My third Lucario story.....

Characters: Ruby (Lucario/Riolu)

Roy (the kid)

It was a pretty stormy night. It was cold, too. If you were caught in this storm, it would ruin your whole week. Luckily for Roy, he was inside the warm comfort of his home. But somewhere close by, a little someone else wasn't so lucky...

....Earlier....

It had been an ordinary day so far for Roy. The young 15-year old had woke up, eaten breakfast (Trix cereal. Yum), and gone to school. Well, it was time for lunch and Roy prefers to eat alone usually under a tree in the shade somewhere on the outskirts of the schools outside cafeteria (yes, some schools do allow their students to eat outside). While under that tree, Roy looked up and gazed at the sky. It was just the normal shade of 12:45 pm blue. Not a cloud in the sky. Now before he left for school this morning, he had heard of a storm warning for tonight but the sky seemed to prove the weather station wrong. Well, Roy just shrugged it off and went back to his leftover pizza. Lunch was about halfway over. Roy had finished his lunch and was about to relax for the next 15 minutes when he thought he heard something over in the distance.

"Must have been a bird or something" said the boy now half asleep.

….There was that sound again....sounds like whimpering.....

Roy began to get irritated by the little cry from no-where. He scanned the area around him. In front of him, a good ways away, was the school. To his right were some punk 9th graders having a Pokemon match. Stupid freshmen. And to his left, the forest. Roy concentrated his hearing to the forest. Sure enough, the cry was coming from those dark trees. Roy checked his watch.

"12:50. Lunch is over in 10 minutes." Roy decided to be like Scooby Doo and go investigate. He lazily got up and made his way toward the forest. As he was walking, the whimpering sound slowly got louder and louder. Roy had followed the cry for about 4 minutes when he thought he saw something a good ways ahead of him. He got closer and he found out that the source of the cry was a little Riolu. A female Riolu. The Riolu's leg was stuck in a thorny vine which caused it to bleed down to the foot.

"Christ, that can't be good." said Roy as he jogged over to help the poor puppy.

The Riolu spotted the black haired human coming closer to her and gave out a defensive growl. Roy stopped a few feet from it. "Easy, little fella. I just wanna help." reassured the teen as he started to cautiously approach the injured Pokemon. The Riolu kept growling and shot the boy a mean stare that seemed to say "I don't need your damn help now go away!". Believing that Riolu was in no condition to fight, Roy reached for the thorny vine and tried to unwrap it from the Pokemon's leg. But Roy underestimated Riolu. Riolu leaned in and bit Roy's hand and sunk her little teeth in.

"Dammit to hell! That HURT!" yelped Roy as he retracted his hand from Riolu's mouth.

Roy looked at his watch. "God! Lunch ended 12 minutes ago! I'm late!". Roy looked down at the little blue dog. Riolu continued to growl at him.

"Dammit. I don't need this. I was only trying to help you. Do what you want. I'm going." said the boy now walking away from the still trapped Riolu.

Roy began to run back to school. For a split second, he could have swore he heard the little Riolu whining for him to come back but he shook the thought out of his mind. Well, the rest of the school day continued normally as usual. Until it was time to go home. When Roy walked out the front school doors, it was dark. But it was only 3pm. That's when Roy remembered the weather station predicting a storm. "The one time the weather station predicts rain, it actually happens." Roy remembered that little Riolu. "Gosh, it sure would suck to be caught out in a storm on a Friday..." pondered the kid at the school's gate.

Roy decided to go and help that Riolu one last time. He made his way to the forest.

"It probably already freed itself from those vines." doubted the boy.

"But what if it's still there? What if it's in worse shape than when I found it?"

"Dammit all."

As the sky prepared for the heavy storm, Roy began to jog through the forest. He reached the spot where he first saw Riolu. It was still there. Her leg now raw from the vine with fresh blood oozing from it. "Man, it looks worse than before!" panicked Roy as he rushed over to help the poor Pokemon. Riolu once again spotted the human and started growling like before. Riolu gave Roy a glare that seemed to say "What the hell are you doing here!? Didn't I tell you to go away!?"

"Oh pipe down, will ya? I'm just going to help you get your leg free and then you'll never see me again. There's a really bad storm coming and I didn't want you to catch a cold or worse so just let me help you, OK?" defended the boy.

There was a long silence. Then Riolu lowered her guard. Roy took the hint and began to examine the leg wrapped in the thorns. It definitely was raw. Blood was still dripping from it and there seemed to be a small puddle of blood below the foot. He then looked into the Riolu's eyes. They showed him that she obviously had been crying from the pain. Riolu started to growl and Roy hastily went back to caring for the trapped leg. After a few minutes of twists and turns, and poking himself in the fingers, Roy finally got the thorns off of the little Riolu. Riolu started to walk away silently when Roy started to protest.

"Hang on. That leg of yours is way to messed up for you to go anywhere. Wait here. I've got a first aid kit back at my house." said Roy as he grabbed the Riolu's paw. Riolu didn't like this.

Riolu quickly turned around and nailed Roy with an uppercut in the jaw and then quickly ran away into the forest. Roy fell back at the impact and sat on his bottom wincing in his new face pain.

"Stupid Pokemon pride." said the boy as he tried to hold back a tear.

Roy got up and made his way home grumbling all the way. The sky began to roar in thunder. It would be raining soon. "I was only trying to help that Pokemon. Christ." said Roy as he continued toward home. The Riolu had left a small mark on his face.

The rain suddenly came out of no where. It came down in clumps and Roy began to run home. He made it to his house with a few wet spots on him but nothing major. After getting settled in for the night, Roy plopped down on the living room couch next to the front window. He gazed outside at the rain which was pouring down pretty hard. He began to think of that Riolu.

"I wonder how it's doing out there..."

Roy didn't have to wait long for an answer because suddenly, the same little Riolu came into Roy's view. Riolu was about 30 feet from Roy's house when she just collapsed on the cold hard ground.

"Holy Balls!" panicked Roy as he ran straight out the door and made a B-line for the Riolu. He skidded from the rain and stopped in front of her, scooped her up, and ran back into the house. Riolu had fallen unconscious. Probably from all the blood she had lost in her leg. Roy brought her inside, dried her off, and placed her on the sofa he was previously sitting on. He then put a blanket over her to keep her warm. About a few hours later, Riolu woke up feeling strangely comfortable but also hungry.

She scanned her surroundings. This definitely wasn't the forest.

Her eye's shot open as she saw Roy come from the kitchen. She immediately went on the offensive and began to growl. Roy seemed unaffected.

"Oh relax. You don't need to be so uptight. If I didn't save you from that storm, you'd be dead right now. And try not to move your leg so much. You'll mess up your bandages."

?Bandages? Riolu looked under the cover she had been snuggled in. Sure enough, her leg had been wrapped in bandages. Riolu once again glared and snarled at Roy. She began shouting in her head.

"This-this...HUMAN wont let up! He's just begging for me to pile-drive him into oblivion! I don't need his help! How dare he touch me!?" Riolu thought this as she continued growling at Roy. Roy became irritated at this.

"Would you shut-up!? I only helped you, dammit. I guess if you think you're all better then you can just go. There's the door so go away." Roy said pointing at the front door.

"You could have said that earlier." thought the Riolu in her head as she hopped off the couch and limped to the door. She reached for the knob when her stomach began to violently rumble. Riolu blushed in embarrassment. She hadn't eaten anything in about 4 days as she was trapped in those thorns. Riolu waited at the door not knowing what to do next. Her hands started to tremble. Roy noticed this, waited a seconded, and finally spoke. "Well, I guess you can stay for dinner...if you want..." grumbled the boy. The Riolu said nothing. After a few more minutes of her stomach growling, she reluctantly sat back down on the couch trying her best not to look in Roy's direction. Roy took this as a "yes" and quickly went into the kitchen and prepared Riolu a nice home-cooked meal. After about 20 minutes, Roy came back to the Riolu with a Hot bowl of soup that had vegetables and hearty chunks of meat in it. Riolu's mouth began to water. She had never seen anything that delicious in her life! Roy gave her a spoon and placed the bowl of soup in front of her on the couch. Riolu stared in confusion at the spoon Roy had given her.

"What? You can't use a spoon? I thought most Pokemon were civilized to a point were they could..."

Riolu discarded the spoon and just began to eat the delicious soup with her muzzle face deep in the bowl. After a few attempts to get the food into her mouth, she found out that for some odd reason, she was unable to eat the food as it slipped out of her mouth. Riolu began to whine at the untouchable delicious food in front of her. Roy rolled his eyes and once again, offered his help.

(I'm sensing a pattern)

Roy grabbed the spoon and scooped in a hearty amount of soup and placed the spoon in Riolu's face.

"Here. I'll feed you." offered the boy. Riolu looked distilled at this but then remembered how hungry she was. She hesitantly opened her mouth and allowed the spoon to come in. The food tasted so good that Riolu yipped in joy. Roy really was a good cook. Roy thought that this whole situation was a bit silly. Him spoon feeding a Pokemon. After a while of eating, Riolu began to grow accustomed to Roy's presence. Though, she still wouldn't consider him a friend. After her meal was over, Riolu fell back onto the couch completely satisfied with her consumption. "How was it?" asked Roy. Riolu licked her lips telling him it was good. This made Roy smile.

It was about 10pm and Roy was tired. The rain was still pouring outside. He turned to Riolu.

"Well, I'm going to bed now. If you want to go, you can go. There's the door." said Roy turning toward the stairs to his room. Riolu sat up at this. Roy didn't look back at her when he got to his bedroom. He trusted that Riolu wouldn't steal anything. Roy changed into his pajamas and snuggled into his bed. He didn't expect that Riolu to stay. He didn't even expect to see her again. Meanwhile, on the couch, Riolu just sat there thinking hard. She looked outside at the cold, hard rain and darkness. She then thought about Roy and all the kindness he had given her.

"No one has EVER shown me any kindness at all in my life....and...this boy. This human boy has shown me so much kindness...maybe even love...." thought Riolu.

After a few more minutes of thinking, Riolu got up from the couch and made her way to Roy's room. She opened the door, hopped onto the bed and snuggled up close to Roy. Roy seemed very surprised at this. Riolu began to purr into Roy's chest.

"Heh-heh...well, Riolu what made you change your mind about me?" asked Roy still a bit confused.

Riolu licked the boys neck. "Stop it! That tickles!" snickered Roy.

Halfway through the night, Roy woke up distilled. He looked down at the Riolu snuggled in his chest.

He gently shook her awake. She grumbled a bit as her sleeping was disturbed. Her eyes met his. Roy finally spoke. "Hey..uh..Riolu? Um...would you mind at all if I...named you?"

Riolu liked this idea. She licked Roy's face to tell that she would like that. Roy was taken aback by her new kindness and pondered the perfect name for his new friend. After a few minutes, he spoke.

"How about...'Ruby'?"

Riolu happily barked and licked her new friend's face once more telling him that 'Ruby' was the perfect name. Roy gave her a hug. "Alright. Then 'Ruby' it is!" said Roy as he went back to sleep along with his newly named friend.

Ruby gazed at her sleeping human. She just new that they were gonna be best friends for life.

"And maybe something more..." thought Ruby as she drifted to sleep with a big smile on her face.....