FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

**********8**********

The warm breeze of summer blew through the area in the middle of a warm afternoon. With fresh supplies stocked up on, Chris and Alice departed from Auburn Town, both eager to get to Saffron City to earn their next badge as soon as possible. It was during their break that Alice proposed a mach battle before they eat lunch. Chris gladly accepted the challenge and chose to use Tora, while Alice picked Jari. All of their pokémon were out and were interested in how this battle will turn out. It had been a while since these two faced off, so tensions were a bit high.

Of course, the cubone started off by talking trash to her, but the chu didn't let it get to her this time, wanting nothing more than to make him eat his own words. The battle was moderately intense, with both pokémon trading and dodging blows, not to mention all the trash talking. Near halfway through, it became clear who the victor would be. Tora was moving more fluently across the field than she's ever done before. Every movement seemed to be connected to the last whether she was dodging or attacking and it was executed with such grace that even Chris had a hard time believing she was the same chu that battled a gym leaders' prized pokémon a couple days ago

The battle was called after a decisive blow from her Iron tail knocked away Jari's weapon out of his paws, even though the cubone was set on finishing the fight. "Wow, you were amazing just now," Chris commented to Tora as he knelt down to scratch her head.

"Thanks! I feel really good today," the chu replied, still pretty excited about her battle.

"If you keep that up, we'll breeze on through the rest of gyms."

"Pfft, as if."

"Well, go on and chill while I make lunch for everyone. I'm sure you're getting pretty hungry by now."

"I'm getting there." She emphasizes her point by rubbing her belly. Just then, Lani slithers up by her side.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" the dragon asks.

"Sure; what about?"

"Not here, in private."

"Um... okay?"

Tora followed behind Lani away from the group, wondering what they were going to talk about that couldn't be overheard by the others. Once they were far enough away, the dragon stopped and turned to the chu. "So, you looked really good battling just now. I noticed you had a little bounce to your steps," she said.

"Oh, thanks. I was just on my game today I guess," Tora replied.

"Uh huh... so how was it?"

"The battle?" Lani giggled and shook her head.

"No, I mean... how was your first time with Aaron? You obviously got laid." Tora's eyes widened in surprise as fast as the heat quickly rose to her face.

"W-who told you that? Did Nyx say something to you?" She immediately turned to look for ghost in question, thinking that maybe she had said something to not only Lani, but everyone else as well.

"Hey, calm down. I was only joking. She didn't tell me anything like that," Lani said with a laugh before what Tora said fully sank in her mind. "But...judging from your reaction though, I take it something did happen between you two?"

Tora mentally slapped herself for freaking out like that and sighed in defeat. There was no use hiding it now. "Well... yeah. We mated yesterday," she admitted.

"Wow... I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be a virgin no longer. Well, I'm not gonna ask if you liked it, I mean, I know you did, but how was he? Did he rock your world or ride you all passionately and stuff? C'mon you gotta tell me. This is the best thing I've heard from you since... ever!" The dragon said excitedly.

"I, uh... I was..." The chu was blushing hard trying to say it.

"You were... what?"

"I was on top..." she mumbled.

"What?"

"I was... on top..." The pink dragon stared at the chu with wide eyes and a held breath, almost disbelievingly so, but she soon burst out in a fit of giggles.

"No freaking way," she laughed. "You... you really took him to town, didn't you? I didn't know you had it in you to be aggressive in such things." The flustered chu was embarrassed enough as it is to be telling the dragon of what they did, but her laughing at it was also making her a bit upset. Tora turned to make her way back to camp. "Wait, wait, I'm sorry!" Lani said as she stopped her before she took a second step, trying to stifle her laughter. "Don't get mad. I just... wasn't expecting you to say that. And I didn't get to bring up what I wanted to talk to you about."

"You mean that wasn't it?"

"I told you that I was joking about that. Seriously though, I'm glad you two are finally getting it on. So, hear me out for a second?" Tora glanced a look to the group, just to see if lunch was on its way to being ready. The water had just been put on the fire, so they had plenty of time to chat. She sat down on the soft grass to get comfortable.

"Okay, so what did you really want to talk about?" The pink dragon shifted a bit uncomfortably and took a deep breath.

"Do you... consider me your friend?"

"I'm sorry?" The question had understandably taken the chu off-guard. A thought crossed her mind that maybe Lani had done something bad, but she wasn't so sure of it. Either way, she'd have to hear her out first.

"Do you think of me as your friend," Lani repeated.

"Of course I do. What would make you ask that?" Tora asked.

"We haven't really spent a lot of time together in a while and there's something I've wanted to get off my chest for a while now. When you and Aaron announced that you had gotten together... I got pretty upset by it..."

"What do you mean?" Tora was more confused than ever. She remembered Lani telling her since the first time she met Aaron that she should get with him, particularly because she noticed him flirting with her most of the time. The dragon even went as far as to suggest that she should mate with him back then on one occasion. "You were the one telling me to get with him for the longest in the first place. Why would you be upset when we finally did get together?"

Lani sighed. "I thought you were going to leave me." Before Tora could raise another question, she continued. "I know that I was encouraging it, but I never thought it would happen, at least so quickly anyway, and I was kind of doing it to make fun of you because you were acting so shy around him. So when it happened, I thought you were going to just up and leave me alone. In a way, you kinda did. You spent everyday with him while I was alone in a house by myself. Even now, while we're traveling, I don't get to talk to you much anymore. I mean, Chris is nice and everything, but I wasn't used to having an actual conversation with him back when you and Aaron just started going out. I had you for that and when you left, I... felt alone again."

Tora didn't know what to really say to that. She hadn't meant to cause any type of harm to Lani by bonding with Aaron over her and Chris. It was only natural, right? The thought of Lani actually blaming her for wanting to spend her time with Aaron, her mate, over her was enough to get her a bit riled up. She was ready to tell the dragon off for even thinking of, in her opinion, such a stupid thing to bring up in a conversation. "You're not actually... blaming me for that, are you?" Tora asked.

"No, no! I'm not blaming you for anything!" Lani quickly said, seeing that Tora was getting ready to jump her if she actually said yes to that. "I'm glad you found someone to love and spend all your time with. It's just that, at that time... I was just going through some issues. I just got abandoned by my trainer, thus separating me from my family, you and Chris had to sort of straighten me out, and I was just beginning to really think of you as a really good friend."

"Lani, I... don't know what to say..." Tora said sadly. She honestly felt like apologizing, but there was nothing she could apologize for. "If I had known, then-"

"I know you would have; and you don't have to say anything. It was better that it happened this way. I've gotten over it and you've got a mate," she said with a smile. A silence hung in the air while Tora fully digested everything that was said, slowly forming one last question in her mind that seemed more important than the ones she could've asked.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

Lani broke eye contact with the chu to look off into the distance. Tora followed her gaze, wondering what she was looking at. There was nothing there as far as she could see, but she did know that they were looking in the general direction of Saffron City. The dragon however wasn't looking at their next destination, nor was she thinking of it. She looked beyond it and felt for something that was beyond her reach as of now. It both excited and terrified her to be here at this point. And by "this point", she doesn't just mean on their way to Saffron City. She turned back to Tora. "Like I said; it's just something I needed to get off my chest. I feel a lot better now that I've said it." Tora wasn't completely convinced by that answer, but she wasn't going to pry.

"So I guess now that you've gotten that out of your system, I take it that you wanna hang out now?" The pink dragons' smile widened. "We still have some time before lunch to do whatever." Lani suddenly seized up and shuddered as she felt a strong chill rock her body that made her gasp. She looked around as if she could find the source of her extreme uneasiness. Something felt wrong; she could feel it in the pit of her stomach. It felt so bad for that brief moment, that she felt like crying right there. A few tears collected in her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tora asked, wondering why the dragon suddenly burst into tears.

"I... I don't know. I just... feel so bad!" she cried, instantly going from shedding a few tears to full-on sobbing. Tora was rooted to the spot. It was such a sudden change in the dragons' mood that she was at a loss of what to do. Lani's distress managed to reach Aaron and Nyx at the same time, both of them sensing an intense sadness coming from the dragon. They alerted Chris of it and they all rushed to find a crying dragon.

"What happened?" Chris asked Tora as he knelt down to check on Lani.

"I don't know. She was just fine a second ago, and then she started crying," Tora replied, still unsure of what happened herself. Chris tried to pick her up Lani to cradle her in his arms, but she jerked well away from him.

"No, it hurts!" she screamed, feeling as if everything she touched was a needle piercing her body.

Alice came over to see what the matter was, but Chris politely shooed her away and asked her to finish making lunch while he tried to figure this out. The other pokémon were curious as well, but was told by Nyx to not interfere. Aaron and Tora stayed in case Chris needed something. He was actually at a complete loss of what to do. He couldn't touch her, he didn't see any injuries on her that would cause her this amount of pain, and Aaron, the only one he knows that would be of any help, was just as lost as he was. As much as it pained him to do, he had no choice but to standby and wait for the dragon to calm down.

Lani didn't know what was wrong with her, only feeling a deep sadness and pain in her heart as if she had lost the most important thing in the world to her several times over. She suddenly wanted desperately for her family to save her from the pain, but knew that it was impossible for them to do so. Her whole body felt like it was covered in cuts and bruises stacked on top of one another and coated with the most concentrated form of rubbing alcohol there was. She wished that she'd just pass out already just so she didn't have to endure the pain any longer, but that wish was never granted. The worst part, she thinks, is that none of the feelings for her family to save her were hers. Despite that, she felt as if she knew who those feelings belonged to and why it seemed like they were specifically calling out to her.

The pain lasted only a few minutes, but she couldn't stop crying until well after lunch had been ready. "Are you alright now?" Chris asked, seeing her sobbing calm down to sniffling.

"I think so..." she mumbled, still feeling pretty bad.

"What happened to you?"

"I don't know. I just... felt really sad... and my whole body hurt so much. I don't know why." Chris looked to Aaron for any sort of explanation that would explain this.

"I'll take a look at her," he said.

The psychic closed his eyes and dived into Lani's mind. As he searched for anything that would shed some light on the situation, he did find something unusual that shouldn't be there, or hasn't been there as far as he know. There were traces of a psychic connection to have been made recently. Just like a fingerprint on glass, psychics leave a print on a persons' mind when they mentally connect with them. "It looks like there's still enough to backtrack whoever's on the other side," he thought. At best, he thought whoever the psychic was must be close-by, probably up to three miles away. His theory quickly turned out to be wrong due to the connection passing by every other psychic pokémon within a ten mile radius, even going into another region. "Whoever made this connection has to be a pretty strong psychic." Once Aaron reached the end, he found himself inside another mind, a very troubled one at that. This person is was enduring a lot of intense physical and emotional pain that seemed similar to what Lani was going through. Before he could find out who it was, he was forcefully ejected from the mind and sent right back into his own, with a message of "Nice try" being said to him. His surprise of being ejected made his whole body flinch and he opened his eyes.

"Did you find anything?" Chris asked. Aaron took a moment to fully process what he saw before answering.

"All I could gather is that a very powerful psychic pokémon was behind it and that whoever she was mentally connected to was suffering from severe physical and emotional pain. I wasn't able to get any more than that."

"Is the psychic-"

"No, they're in another region." Chris didn't know what to make of this information. How could a pokémon from another region do this to Lani, and why? It just didn't make any sense. Nevertheless, he wanted to protect Lani from any further harm.

"Is there... anyway we can stop this from happening again?"

"If it does happen again, I could step in and try severing the connection myself..."

"You can do that?"

"...Yes." Chris sighed in relief.

"Thanks Aaron." He looked down at Lani, who's become a little calmer. "You ready to eat something?" he asked her. When she nodded, he stood up and carried her to where the others were eating.

Even without saying anything, Tora could tell that something was wrong with Aaron. He didn't seem too confident in his ability to help with Lani, which was pretty surprising to her. She reached out a patted his shoulder. "Is something wrong?" she asked. Aaron glanced at her and sighed.

"I'm not too sure I can help her if this happens again," he said.

"Why's that?"

"I think... that other psychic is stronger than me."

*****8*****

Meanwhile, near the foot of Mt. Moon, a young man and his pokémon had just recovered from their shared experience of physical and emotional anguish. It had come as suddenly as it came. Unfortunately, it happened while they were flying and Draco, the charizard he was riding on, had to land them safely on the ground. Both Chad and Miu did their best to hold back their tears and keep from screaming to the top of their lungs. Sadly, they've gone through this before and weren't to keen on repeating past experiences, especially the dragonite. She glared daggers at Chad and was undoubtedly pissed. He already knew what was going through her mind

"We still can't go yet," Chad said, only angering the dragon further. "Not until you're fully healed."

"With all due respect, and I'm using that word very loosely, but fuck your shit!" Miu shouted, flames slightly spewing from her maw. "I don't care anymore! I'm getting him back, even if I have to die to do it!" The dragonite flapped her powerful wings and began to ascend into the air, but the charizard cut her off before she even got twelve feet off the ground.

"If you're willing to die in order to get something done, then I guess you wouldn't mind getting past us then." Chad stood on the same as his charizard, staring intensely at Miu, who was growling at both of them.

"What the hell are you doing? Do both of you have a death wish or something?"

"You're the one looking to die! I'm doing everything I can to make sure everyone stays alive! If you're going to be a total bitch about how I do things, then prove me wrong! Right here, right now; beat Draco, Cosmo, and Tilly in a battle! I'll make it easy for you. Beat two of them and we'll go snatch up Lani from that kid and head over to grab Skylar from Lou. I'm sure in your peak condition; this'll be no problem for you."

"I don't have time for this," Miu growled, taking off to go around the flying fire lizard. "Dragon claw..." Miu only had a split second to dodge as Draco nearly slashed her side with his powerful claws.

"What the fuck?!"

"I'm not kidding. You're not going anywhere until you defeat Draco and Cosmo. If you even think about running again, I swear I'll recall you back in your ball and putting a fucking lock on it!" Chad shouted as he glared at her, even going as far as pulling out her pokéball to emphasize his point.

Miu glared between Chad and the charizard before her in frustration, the growl in her throat becoming louder the more she thought about how trapped she felt. "No, I'm not getting stopped here," she thought. As soon as she glanced sideways, Draco was already on top of her with another dragon claw. She dodged it with not even a second to think as she returned the attack in kind. The charizrd intercepted her own dragon claw by grabbing her paw, catching her off-guard as he twisted and swung his whole body around to throw her into the rocky cliff-face with a loud crash. Pain erupted along her spine as well as in her wings as small rocks tried to dig their way into her thick hide.

Miu shook the dizziness from her head and pushed herself off the wall. She didn't remember Draco being that strong, even when she occasionally sparred with him at home. She never had trouble dealing with him then, mainly because she was stronger, but also because he always held back. She always scolded him for it, but he never listened and she never pushed the matter passed that. Now that she looked into his eyes, she could see his determination to stop her and his will to fight. It's been a while since she's seen the charizard this serious about fighting her. Still, this wasn't the time for such thoughts.

Using Extreme speed, the dragonite managed to tackle Draco hard enough to knock him back, or what she thought was enough to knock him back. She was surprised yet again when he absorbed the impact and wrapped his arms around her. She tried to break free, but he was holding on tightly. "Break her," she heard Chad say. The charizsrd took off into the sky, Miu struggling to break free and bracing herself at the same time as he somersaulted once. As he finished the second somersault, Miu lifted her head and took as deep a breath as she could before she released a flamethrower point blank in his face. Draco flinched from the attack but pressed forward. The dragonite could only brace herself as he threw her forcefully on the ground for the second time.

She grunted and wheezed as she rolled onto all fours, the air having been painfully knocked out of her lungs. "We could've been flying about now, but I guess we'll be spending the next couple of hours tending to your wounds. Thanks for wasting everyone's time." Miu snapped her head in Chad's direction.

"You... You asshole!" She made to dash at him, but a huge weight pinned her head and body down. "Get off!" she cried out, struggling to throw off the charizard on top of her, even though it was futile on her part. No matter how much she tried, or how frustrated she got, she couldn't do anything, not even shake the claw that was keeping her head pinned down. "It's not possible. How could I have gotten so weak?" she thought, finding her own strength pitiful.

Chad casually approached her, as if she wasn't glaring at him, and took a knee. "So, judging from this little exercise, you can't put up any semblance of a fight against Draco. By my estimate, you'll be dead before you'd even reach the front door. Doesn't do your son much good now does it?"

"Shut up!"

"Actually, scratch that. Lani would be emotionally distraught for the rest of her life. She's lost her home, and for the most part probably thinks she'll have a family to go back to."

"Please... stop talking..." Miu was rapidly becoming more distressed the more he talked, not bothering to try holding back her tears. There was no question that she loved her children more than life itself and they loved each other the same way. Each were the others entire world. Being separated, forcibly, from them drove her to go ape-shit with grief and worry, so she could only imagine how devastating it would be for her daughter to discover her family is dead.

"Lani doesn't even know that her own brother is missing. When I see her again, I'll have to tell her that her only family is dead and was killed in the most horrible way possible."

"Why are you doing this...?" she sobbingly asked, having given up on fighting back. There just wasn't any point to it anymore. All she could do was pitifully look into her trainers' face, one she once thought she could depend on for anything, while he says hurtful things to her. Even worse, he has his charizard to hold her still like some kind of animal as he does so. It was as humiliating as it could get.

Chad placed his hand on Miu's face and wiped a tear from her eye with his thumb.

"Why can't you trust me?" he asked. The question could be considered out of place, judging from her moderately surprised expression, but he was sure that was the problem. Either she didn't trust him anymore, or she didn't want to trust him. Both cases were bad for them because trust was the foundation of their relationship. Without it, they didn't have anything. Granted, he already knew that he screwed up big-time on more than one occasion in the span of a week and ultimately made her already horrible life even more unbearable by causing her kin, her only other anchor to sanity besides himself, to be separated from her. This, added to the fact that her children were brought into and participating in this lifestyle, is enough to send anyone off the edge.

Chad looked up at Draco and sharply tilted his head to the right as a sign to get off Miu, which the charizard did without question. He then recalled the fire-lizard back into his ball. The dragonite didn't move, either because she didn't want to or because she was afraid that she'd be forced down if she did. He stood up and went around to the dragons' side. Looking over her back, he could see a few scratches and cuts along her spine and the span of her wings. It didn't look too bad, but treating it now would prevent possible infections later. He took off his backpack and got out a potion, a washcloth, a bottle of water, a canteen, a bottle of peach vodka. After opening the bottle of water, he poured some of it onto Miu's back and wings to wash away the dirt and small rock. The dragon flinched a bit, but remained perfectly still.

"You still haven't answered my question," Chad said, now dabbing up the water with the cloth. He heard he mumble something under her breath, but couldn't quite make it out. "What was that?" Miu grunted softly, yet stubbornly, and turned her head away from him. Chad sighed and shrugged. He couldn't blame her for not wanting to talk to him. Hell, he wouldn't want to talk to him right now. He sprayed her injuries with the potion and continued talking anyway. "Listen, I know what you're thinking, and I can only imagine what you're feeling right now. This whole mess we're in is my fault and I can understand if you'll never forgive me for it because I've put you and your own family through shit worse than hell itself. A stupid apology wouldn't mean anything to you coming from me, but I apologize." The dragon didn't give him any indication that she was listening at all, but he expected as much.

Now that her wounds were in the process of healing, he put away the water, potion, and cloth and opened the bottle of vodka. After pouring some into his canteen, he took a quick swig of it and mentally frowned. It was slightly warm thanks to the heat, thus making it taste like crap to him, but it still settled his nerves. "We've been at this for too long, and for what it's worth, it could've been a lot worse, shit worse. It's my job to prevent it from getting to that point and I haven't been doing a good job of it. I didn't mean what I said earlier about Lani and Skylar. It was completely out of line and I was being a real dick." Miu shifted a bit and snorted. "It's a start," he thought. "It shows that she's listening at least." Tired of standing, he sat down with one leg crossed over the other by the dragonite's head and took another swig of his canteen.

"Ya know, in all honesty, I think Lani is doing pretty well for herself with that kid. She's away from us, this life, and for all we know is having a better life. I mean, he should've already gotten his third badge by now. Assuming that he didn't skip the Pewter gym because he had a raichu with him, he would've needed her to beat Brock." He paused for a moment at the sound of a deep rumbling coming from Miu. "I'm not just saying that to justify what I did, because it was wrong no matter how you look at it, but... she's got a fresh start now. She can better things than she's ever dreamed about doing while she was still with us. Isn't that the job of a parent though; to give a better life to their children than what they had?"

There was a slight bitterness in the last sentence that didn't go unnoticed by Miu. As angry and frustrated beyond belief as she was at her trainer, she was well aware of the source of their misery. It didn't mean that she'd forgive him for the mistakes he's recently made with her anytime soon, but... she'll try to forgive for one thing. It was both one of the reasons she still believes he's not as heartless as he presents himself to be and why she resents him half the time. She really couldn't bring herself to hate him for it because it was, in her opinion, one of the last shreds of purity he had left.

The dragonite slowly picked herself up, a small sigh escaping her as she sat properly on her rear. She still didn't feel like talking to him, but she didn't have to in order to get what she wanted. Chad was already holding out the bottle toward her, which she took somewhat gratefully. Both trainer and dragon stared out into the distance, beyond the vast forest that stretched beneath them; not looking at anything in particular due to being immersed in their own thoughts. The former was thinking about his next plan of action, seeing as this wasn't doing him any good, while latter was absorbed with thoughts of her kin.

"Tell you what," Chad began after a while of silence. "I've got a plan to get your kids back. It won't be as quick as you want it, but I can guarantee you that both of them will be safe and it won't end the same as last time. I'll tell you about it on the way home. If you don't like it, then we can try it your way. How does that suit you?" The dragon stayed silent, making him wonder if she was even listening to him. She lifted her bottle to her mouth and took a couple sips from it, cringing slightly.

"I think you should've put this in a cooler. It tastes like crap," Miu commented, the faintest of grin gracing her features. It took him a moment, but Chad chuckled at her comment with his mind at ease.

"Yeah, what was I thinking?"

*****8*****

The incident with Lani earlier had shaken everyone up, partially because it was so random and caused the young dragon so much pain, but the main reason is that there was a powerful psychic that went out its way to mentally attack her. No one could think up a reason as to why she was attacked, or even who the mystery culprit is. Chris, the only one who knows the most about her past, could only speculate that it had something to do with her former trainer, but not even that made sense to him. There were too many questions surrounding that theory and he didn't have the means to get the answers to them. Lani couldn't help him because she didn't know any other psychics than the one her last trainer had and she assured him that they have neither reason nor will to attack her like that.

Chris kept the dragon out her ball and carried her on his shoulders out of worry for her. She hadn't said too much after lunch, still feeling distraught over the whole thing. He, Tora, and Aaron tried to cheer her up, but she would only give them a weak smile and fall right back in her slump. Even Alice tried to cheer her up a couple times. Needless to say, they were worried about her. Given the state of circumstances, casual conversation was near non-existent. This behavior continued into the evening and at the start of dinner. Lani didn't eat much, taking only a couple bites of her food before turning in for the night.

Chris couldn't take it anymore after that. He knew that something was bothering her she wasn't telling. Whether she realized it or not, her mood was affecting everyone around her. He could tell they were getting uncomfortable due to not knowing how to help her get over whatever she was feeling. He knew that if it were a personal matter, she wouldn't want to say anything where everyone could hear. He wasn't even sure if she's told Tora half the stuff she's told him. Either way, he asked everyone to give them some space while he tries to figure this out.

As Chris entered his tent, he saw the dragon curled up in the corner, letting out little sniffles every couple seconds. She took a glance at him and wiped the tears from her eyes, briefly wondering why he was here so soon. It was pointless to ask some redundant question like, 'are you okay?' or anything like that. Instead, he closed the tent behind him and lied next to her. "Come here," he said, trying to coax her. She didn't resist and promptly tucked her head under his chin. It pained him to see her like this again. All he could do is comfort her like been doing and try to get her to open up. "Do you want to talk about it?" The worst part was that he didn't know

Lani looked up at Chris, her eyes having already gotten red and puffy, feeling both anxious and queasy at even thinking about talking to him about her concerns. Unlike the last time she opened up to him, she was afraid that what she would say could affect her relationship him and Tora in the worst way. Above almost anything, she treasured her friendship with Chris and Tora, which made what she wanted to say all the more difficult to tell him. That's not to say she doesn't consider Kaden or Nyx as friends, but they weren't present in her life at the time she met Chris and Tora. Aaron was her friend too, but he was more of an impartial party she knows she could go to for advice or if she needed someone to talk to who wasn't so judgmental.

"Chris, I... I'm not sure I should say," she whimpered. The weight in her stomach felt as if it were growing heavier the more time went by, which made her feel even more sick than she already felt. She honestly thought she was going to puke and break down at any given second, but she kept telling herself that it was just her nerves getting the best of her. Even still, she was pretty scared of her own revelation and was having a hard time dealing with it. "

Whatever it is, you can tell me," Chris said. He could see the conflicting emotions in her eyes as she trembled under his touch. He stroked along the length of her body to calm her, although, as comforting as he was trying to be, he was only making it worse for her.

"You don't understand," she said as she wiggled out of his grasp. "About what happened today... I just feel that something was wrong, but... I don't want you to hate me." The dragon was close to breaking down again. Chris shot up from his laying position, alarmed by her statement.

"Whoa, who said I was going to hate you? Lani, I could never hate you; and what do you mean by you feel that something is wrong?" Lani clammed up, slowing inching further away from him into an opposite corner of the tent. She felt as if she had already betrayed his trust, the one who's turned her life around for the better. He's healed her, taken care of her, and even made her stronger through gym battle. She owes him everything. Still, she held on to the slight glimmer of hope that he won't be angry with her when she tells him. "Please; just tell what's-"

"I want to go home," She finally said. Chris was stumped, wondering if she was so shaken enough from to not want to travel with him for a while.

"You mean back with mom and dad?" he asked. "It's a little sudden, but-" Lani shook her head.

"No; I want to go back to my home... where my mother and brother are..." The two stared at each other in what could only be described as deafening silence for what felt like hours. What she said didn't exactly register in Chris' mind right away, it being one of the last things he expected to hear from her.

"Why do you want to go back?" he asked, unintentionally sounding more upset than he realized. All he could think about were the horrible things she's told him about her home and how she was raised there, about how she acted during the times when she was first living with him, and most all, how her trainer abandoned her without a second look back. With all of those thoughts added up, it didn't make much sense to him as to why she would want to go back. Lani cowered a bit at his tone, seeing a she's never heard him sound remotely upset at anything before. "You've said it yourself; your home was awful and you didn't like living there. You're not even treated as a living being there, so I don't see-"

He stopped, realizing how upset he was getting over her request and that he may have said too much. The young dragon was quivering, tears streaming from her eyes as she stared at her trainer in shock and despair. "I thought you were my friend..."

"Wait, Lani, I didn't-"

"I thought I could trust you!" Without warning, she stabbed through the wall of the tent using her horn and quickly slashed a hole large enough so that she slipped through without any resistance.

"Wait! Where are you- crap!" Chris, panicked, quickly got out of his tent. He glanced around for any sign of which way Lani left. The others overheard the commotion and came running to the scene.

"What's going on?" Alice exclaimed.

"Lani ran away," Chris responded, earning a collective gasp from everyone.

"What do you mean she ran away? What happened?"

"I might've... I just... help me look for her!" Chris suddenly took off into the direction he hopes Lani went without another word. Aaron, Tora, and Alice, along with her pokémon, went off to search aid in the search for the missing dragon as well.

Lani wasn't sure how long it's been since she started running; minutes, hours? It didn't really matter to her as long as she put as much distance as she could between herself and everyone else. She wanted-no- needed to be alone to calm down and sort out her feelings, else she do something reckless she'll come to regret later. "How could he say that to me," she thought, charging straight through a bush. "He wasn't going to take me home all, not even to see my family! Even though I've done everything he's asked me to... He's such a jerk!"

Growing fatigued, the dragon came to a stop, panting heavily as she finally decided to take in her surroundings. Slivers of moonlight that slipped passed the thick canopy of the forests' trees made it possible for her to see where she's been going thus far, however even if she were in broad daylight, she would've made the same accurate assumption that she was clearly lost. She barely remembers having made any turns while she was running, or at least, not so many that she wouldn't be able to retrace her steps. "Blindly running into an unknown area may not have been the best idea in the world. Whatever; it'll just give me more time to myself. I'm not looking forward to seeing anybody right now."

"I see that stubbornness of yours hasn't changed a bit," someone said out of nowhere.

"Who's there?!" Lani shouted, ready to attack whoever it was trying to sneak up on her.

Stepping out from the shadows of the forest was a tall, bipedal jackal-like creature with blue fur. Its red eyes were like shining rubies in the darkness that were both beautiful and intimidating to look at. Lani couldn't believe her eyes. Out of all the pokémon in the world she could've expected to meet in the middle of nowhere, this one wouldn't have even made it on the bottom twenty. "G...Gabriel..." she gasped. The lucario kept his gaze on the smaller dragon, the faintest of grins barely made out on his face.

"So you haven't forgotten about me. That's good to know."

"Wha... What are you doing here?"

"I came for you," he replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Our, or should I say, your former trainer, has requested you to be found and brought home." The dragon felt her heart skip a beat. Her trainer, the one who abandoned her without a seconds hesitation, actually wanted her to come back home? The idea of it didn't make sense to her. Here she was, on a journey with her new trainer, living a decently productive and enjoyable life with new family and friends, away from the self-destructive lifestyle she's been living. Now, the very same day when she's feeling a little homesick and everything goes south for her, a pokémon from her previous home shows up to take her home completely out of nowhere. It was just too much for her to take in at the moment.

"I don't understand," Lani said. "He left me in the hands of another trainer within an inch of my consciousness, not even bothering to say goodbye to me. Why does he want me back so suddenly?" The lucario sighed.

"A lot has changed since you've been gone. I won't sway your decision to come by telling you our situation, but just know that your mother misses you."

"She does?"

"Of course she does."

"What about my brother?"

"I can't say. I haven't seen him for some time, but I'm sure he does too." Lani sighed happily; glad to finally hear that her family missed her just as much as she missed them. Still, there was that other thing he just mentioned that had her a little curious.

"So what's this situation you're in? You said you didn't want me to make my decision based on it. It doesn't have anything to do with me or my family; does it?"

"It doesn't. Even if it did, I wouldn't tell you because you'd undoubtedly request I take you home. I wouldn't want to take away your right to choose your own path at the moment. Besides, we both know I could just as easily take you by force if I wanted to."

Just then, another unexpected pokémon appeared. It was Aaron. The psychic appeared between Gabriel and Lani. The lucario didn't seem as surprised as Lani was by his sudden appearance, keeping his composure stoic. Still, out of the pokémon that could've found her right now, he was, in her opinion, one of the only ones she could talk to calmly right now. "There you are," Aaron said, sounding relieved. "Lani, everyone's out looking for you. They're really worried, especially Chris." The pink dragon was mildly surprised to hear that everyone was out looking for her.

"They're looking for me?" she asked.

"Of course they are. You're apart of a team, a close group of friends who love you. Why wouldn't they look for you?" Aaron turned his attention to the lucario standing idle for a moment. "Who's he?"

"He's Gabriel... one of my former trainer's pokémon..."

"What's he doing here?"

"I'm here to take Lani home," Gabriel answered. "That is, if she chooses to come willingly."

"And if she doesn't want to?" he asked, his tone betraying his readiness for a possible altercation.

"Then I'll take my leave for tonight."

As both of them looked at her, Lani felt the familiar mixed feelings of uncertainty and relief wash over her. It made her chest hurt with the knowledge that if she were to go with him right now, then she would be turning her back on Chris and the others. It would leave a bad taste in her mouth if she were to ditch them after being with them for this long, especially after the way they've helped her. At the same time, this was what she's wanted for the longest time. This was her chance to finally go home and see her family, to feel their warm embraces of unconditional love and affection again, but either way she chooses, she'll feel like she's turning her back on the people who love her.

"If only I could have both," she thought as she looked to the lucario. "I don't know what I should do."

"What does your heart tell you?" Gabriel asked.

"I really want to go, but..."

"I understand." He sighed and turned around. "I'll grant you more time to think about it, however; if after our next meeting you decide to stay, I'll have no choice but to take you by force. I hope you understand." Lani tilted her head at the ground.

"I do..." Gabriel walked off without another word, casting one last look at Aaron before disappearing into the night.

Neither Aaron nor Lani spoke right away, both reflecting on the seriousness of the lucario's words and her future. Aaron doesn't know anything about the dragon's history before she met Chris, considering he's spent most of his time with Tora and the dragon herself doesn't talk about it, but after this... he's considering that he should sit her down and have a talk with her about history and what's should be done in the future. In the forefront of her mind, Lani already knew the psychic wasn't going to let this matter slide. After all, her decision, or better yet, her next meeting with Gabriel, effects more than just her. Whether she likes it or not, there's a good chance that she'll be going home soon.

Aaron," she began. "Please don't tell anyone about this, especially Chris. I don't-"

"Let me stop you right there," Aaron interrupted. His tone, although quite serious, was anything but harsh. "I don't know what's going on with this situation, nor about your past, but I will tell you this; don't try to keep something like this a secret from anyone. I'm pretty sure that he could've taken you by force if he really wanted to and no would have any idea where you could've gone or what may have happened to you. I'm sure that Chris would worry himself to death if you suddenly went missing after whatever happened to cause you to run off in the first place."

The pink dragon stared at the ground, knowing he was absolutely right. "Are you going to tell him?"

"No; I don't think it's my place to. You, however, are going to tell him everything that's happened tonight. It doesn't have to be now, but it has to be done soon, very soon."

"Yes Aaron."

"Let's go. I'll let everyone know that I've found you and that you're safe." He then walked off in the direction of their camp, Lani following right behind him. The poor dragon couldn't help feeling that she had somehow gotten on the psychics' bad side. She had never seen such a serious side to him before, always acting so carefree all the time, as if he hasn't got a single worry in the world.

"Are you mad at me?" Aaron sighed and looked back at her.

"No, I was never angry with you. I was just worried. I'm sorry if I made you think otherwise."

"Oh... it's okay. It's just that I've never seen you so serious before."

"Well, yeah. I don't want to see any of my best friends taken away from me."

"I-I'm one of your best friends?"

"Of course you are," Aaron says as he stops walking completely and faces her directly. "Why would you question that? You don't think we're friends?" He was actually concerned about this matter, for he always thought of the young dragon as a friend and, given her age, someone to look after.

"No, I do. It's just... I didn't know you thought of me like that.., as a best friend."

"Well, maybe 'best' friend is a little much, but I consider you my friend nonetheless. As such, you're very precious to me and I'm always available if you ever need me."

Lani felt her heart flutter at hearing him say that she was precious to him. It was almost as if that was all she wanted to hear from him and mean it, so as she didn't have to question whether or not she mattered to him any less than his own mate. This subtle feeling of happiness is similar to how she always feels whenever she's praised for her hard work or even if it's receiving a simple hug. It's the little things like those that make her feel like she's truly special and has a place in her trainers' life. Now that she thought about it, she realized that she likely caused Chris and everyone else a lot of grief by running away like that. She honestly didn't mean to, but her feelings were hurt and getting away from the cause of her stress seemed like the best option at the time in her emotional state. Still, it wasn't like she explained herself properly and he ignored her, regardless of what she said. She knows deep down that he was only looking out for her, just as Aaron had done moments ago. She let out a quiet sigh, already knowing that she should probably apologize to him.

"Can we go now?" she asked.

"Sure."

The psychic teleported the both of them back to camp. When they arrived, Nyx was the only one there. The ghost immediately flew over to check on Lani, making sure she wasn't hurt or anything. She asked questions related to what happened between her and Chris, but Lani refused to answer them, saying that everything was fine now and that she just wanted to talk to Chris when he gets back. The dragon went into the tent after that, not wanting to be questioned by anyone else before Chris showed up. In the meantime, she thought it was best that she go over exactly what she wanted to say for when he arrived.

As she waited, she heard the other slowly filter back and ask for her, but Aaron kindly told them that everything was fine and she just didn't want to be disturbed at the moment. Even April had to be reassured a couple times before she stopped asking to see her. "I really made them worry," she thought, regretting her actions even more. It wasn't too long after that thought before the tent flap flew open to reveal a disheveled-looking Chris. She noticed a couple twigs lodged in his hair, as well as dirt patches on clothes, but the look of utter relief plastered on his face made her want to jump into his arms. "Oh, what the hell," she thought. Chris apparently had the same idea because as soon as she jumped, he had his arms open ready to receive her.

The two embraced, both of them hugging as if it were the last time they'll ever see each other. "I was so worried about you," he whispered. He searched for everywhere for Lani. He looked under bushes, behind nearly every tree he could see, called out her name until his throat was sore and even tripped over himself quite a few times. The thought of never seeing the dragon again drove him to keep looking, even if it was in vain. He cursed himself every step of the way for getting as upset as he got. When he got the message from Aaron that he had found her and that she was safe, he rushed back to the camp as fast as he could to apologize to her, hoping that she'd forgive him for being such an idiot

Lani smiled, returning his affection by wrapping her body around him as tightly as she could without hurting him and nuzzling his cheek. She cooed when she felt one of his hands rub up and down her back, once again feeling that certain sense of security and love that only he could provide. Everything about him at that moment seemed to evoke a need to want to be with him, just like it should be. "I'm sorry," she said once they finally separated.

"No, I'm sorry," Chris replied. "I spoke without thinking and really hurt you."

"That's only because I didn't explain myself properly and was afraid I'd hurt your feelings."

"I was just so surprised that I didn't give you the chance to explain why you wanted to go home, which was really unlike me. It's still not an excuse for me treating you like I did."

"But I shouldn't have run away from you like that. I ripped a hole in your tent and made everyone, especially you, worry about me for no reason."

"Don't worry about the hole. You had enough reasons to want to get away from me. I'm just sorry to have made you want to. Besides, I can always get another tent if I wanted to, but I can never get another Lani."

Lani sighed, realizing that they could blame themselves all night long if they wanted to. It's no the way she imagined how this would turn out, but it was comforting to know that he regret his actions just as much as she regrets her own. Still, there was some other important business that needed to be discussed that couldn't wait until later. She needed to get this off her chest while everything was still fresh in her mind. If she waited until tomorrow, there was a chance she might forget some important details and she doesn't want that to happen. "We need to talk."

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