Riolu kept quiet through their walk through the Upper passage of Mount Coronet. His mind kept looking over thoughts here and there, but always following Lucas and at the same time, keeping his distance from him. Although Riolu could sense this human was definitely not like the normal ones, a human is a human, and caution is never too bad.
He instead looked over at his Treeco. He energetically walked beside Lucas, pointing at stones and muttering things here and there. Arceus, he was annoying.
To Lucas's other side, his Piplup waddled over the rocks, looking at the mud in disgust. Riolu could tell it was a female, and the Treeco a male.
After the Treeco caught him staring, he smiled enthusiastically and jogged over to Riolu. "Ah, great..." Riolu growled internally. "Hey there! I haven't talked much to you, huh?" He said, walking by Riolu's side. "My name is Darkness." Riolu looked at him oddly. The Treeco looked over to Lucas. "That's my nickname, Lucas calls me that. As for the Piplup-" the Pokémon in question practically materialized by Riolu's other side. "Yup, my name is Aleu! I'm Lucas's FIRST Pokémon." She pumped up her chest proudly and smirked at Darkness, who apparently seemed to glare slightly at her. Riolu noted something strange, but he couldn't stop the words from coming out once he said them. "That "Lucas", is he your master?" Darkness stared at him oddly. "Uh... No, he's our friend. We help each other out and band together, it makes us stronger." Aleu crossed her flippers. "He wants to fulfill his dream, and we help him."
Riolu looked over at the human in question. "His... Dream?" Darkness let out a small laugh. "That's something you'll have to ask him yourself. He explains it better." Riolu kept staring at Lucas.
He had his weird device in his hand, taking notes of the things around him. He seemed very dedicated to whatever it was he was doing. He perked up a bit and turned his head around. "Darkness? Aleu? What are you gossiping back there?"
Aleu's checks went red and she looked to the ground. Darkness crossed his arms and looked away. Lucas cocked an eyebrow. He then adjusted his hat, smiled and looked back, shaking his head. Riolu used this chance to go up to Lucas. The human looked down at the small canine creature and tilted his head.
"What is your dream?" Riolu asked him. Lucas seemed surprised by that question. He sighed and looked to the light at the end of the tunnel. "I... I want to become the best Pokémon master in the world. That's my dream." Riolu tilted his head. Lucas decided he should explain further. "I want to help people and Pokémon in need and make a difference in the world, explore unknown places, things like that. And Darkness and Aleu are there to help me." He nodded toward the two Pokémon in question. Both perked up and walked toward their trainer. "Why did you nickname them?" Riolu asked. Lucas tilted his head. "I... I don't really know exactly why, but..." He picked Darkness up and held him, much to Aleu's dislike. "It's a way of establishing a closer bond with Pokémon. Also I guess it's an easier way to recognize them, since there's many Treeco all around the world and many Piplup too. It gives them a cooler name." He smiled. "What about you, never got a nickname?" Riolu's face crunched up a bit. "No..."
Lucas thought for a moment. "How about I give you one?" Riolu looked at him curiously. He then slowly nodded his head. Lucas looked at him. "How about..." He looked down at the ground. Then his face lit up as an idea came to him. "How about Luke?" Riolu thought for a moment, then smiled slightly. He liked that name. "But why Luke?" He asked Lucas. Lucas smiled a bit. "Luke was my father's name. It's almost like my name was based on his. So from now on, you're Luke!" Darkness jumped from Lucas's arms to the ground. The he and Aleu ran up to him. Darkness started shaking his shoulders. "Alright! You got a nickname! You're officially part of the team now!" Aleu clapped her flippers together. "Conrgrats!" Riolu, now know as Luke, thought they were performing a sort of graduation ceremony. Lucas knelt down in front of the three Pokémon. "Now guys, don't annoy him." Luke smiled and shook his head. The other two Pokémon kept celebrating together. Lucas got up and started to walk on ahead. He suddenly stopped.
Darkness and Aleu looked at him weirdly. Luke came to his side. "What's wrong?" Lucas walked up to the giant rock blocking their path. "There's many more like this around here. We could use Rock Smash on these smaller rocks, but these... They're too big." Aleu groaned in annoyance. Lucas scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "We'll have to go back and find another path." Darkness's head hung low as he turned around. Aleu followed him, her arms crossed. Luke was not understanding anything, but he went up to Lucas anyway. "Hey, can you actually talk to them?" Lucas looked back at him curiously. He cleared his throat to answer. "Well, if you mean talk-talk, with words, then not really. It doesn't mean I can't understand them though. In fact you're the only pokémon I can talk to."
Luke realized this, a shocked expression appearing on his face. Does that mean all Lucas heard when they clearly spoke to him was cries? That shocked him. It was almost like they spoke different languages but could still understand each other.
The rest of the walk through the tunnel was quiet. They made it out to the route outside Eterna city, then back onto the actual city. Stepping back on the Pokemon statue in the town's square, Lucas sighed. "So where now?"
Darkness got in a thinking position. Luke looked around a bit. After a while, Aleu raised her flipper, giggling. She waddled over to a shop in the town. She touched the wall, and then pointed to a large concrete tunnel at the end of the city, labelled "CYCLING ROAD". Lucas's eyes lit. "That's it! We saved that guy who owned the cycle shop right?" Aleu nodded.
Lucas jogged over to the door. Luke sighed in relief as the fresh wave of cool air coming from a machine at the top of the room hit him. The bicycle shop owner spun around to see who just came in. His face lit up when he saw Lucas's.
"Oh! It's you! The kid who saved me and my Clefairy! I clearly owe you, don't I?" Before Lucas could say anything, the man ran up to one of the bicycles. "I know! Since I'm having less customers, you should take one of my bikes and go around to advertise it! Here, it's yours, but make sure to travel all over Sinnoh with it!" Lucas looked stunned. "Oh wow, thank you... I was only going to ask to borrow it..." The man chuckled. "Oh, that's nothing compared to how grateful I am for you saving Clefairy!" He handed the bike to Lucas and scurried over to his Clefairy. Lucas looked over at Aleu. She just shrugged her shoulders. He then hummed slightly and picked up the bike, carrying it outside. He yelled one last "Thank you!" to the man before setting it on the sidewalk outside the shop.
The bike had two baskets on it, one on the front and one on the back. He picked Aleu and Darkness up and put them both on the back, since it was the biggest one. Luke just stared at them, observing them cheer in excitement. Lucas turned to Luke, but seemed a bit reluctant to touch him. Luke stared at him reassuringly. "Can you help me up or not?" He asked the boy impatiently. Lucas was snapped back to reality and bent down, giving his hand to Luke. He took it and climbed up his arm, keeping balance on his shoulder and jumping on the smaller basket in front of him. Lucas chuckled. "Your fur is so soft, it tickles." Luke frowned at him in such an adorable way that Lucas couldn't help but smile. This little Riolu wasn't so bad after all.
Lucas put his foot on one pedal, not accelerating yet. "I'm going to put it on fourth gear. We're gonna fly." He smirked. Luke saw he suddenly wasn't such a nice, well-mannered human anymore and that freaked him out a little. Meanwhile at the back, Darkness and Aleu were cheering like hooligans on a Pokemon contest. "Hold on tight, we're gonna cross the sound barrier!" He said, positioning himself in a way they were definitely going to fly when he stared riding. Luke didn't think twice, grabbing the brim of the basket tightly. Lucas rang the bell on the bicycle and stepped on the pedal with all his strength. Luke almost yelped as they were going top speed toward the "CYCLING ROAD".
Lucas sped by the open door, completely ignoring the women asking him to stop and watch the speed limit. It was dark for a few moments, but Luke could still feel the strong wind blowing his fur. A split second later, his world exploded in a range of colors and shapes as they got outside, on "CYCLING ROAD". The sky was a bright blue with many clouds. Below the street they were riding the bike in, the grass and trees shook slightly as the wind blew. Lucas yelled excitedly as he sped by many people, some trainers who challenged him to battle but he ignored them.
Darkness and Aleu were hectic, holding each other tightly. Luke couldn't help but smile broadly and gap at the world around him. "Can you feel it, Luke?" Lucas laughed while steering the bike through a curve. Luke slowly let go of the brim of the basket and spread his paws to touch the wind. He laughed. "Yeah, I can feel it!" He thought to himself.
Lucas held the front of the bike with one hand and pumped his fist in the air with the other one. "I'm the king of the world!" He yelled. He then started laughing uncontrollably. Darkness was hysterical at this point. Aleu clearly got tired of all the screaming and just held onto the basket while laughing. Luke pumped his fist along with Lucas and yelled "Then I'm the poké-king of the world!" Lucas chuckled. The bike sped a bit faster and they went through the same tunnel as before, but at the end of "CYCLING ROAD". Again, Lucas sped by the two women in the other "CYCLING ROAD" counter as they yelled for him to stop. He laughed until he realized the steep hill in front of him. He quickly pulled the brakes in a noisy screech, leaving a mark on the floor. "What happened?" Asked Luke. Lucas sighed in relief and pointed at what he pulled the brakes for.
It was a steep ledge, and falling down there in full speed wouldn't exactly guarantee that all of a living thing's limbs would be intact. Lucas cleared his throat. "So that's Oreburg city. We've already got the badge, so we don't need to go there anymore." He looked around. "Let's head that way." He pointed to a rock path that lead inside Mount Coronet's lower entrance. Darkness and Aleu seemed to agree, and Luke nodded his head. Lucas got off the bike and stated walking with it beside him.
Darkness approached Luke. "Hey, wasn't that fun?" Luke chuckled. "The most fun I ever had!" Aleu came up to him, raising her eyebrow. "What happened to all that "I don't trust humans" talk?" At the mention of this, Luke frowned at them. "I... I still don't trust them." Darkness looked at him strangely. "Then why did you take Lucas's hand when we rode the bike?" He asked him. Luke shrugged his shoulders. "Because I had to, we needed to get to a safer place faster." Aleu shook her head.
"No. Lucas didn't offer his hand to you and you decided to take it. He was skeptical of you at first, but then you ASKED him to help you. That's when he did. You had put your trust in him from the start." Darkness nodded. Luke's expression changed to a shock one as he realized what she said. He huffed. "That's nonsense. I don't trust humans, even the ones that seem nice." He walked farther ahead. He then tilted his head to look back at them. "Or Pokémon trained by them."
Aleu frowned at him as he walked away. "Mmf! Come on, Darkness, we don't need him." She started to walk a bit farther. Darkness followed her suit, but he still kept thinking that what Luke insisted wasn't true. Maybe he could trust this human with time. And with more time, even the Pokémon trained by him. Without any of them knowing, Lucas overheard them. It hurt him a little, but he still knew Luke never exactly meant everything he said. But who was he kidding? He wasn't his Pokémon. Getting close to him would only make it worse when the time came they would have to part ways. He knew he went farther than he should have when he nicknamed him. "I'm thinking too much, I should focus on the path." He muttered to himself, dragging the bike along the rocky ground at the base of the mountain.
He turned around to his Pokémon. "Let's go through Mount Coronet. I'm sure our path isn't blocked this time though." He stated simply. Darkness and Aleu nodded. Luke followed behind quietly as they once again entered the dark rock tunnel. There was water in some parts of the cave and it made an eerie sound when it dripped down on the rocks. Lucas suddenly stopped in his tracks. The Pokemon behind him looked around him to see what stopped him. "That guy again?" Lucas muttered to himself, though loud enough for Luke to hear it.
In between two stairs that were cut through the rock of the mountain stood a man that seemed much older than Lucas. His hair was a fainted pale blue and his eyes as cold as ice. He wore a strange thing that looked like a spacesuit, and seemed to always have his hands behind his back. A large yellow "G" was printed on his suit. He seemed to have been in the middle of climbing down the stairs. He stared at Lucas, his ice-cold eyes scanning him. After a few seconds of awkward silence, the man spoke. "According to one theory, Mt. Coronet is where the Sinnoh region began. In a newly created world... A world where only time flowed and space expanded... There should have been no strife. But what became of that world? Because the human spirit is weak and incomplete, strife has appeared... This world is being ruined by it... I find the state of things to be deplorable..." Having said that, he blinked once. "We shall meet again." He then simply continued through the path he was going through. Lucas warily stepped aside for him and he went through the small passage to the exit of the mountain.
Lucas just stared at him walk away for a moment until he was completely gone. Luke tilted his head. "Who was that?" Lucas turned to him. "Oh he's really a random guy that keeps bumping into me here and there. First lake Verity, then Eterna City, and now here. I think he's definitely related to team Galactic, with that "G" on his uniform. I don't really know what to think of him. But I have a strong conviction it's not out of coincidence we keep bumping into him." He concluded, picking up his bike from the floor. "Well, we have to keep going." Darkness and Aleu nodded.
Luke followed them, staying at the back. Ah, at this rate, they would take forever to find a safer place for him to stay. But what could he do about it? This trainer was his only shot at getting away from all this. Though this trainer... he was really something else, standing up to those Team Galactic thugs when clearly no one from the city did. He was supposedly young in human age, but he displayed enough maturity to take care of himself despite his age.
Then there were his two loyal knights. Darkness was very energetic and at some point hyperactive, but he had to admit his cheerfulness was contagious. He certainly knew how to make things fun. His most noted characteristic had to be his silly smile. Then there was Aleu. She was very girly and picky, but still lead the team. She seemed to be good friends with Darkness, though they'd argue at times. She definitely had as much energy as Darkness and he would run around anywhere she would. Then Luke wondered how he fit into all this. Darkness said he was a true "member of the team" when Lucas nicknamed him. But he wasn't in the team, not really. Though it would be pretty fun to travel all over with Lucas and his two Pokemon... Luke's eyes widened and he shook his head. What was he thinking? Siding with humans? Considering being trained by them? Something was wrong with him, that's for sure. Those guys, they're messing with his head. It's not like they actually considered the same thing he did, did they? Luke wouldn't give in, not to the human ways.