A Boy and His Lucario Part 5
#5 of A Boy and His Lucario Series
The boys decided that they didn't want to trek through the Viridian Forest at night, so they found a nice hotel to stay the night in. Lucario was very excited; he'd never seen anything like it.
"Look Master! They even put chocolate on our pillows! Are you going to eat yours?" John tossed Lucario his mint and started to change into his knight wear. Lucario managed to find the TV remote, but that was all the farther he got. The boys finally decided it was time for bed. There were two beds in the room, so they each took their own. John yawned heavily.
"Goodnight, Lucario. Will you wake me in the morning?"
"Of course Master, it's my thing." They both dozed off pretty quickly; it had been a long day. But during the middle of the night, Lucario woke up. He went over and poked at John. John checked the clock and yawned.
"Is it morning already?"
"No Master. I'm sorry to wake you up so late, and I know this is going to sound childish, but I had a bad dream."
"Oh, well do you want to sleep with me?"
"Is that ok?
"I won't mind." Lucario made his way into bed and John scratched him behind his ear to calm him. "Feeling better?"
"Yes, a lot better. Thank you Master."
Morning came and John woke up before Lucario. 'He probably didn't sleep the best last night, I'll let him sleep in.' John wrote a note for Lucario should he wake up when John was gone. It read:
Lucario, I went to get some breakfast. If I don't see you down there I'll bring you something. John
John quietly made his way to the other side of the room and out the door. As he was walking down the hall, he began to wonder about what Lucario had dreamt about. 'It must have been pretty bad if he wanted to sleep with me. I should talk to him about it.' John had some cereal and decided he would bring back a waffle and some milk for Lucario. When he got back to the room Lucario was watching TV.
"Good morning Lucario, you looked tired so I let you sleep. How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling better, thank you." He looked uncomfortable.
"I brought you some food if you want it."
"Oh, thank you Master." Lucario seemed to enjoy his waffle. John decided it was time to ask.
"Lucario, what was your bad dream about?" Lucario stopped eating and let out a big sigh.
"Master, please forgive me for this, I dreamt I was there when your parents were killed." John let out a little gasp. "I'm not sure why, it just happened. Using my aura, I'm able to read minds, and one day I looked at your memories and saw your parents being killed. So I guess after seeing it I had a dream. I was there, but I was chained to the ground a few feet away. I tried to break the chains to try and save them, but I couldn't do it," Lucario shed a tear "and... and... they were killed. You screamed, you turned to me and started yelling 'Why didn't you save them?! Why did you just stand there?!' I just felt like I was the most terrible thing to ever happen to you. Then I woke up." Lucario now had a continual stream of tears running down his face. "There was nothing I could do, I was just useless!" John reached out and took Lucario's hand.
"Lucario, it's not your fault. You weren't even born yet. The reason my parents died is because they refused to tell Team Rocket about the family secret, not because you weren't able to save them." Lucario's eyes were still wet; he looked into John's eyes.
"But... but-"
"But nothing. You had nothing to do with it. It's not your fault." John looked deep into Lucario's eyes, and Lucario finally began to understand John's words. John reached into his pocket and pulled something out and handed it to Lucario. "Here, I got you this candy bar. Don't worry about it, you've done nothing but make my life better." Lucario wiped his eyes and took the candy bar.
"Th-Thank you, Master." He slowly ate the candy bar, trying hard to hold back his tears. When he finished his candy he went and sat on the edge of the bed. John went and sat behind him on the bed and scratched him behind his ear. Lucario quickly turned and held John tight.
"Just remember Lucario, no matter what happens, I will always love you."
"I hear this place is famous for its Bug type Pokémon." John said as they walked down a path in the Viridian Forest. Lucario had stayed close to John the whole time they were there.
"I don't like bugs, Master." Lucario said with a chill running down his spine.
"That's ok." John reached into his bag and pulled out a Poke Ball. "Do you want me to carry you in a Poke Ball?" he asked.
"N-no Master, I need to be strong and face my fears."
"Lucario, it's ok to be afraid sometimes. But if that's what you want to do then I won't stop you. Just tell me if you ever want to go into the ball."
"Yes Master." They boys continued down the path when a Beedrill flew across the path. Lucario grabbed John's leg.
"It's ok, it's just passing by. It won't fight us unless we provoke it." As they got farther into the forest, more and more Bug Pokémon were appearing. Lucario was becoming very nervous, but never told John to put him in the Poke Ball. John noticed this and picked Lucario up. This greatly surprised Lucario.
"Master, what are you doing?" John set Lucario up on his shoulders.
"I can see you're scared, so if you don't want to be in the Poke Ball I'll just carry you myself." Lucario began to blush a bit.
"Oh, thank you Master." They continued down that path, Lucario on John's shoulders. They walked for a good 20 minutes when they came upon a small building.
"Hey, should we see if anyone's home?" John knocked on the door, but there was no response. "I guess there's nobody here." He was about to turn when the door slowly creaked open. An old woman wearing a kimono was standing there.
"Well hello there, young man. You look tired, why don't you come in for a cup of tea?" the woman said warmly.
"Thank you ma'am, my friend and I could use a rest." John set Lucario down and the two walked into the house. The house was small; it consisted of a kitchen, a bed in the corner and a large low-lying table with four cushions around it in the center of the room. The old woman walked over to the kitchen to make the tea while John took a seat on one of the cushions. He invited Lucario to come sit on his lap. Lucario did so without hesitation and John scratched him behind the ear. The woman returned holding a tray which held a tea pot, two tea cups and a biscuit.
"There you are dear, and here is a biscuit for your Pokémon." She set the tray on the table and sat on the cushion opposite of them. Lucario happily ate his biscuit and John sipped his tea.
"Thank you very much, ma'am. We've been walking through the forest all day."
"Oh, tis no trouble at all." She poured herself some tea. "That's quite the Pokémon you've got there, I've never seen anything like it."
"Yes, he's a Lucario. They're originally from the Sinnoh region."
"How interesting. I've never left Kanto, so that probably explains it."
"Neither have I. It makes me glad to have the privilege to meet such a special Pokémon." Lucario smiled and wagged his tail. John continued to scratch behind his ear. The old woman smiled as she sipped her tea.
"Yes, I can see you two seem to be great friends. I once had a Flareon whom I was very close friends with, but it recently passed away."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Oh it's quite all right. The poor thing had been sick for a long time and finally found peace. Flareon and I would go out into the forest and collect different leaves to make tea. We would pour water into a big pot and Flareon would boil the water with its fire. Now that's it's gone I just use an electric stove. The tea has never quite tasted as good since then."
"I think it tastes great ma'am." John said with a smile. The old woman let out a little laugh and a wrinkly smile.
"Oh thank you young man. Just remember the great friendship you have with your Pokémon." John and Lucario looked at each other and smiled.
"Don't worry ma'am, I'll never forget."
The boys bid goodbye to the sweet old woman and continued down the track, side by side.
"What a nice old lady." Lucario said. "It's too bad about her Flareon though."
"Yeah, but a story like that only makes me cherish our friendship even more." Lucario looked up at John; he was smiling, looking back down at Lucario. THWACK! Lucario had run into a sign, not paying attention to the path.
"Ah! Lucario are you ok?" Lucario pulled himself off the sign.
"Yes, I'm fine Master. Hm? Look Master, this sign says Pewter city is straight ahead!"
"Alright! Our first gym awaits us there, are you ready to win a badge, Lucario?"
"You bet Master!"