Chapter Two: The Lucario in the Cave

Six months earlier, Mira had just won her seventh Gym Battle at Sunrise City, to get to the next town Mira had to cross through the Mountain range that passes through the Northern part of the Soko Region, Mt. Risemoon. A mountain with three names, that's what the mountain was known for. The side that stands over Sunrise City was known to be called Mt. Sunrise, on the other side lies a city called Darkmoon City, the mountain side that stands over Darkmoon City is called Mt. Darkmoon. The whole mountain to the rest of the Soko Region was known as Mt. Risemoon.

Mira approached the entrance to the Mt. Sunrise mountain side, going into the cave alone was unsettling to Mira. She never liked going into dark places by herself. Suddenly, one of Mira's Pokéballs opened. Her partner Piplup suddenly stood beside her, thumping his chest with one of his flippers.

"You're saying to be brave, am I right Piplup?"

"Pip-pip-Piplup-pip!!" Piplup continued to thump his chest with his flipper as the proud Pokémon stepped foot into the darkness of Mt. Sunrise.

The darkness of the caves were just like rumors Mira had heard about. The darkness was so thick that she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face.

"Man, it really is dark in here," Mira reached into her bag and grabbed the flashlight she carried with her. She flicked on her Pikachu pattern flashlight to help guide the way through the cave. "There we go. Now we can see, right Piplup?" Mira looked around to see that Piplup was gone. "Piplup! Piplup! Piplup, where did you go!?"

Mira then suddenly heard Piplup screams bouncing off the walls of the caves. Piplup came running towards her with a swarm of Crobat chasing after him.

"Piplup, quick use Bubble Beam!" Mira quickly ordered Piplup.

Piplup quickly turned and opened his beak, releasing a stream of blue bubbles at the Crobat, causing the Crobat to flee. Mira let out a heavy sigh of relief that everything was now alright. Piplup jumped up into Mira's arms, happy to see his trainer.

"Whoa, that was a close one, right Piplup."

"Pip-Piplup." Piplup said with a sigh.

"For now, how about you sick with me, so you don't get lost again." Mira patted Piplup's head. Piplup lightly nodded with a sigh.

Mira continued to carefully walk through the cave to get to the other side, making sure not to disturb anymore of the Pokémon that might be living in the caves. It didn't take very long until Mira saw a light coming from up ahead. Mira turned off her Pikachu flashlight and looked down at Piplup with a smile.

"Look Piplup, it's the exit! We finally made it to the other side for our final Gym Battle!"

Piplup jumped from Mira's arms and rushed to the exit. Mira quickly followed after her partner. When she came close to the exit she notices Piplup was staring into a side cave.

"Piplup? What are you looking at? Is there something in that cave?"

Mira knelt down next to Piplup and looked into the the cave Piplup was looking into. Laying on the cold ground of the cave was what looked like an injured Pokémon. Mira took out her flashlight again and shined it into the cave, inside laid a Lucario.

"It's a Lucario! I wonder if it's alright. Lucario, are you alright?" Mira went to reach into the cave to take a look at Lucario when growls suddenly came from the deranged Pokémon. Suddenly, an Aura Sphere went flying towards Mira and Piplup, almost hitting the trainer and Pokémon.

"Piplup-pip-pip-lup!!" Piplup yelled angrily at Lucario.

"Piplup wait. Lucario is just scared. It's most likely injured from a battle. Am I right Lucario?"

Lucario didn't respond, he just turned around and curled up into a ball again. Trying to ignore the intruders.

"Come on Lucario. If you're injured, Nurse Joy will be able to help you at the Pokémon Center. Then you'll be all better. Won't you let Nurse Joy help you?" Mira tried to get closer to Lucario, but once again Lucario attacked with Aura Sphere.

Mira wasn't going to give up on Lucario. If Lucario was hurt, Mira wanted to help it. Thinking that maybe Lucario might be hungry, Mira took some Pokémon food out of her bag and placed it at the edge of the opening of the cave.

"I thought you might me hungry Lucario. Here's some Pokémon food that a really good friend of mine made herself. I hope you like it."

"Pip-pip-Piplup-pip!!"

"Don't worry Piplup, I have plenty of food for all of us. I even have some Poké Puffs for dessert too. Maybe Lucario would like one too."

Mira took out Piplup's favorite Pokémon food and his food dish as well as her other Pokémon. Mira then took out her lunch of several sandwiches, a side salad and a juice. As Pokémon and Trainer chowed down on their lunches Mira would often try and take a peek to see if Lucario had taken the Pokémon food she had left for it. It didn't take long before the can of Pokémon food was gone and sounds of chewing was coming from the cave. Mira smiled with an overjoyed heart, she was so happy to see Lucario was eating something.

"I'm glad that you're eating something Lucario. I hope you like it, and when you're done with the Pokémon food here's a Poké Puff. Piplup and my other Pokémon really like them, so I hope you like them too." Mira placed a Poké Puff where she had placed the Pokémon food, afterword she put Piplup's and her other Pokémon's food dishes into her bag along with her own dishes. She then called back all her Pokémon except for Piplup.

"Alright Piplup, let's head to the Pokémon Center to get you and the others checked out by Nurse Joy, then you and the others can have your Poké Puffs. I'll be back a little later to check on you Lucario. I hope you enjoy the Poké Puff! Come on Piplup, let's give Lucario a little bit of privacy. The two of us will check on him a little later."

Mira and Piplup made their way out of the cave towards Darkmoon City to head towards the Pokémon Center. Once Lucario sensed that the human and her Pokémon partner was gone, Lucario turned its attention to the Poké Puff that was laying on the ground.

Lucario was hesitant to take the foreign food at first but the smell that was coming off of the sweet treat was too tempting to resist. Lucario snatched the Poké Puff with one paw and placed the empty can of Pokémon food where Mira had first placed it with the other. When Lucario bit into the Poké Puff the explosion of flavors danced in his mouth. He couldn't believe that a human made something so delicious. The words from Mira suddenly rang in Lucario's ears.

"I hope you like the Poké Puff Lucario!... I'll be back a little later to check on you Lucario!" Lucario shook his head, trying to get the voice of the female trainer out of his mind. Lucario didn't like humans after what they did to him. Why would he suddenly care about what one stupid human had to say to him. Lucario popped the rest of the Poké Puff into this mouth and curled back up in a ball, trying to get the voice of the Trainer out of his head.