Quill was concerned when he woke the next day with no Luka around him. Being a nice person, he wandered out, nose twitching as he relied on smelling and hearing to track down the audino he called his trainer.

As a cyndaquil the world was big and he was small. Even doors were towering planks he couldn't hope to use easily. It took five minutes of jumping to get out of the room and then he didn't know where to go.

At the very least, he was more comfortable in these plain sterile halls than in some forest. He knew places like this even if he wasn't a huge fan of them.

"Luka?" he called softly, flinching as little sounds crept in from the closed doors all around him. Soft snores, faint growls, and even a few whimpers.

Medical places left him feeling antsy and itchy without any place to itch. He'd much prefer to find the audino, at least Luka would threaten to stab anything that looked wrong at them.

Grimacing, Quill crept along until his ears picked up a pained groan. He might have walked on by but the groan sounded worse than the whimpers that were accompanied by all the beeps and clicks.

He found it coming from a closed door and knocked softly. "H-Hello?"

There was another groan. He recognised it. "Oh! Luka, hold on, uh, buddy." It took him another minute and a half to open this door and he left a few scratch marks in it before it drifted open.

It stopped after a few inches and Quill caught a glimpse of pink fur. He couldn't shove the door forwards, Luka was blocking the way.

"Ah, Luka! What happened? Can you hear me?"

Luka was laying in a beaten heap. Scratched up and covered in bruises, semi-conscious on the floor. He stirred as Quill fretted over him and weakly raised a paw. "Quill my buddy my friend my pal?"

"What happened!?"

"I got attacked by a purrloin."

Quill instantly stopped worrying. "Alright, get up."

"But I'm hurt." He flopped his arm weakly. "Can't even lift a muscle."

Quill sighed and began to drag the heavier pokemon out of the room.

Later on, they sat patiently in one of the booths of the Pokemon Centre's cafe.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting…

"This is discrimination," Luka said.

Quill sighed, "I told you they don't do waiters here."

"Well, I wasn't listening," Luka sniffed and sighed, dropping to the ground. "I guess I'll go nag someone to give me money. Or, wait, you're a pokemon!"

"As are you."

"Debatable. Trainers beat each other up for money, don't they?"

Quill looked at him like he grew a third eye. "I suppose you could look at it that way."

"You are very erudite for a child baby thing," Luka said. "Now, what is worse I wonder? Dogfighting or babyfighting? Why not both, am I right?"

"..."

"Your silence means you agree with me."

With that, Luka began to scan the place for an easy mark. He was overconfident but not overstupid, at least according to him.

"Do you think that kid would have money?" he pointed to a Max-looking child that appeared very puntable.

"Probably not," Quill replied.

"Well, punting him would be payment enough."

Quill caught his ankle before he could walk off. "Luka, I'm hungry," he whined and Luka froze in place.

"Oh my goodness," he gasped. "I'm being a terrible trainer! Neglecting your nutrition, how will you ever grow big and strong enough to take over the world with me if you're not fed? Very well. Plan C."

"What was Plan B?" Quill feared to ask.

"Oh hohohoh, we'll keep that one as a backup okay?"

"Why wouldn't C be the- never mind."

Luka pet him on the head and marvelled at his soft fur before wandering off to cause trouble. He walked to where the employees could access the kitchen and skipped his way in.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully to a human serving customers. They glanced down at him in confusion. "I am here to help!"

They blinked at him and glanced around. "Did someone lose an audino? Allie, get out here."

The door to the kitchen opened and a gothorita floated out with a trademark dour expression. "What?" She paused at the sight of Luka and that worker gestured at him before returning to serving.

"I'm your new employee," Luka said cheerfully.

Allie kinda just… stared at him. He stared back until one of them broke eye contact.

His eyes were beginning to twitch from non-blinking before she finally blinked. "Okay. Get a dishcloth." She floated back in and he skipped after her, knowing Quill would be fine in a public place all alone and helpless.

"I won't be long, Quill!" he called. "If anything happens, start blasting."

"Blast what?"

"You'll know."

Allie pointed towards a large sink with dishes piling up and Luka had to ask, "Did you not have someone doing this before?"

"No."

And with that, she floated off to continue moving plates. He needed a stool just to reach the top of the sink and a set of cookbooks to get tall enough to even reach the water.

"Being short sucks," Luka grumbled, automatically going into dishboy mode. It reminded him of old times, being in a kitchen as dishes piled up.

He got about halfway through before remembering he was here to steal not earn a fair wage. Right as he looked around he saw Allie staring at him again and once again they stared each other down.

He blinked first this time, his vision had begun to go white.

'She's just using you for free labour, she knows you don't work here!' Luka rationalised to himself. When a floating pile of dishes was set down by him he knew it to be true.

Glowering as he knew Allie was taunting him, he decided to be perfect to show her what she was messing with. Scrubbing each dish with years of practice even with stubby, clumsy, paws until they were sparkling clean.

It took hours. As the place wasn't burning down yet he assumed Quill was okay and not being kidnapped. He was really hungry though and it was interfering with his malice as he kept thinking about Quill being hungrier.

"Cyndaquil need food," he hummed to himself. "To grow big and strong." He would steal the whole centre to feed Quill if he had to, but first, he had to prove his point.

Once the morning rush had finally subsided and it was getting dangerously close to lunch, they still had clocks in this place and it was the same as he was used to, he tossed the cloth into the sink and stomped away.

"Give me food," he demanded to Allie, the only pokemon in this kitchen. "Quill too. He needs even more. Fire-types, fuel, you get it."

"He's already eaten," Allie replied blandly. Luka's hot temper frazzled under the dispassionate wave of coolness she presented.

"...huh?"

She floated him up on a bench, a very uncomfortable moment where it felt like his whole body was being squeezed, and pointed. Quill snored happily at a table surrounded by empty plates.

Luka's mouth fell open. "That lazy bastard is sleeping the day away! We have to train! Also, a lot of things. Allie, my friend, will you repay my work with a small favour?"

"No."

Luka tried the eyes. "Pleeeease."

"No."

"How about I nag you until you give in?"

She stared at him. He stared back. A third time they stared each other down. He could feel his eyes going bloodshot, beginning to go cross-eyed against his will.

Staring into Allie's face turned his vision of her into a giant eye and he gasped, "Oh my god is that what you really look like? Am I seeing past your glamour?"

She blinked and he yelled in victory. "I did it! I won the battle of wills. Put your glamour back on Eyeleen Wuornos I don't want to see that but you probably see everything with that Leela-esc eyeball."

She looked at him, a furrow of concern finally breaking the monotone expression. "Are you insane?" she asked.

"I am a visionary! I want you to take my fingerprint and send it into the Pokemon League doodaddy so that I can be a trainer. I already know they do not check so I can get away with this."

"...insane it is."

"Well, if I'm insane then you can't break my delusion, now can you? Checkmate."

"I am going to go away now."

"Oi! We had a deal!"

"We did not."

"I literally will not stop bugging you until you give in, let's just save ourselves some trouble." She still didn't look convinced so he appealed to reason. "It'll make me go away sooner."

"Consider it done," she said, gesturing for him to follow. He beamed, still felt hungry but victory was a meal sweeter than any dessert.

He'd steal some of Quill's food later.

Once they were at a terminal, Luka had many questions.

"Do not say anything," she warned.

"I will not say that word specifically," he agreed. "Do you know how to read or any…th… um. Do you know how to read?"

"Yes."

"Can you teach me?"

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"This is an endeavour to make you go away, not to encourage you to stay longer."

"Can't you just beam the knowledge into my head?"

She opened her mouth to decry him a fool and then just found herself speechless. "...no," she settled on.

"It sounds like a maybe."

"Your mind would shatter like a fragile piece of glass."

"Don't threaten me with a good time!"

"Oh for the love of," she growled, getting more agitated. "Give me your paw!" She snatched it and pressed a pawpad roughly onto a scanner and waited for it to beep. "I don't know if it'll notice you're fingerprint isn't human."

They waited a moment, a light lit up and began to scan his whole paw. Luka made an, "Ooo." Sound, it looked very magical and futuristic but then again he was bound to see so much more of that.

Then it dinged pleasantly, another light turning green. "Hm. What is your name?"

"Luka."

"It requires a surname."

"Luka the Dice!"

"No."

"Luka the Draw!"

"Stop that."

"Come on, it sounds like luck of-"

"I know what it sounds like." She typed something in. "There."

"Did you just name me? What did you name me?"

"Learn to read." She pulled his face into a digital frame on the terminal and waited until she wasn't in sight to activate it. It flashed, blinding him, but an okay-looking photo came up on the screen.

"I'm blind!"

"I suppose you won't be able to read then," she grumbled, tapping more things in. "There." A plastic card slowly began to print. "I have fed the insanity long enough, the authorities will likely be coming after you. Good luck."

He grinned at her. "That was easier than I thought it'd be! Thanks! You're cool, want to join my team to take over the world?"

"No."

"Come oooon."

"No."

"You can rule with an iron fist over a portion of land?"

There was a beat of what he believed was hesitation. "The authorities cannot get here quick enough."

"Well, that's my cue to leave!" He yanked the card and scuttled back towards the café. "Thanks, Allie! You're a hell of an ally."

"Never talk to me again."

"I'll catch you later!"

He ran into the café and combeelined it straight for Quill. "My buddy!" he said loudly, causing the snoozing cyndaquil to startle and jump. "We have to go!"

Quill immediately tensed. "What did you do?"

Luka tried to speak but he was shovelling food into his mouth at an alarming pace.

"You're going to choke!" Quill said in alarm.

Luka, always happy to exceed expectations, choked it down instead and gasped, "Ow. Anyway, got the trainer licence."

Quill was genuinely surprised as evidenced by his eyes opening in shock. "...really?"

"I'm amazing, yes, but you can adore me later. The feds might be coming for us now and now that I'm a trainer I probably can get in trouble for stealing you. Damn, I should have found a way to release you first huh? Well, we can fix this. I have a plan."

"I don't trust your plans," Quill whined as he was placed in Luka's bag. "Luka! The food!"

"Right. Make some room." He pulled some of that in the bag as well. "Run!"

"I'm in your bag!"

"Tell me to run then!"

"Run!"

"AHHH!"

People watching this thought whatever was going on was hilarious. An audino barrelling into the cafe squeaking at a cyndaquil, slamming a few mouthfuls of food down before flashing a bit of plastic and stuffing the cyndaquil into its cute little bag before racing off on its little legs making a high-pitched eeee sound.

It was a good start to the day, all things considered.

"Okay, the first order of business is figuring out where we are," Luka said, striding forth confidently with his loyal pokemon ally alongside him.

"What's your plan?" Quill asked. Luka pointed and Quill's eyes followed to the tallest building in town. "...I'm not following."

Luka laughed, "Hahaha. I won't let you fall."

"Wait, I didn't mean I wasn't going to-" Quill stopped with a sigh. "I meant, I don't understand."

He frowned at Luka when the audino pet his head condescendingly. "Don't worry about a thing. We're going to go to the roof and see if we can see any landmarks I'll recognise!"

"..." Quill blinked. "I thought you didn't know anything about where and what and everything."

"That's my secret," Luka replied mysteriously.

"...I'm not following," he said flatly.

So, Luka picked him up. "No one will stop us now," Luka sang. "We're too cute and powerful, the world will kneel to our glory."

The appearance of an audino waddling along with a cyndaquil in its arms was so cute that humans threw cooing sounds at them.

"Give me money," Luka said when a lady approached to pet his head. "Five dollars a second." She tussled the top of his head and called him adorable. "Twenty dollars. Wait, what's the money system here? Yen? Twenty thousand a second."

"It's called Poké," Quill offered.

"That's the lamest bit of worldbuilding I've ever heard," Luka said flatly. "You're the pokémon. Are they saying we are money to them? Because that's… very accurate actually. Criticism still valid but withdrawn."

Hearing the audino chatter about mindlessly, the lady pinched his cheek. "You are the cutest thing," she said.

"Give the audino money," Luka said, grimacing at the touch. "Quill, use mind control, it's not working."

"I don't know that move."

"Dammit, Quill."

"Are you two lost?" she asked.

"When I'm your ruler I'm changing the name of money," he retorted. "I'll call it Audios. No, that's sound. Dinos. That sounds like money. Quill, you can trade Dinos for goods and services now okay? Also, make her stop touching me."

The cyndaquil strategically yawned with a little yell, the sound was so cute the lady died on the spot. Or she started making a sound like a cat giving birth, either way, she didn't let go and just pinched Luka's face harder.

"Is it illegal to set humans on fire?"

"Yes."

"I may have to adjust that law in the future."

"Oi, Mary!" someone saw the public assault on his person. "Let it go, can't you see it looks really uncomfortable?" It was another lady, dressed in a nicer shirt than Mary was.

"But she's so cute!" Mary, as she was apparently called, pulled Luka against her. "I want to take them home."

Luka was about to bite her for calling him a girl when the other lady made Mary let her go. Luka took his chance and scampered as the other human told the first one off. "See, look it's running away now."

"Awww, I'll remember you, sweetie!"

"I smell like I've been dunked in a bath of perfume," Luka gagged as he ran. "I am probably thirty percent more flammable. If I die from the stench, throw me into her house and set me on fire, okay? I'll probably explode and take the place out."

"That's the worst thing you've said," Quill replied, deeply disturbed at such words.

"So far," Luka added wisely.

"Oh."

Once they were sure she wasn't going to come running after them, Luka slowed enough to begin rubbing his face with Quill's soft body.

The cyndaquil was very concerned. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Transferring the smell of cheap perfume from me to you," Luka said.

"It doesn't work like that."

"Who's the trainer here? I'm the brains and you're the brawn."

"Hmm."

Satisfied as the smell was replaced partially with the smoky cyndaquil scent, Luka set him down to walk on his own legs. "Where were we going again?" he asked.

"The big building," Quill replied before cursing his own loyal nature.

"Right! To the building we go!"

They waited behind a couple of businessmen before the elevator in silence. Stepped into the elevator in silence. Rode the elevator in silence, surrounded by businessmen.

Once they stepped out Luka returned to being insane and ran out excitedly.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT FALLING!?" Quill yelped as Luka just jumped up onto the railing to peer over the edge.

"That I wouldn't let you fall," Luka replied happily.

Quill did not approach the railing like Luka was, staying a good few feet back, shivering in the wind. "It's really high."

"Are you afraid of heights?" Luka asked, glancing back in surprise.

"I've never had the chance to figure it out."

"Wanna figure it out?" Luka smiled, sliding down and offering his arms for Quill to jump into.

Quill recoiled like he'd offered to throw him off a waterfall. "You're right, that wasn't the worst thing you'd say." He grimaced, looking back towards the safety of the room with the elevator.

"I said I wouldn't let you fall," Luka chirped. "You know reality bends to my will."

'He's actually insane,' Quill thought grimly. 'Luka is certifiably insane. A complete nutcase. He's up the creek with a paddle made of shin bones. He's so crazy he thinks that he can do what the humans do. They'll lock him in a little padded box and I'll be there with him because I'm going with the craziness!'

"Hug!" Luka said with A-Rank charm. Oh wait, he actually used Charm.

Quill sighed, "I'm gonna die." And closed his eyes, jumping into Luka's arms.

"Nonsense," Luka said, holding him tightly at least. He took a few steps, turning around. The wind pulled at their fur and Quill trembled, eyes tightly shut. "Open your eyes."

"I… can't."

"I'm not going to let you fall," Luka said soothingly.

Quill ground his teeth into a snarl, unable to believe he was so stupid. Luka was holding him over the abyss. He could feel it, no longer pulled against his chest. He was going to open his eyes and freak out and fall to his death.

"Come on, Quill. It's okay."

Quill whimpered, cracking an eye open slowly, forcing himself to look. He felt the stomach drop out of his body as he saw where he was. Luka had turned around, holding him closer to the elevator then he was to the railing. He wasn't holding him over the abyss at all.

He sagged in relief as Luka grinned at him. "...asshole," Quill growled.

"It's not so scary now is it!?" Luka beamed. "You weren't in any danger and you overcame your fear and looked. Fear conquered and will never affect you again. That's how psychology works I'm pretty sure."

Quill couldn't find words. Flummoxed between relief, confusion, some sort of confused anger and something a little soft that Luka hadn't actually risked him to prove a point.

Then the moment was ruined when Luka clamped him to his side and trotted right back over to the abyss. "Now-"

"LUKA!" Quill shrieked, wriggling. "DO NOT!"

Luka held him tighter, pinning him to his side. "You're supposed to be over the fear," he complained. "Was I wrong?" he wondered, mystified at the possibility. "Quill is weird," he said out loud. "I cannot predict his wily ways."

"PUT ME DOWN!" Quill demanded, his back blasting with fire. Luka grimaced as he got lightly seared and just let him down.

"Ow," he said, the smell of burning fur being blown away by the wind. "That was very unfriendly, Quill."

"Can we please go back down?" Quill begged.

"Alright. Do you want to go the quick way or the fun way?"

"...elevator."

"Fine. I think I saw a crowd down there we should check out. I'll get the name of this place eventually!"

They were silent on the ride down, cheerful elevator music jingling over the minute. Luka's leg hurt from where he'd been burned but he didn't complain.

He was limping a little as they left the big building behind, pointing in the direction he'd seen the crowd gather.

Quill was looking a little guilty before Luka began to talk again like nothing had happened up there, "What do humans gather for?" he asked.

"Um. A lot of reasons I guess?"

"Any guesses?"

"I guess…."

"Yes."

Quill thought to himself. "A festival?" he asked unsure. "I'm not really sure. Me and the other pokemon didn't exactly… roam around much, we kinda just stayed at the facility until Connor bought me."

There was a flash of something dark across Luka's face at the word 'bought'. Quill assumed he was thinking about the name of currency again.

"Hmm," Luka hummed. "Only one way to find out. Keep those burners hot, Quill. We might need to burn the place down to hide our tracks."

"Why would we need to do that!?" Quill blurted out, a flicker of shame being buried by the usual horror at everything-Luka.

"Always have a plan to kill everyone around you," Luka said wisely.

"Why?"

"Ah, that innocence. I hope it lasts."

Looking disturbed, Quill couldn't help but ask, "What's… your plan to do that?" he asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Hahaha," Luka replied, the laughter chilling Quill's bones.

"Luka?"

"Hm?"

"Luka?"

Luka patted him on the head. "Don't worry about it. You're a part of my team, thus you're not a part of everyone. You're with me now!"

"Oh, good."

"Now, shh, we're approaching!"

They certainly were. Whatever event was going on, it had attracted hundreds of people to it. The town they were in wasn't particularly small, or at least didn't look it from their vantage point. It was undoubtedly a town, Luka's vantage on the building had seen about the edges of the place. But it was a pokemon town, wildly large buildings were strangely the norm here.

He wondered why, questions for later.

It probably had a few thousand people at least.

And a portion of that higher than 1% was here making a crowd. Luka took Quill's paw in his and began to walk between the human's legs. The humans were distracted enough that no one tried to pet him which he appreciated.

There was a general muttering going on above his head, so while there wasn't as much touching Luka quickly found his sensitive ears aching from the sheer variety of voices speaking all at once.

He could make out words if he focused but shutting them out was more important. He did catch the words "Pokemon" and "Training" repeated quite a few times.

After twenty minutes of pushing through the crowd, they finally found themselves at the front. It wasn't a grand stage or some sort of show going on.

It was the middle of a park, Luka realised. Gathered in a throng of suits of white, black, and silver he was greeted by a line of knights. Gathered around their feet were quite a few pokemon, purrloin and lillipup, a few herdier and pidov as well.

"Wait a minute," Luka muttered. "Those aren't knights."

They were gathered in a sleepy portion of the park. Many tables and benches were scattered about. A few flags had been set up with an emblem of a shield with the letter P on it.

"They do write with unown here," Luka hissed, knowing he had to find whatever feature there might be to shift his reading comprehension from the pokemon language to something he could comprehend.

However, that would have to be later.

Quill looked up at Luka in concern when he felt the audino tremble slightly, finding an unreadable expression darkening Luka's face. "We're in Unova," he said darkly. "Team. Plasma."

"Accumula Town." A deep and rich voice crested out as a tall man stepped forth from the gathered false knights. He was adorned in a ghastly robe with wretched eyes stitched into it, with a cuff shaped like the battlements of a castle. An eyepiece lay attached to his right eye and there was a portion of scar tissue running down from the rightmost tip of his mouth. His face was curtained by flowing blond hair running like golden straw.

"Dennis," Luka spat.

When he spoke, the right side of his face didn't move as much as the left. "Greetings one and all. My name is Ghetsis, I represent Team Plasma here today."

If Ghetsis spotted an audino glaring at him with the heat of the sun, he didn't react. His voice carried and so the crowd murmured a bit in consideration, the word of Team Plasma was spreading but they were a little frontier town that saw little visitors. Few had encountered Team Plasma in the flesh but many understood the gist of what this team aimed to achieve.

"Today, ladies, gentlemen, people of all identities, I wish to discuss pokemon liberation." The castle-wearing man began to walk back and forwards, addressing the throng of humans that had gathered in a semicircle, his eye blazing with passionate intensity as he cried for them to listen.

"It is said by many that people and pokemon are partners that face the challenges of life together. This is a truth that we all are told and a question to never ask. We command the pokemon in battle, they do the things that we do not wish to do. They carry the heavy things. They do the dangerous tasks. When a victory is had, the human is applauded while the pokemon is placed within its ball."

There was discontent immediately, but Ghetsis allowed the words to wash over him without reacting to the shouts and jeers.

"Have you ever asked a pokemon how they feel?" he said simply and people began to fall silent, frowns of confusion overtaking frowns of anger. "Has anyone here, in a fit of anger, annoyance, or merely because it was easy, placed a pokemon within their capture device?" A few people looked down.

"I ask you to simply consider today. Think about what it would be like to know that at any point the person professing that they are your partner, can place you in a dark place you cannot get out of. At any point. Would it not be in your best interest to behave?"

The jeers were falling quieter.

"Would it not be in your best interest to agree to everything your partner suggests? What if you didn't want to fight, but if you didn't you would be locked away? What if you wanted to go outside, but you had to beg your partner to allow you, knowing you could be placed away if you bothered them too much?"

"This is the reality pokemon live with," Ghetsis said heavily. "Do we truly partner with pokemon? Our power is unbalanced. Our accolades are given to ourselves. Even communication is unfair. Pokemon understand our words but we do not care to understand their own. We can order them, but if they disagree they have to show it. And disobedience is punished."

There was another swell of voices loudly denying his words but Ghetsis bore through the heckling with a serene expression.

"It is said by many that people and pokemon are partners that face the challenges of life together. This is a lie. Pokemon are living beings that contain untold potential. They are living beings from whom we humans could learn much from. Pokemon do not imprison other pokemon. Pokemon do not hoard glory to themselves. What else can you think that pokemon are?"

There was quiet at first so he repeated himself. "Think to yourself, raise your voice if you can. What is a pokemon to you?"

"...they're my friends," a trainer said shakily.

Ghetsis' piercing eye fell upon the young trainer. "And where are they, young man?"

The kid's hands flew to his belt where a few pokeball's lay. He looked down, away in shame. People were looking at him and he cringed under their eyes. A few people tried to stand up for him, but their voices were lost and ignored.

"I see few pokemon in this crowd," Ghetsis said and his eye fell on Quill and Luka. Quill heard Luka's breath hitch but he intensified his glare at the man.

Ghetsis frowned just a fraction at Luka, wearing a trainers bag with a cyndaquil close to him. He looked up to the humans around Luka but no one was suggesting they 'owned' him.

"Pokemon are beautiful creatures that deserve to be treated with respect," Ghetsis continued after a few people had called out various ideas of what pokemon were to them. "A tale before I thank you for your time. Once, humans were alone and weak against a fierce world. The pokemon realised we needed help, needed guidance, needed a partner and so they became our partners. Our protectors, guardians, and friends."

"But those times are long passed. Once, people and pokemon worked alongside each other without the cruelty of the pokeball. This was partnership. This is what people mean when they say that we are partners that face the challenges of life together. If my words strike a chord with you, then chose to do something about what we have done! Release your pokemon. Allow them to choose. Allow them to be. Truly speak to them once more!"

The Team Plasma grunts gave a sharp, "Hear-Hear!" Their pokemon cheered as well, vibrant and happy, looking the absolute embodiment of free-spirited cheerfulness. Some gathered in the arms of the humans, a few perched on shoulders or just ran or flew about happily.

"We sincerely appreciate your attention," Ghetsis said, giving a stiff bow. Not once had his right arm shown itself from his big fancy robe. With that, the Team Plasma grunts fell into line around him and they marched off with their pokemon.

The crowd was murmuring loudly, flashes of pokeball's being activated rang all around them and Luka tugged Quill forwards. "We should go," he muttered. "I know where we are now. This has got to be Accumula Town, and we're definitely in Unova."

"You seem mad about that?" Quill asked, concerned.

Luka breathed out a tense breath. "I'm not mad. I'm just imagining punching Dennis in the balls."

"Who?"

"Castle-face."

"I thought he said his name was Ghetsis?"

"It sounds like Dennis."

"It… really doesn't."

"Trust me," Luka said with absolute seriousness. "It does. Deeennis. Deennnis. DEEENNNIS! DEEEEEEEE-"

"I get it!"

Luka coughed. "That's the most I remember from his theme."

"You're not going to explain the things you say, are you?"

"Nope."

"I figured," Quill sighed.

Luka continued to limp as they walked, which was beginning to bother Quill. The burn didn't look that bad, but fire hurt and he hadn't meant to burn him.

"Um."

Luka was the first to find actual words. "I wanted to say something about the big tall building," Luka said casually. Quill swallowed, bracing for the worst. "Sorry."

Quill couldn't have heard that. "Huh?" He was sorry or had he missed a word about demanding an apology?

Luka nodded, not quite looking at him. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. I wouldn't have dropped you, seriously. But I guess I shouldn't have brought you right to the edge either, I get phobias. I won't make you do that again."

Quill was stunned. Luka had the ability to be thoughtful? He suddenly felt even worse for thinking that. Luka was crazy but… he had taken him in from Conner and Conner wasn't… very nice.

"I'm sorry too," Quill said softly. "I didn't mean to burn you like that, I just panicked."

Luka grinned at him. "Ahhh, it's okay. I kinda deserved that one anyway. Alrighty, glad we cleared that up! We're in the America region, I should be able to upgrade my knife to a gun!"

"NO!"