The Best is Yet to Come (A Pokemon Fanfic)(OC x Leon)

Chapter 6: New Friends

"Ru, if you want to stop and come home, you can! You've already done so much, you-"

"No, I want to finish what I started..." Ru felt bad for having interrupted Professor Elm but she had to. She didn't want to quit her research all because of some silly nightmares. How foolish would that be? "Galar's actually pretty great. I've made some really nice friends here, and the Pokémon here are really interesting. I want to study them."

Professor Elm swapped his phone to his other ear, leaning it into his shoulder as he adjusted dials on his microscope. He frowned, "If you're sure you're up for it, dear. I hate that you're having so many nightmares about those ultra beasts...maybe try discussing it with Professor Kukui sometime if they're getting so bad?"

Ru shook her head as if her father could see, rubbing her forehead; "I'd really hate to bother him, he's been fairly busy lately with his own research. Besides, I-" She paused, noticing Laika had turned her focus to something to the left of the path and started to growl. "I'll call you back, dad, something's up with Laika." She immediately hung up and kneeled down next to her companion.

Laika barked, staring directly at a boy in the tall grass, who seemed to be struggling with something.

Ru and Laika had been up and down the path between Postwick and Wedgehurst for a couple of weeks now, and they had never seen that child before. Maybe he was lost?

"Um, do you need help there, sweetie?" The young woman approached the tall grass, Laika plastered to her side with caution. Ru put a hand on the Houndoom's head, reassuring her while they had walked through the Pokémon-infested field.

The boy turned, huge golden orbs looking at Ru, and grinned brightly. "Oh, no! I'm fine, thanks, mate!" He scratched the back of his head, fingers itching through his short dark purple hair. He had suddenly flinched seeing the massive canine beside the brunette, "Woah! What kind of Pokémon is that?"

Ru looked down to Laika, seeing she had now calmed down. "This is Laika, she's a Houndoom from the Johto region."

"THE JOHTO REGION?!" The child had looked so amazed, eyes twinkling as he got up in the canine's face and gently petted her head. "That's awfully far from here, I bet it's so cool there." He looked back up at Ru, "Oh, I'm Hop, by the way!"

"You can call me Ru." The woman giggled, petting Laika with the boy. She felt something extremely familiar about the child; the eyes, the hair, and even that big toothy smile. She just couldn't put her finger on it. "So, what are you doing out here in the grass, Hop?"

"Oh, right!" He ran back over to where Ru first saw him, "My Wooloo fell asleep here and he just won't budge." Hop motioned the woman over, pointing to his companion in a small opening between two patches of taller grass.

The duo followed him, soon enough seeing the large lump of wool snoozing the day away against a large boulder.

Ru scratched her chin to ponder the situation, sitting on her knees beside the little Pokémon. "This might be just a hunch but perhaps your friend encountered a Pokémon that knows a move that'd put him to sleep?"

"Ah!" Hop snapped his fingers, "Wooloo did upset my neighbor's Budew just a moment ago. They could've used sleep powder on him! Wooloo just can't seem to learn when no means no- he's been wanting a playmate for a while now..." He noticed Ru swinging her satchel over her head and dropping it onto the ground to rummage through it. He noticed tons of papers, poke balls, and an old Pokedex. Hop pointed to her bag, "Are you a professor? You seem to have a lot of stuff on you just like one would." He suddenly gasped and knelt down in front of the woman excitedly; "ARE YOU WORKING FOR THE FAMOUS PROFESSOR IN JOHTO?!"