Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I make no money or profit from this.

Chapter 9: A Talk With Lucy and Sam

[Route 3]

It was the day after Lincoln, Sam, and Lucy won their first badge and then helped Dr. Fennel. They stocked up on things they needed yesterday after getting back to the pokecenter. They also explained to Nurse Joy, along with Dr. Fennel, what happened to the Pokemon. The nurse said she knew someplace they could and would be cared for. After that, Dr. Fennel left to continue her research of the Dream Mist Musharna gave her. They then booked their room and went to do some shopping.

They set up camp early so they could have lunch and talk about yesterday's events. Like before, Lincoln was the one to cook lunch, with Sam helping and learning from him. Lucy was setting everything up and preparing their Pokemon's food. However, she was occasionally glancing at the two while they cooked. She still found it odd how close the two of them became in such a short time. She also noticed that neither one of them had checked in on their families once, and this worries her a bit. She rationalized it as Lincoln seeing Sam as a Luna replacement, and Lincoln being a replacement for her younger brother. They also just been too busy to check up on them. However, there was something gnawing at the back of her mind that there was something more.

Currently all their Pokemon were out eating their food, while the trainers were eating their own meal.

"So it's obvious that Team Plasma are the people we're supposed to stop," Sam said with a frown, finishing her food.

"No doubt, they're clearly the villains here," Lincoln replied with a frown of his own.

"However, we don't know what they are planning," Lucy commented, finishing her own food. "All we know is that they want to "free Pokemon from foolish trainers", and are willing to use force to do it. Other than that, we have no clue what their larger plan is or how stopping trainers from catching Pokemon fits into it."

"That last part is easy to figure out," Lincoln said, finishing his food. "They don't want people to have Pokemon so no one can stand against them, while they still keep their Pokemon."

"Yeah, the fact that they are still catching Pokemon only proves this," Sam added with a scowl.

"Sigh, so what should we do?" Lucy asked them curiously.

"We should keep an eye out for anything related to Team Plasma," Lincoln replied.

"We should also ask any people in any towns or cities we go to about them," Sam added. "Who knows, maybe we'll find their base or something that Team Plasma might use to meet up."

Both Loud kids nodded in agreement, before Lucy looked at her older brother. "Lincoln, can we talk privately?" She asked in a serious tone.

Before Lincoln could ask any questions, Sam spoke up. "You should go talk with her," she told him. "It sounds like this is something important, I'll clean up the dishes."

"Okay, thanks," Lincoln said to her with a grateful smile. She returned the smile and the two siblings got up and walked a few feet away from the camp. However, they were unaware of three Pokemon that quietly followed them.

Once they felt they were far enough away, Lincoln began to speak. "Okay Lucy, what do you need to talk about?" He asked in a worried tone.

"Sigh, this isn't easy to ask, but here it goes," Lucy started in a slightly nervous tone. "What's the deal between you and Sam?" He gave her a confused expression, so she figured she needed to elaborate more. "What I mean is, you and Sam have been getting along and close extremely fast. We only really met her when Arceus summoned us, with us only seeing her as a member of Luna's band. However, for the last several days, you two have been talking and acting like you've been friends for a while."

After hearing this, Lincoln let out a little chuckle. "Oh Lucy, is that what was bothering you?" He started to reply with a smile. "Look there's nothing to be worried about. Look, I originally approached her as if she was Luna, but it turns out I was wrong. While she does like Mick Swagger and Rock N' Roll, she is way different then Luna. She's a huge animal lover that could rival Lana, she likes organic juice, she knows things about boats, isn't good at video games, and doesn't like laser tag. Every time we talk, I learn something new."

"Not only that, but I've been teaching her more than cooking," Lincoln continued smiling. "I've been telling her about Ace Savvy and David Steele, telling her about games that she might like, and showing her some of my magic tricks. She also told me a lot about her younger brother Simon and I think the two of us could end up being friends. I've even started to enjoy some of the organic juices she makes, when she uses some of the berries from this world."

"But is being friends with Sam okay?" Lucy asked hesitatingly. "I mean, I don't think the rest of our sisters or Luna would like the fact that we are being friendly with her."

Lincoln frowned a bit hearing this. "Yeah, you're right they wouldn't like it," he started saying, while kneeling down to get to her eye level. "But we shouldn't treat her badly because of them. We both know Sam didn't want to hurt Luna, and we can't control how she feels. So we shouldn't treat her harshly just because our sisters would or wouldn't want us too. So try not to worry about it. By the time we are going back home, I'll think of a way to help Luna and Sam."

"But what if they become angry at us for being friends with her?" Lucy asked him with some fear.

"If I can patch things up with Sam and Luna, then they won't have a reason to be angry," Lincoln replied, looking away with an uneasy expression, before looking back at her. "But if they do get mad at us, then you can tell them it was just me being friendly with her, and I'll take all the anger."

"Why?! Why would you do that?!" Lucy asked in shock.

"Because I got your back, just like the clogged toilet incident," he answered with a smile.

The goth then suddenly hugged him. "Thanks Lincoln," she told him, tightening her hug. The white hair boy only smiled and returned the hug. Both were unaware that Oshawott, Romeo, and Zorua were hiding nearby and heard the whole conversation.

[Later That Night]

For the rest of the day, all three trainers spend the day resting, relaxing, and got in some light training. During that time, Lucy spent some of that time talking and getting to know Sam a little more. It was now late at night and Sam had just woken up, needing to answer nature's call.

"I shouldn't had that last juice before going to sleep," Sam muttered, getting out of her tent. While she went somewhere secluded to do her business, a familiar purple feline watched her leave from a bush.

'Alright, now is the time to strike,' Purrloin thought, seeing the teenager leaving. 'I'll start with stealing from the blonde first, then the black hair, and finally the white hair. Stealing from the two girls should be easy, it's the boy that will be difficult. Two of his Pokemon are always sleeping with him, so getting his stuff will be tricky. But first thing first, steal from the blonde first!'

He then quickly, but silently, made his way over to the rocker's tent. Just as he was about to go inside the tent, he was met with a Scary Face, courtesy of Romeo. Not expecting this, Purrloin fell backwards in fright and let out a scream.

"You're still stalking my trainer and her friends?" Romeo asked, looking annoyed.

"Not you again!" Purrloin shouted back angrily, getting back to his feet. "I will get my revenge on them! If you continue to get in my way, then you'll suffer as well!"

Romeo glared at him and got ready to fight, but suddenly stopped and smirked at him. "Are you sure about that?" He asked, looking past the Devious Pokemon.

Purrloin noticed this and looked behind him, only to see a Shadow Ball coming at him. He didn't have time to do anything and was sent flying high and far in the air out of the campsite.

"You think he learned not to come back?" Misdreavus asked, moving up to where Purrloin was.

"I doubt it, thanks for the help," Romeo replied, while thanking the Ghost Pokemon.

"Don't worry about it, I've been planning to watch the campsite every time we're camping," Misdreavus said while smiling at him. "You should get going, you were planning to follow your trainer to keep her safe." Romeo nodded and started to go where his trainer was. "Just so you're aware, Lincoln is outside of the campsite with Zorua following him as well!" Romeo looked surprised at her, but nodded to her and ran off.

[With Sam]

Sam had finished and was making her way back to the campsite. However, on her way back, she noticed something she didn't see before. It was Lincoln sitting on the ground with his back against the tree. At first she thought he was looking at the night sky, but then she saw he was holding up his badge and looking up at it. Curious about why he was still up, she made her way over to him.

"What are you doing up Linc?" She asked, scaring the boy.

"Oh, hey Sam," he replied, after getting over his fright and seeing who it was. "I couldn't sleep. A part of me is excited to get to the next gym to try to get another badge." He then went back to looking at his badge. "Do you remember when the video that was uploaded that had tons of embarrassing moments of my sisters?"

"Oh yeah," Sam said with a little chuckle, remembering the video. "Luna's was splitting the back of her pants."

"Yeah, I was the one who uploaded it," he told her, getting her to look at him in shock. "I was feeling dejected because I didn't have a trophy in my part of the trophy case. Then my school was having a video contest, whoever had the most popular video would get a large trophy. I tried to win with a skateboard trick video, but I was losing to a livestream of a hamster just running in his wheel."

"Then someone commented on my video that I should check out my sister's Luan channel," he continued, looking a little depressed. "It was her who gave me the idea to make a funny video, when she told me how she was constantly recording our entire family for funny moments." Hearing this shock and worried the teenager, wondering if she was recorded when visiting Luna. "So me and my friend Clyde tried to make one of myself, that was until Clyde noticed my sister Lynn, and how if she messed up in her ball bouncing would end in a funny situation. So we recorded all my sisters embarrassing moments and that was the video you saw. It became popular and was on track to win the contest."

"However, after school on the day I uploaded it, my sisters confronted me," he said, lowering the badge and looking at the ground, depressed. "They all yelled at me while telling me how everyone was laughing at them. I did deserve to have them mad at me for what I did, but I didn't expect them all to give me the cold shoulder. When I tried to apologize to them, they all slammed their room's doors in my face with Luna throwing in something extra by blasting me out of her room with her speakers." Sam frowned at hearing that, she didn't think Luna would do that to her brother. "When I told Luan I was just doing what she told me, she said I broke the most important rule of video, which she didn't tell me because it was an unspoken rule."

"So after that, I went back to Luan and got a bunch of videos of my embarrassing moments," Lincoln said, looking up, still a little uneasy but not as depressed. "I then replaced my sister's video with one of all my embarrassing moments. I became a laughing stock at school, lost the contest to the hamster, but I got my sister's forgiveness."

"Wow, Lincoln," Sam started to say, looking at the boy with a range of emotions. "You're a smart guy and you should've known better than to upload that video. However, Luan should've told you that important rule, whether it was unspoken or not. I get your sisters being mad, but it sounds like there's something you didn't tell me. Also, why are you telling me this?"

Lincoln then held up his badge to the sky again and smiled at it. "The reason I wanted to win so badly was because I felt inferior to all my sisters," he replied, with a happy expression. "They have their section of the case filled with trophies, so I felt out of place. However, now I have won something." He then shook the badge to show his point. "While this isn't as big as some of my sister's trophies, it's still something I won on my own."

He then looked at Sam and gave her a large smile. "Why am I telling you this? I just felt like I should tell you," he told her happily. "In this short amount of time, I feel like we've gotten close. So I feel like I can trust you to tell you almost anything."

Sam was taken aback by this. For all the reasons he could've said, she wasn't expecting him to say because he trusted her. She thought he might have some hidden resentment for her, for turning down his sister. However, hearing this filled her with relief and a small sense of joy. She was enjoying hanging out and getting to know the white hair boy. She then returned the smile and went to sit beside him on the ground.

"Sam? What are you doing?" Lincoln asked, looking at her confused.

"Well, it doesn't look like you're going back to bed any time soon," Sam replied, smiling at him. "I can't leave you out here by yourself. So, I'll stay here with you until you're ready to go back."

Lincoln was surprised by this, but smiled and nodded. Lincoln went back to holding up and looking at his badge, while Sam pulled him close to her side with a one arm hug. Both felt calm, happy, and an odd feeling of comfortableness just sitting with each other.

Meanwhile in a bush not too far away, Romeo and Zorua were watching their trainers. Romeo smiled at his trainer's happiness and got close to Zorua, trying to cuddle with her. Unfortunately, he was shoved away by Zorua, who was glaring at the blonde teenager with narrowed eyes.

Lincoln Loud: Tepig (F), Elekid (M), Herdier (M), Hisuian Zorua (F)

Lucy Loud: Oshawott (M), Woobat (F), Misdreavus (F)

Sam Sharp: Snivy (F), Galarian Zigzagoon (M) Zorua (M)