Stand by You part 2 of 4

Chapter 49: Dream On

**Flashback dream**

Lucy was soaking wet and filthy. Her last meal consisted of some vegetable fried rice and a half-eaten wonton that she had fetched out of the dumpster. That was two days ago. Now she wondered the streets in the darkness, trying to find a safe place to sleep.

"This is perfect", she thought out loud as she came across an abandoned tent.

It wasn't perfect, and the tent was not abandoned.

"How did you get in here?" Lucy asked the tiny baby.

The child was wrapped in rags and dangerously overweight. Lucy couldn't tell if it was a newborn or a few years old. It looked up at her sadly, but didn't cry.

"I just you haven't learned how to talk yet. But don't worry, I got you", Lucy said as she held the infant in her arms. "I wont leave you here alone. I'm going to take you to a Pokémon center".

Lucy picked up the baby and found that it wasn't as heavy as she expected.

"I guess all that training really comes in handy", she told the baby.

"Stop!" a female voice called from behind her. "Let go of my baby!"

Lucy gently put the baby down. "I was just trying to help", she said defensively. "Why do you have an infant in here. Are you trying to kill it?"

"A talking Purrloin", the woman said in disbelief. "I must be hallucinating".

"No, I really talk. I don't think you should be taking care of this baby alone", said Lucy. "You don't seem that responsible. And I never saw a human this scrawny before".

"I am doing my best", the woman responded. "I have no job. I was fired from Team Galactic and no other gangs will hire me unless I put the baby up for adoption. I can't get any job, really, because I have no one to watch him".

"I can watch him", Lucy offered.

"A dirty Purrloin", she responded. "I don't think that's a good idea".

"It is better than having him starve", Lucy retorted.

"Fine. Then do this. Pretend to be my Pokémon. I can tell nurse Joy that you need a checkup. You get free food, a bath, and a massage while I get a warm, safe place to sleep for a few days", she suggested.

"That's a good idea. I tried to go there by myself by Nurse Joy recognizes me as a thief. She doesn't service wild Pokémon unless they are seriously injured or really sick", Lucy explained. "What about when those few days are up? Where are you going to go?"

"I can get a job as a nurse's assistant. Then I will be able to stay in the nurse's dorms for free. I won't make much money but my baby will be safe and we will not have to worry about the basic necessities".

"Let's do this", said Lucy.

Lucy stuck with her, a short woman with long black hair, and her son for a few weeks. Lucy ended up having to do almost everything for the baby. Bottle feeding it, changing its diapers, even teaching it how to walk and talk. She even saved the infant's life once by giving it CPR when it stopped breathing in the middle of the night. The mother was almost never around, and Lucy knew that if she told anyone, the baby would be separated from its mother, possibly forever. One evening Lucy was sitting alone with the infant in the nurses' dorm that she shared with the mother.

"I hate changing your stinky diapers", she told the baby, whose name was Takeshi. "I hope your mother returns home".

Lucy gave Takeshi a bath and got him all ready for bed. It was 8:00pm.