When morning came, I was awoken by a very impatient Glace. "We have to get going, I need to be at work soon," she yelled. Jumping out of bed and frantically running around trying to collect my belongings, Lucario sat against the bed and watched me.

"You know, you could help out. Instead, you're just sitting and watching, having the time of your life, I assume. Is this entertaining to you?" I complained to the lazy pokémon. In response, Lucario got up and promptly walked out the door. I rolled my eyes and finally found my bag.

Glace ran into the room with a light blue bag, much like my own, and three pokéballs in her hand. "Let's go Soul. I got a call from a friend, I have people waiting on me. I hope you can make your way back to the Professor's Lab without my help.Unfortunately, I can't walk you back or I'll be even later than I already am," she rambled while speeding out the door.

I followed her outside, meeting up with Lucario, who was leaning against a tree and watching Glace dump all her items into her bag. I laughed at her lack of coordination and gave her a hug once she'd finally settled down. "Thank you for everything. It was so nice meeting you, I hope we can meet again in the future. You're probably the first friend I've made since I moved here," I admitted.

"If you follow that note, I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other sooner than you'd think. You gave me a desperately needed break, and if my pokémon had met you, I'm sure they would've loved you. Now, I need to get going. See you soon," Glace responded.

I watched as Glace ran off, slinging her bag over her shoulder and smiling. I waved and returned the smile, starting the long walk back to the lab. Lucario walked beside me, looking at the trees and pokémon around us. I'd somewhat gotten used to the calls of the pokémon during the day, and in a way, it made me feel happy. Which was weird, considering I used to yell at the birds that sang in the morning.

I suddenly came to a halt, remembering the pokéballs in my bag. I dug into my bag and brought out Lucario's pokéball. Lucario looked down at the pokéball and back up at me, nodding understandingly. Pointing the pokéball at Lucario, I watched as he disappeared in a beam of red.

After a bit of walking, the familiar sight of the Professor's Lab came into view. Deciding it would be easier to get in through the back door, I started off the path and deeper into the trees. A sudden shaking of leaves behind me caught my attention. I quickly whipped around to look for the source of the sound.

I scanned over my surroundings and spotted a bush to my right which had fallen leaves scattered around it. Cautiously taking a step closer, the shaking became violent. I stumbled back a couple steps, caught completely off guard.

Stepping out of the bushes was a ridiculously large pokémon, it's basic shape resembling that of a lion. Most of its body was covered in shaggy black fur. Some parts of it, including the ears, face, legs, and torso, were a light blue. Yellow rings could be seen on the back part of its front legs. The pokémon's tail ended with what would be a star if it had another point on it.

Despite its obvious yellow, blue, and black color scheme, it had a red nose. Adding to the red, what would usually be the whites of its eyes were the same red of its nose. The pupils were yellow like the end of its tail, inside of its ears, and the rings on its leg. On top of its head was a mane of black fur, making it resemble a lion more than any other big cat.

The pokémon let out a low growl, revealing its sharp white teeth. I took another step back and slowly moved my hand into my bag. The large pokémon lowered the front half of its body, like a cat preparing to pounce on its prey. Fear slithered into my gut, giving me a sickening feeling. My hand found its way to Lucario's pokéball, doing little to bring comfort to my current situation.

"Luxray! Come back here! We're all looking for you," a familiar chirpy voice called out. I let out a sigh of relief, immediately recognizing Rose's voice. Just as I let go of my pokéball, Rose appeared just behind Luxray. When our eyes met, her face lit up.

"Hey Rose," I sheepishly greeted.

"Soul! Oh my god, we were getting worried. We knew you wanted space, but you were gone for a long time. We didn't know if you were okay or if you'd just left," she explained. I smiled slightly and shrugged.

"It was getting late and someone I met offered to let me stay the night. The next morning was, well, eventful. Things happened and I ended up staying there another night," I briefly recapped.

"Well I'm glad you're back," Rose admitted with a smile. She walked over to me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back, breaking away after hearing someone clear their throat behind me. I pulled away and turned around, greeted with familiar sea green eyes.

"Hey Soul. You're actually just in time," Luke revealed happily.

"Just in time for what?" I asked.

Luke only grinned in response, and Rose let out a cheerful giggle. The both of them set off in a sprint towards the lab, leaving me behind. I mentally groaned but nonetheless, ran after the two of them. It was surprising how fast I'd managed to catch up to them. Running back home would only happen when the world was ending or there was cheap food nearby. Not to mention how out of breath and out of shape I am.

As the three of us came to a stop right outside the lab, Luke and Rose led me to a large field. I recognized it from the game, it was a battlefield. Before I could even ask what was going on, Luke charged over to the opposite end of the field, joining Allen, who I just noticed was waiting there. 

Just as I was about to turn to Rose, Luxray made its way over to Luke. I quickly realized that not only was Luxray insanely fast because he took off after me and got here before all of us, he was also either Luke's or Allen's pokémon. As if to answer my question, Luxray protectively stood in front of Luke.

"Luke and Allen have been wanting to try this for ages. I didn't think it was a good idea considering none of us have battled before, but Cora and Amy thought it would be fun. I wanted no part of it until Absol is comfortable with me," Rose explained.

"They're going to have a double battle before having separate battles? Are they crazy or stupid?" I asked. When Rose opened her mouth to answer. Amy and Cora came running out the doors and onto their side of the battlefield.

The two of them looked over at me and smiled brightly, a silent greeting passing between us. Cora turned back to the field, throwing the pokéball in her hand onto the field. With a flash of light, Amaura appeared on the field. Following her lead, Amy let out Espeon and smiled. On the other side of the field, Allen threw his pokéball up and smiled as his pokémon appeared.

The pokémon had the same body structure of Espeon, except it was almost all black. It had yellow eyes, but black pupils, resulting in a sharp stare. It had long pointed ears and a bushy tail, each with a single blue ring around it. On the side of its legs and the middle of its forehead were blue circles.

"I forgot, you haven't seen him yet. That's Umbreon. When the pokédex pulled up a picture of a normal Umbreon, we were really confused. All of us except Allen, that is. He explained to us that Umbreon was a shiny, which basically means his Umbreon is super rare and it has a different color than most others. He went on for hours about how his pokémon was the best out of all of us, it was really annoying. Cora literally ended up throwing her shoe at him to get him to shut up," Rose clarified.

"That definitely sounds like Allen," I laughed. Rose smiled and turned back to the battlefield. I did the same, now noticing the confusion written on my four friend's faces. Allen awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, Amy cleared her throat, Luke watched the pokémon playing, and Cora fiddled with a piece of her sky blue hair.

"Oh my god!" Rose exclaimed. Everyone turned to Rose, watching as she broke out into a fit  laughter. "You guys have no idea what moves your pokémon have, do you?" she asked. In response to her question, the four of them shook their head. Amy gave a sheepish smile before running back into the lab.

"How could we not have thought of that?" Luke groaned.

"If it was just Allen, it would've made sense. I just expected more from the rest of you," I teasingly revealed. Allen turned to me and stuck out his tongue, not doing much to prove otherwise. I walked to the middle of the battlefield, followed by Rose.

"Where did Amy even go?" Cora muttered.

"I went to go get the professor," Amy responded. I turned around and watched as Amy and the professor walked out to the battlefield. The professor was holding a pokédex, busily tapping at the digital screen. "I asked him if we could use the pokédex to figure out what moves our pokémon are capable of using," the auburn haired teen clarified.

For a moment, we all just watched the professor tap away at the pokédex. Finally, the professor looked up from the screen and smiled at the six of us. He motioned with his hand for us to gather around, so we all made our way over to the gray haired scientist. He flipped the tablet around to show us what was on the bright screen.

A rotating picture of Amy's Espeon was on the left of the screen, but to the right was a list of moves that Espeon knew. My eyes scanned over the four moves, smiling as Amy did a small dance of victory.

"Your Espeon must be fairly strong considering the list of moves it has. For an Espeon to have psychic, shadow ball, signal beam, and calm mind, it has a lot of power. Of course, trusting the trainer and going into battle will be the final judge of that. All pokémon have lots of potential, but it's up to the trainer to bring out their partner's power," the professor lectured.

"I don't think it's a good idea for them to have a battle, let alone a double battle. I have a feeling it just wouldn't end well. Maybe they should hold off on it," I offered. Allen and Cora turned to me with frowns on their faces.

"Don't be a killjoy. Just because you don't even want to see what pokémon you have, it doesn't mean we can't battle. Lighten up," Cora suggested.

"I agree with Soul, having a battle without knowing if your pokémon fully trust you is risky. I think each of you should take some time to bond with your pokémon. Maybe heading off on your own journeys is something you should consider. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, you guys are at just the right age," the professor advised.

The six of us looked at one another, as if silently trying to decide if we would follow the surprise note we'd found. For me, as much as I didn't like it, I just had a gut feeling. I didn't know how to explain it, but I knew we needed to follow that note.

"Well, I'll leave you young teens to decide. I have research to resume and pokémon to care for," the professor informed. Just like that, he handed Amy the pokédex and walked back inside. I watched as he disappeared behind the walls of his house, debating whether or not I would show them Lucario.

"I guess we should probably decide if we're going to set off on our own journeys. First the note and now the professor, I don't know how many signs we're waiting for the universe to give us. I think it's pretty clear that we should follow the note and see where it leads us," Luke started.

Before they could start arguing, I moved into the middle of the group. "Move back ," I demanded. For once, the five of my friends listened to me without objecting. Taking a deep breath, I dug into my bag and pulled out the familiar red and white pokéball.

I looked over at Allen, smiling slightly at his completely confused facial expression. All eyes were on me as I threw the pokéball into the air and stepped back. Like usual, it opened with a flash of light. When it had dimmed down, Lucario stood proudly in front of me. Silence fell over my friends as they stared at the pokémon in front of them.

I mentally laughed as I took in their shocked expressions. Cora's jaw dropped, as if she hadn't expected me to have unlocked the pokéball at all. She had a fair reason to believe that, but it was still amusing to prove her wrong. Luke's shock soon wore off and turned into a smile.

"What pokémon is that?," Luke asked.

"Lucario," I answered happily.

Out of nowhere, Allen broke out into wild sobbing. He ran up to the Lucario and hugged him, nearly missing the gigantic spike in the middle of Lucario's chest. Lucario's eyes widened in shock and the aura pokémon quickly recoiled from Allen's embrace.

"I watched Lucario and the Mystery of Mew so many times. I don't think I ever managed to get through it without crying. Oh my god, that movie was so heartbreaking. Thank you for your sacrifice Lucario," Allen sobbed.

Lucario just stared blankly at Allen before walking away. Awkward silence filled the air as Allen curled up into a ball on the grass. Realizing that none of us exactly knew how to respond to whatever just happened (or understand Allen's breakdown for that matter), I slowly backed away.

Luke let out a sigh of frustration and walked over to Allen. He waved his hand, silently telling us to go. I nodded thankfully, following Cora, Rose, and Amy deeper into the woods. The more distance we put between us and the lab, the quieter Allen's pathetic sobbing became. Thankful that Luke had decided to deal with Allen, I hummed and walked behind my three friends.

After returning Amaura, Cora and Rose talked amongst themselves. I heard something about the temperature not being safe for the fossil pokémon, but I was too far back to know for sure. Eventually, Amy lagged behind too, obviously trying to talk to me about something.

For a while we just walked in silence, neither of us quite sure what to say. Eventually we came across Lucario who was leaning against a tree and sleeping. When I returned him to his pokéball, Amy took the chance to start a conversation.

"So, what do you think? Luke obviously wants to follow the note. In my opinion, I don't think it's safe. For all we know, the entire reason for that plan was to split us up. I mean, if we aren't together, whoever wrote that note would have an easier time picking us off," she began.

"Well, we don't even know if that was the intention to begin with. It's obvious the note was put there for me to find, but a part of me doesn't believe that whoever left that note wanted to hurt me. When I found the note, I saw a pokémon I couldn't identify. It was a large pokémon though, and it could've easily killed me if it so much as sneezed. Why go through all the trouble of splitting us up now if they could've done so before," I countered.

For a moment, Amy seemed to process the new information. Finally, she nodded and looked down. I followed her gaze, smiling at the sight of Espeon at her feet. Now that I thought about it, ever since Amy unlocked Espeon, she'd never returned her. I silently decided to ask the question at a better time. Instead, I quickened my pace to catch up with the talkative girls in front of me. I waved at Amy, silently telling her to do the same.

As the four of us walked, being sure to stay close enough to the lab so we could find our way back, I was lost in thought. From the shadow figures to meeting Glace, everything just felt like it was happening for a reason. In a way, it was like I was playing the storyline of the game, but this time I was inside the game. Maybe my gut was wrong about all of this, but I was fairly certain I wasn't the only one that felt as though the note was something we needed to listen to.

Although it was a slim chance, there was still the possibility that the note would lead us to some answers about how we got here. One thing I knew for sure was that we couldn't stay with the professor forever. He may be nice, but we're already overstaying our welcome. Suggesting that we went on a journey was probably his nice way of telling us to get out. Besides, we wouldn't get any answers by hiding in a lab for the rest of our lives.

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Author's Note

Sorry for the late update, things got busy for me. It was also my sister's birthday yesterday.

This was more of a filler chapter but the next chapter should be more interesting. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

That's all for now, ha det~