Lionheart

Welcome. This is not a nice world you are about to see. This is a world coated in fear, afraid to train their own Pokémon in their own countryside in fear of being brutally murdered... Why?

Demons. Those abominations. No one knows where they came from, and why they only ravage the small island off the coast of Hoenn. They have been around for only a decade or so, yet the death toll is enormous every time they attack. They attack randomly, sometimes lulling people into a sense of security as they wait it out... and sometimes they attack once a week for five weeks. They are quick- No one has really seen them properly. A survivor of an attack, though unwilling to say what precisely happened to her, stated that it reminded her of a Pokémon... What does this mean? The children can safely go to school, as long as it is a walled mini-community within a walled town.

One boy goes against the waves of demon attacks. The lonely boy, the outcast boy... No one would miss him if he dies, yet he'd get all the attention he'd want if he succeeded...

This is the story of Lewis Leopold.

Chapter List:
Prologue
Chapter One

Prologue: Sparkles

Lewis leaned forwards, reaching out to the red ball that was now merrily rolling towards him. He hugged the ball close to his small body once he had dragged it to his person. He met the eyes of the other children, who were sitting in a lopsided circle. The teacher looked expectantly at him, so as per the rules of the game, Lewis opened his mouth to speak; "I- I'm Lewis Leopold, an' I'm five years old," He glanced up at his teacher, who nodded. Lewis continued. "I was borned on the sixph of August, an' I live at 7 Childe Street. I like to eat – um – I like to eat Pidgey."

Reluctantly, as he liked the feeling of hugging the rubber sphere, he placed the ball down on the sea-green carpet. He quickly took a look at the faces of the other kindergarten kids, and pushed the ball towards an unfamiliar girl with shoulder-length brown hair. He knew she hadn't gotten a chance to speak about herself yet.

This was Lewis's first day of "big school" as he dubbed it, and he was feeling particularly nervous. He liked the teacher, Mrs. Bonnet, and her Poochyena, Drabble. She had decided to let the kids get to know each other by letting them play with a ball: one child would say a bit about themselves, and then pass the ball on and allow a different child to talk. Lewis quite liked the game; he loved to watch the ball rolling back and forth in a sporadic spider web.

"And I like to eats candy." The little girl passed the ball onto another young student. Lewis rubbed his eyes sleepily. The game was quickly getting boring now that he had had his turn. The excitement of wondering if anyone would acknowledge his presence by rolling the ball towards him had died off. He began to pick at the carpet, gathering a small pile of turquoise fluff. The ball continued on its journey within the circle, pausing when a child grabbed it and gave a brief biography.

"I'm Adie – Aderyn – Bertram," a little girl piped up once she had obtained the ball. She was the last of the group. Lewis looked up at her, meeting her light, cheery brown eyes. Her light blonde hair was pulled into a short ponytail. "I was born on the fourteenph of the tenph of nineteen-nin'ey-six, so I'm five, too. I live…" The girl named Adie frowned, as if in deep thought and came up with "In my house". She continued on. "I like to eat grapes, though they sometimes hurt my tummy."

"Very good!" The soothing, melodic voice of the Kindergarten teacher reached Lewis's ears. The little boy turned to face his superior. The young woman was beaming at the class, many metal bangles jangling as she clapped her hands. "Very good!" she repeated, and ceased clapping. "That was fun, now wasn't it?" Half the class simultaneously droned a single answer, the one that all teachers expect to hear. She smiled again. "Now, let's go to our desks and say the alphabet! You know it, right? A is for Aipom~! B is for Butterfree~! C is for Combee…"

~~~

The small class eagerly filed through the door, waved off by Mrs. Bonnet. Lewis was near the back, feeling a bit shy. He wasn't the most social five-year-old to grace the playground. He watched as his peers ran off in many directions, some of the boys heading towards a small metal shed and emerging with sport equipment. The boy's yellow eyes lit up as he saw the boy who had passed the ball to him – Davey or something – exit with one that looked remarkably similar to the one that the class had passed around. He smiled and began to jog towards the corrugated iron building.

Lewis could feel the difference in temperature from the playground as he walked inside. He wheezed slightly, finding it harder to breathe in the humid air. He wished the little shed was cooler, like his classroom. Hoops and skipping ropes lined the walls; a few bats for some sport other leaning against the iron for support. Lewis stifled a gasp when he heard someone else breathing other than himself. A short, humanoid creature walked out of the shadows, its muscular body a gentle grey-blue colour. It was holding a clipboard the same colour as the three crests (which Lewis thought looked like three Mohicans) on the top of its head. It showed Lewis the side with the paper clipped on and tapped a particular word.

"N-na… na-meh… nahme… name?" It took the boy a few tries to get the word right, but once he did the Pokémon nodded. "My name is Lewis Leopold," he told the blue humanoid, who jotted down something on the paper. It looked up at Lewis, before motioning to the whole room. Ari stared at the Pokémon blankly, before understanding. "I wanna red ball, like the one the teacher had," he explained.

The Pokémon set the clipboard aside and began to rummage through what looked like a plain garbage bin. Lewis stole a look at the paper. Though he was no wizard at spelling, he could tell that this Pokémon was not very good at writing at all. Lewis could barely make out the letters, and it seemed to have spelt his name "Looiz Lee-ohpole". Lewis frowned at this. He abhorred it when people spelt his name wrong!

He felt something tap his shoulder and a slightly hoarse but childish voice say "Machop". Lewis turned around to meet the smiling face of the Pokémon, who was holding the ball out.

"Thank you," said Lewis, gingerly taking the ball from the Machop's large hands. The blue Pokémon retreated back to the shadows, leaving Lewis to feel alone. He hated being alone. He quickly backed out of the stuffy shed and into the blinding sunlight. Lewis squinted. Along with being alone, he hated being in pain.

"Can I play with you?" someone said. Lewis swivelled, eyes still scrunched up shut. He opened one eye. A girl was in front of him – Who was she? – standing by herself. She apparently wasn't interested in what the other girls were doing, as she ignored their My Little Ponyta game. Lewis recognised the gentle brown eyes- Those eyes belonged to the girl who introduced herself last, Adie. Lewis attempted to open the other eye, before shutting it quickly again in pain. Adie cleared her throat, "Um, can I please play with you?"

"Oh! Um… Yeah," replied Lewis awkwardly. Would he get girl germs from playing ball with her? He inwardly shuddered at the thought. Every little boy knew girl germs were the deadliest thing on Earth! But she seemed nice enough, and didn't fool herself into believing normal Ponyta could become adorable little half-humans… He threw the ball at her, surprising the little blonde. It bounced harmlessly off her head. "Sorry!" Lewis cried, giggling quietly. Adie threw it back.

"I like your hair," she told him after a few passes back and forth. "I've never seen no one with blue hair before…" Lewis's face flushed. He hated his hair! Lots of people liked it, though… He just thought it was ugly and messy.

"Thanks," he muttered. Thinking of a compliment for the other child, he came up with "Your eyes are pretty…"

Adie smiled. "Thanks! My mommy says my eyes look like honey, and I like honey! Do you like honey?"

Lewis's reply was cut short. The sound of a loud bell drilled into his ears, causing him to wince and miss the ball that had been tossed to him. It bounced away towards where a few older children were coming out. Why hadn't they come out when the kindergarten kids had come out? He started towards the ball.

Before Lewis was even five metres from the ball, an older child leapt down the stairs. Lewis saw the older child's eyes light up as they came to rest on the ball. The bigger boy proceeded to pick it up just as Lewis was in reaching distance.

"Um… 'scuse me," began Lewi politely, looking into the older boy's deep blue eyes. "That's my ball… I got it from the shed."

"Oh really?" asked the older boy, a sceptical look on his face. He was very tall and seemed to be at least eleven. "Well, I got the ball from the ground. It's mine now."

Lewis frowned. "But the Machop wrote my name down!" he pointed out.

"Bah." The older boy flapped his hand at the younger one. "OneShot doesn't really care if the kid who got it returns it! You just gotta return the ball and not your name."

"Really?" Lewis asked, confused. Was this the truth? Or was the big boy saying this just to get the ball? Lewis frowned again. He had gotten the ball, therefore it was HIS ball! He walked closer to the older boy. Lewis barely seemed to reach the older boy's navel. Nonetheless, he wanted that ball back. With a cry of "GIMME!" he jumped up at the boy, making a wild grab for the ball. The older boy stepped back, away from the crazy-looking child and smirked.

"Hm? Think you're tough? NO ONE is as tough as Jonathan Reynolds!" The older boy, Jonathan, dropped the ball. Before Lewis could run for it, his feet left the ground as Jonathan picked him up by the collar. Lewis coughed, feeling the material choking him, allowing darkness to dance on the edge of his vision… He lashed out wildly, missing pitifully. He could hear Jonathan's laugh… And the laugh of a few other students around him. Others were watching! Lewis felt his cheeks burn. He only wanted his ball back…

"Kill him, Jono!" called a boy with a dopey sounding voice.

"But he's SUFFOCATING!" cried a female voice. "Let him go!" Lewis's cheeks burned harder. He tried to wriggle out of his shirt, but Jono stabilised him with a punch to the stomach.

"Shaddup, Wildcat!" said the dopey boy, presumably to the girl. After aiming a kick at Jono, which came short, he twisted around to see the dopey boy and the girl that was protesting his treatment. The boy had long curly hair, but the girl had short, slightly wavy hair.

Another girl, with long chocolate-coloured hair, stepped up to the dopey boy. "You shaddup, Poodle," she said, eyes narrowed. A blow to Lewis's back returned him to the present. He only wanted the ball… He only wanted the ball…

Jono was grinning maliciously, obviously enjoying hurting Lewis. What had Lewis done to him other than want the ball? Tears welled up in the blue-haired boy's eyes, threatening to fall to the concrete ground. He started to shake. First day at school and already being harassed…

Lewis's scalp began prickling. The little boy started sobbing. He saw Jono looking at his hair oddly. So? It was blue, and it was currently itching… What was special about that?

Lewis gasped as he was sharply dropped, skinning his knees. Everything was suddenly bright. Lewis wiped his eyes. No, it was definitely brighter than before. Jono had recoiled, screeching and covering his eyes. Lewis took a look at the other older children. They were all doing the same thing, except Poodle who was merely blinking and muttering "Cool!".

Lewis realised he wasn't as affected by the light as the others. He frowned in puzzlement. Why? A casual stroke of his often messy blue hair explained this.

Sure, his hair was always messy, but not like this! He could feel every single hair on his head standing upright. All of them were glowing, he found out, as he pulled his fringe down and saw little yellow spots on the tips. What on earth was happening?

A searing pain spread through his chest as the light died down. Lewis doubled over, fresh tears springing to his eyes. It was intense, as if someone were poking him with a large, dull needle repeatedly over his heart. He could hear murmurings from not only the four older children, but from many others. He could even hear a teacher amongst the whispers.

"Oi. Kid. Up." It was Jono, who again picked him up by the shirt collar. Lewis didn't fight, nor even care, as the pain on his chest was distracting him so. He could feel it ebbing away. Lewis, hands over his heart, looked at the older boy. He looked mildly impressed… yet scared at the same time.

"Welcome to Palmer Pearle Primary School, Sparkles."

Arr. I've seen you guys! I've seen you reading it! Is it not a common courtesy to review something you read?

Chapter One: So Very Chompable

It was as close to the outside world as he could get. Situated on top of a high-rise building, with a whole 360 degrees range of view, it was Lewis's favourite place in the entire world. The sun had not yet risen; a gentle breeze played with the boy's oddly-coloured hair. It was fairly cold that high up in the early morning sky, but Lewis didn't mind. He hugged his knees closer to his body.

The desert spread out in front of him, the inky blackness of the sea behind. Lewis had never ventured into either frontier, as the risk of being killed was too great. He, personally, had never seen these supposed "Demons", and occasionally doubted their existence. He'd assume that they were merely a tale to frighten young children, but the way his mother looked when he mentioned them… He'd never seen such a frightened person, ever.

Lewis's shadow started to stretch in front of him, reaching for the desert. Lewis looked behind him. The sky above the ocean was lighter, now a grey. He focused on the desert again. He'd watch the sunrise when the sun actually appeared. With the weak light, he could now see dark splotches in the desert. They stood perfectly still. Lewis leaned back, unfazed. Probably cacti.

But cacti can't move! One of the shadowy shapes darted away from where it was standing. Lewis sat up sharply. He rubbed his eyes. It had definitely moved, and it was still moving, albeit slower than before. Lewis's eyes widened. He knew it was not an average desert-dwelling Pokémon, as they were never bigger than about three feet on this island. It was walking with a canine gait, upon four legs. Lewis's mouth was dry. Unless the food he had eaten last night had been rotten, he was watching a real demon really moving.

In a blur it sped off, leaving one extremely shaken twelve-year-old sitting on top of the tallest building in the city.

~~~

"'Scuse me, mister…" Lewis looked away from his food, meeting the eyes of a five-year-old, who was undoubtedly the brother of one of the children graduating today. Judging by the spiky black hair and the wild look in his eyes, he was the brother of Carmen Eddy, Lewis reckoned. He never liked Carmen Eddy.

"What do you want?" snapped Lewis, turning back to his food and spearing a potato with his fork. The little boy nervously took a step back, before regaining his composure and taking two steps forwards.

"My big sister said you can do cool fings with your hair," the little boy explained, "so I wanna see."

Lewis gripped his fork harder. Oh great, yet another generation of kids vying to see the light show. It had worn off with the older kids, yet every year the new children come and want to see the mystical boy with the Christmas tree hair… Lewis glared at the impatient boy, who was obviously expecting to see Lewis's hair glowing. It was a harsh glare, nothing withheld. The little boy backed away. Good, thought Lewis. Perhaps he'll tell all the others to leave him alone. Sighing, he picked up the beanie next to his tray of food and crammed it on his head. The one time he takes it off, a little child zooms to him like a fly to rancid meat.

He liked his beanie; his mother got it for him on his twelfth birthday when it was at the summit for fashionable headwear. It had declined in popularity since then, but since nothing new had come out he still kept the deep red hat. He figured the reason it was so popular was the sky-blue emblem on the top. He had heard about some famous trainers that wore that symbol on their hats. Almost a Pokéball, but where the black stripe to indicate its seam, it was just the normal colour of the hat.

Other than the quick interruption by Carmen's little brother, Lewis had been alone at his small table the entire lunch period. And the one yesterday. And the one before that. In fact, ever since he had started coming to school only once or twice would people sit with him. They were usually new kids, but the next day they had been deterred from ever sitting with the "blue haired freak". How could you have friends if people spread rumours about you?

Lewis smiled, remembering the time he had first found the sheet of paper entitled "The TRUTH abowt Loowis Liopold!" The nine-year-old Lewis had first proceeded to glare at the awful spelling of his name, and then read the increasingly stupid list of rumours:

1.)Loowis is not human! He is an undacover demon hoo will KILL US ALL VERY SOON!
2.)Loowis can not only make his hare glow, but can also grow it very fast and STRANGEL YOU!!!
3.)If you poke Loowis with a needel, you will see HIS BLUD IS BLU LIKE HIS HARE!!
4.)If Loowis bites you, you BECOME A DEMON TO!!!
5.)Do not ly if Loowis is arownd. He will EAT YOU!!
6.)Um… thats it. Just be cairfull, ok??

At first, it had really cut him to the core. He had been checking everyone's handwriting for the culprit, but none revealed themselves. Eventually, he realised how idiotic the rumours were. Most of them were parts of legend, like the WereDoom myth, the Pidgeot-Luxray myth, and a character from the book series Captain Underpants. He took advantage of these little rumours, baring his teeth if someone said that their pet ate their homework. It was good fun for a time…

Just as Lewis swallowed the last bite of his fish fillet, the bell started chiming. It was a gentle, polyphonic tune. He stood up and grabbed his empty tray, running his finger along the plastic to gather up those last few crumbs. The cafeteria certainly went all-out with the meal they made- it was certainly the most delicious Lewis had ever tasted in the school. He put his tray on a stack of like items, and proceeded to the hall. To be definite, it was not quite a hall at all. It was more of a stadium. Many plastic chairs encircled a concrete arena, where either battles were fought for exams, or the principal made announcements.

Lewis followed a gaggle of Year Five girls for a little while, but turned off to the side when they began ascending some stairs. He took a door instead. A sign above it read "To the arena". He sighed, feeling as if this was just another rehearsal. Those were supremely boring, he remembered. But he could feel an odd twinge of excitement that wasn't accompanied by the repetitive rehearsals.

He emerged into bright light, which did not faze him. The green-painted arena was a little different than normal, having a single long row of red chairs behind the Principal's podium. A few grinning children were spread along the line, waving erratically to their relatives. Cool as a cucumber, Lewis made his way to the middle of the line as he did in rehearsals. He stared evenly at the surrounding crowd in front of him, and a quick glance behind revealed only a few faces. He scanned the assembly, searching for the somewhat tired but always friendly face of Bella Leopold.

A smile broke through his calm features at the sight of his dear mother. Her chocolate-coloured hair was pulled into a neat bun. She was beaming proudly at her only child. Lewis looked down at his sneakers, face flushed. He liked being liked… but it was embarrassing. A quick look along the line revealed the number of children had doubled, and yet more and more were streaming in. He leaned back into his chair. This was perhaps the last time he'd see all his Year together. Even if there was a mutual dislike between Lewis and the rest of the Year, he'd still miss them. It was an odd feeling and he shook his head to get rid of it.

At last the row was filled with quietly murmuring twelve-year-olds. The two to the side of Lewis ignored him and chatted to the kids on their opposite side. Lewis didn't mind. It was common practice to ignore him. Instead he studied every detail of the green floor surrounding his feet. There was a small pebble next to his right foot. He distractedly kicked it, which sent it tumbling towards the principal's podium. It landed a few centimetres away from the dark wood.

A loud bang silenced the room as a diminutive man bustled through the door. Everyone's eyes were on his rotund shape, following his journey across the arena. His feet barely left the ground, producing an unpleasant scraping noise that hurt Lewis's ears. His face was red and he was huffing, no doubt due to his speed and heavy-looking backpack he carried. As he neared the podium, the man inadvertently kicked the little pebble further away. He stepped up, cleared his throat, and peered at something on the lectern. Lewis knew it was his speech. It was basically the same every year, yet Mr. Spoy was forgetful and always set up a copy. The principal known as Mr. Spoy looked up at the audience.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Yet another year of ups and downs has zoomed past, leaving us blinking in its dust. As we see new faces among the crowd, eager to start their first year at this fine establishment, we must too let go of the old. For the past seven years, these fine young men and women have attended school, learnt vital skills for the trainer's world, and even goofed off in spectacular manners. Why, in June, Demi Johnstone and Alice Jefferson-" Two girls sitting next to each other giggled, "-happened to discover the unfortunate effects of when a Tauros becomes a coffee addict, when young Demi fed her Battle Partner a bit of the stuff in a bid to defeat her friend Alice's Battle Partner, a Machoke. Those two kept the coffee prices down in the cafeteria, let me tell you!" Mr. Spoy paused to allow the crowd's laughter to be heard, which admittedly was not a lot. He again cleared his throat.

"We have witnessed amazing successes with these children here, and even if a few of them were put down by their peers, they rose through the ranks to be – grudgingly – respected." Lewis's head snapped towards the principal, surprised. Yes, he could definitely tell it was he Mr. Spoy was describing, yet he hadn't heard that bit before. Respected? That was most certainly new. Lewis did not understand how having his face shoved into his food at lunch times was being respected.

"Anyway, enough of my ramblings. Listening to a blathering, portly fellow is not what most people describe as a good time, am I right? It is time to do what we all came here for- Inducting these children as official Pokémon trainers!" A large cheer erupted from the crowd, helped by some of the kids in the line. Lewis was almost one of them; before he repressed his excitement for another time.

The principal swung his backpack off, setting it gently on the ground. The line of children was leaning forward expectantly. As Mr. Spoy unzipped the bag a few squeals of excitement as they saw the reflective spheres within. Red on top, white on the bottom with a band of black separating the two, there was no doubt that these were Pokéballs.

Their official first Pokémon! Sure, they did get a Battle Partner to use each year, but they belonged to the school. They obeyed you, but they never felt like anything more than a Pokémon to train with. This was different- the children would spend perhaps the rest of their lives training and playing with this Pokémon.

"As an extra note," Mr. Spoy added, "These Pokémon have your trainer cards with them. Two Pidgey, one stone. May the children please stand up to receive their Pokémon?"

The loud scraping of chairs against concrete filled the hall as approximately forty twelve-year-olds stood up simultaneously. Lewis looked at the ground, heart thundering. He almost expected to see his heart burst out of his chest in a kind of gory glory. He was not usually the excitable type, but he had an excuse to let his emotions show. This was an immense event in any trainer's life. He followed the sandals of the boy in front of him. The line twisted around as to have the first child just next to the podium and the rest stretched out to the right.

Mr. Spoy plucked a Pokéball off the pile and handed it to the short boy who was standing next to him. Lewis leaned to the side, attempting to see what was happening. "But… you didn't look!" exclaimed the boy suddenly. "How'd you get the right one?" Silence followed his question, and Lewis watched silently as the befuddled boy made his way back to his seat. The line crawled on, Lewis's boredom broken only occasionally by a girly squeal (some of which not actually coming from girls). His occasional glance to the audience proved their restlessness, as he saw a little girl tugging on her mother's shirt desperately.

It was the boy in sandal's turn to get his starting Pokémon. He smirked and impatiently held out his hand. Lewis peered over his shoulder as a Pokéball was delicately placed in his outstretched hand. Through the translucent red plastic, both Lewis and the boy in sandals and could see the Pokémon he was given. The boy's face curled into a shocked expression whereas Lewis stifled a laugh. Resting comfortably in the Pokéball was a small avian creature, its fluffy cloud-like wings bigger than its small round body. Lewis recognised it as a Swablu, generally a fashion Pokémon like Snubbul. It was the direct opposite of the boy's personality! Thomas Spry (for that was the boy's name; Lewis had seen it printed on a piece of masking tape that was on the ball) shuffled back to his seat, where he proceeded to stare at the ball as if it had insulted his mother.

A tap on the shoulder brought the blue-haired boy back to the present, as he had been watching Thomas. He faced the smiling man who reached into the backpack. He immediately came back up. Lewis stared at Mr. Spoy's right hand, willing it to open and reveal his starting Pokémon. He copied the example of Thomas and held his hand out, albeit in a meeker manner. Mr. Spoy gently laid the Pokéball in his awaiting hand. Lewis almost had a heart attack when he did not see a Pokémon. Was this a joke? Was he to capture a Pokémon all by himself? Was he not good enough, and Mr. Spoy talking about someone-

Oh. It was upside down.

Blushing furiously at his own stupidity he trudged back to his seat. Thomas had begun to ignore his Pokéball, placing it on the ground. Lewis momentarily forgot his own, just a cool sensation in his hand as he watched the faces of the others. Many were euphoric, some disappointed like Thomas's. Twenty five or so returned to their chairs, their lives changed by just lining up in a simple queue. The girl to Lewis's left shoved her Pokéball in his face, clearly pleased at her new Machop who grinned at the yellow-eyed boy. Lewis smiled weakly at her. At least she was being nice.

"Okay!" boomed Mr. Spoy as the last child had taken her seat. Quiet jabbering had started up, which had yet again been cut off by the principal's strong voice. "We will deny your excitement no longer. If the children could again stand up…" the unpleasant scraping noise started up again as shins knocked chairs back. Lewis winced at the sound. "We can now show you what each young trainer has received!"

Like in the rehearsals but now with actual Pokéballs, every child raised their arm which held the Pokéball. "GO!" roared Lewis and the rest of the year simultaneously as they dropped their Pokéballs in unison. A bright light filled the hall (which some naïve young children who had heard about Lewis believed it was his doing) and the majority of people shielded their eyes. Lewis kept his wide open, his pupils dilating, waiting to see what he had been assigned as the perfect partner…

He felt the Pokéball fly back to his hand as the light died down. He closed his hand around it, focusing where his partner should be. A unanimous "Ooooh!" was heard by the boy as the partners were revealed to the crowd. A few light spots danced in front of his eyes, masking the delighted faces of the audience. Lewis blinked slowly. Usually this didn't happen. He was quite good with light; able to stand the bright glare of the desert during the day and the inky darkness at night-

"OW!"

Sharp stabbing pains raced through Lewis's arm, backing him back up into his chair. The green seat toppled over loudly as Lewis tried to shake the pain off. It gripped tighter with every shake. Panicked, Lewis looked down at the offender. It was a dull red Pokémon; its head was at least one and a half times the size of its body. Its four stubby legs wiggled in midair, gripping for nonexistent ground. Its gargantuan mouth was clamped over Lewis's left arm, ignoring the blood that spilled out and onto the ground. It looked up at the boy with beady black eyes. Confused, Lewis frowned. Why did it look so happy?

The little Pokémon released its grip and fell heavily to the ground. The room had focused their attention on the predatory little creature, which was now nuzzling Lewis's leg contentedly. Lewis took a step back from it, sending his chair back another metre. When the creature seemed to notice that Lewis wasn't their, it trotted to him yet again and started to clamber up his pant leg.

Lewis, though apprehensive, allowed its journey up. He was still focusing on his wounded arm as he pressed his sky blue T-shirt to it to staunch the blood flow. The Pokémon placed its front legs on the top of his head and pulled up, attempting to nestle in Lewis's crimson beanie. Carefully, with his right arm, Lewis grabbed it and set it on the floor. Previously he was confused as to why it had done that apparent act of affection, but he knew now: This was his new Pokémon, and like anyone who new him it treated him the exact opposite of what he'd expect.

Mr. Spoy, regaining his senses, rushed over to Lewis. Halfway there, he turned to the crowd one final time. "New trainers, everybody!"

I like your table of contents and I can't wait to read more.

Thank you :D *Mods, please don't close, I'm still working on it* But please don't bump old threads, even if I am still working on it. At least I do have some readers who let themselves be known.

I am a slow writer, by the way.