Story Notes:
This is the first posted edition of my story Luca.
Luca is a special riolu who is given to the trainer Felix. Meant for each other, the two endeavor to make the best of their lives together. However, what is life without trials to make bonds grow stronger?
A Rare Gift.
"Lady Flamethrower!" I yelled in an attempt to wrap up this long battle with a rather strange guy and his Lucario.
"Dodge Lucario and use water pulse!"
Lucario's pulse hit and I knew this battle was over. Lady hit the ground unconscious, and I pulled out her custom pokeball to withdraw her. As I did so, I started to wonder what the trainer would do next. I was always a good sport in a battle but this guy scared me. He was absolutely ruthless and I could barely land a hit on his Lucario.
After I withdrew Lady I turned to head for the pokemon center, but didn't get far before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I stopped cold as I realized who it must be... My mind was racing, what could this guy possibly want? I turned to face him and to my surprise his disposition had changed entirely.
He kindly asked if I would stay with him and his Lucario for the night. I figured as long as he was on my side why not. I knew Lady needed some medical attention so I pulled a full restore out of my pack and released Lady from her ball. She had regained consciousness with her short rest but she was still pretty beat up and sore. I sprayed the whole bottle of medicine on her wounds healing them on contact, and before long she was back to her normal playful self.
As we walked back to this strange guy's camp I got to know him a little better, well he got to know me anyway... I couldn't get an age from him in fact I couldn't even get a name, but somehow I felt he was trustworthy. I did manage to notice that he and his Lucario were just as close as me and Lady. But as I mentioned, no matter how hard I tried to get him to talk about himself he always managed to keep the conversation on Lady and I.
It started with how we met and continued up until today. I actually started my pokemon journey with Lady as a Vulpix when I was ten, I never believed in forcing a pokemon to come with me so I had never caught another pokemon. However this allowed me to become extremely close with Lady. I looked over at her and scratched her behind her ears before continuing; she smiled and enjoyed the attention.
Even though I didn't have throngs of pokemon to carry out my will, the one I did have was very strong and my best friend. We never took on many gym leaders though. She was my only pokemon and I didn't want to get her hurt, however we did win 2 badges from the two small gyms we did challenge. As I shared practically my whole life story with this complete stranger I took a good look at this guy. He seemed to be from either a far away place or a different time. The only thing he had with him was what looked like a small old bag of supplies. He didn't have a pokeball on him but there was no doubt he was Lucario's trainer. It finally started to get late after we talked for quite a long time so the stranger suggested that we get some rest. We settled down for the night with our pokemon curled up beside us.
The next morning I awoke to find that the stranger and Lucario were gone. This normally wouldn't bother me except for the fact that when I looked around there were no signs of them actually leaving the site. As I thought about it though I decided not to worry about him. With a pokemon as strong as his Lucario there wasn't much they couldn't handle. With that thought I went over to Lady to wake her so we could get going, but I stopped when I realized she had something wrapped in her tails...
There among the coils of fur was a small pokemon. I quickly woke Lady to see if she knew anything about it but she only looked at me with confusion until she looked at her tails and realized what I was talking about. Having moved her tails slightly I now noticed a small piece of paper next to the little blue pokemon, and as I took the note Lady cradled the little one in her soft tails while I read the note aloud for her.
"Felix,
I can tell from the short time I spent getting to know you that you will take good care of this Riolu. Her name is Luca and she needs a better life than me and Lucario can provide. I know that she has that with you, and I'm trusting you to always be there for her. I wish you luck in your journey and look forward to meeting you again along the way."
I began thinking what could possibly make this guy think I was worthy enough to take care of this little Riolu. It was then that I realized what actually happened last night, the battle with this guy, the long night, he had this planned from the beginning...
I folded the note up as I thought and looked down at the sleeping pokemon among Lady's coiled tails. Reaching down, I picked her up and cradled her gently as I studied her features. She slowly opened her eyes in the dim morning light, looked up at me with her beautiful red eyes, and smiled before snuggling in my arms and falling back to sleep. I looked down to Lady who had gotten up and was ready to leave and seeing this we began our trip to the nearby pokemon center, me cradling the little Luca, and Lady walking right beside me.
When we got to the center Nurse Joy got a look of concern upon seeing a trainer cradeling a pokemon. That is, of course, until she realized that the pokemon I was holding wasn't hurt.
Luca had started to wake up during the trip and by the time we reached the counter she was wide awake so I let her stand on the counter in front of me. Joy only smiled at the little pokemon, and asked me what her name was. I looked down at the Riolu who wouldn't move from directly in front of me, or let go of my arm. She looked up at me with a shy look on her beautiful face, as I replied "Her name is Luca."
Luca smiled when she heard me, she knew her name and seemed to like hearing it from me. Of course Joy wanted to give her a quick check up, but Luca was hesitant to leave my side. I looked down and told her it was ok as I rubbed her head lightly with my hand, and explained that Nurse Joy would never hurt her. She seemed a little more comfortable with my encouragement and released me to shyly walk over to the nurse.
Joy quickly finished her "inspection" and let Luca make her way back over to me. She then asked me how I came to own Luca. I responded by saying I preferred not to use the term "own." She apologized, but I wasn't going to hold it against her and shrugged it off before explaining that she had been given to me by a friend. Joy looked at me with a look of utter amazement, no doubt wondering who would give someone a rare pokemon like Luca.
Joy then explained that she judged Luca to be about 3 weeks old and went on to say that she was in perfect health. With that taken care of we decided to do some shopping around town. I picked Luca up off of the counter and lifted her onto my shoulders. She was a little unsteady at first but she quickly balanced and was enjoying the ride while she leaned on my head. I reached down to Lady, who was waiting patiently beside me, and scratched her lightly behind her ears before heading to the door.
Our first stop was a pokeball store. I had to request a custom ball for Luca, and since I didn't have many pokemon I could afford to give the two I did have some special treatment. Luca didn't understand what the balls were at first but after we left the store I tried explaining it to her, although Lady helped out a great deal, with the details Luca didn't understand from me...
The lady at the shop said that the ball would be ready in two hours and that we should come back then, which gave me time to stock up on supplies for our trip to the next town. When the two hours had passed we began making our way back to the pokeball shop. The lady at the desk smiled as we walked in and bent over to get Luca's ball from behind the counter. When we got to the counter the lady presented a beautiful ball with a bright blue upper half, a golden yellow bottom, and a steel colored activator button, it was perfect.
After paying the owner I turned to show Luca her ball. I knelt down and handed it to her and to my surprise she smiled happily then threw it up in the air, leapt after it and hit the activator with spinning wap from her tail. She disappeared in a flash of red as the ball landed on a floor mat and instantly went calm.
I quickly reached over, picked up the ball and released Luca after watching the scene. She shook her head as she gathered her thoughts about what had just happened then looked at me holding her ball and smiled. I chuckled lightly and watched again as Lady wrapped a tail around Luca and lifted the surprised Riolu onto her back.
Luca wasn't too sure about the new position at first but she was having fun in no time flat, riding Lady like a horse and giggling as she tried to spur Lady on. I followed the two girls out the door and down the road after thanking the pokeball artist once more and after a while I noticed Lady was staying out ahead of me. Luca was still having fun but had started to look back and wondered why Lady wasn't letting me catch them. I knew most of Lady's little games and I figured I had played dumb long enough...
In an instant I ran toward the girls as fast as I could to catch them but as usual... it was no use, I could never match Lady's speed. The playful fox eventually slowed down and let me catch up once we were out of town, but Luca was still having the time of her life. She was laughing and trying to get Lady to "Giddy up" again as I came up beside them. i smiled and pet Luca once again before lifting her to my shoulders. This had turned out to be one of the best days of my life. I knew it would be a while before Luca could participate in a battle, but I didn't care. At the moment I really didn't want her to ever grow up.
A week had passed since I first met Luca. We had been traveling ever since, and we decided to head home to introduce Luca to my family. We were sleeping by the path one night when Luca did something I would never have expected.
I woke up one morning to a little girl's voice saying "Wake up daddy."
My first thought was "Who could this possibly be, calling me daddy?," but when I opened my eyes I only saw Luca happily shaking my arm to wake me up. I looked around for the little girl who had been talking to me when Luca asked "What's wrong?"
My attention immediately snapped to her, as I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I could actually understand what Luca was saying as if she were speaking English! When I focused on her she got a surprised look on her face and wasn't sure whether to be scared or to enjoy the attention. Before long though she asked if I was okay, but all I could manage to stammer was "You can...talk???"
She calmed down a bit when she realized I wasn't upset, but she still wasn't sure what to do now. As if on cue Lady raised her head and yipped at Luca. She had been half awake and listening to what was going on and though she was a little annoyed at being dragged from the last moments of her beauty rest she knew she could explain to Luca what was happening a lot better than I could at the moment.
After a short conversation Luca asked me if I could understand Lady like I did her. I only shook my head no and kept wondering how in the world this was possible. Luca obviously felt a lot better now, knowing that she hadn't done anything wrong, but had only surprised me with her gift. With this new development I figured we should head to the next town and get Nurse Joy's opinion on what was happening. Plus I wanted to know if I was just going crazy...
Seeing Luca was still unsure about this whole thing I picked her up, gave her a hug, and said kindly "I'm sorry for scaring you, but it's not everyday that a pokemon starts talking to you." I could see that I had upset her a little, but knew she forgave me when she snuggled in my embrace and replied "That's ok." With that I finished packing up our things while Luca rested on my shoulders, and the three of us headed for the nearest pokemon center.
Luca was still quite a bit shy towards anyone but Lady and I, but she had learned to trust Joy. I let her stand on the counter just as before and she walked across it to try and talk to the nurse. Joy only smiled and pet Luca on the head saying how friendly she was.
Luca looked back at me with a bit of an annoyed and confused look on her face. This Joy hadn't seen Luca before so it was no surprise she judged Luca's personality differently but none the less I asked if she could understand Luca, which she quickly replied with a confused "No. Can you?"
"Yes." I answered which surprised her more as she turned back to Luca with a curious look. Luca looked back up to me to say "I guess it's only you who can understand me."
"I guess so." I replied with a smile, but the little exchange surprised Joy even more. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, my claim seemed to be true! I took the chance to snap her out of her daze though by explaining that we were hoping she would know something about this. She regained some of her composure but said she had absolutely no idea, and that nothing like this had ever happened to her. Somehow this little ability didn't surprise me so much after the initial shock wore off. I had a feeling that Luca was special from the moment I first saw her and this just confirmed my thoughts.
Another three days passed and we were getting close to my home town. We had just passed a small clearing when Lady and I realized where we were. That clearing was where Luca had been given to us. As we kept walking towards home we saw a familiar figure on the path ahead. My eyes widened a little when I realized who it was and I picked Luca up and began to run to catch up with the guy. Luca wasn't sure what was going on, but Lady had recognized the figure walking beside the man ahead and understood completely.
We caught up to the stranger and his Lucario, and he just gave us a smile. He looked over at me and Luca, who was being shy now and burying her face in my shirt in the presence of the man, but she kept one eye intently on the Lucario.
"You two seem to have bonded nicely." He began as he gave Luca a smile while she was still being shy and trying to hide in my arms. "Can you talk yet?" He continued obviously aiming the question at Luca.
"Yes..." She managed through my sleeve which got a smile from Lucario who was walking between me and the stranger.
To ease Luca a bit I managed to get their attention back to me by asking why I was the only one who could understand her. He explained as best he could that Luca came from a special line of Lucario with many special abilities, one of which was the ability to communicate with their partner, but these abilities could only be realized through a strong bond. By the time he had finished his explanation Luca had gotten a little more comfortable. She was no longer trying to hide but continued to watch Lucario carefully. She gathered her confidence and reached her paw out to touch Lucario on his arm. Not wanting to scare her, he only looked at her and gave her a kind smile.
This was all Luca needed to calm her and she leapt from my arms onto Lucario's head while laughing. Lucario was surprised at this and put his paws behind him to catch her and make sure she didn't fall. He too laughed though and happily took Luca to play with Lady.
The three of them got along great, laughing and playing with Luca while I got the chance to talk to the stranger. I did notice that Lucario seemed to be having a better time than Luca. He was very careful with her and it was almost as if she were special to him as well. Eventually I got the nerve up and asked the stranger if Lucario was related to Luca. He simply looked ahead to the playing pokemon and smiled as he replied "Yes. He's her father actually."
"Why would you leave her with me then!?" I asked in shock but he wouldn't give me a clear answer. All he did was repeat his original quote about her needed a better life than what she would have without me. I still couldn't believe how separating Luca from her parents was good for her, but decided that it was best not to push the issue. After all this must have been hard enough on them to give her up and only visit occasionally to check in like this.
My next question was how many other Riolu he had found trainers for. He also wouldn't give me a straight answer to this question either, but he did tell me that there were about 5 in the past 10 years and there was Sir Aaron. I was rather surprised that the legendary Sir Aaron had been given his companion Lucario by this guy, which actually made me think of just what Luca might be capable of. Next I asked if the Riolu he found homes for were all brothers and sisters.
"No. They all have their own families, but most share the same special abilities. Despite this their prowess with them varies greatly from individual to individual." He replied and went on to explain that Luca was indeed special and needed me to be with her no matter what happened. I made sure he knew that I would never betray the trust he put in me and that I would never leave Luca. With that the stranger called Lucario over with some strange telepathic ability, saying "We should be going." once he had come back to us.
Lady had followed Lucario back and was standing beside me with Luca on her back. I picked Luca up and we waved goodbye as they went down a path that lead to the right in a fork in the road. As they left I noticed that Lucario seemed reluctant to go. No doubt he didn't want to leave his daughter, not knowing when he would see her again.
I tried to show him that she had a good home and that he had no need to worry, but there was only so much I could do to console him, and I simply resolved to prove this to him over time. When they were out of sight I turned back to the girls and we headed down the left path towards home.
My home town was only a short distance away, but it was too far for Luca to stay awake. She fell asleep in my arms just like the day we had found her.
I walked through the door with Luca in my arms and my mom welcomed us home. She gave Lady a nice welcome before coming over to me and realizing I was holding a small pokemon. Her eyes widened and she looked up at my face to ask quietly where this little pokemon had come from.
"I'll tell you in a bit, let me lay her down first." I replied cheerfully and went to the living room to lay Luca down on the couch. Mom smiled and was probably thinking about how she never knew I could be such a caring "father."
After Lady joined Luca on the couch and covered her with nine warm tails I went out to the dinning room to talk with mom. We sat there talking for what must have been hours. I started with how Luca had been given to me and continued until I had explained about our recent meeting with the stranger and Luca's father. Mother was at a loss for words after the story, but she was particularly fixed on how I could understand Luca. She kept trying to get out of me how this was possible, but all I could say was "I don't know exactly."
When I finished she wanted to get a closer look at Luca so we got up and went to the living room where Lady had fallen asleep with Luca on the couch. I gently moved some of Lady's tails to show mom the little Riolu. She quietly said "She's beautiful!" as she knelt down to get a better look at the sleeping pokemon. The small blue canine didn't stir at all, she simply kept sleeping peacefully. I must say that even I was struck by how cute she really was at that moment.
It was late by the time we actually made it home and once mom had finished admiring Luca she and I decided to get some well deserved rest. I went up to my room and fell asleep, leaving Luca and Lady comfortably on the couch downstairs. The next morning I woke up once again to Luca saying "Wake up daddy. Come on lets go." But this time there was something else... My ear was filled with... drool?
Lady had decided to show Luca how she woke me up. It was quite effective and Luca laughed as I wiped the slobber out of my ear. Lady only sat there and smiled at me, she knew I couldn't stay mad at her no matter how much she teased me. I smiled and got dressed then picked Luca up to headed downstairs.
We found that Mom already had breakfast started, she put Lady's food down for her and had a place set for me and her. Luca felt a little left out that mom hadn't prepared something for her but then again she didn't know what Luca liked. In the short time I had spent with Luca I had figured that out pretty good.
So I took my time and fixed Luca something and had her eat with me and mother. When we finished mom wanted to get to know Luca a bit more. Luca was still a bit shy, but mother had such a strange personality that she could get most people to like her almost right away, and in no time Luca was almost as open towards mother as she was to me.
At one point mom had decided see if I really could understand Luca. She whispered something in Luca's ear which got a snicker out of both of them. Then Luca looked over at me and asked if I still remembered where the shower was. I looked up at mom (she had quite the sense of humor...) to reply "Very funny..."
After cleaning up breakfast I headed downstairs for a nice shower. When I came back up Luca and Lady were playing in the living room. I quickly got dressed and went outside, leaving the girls to play for the time being while I set up some equipment. I thought today would be a nice day to see what attacks Luca might know. I went to the garage and got out the old training equipment I had once used for Lady, mainly targets and some disks.
Lady realized what I was doing and after a short time brought Luca out to see. When they came outside Luca ran up to me to ask what I was doing and what everything was for. I knelt down beside her and told her it was for battling practice before explained battling as best I could to her. She understood the concept, but wasn't sure why it was done. Still she didn't mind, and wanted to try for me. I smiled and began trying to think of an attack she might know. She wasn't aware that she knew any so I thought it would be better if Lady could demonstrate something first.
I thought of an attack and told Luca to watch Lady carefully. I picked up a disk and threw it out into the field, while telling Lady to use quick attack. She braced herself quickly then rocketed off towards the disk. Luca watched with amazement as Lady took off with a streak of white and caught the disk in mid air.
Lady happily pranced back and handed me the disk before sitting next to me and looking cheerfully at Luca. I then asked Luca if she thought she could do it. She thought about it for a bit and eagerly answered "Yes."
I smiled and told her to aim at a target I had set up then told her to use quick attack. She nodded and quickly took off toward the target.
She managed to actually perform the attack but it faded about 5 ft before the target. She looked disappointed as she walked back to me, but I kindly told her she did very well for her first try. This cheered her up a bit, and I asked Lady if she had any advice for Luca.
Lady came over and started talking with Luca. I only caught Luca's side of the conversation but Lady seemed to be giving some good advice. When they had finished Luca turned and told me she wanted to try again.
Of course I replied "Ok" and told her to use quick attack again. This time she took off at nearly twice the speed as before and shattered the target with a punch in the dead center of the bull's eye.
After her success she ran back to me and asked how she had done with a broad smile on her face. I put my hand on her head and said "Very good. You got that faster than Lady did." which got Luca to look over at Lady who turned her nose up and gave a joking resentful look. Luca simply giggled and asked me what was next.
I didn't really have any idea, but I had heard of a fairly new steel type move that Luca might know. I knew this would be harder since Lady couldn't show Luca how to do it, but figured it was worth a try. I explained as best I could to Luca the move I'd heard about. She listened intently and said she wanted to try it.
"Ok then, use bullet punch." I said and she took off running towards a different target I had set up. I was surprised at how fast she was but then remembered it was partly because of the attack. About half way to the target she brought her paw back and clenched it into a fist, which began glowing bright white. When she got to the target she let fly, hitting the target just a little to the left of the bulls eye but still destroying more than half of it with the hit. She knew she didn't hit the center but she was still happy she got it on her first try.
I couldn't have been more proud, she was really getting the hang of this and with a few practice battles she'd be a great fighter in no time. She came back to my side and I congratulated her and told her how great of a job she did. She did look tired though and I told her it was ok if she wanted to take a rest. She nodded and yawned before going over to the base of a nearby tree and watched me and Lady continue to practice for a while before falling asleep in the soft cool grass.
I put Lady through her normal warm up and training pattern, but during the final part she did something that really surprised me. We were doing some target practice with the disks and with the last disk I told her to use a flamethrower with all the power she had left.
She began charging the attack when I threw the disk but when she shot the blast it took the form of a giant X. She had just launched a fire blast attack, and she had learned it all on her own! The disk was completely incinerated upon collision, and I just looked over at Lady a bit stunned as the giant X dissipated into the sky. She knew the look I was giving her and smiled happily. I scratched her behind her ears and told her how proud I was that she had learned that all on her own.
She always liked it when she surprised me. After that last disk there wasn't any more I could think to practice so I had Lady pick Luca up with her tails and take her inside, while I put away ...and cleaned up... the equipment. Luca was still sleeping but Lady managed to carry her inside without disturbing her.
When I got inside mom was feeding Lady and Luca, and was in the process of getting dinner ready for me and the rest of our family. Dad would be home for dinner today and my sister would be returning from a contest trip she had taken. When the girls had finished eating I took them down to get a shower. They had both gotten fairly dirty during training today. I got the two of them cleaned up and dried of. Then we went up to introduce Luca to the rest of her new family. She took an immediate liking to my sister Ashley, but it took a bit longer for her to get comfortable with my dad, before to long though she was quite fond of them both.
My sister was technically a trainer, but favored pokemon contests over battles. She had a Persian named Whiskers who was sleeping in my sister's room. This cat was really strange. She either liked someone or didn't, and had her occasional friendly moods where she was your best friend. The only problem with these moods was that they could change in a spit second and then she'd be ripping your arm apart... Knowing this I figured it was best if Luca didn't meet whiskers right away.
My parents had never really gotten into pokemon training and preferred regular jobs to traveling. We spent the rest of the night talking about random things but mostly about Luca. Ashley wanted to take her to contests so bad, but I wasn't about to hand Luca over.
The next day I decided to go out on another trip. My sister preferred to travel more by car or plane so she wasn't going to join me and the girls walking from town to town. I packed up and we said our goodbyes, but as we walked down the path I began thinking about how I had never been able to collect more than 2 badges, since Lady had been my only pokemon and I hadn't wanted to get her hurt in the upper level gyms. I figured once Luca got a bit stronger and if I happened to get a team of six pokemon we might even try for the pokemon league.
"Dodge Lucario and use water pulse!"
Lucario's pulse hit and I knew this battle was over. Lady hit the ground unconscious, and I pulled out her custom pokeball to withdraw her. As I did so, I started to wonder what the trainer would do next. I was always a good sport in a battle but this guy scared me. He was absolutely ruthless and I could barely land a hit on his Lucario.
After I withdrew Lady I turned to head for the pokemon center, but didn't get far before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I stopped cold as I realized who it must be... My mind was racing, what could this guy possibly want? I turned to face him and to my surprise his disposition had changed entirely.
He kindly asked if I would stay with him and his Lucario for the night. I figured as long as he was on my side why not. I knew Lady needed some medical attention so I pulled a full restore out of my pack and released Lady from her ball. She had regained consciousness with her short rest but she was still pretty beat up and sore. I sprayed the whole bottle of medicine on her wounds healing them on contact, and before long she was back to her normal playful self.
As we walked back to this strange guy's camp I got to know him a little better, well he got to know me anyway... I couldn't get an age from him in fact I couldn't even get a name, but somehow I felt he was trustworthy. I did manage to notice that he and his Lucario were just as close as me and Lady. But as I mentioned, no matter how hard I tried to get him to talk about himself he always managed to keep the conversation on Lady and I.
It started with how we met and continued up until today. I actually started my pokemon journey with Lady as a Vulpix when I was ten, I never believed in forcing a pokemon to come with me so I had never caught another pokemon. However this allowed me to become extremely close with Lady. I looked over at her and scratched her behind her ears before continuing; she smiled and enjoyed the attention.
Even though I didn't have throngs of pokemon to carry out my will, the one I did have was very strong and my best friend. We never took on many gym leaders though. She was my only pokemon and I didn't want to get her hurt, however we did win 2 badges from the two small gyms we did challenge. As I shared practically my whole life story with this complete stranger I took a good look at this guy. He seemed to be from either a far away place or a different time. The only thing he had with him was what looked like a small old bag of supplies. He didn't have a pokeball on him but there was no doubt he was Lucario's trainer. It finally started to get late after we talked for quite a long time so the stranger suggested that we get some rest. We settled down for the night with our pokemon curled up beside us.
The next morning I awoke to find that the stranger and Lucario were gone. This normally wouldn't bother me except for the fact that when I looked around there were no signs of them actually leaving the site. As I thought about it though I decided not to worry about him. With a pokemon as strong as his Lucario there wasn't much they couldn't handle. With that thought I went over to Lady to wake her so we could get going, but I stopped when I realized she had something wrapped in her tails...
There among the coils of fur was a small pokemon. I quickly woke Lady to see if she knew anything about it but she only looked at me with confusion until she looked at her tails and realized what I was talking about. Having moved her tails slightly I now noticed a small piece of paper next to the little blue pokemon, and as I took the note Lady cradled the little one in her soft tails while I read the note aloud for her.
"Felix,
I can tell from the short time I spent getting to know you that you will take good care of this Riolu. Her name is Luca and she needs a better life than me and Lucario can provide. I know that she has that with you, and I'm trusting you to always be there for her. I wish you luck in your journey and look forward to meeting you again along the way."
I began thinking what could possibly make this guy think I was worthy enough to take care of this little Riolu. It was then that I realized what actually happened last night, the battle with this guy, the long night, he had this planned from the beginning...
I folded the note up as I thought and looked down at the sleeping pokemon among Lady's coiled tails. Reaching down, I picked her up and cradled her gently as I studied her features. She slowly opened her eyes in the dim morning light, looked up at me with her beautiful red eyes, and smiled before snuggling in my arms and falling back to sleep. I looked down to Lady who had gotten up and was ready to leave and seeing this we began our trip to the nearby pokemon center, me cradling the little Luca, and Lady walking right beside me.
When we got to the center Nurse Joy got a look of concern upon seeing a trainer cradeling a pokemon. That is, of course, until she realized that the pokemon I was holding wasn't hurt.
Luca had started to wake up during the trip and by the time we reached the counter she was wide awake so I let her stand on the counter in front of me. Joy only smiled at the little pokemon, and asked me what her name was. I looked down at the Riolu who wouldn't move from directly in front of me, or let go of my arm. She looked up at me with a shy look on her beautiful face, as I replied "Her name is Luca."
Luca smiled when she heard me, she knew her name and seemed to like hearing it from me. Of course Joy wanted to give her a quick check up, but Luca was hesitant to leave my side. I looked down and told her it was ok as I rubbed her head lightly with my hand, and explained that Nurse Joy would never hurt her. She seemed a little more comfortable with my encouragement and released me to shyly walk over to the nurse.
Joy quickly finished her "inspection" and let Luca make her way back over to me. She then asked me how I came to own Luca. I responded by saying I preferred not to use the term "own." She apologized, but I wasn't going to hold it against her and shrugged it off before explaining that she had been given to me by a friend. Joy looked at me with a look of utter amazement, no doubt wondering who would give someone a rare pokemon like Luca.
Joy then explained that she judged Luca to be about 3 weeks old and went on to say that she was in perfect health. With that taken care of we decided to do some shopping around town. I picked Luca up off of the counter and lifted her onto my shoulders. She was a little unsteady at first but she quickly balanced and was enjoying the ride while she leaned on my head. I reached down to Lady, who was waiting patiently beside me, and scratched her lightly behind her ears before heading to the door.
Our first stop was a pokeball store. I had to request a custom ball for Luca, and since I didn't have many pokemon I could afford to give the two I did have some special treatment. Luca didn't understand what the balls were at first but after we left the store I tried explaining it to her, although Lady helped out a great deal, with the details Luca didn't understand from me...
The lady at the shop said that the ball would be ready in two hours and that we should come back then, which gave me time to stock up on supplies for our trip to the next town. When the two hours had passed we began making our way back to the pokeball shop. The lady at the desk smiled as we walked in and bent over to get Luca's ball from behind the counter. When we got to the counter the lady presented a beautiful ball with a bright blue upper half, a golden yellow bottom, and a steel colored activator button, it was perfect.
After paying the owner I turned to show Luca her ball. I knelt down and handed it to her and to my surprise she smiled happily then threw it up in the air, leapt after it and hit the activator with spinning wap from her tail. She disappeared in a flash of red as the ball landed on a floor mat and instantly went calm.
I quickly reached over, picked up the ball and released Luca after watching the scene. She shook her head as she gathered her thoughts about what had just happened then looked at me holding her ball and smiled. I chuckled lightly and watched again as Lady wrapped a tail around Luca and lifted the surprised Riolu onto her back.
Luca wasn't too sure about the new position at first but she was having fun in no time flat, riding Lady like a horse and giggling as she tried to spur Lady on. I followed the two girls out the door and down the road after thanking the pokeball artist once more and after a while I noticed Lady was staying out ahead of me. Luca was still having fun but had started to look back and wondered why Lady wasn't letting me catch them. I knew most of Lady's little games and I figured I had played dumb long enough...
In an instant I ran toward the girls as fast as I could to catch them but as usual... it was no use, I could never match Lady's speed. The playful fox eventually slowed down and let me catch up once we were out of town, but Luca was still having the time of her life. She was laughing and trying to get Lady to "Giddy up" again as I came up beside them. i smiled and pet Luca once again before lifting her to my shoulders. This had turned out to be one of the best days of my life. I knew it would be a while before Luca could participate in a battle, but I didn't care. At the moment I really didn't want her to ever grow up.
A week had passed since I first met Luca. We had been traveling ever since, and we decided to head home to introduce Luca to my family. We were sleeping by the path one night when Luca did something I would never have expected.
I woke up one morning to a little girl's voice saying "Wake up daddy."
My first thought was "Who could this possibly be, calling me daddy?," but when I opened my eyes I only saw Luca happily shaking my arm to wake me up. I looked around for the little girl who had been talking to me when Luca asked "What's wrong?"
My attention immediately snapped to her, as I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I could actually understand what Luca was saying as if she were speaking English! When I focused on her she got a surprised look on her face and wasn't sure whether to be scared or to enjoy the attention. Before long though she asked if I was okay, but all I could manage to stammer was "You can...talk???"
She calmed down a bit when she realized I wasn't upset, but she still wasn't sure what to do now. As if on cue Lady raised her head and yipped at Luca. She had been half awake and listening to what was going on and though she was a little annoyed at being dragged from the last moments of her beauty rest she knew she could explain to Luca what was happening a lot better than I could at the moment.
After a short conversation Luca asked me if I could understand Lady like I did her. I only shook my head no and kept wondering how in the world this was possible. Luca obviously felt a lot better now, knowing that she hadn't done anything wrong, but had only surprised me with her gift. With this new development I figured we should head to the next town and get Nurse Joy's opinion on what was happening. Plus I wanted to know if I was just going crazy...
Seeing Luca was still unsure about this whole thing I picked her up, gave her a hug, and said kindly "I'm sorry for scaring you, but it's not everyday that a pokemon starts talking to you." I could see that I had upset her a little, but knew she forgave me when she snuggled in my embrace and replied "That's ok." With that I finished packing up our things while Luca rested on my shoulders, and the three of us headed for the nearest pokemon center.
Luca was still quite a bit shy towards anyone but Lady and I, but she had learned to trust Joy. I let her stand on the counter just as before and she walked across it to try and talk to the nurse. Joy only smiled and pet Luca on the head saying how friendly she was.
Luca looked back at me with a bit of an annoyed and confused look on her face. This Joy hadn't seen Luca before so it was no surprise she judged Luca's personality differently but none the less I asked if she could understand Luca, which she quickly replied with a confused "No. Can you?"
"Yes." I answered which surprised her more as she turned back to Luca with a curious look. Luca looked back up to me to say "I guess it's only you who can understand me."
"I guess so." I replied with a smile, but the little exchange surprised Joy even more. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, my claim seemed to be true! I took the chance to snap her out of her daze though by explaining that we were hoping she would know something about this. She regained some of her composure but said she had absolutely no idea, and that nothing like this had ever happened to her. Somehow this little ability didn't surprise me so much after the initial shock wore off. I had a feeling that Luca was special from the moment I first saw her and this just confirmed my thoughts.
Another three days passed and we were getting close to my home town. We had just passed a small clearing when Lady and I realized where we were. That clearing was where Luca had been given to us. As we kept walking towards home we saw a familiar figure on the path ahead. My eyes widened a little when I realized who it was and I picked Luca up and began to run to catch up with the guy. Luca wasn't sure what was going on, but Lady had recognized the figure walking beside the man ahead and understood completely.
We caught up to the stranger and his Lucario, and he just gave us a smile. He looked over at me and Luca, who was being shy now and burying her face in my shirt in the presence of the man, but she kept one eye intently on the Lucario.
"You two seem to have bonded nicely." He began as he gave Luca a smile while she was still being shy and trying to hide in my arms. "Can you talk yet?" He continued obviously aiming the question at Luca.
"Yes..." She managed through my sleeve which got a smile from Lucario who was walking between me and the stranger.
To ease Luca a bit I managed to get their attention back to me by asking why I was the only one who could understand her. He explained as best he could that Luca came from a special line of Lucario with many special abilities, one of which was the ability to communicate with their partner, but these abilities could only be realized through a strong bond. By the time he had finished his explanation Luca had gotten a little more comfortable. She was no longer trying to hide but continued to watch Lucario carefully. She gathered her confidence and reached her paw out to touch Lucario on his arm. Not wanting to scare her, he only looked at her and gave her a kind smile.
This was all Luca needed to calm her and she leapt from my arms onto Lucario's head while laughing. Lucario was surprised at this and put his paws behind him to catch her and make sure she didn't fall. He too laughed though and happily took Luca to play with Lady.
The three of them got along great, laughing and playing with Luca while I got the chance to talk to the stranger. I did notice that Lucario seemed to be having a better time than Luca. He was very careful with her and it was almost as if she were special to him as well. Eventually I got the nerve up and asked the stranger if Lucario was related to Luca. He simply looked ahead to the playing pokemon and smiled as he replied "Yes. He's her father actually."
"Why would you leave her with me then!?" I asked in shock but he wouldn't give me a clear answer. All he did was repeat his original quote about her needed a better life than what she would have without me. I still couldn't believe how separating Luca from her parents was good for her, but decided that it was best not to push the issue. After all this must have been hard enough on them to give her up and only visit occasionally to check in like this.
My next question was how many other Riolu he had found trainers for. He also wouldn't give me a straight answer to this question either, but he did tell me that there were about 5 in the past 10 years and there was Sir Aaron. I was rather surprised that the legendary Sir Aaron had been given his companion Lucario by this guy, which actually made me think of just what Luca might be capable of. Next I asked if the Riolu he found homes for were all brothers and sisters.
"No. They all have their own families, but most share the same special abilities. Despite this their prowess with them varies greatly from individual to individual." He replied and went on to explain that Luca was indeed special and needed me to be with her no matter what happened. I made sure he knew that I would never betray the trust he put in me and that I would never leave Luca. With that the stranger called Lucario over with some strange telepathic ability, saying "We should be going." once he had come back to us.
Lady had followed Lucario back and was standing beside me with Luca on her back. I picked Luca up and we waved goodbye as they went down a path that lead to the right in a fork in the road. As they left I noticed that Lucario seemed reluctant to go. No doubt he didn't want to leave his daughter, not knowing when he would see her again.
I tried to show him that she had a good home and that he had no need to worry, but there was only so much I could do to console him, and I simply resolved to prove this to him over time. When they were out of sight I turned back to the girls and we headed down the left path towards home.
My home town was only a short distance away, but it was too far for Luca to stay awake. She fell asleep in my arms just like the day we had found her.
I walked through the door with Luca in my arms and my mom welcomed us home. She gave Lady a nice welcome before coming over to me and realizing I was holding a small pokemon. Her eyes widened and she looked up at my face to ask quietly where this little pokemon had come from.
"I'll tell you in a bit, let me lay her down first." I replied cheerfully and went to the living room to lay Luca down on the couch. Mom smiled and was probably thinking about how she never knew I could be such a caring "father."
After Lady joined Luca on the couch and covered her with nine warm tails I went out to the dinning room to talk with mom. We sat there talking for what must have been hours. I started with how Luca had been given to me and continued until I had explained about our recent meeting with the stranger and Luca's father. Mother was at a loss for words after the story, but she was particularly fixed on how I could understand Luca. She kept trying to get out of me how this was possible, but all I could say was "I don't know exactly."
When I finished she wanted to get a closer look at Luca so we got up and went to the living room where Lady had fallen asleep with Luca on the couch. I gently moved some of Lady's tails to show mom the little Riolu. She quietly said "She's beautiful!" as she knelt down to get a better look at the sleeping pokemon. The small blue canine didn't stir at all, she simply kept sleeping peacefully. I must say that even I was struck by how cute she really was at that moment.
It was late by the time we actually made it home and once mom had finished admiring Luca she and I decided to get some well deserved rest. I went up to my room and fell asleep, leaving Luca and Lady comfortably on the couch downstairs. The next morning I woke up once again to Luca saying "Wake up daddy. Come on lets go." But this time there was something else... My ear was filled with... drool?
Lady had decided to show Luca how she woke me up. It was quite effective and Luca laughed as I wiped the slobber out of my ear. Lady only sat there and smiled at me, she knew I couldn't stay mad at her no matter how much she teased me. I smiled and got dressed then picked Luca up to headed downstairs.
We found that Mom already had breakfast started, she put Lady's food down for her and had a place set for me and her. Luca felt a little left out that mom hadn't prepared something for her but then again she didn't know what Luca liked. In the short time I had spent with Luca I had figured that out pretty good.
So I took my time and fixed Luca something and had her eat with me and mother. When we finished mom wanted to get to know Luca a bit more. Luca was still a bit shy, but mother had such a strange personality that she could get most people to like her almost right away, and in no time Luca was almost as open towards mother as she was to me.
At one point mom had decided see if I really could understand Luca. She whispered something in Luca's ear which got a snicker out of both of them. Then Luca looked over at me and asked if I still remembered where the shower was. I looked up at mom (she had quite the sense of humor...) to reply "Very funny..."
After cleaning up breakfast I headed downstairs for a nice shower. When I came back up Luca and Lady were playing in the living room. I quickly got dressed and went outside, leaving the girls to play for the time being while I set up some equipment. I thought today would be a nice day to see what attacks Luca might know. I went to the garage and got out the old training equipment I had once used for Lady, mainly targets and some disks.
Lady realized what I was doing and after a short time brought Luca out to see. When they came outside Luca ran up to me to ask what I was doing and what everything was for. I knelt down beside her and told her it was for battling practice before explained battling as best I could to her. She understood the concept, but wasn't sure why it was done. Still she didn't mind, and wanted to try for me. I smiled and began trying to think of an attack she might know. She wasn't aware that she knew any so I thought it would be better if Lady could demonstrate something first.
I thought of an attack and told Luca to watch Lady carefully. I picked up a disk and threw it out into the field, while telling Lady to use quick attack. She braced herself quickly then rocketed off towards the disk. Luca watched with amazement as Lady took off with a streak of white and caught the disk in mid air.
Lady happily pranced back and handed me the disk before sitting next to me and looking cheerfully at Luca. I then asked Luca if she thought she could do it. She thought about it for a bit and eagerly answered "Yes."
I smiled and told her to aim at a target I had set up then told her to use quick attack. She nodded and quickly took off toward the target.
She managed to actually perform the attack but it faded about 5 ft before the target. She looked disappointed as she walked back to me, but I kindly told her she did very well for her first try. This cheered her up a bit, and I asked Lady if she had any advice for Luca.
Lady came over and started talking with Luca. I only caught Luca's side of the conversation but Lady seemed to be giving some good advice. When they had finished Luca turned and told me she wanted to try again.
Of course I replied "Ok" and told her to use quick attack again. This time she took off at nearly twice the speed as before and shattered the target with a punch in the dead center of the bull's eye.
After her success she ran back to me and asked how she had done with a broad smile on her face. I put my hand on her head and said "Very good. You got that faster than Lady did." which got Luca to look over at Lady who turned her nose up and gave a joking resentful look. Luca simply giggled and asked me what was next.
I didn't really have any idea, but I had heard of a fairly new steel type move that Luca might know. I knew this would be harder since Lady couldn't show Luca how to do it, but figured it was worth a try. I explained as best I could to Luca the move I'd heard about. She listened intently and said she wanted to try it.
"Ok then, use bullet punch." I said and she took off running towards a different target I had set up. I was surprised at how fast she was but then remembered it was partly because of the attack. About half way to the target she brought her paw back and clenched it into a fist, which began glowing bright white. When she got to the target she let fly, hitting the target just a little to the left of the bulls eye but still destroying more than half of it with the hit. She knew she didn't hit the center but she was still happy she got it on her first try.
I couldn't have been more proud, she was really getting the hang of this and with a few practice battles she'd be a great fighter in no time. She came back to my side and I congratulated her and told her how great of a job she did. She did look tired though and I told her it was ok if she wanted to take a rest. She nodded and yawned before going over to the base of a nearby tree and watched me and Lady continue to practice for a while before falling asleep in the soft cool grass.
I put Lady through her normal warm up and training pattern, but during the final part she did something that really surprised me. We were doing some target practice with the disks and with the last disk I told her to use a flamethrower with all the power she had left.
She began charging the attack when I threw the disk but when she shot the blast it took the form of a giant X. She had just launched a fire blast attack, and she had learned it all on her own! The disk was completely incinerated upon collision, and I just looked over at Lady a bit stunned as the giant X dissipated into the sky. She knew the look I was giving her and smiled happily. I scratched her behind her ears and told her how proud I was that she had learned that all on her own.
She always liked it when she surprised me. After that last disk there wasn't any more I could think to practice so I had Lady pick Luca up with her tails and take her inside, while I put away ...and cleaned up... the equipment. Luca was still sleeping but Lady managed to carry her inside without disturbing her.
When I got inside mom was feeding Lady and Luca, and was in the process of getting dinner ready for me and the rest of our family. Dad would be home for dinner today and my sister would be returning from a contest trip she had taken. When the girls had finished eating I took them down to get a shower. They had both gotten fairly dirty during training today. I got the two of them cleaned up and dried of. Then we went up to introduce Luca to the rest of her new family. She took an immediate liking to my sister Ashley, but it took a bit longer for her to get comfortable with my dad, before to long though she was quite fond of them both.
My sister was technically a trainer, but favored pokemon contests over battles. She had a Persian named Whiskers who was sleeping in my sister's room. This cat was really strange. She either liked someone or didn't, and had her occasional friendly moods where she was your best friend. The only problem with these moods was that they could change in a spit second and then she'd be ripping your arm apart... Knowing this I figured it was best if Luca didn't meet whiskers right away.
My parents had never really gotten into pokemon training and preferred regular jobs to traveling. We spent the rest of the night talking about random things but mostly about Luca. Ashley wanted to take her to contests so bad, but I wasn't about to hand Luca over.
The next day I decided to go out on another trip. My sister preferred to travel more by car or plane so she wasn't going to join me and the girls walking from town to town. I packed up and we said our goodbyes, but as we walked down the path I began thinking about how I had never been able to collect more than 2 badges, since Lady had been my only pokemon and I hadn't wanted to get her hurt in the upper level gyms. I figured once Luca got a bit stronger and if I happened to get a team of six pokemon we might even try for the pokemon league.