{"sf1_id":756645,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Finding Your Home - Chapter 1","author":"Foxmulder33","words":12467,"posted_at":"2014-09-14T16:43:00.000Z","tags":["Human","Kalos","Riolu","Story Series","pokemon"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/756645-finding-your-home-chapter-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/756645","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=756645\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Many Beginnings Derek is an average tall fourteen year old guy with pitch\nblack hair and eyes to match, traits he got from his father, James, who works\nas a construction worker two towns over. Even though James is away most of the\ntime of the week, the time he have at home, he spends with him and his younger brother\nMark, teaching them to live of the wild, basic survival skills such as making a\nfire, tracking, finding water, in the nearby forest. While he finds the\nexperience interesting enough to listen and play along with James and his\nbrother, his real interests is being indoors and play games, especially the\nfast paced shooters. Though Mark is the exact opposite, loving the outdoors and\neverything James teaches them, he naturally became the favourite even though\nJames have never explicitly said it, but both of them knew that it was so.   Derek's mother, Alice, is sadly not among them\nanymore since three years ago, when all four of them were in a horrible car\ncrash. While he and Mark came out of it with some severe bruises and minor\nscars, James and Alice took the worst hit with internal bleeding and fractures\nin several places. But ultimately Alice was the unlucky one and didn't make it\nthrough the first night at the hospital. After three years, the pain of her\ndeparture was still present, but the boys did their best to comfort each other,\nhoping it would make her proud of them.   For quite a\nwhile now, Derek and Mark have been nagging their dad to allow them to go\ncamping for a weekend without him, to really try the stuff he have taught them\nfor real. Having lost his wife, James have been reluctant to have his boys\ncamping alone in the woods inhabited by bears, wolfs and other predators. But\nseeing his boys doing the sad puppy face he caved in, but on several\nconditions. Firstly, Mark needed to have turned twelve, which was about a month\nand a half away and would give them time to prepare for the trip. Secondly,\nJames would accompany them a few days before the trip, so that they could pick\na suitable spot to make camp. That was mostly for James to know where they\napproximately would be in case the worst would happened. But the boys had a\ncounter-condition themselves, he would not be doing any decision making in the\ncamp spot, they made that clear.   Time flew by and\nMarks birthday was tomorrow and Derek had yet bought him a present and since he\nand James agreed to give their presents today, this is bad. Realizing this in\nthe morning, he took the bus to the city to find something at the mall. While\ncamping items would be a no-brainer, he knew that his dad had bought him a survival\nkit and a new knife, it is a folding knife with a black tint and a small dark\nblue stripe from the tip down the middle of the blade and ends in a slot in the\nleather clad handle where it spells out \"Mark\", he had the knife custom made\nfrom an old friend. So he decided to go in the game shop and see what was\nthere. Even though Mark's interests lied mainly in outdoor activities, he is\nstill the biggest Pokémon nerd he knows, so he decided to buy the newest Pokémon\ngame for his handheld game. He took the game from the shelf and went over to\nthe clerk at the counter.   \"I would like to\nbuy this please.\" Derek said while giving the clerk the game.   \"You're lucky,\nthat is the last one on stock, and would that be all?\" Answered the clerk with\na courteous smile while taking the game.   \"Yeah, it's a\npresent for my brother.\"   \"Is that so,\nthen would you like me to wrap this in?\" The clerk asked with the same smile on\nhis face. Derek thought about it, it would look more like it was thought\nthrough if it was wrapped.    \"Yes please,\nthat would be great.\" Spending a few moments wrapping the game the clerk put\nthe game in a bag and gave it to Derek. With his present ready he took the bus\nback home before noon, just in time for helping James with the lunch Mark had\nchosen the day before, namely pancakes.   \"Please tell me,\nthat this is something other than your present for Mark.\" James said with a\nslight hint of sarcasm, pointing to the bag, knowing full well that his eldest\nson would have forgotten to buy a present.   \"It's something\nother than my present for Mark.\" Derek answered with a goofy grin plastered on\nhis face. James smiled, which to Derek was something of a rare thing since his\nmom.    \"Alright\nsmartass, you go make the table and call your brother down while I finish this\nup.\"    When everyone\nwas settled and started eating, Derek and James could only laugh at Mark as he\nate pancake after pancake, barely chewing any of them. After lunch they gave\nMark his presents and watched him jumping up and down of joy unwrapping James'\ngift. When Mark unwrapped Derek's game, he stood absolutely still, staring at\nit with his mouth open, and James noticed a little drool by the corner of his\nmouth.   \"Is there\nsomething wrong?\" Derek asked, concerned that he already had it. But to his\nsurprise Mark leapt into him hugging him tightly and to Derek's dismay James\nhad the camera in hand and took several pictures of this extremely rare moment\nwhere his boys hugged each other, or at least one hugged the other. After what\nfelt like an eternity he finally let go, said thanks and ran to his room to\nstart play his new game, leaving James laughing at Derek for the look on his face\nwhich said, what the hell just happened, of which he had taken a picture of.    When they\nfinished cleaning up James and Derek started to prepare for their adventure\ntomorrow, they tried to get Mark to do something as well, but he couldn't take\nhis eyes away from the game, though they did manage to make him pack his bag\nwith the stuff he would be needing.   When nightfall\ncame the three of them spent a couple of hours watching some movies James\nrented earlier and then it was off to bed, they needed to start early to get\nplenty of time to set up camp properly before it got dark.    Derek was lying\nin bed thinking about tomorrow, about the excitement of finally trying the\nstuff his dad had taught him, but he was also concerned, not for himself but\nfor Mark and his dad. This would be the first time his dad would be alone for a\nweekend since his mom died and Mark, as prepared and knowledgeable as he was on\nthis matter, he couldn't let anything happen to him, even if his own health\nwould be in danger. He started to think about the day they got home from the\nhospital after the accident, about how he forced himself to be strong for both\nhis dad and his little brother, taking care for them during the first few\nmonths before they slowly returned to their lives. Tears started to form in his\neyes when he thought about the times during the nights when Mark had sneaked in\nto his room telling him he had nightmares, how he let his brother sleep in his\nbed and stayed by his side until he fell asleep.   He shook his head\nand wiped the tears from his eyes, this was not the time to feel sad. He and\nhis brother is going camping tomorrow morning and it is going to be fun. With\nthese last thoughts he finally fell asleep. Derek woke up before the alarm rang, which is something\nthat had never happened before, usually the alarm would ring for several\nminutes before his dad came in and woke him up by holding his nose until he\nstarted flailing his arms or, the more popular choice of rudely waking your\nson, splashing a glass of ice cold water on him. He got up and took a shower\nbefore going in to the kitchen seeing his dad preparing a great breakfast for\nthem, as if trying to bribe them to stay home.   \"Morning dad.\"   \"Morning, ready\nfor your camping?\" James asked flipping the bacon and eggs.   \"Yeah, I\nrechecked the list of things we needed, at least what would go into my bag.\nHave Mark gotten up yet?\"   \"I don't know,\ngo and check will you, while I set the plates.\" Derek turned walked down the\nhall to Mark's door and knocked.   \"Mark, are you up yet, dad have finished the\nbreakfast?\" opening slowly to find him checking his bag.   \"I'm just\nchecking so I have everything, I'll be out in a second.\" With that Derek turned\nand walked back the kitchen and sat down and true enough Mark came as he was\npouring himself a glass of milk.   \"Morning dad.\"   \"Morning,\nalright boys, dig in and when you've finished you can just leave the plates on\nthe counter and meet me in the living-room.\" With that, he left. The brothers\nlooked at each other in bewilderment for a moment before the smell of the\ndelicious food took their worries away. Derek and Mark had a typical sibling\nrelationship where they annoy each other with practical jokes, so naturally\nMark saw his chance for revenge when Derek went to the bathroom, for when he\nswitched his blue shampoo with blue paint, dyeing him blue until his father\npointed it out, unfortunately when he got home several hours later. So he grabbed\nthe curry spice from the shelf and poured some of it in his milk, and the rest\nof it on his food, he put it back on the shelf and sat down and continued\neating. Derek came back and started eating.   James heard\nDerek yell from inside the kitchen and rushed back in only to find Mark lying\non the floor laughing uncontrollably while Derek was drinking from the faucet.\nRemembering Derek's stunt on Mark a couple of months ago he figured it was just\npayback.   \"Mark, what did\nyou do?\" Although he had an idea of what he did, he was merely curious. But\nMark was laughing so hard he could barely talk in complete sentences.   \"Hahaha... I... put\ncurry... ahaha... in his... food and... milk.\" James started to laugh now, while Derek\nstill drank from the faucet.   \"Well Derek, you\nasked for it for your paint stunt a couple of months ago.\" Still chuckling he\nreturned to the living room.    When Derek's mouth wasn't on fire anymore he\nhelp Mark up from the floor, cleaned the table and walk into the living room,\nto find their dad holding two wrapped boxes.   \"Years ago, when\nyour... mother was alive, she and I had these made for you for Christmas. But\nwith the accident and all, I didn't think it would be a good idea to give them\nto you while grieving. But enough time have passed and, well, here you go.\" The\nbrothers were stood silent in the doorway watching the matching boxes. Turning\ntheir gaze to their dad sitting on the couch smiling at them with traces of\ntears on his cheeks. They took the boxes, unwrapped them, opened the box and\nliterally dropped their jaws. Inside the boxes was matching knives, black\ntinted, leather handle but the décor was out of this world. Along the blade,\nthree silver stripes wrapped around each other, almost playfully so, and a dark\nsilver-grey stripe moved along the edge of it. The sheath was black coloured\nleather with dark grey letters spelling \"Family\nIs Where Life Begins \u0026 Love Never Ends\".   \"We wanted you\nto have it for when we thought you were old enough to go out in the forest by\nyourselves.\" The Brothers looked at each other both coming to the same\nconclusion, they were too beautiful to be used and precious to be used,\nespecially after that story. But James insisted on it, arguing that it is what\ntheir mother would have wanted. With that they strapped their knives on their\nbelts hugging James.   About an hour\nlater they stood at the edge of the forest with their backpacks trying to\nventure of into the wild, but James had a little hard time letting go of his\nsons, but he came to his senses and let them go. After a couple of hours of walking they arrived at the\ndesignated campsite and started to set up the camp. Mark set up the tent while Derek\ncollected dry wood for fire, when that was done they went off together to\nexplore the area a bit more. The sun went down rather fast and they went back\nto the camp and started a fire, which Derek struggle a bit with so Mark took\nover and much to Derek's jealousy managed to start it within a few seconds,\nwhich made Mark grin from ear to ear.    When they\nfinished eating and cleaning up, Mark took the knife he got from his dad\nyesterday and inspected it, when he grew bored with it he fished up the game\nfrom his backpack and started to play.   \"Are you really\ngoing to play your game while in the woods camping?\"   \"Why not, we've\nfinished the necessary chores for today and it's too dark to do anything else\nbut sleep.\"   \"Whatever, I'm\ngoing to take a leak.\" With that Derek went to their designated 'bathroom' and\nrelieved himself, but when he finished he heard a scream coming from the\ndirection of the camp. Derek sprinted back the camp fearing the worst only to\nsee it in chaos, with his heart pounding, he ran about looking for Mark but he\nwas nowhere to be seen. With hands shaking with panic he took the flashlight\nand looked around the camp and saw a trail of broken twigs heading deeper in to\nthe woods. With his knife in hand he set of to find his little brother.    Following the\ntrail he heard some faint noises further in, when nearing it he could hear\nmusic. Derek rushed towards the music and entered a small clearing and found\nthe game along with the knife in the middle of it, but no sign of Mark. He\npicked up the game and the knife and put them in the pocket and tried to find a\ntrail. But the flashlight was giving up, so he started to shout Mark's name\nout, hoping he would be close enough to hear and answer it. With his heart\nrunning hundreds of miles an hour the time felt like years, but sure enough he\nheard Mark call for him and he set of running towards it. He ran through the\nforest thinking only of finding his little brother and soon enough he ran to a\nclearing with a single tree in the middle, and on a branch was his brother\nclinging for his dear life with a large bear trying to climb up. Thinking of\nhis feet he sheathed his knife and picked up a nearby rock and threw it at the\nbear while screaming at it, trying to get its attention. It worked, for the\nbear now turned to him and rushed towards him, which made Derek run back into\nthe forest hoping to lose it in the darkness.    Derek had been\nrunning for quite some time now and had managed too loose the bear, but now he\nhad another problem to deal with, he did not know where he was. As it was in\nthe middle of the night and chances of stumble upon the camp while aimlessly\nwalking around being almost nonexistence, Derek decided he needed to find\nsomewhere safe enough to set up a camp and try to get back tomorrow. Looking\naround trying to find a spot, through some trees he saw something with\nstructure and moving closer he saw what looked like a temple made of stone.\nBriefly thinking it to be odd to find a temple in the middle of the woods, he\nwalked inside to search for any dangers before he called it for the night.\nUsing Mark's game as a light source he noticed the walls being filled with\ninscriptions, some he recognised as Egyptian hieroglyphs, some Greek and Latin\nletters but most of them where unknown to him. Following the wall he came to a\nlarge square room with an elevated plateau in the middle with a small stone pedestal\nat the centre of it, in the corners were curved tablets standing on the ground\nwith more unrecognised scripture pointing at the pedestal in the middle.\nLooking around some more it appears that this room was the end of it, so Derek\nwent to the farthest corner from the exit and fell asleep.   Waking up\nfeeling tense due to the running and sleeping on a stone floor, he noticed that\nthe roof had a small opening right above the tablet letting the sunlight\nilluminate the room. After some stretching he explored the room more closely,\nlooking at the tablet closest to him he noticed that there was a highly polished\nmetal plate in the centre and was fastened by a metal rod horizontally giving\nyou the option of redirecting the light. Above the metal was a picture of the pedestal\nin the room with four straight lines pointing towards the top of it and\nsurrounding the picture were more scripture. Derek went to another tablet and\nsaw the exact same thing, the polished metal in the centre with the picture of\nthe pedestal above it and with an opening in the roof. Feeling the curiosity\ntaking over he walked to each of the four tablets and adjusted the metal plates\nand directing the sunlight to the pedestal in the middle. Seeing that nothing\nhappened when he adjusted the last one he walked over to the pedestal and saw\nan imprint of a hand on it. Placing his right hand on it some music suddenly\nstarted to play, coming from his pocket, which he recognised as the soundtrack\nfrom Mark's Pokémon game, but it was odd for Derek had turned the game off when\nhe went to sleep. Fishing it out he tried to turn it off but he couldn't, so he\nplaced the game on the pedestal and placed his hand back on the imprint.   As soon as his\nhand made contact he could feel something grabbing hold of it and keeping it in\nplace, meanwhile the room had turned pitch black, despite it being morning.\nTrying to take his hand away from the pedestal he started to panic, he tried to\nuse his other hand to pull it away but it wouldn't budge. Looking around he\ncould see figures consisting of light walking around not noticing him. Some of\nthem resembled people while others were walking on four legs, he saw a group of\npeople-like figures standing in the corner talking amongst themselves. The\nfigures kept coming and going for a while until it got pitch black once again.\nHis panic increased and he frantically tried to remove his hand, not noticing\nthe figure appearing in front of him, staring at him. The figure walked slowly\ntowards Derek as if it had all the time in the world, while Derek tried to set\nhis foot at the side of the pedestal and push. When it stood right in front of\nhim did he notice it and looked up at the face, what he saw almost made him faint.   Right in front\nof him stood Alice, his mother who passed away a couple of years ago, looking\njust like she did before the accident. All panic receded from his mind, though\nhe was a little spooked and surprised, he was in peace and serenity, as if all\nhis worries and problems had suddenly washed away. She just stood there looking\ninto his eyes, smiling. They stared at each other for quite a while before\nAlice placed her hand on Derek's, which was still on the pedestal, and when she\nhad placed it he could feel the warmth flowing into his cold hand and to\nDerek's surprise she lifted his hand, pulled him towards her and hugged him as\nhard as her real mother did when he was little. Derek didn't know how to react,\nin front of him was his long dead mother, hugging him. Despite all thoughts in\nhis head trying to explain the situation, he let himself go with the moment and\nhugged her back.   \"I can't tell\nyou how much I've missed this feeling.\" Her voice sounded as if she was talking\nin a great hall, as if the sound echoed from the walls around them.   \"How is this\npossible?\" They let go each other and stared into each other's eyes, he could\nsee her making the same face when he asked for help with his homework, she was\nthinking very hard.   \"Everything and\neveryone is connected to each other, every living thing's consciousness is\nbound to a greater plane where thoughts and dreams rule. When someone dies,\nonly their bodies dies, their spirit still lives on in this plane and, unless\nthey are completely forgotten, they can still watch those who carry their\nmemories.\" Around them shimmering figures continued to appear and disappear,\npeople celebrating and animals playing. Amidst all the commotion, Derek saw an\nimage of himself, Mark, James and Alice playing on the beach.   \"Whenever I'm\nnot watch over you, I'm reliving my memories, both good and bad, so that I\nmight find wisdom and further guide you in whatever way I can from here. That\ntime on the beach was the one time we all were truly happy.\" Her face became\nsterner and sadder.   \"Ever since I\ndied, despite it being a long time ago, none of you have felt that same joy\nagain, especially you. I've seen you trying to carry everyone's burden, being\nstrong for both your brother and father. I can see you, about to break from the\nimmense pressure you have put on yourself.\" Tears started to flow from both\nAlice's and Derek's eyes and the lights were once again starting to fade into darkness.\nEvery word she spoke was like a stab in the soul, everything was true.   \"This force that\nconnects us all, this life force, is what keeps me at this state. It's a\npowerful force that put in the wrong hands, could destroy everything.\" She\nlooked deeper into his eyes, meaning every word she said.    \"I can't see how\nyou will be able to move on from my death, you have always been the one who\nshoulders every ones problems, you need someone outside the family who you will\nbe able to trust no matter what would happen. There is a world where people and\ncreatures help each other to become stronger.\" Her radiant smile once again\nshone the room with brilliant light.    \"I know there\nwill be someone there that will be able to share the burden you have placed\nupon yourself, but it will take all the energy, along with some of our\nancestors, to get you there.\" Looking around he saw people, just as radiant as\nAlice, staring right at him with the same kind of smile as his mother. Derek\nrecognised only a few of them, his grandparents and an uncle, the rest was\ndressed in older looking clothes, but were just the same smiling at him.   \"You haven't\nmeet or even heard of most of them, but they are all here to try and give you\nthe life you deserve, even if it means that they will cease to exist.\" The last\nsentence made Derek come back from the shock and thoughts of being\nhallucinating, cease to exist?    \"Wait, you mean\nthat I won't be able to see you again, yet again\" It's one thing to lose one of\nyour loved ones once, it is an inevitable part of life, but too lose your\nmother twice?    \"After all those\nyears of mourning your death, all the pain, you expect me to just let you go\nagain?\" Despite him being upset, she kept smiling at him, looking into his eyes\nwith all the love a mother could have for her son. She may have left him at a\ntoo young age, but she could see through him to the very bones, she knew that\nthis was just all the emotion he had kept stored from the moment of her death,\nall the emotions finally getting out. Derek kept on talking almost to the point\nhe was yelling, but Alice kept on smiling, patiently waiting for him to finish.   \"I will not let\nyou do it.\" Was the last thing he said before he stopped, waiting for an\nanswer.    \"Still the\nstubborn little hero, not letting anyone going in the way of harm. But this is\nneeded, honey, not only for your own sake, but for James and Mark as well, they\nare suffering at home. Your attempts of trying to carry both of them will crush\nyou later on. I know you all will find peace in this world.\" He would be able\nto deter her from doing whatever she was going to do, especially in the tone\nshe had. He remembered all the time he tried to convince her to let him go to\nthe cinema without his father and mother and every time she said no in that\nsame tone, even James would not be able to change her mind.    \"Once you arrive\nyou have to find a way to contact James as soon as possible, he will not stop\nlooking for you, even if he levelled the entire forest. There is a similar\ntemple somewhere in the other world.\" She stepped back while the others around\nhim came closer, forming a circle around Derek. The room was pitch black aside\nfrom the light radiating from the figures around Derek, but above him was a small\norb of pure light, shining very weakly. It descended to Derek's eyelevel where\nit hovered, one by one the persons approached the orb and merge themselves with\nit, making the orb shine brighter each time. By the end it was shining so\nstrong he had to avert his eyes from it. The last person to approach was Alice,\nand before she too merged herself with the shining orb, she said,   \"I will always\nbe with you, looking after you, James and Mark, for \"family is where life begins \u0026 love never ends\". With those last\nwords she disappeared and the light from the orb blinded Derek, before he felt\nhimself getting lifted from the ground.  In the midst of Santalune Forest, a vast and green\nforest, a happy little female Riolu was walking around trying to find some food.\nShe had been searching for quite a while and with the persistent humans running\naround only made it harder to find anything of substance without being caught. After\na while the Riolu could see a human which she trusted enough not be scared of\nhim, one of those friendly persons who do not capture other Pokémons but merely\nobserves them. The Riolu sniffed the air, sensing the smell of delicious\nberries doming form the direction of the professor. But she was reluctant to\napproach, but the growling stomach and the trust she had for the professor made\nup for the possibility of being caught, so with one last look at the\nsurroundings of other people, she walked over making enough noise to announce\nher approach, so as to not scare the professor. The professor reacted to the\nnoise and smiled when he saw what had made it, it was his little furry blue\nfriend.   \"Ah, nice to see\nyou again Riolu, I take its food you are after again?\" She barked her name\nhappily as a response, although she felt shame for mooching of him for food\nevery time they met, but then again her hunger told her not to be too picky.   \"Hahaha,\nalright, let us see what we have in the bag then for you.\" He laughed while\nrooting around in his bag and pulled out some berries and gave them to her. She\nhappily took them from him and with a happy bark as thanks she sat down and\nstarted to eat. The professor sat down as well opposite her and started to eat\na sandwich. They enjoyed each other's company well enough but with a language\nbarrier as that of Pokémons and humans, the conversations held between them was\nrather short yes and no statements. With their lunch all eaten up the Riolu\nmade a happy bark again and waved goodbye as she walked away.    With her stomach\nfull, she thought she would return home to her hole in a tree to get some sleep\nbefore she started to train. Her mom and dad could not stress enough about the\ntraining, saying that if she didn't train hard enough she would become\nvulnerable to other predators. But they did need to try and push her into\ntraining, she would have done it anyway as she thinks its fun and exhilarating\ntraining, especially when she was sparring, the heat of battle was something\nshe couldn't get enough of. Her father saw her enthusiasm to fight others and\nhad a long talk about not looking for trouble, but to only use her fighting\nskills in defence when not sparring.    Thinking back to\nher time with her parents irrevocably led her thoughts to the day when they\nwere both captured by some people in dark uniforms with a big R in the front.\nHer dad carried her while her mom shot balls of energy at them to try and slow\nthem down enough for them to escape, but some of them had guns, and managed to\nhit her dad in the leg, falling to the ground with his child in his arms. He looked\nat his mate, who was exhausted from the running and use of energy attacks. The Riolu\ncouldn't hear what they said between each other, but her mom didn't like it for\nshe growled angrily at him while he remained calm. The sound of footsteps came\ncloser and closer, and with tears in her eyes, she took the Riolu in her arm\nand help him up, and then ran away, leaving him to be captured or killed by the\nhumans. The Riolu was flailing wildly, yelling for her dad. But her mother\ndidn't return to get him, but kept on running, until a loud bang could be heard.\nShe stopped dead in her tracks, looking behind her before she looked at her\nlittle child.   \"You need to get\naway from here and hide, you hear me, run away and don't look back.\" She said\nwhile putting her down. But she didn't run, how could she, how could she run\nfrom her mother and father.    \"RUN!!\" She\nyelled at her while shooting small balls of energy in front of her to make her\nmove. With that she burst out in tears, turned around and ran, she ran as fast\nas she could, not looking back once. Even if she couldn't see what was going on\nbehind her, she could still hear everything clearly. The humans had caught up\nwith her who was sending energy balls at them while trying to dodge their\ncounterattacks from their own Pokémon's. Suddenly she could hear the same bang\nfrom before that made her mother stop running, but she kept on running and\nrunning until she could not run anymore. Franticly trying to find a place to\nhide before they found her, she managed to find a hole in the ground covered by\na fallen log and bushes. She dived inside and covered the hole as best she\ncould from inside and lied there for what seemed like hours, until she finally\nfell asleep from exhaustion.   That horrible\nday still haunted her to this day, and it took a long time for her to not\nunprovoked attack every human she saw. She found, through other Pokémon, that\nsome humans are friendly and take good care of them. When she saw this\nfirst-hand, she let go of the hatred of the entire human race, and reserved it\nfor the people who are mean and cruel to their own and other Pokémons.   Suddenly a burst\nof light further down the path, behind the trees, interrupted her train of\nthought and curiosity kicked in. She silently moved forward with her paws\nraised, prepared to attack if any threat showed itself. She approached a\nclearing and in the middle of it, lied a boy, not moving. The high grass\nsurrounding him had been turned into ashes, leaving him seemingly untouched.\nShe sneaked up to the boy to get a closer look. She saw an average looking boy\nwith black hair and a light complexion, there was blood on his face and shirt\nand there was three cuts across his eye. She laid her head on his chest and\nheard his heart still beating, but something strange happened as soon as she\ntouched him.    She saw a flash\nof light and in the same moment she was inside a house, in the living room, it\nwas brightly lit. By the window she saw a mother holding her crying child,\ntalking to him, while looking out the window on the horrible destruction that\nravaged the countryside. The Riolu walked to the window to get a closer look\nand gasped when she saw where they were, it was the town closest to her home.\nThe human mother looked down and stared directly in her eyes and said,   \"Take care of\nhim and make sure he finds his way in your world\" With that, darkness fell.    With a sudden\ngasp for air, as if she had been holding her breath for a long time, she woke\nup, still by the unconscious teenager. She looked around, hoping to find\nsomeone who could help her, but there was no one around, so with no other idea\ncoming to mind she ran back to the clearing she found the professor, hoping he\nwould be still be there. In no time at all she arrived and found the professor\npacking up to head home and when he saw the Riolu running towards him with\npanic in her face he readied himself to defend himself and her. But when she\ncame to his side she barked urgently while tugging his sleeve, showing him to\nfollow her. He quickly got the message and ran after her, of which he barely\nmanaged as she was rather fast. When she led him to the clearing she came from,\nhe could see why see wanted him to follow her.    He ran to the\nboy still lying on the ground, noting the surrounding area quickly before\nreturning his attention to the boy. He checked the pulse while inspecting the\nwounds on his face, to Riolu's surprise since nothing seems to have happened to\nhim, and found it to be dangerously low, he needed to get him to the nearest\nmedical facility, which in this case was the Pokémon centre in Santalune City.\nThe smeared blood was dry and the cuts seems to be healing well enough,\nthinking it did not happen recently. He need to get him to his car by the\ntrail, but it would take too long time to just carry the boy, and if any\nhostile Pokémon chose to attack, they would be defenceless. He took out the\npokeball from his belt and threw it into the air and out came his Venusaur.\nQuickly explaining his plan the Venusaur grabbed the boy with his vines and\nplaced him on the Pokémon's neck, in the meantime the professor turned to the Riolu\nstill standing nearby and said,   \"Riolu, I need\nyou to help and defend us if any hostile Pokémon or trainers attacks, at least\nuntil we get to my car just outside the forest. With the vision still clear in her mind she nodded,\nagreeing to protect them. Mark saw Derek take the bears attention and lead it away\nfrom himself, and run into the forest without any light. When the bear had\ndisappeared in the forest Mark climbed down and ran towards the camp, hoping\nDerek would lose the bear and find his way back. He arrived to the thrashed and\nempty camp and waited impatiently for Derek to show up. After what seemed like\nhours, but was more like twenty minutes, he started to shout Derek's name into\nthe night hoping it would lead Derek to him, but shouting for ten minutes\nyielded nothing. With nothing else coming to mind he started to run home to get\nhis dad, if anyone would be able to find Derek and, if necessary fight of that\nbear, it would be him. While running he was suddenly pushed forward by a strong\nforce, making him loose his balance and trip. Looking around he only saw leaves\nfalling from the trees but couldn't see anything that would have caused it.\nPushing those thoughts to the side he continued his way home. James felt a little sad to see his two boys walk into the\nforest without him, but underneath all the feelings of worry and fear, he felt\npride, he was proud to see them explore the forest that had almost been like a\nsecond home to all three of them. He couldn't help to think about Alice, about\nhow she hated the wild. A single tear fell down his cheek, but he was smiling,\nknowing that even if she wasn't by his side anymore, he still had his memories\nof her. Wiping away the tear he turned around and went back inside.   After a day of\ndoing chores around the house, including cleaning up the mess in Derek's and\nMark's rooms, despite having old them to clean up before they left, he took out\nsome beers from the fridge, a bowl of snacks and put in an old western movie\nwith Clint Eastwood, it was an old favourite of his from when he was younger.    Following the\nmovie from the beginning to the end with the same eagerness as the first time\nhe saw it, he started to reminisce about the first time he made Alice sit down\nand watch it with him, remembering how she hated it. Looking over at the shelf\nwith old movies he saw an old home movie and decided to watch it. He put the\nmovie in and hit play and as soon as he saw Alice, Mark and Derek on the screen\nhe smiled, feeling a sense of peace washing away all worries. Watching the\nseemingly unimportant events he started to remember what they were doing, it\nwas the time they all went to a cabin they borrowed from a friend of Alice, it\nwas a horrible day, it was raining all day so they decided to roost\nmarshmallows in the fireplace.    But all of a\nsudden he heard the front door burst open and Mark's calling for him, he rushed\nout to the hall and found him sweaty, dirty and with his cloths torn, but he\ncould not see Derek anywhere.   \"Mark, what\nhappened?!\" Panic started to rise, but for the sake of Mark he tried to keep it\nunder control. Mark started to recall the events about the bear and how Derek\nran off with it further into the forest. When he finished James lead him into\nthe kitchen and said,   \"I want you to\nstay here while I go and look for him, in case he returns home. I will be back\nin the morning\" swallowing hard \"... and if I haven't found him by then, I call\nthe police while you go door to door asking for help in the search, alright?\"\nHe didn't wait for a reply but went to the closet in the bedroom to get some\nthings he needed, a flashlight, a knife and gun, in case any bears would show\nup again. With the knife and the gun strapped to the belt he went outside,\nleaving Mark still in the kitchen, to search for Derek.  The professor, Venusaur and Riolu hurried down the trail,\nonly being stopped by a couple of trainers wanting to battle, but Riolu punched\nthem of the trail before they had a chance to react. Soon enough they arrived\nat the car and with Venusaur's help the professor put the boy in the backseat\nand put on the seatbelt. He recalled his old friend after thanking him for the\nhelp and sat in the car ready to drive to the Pokémon Centre, but what\nsurprised him was that the otherwise reserved Riolu sat in the back with the\nboy, inspecting the seatbelt with an odd fascination, smiling inwardly he drove\naway as fast as he could out of the forest and straight for Santalune City.    About halfway\nthere the professor called ahead to make sure there was someone to meet them\nwhen they arrived and gave them as much information as he could to help them\nprepare. He looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the boy still being\nunconscious with Riolu keeping a watchful eye on him. About twenty minutes\nlater they arrived at the centre and just outside the front entrance was one of\nthe Nurse Joys standing with a Chansey and a stretcher, ready to take the boy.\nThe professor stopped by the medical personnel, got out and helped them get the\nboy on the stretcher, in the meantime Riolu was carefully looking around with her\nmuzzle slightly ajar as she's never been in a city before. Snapping back to\nreality Riolu saw the humans roll the boy inside the giant building so she\nfollowed, but still on guard in case someone made a move towards her or the\nboy. They rolled him past the reception and further down the corridor until the\nend of it when Nurse Joy stopped them saying they couldn't go any further and\nhad to wait in the lobby. Riolu was not pleased by that and started to bark\nangry at her, while in her own tongue throwing curses at them, but they\nwouldn't know about that. The professor pulled her back trying to calm her and\neventually she saw no meaning in continuing as the Nurse Joy went with the boy.   An hour and a\nhalf later Nurse Joy came out with a smile on her face.   \"Everything seems to be okay, he is still\nunconscious but his condition seems stable and the wound across his eye seems\nto have healed up very nicely, though there was some anomalies in his\nbrainwaves, it appears that his brain activity is several times greater than\nnormal\" Nurse Joy continued by telling them that there doesn't seem to be any\nother physical trauma of any kind that would explain his current state.   \"Now that we\nknow he's stable, is he the Riolu's trainer?\" Asked Nurse Joy seeing the professor\nand Riolu look at each other.   \"I don't know, Riolu\nhere seemed to have found him in a clearing in the forest, as far as I could\ntell he is not a trainer as he had no balls on his belt or had any belongings\nbeside whatever he had on him.\" While the professor and Nurse Joy kept talking,\nRiolu was fidgeting with her paws, she wanted to see him, to make sure he was\nokay.    During their\ndiscussion one of the Chanseys came bursting through the door with an alarmed\nexpression while flailing her arms around. She called for Nurse Joy to come\nwith her and all four of them ran through the corridors and open the door to\nthe, up until now, unconscious boy was placed.  Derek woke up in a surprisingly comfortable bed when the\nsun was about to set, but when he opened his eyes he did not recognised the\nroom he was in. At first he thought he was in a hospital room, but there were\nsome elements that did not make any sense. To start with, he could not see his\nbrother and father in the room, despite there being a couch against the far\nwall for visitors to rest, secondly some of the posters on the wall depicted\nPokémons and what seemed to be their anatomy, very much like the posters in a\ndoctor's office. Lastly, the machine in the room had a logo that reminded him\nof those hospitals in the games.    He put those\nthoughts to the side and sat up, some of the wires connected to him by some\nsticky substance came loose but as nothing seemed to happen he did not care\nabout it. He got of the bed carefully standing up so that he wouldn't fall to\nthe floor and walked over to the window. What he first noticed was the height,\nfrom it he thought he was on the third or fourth floor. In the distant he saw a\nlarge forest stretching for miles in every directions and the edge of it was a\nlarge road going straight for him until it forks to the sides. Along the road\nwas small buildings which looked like small shops and private houses, here\nthere was some second and third story buildings but other than the height there\nwas nothing special about them. What did catch his eye was the people and what\nwas walking, in some cases floating, along with them. Derek squinted his eyes\nhoping to see more details but he was too far up to see anything but the bright\ncolours.    Derek turned\naway from the window and went to one of the posters of a Pokémon's anatomy.\nDuring his reading of how cannons, which shot water, were attached to a giant\nblue turtles back, someone opened the door to his room and when he turned, he\ndropped his jaw. Before him was a very bright pink, round little creature with\na nursing outfit and a giant egg in a pouch on its stomach. It seemed like ages\nbefore any of them made a move or sound before she said,   \"Chansey!\" she\nlooked rather happy and friendly and was carrying a fresh bouquet of wild\nflowers to replace those standing on the nightstand, a custom of the centre.\nUnfortunately Derek did not see that, for as soon as she spoke he panicked and\nstarted to throw whatever small loose things that was within his range, though\nthe most dangerous thing he managed to throw was a clipboard, mostly it was\nstuffed Pokémons but Chansey used her small arms to cover herself nonetheless\nwhile she backed away and ran. Derek went to the door opening and looked around,\nseeing no one he turned the opposite direction which Chansey went and ran\nthrough various corridors hoping to find the exit. The group arrived at the boy's room but was stunned to\nsee it empty and in a mess with the stuffed Pokémons and miscellaneous things\nscattered on the floor, suddenly someone screamed further down corridor and\nthey all went in that direction, but on the way there the boy came running\ntowards them before he made a sharp turn towards the stairway, as if trying to\navoid us. While Nurse Joy and Chansey continued to where the scream was heard,\nthe professor and Riolu followed the boy down the stairs. Even with the speed Riolu\npossessed they couldn't catch up with him, he was unnaturally fast for a human,\nwhen he ran through the doorway at the bottom of the stairs she thought he\nwould get away, but they heard a thud and as if someone fell hard on the floor.\nWhen they reached the same doorway they saw an Alakazam looking very pissed at\nthe boy cowering beneath him.   \"Easy boy, he\ndid not mean it.\" The Alakazam's trainer tried to calm it down and to some\ndegree it worked, for all he did was whack him on the head with one of his\nspoons. With that the boy darted past them towards the exit, surprising both\nthe trainer and the Pokémon of how fast he was. But the professor and Riolu had\ncaught up with him and screamed for him to stop.    \"Alakazam, use\nPsychic on him\" with that the boy was suspended in the air, just a couple of\nmetres away from the exit. Both the trainer and Alakazam moved in front of the\nboy, but what happened next surprised them all, especially Alakazam, for when\nAlakazam came into view of the boy he managed to break his arm free of his\nbonds and punched him square in the face, sending the poor Pokémon flying\nacross the lobby and hitting the opposite wall, knocking him unconscious. When\nthe boy fell on his butt he looked more confused and surprised than any of\nthem.   \"What happened?\"\nthe trainer asked, but before the boy could answer Nurse Joy had crept up\nbehind him and injected him with a powerful sedative which knocked him out\nwithin seconds. A Chansey came running with a stretcher to them while the\nprofessor and Nurse Joy lifted him up and put him down on it, strapping his\nankles and wrists in case something would happen, and rolled him away to a more\nsecure room, leaving the trainer and Chansey to tend to his unconscious\nPokémon. When Derek, once again, woke up he couldn't move that\nvery much, but that didn't really bother him at this point, for his thoughts\nwent back to when he knocked that creature across the room, which was much\nbigger than him. Letting his thoughts continue to move backwards to when he saw\na ghost in the hallway, to the pink thing in the doorway and finally to his\nbrother. That last thought made a lump in his throat, he didn't even know if\nMark made it back home. He had to get back home, so he looked around the room\nand by the looks of it, it seems to be an identical room from the one he was in\nbefore, but everything was nailed to walls and floors and the construction of\neverything seems to be more, solid. He looked down on his body and saw that his\nhands and legs were bound as well as his torso. Feeling claustrophobia creeping\nup he tried to get his arms loose, but the sedative was still in his body making\nhim feel groggy and weak.   \"Please calm\ndown, there is no one here who want you or anyone else hurt\" the voice startled\nDerek who thought he was alone. But to his left a middle aged man with a lab\ncoat, dark blue and wave hair was sitting in a chair watching him closely.    \"My name is\nSycamore, I'm a professor mainly studying evolution here in Kalos. Who are you\nand how did you end up in that field wounded and unconscious?\" The man seemed\nhonest and nice enough so Derek answered him.   \"I'm Derek and I\nwas attacked by a bear before I woke up in the other room.\"   \"What is a\nbear?\" That question baffled Derek.   \"What kind of\nprofessor who studies evolution don't know what a bear is?\" Before Sycamore\ncould reply Riolu jumped up on the bed to get a closer look at Derek and when\nDerek saw her he panicked and thrashed around, trying to get her of, but the\nstraps would budge.   \"Derek calm\ndown, it's just Riolu, she found you in the field and help bring you here to\nthe centre.\" Derek stopped thrashing around as he realised he couldn't get her\noff, but where was he?   \"Where am I,\nwhat centre?\"   \"The Pokémon\nCentre in Santalune City.\" Derek did not know what to do, either he was\ndreaming of this man who had him tied to a bed was insane, saying Pokémon as it\nwere anything else beside a children's cartoon show. Looking at Riolu again, he\ndid remember seeing something like it in one of Mark's games, but how would\nthat even be possible?    \"You are not\nfrom around here, are you?\" Derek could only chuckle at that question, if he\nonly knew how right he was. He wanted to get home but, how would that even be\nan option, he has somehow travelled to a video game. Maybe going back to the\nfield he was found could reveal something as to how he got here.   \"Where is this\nfield you found me on?\" Sycamore was a little reluctant to answer him, not for\nselfish reasons, on the contrary, the boy does not seems to be equipped,\nmentally or otherwise, to be on the road. He could get himself and others hurt\nor worse.   \"I don't think\nyou going out on your own would be a good idea, especially after your reactions\nto Pokémons, for they're everywhere. I will take you there and when you're\nfinished there, I would like you to follow me back to my lab just outside Aquacorde\nTown, I would like to ask you some questions, about you and about the, incident\nwith the Alakazam in the lobby. Do we have a deal?\" Derek thought that would\ncome sooner, but nonetheless, he seems to be trustworthy, and he did make a\npoint, he wouldn't know what to do when more of them showed up.   \"Fine, but one\nmore question, where's my clothes?\" when Derek was running around the hospital,\nhe noticed he was wearing a set of pyjamas, hopefully courtesy of the hospital.\nSycamore merely chuckled.   \"I'll see where Nurse Joy have placed them,\nbut we will stay here until she tells otherwise.\" With that he left looking for\nhis clothes.   Riolu had been\nwatching silently while they talked, thinking about the dream she had in the\nfield, but when Sycamore left she crept closer until their noses almost\ntouched. She could feel his panicked breath on her, she couldn't identify it,\nbut whatever he ate, it smelled wonderful. She woke up from her small trance\nand saw him eying her with a sense of confusion, probably because she seemed to\nhave drooled a little while in trance. She felt she could have died from the\nembarrassment alone, her cheeks became tomato red and could actually be seen by\nothers.    When growing up,\nDerek never really got into the Pokémon frenzy that had taken most of his\nclass-mates and what little he did know about it was whatever others had said.\nHe didn't see the cartoon show with his brother, except for those times when he\nwas forced to because Mark had the TV-privileges due to illness, he haven't\nplayed the games at all, though he had seen some of it from time to time when\nMark was playing. This huge disadvantage made Derek very uncertain how to react\nto the curious little Riolu exploring her surroundings, deep down he still\nthought this was a dream, so he slowly reached out and poked Riolu on the\nchest. Riolu looked back at him with a confused and after some time had passed,\nannoyed look for he held it there for quite a while until Riolu pushed his hand\naway. Now they simply stared at each other, Derek trying to come to terms of\nbeen trapped in a cartoon and Riolu trying to figure out what Derek is thinking\nabout.   A couple of\nminutes later Sycamore came back with his things in a plastic box and following\nhim was Nurse Joy, smiling as always.   \"Nurse Joy here\nwill make a thorough physical examination and depending on what she says we can\nleave within the hour.\" Said Sycamore while placing the box on the nightstand.    \"While she does\nthat, why don't we go and explore the town?\" Sycamore directed the question to\nRiolu who got very excited and leapt from the bed to the doorway where she\nurged him to hurry up.   \"I will send for\nyou when we are done here, it should take more than an hour.\" With that\nSycamore left and she turned to Derek who was about to get out of the bed and\nsee if everything was there. When he had looked through everything he started\nto panic, because his knife was not among it, only his brothers.    \"Where is my\nknife?\"    \"Everything you\nhad on you when professor Sycamore brought you here is in that box, from what\nI've heard they found you on a field, unconscious, you might have dropped it\nthere. Now, the examination consists mostly of scans and so I would like you to\nfollow me please.\" Through her explanation she had the same smile from when she\ncame in, which to some degree calmed Derek down, but he really wanted his knife\nback. She helped him up from the bed and had him lean on her while he tried to\nwalk, the sedative she had injected him with was very powerful, and it took a\nminute or two before he could walk by himself. They went down the corridors to\na large room with machines and screens along the walls and in the middle was an\nelevated platform which she directed him to. She walked over to the control\npanel and turned the machine on, it started to hum and lights switched on\neverywhere, the platform started glow blue underneath him.   \"Three arms will\ncome down and surround you, these will slowly rotates around you and make some\nnoise. They will be scanning your body for the next half an hour and in the\nmeantime you need to stand perfectly still so the results will be as accurate\nas possible.\" Sure enough the arms came down and rotated around him.    After an\nexcruciating thirty minutes of standing still, the machine started to slow down\nand the arms retracted back, clearing the way for Derek to step down.    \"Alright, this\npart is now done, the professor requested to have a copy of the data sent to\nhim for further analysis. The last part is merely answering some questions\"\nDerek noticed her puzzled look while he was scanned, could it really had been\nthat bad? She led him out of the room back to his room, where she had him\nseated on the bed.   \"What were you\ndoing on the field?\"   \"I don't know, I\ndon't even know how I got there or that I was there at all, I woke up in the\nother room you had me placed\" The puzzled look returned for a fraction of a\nsecond before it returned to her deep-thinking expression.   \"What is the\nlast thing you remember?\"   \"Running from a\nbear in the forest in the middle of the night, leading it away from my brother.\"\nShe reacted when he said bear, just as the professor did.   \"Where is your\nbrother now?\"   \"I don't know\"   \"Your reaction\nto Chansey and the other Pokémons, both in the corridor where you ran into a\nChesnaught and the Alakazam in the lobby, why where running from them?\" Derek\nthought long and hard on how he should answer that question, he wanted this to\nbe over but he didn't want to lie to her either, she seems nice.   \"Because I\nhaven't seen a live Pokémon before\" that was true enough.   \"That knife in\nyour box, where did you get it?\" That questioned surprised him, aside from the\nsentimental value of it, there's nothing special about it.   \"It's my\nbrothers, he dropped it when running from the bear.\" She gazed at him for a\nseemingly long time before her smile returned and said,   \"Okay, my\nexamination is done, I will contact the professor to come and pick you up.\" She\nlowered her voice,   \"For your own\nsake, stay with the professor for the time being. If harmless Pokémon scare you\nlike they did earlier today I don't want to see your reaction to the wild\nPokémons, I would stay and learn from him as much as I can, and besides, I\nthink the Riolu likes you.\" At the end she smiled and winked at him before\nleaving him to change his clothes.    When Derek was\nfully dressed and with his brother's knife secured to the belt, he walked out\nof the room and down the hall to explore. After some aimless wandering and\nmeeting some Pokémon with their trainers, he wound up in the lobby and there he\nturned towards the exit, but before he could take another step someone grabbed\nhold off his shoulder. Turning around he saw a boy about his own age and\nheight, but with brown hair and sky-blue eyes, wearing a red and white cap with\na weird logo in front, a blue jacket and black pants. Derek recognised him as\nthe boy who had his Pokémon stop him from escaping earlier, but to his surprise\nhe didn't seem mad as one would have thought he would be after he had his\nstrongest Pokémon knocked out by a human boy, instead he had a friendly smile\non his face.   \"Hi, my name is\nBruce, I'm the trainer of the Alakazam you knocked out earlier today.\" Derek\nwas not sure how to respond, he had never been in a fight before and he was\npretty sure this was not the normal reaction to the one who knocked out one of\nyour friends.    \"I'm Derek,\nsorry about that.\" To his surprise he started to laugh.   \"Don't worry\nabout that he's just fine, Chansey is looking him over and besides, this might\ntake him down a peg, lately he's become rather cocky about his strength.\" Having\nsaid that his expression turned serious.   \"All that aside,\nhow did you do it, how were you able to knock a Pokémon bigger than you across\nthe room?\" Derek was trying to come up with an answer, but how could he. He had\nno clue to what happened when he punched that thing, nor how he actually got\nhere.   \"I...\"   \"Derek! Should\nwe be on our way, it won't take long before the sun sets.\" Sycamore just came\nthrough the front entrance before Derek could even start to try and explain,\nbut he had other priorities, he wanted to go home, so he simply nodded, shook Bruce's\nhand goodbye and went with Sycamore to travel to the field where they found\nhim.    Riolu saw the\nprofessor looking worried at Derek while he was talking to the other trainer\nand was a little confused when he suddenly burst out. But she didn't think anything\nof it when Derek made his way towards them, instead she was thinking about all\nshe had seen, smelled, heard and tasted. While all three were walking towards\nSycamore's car she saw an ice cream shop and after her adventure with Sycamore,\nshe needed a cone. Riolu barked to get their attention and burst of in the\ndirection of the shop. The others followed as fast as their legs could carry\nthem and when they realised where she was headed they slowed down to walking,\npreviously thinking something had happened. They all went inside and Sycamore\nbought them all an ice cream cone which made Riolu very happy and started to\nlick it way too fast for her own good, she dropped her cone and held her paws\nto her temples while grimacing with pain. Derek thought something serious had\nhappen but Sycamore only laughed.   \"I warned you\nbefore Riolu, if you kept eating your ice cream like that you would get brain\nfreeze.\" She just glared at him for laughing, but he did say something like\nthat when they went out to explore the city, but she didn't really listen him\nwhen she first tasted the ice cream. \nWith their ice cream eaten they walked to the car and drove off to the\nfield where they found Derek.    It took them\nalmost an hour to get to the field, but once they had arrived they were met by\na group of people wearing matching cloths, with a big R on the front of their\nshirts. They were using machines all around the field, it looks like they are\nmeasuring something, one of them yelled to the others saying he found something\nand to Derek's dismay, it was his knife. Before he could storm over there and\ntake back the knife, Sycamore grabbed shoulder and shook his head, indicating\nnot to burst out. Sycamore turned to Riolu, whispered something and she was\noff, Sycamore led Derek back a bit so they could speak without being heard.   \"Those people\nare dangerous, if you had burst out of hiding they would have either captured\nyou or killed you. I have a plan to scare them away but you will have to stay\nbehind for a while, I asked Riolu to go to the other side and when I've given\nthe signal she will start attack from the rear.\" He took out four pokeballs and\nlet his Pokémon out, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur and Sylveon and explained\nthe situation and the plan. When everyone was up to speed and understood their\norders Charizard took air waiting for Sycamore, the rest went back to the edge\nof the field.    \"Now.\" That was\nall Sycamore said before everyone launched their strongest attack at them.\nBeing completely unprepared, the attack had a great effect for they all\npanicked, trying to figure out where the blasts came from, Derek panicked as he\nsaw the destruction, not for the sake of the people but for his belongings and\npossible clues to how he got here but he did managed to see the person who had\nhis knife dropping the knife as he was hit dead on by a powerful spray of water.\nSycamore ordered a full attack again and this time Riolu and Charizard did\ntheir share as well, which resulted in knocking some of them out while the rest\nof them scrambled to get everyone out of there. When the last of them had\ndisappeared, they all waited for a couple of minutes to be sure, then Derek\nwent over to pick up his knife while Sycamore called his Pokémon back to their\nballs. He inspected the blade and it hadn't received any damage, though the\nedge was a little dull but it was barely noticeable. Happy with his intact\nknife he sheathed it and went over to a spot where the grass had been burned\nbadly.   \"Who were those\npeople?\"   \"Evil men and\nwomen who want nothing but power and money, I will tell you about them when\nwe're at the lab. In the middle of this dead grass was where we found you.\"\nDerek moved around the spot hoping to find something, but if there was, it had\neither been turned to ashes or stolen.    Riolu walked\nover to them to see if the boy could explain something, but to her\ndisappointment he could not. Recalling how she found him, she did see a flash\nof light that was strong enough to burst through the forest in the middle of\nthe day.    Suddenly the\nlittle canine-like creature started to gesture with her arms and bark, as if\ntrying to say something. Both Derek and Sycamore stared at her until she had\nstopped and then Derek leaned closer to Sycamore,   \"What is it\ndoing?\" But unfortunately for Derek, Riolu heard his question and did not like\nthe way he had referred her as it and for that she slapped him with an open paw\nhard enough so he could feel it.   \"HEY! What was\nthat for!?\"   \"I think she\nheard you call her 'it'\"   \"It... She can\nunderstand us?\" He almost made the same mistake again but luckily he caught\nhimself from finishing the sentence without changing it, avoiding another slap.   \"Of course,\nPokémon are highly intelligent, though some more than others, but they can\nunderstand us, even if they can't speak themselves.\" Sycamore said, a little\nbit stunned over Derek's ignorance.    \"Alright, then\nwhat was she doing before she hit me?\"   \"Trying to tell\nus something, she was the one who found you first so she could have seen\nsomething I didn't when she came for me.\" Again Riolu tried to tell them about\nthe light through gestures but how would one go about showing light? After\nabout half an hour they hadn't guessed even close to right so she gave up,\nfalling on her butt exhausted.   \"The sun is\nabout to set, we should leave before it gets to dark.\" With that, all three of\nthem headed towards the car, but as they got closer Riolu started to slow down\nand fiddling with her paws anxiously. She have had an unusual adventure today\nwhere she have tried a lot of exciting new things and eaten strange, yet\ndelicious, food, but was she ready to leave her home for a confusing dream. She\nhad hated humans in general, with some exceptions, ever since her parents were\nkilled and now someone or something have told her to protect this boy who have\nno clue as to where he is or how to interact with her.    Derek, just as\nRiolu, was in deep thoughts, mostly trying to come to terms with the notion of\nPokémon being real, through most of the day he had doubts about this being\nreal, at least until Riolu had slapped him across the cheek. He recalled the\nbattle that the professor had started with those people and thought about the\npower the Pokémons possessed, why would they choose to be trapped in a ball\nwhen they easily could overpower him.    Sycamore saw\nboth Riolu and Derek slowing down while they both had a gloomy expression. He\ncould understand the reaction from Riolu, having known her for quite a while he\nhad seen her being very reserved about going too far from her home and being\ncautious to strangers. When it came to Derek he could only guess what was going\non in his head, from what he had learned from talking to him, he seemed to have\nlittle to no knowledge about Pokémon, his clothes were not from around here and\nhis knives looked like they were of military nature. He walked over to Riolu\nand talked in a low voice.   \"Riolu, if you\nfeel uncomfortable leaving your home you don't have to come with us, you have\ndone much more than I asked you to do. Though I would be very happy if you\nwould, by the looks of it, Derek might need someone like you around to get him\nout of trouble.\" As if on cue Derek tripped over a root and fell face first in\na mud puddle, making a sound of surprise followed by annoyance, all the while\nboth the professor and Riolu tried their hardest not to laugh.   \"See.\" Riolu\nfelt her insecurity about leaving disappear as she saw Derek scrambling up to\nhis feet and wiping of mud from his face, so she turned her head to Sycamore\nand with a smile she nodded, agreeing on following them to his lab. Returning\nthe smile Sycamore went over to Derek to see if he was alright, but probably\ndue to embarrassment he just said he was fine and increased the pace. Derek was\nsomething of a puzzle to Sycamore, not only did he show up unconscious on a\nfield surrounded by burnt grass but his reactions to Pokémons were, not\nordinary, nor was his physical strength. He wasn't sure what to make of him, he\nseems to have been honest when he answered the questions earlier in the centre,\nthough he never did answer him where he was from. He let go of his train of\nthoughts when they reached the car, of which everyone stepped in and Sycamore\ndrove off in the now dark forest to his lab in Aquacorde Town. Mark sat in the same chair his father had placed him in,\nstaring at the front door hoping James would burst through with Derek behind\nhim, but the hours went by and the sun was about to rise. He couldn't let go\nthe feeling of guilt, if he had done something differently, if he hadn't\nclimbed up that tree but instead continued to run towards home, maybe none of\nthis would have happened. While his thoughts continued to run through the event\nover and over again, trying to find the one thing he could have done\ndifferently, James came through the front door, alone. Mark looked up only to\nhave his wishful thinking destroyed, he could see the desperation in James'\neyes as he walked in to the kitchen.    \"Have you found\nanything?\" James only shook his head.   \"I'll make the\ncall to the police, you go door-to-door rounding up any volunteers for a search\nparty. We need to get this organized fast while we have the daylight.\" With\nthat Mark went outside, running from one neighbour to the next asking for help,\nluckily everyone he asked offered their help and would meet up at their house.   Meanwhile, James\ncalled the police and when he explained the situation to the operator she would\nsend for any unassigned officer to their location to help with the search, they\nwould then take the necessary actions. He thanked the man and hung up, he then\nmade calls to everyone he knew in the nearby towns, at work and whatever\nfriends of Derek to ask for their help of which everyone volunteered.   An hour later\nevery volunteer had arrived and the police officers had order for search dogs\nto help and had organized the search party by splitting everyone into smaller\ngroups, but they all ventured together to the camp Mark and Derek had put up.    Late\nthat afternoon when the sun had started to set they called of the search for\nthe day, despite James' objections. While everyone was leaving, James and Mark\ncontinued the search until late that night, but couldn't find anything nor\ncould Mark recall where he had run. So they headed home, disappointed and sad,\nbut hoping that some sleep, despite the inevitable difficulty it may possess,\nwould clear their minds and increasing their chances of finding their lost son\nand brother."}