Lucki

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When Lucki got back Silver was practicing hitting things with her water gun. Flare was walking about, sniffing the camp area and looking around. The absol was where she'd been when Lucki left, and Raiden was still bounding about. She wondered if they'd tried to talk to the absol or not.

Flare had lain down, not exactly close to Lucki but not far either, and on the opposite side from the absol. Lucki was finishing up her soup.

Raiden walked somewhat hesitantly toward Flare. "Um, wanna play?" he asked.

Flare's eyes didn't open. "No."

"Flare!" Lucki chastised. "You shouldn't sit around and sulk all day. It'd be good exercise. You could use some running practice, you know."

"Sorry," Flare apologized, sounding sincere. He stood up and followed Raiden, whose tail was wagging happily.

Lucki headed over to Silver, who was resting, looking tired, a little way off. "How are you?"

"I think I'm getting better," Silver replied quietly.

"Uh, about what I said about talking to the absol. Have you?"

"We kind of, I said hi and stuff, but she's kind of..." Silver trailed off. "Imposing, I guess. And it seemed like I should wait until she wasn't resting to talk. Sorry."

"It's okay, just make sure you do talk to her. Make her feel welcome. It's like all of you are avoiding her right now," Lucki told Silver.

Silver nodded. "I will."

By late afternoon, the absol was sitting calmly, although it wasn't clear if she was watching or meditating or lost in thought. It started to get darker and the pokemon formed a loose ring near the fire while Lucki got out her sleeping bag. They started talking to one another, and with the absol.

"She's really a very nice person," volunteered Silver as Lucki lay down. "You'll like her once you get to know her. It might seem scary at first, but it's not really once you get used to it."

"If you felt it was scary," the absol said in her beautiful alien voice, "then it was, wasn't it?"

"I guess, but," Silver half stammered, sounding uncertain, "I mean, once you...It's not really, I just thought it was...I just was, at first...It's not as bad as it seems, at first..."

Saurius spoke up as Silver trailed off. "Lucki is a good trainer," he asserted, and explained how she had helped him. "I joined her of my own choice. She's not cruel, and she knows what she's doing. She is a good person."

"Yes," Flare agreed emphatically.

"Yeah! She plays with me sometimes," Raiden told the absol, "and she helped me learn all sorts of new moves and ways of fighting so I can win."

Lucki closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep. She thought she heard the absol say, "And what about you?" but she wasn't sure what it meant or who it was said to, or even if it was said at all.