It's been a big week for me. For one, I finally started using Google Docs, since my Interent was wonky on the bus ride. I realize that this may be the best way; don't know why I never did before. Also, tomorrow night is my prom, and I shaved off my peach fuzz for it. My dad made me, and I wouldn't have done it normally. Just want to clear that up.

Also, I've been having a great time on my Discord. PM me and I'll send you an invite code. I used the subreddit for "needafriend" and got a Discord friend as a result. You know who you are. That was pretty awesome. You can even voice chat with me.

Answer: I've been to a lot of places within the U.S.. In addition to all six New England states, I've been to quite a few others, including South Carolina, Arizona (last November), Alaska (last July), and Montana/Wyoming (March before last).

Question: Any more suggestions for questions? You can PM me.

You can also PM me with any questions or original characters you may have. Include name, age, personality, and Pokémon partner(s), if any. I'll introduce that character into the story at my earliest convenience.

One last thing: Rocker on (Guest), I would like to know how my writing is inferior to Talkingbirdguy's. I don't mind you saying that, I'd just like to know why you think that. Really, TBG was the reason I started writing. And, by the way, I have the forum up still. SnowLucario Forums, Get Rocker On To Get An Account. It's a thing.

If I had to guess, it might have something to do with humor. I feel that mine focus less on humor than his do. Or maybe I throw my lack of religion into it too . much. Either way, I'd love to know.

With that in mind, enjoy the chapter (the new longest one yet, after Chapter 7, and pretty emotional as well) and don't forget to review!

LUCAS'S POV

As I drove home with Samuel the next day, I had a lot of things on my mind. This weekend had given me a lot of things to think about.

For one, I had definitely had a crazier weekend than what I had already been expecting. I had been expecting that I was simply going to learn more about how to use illusions, maybe be able to ward off predators who came after me, be they other Pokémon or mad scientists that were morbidly curious over what had caused me to change into a Zoroark.

I'd passed out twice over the weekend, nearly dying from a Weezing's Poison Gas attack. And I'd seen Samuel get pretty badly hurt as well. Maybe, however, this was only going to increase the bond I felt with the teenager who had turned into a Lucario. Once you've survived through so much together, your bond will only become stronger. That's the way it goes.

In addition, I was thinking about Kieran Mortimer, the mysterious man who had attacked us on top of that hill. What had he been about to tell us? Did this secret of his have anything to do with why he could sense aura? I thought that likely, as I was sure Samuel did. Surely, being a Lucario, Samuel would have understood it more than I did.

Now, I was sitting in the passenger seat, watching the seemingly endless forests pass us by. In only a couple of months, they would be covered in snow. Right now, however, they were as green as they could be, although the first leaves were starting to change color. Samuel occasionally looked to the side of the road as he was driving, looking as though he expected us to be attacked at any minute.

"Are you really expecting us to be attacked?" I eventually asked him, seeing no reason not to come right out and say it.

Samuel shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose I'm somewhat afraid. Who knows how many followers this Kieran Mortimer guy might have? And what would those followers do?"

I chuckled nervously. "We really don't know anything about this guy".

"That's true" my Lucario friend replied. "But we shouldn't care too much about that right now. The fact is, we've got to deal with the problems as they come".

I nodded, agreeing with what he was saying.

For the most part, the rest of the ride home was pretty quiet. It wasn't like we had too many arguments, either. For the most part, we just talked about the good times, as well as the bad times, that we had had in that village of Zoroarks.

Eventually, there was dead silence. By this point, we were only about twenty minutes from my house. I was about to ask Samuel what was up, when he suddenly said, "Really, you were quite foolish to go after that flower".

"We're back to this?" I asked him, feeling slightly irritated. Okay, maybe just a little bit more than slightly. I was majorly annoyed with the fact that the Lucario would even have the nerve to bring that up.

"Yes, I just wanted to stress how stupid you were. You didn't really need that flower, you just thought...I don't know. You just thought that the flower was something you wanted. You should put that as a bookmark on the Internet browser that is your brain. Never trust an invisible tether, particularly if it's taking you towards a flower".

I sighed. It was kind of embarrassing to be chided about it, but it was also kind of embarrassing to have been pulled towards one specific flower. Somehow, I had felt that it held the keys to everything. Everything involved in the mystery. The necklace might have been infused with juices from that flower or something. That would seem to make perfect sense.

Of course, I couldn't jump to such conclusions just yet. I would need to wait and see what was going to happen.

Waking up in the hospital, having lost a battle against Kieran...that was humiliating. Waking up in my own bed in the Greenlakes' home was far worse, because I knew that I had only been hit with those Sleep moves because of my own stupidity, nothing more. There was a big difference between those two sets of circumstances.

"Let's not dwell on it too much longer" I said after a few more minutes. "Let's just get home and let whatever happens, happen. If Kieran comes to our house with a silver hammer, let him. We're going to be ready for it".

"I want to believe that" Samuel said, smiling. "But I just can't".

Once we got home, we had both made an agreement not to share anything that had happened during our time in Quebec. As much as my mother might have wanted to know, with how nosy she could be at times, that was information we both felt she didn't need. She didn't need to know what it was like up there, or what sort of illusionary moves I had learned.

Is "illusionary" even a word? Oh, well- I guess it is now!

It was hard to laugh as we sat down to a slightly late lunch. The food here sure wasn't as great as it had been at the Greenlake household in the Zoroark habitat, but it didn't taste too bad either. My mother, as much as I might resent her for clearly favoring my sister over me, was still kind enough to make an Oran berry salad that all three of us teenagers had second helpings of.

Neither of us had told my parents that Samuel used to be a human, because, much as with our weekend trip up to Canada, we felt that they didn't need to know that. As I got older and older, I was relying on my parents less and less, and this was one case in which I really did feel that it would hinder me to confide in them.

After lunch, Samuel and I headed up to my room, where we decided to play a few matches of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of my favorite video games. It was also, as I learned, one of his.

"I'm going to be Lucario" he said. Really, I wasn't surprised at that, since Samuel was a Lucario, even if he had not been one originally.

"Okay" I said. "I just wish that they had a Zoroark in this game. That would have been something".

"Zoroark hadn't even come out yet, in the games, until after Brawl was released" Samuel said, dropping a logic bomb on me.

"That's fair" I said, selecting Fox McCloud. In any case, Fox was my main, so it shouldn't have been much of a surprise. And I was pretty decent with him, too. I might never be on the level of the professional Smashers who play no items, Fox only, Final Destination, but I could play to save my life...I hoped. I hoped I wouldn't have to.

After turning on the items to low, we had a very enjoyable hour. We played 3-stock matches, and I ended up winning most of them. This could have been due either to actual skill, or the fact that a GameCube controller was easier to use as a Zoroark than as a Lucario.

Once three matches had been played, Michelle came into our room. She had never been that much of a gamer, so I wouldn't think that she would be so interested. However, we were shown to be wrong, because she seemed to be having a good time watching us. Occasionally, she ended up cheering along with the audience when one of us was doing well.

Eventually, we stopped playing, and Samuel and I spent what was left of the afternoon just hanging out and reminiscing over the weekend. There had been so much to talk about...

"Dude, I seriously thought you were a goner back on top of that hill" I said. "Kieran just hit you, and you went flying like Jigglypuff at 182%".

"And I thought you would have been brought down by the full force of all those Sleep moves from that Bellossom group" he replied. "I guess your fur's just pretty strong, it can defend you from stuff like that".

"I literally stepped into that grove, and immediately fell asleep. Just started feeling tired for seemingly no reason, and bam, out cold".

We traded more stories, such as how Samuel had carried me back to the house with the help of a friendly Bellossom named Flora, although he had a lot more to give me, because...

"You really spent a lot of that trip knocked out and helpless" Samuel said. He meant to say it playfully, but I didn't really take it that way. The way I took it was, I had not been able to fend for myself. Which, to be fair, had been the case...due to one stupid decision I had made. I'd be kicking myself for it for quite a while.

The next morning, I woke up with a new lease on life. I had been through such a crazy weekend that being a Zoroark at school was going to seem normal by comparison.

I got up, stretching out my back. My father had back problems from playing hockey aggressively, and I wasn't keen to follow in his footsteps. I never thought I would be likely to have children, but I would also like to set a better example for them than he was for me, favoring his daughter over his son.

Once again, I supposed it had to do with being a special needs student. The school had to spend more money on me, and I was sure that all of the speech therapy I had done, in order to be able to pronounce certain words and sounds correctly, had sapped some of their savings. You could consider that a sign that they did love me, since they were willing to spend that much money to make me a valuable member of society, but I didn't see it that way.

In any case, it was Monday, and I rarely had a spring in my step on such days. All I wanted to do, normally, was to continue the weekend. Of course, that wasn't the case, but I did have something to look forward to.

Now that I had finally learned how to use illusions, I could see how long I could fool my friends for at school. The possibilities seemed close to limitless. What should I pretend to be?

After a quick breakfast, Samuel and I looked at each other sadly. Both of us knew that we wanted to spend more time together; we had gotten even closer after all of our experiences in Canada. However, this was just not the way the world ran. I had to go to school, and Samuel had to stay at my house.

"I'll miss you today, Sam" I said. "Can I call you Sam? That's just quicker for me".

"Sure, Lucas. And I'll miss you too" he said, hugging me.

I wasn't romantically attracted to Sam, nor was I gay at all. Even so, we had such an intense platonic relationship that it could be considered almost a bromance of sorts. You might make fun of me for being friends with what might be considered a walking, talking stuffed animal, but it was true. I really was friends with Samuel Cranmore.

As soon as I was out of my house, I decided to try my hand at this illusion business. I had had no other chances to practice other than on top of the hill in Quebec. I wanted to know just how capable I was of doing this.

I pictured, in my mind, a small, light brown creature with a cream-colored tail. A foot or so tall, maybe a little larger...yes, that was perfect.

I was taking about eighty percent of my current height out of the picture, but it was pretty weird, because I still felt like I was six feet, two inches tall. That was a big difference from what I had changed into, to be sure.

I looked down at my body. I had turned into an Eevee...or, at least, I looked like I had turned into one. There was a big distinction to make there.

My new body was more nimble, and I wanted to laugh in happiness. That was a problem, because laughing broke the illusion. If I made any sound from my mouth, that was enough to make me appear as a Zoroark once again. Because of this, I had to be careful.

It didn't take me long to make it to school, even in this form. I had made sure to vanish my backpack as well, so that I didn't look like a student. Granted, the orange of my bag was a pretty dull orange, so it might blend in to the fur of an Eevee. Even so, I didn't want to take that chance.

I was in the schoolyard, looking around for Zach. He looked kind of like a stereotypical nerd, with his glasses, slight amount of acne (not that I didn't have any either), and braces that would probably be coming off soon. I wondered what he would think, what it would feel like to have an Eevee running over to you.

Sure enough, I found him, and I began bounding over. I wanted to surprise him, because that would be so hilarious. Would he wet his pants or something? That would be something to see!

Zach was talking to another boy, so I decided to nudge his leg, much like a puppy dog would. Normally, I wasn't this playful, not by a long shot, so I was a little surprised that I wanted to do this. Maybe I just had quite the sense of humor.

Zach looked at me. "Aww, you're such a cute little Eevee!" he said. "What's your name?"

I couldn't say it. If I spoke, the illusion would break, and the joke would be exposed for what it was. And I was having much too much fun for that.

My friend picked me up, and I squealed. This was so amusing to me! Zach had no idea that he was lifting his friend, and he was in for a rude awakening when I…

Wait...squealed?

Sure enough, I had made enough noise to transform back. Because Zach Vanderbilt wasn't the strongest guy physically, the added weight of a Zoroark, when compared to an Eevee, was enough to knock him flat onto his back.

"Was that you, Lucas?" he asked, bewildered.

I nodded. "That's me".

"So you learned how to do the illusions over the weekend?"

I nodded again.

"Cool. Let's go inside, and we'll find some other time to talk about it. Right now, however, I think it's best that we go to our first classes. Don't you agree with that?"

I really did agree. As much as I enjoyed thinking about the weekend, and the great times Samuel and I had had together, I needed something else to distract me from the realities of my current life as a Zoroark.

School might indeed be welcome today.

SAMUEL'S POV

It was indeed true that I had had a concussion back in Canada. It was also true that Lucas had told me not to come back to his school, not to do battle any more in gym class.

However, I was getting bored. Thoughts about Quebec could really only entertain me for so long, and, at a certain point, I decided that there was really nothing else to it. I wanted to go back to Lucas's school. I wanted to battle.

When Lucas's father had left for work, and his mother was looking away, I got out of the house and began walking towards the school. Once I was out of sight of the London household, I broke into a run. All I wanted to do was to get there, and then we'd have a pretty awesome time battling.

Finally, I reached the school gymnasium. I knew that Lucas had gym first today, as he had told me. Since gym class was mostly battling Pokemon, this was going to be my opportunity.

Once I was in the school, I followed the signs to the gymnasium. Of course, this wasn't a difficult thing for me to do. I'd already been to that room before, and I was more than ready to do it again. I tensed my muscles, preparing for a battle of epic proportions.

Just as the bell rang for what I knew would be Lucas's gym class, I got into the room. I saw a line of what looked like twenty or so teenagers, along with one Zoroark. The gym teacher was still looking at all of us, trying to decide who was going to battle first.

"Sam!" Lucas said angrily, looking at me. "Why did you choose to come here when I told you not to?"

Before I could respond, Mr. Genger, the gym teacher, said, "All right, guys! The first battle will be between Lucas London, the Zoroark, and Samuel Cranmore, the Lucario!"

Both of us looked at each other in shock.

I never thought that I would ever end up having to battle against Lucas. I cared so deeply about him, and my aura could tell that he felt the same way about me.

I knew that neither of us were facing too much risk, though. Mr. Genger would surely step in before any real harm was done to either of us. Even so, it was hard to look at the Zoroark that I had become so attached to, now knowing that I was going to have to face off against him.

"On your mark...get set...GO!" Mr. Genger shouted.

Lucas went first. He stood there, still looking bewildered at what he had been told to do. His large body just stayed limp, even though he was supposed to attack me.

Both of us knew the rules, of course. If one battler stood there for a full minute, not making any moves, they would forfeit the turn. Lucas did seem to be going that route, or, at least, he would be if he dawdled for too much longer.

The gym teacher blew his whistle. "Lucas has taken too long to make his move!" he announced. "Samuel, your turn".

I didn't have nearly as much pause as Lucas did. I had taken my time, while Lucas had been wasting his own time thinking, to come up with a plan. I knew what move I was going to use, and how I was going to use it.

"Aura sphere!" one of the other students said, with a voice full of wonder.

Indeed, I had created an Aura Sphere, a small, dark blue ball of pure aura, and fired it towards Lucas. He was expecting it, however, and he was able to dodge as soon as the Aura Sphere had left my hands.

Lucas used a Night Slash, trying to do whatever possible to do some damage. Clearly, he wanted to make up for his abysmal start to the battle, something I understood. Besides, I knew that he would never hurt me intentionally, just cause enough damage to win this fight.

Still, with the fierce look in his eyes, I had to keep reminding myself of this. That was one thing that was not easy to do, let me tell you. The boy who had transformed into a Zoroark looked livid.

The Night Slash managed to make a small cut on my "shorts", if you could call them that. A little blood gushed out, but Mr. Genger didn't notice.

Normally, a Pokemon battle would end as soon as blood had been drawn, but that was assuming that the referee was attentive enough to notice, or that he cared. Clearly, Mr. Genger was not both of those things, because he didn't say a word.

The battle continued. I used a Quick Attack, which knocked Lucas off of his feet. I wasn't at a sufficiently high level for a Bone Rush just yet, even though I would have liked to be for this purpose.

Or would I?

I mean, it was Lucas I was battling against. Lucas! The boy I was staying with. The boy I had developed such a close bond with. The boy I was now being forced to battle.

And yet, I didn't want to concede. As I dodged another one of Lucas's attacks, I knew that this was the time to end it. Lucas wouldn't be hurt that much...would he?

"I'm sorry, Lucas" I said, at a level that I figured he would be able to hear, but no one else.

I hit him with another Quick Attack, watching him crumple to the ground. I could tell that he'd been knocked out, completely destroyed.

Well, not completely. I saw that a pair of Chansey were carrying him out on a stretcher, so clearly I had hurt him somewhat, but I didn't think he had died. The gym teacher was checking his pulse, and he didn't seem discouraged.

The whole time, I sat on the sidelines, numb at what I had just done.

LUCAS'S POV

My body ached like you wouldn't believe. I felt like I had been kicked everywhere, from my legs, all the way up to my chest. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, not by any stretch of the imagination.

I opened my eyes to find that I was in the school's infirmary, lying in a bed with the sheets underneath me, probably because they wanted to keep an eye on my stomach, which had been bandaged up.

"They don't want the sheets pressing on your stomach" said a voice next to me. "You're going to be fine to go back to class for fourth period, though. The nurse wants you to stay until then".

It was Samuel, and I remembered why I was here, what had happened.

I'd been forced to battle him, and it clearly had not gone very well for me. Had it gone my way, I would not have been in an infirmary bed right about now, so I could assume that it hadn't.

"Why did you come to school?" I asked him angrily. "If you hadn't done it, we wouldn't have had to fight each other, did you think about that?"

"I did" he said plainly. "But I decided that I wanted to be in your company today, just because I did. I like being in your company, Lucas London. I really do".

I sat up, looking around the room more. "Why did you, though? It's not that important for you to come and protect me everywhere! It's not like I'm five years old. No, I'm seventeen, and I don't need your protection. In fact, you're practically in the same situation as me! You're also a Pokemon who used to be a teenager!"

"I guess that's true" Sam said. "But, really, Lucas, you need to let it go. Aren't there other, more important things to worry about. For instance, how are we going to get to the bottom of this necklace business. I don't know about you, but I really would like to figure this out".

I was in the same boat as my Lucario friend. I had never been a fan of mysteries. One could say that had something to do with my Asperger's syndrome; I was into having a routine, of knowing what was going to happen. That can be hard to explain, but I just like knowing what to expect even more than the average person.

Sam stiffened for a moment, looking like a statue at one of the pyramids in Egypt. He really did look like a mummy in that one moment.

"What is it?" I asked him. "Why are you just freezing up like that?"

The Lucario looked at me, wearing an expression I hoped instantly to never see again. He looked like he was picturing the type of flowers he thought I would like best on my coffin, or searching for a diamond on a landmine.

"I don't know" Sam said. "All I do know is that I have a very, very strong sense that something awful is going to happen".

The rest of the school day went by fairly normally. I ate some of the trashy cafeteria food that they always served, trying not to think about what Sam had told me. If not for that, I could believe that it was just another Thursday, in the tired old high school that I was accustomed to attending.

Of course, it wasn't completely normal. Being a Zoroark, for one, was still something I was trying to get used to, although it certainly helped to be able to harness the power of illusion. That had been a very entertaining moment with Zach in the schoolyard, and I hoped to have more of those moments with other people.

The only problem was, how long could that possibly go on until someone recognized me as the teenaged boy who had turned into a Zoroark? That revelation, to someone who had not been expecting it, or one who had been actively looking for that person, would not be in my best interest.

All I had to do was think about Kieran Mortimer, that mysterious young man who had attacked us, and I would be instantly reminded of why I thought that.

I walked home, Sam having left as soon as I had been released from the infirmary. I didn't know exactly how it was going for him, but I was worried about the sense he had had that something bad was going to happen. I didn't know how he could be aware of something in advance, but something about the way he had warned me gave me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Chances were, something was very, very wrong, because I didn't know Samuel Cranmore to be such a scaredy cat. I told myself that he was, just to comfort myself.

By the time I had reached the street next to my house, I saw Sam running towards me. The Lucario was holding his arms up in the air, looking completely panicked. At the same time, there was pain and anger in his eyes, in approximately equal measures.

"There you are, Lucas!" he cried. "You couldn't have come soon enough!"

Rounding the corner to turn onto my street, I saw that he had been right earlier. And I had never, ever wanted to be more wrong.

My house looked as though there was the world's most insane college frat party going on, or a battle between the Greeks and the Romans. What I mean by that is, half of the figures inside seemed to be breathing orange fumes, while the other half seemed to be breathing purple fumes.

"What's going on?" I asked him.

"There seems to be some sort of battle going on!" Sam cried. "There are two armies inside your house, right now".

That was a thought I didn't like to think about. I considered my sister. Hopefully she was safe with her friend Olivia; I loved her a lot. My father would be at work, but my mother might be at home. They didn't care for me too much, they were far from being perfect parents, but they didn't deserve to die this way.

And I had little doubt that, were they in this house, they would die. There was no surviving that combination of fire and poison without immediate medical help.

"Let's get this thing going" I said. "Let's figure out how to save our house, and anyone inside".

Samuel nodded, clearly thinking that this was a good plan. Both of us decided to train our eyes up above, because I had seen a purple shape...what was that?

"Oh. It's you again" Sam grumbled.

Sure enough, sitting on top of the Crobat, gliding through the air, was a face that was all too recognizable. Kieran Mortimer had found our house, and it appeared that he was attacking it.

"What are you doing here?" I yelled at the sky. I really didn't see why Kieran had any business at this house, considering that he had tried to kill both of us, and he didn't even live here!

Which meant he must have been out to get us.

"Simple. I learned that this was the place where a former human lived, and you know me. I'm inquisitive by nature, so this was where I went. I want answers, London".

"What makes you think that you can do that by burning Lucas's house down?" Sam yelled at Kieran.

Kieran laughed sadly. "Someday, young Lucario, you'll understand. Right now, you don't. My army is beating back the fire army that came to defend. Soon, your house is going to be mine".

Your house is going to be mine.

I'm sorry, those are seven words that do not sit well in my mind, at least not when they are spoken to me.

"What makes you think this house will be worth anything once it's burned to the ground?" I asked the young man, who was swooping on a downward arc towards us.

"You'd have nothing to lose, Lucas London. You could join me in looking for answers".

I spat onto the ground. "Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Do you think I'm going to do something so idiotic as that? For Arceus's sake, you tried to kill both of us! Do you have such a short memory, or such a weak intellect, that you are seriously going to forget that?"

Kieran crossed his arms. "I knew that I would have a difficult time trying to persuade you. But this is important. The fate of the world could depend on it. The fact of the matter is, I know something you don't".

He said that last sentence, not as a mature and responsible adult, but as a petulant kindergartener who knew where the cookie jar was, but wasn't going to tell anybody else. That was the tone he used, and it made me trust him far less still. I wanted to get out of Kieran's sight as soon as possible.

"What do you know, Kieran?" Sam demanded of him.

Kieran looked back at us. "I'll tell you once you're alone with me. Trust me, we're not going to-".

"I don't care! I hate you!" I yelled, performing a Night Slash towards the aura user.

"Is that any way to treat someone who might hold the key to saving the world?" Kieran said.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. "There's no way you've got the key to saving the world. If anything, I would think you'd be the one trying to destroy it!"

"Trust me", Kieran replied, "I have the best of intentions. It is regrettable that your house is being burned and poisoned as we speak, but it may be all for the better-".

"All for the better?! Are you out of your mind?"

Just then, Michelle came running towards us. "Our house is burning" she said, as if it was something that wasn't completely obvious.

"Can you help us do anything about it?" I asked her irritably. Forgive me for throwing manners to the wind, but I didn't care at the moment. I really didn't.

"Yeah. Olivia has a pet Vulpix named McCloud. I've got him right here in this Pokeball".

Michelle took out a Blue Diamond Pokeball, color approximately #4F2A7A, and threw it on the ground. From it was released a Vulpix, which immediately began prancing towards the house.

"Yes, McCloud! Go destroy the poison armies!"

McCloud the Vulpix ran into the house and instantly started with trying to beat back the purple army. It was like watching a back-and-forth tennis match between the purple team and the orange team. It seemed that the purple team was winning, but only slightly. It was tough to tell from here.

"We need to talk" Michelle said to Kieran. "Let's get up into the air. Can that Crobat carry all of us?"

The last thing I wanted to do was to get on the back of a Pokemon with the devil himself, Kieran Mortimer. Unfortunately, it seemed that this was our only option. Certainly, he wasn't going to give us any answers if we didn't stand down. As much as I hated the man's guts, and would have loved to kick his guts in until he died of internal bleeding, the fact remained.

"It can" Kieran replied. "It's pretty strong".

Crobat came down and unfurled its wings. Much like ramps, the three of us were able to climb onto its back, just like children might in some kind of fairy tale movie.

"We're going to have to have negotiations, now" Kieran said. "Make sure we don't kill each other".

"Huh" I said sarcastically. "The thought had never even crossed my mind until now".

Kieran didn't laugh. "I have information that you guys want. Trust me on this. You want to know the origin of the necklace, the one that has turned Samuel Cranmore and Lucas London into Pokemon. You want to know who created it, why it was created, what we can do in order to help counteract it...I'm your man".

I didn't want to believe it, but Kieran spoke with conviction. Absolute conviction. What were the odds that he was lying?

Probably pretty high, I thought, considering how much of an ass he's always been to us.

Still, I wanted to entertain the possibility that he might be telling the truth. The fact was, there was so little we had been able to know over the last week that it would be nice to have some semblance of knowledge. Something to cling to, something we could know was definitely the case.

We flew up to about two hundred feet above the house. I wished that Crobat had safety harnesses, but he didn't. You just had to hang on and hope that you didn't forget what you were doing.

"Do you agree to a quest with me, to help find the truth?" Kieran asked.

"Wait" I said. "This isn't adding up. You tell me that there's a quest we'll have to go on, while at the same time telling me that you already know the answers. These two things seem to be in conflict with one another".

Kieran laughed. "You don't understand, Lucas London. You'll never understand unless you come with me".

Now, he just sounded like a playground bully. "No thanks" I said.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Lucas?" Michelle asked me.

I looked back at her. I was pretty sure that I had not forgotten anything; I had a pretty good memory.

She looked somber when she said, "The thing is, Lucas, we've got nothing to lose".