Thank all of you guys for more than 3,000 views. That's about 150 a day! It's really going up, this story.

Answer: I think it's pretty obvious that I do have a Discord.

Question: Where in the US do you still want to visit?

I've been getting a disappointingly small amount of reviews lately. The more reviews I get, the faster I write. That's not to say that I'll hold the story hostage, absolutely refusing to post another chapter until I get X amount of reviews, but I am more motivated the more feedback I get.

In any case, here is another chapter. I hope you like it. And, just to stress, this is not a YAOI. They're just friends, that's all. I know I've said this before, but I feel that it is relevant here as well. Happy reading!

LUCAS'S POV

For the most part, Samuel was telling most of the last part of the story, and for good reason. For much of that morning, I had been unconscious, knocked out by Poison Gas. I'd already seen Samuel thrown far away, and, for all I knew, he might not have survived.

Above all, I felt angry at the Lucario. It had been due to him that we'd even come up to Quebec in the first place; had he not suggested it, he and I would still be alive. Even then, he didn't have to attack Kieran. That man had never had good intentions with regards to us, we could be sure of that much.

I woke up later that day in what looked like a rustic hospital room. It still looked the inside of a log cabin, since it probably was, but the medical equipment was as modern as I had seen back at the hospital Samuel had been in after being stabbed. Someone had put an oxygen mask over my face, and I had a hard time remembering why at first.

Then, I recalled what had happened. I had been poisoned with an attack by Kieran's Weezing. This made me hate the man even more, and the mask was ridiculously itchy over my muzzle. All I wanted to do was to go back to the normal house.

Even though I felt slightly short of breath still, I was extremely hungry. We headed back to the Greenlakes' house, where we had a delicious meal. Then, recalling what the doctor had advised me to do, I decided to go for a walk. Not a long one, mind you, but the crisp air was going to help me get some of the poison out of my system.

As soon as I walked out the door, there was something very inexplicable that I felt. It was something I felt in my chest area, a tugging sensation, as though I was harnessed to a pole by an invisible rope, and slowly getting drawn closer and closer in towards it. No idea what was going on, I started to freak out a little bit inside.

The last time I had experienced something even remotely similar to this, I had transformed into a Zoroark, a change that had not been reversed. Not yet, anyway. Maybe sometime in the future we would find a way to turn me back human, but for now I was stuck in this form.

Really, it was pretty cool to be a Pokémon. It was just the fact that there were people who wanted to know what was going on, and then I would never be able to tell them, because the truth was that I was myself unaware.

But...the pull. I looked at my waist, and I saw no harness, or any belt, or any form of clothing at all. I was completely naked except for all of the fur, which was warm enough for the crisp weather. I could see why so many Zoroarks would want to live here. The village was just so perfect in its simplicity, and yet it was laid out so well. I felt as though Arceus had made this a golden valley specifically for the species.

Of course, I couldn't spend all of my time fawning over how gorgeous the town was. I had a job to do.

Thinking once more on why I felt the irresistible, unexplainable tug towards the trees, I suddenly got an image in my mind of a very specific flower. It was so powerful that it forced me to my knees.

I was about to collapse completely; that was the weight of what was going on. Kieran Mortimer might have aura sensing capabilities, but did he have powers to create illusions, like Zoroarks did? Were we dealing with someone as powerful as a god?

No. I couldn't believe that Kieran would be such a formidable enemy. If I kept on thinking that way, I was going to drive myself insane sooner or later.

I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. Turning around, I saw that the source was Samuel.

"You okay?" he asked me, seeing that I was kneeling on the ground, seemingly in agony.

"You came!" I exclaimed, taking his arm in order to get up. "But..why? Didn't they think I'd be fine on my own".

"Evidently not" the Lucario said, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, you were on oxygen just a couple of hours ago, so...yeah".

"That's fair" I replied. "But there's something else I need to tell you about".

Samuel had started walking with me, not seeming to question that the direction we were walking was taking us towards a place away from the village. Maybe this didn't make sense to him, but it sure did to me.

"Is it about how we're walking this way?" he asked.

Damn it, he found me out, I thought. Can he read minds or something?

"Yes, it is" I replied, seeing no reason to lie to my friend.

"Care to tell me the reason? Or are you going to keep on giving me the silent treatment?"

That made no sense. Not telling him the answer was not the same thing as refusing point-blank to talk to him. "I'm not giving you the silent treatment" I said.

"Sure. What is the reason, then?"

"The reason..." I said. "The reason is...that I feel a tugging sensation in my chest, like it's taking me towards something".

"Maybe we should go back to the hospital" Samuel said, sounding worried now. "Could it be an after-effect of the gas?"

"No, I think I would know" I replied. "Even so, that's why I was told to walk around now. I don't think I'm having a heart attack or anything. It's something...different".

"In what way?"

I was a little embarrassed to tell him. After all, what would he think if he was informed that I felt tethered to a very specific flower in the field beyond us? It wasn't something that had any easy explanations, and he'd probably laugh his head off.

"I feel like...I'm tethered to it. Like there's a rope around my waist that's causing me to go closer and closer to this flower. And it's a very specific flower, too".

I could tell that Samuel was having a tough time suppressing a snicker. "Lucas London, in love with a flower. That's just laughable. How can you convince me to take you seriously?"

"I can tell you the exact hexadecimal color of it, too. You know the RGB system?"

"No" the Lucario said.

"Well, the first two digits are the hexadecimal code for red, the next two are green, and the last two are blue. The flower I feel tethered to is clearly visible in my mind". The second I said those words, I knew they were true.

"Well, what color is it?" Samuel asked me.

"It's #854185. That means 133 parts red, 65 parts green, and 133 parts blue. It's Vivid Violet".

The Lucario looked back at me. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but hopefully it does not involve the necklace. If it does...". He didn't need to finish the sentence.

I was sick of all of these shenanigans. I wanted to be a human again, although...without the necklace, chances were I would not have met Samuel. Or had him stay at my house.

Well, there's no way that you could know if that was really dependent on the necklace or not. Maybe it was, maybe it was just a coincidence that you found him on the street, stabbed and bleeding like crazy. That was the rational, logical part of my brain talking. Meanwhile, the emotional part of my brain was still thinking about how good friends the Lucario and I had become.

We took a path out of the village. It wasn't the same one that went up the hill, we were avoiding that area for now in case Kieran was still lying in wait for us. Instead, we were heading in a direction towards one of the flowery fields we had noticed on our way into the valley. My legs trembled from the exertion, but I was determined to see what this was. What was piquing my consciousness so much?

In front of the field was a thick patch of spruce trees. It was so dense that the village could have used it as a wall to defend against an invading army. The fact of the matter was, I had to make it through there somehow.

Samuel and I stopped right in front of the spruce grove. I got the feeling that I should be the only one to go in. Looking back on it, this sounds extremely foolish to even consider the thought, but I was being serious with myself. I didn't know why the flower "wanted" me to see it alone. It was just a stupid flower, after all! Why should I even care about its "feelings"?

"I'm going in alone" I said.

"You're being somewhere in between brazen and reckless, Lucas" my Lucario friend chided me. "You don't know what's back there. You might find that flower, but you might also find something a hell of a lot more dangerous".

I shrugged my broad shoulders. "I guess you're right" I said. "Still, I'm going to do it".

"You're either very brave or very, very stupid, Lucas Leonard London. Still, by all means, do whatever you want. If I end up carrying your corpse out of this copse, that's on you, not on me, and hopefully Arceus is going to send your soul down to the deepest pit of hell".

I chuckled. "Samuel, you're not really serious about that, are you?"

The Lucario shook his head. "I'm not. Go do what you want, but I am not responsible for any injury you may incur. Okay, I may carry your body out to the funeral, but nothing else. You got me?"

I nodded. "Samuel Cranmore, if I lose my life behind these trees, it's on me. I'm going to do this".

Before I could hear him say anything more, I stepped forward and brushed the spruce needles out of my way. I was determined to see what was beyond here at all costs.

At first, I couldn't tell what was going on, or even if anything was going on that wasn't just a part of my imagination. However, it was clear that it wasn't my imagination that I was starting to feel somewhat drowsy.

Not again, I thought. It wasn't a choking kind of darkness; it felt a little more welcoming. What was causing this?

Soon enough, before I could even figure out what was happening, I fell asleep on my feet.

SAMUEL'S POV

I allowed Lucas to enter the grove by himself. You might think me irresponsible for doing this, but I trusted him to keep himself safe. Clearly, my trust was not well-placed.

Five minutes after Lucas had gone into the trees, he had still not returned. Really, I wasn't too worried at that point. There was little or no reason to think that he was in too much trouble. It might have been silly to think that a flower was calling for him, but weirder things had happened.

Ten minutes and still nothing. No communication from him had come; in fact, I couldn't even hear Lucas sifting through the flowers, a sound that I would have thought to expect. I supposed maybe I was wrong about that.

Or maybe something had happened to him.

I pushed through the trees, calling for my friend. "Lucas? Lucas? LUCAS! LUCAS!".

No response. I made it to the other side of the grove, and immediately started to feel a little sleepy, like I had just been awake for eighteen to twenty hours. Had Lucas been attacked by a Sleep move? It was possible.

"I don't know who this Lucas is, but there's a Zoroark in here who can't hear you" said a sweet voice.

I looked towards the other side of the field, and the sight that greeted me made it clear what was going on.

A group of Bellossoms were standing in a circle, singing, swinging their grass skirts. In the middle of the circle, lying on the ground, clearly asleep, was a Zoroark. It didn't look too dissimilar to the scene near the end of Zoroark: Master Of Illusions where Zoroark collapses from exhaustion.

One of the Bellossoms came over to me. "Your friend...is the Zoroark it?"

"Yes. I'm friends with a Zoroark. And I think this would be it. Did this person enter your grove about eleven minutes ago?"

The Bellossom nodded. "He was threatening the sacred flower. It doesn't belong to him; it's far too dangerous. We were just defending the territory, so I used my strongest Sleeping move".

I frowned. "Strongest?"

Bellossom, the one standing in front of me, said, "Would you like me to knock you out as well? Because you're sure acting like you want it".

I held up my paws like a person being arrested. "No, no, no. Just tell me when he'll wake up. Hopefully not too long?"

The Bellossom said, "I don't know. An hour? Two? Hard to say. He was already slightly weak, so maybe longer than that. But he will wake up. I'd advise taking him to a real bed. The name's Flora, by the way".

"Thanks. I'm Samuel. Can you help me with carrying him? I might be strong, but this guy weighs a hundred and seventy-five pounds. He's no easy burden, that's for sure".

Flora nodded. "I'll do it, as long as you make us one promise".

I'll do it" I said. "As long as you help me carry Lucas back to the house".

The Bellossom took Lucas's legs. "You take his head" she told me.

I shook my own head. "Considering I suffered a concussion earlier today, I think I can be better trusted to carry his legs".

Flora shrugged. "Whatever you say, bud".

"Did you just call me a bud?"

"Yeah" Flora said, giggling. "As in, flower bud. It's what we call people who aren't flowers".

I shrugged. "Whatever. Let's just get this guy into a real bed, so he doesn't feel stiff when he wakes up. Let's go".

Together, we took Lucas's large body, using our hands to make a stretcher of sorts. It sucked that we didn't have an actual stretcher to carry him back on, but this was going to have to do.

"Sorry about that" Flora said.

"It's fine" I replied. "I understand completely. I would've done the same thing. I guess that Bellossom are pretty territorial?"

"Yeah, they are" the Bellossom replied. "There are some who are worse than us; I know a colony that will just use Leaf Blade right away. I don't want to sound dangerous or anything, but your friend got off easy".

We continued carrying Lucas down the hill and back into the village. One thing I was thinking was, I sure hope this doesn't get us more attention than we already are getting!

Of course, we could never be that lucky. Several groups of Zorua that were playing hopscotch on one street near us stopped their game in order to gawk at us. We couldn't do anything about it, because I was busy carrying the unconscious Zoroark. I wondered if the villagers were aware that it was Lucas London we were carrying. I figured that there was greater than an even chance that at least one of them knew, or could figure it out.

"It's important to defend that flower" Flora said once again. I hadn't been talking, trying to conserve my air. Even though Fighting types were strong, carrying Lucas was difficult and took up most of my concentration.

"Why?" I asked Flora. I hoped it didn't have anything to do with the necklace, because if it did we could be in a lot of danger.

"I can't tell you that, Samuel. There are some secrets that you are just not privy to. Now, let's get your friend home before we get too much more attention".

I had no problems with that. I pointed out the way back to the Greenlake household, grunting with the effort of carrying Lucas. It was a lot harder than it looked.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we arrived in front of the house. I could tell that it was, since the blue-haired Zoroark was standing on the threshold of the front door. Carla.

"You're back! What happened to Lucas?" she cried.

Flora looked at the female Zoroark. "He stepped into our territory, and we used a Sleeping move on him. He'll wake up within a few hours, but he'll be fine. If he comes back again, Leaf Blade might be necessary".

Carla looked a little surprised. "I'll make sure that he never does it again. Honestly, I'd just thought this was going to be a quick walk!"

"Me too" I said. "But I guess that Lucas had a mind of his own".

I told her all about the mysterious, invisible tether he felt towards that one purple flower, and Carla seemed to be more surprised still. "I would've thought that, after this morning, he would have been wiser about this. Make sure he's more careful in the future".

I nodded at her before Flora and I carried the unconscious Lucas into the house. Going to the bedroom, I saw Malcolm the Zorua, who was still at home.

Great. Just what I needed. An energetic young Zorua, going to bug us more and more about what had happened that day.

"What happened?" Malcolm asked us. "Why is he sleeping?"

"It was nothing!" I said defensively. "He just got a little careless. He's okay".

"Oh" the young Zorua said. "Tell Mom that I'm going out to play with my friends. Is that fine?"

"I will" Flora said, not seeming to even consider it. Of course the young Zorua could go out and play with his friends; this was a non-issue in this village.

We set the sleeping Zoroark on the bed that he had slept in last night; we wanted him to be as comfortable as possible when he woke up. Then, I said good-bye to Flora and decided to wait for Lucas to regain consciousness.

LUCAS'S POV

This flower doesn't belong to me.

I supposed that was true. I vaguely remembered the Bellossoms singing a song that sounded kind of like "Surrender" by Billy Talent. Before that, they had been yelling at me, trying to get me off of their ground.

And then, I'd gotten hit with multiple Sleeping moves at once. Not all of them would have worked on their own, but the combined force was enough to bring me down.

I woke up with a pounding headache. Groaning, I raised myself up by the palms of my hands, in order to see where I was. It looked like I was back in my bedroom at the Greenlake household. The brown walls, looking kind of like a furnished log cabin, really did look like what I recognized.

"Hey" I said, trying to speak. My mouth felt very dry.

"Oh. Hello, Lucas" said Samuel, who was sitting next to me. "It's about time you woke up".

"What happened?" I asked. I had a feeling that I already knew, but I wanted to confirm my account of the events with my Lucario friend. Everything seemed somewhat hazy.

"You went into that grove of pine trees, thinking you were going to find that flower. I don't know why you wanted it so much, but the flower was guarded by a group of Bellossoms, which sang you to sleep in order to prevent you from touching their sacred flower, or something".

I laughed. "Probably not one of the smarter things I've done in my 17 years on this planet" I croaked.

"No, it really wasn't, Lucas. From here on out, don't do that again. Don't just do something so rash as to run into a grove that you know practically nothing about, and then try to steal something from the field. I get that you didn't know it was guarded, but that was still so reckless of you".

"Are you thirsty? They said you might be".

"Like you wouldn't believe".

Samuel went over to the sink and filled a cup, putting it on my nightstand. I sat up to drink it, before pulling out the covers from over me.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's almost dinnertime" replied the Lucario. "That attack was pretty potent".

"No kidding" I said, trying to get up. My legs would barely support my weight at first.

"You're going to be fine, Lucas" Samuel said. "Dinner will be ready in about five minutes. Really, you should try not to get knocked out every time something interesting is about to happen".

I glared at him slightly. "You don't really think this is my fault, do you? I never asked to get tethered to a stupid flower, and then set off a chain of events that led to all of this happening. I never asked for this".

Samuel looked back at me. "Didn't you, though?"

A short chapter, but I couldn't really think of a good reason to follow my original outline, which would have made it probably a good thousand words longer. I would like to thank all of you guys for your support.

Sincerely, SnowLucario.