Happy Halloween my lovely readers! I'm actually a day early here, but I'm going to be busy most of the day on Halloween, so I figured I'd get a head start on uploading this one! It's already Halloween in other parts of the world, anyway ;)
Elizabeth: 5 years old
Tattle Treater
After a quick look to ensure that no one else was around, Elizabeth Ketchum giggled to herself as she swept an armful of candy off the counter and into her Halloween bag.
Clutching the sack in her little hands, the girl ran down the stairs and towards the back door of Professor Oak's laboratory, opening it up and slipping through as easily as a ghost type. Waiting for her nearby was a group of her father's Pokémon, all of whom became very excited (and vocal) when they saw the child return.
"Shh!" Elizabeth pleaded, although her laughter continued to seep through. "We don't wanna get caught!"
She knelt before the Pokémon, all of whom eagerly closed in on the girl. Elizabeth placed the bag on the ground, rummaging through it and picking out candy piece by piece.
"I know you like this one, Totodile," Elizabeth commented, handing a piece in a dark blue wrapper over to the elated water type. "Oh, and here's your favorite, Noivern!"
She continued handing out candy to the delighted Pokémon, but before long, was interrupted by a flash flying past her and tearing the bag out of her hands.
"Hey!" Elizabeth cried, falling over as she unsuccessfully tried to get it back from the mysterious thief. The gathered Pokémon all clamored unhappily, displeased that their sugar supplier had been taken down and left without any treats.
The blurry streak skid to a halt, revealing the intimidating figure of yet another one of her father's Pokémon: the structured and serious Lucario. His sharp gaze was fixed on the child, his mouth bent into a frown with her treat bag clutched tightly in his right paw.
"Aww, come on, Lucario!" Elizabeth whined. "I'll give you some candy too if you want! Just don't tell – "
"Ugh, Lizzie, not again!"
"Daddy," Elizabeth groaned, hanging her head.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to feed the Pokémon so many sweets?" Ash asked, jogging over and accepting the confiscated bag of candy from Lucario when offered. "It isn't good for them!"
"But they really like it," Elizabeth countered, hoping that the pout on her face would be enough to get her father to return the sweets to her. Ash's other Pokémon threw in their own whines and protests, hoping to assist the girl in her mission.
"Of course they do; everyone likes candy," Ash chuckled. "But that doesn't change the fact that no one should be eating too much of it, especially the Pokémon."
Elizabeth scowled, the hopes of her former expression persuading Ash fizzling out. "How'd Lucario even know what I was doing, anyway? He wasn't anywhere near here!"
"You know how good he is with using his aura," Ash replied. "He can always sense when you're getting yourself into trouble!"
"Well, how'd you know?"
"Same way as Lucario."
"Aura?"
"Mmhm."
The young girl suddenly appeared more puzzled. "But you don't know when I'm doing stuff like this unless Lucario tells you. So how come you can't just do it yourself?"
"Because it's not as easy to use for a human as it is for a Pokémon like Lucario," Ash explained. "Trust me, if I could use it on my own to figure out when you were doing this kind of stuff, I totally would!"
"Maybe Lucario could teach you!" Elizabeth warmly suggested. "You're really good at learning things, Daddy!"
"You think so?" Ash mused, a smile gracing his lips from his daughter's compliment.
"Yeah!" Elizabeth giggled, nodding her head.
"Maybe, but I don't think you can just learn something like that," Ash pondered, rolling his eyes up towards the sky. "I mean, it's a lot more than just using your mind, ya know? And it's not like I'm some kind of aura guardian like they had all those years ago. They had some pretty intense training to be able to do all of that, and it would take them years! Even Lucario doesn't have that kind of training. But –"
"Rio!"
A sudden bark from Lucario reclaimed Ash's attention, and when he looked down, he found that Elizabeth was standing right in front of him, an awkward expression on her face and her small hands on the bag of candy.
"Ah!" Ash gasped, pulling the treats away from his daughter. "Elizabeth!"
"What?" She asked, feigning innocence.
Ash flattened his brow. "You know what."
Sighing, Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "Worth a try!"
Shaking his head, Ash muttered, "sometimes you're too much like your mom for your own good."
Elizabeth giggled at her father's complaint. "Maybe, but I'm mostly like you!" Batting her eyelashes at him, she continued, "can't the Pokémon just have one piece of candy each?"
"Elizabeth…"
"They're really excited for Halloween!" She cried. "But you and Mommy said we can't take all of them trick or treating because there's too many of them. So I was just trying to take the trick or treating to them! Is that so bad?"
Ash sighed. "No, I suppose it isn't."
Lowering the bag, he handed it back to his delighted daughter, but made sure to remind her, "one piece each!"
"I will!" Elizabeth giggled as she ran back towards the Pokémon with the sweets.
Ash smiled, but it fell when he heard Lucario let out a quiet growl. "I know, I know. You don't have to tell me!"
Lucario simply shook his head. He was used to trying to get the children out of mischief, from the time they were all very young. He was also used to his trainer giving into them more often than not. It certainly made his job easier, although no one had actually made looking out for the kids Lucario's job. It was just something the jackal Pokémon took himself upon to do; something that felt right to him.
Until Ash came rolling in and wound up blowing it, of course.
"Here, Luci!"
Lucario blinked and turned away from Ash, finding that Elizabeth had come running back to him. She had a big smile on her face, and was clearly no longer upset with the Pokémon, considering she'd just used her usual cutesy nickname for him. She was also holding a small piece of wrapped candy out towards him; the same kind she'd been giving out to the other Pokémon.
"You should have one too!" She chirped, giving the candy a little wave. "It's super yummy!"
Ash chuckled. "Isn't that sweet? Guess Lizzie's forgiven you for tattling!"
Lucario growled at his trainer, not appreciating his attempts at protecting the children to be labeled as something so immature.
Elizabeth was undeterred by Lucario's mood change, however, and simply moved closer to the Pokémon, still holding out her offering. "I'm not mad, Luci. Promise! I know you're just looking out for me."
After a brief moment, Lucario reached out and accepted the candy from Elizabeth, smiling softly at her once it was in his paw.
"Atta girl!" Ash boasted, leaning down to ruffle his daughter's hair. "Now that we've got that settled, we should get back to training. Lucario, you can finish up that candy before you come back if you want!"
The Pokémon nodded and went to work on unwrapping the candy as his trainer walked off. Elizabeth watched him go, and once she was sure her father was out of earshot, pulled the bag of candy towards Lucario and propped it open. Lucario glanced down at the satchel and raised an eyebrow before switching his gaze back to a smirking Elizabeth.
"If you quit using your aura to tell Daddy every time I'm up to something, you can have all the candy you want," she offered, her expression managing to become even more sly.
Lucario scoffed and shook his head, much to Elizabeth's chagrin.
"Aw, man," she groaned, shaking her head. "Worth a try!"
The aura Pokémon smirked. He knew the girl very well and was used to that being her usual reaction when her little schemes never quite panned out. Heck, it was already the second time he'd heard it that afternoon.
Still with the amused smile on his face, Lucario gave Elizabeth a quick nod before popping the bite sized candy into his mouth and sauntering off to rejoin Ash. The little girl watched him go, and before long, felt the other Pokémon breathing down her neck. She looked over her shoulder and locked eyes with them, each of the creatures looking impatiently expectant.
"Okay, but only one more each!" Elizabeth cried, once again picking up the bag full of candy. "Just cause I don't wanna get snitched on again."
The way Lucario has been portrayed in Journeys since he evolved from Riolu, I could definitely see him as being a rule enforcer with the kids and not falling for their shenanigans the way others *cough* Ash *cough* do.
Also, I struggled mightily with trying to decide how to spell Elizabeth's nickname for Lucario. It is pronounced "lukey" but I didn't want to just spell it out like that, so I stuck with the Luci spelling even though at quick glance it looks like she's calling him "lucy."
