know I used to be strong but I'm just not able to by myself. I cant exactly learn from other Lucarios either since... I haven't ever seen one since I was abandoned]. Kyle was starting intently [I'm a bit older than I might look, it is hard to tell though since we are so rare an I am not a normal one, but I think you already noticed that]
"Yeah Lucarios are very rare, I had never seen one before yo-" Rachel cut him off. [Are you going to train me up? I hate being lied to, I told you all of the truth just then, if I am to fight for someone I want to know they are honest. I want to battle in the indigo league just as much as any other pokemon.] "Yes, of course! I want that too." Kyle said.
The three trainers continued along the road for a few more weeks taking regular stops, the had blitzed through the first few gyms so quickly that they had time up their sleeves. They battled among each other regularly and Kyle loved the fact that Rachel was such a higher level, she was easily beating Jarrad and Hayleys pokemon but when it came to types that were super effective versus Lucarios he did switch out. Her intelligence and ability to speak made Kyle a lot more cautious of her feelings and in fact never made her battle to the point of fainting. On the rare occasion she was losing he would switch out to one of his other pokemon and let them take the fall. Jarrad noticed this too and would tease Kyle regularly about it. "You don't want her to hurt her pretty little face for you, do you?" he said as Kyle just brushed it off.
Kyle raised her to level 45 while the other pokemon in his team were still at around 32 which he knew wasn't the best strategy but he just loved training with her and she appreciated it so much, it was so different. His other pokemon may have shown affection but Rachel showed an incredible drive to become stronger and win for Kyle and he repaid her enthusiam. It was like she had the brain of a human entirely within a Lucario body.
The 5th gym, the fire gym made Kyle nervous as he knew he hadn't trained properly for this. He was actually very nervous and while normally he wanted to go first, this time he let Hayley and Jarrad go first as he wanted to find out any information he could since they were both going to win easily, they had strong water pokemon.
He sat outside alone in deep thought. Sceptile wasnt going to be useful here but his use would come in the next gym, the water one. Abomasnow was also weak to fire but Combusken would do well. Lucarios were also weak to fire but Rachel was so fast and so powerful, it shouldn't have mattered. He decided to drop Sceptile for this one and now the only decision was who to send out first.
Before he could even come to a conclusion on that, Jarrad was already out and smiling before coming to sit down. "Don't worry Kyle I know you dont have any water pokemon but that leader isn't too strong, Combusken should be able to take everything, they wont be able to hurt it much" he said. Kyle thanked him, it wasn't often the three gave each other advice but Jarrad didn't exactly want to leave behind a regular training partner either.
Hayley came down a short time later with the exact same story for Kyle, so he felt confident and headed in. As usual, the trainers before the leader offered absolutely no resistance and Combusken easily defeated every single one in 1 or 2 hits. Also as expected, the gym leader had firey red hair and wasted no time whatsoever in throwing out his first pokemon, a nintetales. Kyle took the advice of his friends and threw out Combusken. "Ninetales, fire blast!" "Combusken, Double kick!" Both trainers yelled as the two hit each other and exactly as predicted, the fireblast did hardly any damage to Combusken while the double kick took the Ninetales down to half health.
"A fighting type!... I bet you didn't see this coming!" the gym leader yelled and Kyle got worried for a second. "Ninetales, Psychic attack!". "no way..." Kyle said while freaking out inside 'how does a fire type know that move!'. "Combusken, dodge it" he yelled but the psychic attack couldn't be dodged that easily as Combusken looked like it was having a seizure while standing up before fainting instantly.
"No!... ugh, Abomasnow, go!" Kyle yelled as he recalled Combusken. Abomasnow wasn't the best choice but he never imaging Combusken to go down do easily. The gym leader reacted quickly "I'm not going to let you earthquake Ninetales that easily, I know what you're trying!" He yelled as he threw out his next pokemon, a Camerupt. Kyle had to this fast, this thing could one hit Abomasnow if it got a chance. "Abomasnow dont let it use eruption! Body slam it now dont let it go!" and as expected he heard a yell from the other side "Camerupt, Eruption!".
"RUN FASTER DO IT NOW" Kyle yelled as Abomasnow bolted like its life depended on it and tackled the Camerupt the instant is used eruption, causing the attack to miss and isntead shoot into the ground. "Body slam it again!" Kyle yelled. "This Abomasnow is too fast and powerful we need to knock it out now, there's only one thing left to do Camerupt" as the pokemon turned to look back at his trainer. "Self destruct!".
"Oh you have got to be kidding me" Kyle said to himself as Abomasnow tackled the Camerupt and it exploded. "uhhhhh WHY WOULD YOU USE THAT MOVE" Kyle yelled in anger. "I can't have a pokemon that strong wrecking my team now can I?" The gym leader responded. "Looks like you've got one left and I haven't even used my strongest pokemon yet!"
Kyle was very annoyed but there was only one thing left to do. "Go, Lucario!" he said as Rachel appeared in front of him, ready for battle. "Another fighting type? And a steel type? What are you thinking bringing a Lucario to a fire gym!" the leader mocked Kyle. "But that is a really tall Lucario wow, she's almost taller than you! Anyway lets finish this" he said, throwing out Ninetales again.
"Ninetales you know what to do, Psychic attack!" he yelled. "AURA SPHERE NOW!" Kyle yelled as Rachel leapt into the air "I didn't say do-" he was cut off as she spun around and hurled the fastest aura sphere he had ever seen and her jumping into the air actually managed to avoid the psychic attack. The Ninetales turned its glare upwards but it was too slow as the aura sphere slammed into its face, knocking it out.
"Wow that was fast..." the gym leader said in shock. "But never mind, one hit from my final pokemon is all I need" he said as he threw out his final pokemon, Magmar. Kyle was afraid now, he knew that was true. Magmar was made of powerful fire attacks and even hitting Magmar alone would burn Rachel which would almost guarantee a loss unless she got in 2 aura spheres but she couldn't take a single hit in-between.
"Rachel I need you to metal claw it, its going to hit you as you approach but its the only way you need a critical hit" Kyle said to her. "Aw Rachel, what a cute name. It doesn't matter though, time to end this, Magmar, flamethrower. Rachel dashed towards it as Magmar spewed the column of fire, chasing her as she tried to dodge it. "Come on!" Kyle said, willing her on to get the hit. With about 5 metres left to close, Magmar predicted her side step and hit her clean in the face with it causing her to stumble and trip landing in front of it. "Nice job Magmar" said the gym leader as he saw some movement from the Lucario still as she got up and with a yell of "RAHHHHH!", uppercut Magmar in the chin with metal claw. She the attack hit she cried out in pain again, burnt instantly from the touch "Luuu!" and collapsed but she was still conscious. Magmar however took a critical hit from such a high powered, close up metal claw and was KO'd in one shot.
"Oh that's annoying..." the gym leader said to himself as Kyle rushed up to Rachel with a hyper potion and burn heal to heal her. "I should have used fire blast. I guess that Lucario of yours is stronger than I thought... No matter, I won't make mistakes like that again. Take your badge... That Lucario is impressive" the gym leader said, flicking the badge towards Kyle as he returned Magmar and walked slowly away, embarrassed at throwing away such an easy win.
When Rachel finally was healed enough to be able to get up Kyle yelled "That was... AMAZING!" as she turned around to see him. The sheer look of elation on his face made her tear up, she was so happy. [I remember now! This is what it used to feel like] she said. So much of her wanted to run up and hug Kyle but she froze not knowing if he would like that. "You were incredible... I've never seen a pokemon take such a hit and be strong enough to one hit KO a gym leaders pokemon! I'm so glad I found you" he said as he walked up to her and gave her a pat on the head. Rachel let out a soft whimper at that. Kyle had no idea how much that meant to her, her previous trainer showed no affection at all. She was very happy when she won but touching... that was a new thing.
Rachel expected to be returned to her pokeball and followed Kyle before he turned around "You don't need to go back in, you earned it." She was very surprised with this, but went along with it. As he came out Hayley and Jarrad weren't outside, he looked around before seeing them coming back to the chairs outside with some food. "How did it go? Honestly I was worried you wouldnt be able to do it with your team. That Ninetales I thought could give you a lot of trouble."
"Lucarios are pretty strong, you'd be surprised" Kyle said proudly. Hayley looked at Rachel before commenting "It's unusual for you to keep your pokemon out when not battling, does she not like the pokeball?". Kyle responded "no, its her reward for performing so well in there and hopefully we can keep doing it." "Oh that's cool, I wish I had a Lucario, she's really cute don't you think?" Kyle blushed hard "... yeah she is" he didn't want to hurt Rachels feelings. He had no idea just how much this meant to her though.
Rachel had been living in the wild for a long time but always felt alone, being the only one of her species. She knew there were wild Lucarios out there but she never found them after years of searching, maybe she was just looking in the wrong places. What she did witness though was other pokemon couples and being a female, having offspring and a family was important to her. It seemed to be a thing where pokemon would fight with trainers for a few years before the trainer was old enough when most quit the career to be a pokemon master and many let their pokemon free in the wild. Rachel was bitterly upset that her trainer chose to let her into the wild as far away from other Lucarios as possible. To have anyone, of any species, show interest in her meant a lot.
At the same time, similar thoughts rushed through Kyles head. He was a bit older than most trainers, similarly with Hayley and Jarrad and every passing day he saw them get closer. It was never him and Layley going somewhere together while Jarrad did his own thing, it was always Kyle being the third wheel. It felt nice to have a pokemon be so appreciative of his affection but that was all, she was just a pokemon. Kyle wished he could find a girl like Hayley so many he wouldn't feel strange whenever he looked into Rachels eyes. Every time he did though he just looked elsewhere but it didn't make a difference. Whether it was her legs, her chest, her tail or anything else he felt like she was really quite pretty, for a pokemon. He loved her attitude and competitive drive as well, it was what was needed to win the pokemon league