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Lucario: A Pokemon Trainer

"Professor, what made you choose such a strange specialty for study? Pokemon who can speak the human language? Why?

"Well, there have been stranger studies. Sometimes science is simply about knowing something for no other reason than pure curiosity."

"I know that. But why are you so curious about this specific thing? Why not join the mega evolution studies? You'd avoid a lot of the mocking from the other researchers if you did."

"The other researchers are working on something they believe in too, and if that makes them happy then they can have that work, but I have a feeling this is more important."

"A feeling? No evidence yet?"

"No. Just some memories. I knew a speaking Pokemon once. He's gone now, but before he went, he told me something was coming; something that I would have to watch out for. It told me the world was at stake, and that I would be crucial in saving it. He told me to start with this study. Isn't that worth the mocking?"

"Maybe, but how do you know that Pokemon was right?"

"Because he was my friend. The best of friends. And I choose to believe in him."

My life began when I woke up from some kind of deep sleep beneath a thriving oak tree. It was as if I had emerged from the very bark of it, or maybe the ground where the roots kept it sturdy from wind and storm. When I opened my eyes I saw the sky for what felt like the first time, and it was blue and clear, with not a cloud in sight. A field stretched before me. I could see a farm house in the distance.

When I felt like standing, I used the trunk of the oak to pull myself to my feet, fighting against the weakness in my legs and arms. I felt dizzy as I rose, as if I had been sleeping for thousands of years with my body still recovering from the long hibernation. I leaned my head against the bark, closing my eyes again as if I was ready to fall back into the long sleep.

But I didn't. Instead I began to walk.

I didn't know where I was going. My feet seemed to be directing me toward that farmhouse on the horizon, and I let them take me, as my mind was tired enough to trust their judgment. I did take a moment to look back at the oak tree. Its leaves were swaying in the breeze, as if to wave me goodbye and wish me well on whatever journey I was waiting for me.

I don't know how my legs managed to carry me across the field despite the weakness in them, but I reached the farmhouse within about twenty minutes. It was typical of a farm. A bit worn down with old wooden siding and a front porch with a sinking roof. The windows were dirty, but clean enough to see through, and I could tell the place wasn't abandoned by the electric light that funneled through them from inside.

Behind the house, and a bit to the side of it, there was a red barn which for some reason seemed to be in better shape than the house. It seemed a nice place to go as my mind was already giving in to the idea of rest. My legs complied, and sent me there, through a side door I found on the left wall.

The inside of the barn was cleaner than I thought it would be, with only the disorganization of straw and hay littering the floor. There wasn't much of a smell like you'd think, and a glittering beam of sunlight streamed through the barn's high windows, giving light to an otherwise dim place.

And there was another kind of light coming from across the barn, in one of the stalls there. Every other stall was empty from what I could see, and so I thought I'd investigate this one to see why a calm flicker surrounded it. Something heard me coming, and I saw the flicker brighten, as if it were excited.

There, in the stall, was a horse on fire. I recognized it instantly as a Ponyta, surprised that I knew that word. Where had I learned it if I didn't seem to have a past?

The Ponyta stood up when I neared it, and whinnied when I grew close enough to touch it on the snout. The flames cooled on its head, and I reached to it and began to stroke it, somehow knowing that the horse on fire would not seek to burn me.

"You're quite pretty," I said to her.

"Thank you," The Ponyta said back.

I slumped against the wall near her stall and sat down to give into my weakness.

"I hope you don't mind if I sleep here for a while? I'm very tired."

"Take all the time you need, the Ponyta said.

After I closed my eyes, it didn't take long for me to drift off to sleep once again.

I awoke to a sharp pain poking into my ear, and my eyes shot open as I sat up, raising my arms as if I were under attack. I tried to back up against the wall, and ended up pressing into it like a cornered animal. When I looked up at the attacker, I was surprised to see a young boy.

He couldn't have been older than seven years, though he was tall for his age. His hair was cut like a bowl, and his clothes matched the summer heat; shorts, a T-shirt, and bare feet. He was holding a stick in his right hand. It must have been what he poked me with.

We both stared at each other for a few moments and I was the first to say something.

"Hello," I said, simply trying to break the silence.

The boy gasped and responded with an odd question.

"You can talk?!" I was about to answer, but he didn't wait for a response and began to run off. "Mommy! Daddy! There's a talking Pokemon in our barn!"

I didn't try to stop him as he ran out the door yelling about me and how I could talk over and over again, his voice fading away slowly, and was soon replaced with the sound of an older person, debating with him.

"What's this about a Pokemon?" asked the older man.

"Daddy! He's in the barn! He said 'hi' to me!" said the boy.

"There's no one in there but Blaze, son. And she sure isn't a talker."

"Not Blaze! There's another one!"

The door to the barn opened and a man stepped in. His face bore the slight wrinkle of a middle aged man, complete with slightly graying black hair. His overalls and plaid were typical of any farmer, and his frame showed his developed strength.

The man, who must have been the boy's father, looked around the barn and didn't see me at first, but as he walked further toward the Ponyta, Blaze, his eye caught mine.

"Well what a surprise," he said.

"See daddy? I told you!" said the boy, who was peeking into from the doorway.

I was about to say something, maybe to explain why I was there, but the Ponyta said something first.

"Whatever you do, don't speak." she said. I had to stop myself from asking why not. "They can understand you somehow. You must know the human language. Don't let them know."

The urge to ask her why I shouldn't speak was strong, but I held it back.

"What are you doing in here, buddy?" the father asked me. I kept my mouth shut, and simply stared at him. "Are you lost?"

He came closer and kneeled down to talk to me at face level, looking me over as I was some unknown phenomenon.

"You hurt?" He asked, and he reached out to touch me, but I shrugged him away. "Now, now, I'm not gonna hurt ya." With that reassurance, I let him lift up my arms, and look at my back. Then he held my ear, as if he were looking for something.

"Where'd he come from, daddy?" the boy asked. He had taken a few steps into the barn.

"Don't rightly know, son. He ain't got a mark, so he can't have a trainer."

I didn't know what he meant by 'trainer', and I hoped he didn't notice the confused look I gave him.

"Odd. There ain't many wild Lucarios. Especially around our land."

I had never heard the word "Lucario" before, but it had a strange ring, as if I should have known it well.

"So he's a Lucario?" the boy asked.

"Yep. I've seen his type on the TV."

I didn't understand. What did they mean that I was a Lucario? What was a Lucario?"

I suddenly noticed that the farmer had something in his hand; a little red and white ball made of metal.

"Maybe I can get him into a pokeball and then we can find out where he came from." He lifted the ball and held it out at me. For some reason, I thought I was supposed to take it from him, and I reached toward it.

At the very moment I touched it, a blinding beam of red came at me, surrounding my body, and burning like fire. I screamed.

"Stop! What are you doing to me?!"

"It can talk?!" I heard the boy yell.

The light disappeared as fire replaced it in front of me. The ball in the man's hand exploded, sending shrapnel from the ball flying in all directions. Smoke formed a haze in the room, and when it cleared I saw that the man's hand and face was covered in the color of ash. There was the festering red of a burn underneath that ash.

"What are you?" He gasped.

I knew I had to run as fast as I could. The Ponyta eve said it. "Run!" An instinct made me raise my paw. A blue light engulfed it, and rushed out, smashing into the barn wall. I jumped up as I saw the light blast a hole into the wood; an escape for me.

I jumped through the hole, rolled onto the ground, and ran as if my life depended on it, which it very well might have.

"Come back!" I heard the boy yell, but I was already too far away. I was fast. Very fast. Faster than I ever thought possible.