FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon or anything related to it, although it was pretty awesome if I did. However, characters and plot are mine. You can use them but let me know first and credit me for them ok?

Leon woke up, startled. Looking around the moonlit bedroom, he found everything quiet. Miles was still perched on the lamp, asleep. He laid back down, taking deep breaths. What was that thing? The big white thing in his dream? He tried to remember what it looked like but it came all blurry. He gave a mental shrug.

'Whatever, it was just a dream.' He thought turning to his side. Seeing Kairi asleep, he smiled and hugged her against him. She mumbled something in her sleep and cuddled up to him. Soon, Leon fell back asleep.

* * *

A few hours later, Leon woke up and carefully got up so that he wouldn't wake up Kairi. He got dressed and left a note explaining where he was going on the bedside table. He exited the room, heading to the lobby.

The lobby was completely empty, save for him and Nurse Joy, who waved. Leon waved back and entered the waiting room. There were only a couple of people there, no doubt waiting for their Pokémon. He headed to the videophones and quickly dialed a number. After a few rings, a familiar face appeared at the screen.

'Hi Tracey!' Leon greeted him, smiling.

'Oh, it's you Leon! How are you? What brings you to call at this hour?' He asked, rubbing a bit of sleep out of his eyes. Tracey was a few years older than Leon, about Ash's age.

'I'm fine, just wanted to talk to Professor Oak and ask him a few things.' Leon answered.

Tracey nodded. 'I'll get him here. Just wait a bit.' Tracey exited the screen but Leon could still hear his footsteps. Suddenly, a muffled 'Get off, Muk!' was heard. Leon chuckled, since it was probably Ash's Muk. He himself had been run over by the excited glob of poison a few times in the past.

Soon, Tracey and Professor Oak came into view, Tracey with a bit of purple sludge stuck on his hair.

'Good morning Leon! What did you want to talk about?' Professor Oak asked.

'This and that. I'm calling from the Viridian Pokémon Center.'

'That's really good Leon. I'm impressed.' Professor Oak replied.

'Thanks. A Pidgey joined our team when we were in Route 1 and we saw Ash and Gary yesterday.'

'How are they doing?'

'Gary's okay and Ash...' Leon hesitated.

'Is the new Kanto Champion.' Professor Oak completed.

'Wait, you knew?' Leon asked, surprised. The reason why he was surprised was that a Trainer that recently beat a League had to make a choice, whether to replace the previous Champion at the League, or become an honorary Champion and let the previous Champion fill in for him as he went on with his life. The outcome of that choice would only be known at the Season Opening Ceremony.

'Why, yes. Don't you remember? Pokémon Professors have to be there at the Season Opening Ceremony to support the Champion of their Region and I've already received the invitation saying that Ash's the new Champion.'

'Oh, okay.' Leon said, slightly disappointed.

'Anything else?'

'Yes, I'm curious about something. How did Kairi come to be my starter?'

Professor Oak's face saddened. 'It's a sad story. She doesn't know about it though, so please don't ask her about it.' Professor Oak sighed. 'Five years ago, my colleague Professor Rowan from Sinnoh was out doing field work near Mt. Coronet. One day, as he explored a cave with his assistant, they found a badly injured Lucario. The Lucario was female and in her arms was an egg. Her egg. She had been ambushed by poachers and she knew she wouldn't survive. Apparently after reading his aura... You know what Lucario can do with aura, right?' Professor Oak interrupted.

'Yeah, Kairi explained it to me somewhat.'

'Good. Now, apparently she read Rowan's aura and trusted her egg to him, finding that he wouldn't mistreat her unborn child. Rowan tried his best to save her but miles away from any Pokémon Center it was impossible. A few hours later she died.' Professor Oak sighed again. 'Rowan went back to his laboratory with the egg and called the rest of us Pokémon Professors to find out if anyone would like to take care of the egg, since at the time he was on the verge of a breakthrough in his investigation and couldn't take care of it. Elm, my old student and an expert in Pokémon reproduction habits, offered to take the egg to Johto and so Rowan handed it to him. A few weeks later the egg hatched. The baby Riolu was raised there in Johto and last week I asked Elm to give her to me, since you asked me to begin your journey. I knew you would like her and she would be happy to be traveling and out of the lab too.' Professor Oak concluded. 'Anything else?'

Leon crossed his arms. 'How does a Riolu evolve?'

'Apparently, the communion between their aura and the aura of someone they deeply care and trust triggers evolution. That's why usually a Lucario is either with his or her mate or a Trainer they've bonded with.'

'And how long do they live?' Leon asked, expecting the worst. He knew Pokémon didn't live nearly as much time humans did.

'Around thirty years, although there are reports of trained Lucario reaching as far as fifty. But, mind you, those cases are quite rare. It seems that one year for us is approximately two, three years for them.'

Leon stood quiet, deep in thought. Then, 'Thank you for telling me this Professor.'

Professor Oak chuckled. 'Not at all! Any time you need some information, be sure to call me!'

'Well, I gotta go. Kairi and Miles should be waking up soon.'

'Bye Leon!' Tracey waved.

'Call me when you reach Pewter!' Professor Oak said before hanging up the call.

Leon got out of the waiting room and ordered a tray of food at the Center's restaurant. He carefully took it back to his room and, after a few minutes of cursing with the key, he finally unlocked it. Both Miles and Kairi were still asleep. He let the tray on the desk and gently shook Kairi awake.

'Hmmm? Leon? What is it?' She mumbled sleepily.

'Good morning sleepy. Breakfast is here.' Leon answered, smiling. He advanced to Miles as Kairi sat up and rubbed the sleep off her eyes. Leon poked Miles on the side and he jumped half a meter upwards with a yelp.

'Don't do that!' He protested angrily. 'I'm very ticklish!' He said as Leon roared with laughter.

'Sorry! But as a compensation, breakfast's here!' Leon said, gesturing the tray on the desk.

Miles flew to the tray, closely followed by Kairi. While they ate, Leon started to pack his backpack. When he finished, he set the backpack against the wall next to the door. On the ground in front of the door was a white envelope with "Leon Jefferson" written on it.

'Oh? What's this?' He said, picking it up. He opened it and read the letter inside.

To Leon,

Sorry I can't tell you this to you in person but I had to leave really early today. Indigo Plateau is waiting for me and I have to be there. Anyways, I'm writing this to give you a tip or two:

Number 1: Train, train, train, rest and train some more. Brock's tough and, although I know you have Kairi with you, I don't think she's going to be able to beat both Geodude and Onyx by herself at her level. I recommend taking a few days in the Viridian Forest to train. Sorry Miles, but you won't be able to do much against Brock. Better luck on the next Gym.

Number 2: Try to catch a Water-type or, better yet, a Grass-type. It would not only be helpful against Brock, it would also be a good addition to your team. Electric-types don't do much against Grass-types so it could have Miles' back better than Kairi.

Brock will be expecting you the day after the Season Start Ceremony. If you get there early, you could be the first Trainer to have a Badge this Season. The Ceremony is nine days from now, so I suggest taking a day to get to Viridian Forest's southern Poké-center, stay in the Forest for about five, six days, rest the last night on the northern Poké-Center, taking your time to get to Pewter and still reach it the day of the ceremony. You sleep well that night and then you'll be fully rested to fight Brock. I warn you again: he's tough for a Trainer your level so I'd have a strategy or two up my sleeve.

Hope to see you at Indigo Plateau soon,

-Ash

P.S.: This is the last time I'm helping you. You're on your own now. Take care!

'Cool. Thanks Ash!' Leon thought out loud.

'What is it?' Kairi asked between two mouthfuls.

'A letter from Ash.' He answered, reading the letter out loud for the both of them. When he finished, Kairi sat, thinking.

'He's right you know. I won't be able to beat both a Geodude and an Onyx on the same battle. We should catch a Grass-type or a Water-type.' She said.

'Let's worry about that once we're in the Forest. For now, we need to check out of the Center and buy some supplies.'

Once they had finished eating, Miles wanted to go to his Pokéball, saying he was still a bit sleepy. Leon withdrew him and grabbed his stuff while Kairi climbed him to get to her usual perch. They exited the room and went to the lobby. The lobby was slightly fuller now that the morning was well on its course. Leon checked out of the Center and thanked Nurse Joy. Then they headed to the Poké-Mart to buy a few supplies.

'So, tell me stuff about you.' Leon said, taking a shopping basket from the pile near the entrance.

'Like what?'

Leon shrugged. 'You know, what do you like, what you don't like. That kind of stuff.'

She thought for a while. 'Well, I like thunderstorms, love your food and hate the cold.' She said. 'Does that work?' She asked, smiling.

'Yeah, I guess.' Leon replied, scratching her head. She let out an "Hmmm" of pleasure and Leon chuckled. 'Wait, why do you like thunderstorms?' Leon asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Well, I think that watching the thunders rain down is the best light show there is. And it's free!' She giggled. 'What about you? Tell me about yourself. For example... Oh right, how did you learn to fight?' She asked.

'Well, when you take care of lots of Pokémon, including Fighting-types, eventually you're "recruited" to join some of their trainings. There was this female Machamp called Bertha who was especially fond of me. She made me train with her every day for an hour. And, of course, it was either getting out of the way and countering or getting beaten to a pulp. So I eventually learned a few things.' He shrugged.

'How did you end up working for Professor Oak?' She asked.

'I went to school until I was 11 and then asked him. He agreed but only if I continued school while I helped him part-time. Eventually I got... well, not tired, I mean, I loved the job but I felt like I was missing on much of the world if I stuck around Pallet. So last week I told Professor Oak I wanted to resign and go on my own Pokémon training journey and he agreed without any objections. So here we are.' Leon finished as he took a quite a few packs of Antidote from their shelf. Viridian Forest was no laughing matter when it came to poisoning victims. The Weedle there made it very tough to leave the forest without at least one of your Pokémon poisoned. 'So, what are these?' He asked, pulling on one of her braids.

'Hey!' She snatched it from his hand. 'Watch it! These things are sensitive!' She said, caressing it.

'Sorry.' Leon apologized. 'What are they anyway?'

'They're my aura feelers. It's thanks to them that I can sense the aura waves of living things.' She explained, slightly grumpy. Leon approached the cashier and started to pile their supplies on the counter. 'The longer they are, the better a Riolu or a Lucario is at using Aura Sight.'

'Huh.' Leon turned to pay and noticed the clerk giving Kairi a weird look. 'Is something the matter?' He asked.

The clerk looked at him with a start and apologized. 'No, nothing is wrong. That'll be 2450 Poké, please.'

Leon paid and they exited the Poké-Mart, the clerk staring at them with the same weird look (how would you be if you saw a human talking with a Pokémon?).

After stuffing his purchases on his backpack, they headed towards the northern gate. On their way there, they saw the top of Viridian's Gym to their right. Leon stopped, both of them staring at it.

'Watch out Gary. Soon I'll return here. And when that time comes, you'd better be prepared.' Leon said. Then, he turned his attention back to the road and was startled when he saw an old man lying down on the road in front of him. 'Wah! What the hell!?'

'This is my property lad! Nobody passes through here unless I want to!' The old man said, scratching his head.

'Then how are we supposed to go to Pewter!? The gate is right there!' Leon protested, pointing at the gate that was indeed just a hundred meters away.

'Tough luck kid! I don't feel like moving and my Rattata won't let you pass either!' The man said, tossing a Pokéball into the air and releasing a Pokémon that looked like a tiny purple rat. It stood beside the old man, baring its teeth at them.

'You serious!?' Leon asked incredulously. 'That thing can't probably even take down a Magikarp!' He said, noticing how small the thing was.

'WHAT!?' The old man stood up, outraged. 'You dare to insult my Rattata? That does it you little...'

'PA!'

A feminine voice interrupted him. Leon and the old man looked at a woman who came from a house nearby, carrying a steaming mug. The woman approached them and handed the mug to the old man.

'Here you go pa! You forgot to take your coffee this morning!'

'Oh! Thanks sweetie!' He said, sipping contentedly on the mug.

The woman turned to Leon. 'Sorry about that. He gets really grumpy when he doesn't get his morning coffee. He'll be nicer now.'

The old man finished his coffee, sighing. 'Ahh, that was good.' He turned to Leon. 'So, tell me lad, do you know how to catch Pokémon?' He asked.

Leon stared at him blankly. 'What?'

'Do you know how to catch Pokémon?' He asked again.

'Uh... yeah I do. I've already caught a Pidgey.' Leon answered, signaling Miles' Pokéball on his belt.

'Ah, brilliant! You're well on your way to become an excellent Pokémon Trainer!' The old man laughed happily.

'He's completely nuts!' Kairi whispered.

'That means you don't need my help then!' He pointed at the gate. 'You may pass! If you go through there you'll be heading for Pewter!'

'Uh... Thanks, I guess.' Leon said, walking towards the gate.

'See ya lad! Good luck!' The old man shouted behind them, waving.

'Okay,' Leon said when they went through the gate. 'that was...'

'Completely random?' Kairi suggested.

'Couldn't put it better myself.'

They kept heading North through the dirt road. They didn't encounter any wild Pokémon while they were walking and, when they stopped for lunch, the most interesting thing they saw was a cloud shaped like a Meowth. After lunch (which included second helpings for everyone), they set out again, this time with Miles flying above them.

It was late in the afternoon when they reached Viridian Forest's southern Pokémon Center. They entered the nearly deserted lobby and asked Nurse Joy for a room. After dumping their stuff there, they returned to the lobby.

'I was thinking we could train a bit now before dinner.' Leon said.

'Can't we battle someone else instead of training by ourselves?' Kairi suggested.

'Why not?' So...' Leon looked around the lobby at the half-a-dozen people there were. 'Eennie-meenie... Wait, isn't that...?' He walked to where a red-haired girl with pigtails and wearing glasses was reading a book, a Squirtle sitting next to her. 'Hey!' He called out. The girl and the Squirtle looked at him. 'Didn't you receive that Squirtle from Professor Oak a couple days ago?'

She nodded. 'Yeah, and you are that guy who came late! I'm Allison and this is my partner Bubbles!' She signaled the Squirtle next to her.

Leon nodded at him. 'Nice to meet you Bubbles.' He turned back to Allison. 'Listen, would you like to have a battle with us?'

She nodded. 'Sure! We were kinda bored anyway.' They got up and everyone headed outside. Leon and Allison stood on opposite sides of the field marked in the dirt.

'Two on two?' Leon asked.

'Sure! Go Mrs. Nido!' Allison answered, throwing a Pokéball. A flash of white and a small, blue, rabbit-like Pokémon with horns appeared. A female Nidoran.

'Alright Miles, you go first!' Leon said. Miles shot forward with a confident grin on his beak. 'Sand-Attack!'

Miles swooped down on Mrs. Nido, flapping his wings hard and engulfing her in a dust cloud.

'Mrs. Nido, use Double Kick!' Allison called with a smug grin. A pink shape emerged from the dust cloud, slamming Miles down with her first kick and landing on him for the second.

'Miles!' Leon shouted.

Miles picked himself up. 'I'm okay! Damn, she's got it in her!' He said, panting a bit.

'Try a Tackle!' Leon said and Miles flew up.

'Wait until he's close and then dodge to the side Mrs. Nido!' Allison shouted. Mrs. Nido nodded and stood still until Miles swooped down to tackle her. When he did, she olé'd him and used a Scratch. Miles landed hard again.

'Aw shoot!' He said, spitting out some dirt.

'Miles focus! You can do this! Fall back!' Leon said. Miles nodded and flew back, hovering two meters away from and above Leon.

'Not as easy as you thought right?' Allison shouted from the other side of the field.

Leon chuckled. 'She's tough alright. But it's not like we have a strategy. This is our first battle!' He thought to himself. He looked at Miles. 'Can you do it?'

Miles answered after a second of thought. 'It's not going to be as powerful as two nights ago but yeah, I can.'

'Alright Miles! Gustnado!' Leon called out.

Allison looked at him, confused, while Kairi facepawed, realizing he had just made up a new move. Miles laughed and flew up, flapping his wings. Soon, a mini-tornado started to form, kicking up a sand cloud. When Allison realized what was going to happen she panicked.

'Mrs. Nido look out!' She yelled but it was too late. Miles launched the mini-tornado forward and it engulfed Mrs. Nido, spinning her around until she was thrown out of the battlefield.

'Mrs. Nido return!' Allison shouted, withdrawing Mrs. Nido before she hit the ground. 'That was an unexpected turn of events but now it's my turn to win! Bubbles use Water Gun!' She called out. Bubbles the Squirtle ran forward, shooting a stream of water from his mouth and easily taking down Miles, who hadn't recovered from the previous attack yet.

'Ah well, he did his part and he did it well.' Leon sighed as he withdrew Miles. He looked at Kairi. 'You up for it?'

'Let's kick his armored butt!' She howled, jumping into the battlefield.

'Alrighty! Kairi, use Foresight!' Leon ordered.

'Bubbles, Water Gun!' Allison commanded.

Kairi focused on Bubbles. Then, noticing the rapidly approaching stream of water she started to run around the Squirtle, dodging the Water Gun. The Water Gun suddenly sped and she was almost hit but she used a Quick Attack to boost her speed.

Noticing this, Bubbles shot a Water Gun in her path. Kairi barely managed to backflip and dodge it, panting slightly.

'Try to get near. Then Blaze Kick him until he's burned.' Leon said.

'Don't let her do it Bubbles!' Allison shouted.

Kairi started to spiral towards Bubbles with a series of Quick Attacks while he tried his best to stop her from getting any near with his Water Gun. Eventually Kairi was close enough and delivered three Blaze Kicks in rapid succession before Bubbles had the good idea of using Withdraw. The damage had been dealt however because Leon could see that Bubbles sported a nasty burn when Kairi ran back to him.

Leon smiled. 'Good one Kairi. Now, attack him from afar with Quick Attack and keep on it 'till he faints.'

She nodded. 'Got it!' And she dashed towards Bubbles.

'Bubbles, you heard them! Use Water Gun to propel yourself!' Allison commanded. Bubbles shot away from Kairi, hitting her with the Water Gun. He zoomed away from her apparently at random, making him difficult to hit.

'Kairi, be careful. Apparently she's smarter than I first thought. Try to read his movements and attack the place where he'll be.'

Kairi stopped and closed her eyes, her aura feelers rising to stand parallel to the ground. She may only be a Riolu but she was experienced enough to understand where the Squirtle was headed. When she got it, her eyes snapped open and she pounced on the target, grabbing on to the Squirtle.

'Hey get off!' Bubbles shouted, trying to shake her off by spinning like a top.

'Leooooon! Help meeeeee!' She yelled, slightly sick from the spinning motion.

'Hang on! I'll think of something!' Leon shouted back.

'Not funny!'

Leon's mouth corners twitched upwards as he thought of something. If she let go, she'd be hurt. Quick Attack wouldn't work, Blaze Kick wouldn't be effective enough, Foresight was a bust and Endure... 'Wait... Kairi use Endure and just simply hang on!' He told her.

'WHAT!? That's the brilliant idea!?' She shouted incredulous.

'Trust me!'

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, glowing slightly orange. The situation didn't change for a couple of minutes but suddenly Bubbles started to slow down until he finally stopped, fainted.

'What!? Bubbles return!' Allison shouted, holding out his Pokéball. A red beam of light and Bubbles disappeared.

Leon rushed forward and hugged Kairi. 'We did it!' Kairi tiredly nodded and then passed out in his arms, asleep.

Allison approached Leon and they walked together to the Pokémon Center. 'How did you beat me?'

Leon shrugged. 'Bubbles was burnt. It was only a matter of time until he fainted.'

'Oh.'

After handing their Pokémon to Nurse Joy, they headed to the Center's restaurant to have dinner. They sat together on a small table. While they dined they talked about their lives back at Pallet. Leon told her about his mother and how she worked as a chef in Delia Ketchum's restaurant, Pallet House, about his work with Professor Oak and how he could understand Pokéspeech. Allison was extremely excited about this because she only read about it. Allison in turn talked about her life as the daughter of Pallet Town's chief librarian, how she spent almost all her free time reading and writing and how she got interested in Pokémon training by reading about famous Trainers like Cynthia, Lance and Palmer.

'You know, I'm writing about my journey.' She told him. 'You should do it too. It'll be awesome when some thirty, forty years from now you open your old journey log and read what you wrote now.' She finished, giggling.

Leon thought for a bit. 'You know what? Maybe I will. After dinner I'll ask in the shop if they sell notebooks.' He told her.

True to his word, Leon bought a notebook and a pen on the Center's shop. After that, they bade eachother goodnight and went to their respective rooms.