A Late Start

Memento

"Did you bring me out here just to battle me?" I asked Ethan before standing up from the bench, causing Silas to tumble awkwardly to the floor. "Oops, sorry bud, forgot you were there," Silas grumbled quietly before standing at my side.
"Well, not exactly. There is something else I wanted to do with you."
"And what might that be?" My fingers had begun to go numb from the bandages so I started flexing them repeatedly.
"Well, as you know, there are quite a few wild pokemon around here. I figured it's high time you learned how to catch one."
"Ethan. I've been going to trainer school for 8 years now. I know how to catch a pokemon."
"Well, then you should have no trouble finding a new partner for Silas here." Silas seemed vaguely offended by his comment.
"First of all, Silas IS my partner and he always will be. And secondly, I don't have any balls or money to buy them."
"You can borrow one of mine. Or we can go and pick up a 'starter kit' from Floccesy. Every trainer gets one free and you haven't claimed yours yet."
"Alright give me one, I'll prove to you that I'm more than capable of catching a pokemon." A smug grin came over his face.
"How's about we bet on it."
"Bet what exactly?"
"If you can catch a pokemon by the end of the day, I'll give you 3000 bucks, should be enough to keep them both fed for at least a month, as well as getting you some actual gear."
"And if I can't?"
"Then you're going to be my partner at a doubles tournament coming up a week from now."
"That's it?"
"And I'll be taking 75% of whatever we win."
"So half of my cut basically."
"Hey, if you wanna say it like that. Do we have a deal?" He held out his hand with a smug grin.
"Alright. Fine, it's a deal," I took his hand firmly and we shook on it.
"Well, you need to be home before dark if I remember, and it's about an hour's walk from here to Aspertia. So that gives you... 4 hours to catch a pokemon." Crap, I forgot I promised I'd be home before dark.
"It'll be no problem." I declared, trying to sound confident.
"Alright, then I'll see you back here in 4 hours on the dot. You're not here, or show up empty-handed with a broken ball, you're coming to that tourney with me." He then threw me a single Pokeball from his bag. As he turned to leave the ranch.
"Wait what? You're just gonna leave me out here?"
"Of course, wouldn't be much of a challenge if I was here to bail you out now would it?" I groaned quietly enough that he wouldn't hear me and turned to face the wilderness I was about to wrestle with for a few hours.
"This was a terrible idea..." I sighed.
"Call me if you get into trouble, or want to call it quits," Ethan called smugly from over his shoulder.
"Well, Silas. I hope you're ready for some field work."

I spent about 20 minutes wandering aimlessly, taking notes of whatever pokemon I could find. I have plenty of time, no need to rush into any immediate catch I told myself, mostly the area was full of the usuals, Patrat, Lillipup and a few Mareep left behind when the farm went defunct. There was also a handful of Pidove, and some other, non-native bird pokemon. I recognised a Pidgey but couldn't tell any of the others and didn't want to lose time scanning them.
"What do you think Silas? Should we take the easy route and just grab one of these every day mon? I mean, it would practically assure that we'd win the bet." He looked up at me with a 'really' type expression, one eyebrow raised sarcastically.
"Barely a year old and you already understand sarcasm," I remarked. "You're right though, we can do better."
Another few minutes passed and we found a lake, a handful of pokemon were gathered there.
"Azuril, Psyduck, Dunsparce. Now that's interesting. A water-type would certainly be welcome, we already know you can beat that Oshawott, and having a 4 times type advantage would wipe that smirk off of Ethan's face for sure."
Silas seemed excited by the idea as well, He chirped playfully at my feet "you wanna beat him too do you?"
"Ee, voi," he trilled. I continued to study the crowd when something else caught my eye. Off behind the lake, a small, blue pokemon was punching a tree, repeatedly. I crouched low and gestured for Silas to do the same. As we slowly moved towards the mysterious figure a handful of pokemon dashed away into the forest beyond the fence.
As we began to draw near to the creature I was able to confirm my suspicions. Black legs, a 'mask' of fur around its eyes and two bulbous feelers on either side of its head, It was a Riolu, without a doubt. Not only were they incredibly rare, but with heightened senses and a habit of fleeing the moment, they feel overwhelmed very few trainers were actually able to capture one. As quiet as I could I pulled out my Pokedex to scam the creature. It hadn't noticed and I got my scan [Species; Riolu, Classification; The Emanation Pokemon, Gender; Male, Age < 1 year.] Still so young that means there's a chance it might not be as strong with its perception. I slipped the dex back into my bag and continued slowly towards the Riolu, still bashing away at the tree. Looking down I saw there was no way I could get any closer without making too much noise. I carefully unclipped the empty ball from my belt, enlarging it before clasping it tightly in my hand. Alright, Lex, you can do this. I pulled my arm back and pitched the ball as hard as I could toward the creature. I missed, hearing the ball land next to it the creature looked up, saw me and immediately took off running.
"Crap," I said aloud. "Get after it Silas, but don't hurt it, I doubt it's strong enough to take even a few hits." I quickly ran over to the tree, picking up the ball and giving it a quick check. Still good I thought as I took off after Silas. I caught up with him after about a minute, I could see the Riolu running ahead, they're usually much faster. Just how young is this one? After another minute or so of chasing I ran into something, causing me to fall over.
"Ow, Crap," I said aloud. I opened my eyes, expecting to see the tree I must've hit. To my surprise, It wasn't a tree, but a pokemon, a Lucario specifically and one that looked pissed.
"Give me one good reason not to kill you where you stand, human." The creature spoke, without moving its mouth. IT CAN TALK?
"Uh, hi there Ma'am, at least. I assume from the voice."
"I'm not here for pleasantries, who are you and what do you want with my son." Her voice was gruff, yet still somehow warm and motherly, It seemed somewhat familiar.
"My name is Alexis Evans, I'm a rookie pokemon trainer from Aspertia City, I was just out looking for a new pokemon for my team when I stumbled upon your. Ahem, your son." The creature put a hand to my head and I could feel an intense power emanating from it I closed my eyes and braced for whatever it was about to do.
"Evans, you say. Does the name Seymore, mean anything to you?" I opened one of my eyes cautiously
"Seymore is my father's name, he disappeared 12 years ago after departing for Castelia City. I haven't heard from him since." I saw the creature open its eyes slightly. "Wait. Lucy... Is that you?" Her eyes snapped open to meet my own and her hand fell to her side.
"No one has called me that in a long time, child."
"Y... you were my father's partner. Weren't you." She remained silent. "Do you still remember me?" A nod, she appeared to be crying.
"We used to play here when you were still just a babe."
"You're... Alive? We. I thought you were dead." Memories came flooding back to my mind and I couldn't help but start to cry. Lucy put her hand on my head again, but this time there was no energy behind it. I began to stand up, slowly. Realising how much taller than her I was now.
"You used to carry me on your shoulders whenever we would play out here. The world always looked so much smaller from there." Tears still welled in my eyes as I looked down at Her. "What happened, To my father?"
"We never made it to Castelia."
"What do you mean?"
"The ferry was unavailable, we didn't want to wait, so we tried to cross the river on a rental rowboat. We never made it across."
"He. He drowned, didn't he?" She nodded her head solemnly.
"A school of basculin attacked, flipped the boat, he couldn't swim. Not that it would have mattered, he barely had enough time to grab my ball when he fell unconscious to one of their attacks. A channel 10 miles wide and 400 deep. We sank. 5 years passed, down at the bottom of that godforsaken river. The mechanism holding me within the Pokeball rusted away, setting me free. What remained of your father had long since withered away. I'm sorry."
"I had always assumed it was a wild pokemon attack. But I never would have thought. Like that." I said, barely keeping myself together. "Why didn't you ever come home, Lucy?"
"I tried to, but I heard your mother talking about Pokemon, about me with such disdain to you in an attempt to dissuade you from following his path, I figured my return would Illicit little more than scorn."
"She probably would have been mad at first, but you're all we have left of him now, you should come with me. I'm sure she'd be glad to see you again."
"It's not that simple anymore, Alexis. As much as I would love to go back, I have responsibilities now, there are others I have to protect."
"Your son, right?" She nodded. "You know he can come too right? I'm a trainer now, so we can take care of you two, and I'm sure mom would appreciate some extra help around the house. Or hey, failing that, you could come with me, and get to see the rest of Unova, beyond just the western side."
"I'm in no shape to accompany a trainer anymore, I can't fail you like I did your father."
"Hey, it's not your fault Lucy, nobody would have blamed you for what happened. Even if you were out of your ball, you can't expect to fight off an entire school, while carrying someone underwater." She sighed. Even Silas had been gently leaning on my ankle throughout the conversation. "Come home Lucy, Please?"
"You are sure it would be okay?" It was my turn to nod.
"At least for a little while, I'm sure mom will warm to the idea." All of the sudden my Xtransceiver started to ring. When I picked up the call I wasn't surprised at all to see Ethan on the end of the line.
"Well, Lexi, it's been 4 hours, anything to show for it?"
"Uhh, Something. It's a long story, I'll fill you in in a little bit."
"Alright, meet me by the gates to the ranch, don't be late." Click he hung up on me. I turned back to Lucy,
"We should get going, I have to be back before it gets dark. You coming?" I grabbed Silas off the ground, placing him gently on my shoulder. Lucy did the same to her cub, although she decided to just carry him. And we made our way towards the gate.

Ethan was waiting for me at the gate by the time we arrived. His jaw fell slack the moment he saw Lucy following me.
"No way, you did NOT catch a full-grown Lucario in that single ball I gave you." He exclaimed, flabbergasted.
"You're right, I didn't." I handed back the ball he gave me. "You win, I didn't catch anything."
"That still doesn't explain. That." He pointed at Lucy.
"Friend of yours?" She queried.
"And it can talk!?"
"Ethan... meet Lucy, my father's pokemon partner. Lucy, this is Ethan a friend of mine ever since I was five."
Ethan was silent the entire walk home.