Entry #3: The Power of Friendship

Friendship. It's a near-universal concept. If you want to get real technical with it, friendship is defined as a bond of mutual affection that exists outside of familial or sexual relationships, but that's awfully sterile. I think most people would agree that this definition is accurate, but missing something.

Real-life friendship is something much harder to put into words. There almost aren't words for it, now that I think about it. There is a spark, a selfless want to be around a real friend and help them even at cost to yourself. Some pedantic nerd might argue that it's all actually selfish, that the urge to risk yourself for a friend is some evolutionary bull so they feel the same and become a resource to be used later.

These people deserved the swirlies they got in school.

Sometimes a friendship is instant. In just a day or two you feel like you've known the other person your whole life. Other times it takes years to form, like an acquired taste. I know I didn't like Helga in HR back with DARPA at first, but years of two-minute conversations added up and I think I could have tentatively called her a friend. She did mark my compliance training as complete even after I skipped it, so maybe the feeling was mutual.

But here? Real Friendship is a force.

I was tipped off to this by my ability to feel Friendship. Not emotions as a result of friendship, but the ability to feel Friendship.

Normally, if one spends time with a friend, they feel happy, or content. Friendship is not the emotion, but the stimulus evoking the emotion. Not here, oh no. Friendship is a standalone emotion. By spending time with a friend, you feel Friendship with happiness and other emotions as secondary by-products.

How does one boil down such a nebulous and complex idea into a single emotion? I don't know. My attempts at understanding it are going nowhere in a hurry and it's driving me mad. How do I know what this feeling is, and why does it feel so different from other emotions? There aren't words in the English lexicon for the sensations I feel, and efforts to search for some fitting definition other than Friendship have been fruitless.

̶O̶n̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶v̶e̶l̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶p̶a̶c̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶a̶l̶o̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶e̶l̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶E̶a̶r̶t̶h̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶

I'll need to update this entry at a later point.

Onto the practical bit. Anyone who knows the Shounen genre knows that The Power of Friendship is usually a central theme. The plucky hero, beloved by all who are good (and sometimes people who aren't good) has a supernatural charisma. Using that charisma, they develop strong bonds with the people around them, then when it's all down to the wire, they fight beyond all limits to save their friends using supernatural willpower. The hero saves the day, the group reaffirms and strengthens their bonds, and they prepare for the next adventure that will surely test their Friendship.

The level of individual enhancement one can get from their friends depends on the media, but here in pokemon? Friendship is Power.

I can only speculate that this is because of the nature of pokemon training and pokemon themselves. Pokemon provide security and power, and humans provide comfort and industry, things the other struggle to acquire alone. Naturally, people and pokemon would come together to magnify their strengths and cover their weaknesses. The pokemon gets a luxurious life with the ability to benefit from human advancements in food, training, and medicine, making them stronger than their wild counterparts, and the trainer gets fame and wealth, neatly explaining the basics of a pokemon/trainer relationship. Since a trainer career is a long-term one, the lives of everyone involved are much easier if the pokemon and the trainer become friends, so that's usually what happens.

Now, consistent food supply, meds, and directed training will of course make a pokemon stronger, but now let's factor in The Power of Friendship. With their supernatural abilities, pokemon stand to gain the most from this arrangement.

During my testing (or what little testing I could do with as fickle as an emotionally based power is) Friendship proved itself to be a multiplying force applied after other bonuses have already been accounted for. The degrees vary, but the increase is usually profound. If two pokemon of equal skill and strength clash, but one has a loving trainer, then that pokemon will likely win.

In most anime, The Power of Friendship is usually just enough to turn the tides of a bad situation. Reminding yourself of the people you're fighting for can motivate even a mundane person, but the increase is small (barring the cases where it's a catalyst to a new transformation/level of power previously locked. (Then again pokemon does that too…))

With pokemon, the increase scales to a stupid level, and I think I know why.

It all fits a little too neatly together. The best way to the top of the world is on the shoulders of a pokemon, and pokemon are at their best when they're friends with their humans. It keeps bad eggs under heel well.

I will name no names, not even written here in a code only I know, for I dare not draw the attention of something Lulu and I aren't ready to handle, but…

I suspect the potency of Friendship is a matter of intelligent design.

----------------------------------------

"Kick! Punch! It's all in the mind!" Riding the high of his Fighting Spirit, Julian ducks a paw that would have belted him across the mouth and wiped away his dopey grin. "If you wanna test me, I'm sure you'll find - shit!"

Lulu catches Julian's retaliatory roundhouse and wraps her arms around his leg. She tilts back on her heel, and with a twist of her ankles and a throw of her hips, lifts her trainer off the ground in a circle swing that draws a yelp from him. One, two, three times she spins him around, growing faster each time. Then with a growl, she lets go and sends Julian tumbling through the air in an unforgiving arc.

Julian ignores the nauseous gurgle of his stomach as the ground, the barn, and the grass rush by his sight. He rotates his torso and digs his fingers into the grass, halting the tumbling.

..!

He feels Lulu's aura rushing him before he can put his feet on the ground and get back up, so Julian jams his finger into the dirt for grip and kicks both feet out in a mule kick without bothering to look. "The things I'll teach ya is sure to beat ya, so-!"

Rather than halt, block, or jump over the attack, Lulu instead slides under it, a hindpaw held out in a sliding kick that knocks Julian's hands away.

Before gravity takes hold of Julian, he watches Lulu slide under him, her smirking muzzle passing less than an inch away from his nose. Their eyes meet for an instant, and hers say; 'I win.' As soon as she's clear of Julian's falling body, Lulu springs back into a standing stance.

'You bitch.'

Julian flops to the ground with a grunt, the air partially driven from his lungs. Before he can get his bearings, a knee presses into his back and a furry palm lightly touches his neck.

"Damnit. Okay, you win…" The blonde grumbles into the grass, not lifting his head. He feels Lulu rise off of his back and giggle a clear note. With an exaggerated sigh and a theatrical amount of effort, Julian flops over onto his back, staring up at the clear sky.

A paw held out to him obscures his sight, so he reaches out and clasps it with his hands, letting Lulu pull him to his feet.

"That was an interesting stunt with your kick there," Lulu says, releasing his hands. "It might have worked a bit better if you weren't splitting your focus on that song of yours."

Julian grumbles once more and brushes loose grass from his hair. "What gave me away this time? Too much wind-up or my aura?" He asks, bending down to unroll the partially rolled up legs of his jeans. He notes the grass stains on his bare feet and discards the idea of going in to wash up. If his socks get dirty, so be it.

"A little of both, perhaps." The Lucario admits. She looks down at the blades of grass clinging to her. Brilliant blue wisps of light seep from her fur, and a tiny pulse of aura blows the offending grass away. "I noticed your legs tensing, but I wasn't sure what you were going to do until I read your aura. Excellent effort, however."

"The story of my life, I suppose." Julian sighs.

Lulu gives him a vaguely offended stare and plants her forepaws on her hips. "Don't be discouraged! You're still keeping me on my toes even after months of training together. There are a few pack members back home who can't claim the same thing."

Julian snorts, but he can feel the genuine Friendship in her aura reaching out and touching him, making the warmth he's becoming so used to pool in his chest.

Together, the pair wordlessly drop into cooldown stretches, giving Julian a bit of time to think to himself.

'Today is the day…' He looks over to the barn wall where his boots lay. On top of them are his folded socks, and on top of the socks is his cellphone. Paul called just an hour ago, tersely asking where Julian wanted to meet. Naturally, the blonde chose the farm. 'We're setting out into the wilds of Sinnoh together to become champions. If anyone counts the time I moved away from home back on earth, then this will be the third time I've left the nest, I guess.'

Julian's thoughts turn to the Lucario pack, and the encampment he called home for months. 'I hope Ma is doing okay. Lulu is hers and Pops' only kid. It must be strange to see her go. Pops…' The severe visage of the Alpha Male Lucario crosses Julian's mind. 'I bet he's handling it better. Ha! Maybe I'll finally get to see him smile when we come back and Lulu lays him flat.'

Once more, Julian's thoughts take a turn, this time back to earth. 'Dad is a tough guy. I hate to make him bury another family member, but he's stern stuff. We barely talked over the last few years anyway, so that'll probably make things easier.' His brothers, so estranged after years apart, don't get much of a thought. Mom though…

The beautiful slip of a woman is burned into his mind after studying her photograph day in and day out so that he would never forget her. Having been the near saint that she was, would she hold it against him for not wanting to go back to earth and be with what remained of his family?

'No, Mom isn't like that.' Julian bites his lip and clamps down on his aura so Lulu can't feel his distress. 'She'd be happy for me, right?'

"Julian?" Lulu's voice provides a blessed distraction. Julian looks up from his toe touch to see the concerned pokemon standing above him. "You've been holding that stretch for almost a minute. Are you okay?"

"Have I?" Julian blinks, letting go of his toes and standing. He gives his leg a little shake. "I'm fine, Lulu. Just thinking is all.

The small frown on Lulu's muzzle deepens. "If something were truly bothering you, you would tell me, wouldn't you?"

The lie on Julian's tongue stops a split second before it can fly. Instead, he sighs. "I was thinking of home. Not the pack, but before that."

Lulu's expression slowly morphs into a small, encouraging smile. "If you want to talk, I'll listen."

Once more, indecision strikes the man-turned-teen. 'What do I say? Can I tell her? Will she think I'm insane?' The thought of Lulu potentially leaving him makes something deep inside of him hurt. 'Can I even say anything? Whenever I try to talk about the anime metaphysics or how I got here from earth, the aura translation breaks down.'

He shakes his head. 'C'mon, Julian. Don't be like that. Lulu's aura makes her a living lie detector. She'll know the difference. But how do I surpass the hard limits on the translation?' Then, an idea strikes him. 'Duh. Anime World with a nebulous, broken power like aura.'

"...Yeah," Julian begins with a nod. "I think it's high time that I told you everything. Where I'm from, what I know, and those 'rules' I mentioned. I think I know how to explain in a way that won't require you to have to suffer through a bunch of human educational courses."

Together, they make their way over to the Miltank ranch's barn and sit down against the wall. Julian stretches his sixth sense out, feeling for anyone who might be in earshot. Thankfully, it looks like there's no one. Stella is on the other side of the pasture, seemingly mediating an argument between two of the Miltank as the rest of the herd watches. Bob is gone, running an errand in town.

Lulu sits close, practically leaning against Julian. Being so close, he doesn't need to focus at all to feel her calm aura. "Whenever you want to begin, I'm ready," she tells him.

Julian takes a deep breath. 'Please let this work.' He clears his throat, then reaches out with his aura, grasping the tiny hook in his brain that lets Rule of Cool begin to flow inside of him. Focusing intently, he shuts his eyes and lets his mouth begin to move.

"I see, I feel, I smell, I taste, I hear, and thus I understand."

Lulu looks at Julian with wide eyes, but he doesn't notice.

"This understanding. I formulate it, crystallize it, externalize it, and thus I gift it to another."

Julian's body begins to grow warm and his throat begins to tickle.

"This gift. They internalize it, break it, decompose it, and thus take it into their being."

The tickle slowly escalates into a soreness. The urge to clear his throat is strong, but Julian keeps going.

"So now, my dear friend, with this gift of language, they understand just as I do."

The blonde pauses for only the shortest of seconds to swallow. He tastes the coppery tang of blood.

"Understand me as I understand you! Omnia Verba!"

An electric shock devoid of pain runs up and down Julian's spine, and in his skull he feels the curious sensation that he can only liken to a switch being flipped. The drain on his aura is constant and immediate, as he feels several streams of energy being pulled from his core, flowing up to his throat and ears and then seemingly vanishing into nothing.

"Julian!"

The teen blinks when Lulu presses a glowing pink paw to his neck, not at all concerned by the throbbing pain or the slight dribble of blood running down his lips.

He hears Lulu's voice. Her voice.

Gone are the guttural growls and barks overlaid with the sound of a young woman speaking English. The words falling from Lulu's mouth are… No, they aren't English, but he understands them with perfect clarity nonetheless. It's as if she's speaking an entirely new language, one where he knows every single word and understands every rule without fail.

His attempt to bullshit a new superpower into existence actually worked. Holy shit.

"Julian! What did you just do?!" Lulu demands, standing over him as she presses a Heal Pulse to his neck. "Your aura! It… it…" She's at a loss for words, but the frightful peaks in her aura relay her fear better than any words can.

"I'm just bleeding a bit, Lulu," Julian grimaces at the metallic taste stuck to his tongue. Under Lulu's Heal Pulse, the bleeding in his throat slows to a stop, leaving him with just a raw voice. "I just needed a way to explain everything without all the limits of how we normally speak, so I had to make something more heavy-duty."

"Heavy duty?" Lulu pulls her paws away from her trainer's throat, Heal Pulse fading.

Julian nods and clears his throat, wincing slightly. "You remember how I tried to explain some human studies about space a few weeks back, right?"

She nods unsurely. "Yes. The meaning didn't quite carry over."

"Well, with this…" Julian taps his throat right below his Adam's apple. "I think everything should work much better."

The Lucario's eyes narrow. "What did you just do, anyway? Why did you practically start choking on blood? Explain!" She demands, her aura spiking into jagged peaks once more.

"I'll get to that," Julian raises his hands in surrender. "I just need to explain a few other things first."

Lulu works her jaw as if she wants to say something, but instead she simply sits down across from him, staring at Julian and awaiting an explanation.

"Let's get the first thing out of the way, my home." Julian shuffles his tongue and wets his mouth. "I'm not from this world."

Lulu blinks, seemingly not understanding. For a moment, Julian worries that something didn't translate correctly, but she asks; "Not from this world? How so? Do you mean region?"

"No, world." Julian corrects, taking a deep breath and readying himself for what might be a harrowing conversation. "I... don't quite understand how, but I was transported from my office job into the middle of your pack's territory. My old job dealt with a lot of experimental human technology, so I'm willing to bet that something broke or went wrong and that's what caused it."

Lulu's brows furrow. "Another world, though? Human machines are strange things indeed, but pokemon can move from one place to another instantly. Can a machine not replicate that?"

"Here, maybe. But I know this is not the world I was born in, because pokemon didn't exist back home."

The Lucario's incredulous expression is traded for one of pure disbelief. "No pokemon?" She can scarcely seem to believe it. "A world of just humans? How did you…"

"Surivive?" Julian shrugs, hiding his wince at Lulu's jumbled, flummoxed aura. It leaps around to highs and lows, and he can practically see her trying to rationalize such a concept. "Yes. No pokemon at all. It was… rather different as you can probably imagine. I know it seems crazy, but would I purposely lie to you about something this serious?"

Lulu looks to the side, her aura beginning to smooth out. "No." She shakes her head slowly. "No. I don't think you would." She looks up, watching a pair of Swablu flutter by overhead. "That's…"

"Strange?" Julian finishes, reaching forward and laying a hand over one of the paws in her lap, his fingers parting around the spike. "I know. It ties into how I know so much other stuff as well."

Julian's sole pokemon looks down at the hand on her paw, ruby eyes scanning it as if the hand will provide some sort of explanation for the madness she's listening to. "Okay. I'm listening."

"Before we begin, I have to be 100% sure that you understand just what you're getting into." Julian pulls his hand back and levels Lulu with a serious eye, making her stiffen and sit straighter. "What I'm about to reveal is going to sound even more ludicrous than crossing the border between dimensions, and it could very well put you into danger. Once you learn these rules, once you learn how the universe works, you can never go back to being ignorant. These revelations are without any kind of doubt going to change the way you look at the world. Hearing these things might even cause a full-blown paradigm shift for you. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, so please Lulu…" Julian gulps and steels himself. "Are you certain that you want to hear these things?"

The Lucario looks away with a gulp of her own, obviously spooked. Her forepaws kneed the fur of her lap as she thinks.

"I won't think less of you if you decline."

Lulu looks up at Julian as he speaks, and after a long moment she lets out a breath. "That chant you did… Your words seem so much clearer now somehow, but I already understood you before." She frowns, troubled. "Did you use the things you know to do that?"

He nods.

The Lucario sighs, glancing at Julian's lips. "And it's what made you bleed out of nowhere?"

Julian swipes his thumb across his lips and looks down at the red flakes on the finger. "Yes. Like I said, this stuff is dangerous. I wasn't expecting any backlash, but it happened."

Lulu's aura firms up and her eyes take on a steely glint. "We're partners, Julian." She begins, scooting over so she is once more at his side. Her eyes don't leave his the entire time she moves. "If this knowledge is dangerous, then it must also be a burden, one I won't let you carry alone. Tell me everything.

Unbidden, a smile blooms on the blonde teen's face. "The reason I know so much and know about the 'rules' I mentioned is tied to pokemon, actually. While pokemon aren't real back home, they do exist in fiction as children's stories." Julian begins, settling in for a long conversation. At Lulu's unsure nod, he continues. "I enjoyed pokemon as a kid, mostly on electronic playthings, but pokemon also existed as a TV show. Now, the important part about that is the genre of the TV show, which was shounen anime."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Shounen anime…" Lulu tries the phrase out. After a moment, the meaning seems to click. "Entertainment for human boys?"

'It's actually working. I bypassed that stupid arbitrary roadblock.' Julian grins. "Yes. In that particular genre, there are different sets of tropes or loose rules applied to all the media in the genre. You've experienced one already, actually."

"I have?" She tilts her head.

"With Paul's Chimchar." Julian nods. "Remember when you charged in and dug your paws into his Flame Wheel? You should have taken some kind of damage from that, more than just a few singed hairs. The rule that negated that damage was Rule of Cool."

"Rule of Cool?" She mulls over the info, comprehension in her eyes, but Omnia Verba doesn't seem to convey everything. "Can you explain more?"

Julian hums, wondering how to boil it down. "Rule of Cool is a trope that more or less states that the more 'cool' or otherwise entertaining an action is, the more it can ignore physics or common sense so that it remains 'cool' to onlookers. There's more to it than that, but that's the basic idea. Catching a Fire attack when you are a Steel-type and shrugging it off is cool, so it works. Same thing with the skill I just made."

He taps his throat again. "Mystery and mysticism are just as Cool as tanking attacks or punching things, so I recited a few vague arias open to interpretation, focused on what I wanted, gave it a name, supplied some aura, and a new technique was born." He grins. "I'm not sure why the passive aura translation refused to relay certain concepts like the science behind space and time, or these metaphysics, but with this technique, we can sidestep it."

Lulu's eyes narrow. "That… doesn't make any sense."

"Precisely why I said it would sound insane," Julian crosses his arms. "Some of the tropes make more sense than others, and some of them are already in play without you even realizing. Stuff like shouting before attacks or remaining fired up even against desperate odds invokes one called Fighting Spirit, which does exactly what you think it does, while there's stuff that can be bent much further, like Cool or Friendship."

"Even Friendship is one of these 'tropes'?" She asks, openly troubled. Her aura slowly becomes frazzled and overwhelmed.

"Mm-hmm." Julian pauses and takes a deep breath, focusing on Lulu and his relationship with her.

Lulu, the one who rescued him from her own father.

Lulu, the one who trained him and pushed him to be better.

Lulu, who agreed to leave home with him to see the world.

Lulu, his best friend.

'It's bonds like these that make a person strong.'

The Keystone on Julian's necklace shines with a brilliant rainbow corona, and his aura's potency doubles, almost leaking out of his skin.

Lulu gasps, her eyes wide and shocked. "Julian? What did you just do?" She reaches a paw out to his shoulder, pausing when her own aura tries to surface through her pink pawpad, eager to mingle with the aura barely contained within Julian.

He smiles at her as the surge of power slowly begins to fade, leaving his limbs feeling jittery. "Just thought of you, is all. One of the biggest tropes around is how the bonds of real friendship are the greatest source of power that anyone could hope for. As you can see, there's a lot of truth to it."

Lulu's ears fold back slightly as she looks away, appearing lost. "How did you discover these rules?" She quietly asks.

"I got the first hint when you were teaching me to run like the Lucario do," He throws an arm over Lulu's shoulder in an effort to comfort her. "Running with your arms dragging out behind you helps if you're fast enough that air resistance is actually an issue while moving, but for a baseline human?" He shakes his head, throwing his long hair around. "Nah, just not fast enough to take advantage of that. It really shocked me to realize that I could actually run faster that way. I was guessing that the physics of this world were a bit different from mine, but not that much. Next was putting a shout into my attacks."

He pauses to take a breath. "Back home, that was called kiai, which was a part of putting your spirit into attacks for some old human martial arts. Mostly nonsense back home, but when I saw a measurable difference, that got me thinking. Finally, there was the night we first talked about leaving."

Julian looks up at the sky, remembering the stars of that night. "When we shook on it, that was the first time I ever felt Friendship."

Lulu turns to him and stares with a measure of alarm. "What?" She asks. "That's not possible. There's no way that I was your very first friend. You said just a week ago that you had… some. Don't tell me you were making things up...?"

"I had friends before you," he retorts. "Though, you're definitely my best friend bar none. What I'm saying was I didn't have the ability to feel friendship as its own emotion before. I could feel happy about being around a friend, but friendship itself was never an emotion I had felt before that night. That was the tipping point. It told me that the entire universe ran differently, different enough to alter me on a fundamental level. That this is a world that uses the same logic as a shounen anime. I've been testing things here and there, and every test has only confirmed my suspicions…" He reaches up and rubs his throat, the soreness slowly growing worse. "I know the rules that the world operates on, and now you're in on the secret."

For a moment, Lulu doesn't say anything. She stares off into the distance, processing everything. "Julian?"

"Hmm?"

Julian starts when Lulu turns and pulls him into a tight hug, angling her chest so her spike doesn't poke him. "L-Lulu?"

"You never knew what Friendship was before we met?" She asks, her chin resting on his shoulder. Her voice alone carries the sort of grief one should reserve for the worst of events, so her darkened, weepy aura almost makes Julian choke up.

Julian swallows the lump in his throat. "I reveal the secrets of the universe to you, and that's what you focus on?"

"I'm focusing on the important part," she tightens her hold.

Carefully, Julian hugs her back. The warmth in his chest conflicts with the tiny voice in his head chastising him for worrying her. 'I can tell her more about my home life later. I don't think she needs anything else to stress over.'

Lulu begins to pull away but stops and catches Julian's eyes with her own. "Promise me something, Julian." She begins seriously. "You won't go overboard with all of this trope nonsense. I don't fully understand it, and I might never fully understand it, but it's clear that you do, so I'll trust you to do what's best. Don't you dare do anything that might permanently harm you, though!" She demands, her scowl leaving no room for argument. "Pokemon are meant to protect people, but…" She grits her teeth and looks to his chin, reaching up and wiping a few flecks of dried blood away. "I don't think this is something I can protect you from…" Her words sting with shame.

Julian pulls her back into a hug, relief flowing through him that she believes him. "I promise."

The Lucario slackens in his grip. "Thank you…"

After a moment, Julian lets go and his pokemon pulls away with a tired sigh. "I think the talk was more exhausting than our morning bout…"

Julian smiles and constricts the flow of aura to his ears and throat. The same odd sensation of a 'switch' being flipped in his brain makes a shiver run down his back as the new power turns off. "Well, how about we go do something a bit more relaxing then?" He says, standing unsteadily.

----------------------------------------

"...Whowee…" Lulu struggles to sound out the letter 'Y', which Julian's fingers rests on in the book opened across the kitchen table. Her mouth simply isn't made to make all the sounds a human can, and without speaking with intent, Julian hears only her raw voice.

Julian smiles encouragingly and slides his finger to the last letter. "Z."

"Sssss. Ss…" Lulu's brows furrow in frustration. "I can't make that sound!" She clenches her paws. "Perhaps this isn't a good idea…" She closes the book and glowers at the colorful, childish cover.

Julian leans back in the squeaky kitchen chair and looks out the window at the field of milling Miltank, then back to the book that Lulu is trying to set on fire with a glare. 'Huh. I guess the smiling Bidoof on the cover does look a bit mocking.' Julian shakes away the thought. "C'mon, Lulu. Don't give up now." He returns his eyes to the sour Lucario. "We've only been practicing for a few days. Learning to read isn't something you do in one sitting." After a moment, he adds; "I believe you can do it."

Lulu's pinched expression eases, and Julian can feel her agitated aura settle, but she still sets the book aside and sighs. "I understand. Can we take a break, though?"

The blonde smiles. "Sure thing. Let's go see if Bob needs anything."

Lulu smiles back gratefully and rises from her chair.

Together, Julian and Lulu venture through the rustic house of their employer to the second floor, the stairs squeaking as a pair of feet and a pair of paws pass over them. They turn and move down the narrow hall to the endmost door, which is closed. Julian raises his hand and raps his knuckles on the door frame twice.

"Come in!"

Opening the door, Julian and Lulu step inside Bob's study.

The study is just as modest and utilitarian as the rest of the house. The desk where Bob sits is an aged wood, the luster of its varnish faded. Atop the desk is a yellowed dinosaur of a computer (which Julian has had to fix several times), a mug where several pens sit, and a simple reading lamp. Along one wall is a bookshelf filled to the brim with books on every subject a farmer, handyman, and business owner might need, and on the other wall are filing cabinets, each filled with years of invoices, tax forms, and other important documents.

Bob takes his reading glasses off and looks up from the paper he was reading, a smile on his weathered face. "Miss Lulu, Julian. What can I do for ya?"

"We were just about to ask you the same thing," Julian smirks. "The morning chores and our workout are finished, so we're wondering what's next for today."

The rancher hums, scratching his salt-n-pepper beard. "Miltank milked and fed?"

"Yep."

"Deliveries done?"

"Right after milking."

"Barn cleaned up?"

"Spotless."

Bob shrugs. "That's all for today. The rest of the day is yours."

"Wha?" Lulu blinks. "But… there's always something that needs done..?"

Julian is just as bewildered. "Yeah, are you sure? It's not even noon."

Bob chuckles. "Surprised? Don't be. You two are some of the hardest workers I've ever seen." He leans forward and rests his arms on his desk. "Like I told ya on your first day; I'm getting old, and hired help ain't what it used to be. I've had the next year of work planned out on the ranch here, but you two burned through it in barely two months. Reroofing the house and barn, redoing the fence, repainting everything, hauling all the junk out of the barn, making that side garden I've been wanting for years, and everything else I'm forgettin' because you did it in a single day when I thought it would take a week." The old farmer smiles ruefully. "I dunno if that means I'm losing my touch faster than I thought, or if you two are miracle workers. Either way, I'm not gunna keep ya when today is your last day."

The praise feels… Julian looks away, unsure what to feel. 'Lulu pulled her weight for sure, but do I deserve that much credit when I cheated with aura?'

Lulu's left paw wanders over to the right one, idly fingering the pearly spike as she thinks of what to say. Finally, she settles on a smile and inclines her head. "Thank you, Robert. We're grateful for your praise."

Bob smiles back, but the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm gunna guess that was a 'thank you'. No thanks needed, Miss Lulu. You two earned it. You also earned something else. C'mon."

The farmer rises from his chair and slips past Julian and Lulu, making his way downstairs with the boy and pokemon on his heels. The trio pass the kitchen and enter the rustic living room.

The living room isn't much more than an easy chair, a couch covered in patches, an end table, the aged grandfather clock, and an old boxy TV in the corner. The paint on the walls is faded and blades on the ceiling fan droop a little, but the room is just as warm and inviting as the rest of the home.

Robert seats himself heavily in the easy chair with a sigh, so Lulu and Julian sit on the couch and wait for whatever it is the man wishes to say.

After a long moment where he's seemingly plagued by indecision, Robert reaches over to the end table by his chair and from it, lifts a fat envelope that Julian missed. "Today is the day you two set off, but I had money set aside for at least a few months of having a ranchhand. You two went above and beyond, and those big dreams of yours are gunna be expensive. Here, take this." He holds the envelope out so his ranchhand can take it.

Julian's breath hitches as he realizes just why the envelope is so full. "Bob," he breathes. "We can't take that." He pushes the envelope and the hand holding it back. "You've already done a ton for us. You gave Lulu and I a job, paid us, fed us, and even took the risk of letting some scraggly kid and a Fighting-type sleep under your roof. We don't need anything else."

Part of the blonde teen does want the money… But not if it means taking it from Bob. He doesn't need to look at his Lucario to feel her aura pulse in silent agreement.

The old farmer smiles again. "Son, you ain't hurtin' me or the ranch. We're so ahead of schedule and under budget that this is barely a ding in my savings." He gives the envelope filled with money a shake. "You and Miss Lulu have good heads and strong backs, but you'll need something to get by 'till you're famous. Take the money."

Unsure, Julian turns to Lulu, who looks back at him with an equal amount of uncertainty in her ruby eyes. "What do you think, Lulu?"

The Lucario's lips twitch as if she's fighting a frown. "I… I don't know." She admits. "We've worked for the money previously, but this feels…" She makes a vague gesture with a forepaw. "I won't disparage Robert's abilities, especially not in his own home, but he makes a point when he says he's getting older. Human elders begin to decline so much faster than pokemon."

"Yeah…" Julian agrees. "We can do without…"

"Oh for…" Bob cuts in, sighing and stopping short of an expletive. "Can neither of you accept a gift?" When neither Julian nor Lulu answer, he holds out the weighty envelope again. "How 'bout this, then? This is your bonus for services rendered without a single bad spot on your record. It's not often I can get help willin' to get up at the buttcrack of dawn every single day and do good work 'till sundown without complaining. This ain't charity, you earned it."

Julian doesn't resist the smile that finds its way to his face. The Friendship in his chest won't let him. "You're really insistent on this, huh, Bob?"

Without answering, Bob tosses the envelope into the teen's lap and levels him with a serious look. "Either you take it now, or I slip it into your backpack before you go. Your choice."

The Friendship bubbling inside Julian slowly grows, so the teen turns back to Lulu, who smiles. "Thank you, Bob." He returns his attention back to the rancher. "We'll use it well."

"I know you will," Bob huffs in amusement. The smile begins to slip from his face, however. "I'll admit, though, it was nice having the house be lively again. After Wilma passed and the kids moved out, things got strange for a while. My boy Lucas fixed that right up, but he's got bigger and better things to be gettin' to. Stella and the Miltank are good company, but…" By now, Bob's expression is one of forced neutrality. "Don't forget to write me sometime, you hear?"

Julian nods slowly, and from the corner of his eye, he can see Lulu's ears fold back as her aura takes on a regretful air. Looking over to the grandfather clock, Julian spies a framed picture along the top.

The photo is dusty and slightly sun-worn, but the people it depicts are clear as day. A young, beaming Robert stands next to a young, pretty woman with curly indigo locks. Standing in front of them are three children, each one looking like a mix of Robert and the woman.

Neither Julian nor Lulu questioned who the woman was, as each time all three of them would rest in the living room after a long day, Bob would glance at the photo as his aura twisted itself in fond longing. The subject seemed too painful to discuss, as they never even knew the woman's name despite all the conversations with Bob.

Until now. Now, how do they make the awkward, depressing atmosphere go away?

"Julian,"

He looks over to the Lucario, who watches Robert with melancholy in her red eyes. "Ask him how he and his mate met," she says, placing a paw on Julian's arm. "And tell him to spare no details. A reminder of more pleasant times would do Robert some good."

Julian bites his lip. "You think so?"

Lulu nods resolutely as she withdraws her paw. "I know so."

The blonde teen hums and looks back to Robert. He debates on asking the question, but relents to Lulu's suggestion. 'I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Lucario are pokemon known for their empathy.' He clears his throat. "Bob?"

"Hmm?" The rancher looks Julian's way, peeling his own eyes from the photo.

Julian leans forward a bit, making the old couch quietly groan. "How did you and Wilma meet? She must have been a unique woman. Maybe you can tell us about her?"

Robert's eyes almost literally light up. "Heh. Unique? That's a good word. I've lived in Sandgem my whole life, and Wilma blew in one day on the back of a Fearow after flying through a storm. Her hair was plastered to her head with rain and her wet, puffy flyin' clothes made her look like a drowned Furrett. Let me tell you two, another man might have laughed, but me? It was love at first sight."

As he talks, Robert's aura flutters and flares in a captivating display visible only to the boy and Lucario.

Julian relaxes back into the comfy couch, content to listen to Robert and admire Lulu's radiant smile from the corner of his eye.

----------------------------------------

Outside the ranch, Julian and Lulu sit on the fence, waiting for Paul to show up. Julian's full backpack, carrying all of his and Lulu's worldly possessions, sits slumped in the grass at the trainer's feet.

Julian rolls a sprig of wheat from Robert's side garden around his lips like a stereotypical country boy might, then spits it out, finding he doesn't care for it after another poke to his gums. "Bah. Where is that jackass pretty-boy? He said he'd be here by now."

Beside him, Lulu pauses the idle kicking of her paws to give Julian a bemused glance. "He's only a few minutes late."

"Yes, but that's a few more minutes we have to wait before we can get this adventure on the road." Julian groans. "I want to go see the rest of Sinnoh, damnit!"

Lulu hides the smile pulling across her muzzle behind a paw. On that paw is her silvery, stone-holding gauntlet. "You do know that traveling with another human is going to be rather slow, don't you? We'll be moving at a walking pace most of the time."

"…" Julian grimaces. "Shit. I didn't consider that."

"Well, I'm glad at least one of you is thinkin' ahead."

Lulu and Julian both look over their shoulders, finding Stella trotting up to them.

The horse pokemon comes to a stop just a few paces away, her faintly amused expression slowly morphing into something a bit more melancholic. "So today is the day, eh?"

Julian nods, trying to stifle the regret that springs up inside of him as he feels Stella's aura sink. "Yeah. We were just about to come and find you. We thought about waiting until our traveling partner showed up, then forcing him to wait as we say goodbye, but I guess now is as good a time as any."

Stella snorts. "Still bein' a pest at a time like this." The Rapidash steps forward and noses Julian's cheek, the soft velvety fur of her muzzle tickling him. She draws back and does the same for Lulu, who smiles and leans into the affection. "You keep an eye on this one." Stella tells the jackal pokemon. "Or he'll end up good and lost."

Julian sighs and raises his arms up in a halfhearted shrug. "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence."

Stella smirks and steps back. "Just callin' em as I see em." Her eyes turn to the road leading by the fence. "That your friend?

The blonde teen returned his attention to the path leading to Sandgem proper, and sure enough, Paul is making his way down the dirt road at a brisk pace towards them. Even from this distance, the younger boy's scowl is still easy to spot on his face.

"You two already say bye to Robert?" Stella asks quietly.

Lulu nods, glancing up at the window that peers into Bob's study. Julian follows her eyes, seeing Bob standing in the window, waiting. "We said our goodbyes."

Stella takes a deep breath. "You two have fun out there. We'll be rootin' for you." Her final piece said, the horse pokemon turns away, slowly returning to her patrol around the pasture.

Julian sighs and steps off the fence, Lulu mirroring him. Reaching down, the teen picks up his backpack and slings it around his shoulders, not at all bothered by the weight. He looks up at the dusty window of Bob's study, lifting an arm and giving the man a wave.

The rancher smiles sadly, waving back.

Together, Lulu and Julian start the trek down the dirt road to meet Paul halfway.

'This is it.' Julian can barely suppress his grin, then after a moment he gives up and lets a face-splitting smile light up his visage. 'We're going on a god-honest Pokemon Journey!' Inside of him, he feels his aura bubble and boil in glee.

As soon as Paul is in earshot, the purple-headed boy scoffs. "What's with the stupid face?" He calls.

"What's with the frown?" Julian's grin only widens as he and Lulu approach the other trainer. "You look like you're walking to the gallows… Or someone kicked you right in the ass and jammed that stick a little further up there."

Paul simply screws his eyes shut. "Less than a minute and I'm already regretting this…" Paul turns in an about-face as Julian and Lulu reach him, making the older boy and his pokemon fall into step as they venture back to Sandgem.

As they walk, Julian jams his hands into his pockets, leaving only his thumbs hanging over the edges. He eyes Paul's small backpack. "You got everything you need?"

Paul's brows furrow. "Do you take me as some kind of rookie? This is not my first journey."

"Just askin', no need to get snappish." Julian huffs. "I take it we're heading north to Jubilife first? The map says the terrain is pretty mild, but I don't trust maps unless I've seen the place on it first. It only takes one bad day to get caught in a spot open to the elements for the night, and it still gets kinda cold after dark. I don't want to have to tape handwarmers to any travel partners so they don't die of hypo like an idiot."

"Says the guy in one layer with a sleeveless shirt…" Paul mutters.

Julian clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "Hey, admission to the gun show-" he grins and flexes his bare arms, making his muscle ripple sharply under his skin. "-is free, all day every day. I'm not gunna cover these up."

Lulu giggles behind a paw at how corny her partner looks while Paul just pinches the bridge of his nose.

The pair of boys and single pokemon walk steadily through Sandgem, making their way up to Professor Rowan's lab. About halfway there, Paul speaks up again. "Angelo."

"Hmm?" Julian puts away the phone he was idly browsing on to look at Paul.

Paul's narrow eyes meet Julian's. "What are your plans regarding your pokemon?"

"My plans?" Julian blinks. "I'm gonna need you to elaborate on that one, chief."

Paul rolls his eyes. "The composition of your roster. Your Lucario is a decent fighter-"

Lulu frowns heavily at being called merely 'decent'.

"-but you can't rely on just one pokemon. I refuse to support a freeloader, so unless you have a bottomless credit card, you need to be ready to take jobs with me that demand more than one trainer." Paul grunts. "And those jobs usually take more than one pokemon too, so spill it. What kind of roster are you building?"

'Euh. I almost forgot the financial side of things…' Julian scratches his chin in thought. "Fighting-types I guess. I won't pass up an interesting new teammate if they aren't Fighting-type though. Nothing concrete in mind, I'm just gonna let fate pull me along until we come across a real character of a pokemon."

Paul shakes his head. "I guess that's par for the course from a meathead like you."

"Oi," Julian elbows Paul harshly, making him wince. "Give me some credit here. Lulu has given me some unique insight on how Fighting-types tick, hence planning on raising a team of them. As funny as it would be to dodge bills and let you pay for everything, I've got a five-foot-nothing blue-furred morality chain stuck to my hip, so I'll do my fair share. Don't worry about it, and don't bellyache about how I do things, got it?"

"Whatever," Paul grumbles, rubbing the arm that got jabbed by Julian's elbow.

"Well, since you asked me, I feel it's only fair to ask you." Julian eyeballs the pokeballs on Paul's hip. "What kind of pokemon can Lulu be expecting to work with?"

Paul reaches a hand down to the travel-sized balls. "Elekid, Chimchar, Lairon," He taps each ball as he rattles the names off. "Torterra, Ninjask, and a Starly I'm evaluating. I often keep a free spot for new acquisitions."

Julian can't help but whistle. 'Damn. That's actually a pretty impressive lineup. I remember him having Elekid, Chimchar, and Torterra, but I've got no idea where the other two ever showed up.'

"Not a bad team. Not going for a theme or specialization or anything?" The blonde asks.

"No." Paul answers curtly. "Not unless you count 'strong' as a theme."

The conversation peters out as they reach the laboratory. Paul casually opens the gate blocking the paved path up to the front door of the massive building, leaving it open for Julian and Lulu to follow.

"Should we be entering this place?" Lulu steps closer and quietly asks. Her eyes roam the building, the largest one she's seen to date, with curiosity and perhaps even apprehension.

Her trainer simply shrugs. "Hey, Paul let us in, so it's on him if we're not supposed to be here."

The automatic glass door slides open smoothly as the group walks in, finding themselves in a small, sterile-looking reception room, not unlike the waiting room of a clinic. Small chairs line the walls, and the sole decoration is a white clock that tick-tock's upon the wall above the reception desk. Behind the reception desk is a pair of solid wooden doors that likely lead further into the laboratory.

At the reception desk, a bored young man, likely an intern of some sort, perks up. "Oh! Hello there!" He greets Paul, Julian, and Lulu with a bright smile. "How can I help you today?"

"Good afternoon. My name is Paul Shinji, and I'm here to see Professor Rowan regarding my pokedex upgrade," Paul answers with surprising politeness. "Is he available?"

The intern shakes his head, smile still in place. "He's actually at the pokemon center, but he left your pokedex here ready to be picked up. Please follow me, and we'll get everything moved over from your old 'dex to your new one. Your friends are free to sit wherever they like until you return."

Paul looks over his shoulder at Lulu and Julian. "Stay put. I'll be back in a moment." Without another word, he circles around the reception desk and follows the intern through one of the large wooden doors, which closes behind them with a click.

Lulu growls. "Stay put he says…" She crosses her arms under her chest spike. "This child has some nerve…"

Julian sighs. "Just give the kid some time. I'm sure he can be pulled out of the hardass act that he seems so fond of."

The Lucario's face scrunches as if she bit into a lemon. "If you say so."

After only a few minutes, Paul exits back out of the lab with a shiny new pokedex in his hands. To someone not in the know, the pokedex in Paul's hand would look like a children's game console, one that would be right at home in the ownership of a young boy.

To anyone else, they recognize the pokedex for what it really is: a treasure trove of the latest and greatest scientific data on just about any pokemon in the world. Nearly every source of info on a pokemon that isn't a pokedex is weeks if not months behind.

Julian tries to keep his envy from seeping into his voice. "Ready to go?"

Paul shuts his pokedex with a click and slides it into his pocket. "I guess."

Julian, Lulu, and Paul turn to leave the lab, but stop when another, larger group walks through the door.

The first one to catch Julian's attention is none other than Professor Rowan himself. The aged man is easily over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a stern, almost harsh expression seemingly carved from stone. His stature and expression, combined with his aged white hair and pure white lab coat lend Rowan an air of well-earned experience.

'Kind of like Pops…'

Standing just in front of Rowan is a young girl of no more than 13 years old. Her face is soft, and her blue eyes practically radiate a naïve innocence as she looks between Julian and Paul. Her long indigo hair comes down halfway across her back, and the top of her head is covered with a white beanie hat with half of a pink pokeball logo upon the front. Her feet are covered by a pair of pink boots that come up to her knees, and she's clad in a pink and black dress thats… rather short.

'Jesus. If I ever have a daughter and she dares go outside in something like that, I'd ground her until she's 50.' Julian wrinkles his nose. 'I'm glad the pokemon world runs off Shounen and not Ecchi.'

At the feet of the girl is a small pokemon resembling a penguin, a Piplup if Julian remembers correctly. The little bird is covered in a layer of downy blue feathers leaving only his feet and beak uncovered. Rather than wings, his arms end in tiny flippers. He stares up at them with big, curious eyes.

Beside the girl is a teen older than Julian, seemingly only a short few years away from adulthood. He sports a deep tan and short, dark brown hair, offsetting the green and brown travel clothes he is wearing. On his back is a large backpack, and when Julian looks at the older teen's face, he almost jumps.

Staring back is a very distinct squint.

'Brock. So that must mean…' Julian's eyes slide over to the last member of the group entering the laboratory.

There, standing with a Pikachu on his shoulder is the Protagonist himself.

Ash Ketchum.