Journey Through Createa

Luke gasped. "It's so cute!" So smiled as she took it. She looked up at him. "Thank you, it's very thoughtful." She gave him a peck on the cheek and took his hand. "Shall we go?"

Ember jumped from Luke's head to Robert's as she kissed him. He crawled down to his shoulder and licked his face. After all, if Luke was happy, then he was happy. What a thoughtful human.

The place Luke lead Robert to was a cute little diner called Peach Corner. It was literally in the corner of the town, but luckily it wasn't a far walk from the supermarket. Pretty much everything they served was peach-based and was locally grown. It seemed out of place in the city, but Luke thought maybe it would feel a bit more homey for Robert.

Robert grinned, pleased that she liked his gift. His smile turned into a laugh as Ember climbed onto his head once again. He picked the little pokemon off of his shoulder and cradled him in his arms. He followed his new girlfriend as she led him to the restaurant. The place looked nice from the outside. It reminded him of some of the restaurants back at home.

"I can't wait to see what they have," he said as they went in.

They were greeted by a young waitress and seated at a table by the window. The place was decorated to match the town's name. The chair backs were carved to resemble peaches, and the whole room had a light orange glow to it. They were handed menus and left to make their choices.

"This is nice," Robert said. "Have you ever eaten here before? You seem to know the layout of the town pretty well."

---

"I'm not sure they're coming right back," Robert observed after a while. "Let's check out the market and then find somewhere to eat. We can call them on our Pokégear if it gets too late." Fae agreed and the two wandered off.

"No," Luke blushed a bit. "I may have researched it before we left Peacove. I wanted to know what I was walking into." She looked around. "I'm glad I picked this place, though. The atmosphere is pleasant and the online reviews were great. It's family run and everything is home cooked."

Luke thumbed through the menu. Many things on it were peach-based. Peach Chicken, Peach Cobbler, Peach Soda, Peaches and Cream (a very delicious sounding peach flavored cream spread on whole-wheat toast with, of course, peaches baked in) and Peach Ice Cream were only a few of the dishes.

"Everything looks pretty good. I think I may just get whatever you do." Luke looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. "Get something yummy, okay?" She brushed the hair out of her eyes and tried not to focus on the fact that this was, although unofficial, a date.

Robert raised his eyebrows, impressed. Usually it was his job to plan ahead, but Luke had beat him at his own game. The thought made him smile; he was glad to know that they were so like-minded. He looked down at the menu. Everything sounded so good, especially after their meager meals so far today. He finally picked out one thing from the rest.

"I think I'd like to start with the Greenbirar Peach Soup as an appetizer and then go to the Pecan-Crusted Turkey Tenderloin with Grilled Peach Salsa as the main course." He looked up at Luke, unsure of what kind of food she liked. "Does that sound good?"

He could hardly believe that this was really happening. It was like a real date, something that he hadn't had until now in his life. With his nerdy habits and love for research, he wasn't sure that he ever would. Yet here he was with this amazing girl who actually seemed to understand him. He almost wanted to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

---

Michael and Fae found a nice bar near the center of town. The place was crowded, but not overly so, and had a nice atmosphere. They were led to a table and ordered their food. Their pokémon were escorted to a small waiting room where pokéfood was available in dishes.

Luke grinned. "That sounds delicious," Luke replied. "Actually, it's what I was going to order. I didn't think about getting soup, though. It'll be wonderful." She smiled as cutely as she knew how. She was aware that it probably looked a bit awkward, but then, she herself was a bit awkward.

The waitress returned to their table, notepad in hand. "What'll you two have today?"

Luke looked over to Robert. "I'll have a water and the same thing he's having." She glanced back up at the waitress and smiled. "Thank you."

While Robert ordered for both of them, Luke shifted in her seat. She knew she'd have to think of a way to make all this up to him. He had already bought the doll, and, though she'd never asked, had already insinuated that he was paying for both of them. But what could she do? Buy him a gift in return? Maybe. She'd have to try to think of something a bit better, though.

Robert grinned. He must have made a good choice, if she had been planning on ordering the same thing. Of course, it was possible that she was just saying that to make him happy, but he was strangely okay with that too. After all, it meant that she had to care enough to want him to be happy. The waiter nodded and left, bringing them both water as they waited for their meal to arrive. They sat in silence for a while. Robert shifted in his chair uncomfortably. He wasn't sure what to talk about now.

"So," he started, "tell me about the time you got Ember. I know that meeting Cookie was the coolest experience of my life."

Pokémon was always a safe subject. It was something that he knew they had in common, after all. The soup arrived, giving the conversation a small break as they unwrapped their silverware and tasted their food. He looked up at her expectantly, excited to hear her starter story.

---

Michael and Fae finished their meals quickly, chatting the whole time about their upcoming journey. They paid the tab when they finished and went in search of a nice inn to stay at overnight. They were able to find one at a decent rate. Fae took out her pokégear and texted the name to Luke. The two went inside and started making themselves at home.

Luke looked up at the expectant look on Robert's face. She blushed and took a sip of her soup before answer. "It's not much of a story, actually. My dad knew an elderly couple that liked to breed pokemon. A few eggs had hatched around my 15th birthday, and Dad knew how much I wanted to be a trainer, so he took me to pick out which one I wanted. The moment I walked into that room, Ember scurried up my leg and sat on my head. It's a strange habit of his, I don't know if you've noticed," Luke said sarcastically.

"When I first got him, he was very strange, though. He was mean to everybody but me. His attitude only changed when we arrived in Peacove. I don't know if he just doesn't like cities or if he took a liking to you guys despite it. Maybe both. But he certainly has been behaving differently. I like it, though. It's nice to see him without a scowl on his little face."

Luke took another sip of her soup. "This is delicious," she said offhandedly. "So, tell me about the coolest experience of your life", she giggled. "How did you meet Cookie?"

"I had noticed that little habit of his," Robert said with a smile. "It's cute, though. It catches me by surprise sometimes, but I like it."

Robert agreed; the soup was delicious. He took a moment to finish it off before telling his story. It was kind of a weird one; it wasn't something that he could explain. His intention had never been to be a trainer. He knew that he would have to have a pokemon if he wanted to do in-field research, but he had never planned on seeking them out.

"It happened when I was ten," he started. "Everyone else my age had gotten their starters from Professor Pine. I didn't go. I wanted a pokémon, but I knew that I wasn't going to be taking the gym challenge. The pokémon that professors give out are meant to fight. I didn't think that they would be happy with me as a trainer." He took a sip of water. "I'm still not sure how it happened, but I was doing research online one day, and Cookie just came out of the computer screen. It seemed like it was running from something, but I've never found out what. Cookie is happy not fighting and is very useful for storing information. We've been best friends ever since."

He smiled over to where Cookie waited for them to finish their meals. He was thankful to the virtual pokemon; he had never realized how lonely he was until Cookie showed up to relieve him of it.

Luke looked over at Ember. He was such a little handful, yet still she was extremely fond of him. Back in Settis, he had been one of her only friends. She glanced over at Robert. He was staring of at Cookie the same way she had been staring at Ember. She was about to say something to him, but the waitress was coming to the table with their main course.

"Oh, that looks delicious!" Luke's eyes widened as she watched the waitress set their food down on the table. She quickly took a bite. "It tastes delicious, too!" She smiled and gave Robert a thumbs-up. "Good choice," she said as she winked at him.

Luke stuffed her face to give herself time to think. After all, he wouldn't expect her to talk as long as her mouth was full. An idea had hit her earlier while watching him look at Cookie, and she needed to work out the details of her new plan.

Robert blushed, pleased that she was pleased. It did look delicious. He cut into it and took his first bite with an audible grunt of pleasure. It tasted as good as it looked. The waitress refilled their waters and left them to eat. The room was starting to fill up; it was getting closer to the average supper time. Robert scooted his chair over to the side of the table, both so that he could hear Luke better and so that he could be closer to her. He looked up at Luke. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but nothing was coming out.

"Is everything okay?" he asked lightly between bites.

He wondered briefly what Fae and Michael were doing. It had been a while since they had left; he was sure that they would be done in the Pokécenter by now. They would need to pop by there themselves to call home, and then they would need to find a place to spend the night. Wiithout thinking he began making a mental checklist of what they would need to do while they were in town.

Luke blushed as Robert scooted closer to her, and her blush only grew deeper when he asked if everything was okay. She stopped shoving food in her mouth, swallowed, and took a few swigs of water. She then looked over to him.

"I was just admiring how fond of Cookie you are." She smiled. "It's really sweet. You're really sweet." Even though she didn't think it was possible, Luke blushed even more.

Luke took a few more bites of her food and looked back up at Robert. "What do porygons like to do, anyways? You'll have to forgive me, I don't know much about them." Was that subtle enough? She hoped so.

Robert shrugged, looking over at Cookie. The little pink and blue pokemon was poking at its complementary pokéfood. The sight made Robert smile. Cookie didn't need to eat, but they still could choose to if they wanted. Robert was racking his brain trying to figure out how to respond. It was a little difficult to describe how Porygon were. He tried to find a way to put it into words.

"Well, they're definitely a different kind of pokémon. Experts say that Porygon have only artificial actions. They say that they're not able to do anything that they're not programmed to do. . ." he trailed off and shook his head. "I don't think it's true. Cookie has its own personality. It has its quirks. It has likes and dislikes. I don't believe that all that was coldly programmed into it. I love that science created Porygon, but I don't believe that science controls them."

He blushed as he finished his mini-speech. He hadn't meant to go on like that. He finished up his meal. The waitress noticed and brought over their bill.

Luke nodded. "I think I understand," she said. She shuffled some of the food around on her plate. "Have you ever thought about conducting an experiment to find out? It might be fun to prove everybody wrong."

Luke tried not to sigh. She still didn't know what Cookie liked. She didn't want to press it any further, she wanted whatever she did to be a surprise. Perhaps it would just be best to ask Fae about it later.

Ember looked up from where he was eating his food. watching Luke and Robert interacting. He wanted nothing more than to go over and eat with them. He didn't like that he and Cookie had been separated from them. Ember looked over at Cookie and a wave of playfulness washed over him. He playfully tackled his friend, but was quickly pulled off. Ember tried not to growl. He hated the city.

Robert nodded. Luke really was his kind of girl.

"I have considered a controlled experiment, but for that I would need to know exactly how Porygon were originally programmed. No one knows who first created them though, so there's no way to discover the programming."

He looked over to where the pokémon were waiting. He frowned. Why was someone manhandling Ember like that? He stood up, letting Luke know where he was going.

"Excuse me," he said with authority. "What are you doing with Ember?"

The man looked up, surprised.

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't realize that this was yours." He put Ember down. "We've been having some trouble with pokémon in the city. They've been getting agressive for some reason. We've had reports of wild pokémon attacking people and their pokémon. I wasn't aware that the Cyndaquil belonged to someone."

"They like to play together," Robert explained. The man apologized again and walked away. Robert put a hand to his chin. What could be causing wild pokémon to attack like that? They always stayed in their environments and usually only attacked trainers. There had to be some reason for their unusual behavior. Puzzled, he walked back over to Luke.

"I think we'd better be leaving soon."

Luke looked over at Ember. She couldn't help but look angry, she didn't like people messing with Ember. He didn't like it, either. Honestly, that man was lucky that he still had both his hands. She was proud of him, though, for not causing too much of a scene. He had already matured much more than she had anticipated.

"I think you're right, we'd better get a move on." Luke's voice came out a bit deeper than she'd anticipated. This was the last time she was going to let somebody separate her and Ember. Who knew what that man would have done if Robert hadn't have gone over there? The thought of Ember being treated that way infuriated her.

Luke sighed and tried to calm down. If there was an outbreak of violence in wild pokemon, she couldn't blame the man for his actions. She knew she shouldn't be angry, but he probably could have handled the situation better. She decided to shrug it off. They needed to find Michael and Fae anyways, they should probably know about the wild pokemon as well.

Luke took Robert's hand as they collected their pokemon, paid for their meal, and left. "It looks like Michael and Fae have found a hotel," she said. "Fae sent me a message. We'll be staying at the Peachpit."

"Huh?" Robert said in reply to Luke's comment. "Oh, okay." He followed Luke in a haze. He couldn't help but worry about the pokémon in this area. If they were attacking people in the town there had to be a good reason. They had done something to upset the balance of the pokémon or. . . something. Pokémon didn't just attack for no reason. They just didn't.

They arrived at the inn, making Robert have to come out of his fog. They retrieved their key from the front desk and went up to meet with Michael and Fae. Once there, Robert spoke up.

"I heard that there have been problems here with the wild pokémon. I'd like to see if we can learn more about that tomorrow."

"We heard some rumors too," Fae pipped up. "Apparently it started when the new radio tower was built."

Robert nodded thoughtfully. That made a little sense. If they cut into the forest to build the tower, that could make the pokémon angry. But. . . humans had been building larger and larger cities for a while now. The pokémon always moved on or learned to live with them. They almost never attacked like this. He frowned. This whole situation seemed a little off.

Luke glanced over at Robert. He seemed really bothered by this outbreak. She put her hand on his shoulder. "I know it's disturbing, but there's really not much we can do." She kissed him on the cheek. "We can ask around about it some more tomorrow. If we find out the details, we may be able to figure out what's causing all this."

In all honesty, it upset Luke, too. She didn't understand what could cause this; pokemon were usually very peaceful towards humans. It was curious how they would suddenly start acting up like this. Even if the radio tower was what was upsetting them, she didn't see why they'd be so aggressive over it. It wasn't characteristic.

Luke sat down on her bed and kicked off her shoes. She laid down and Ember jumped up to rest on her stomach. She absentmindedly began petting him and smiled as he began to snore.

Robert sighed. Luke was probably right, but it drove him crazy to think of doing nothing. At the very least they could look into this radio tower and see what about it would have gotten the pokémon so upset. He shook his head. There wasn't much he could do about it tonight; it would be best to try and get some rest. He smiled as he saw Luke and Ember relaxing. Those two really were perfect together. Seeming to read his mind, Cookie nudged his leg. He laughed and placed the angular pokemon on his lap, patting its head.

Fae sat on the floor and played with Gare and Jello. They seemed to be getting along well, which was a relief to her. She had noticed that Ember had been a little jealous when she had caught her Magikarp, though he seemed to be alright now. Jello knew that it needed to get used to other pokémon though. She had made clear that she planned to be a top notch trainer, which meant a full team of pokémon.

Michael plopped down on one of the queen sized beds.

"By the way, we could only afford one room. Hope you two won't mind sharing a bed; it shouldn't be as tight as the tent was."

Luke's face reddened at the mention of her and Robert sharing a bed. Although it may not be as close as they were in the tent, it was a different concept. Nobody assumed anything romantic about people sleeping on the ground. Even though she was nervous, Luke kind of liked the idea. She glanced over at him. "As long as it's okay with you, it's okay with me."

Luke sat up and looked at her boyfriend. Something rose in her and she couldn't resist. She pounced on him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Laying her head on his shoulder, she looked up into his eyes. She was so happy that she had him. Suddenly, she remembered that she'd been wanting to do something nice for him. She sat up and looked over at Fae .

"Do you think you could spare a moment, Fae?" She asked. She motioned towards the door and raised her eyebrows to indicate that the boys didn't need to be in on this conversation.

Robert shrugged, trying to appear cool.

"I'm fine with it. We're old enough to be mature about it. Besides," he smiled a bit, "I'm kind of looking forward to it." He cleared his throat. Being smooth really wasn't his thing, but he wanted Luke to know that he was trying. She caught him by surprise with a tackle-glomp. He grinned and put a hand on her head. Her hair was soft; it surprised him.

The moment didn't last long as Luke asked Fae to talk. Robert sighed. He supposed that there would be a lot of moments like this later, but he was enjoying it. He watched her get up and walk out of the room. Michael made a light-hearted comment about the new couple. Robert shook his head and tried to ignore the blush climbing on his cheeks once again.

Fae and Luke went out into the hallway. Fae took the lead; she had found an internet café on their floor earlier that had a nice balcony.

"So what's up?" she asked as they waked there.

When they reached the balcony, Luke pulled the Skitty doll out of her jacket. She smiled. "It's about Robert. He bought this for me and then paid for a fairly expensive dinner. I want to make it up to him; I don't want him to feel like I'm taking advantage of him and..." she cleared her throat. "What I'm asking is, do you know of anything I could do for him?"

Luke leaned over the balcony railing, holding her Skitty doll out in front of her. It was so cute. She couldn't believe how sweet Robert was; buying this for her, even if it didn't seem like a big deal to him, was very sweet. Luke had never really had anyone who liked to do nice things for her, aside from her parents. She had only really had two real friends in Settis, and they hadn't been very thoughtful. She had trouble finding people she liked in such a large city.

Putting the doll back in her jacket, Luke took a look at the view of the city. She supposed it was a decent size. Not too far away, she heard someone yelling about a growlithe going wild. She looked over, but the poor thing just looked scared. Maybe people in the city were just taking this whole 'pokemon attacking' thing a little too far. She understood how that could happen out of fear. Still, the pokemon attacks were fairly disturbing.

Fae looked down worriedly at the Growlithe they were accusing of attacking someone. It looked confused and scared, but not aggressive. She shook her head. Without warning the Growlithe let out a powerful ember at the people trying to chase it off. Fae raised her eyebrows, surprised. It hadn't looked like it was going to attack at all. She considered going down to help, but trainers from the gym were already on the scene and trying to calm it down. The whole ruckus was soon out of eye shot. She shook her head, a bit distracted from the reason they were out there.

"Sorry, I'm paying attention. I swear." She turned back towards her new friend.

"That's a really cute Skitty doll," she said with a smile. "Robert's always been good at picking out gifts, though he doesn't think so for some reason." She shrugged.

"So, something nice for Robert, huh?" She tried to think. Robert was a nice kid, but she actually didn't know that much about him. She spent a lot of time with him, but he kind of kept to himself. "I loves computer stuff, but I'm not sure how that will help in this situation. Honestly, I think you're doing the best thing you could by being with him. I haven't seen him this happy in a long time."

Luke smiled. "I don't know if he knows it, but he's doing enough by just being with me, too. He's my first boyfriend, after all. I want to do something special." She looked out over the city and a distant look came to her eye. "It'll come to me eventually. It may take longer than I'd like, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure out the perfect thing to do."

Luke shook her head and looked over to Fae. "We should head back now. The boys may start wondering if we take to long. Anyways, I think it may be best not to bring up that growlithe. I don't want Robert to get too worried about it, and you know if we tell him he'll stay up all night."

When the two girls returned to the room, Luke collapsed on her bed. Ember curled up at her feet and both of them looked over at Robert. Luke smiled and stuck her tongue out at him. "Did you miss me?" She teased.

Fae nodded. It was probably a good idea not to mention it. To be honest though, it was bothering her too. That Growlithe just wasn't acting right. She had a feeling there was something shady going on in this town. He would help find out what, if she could.

"I know you'll think of something. You two seem to have a great chemistry. When it's right with someone, you just know what to do." She smiled, remembering her time spent with Michael. "When the time comes, it'll seem natural. Until then, just keep doing what you're doing. I think you two are good for each other."

The two walked back into the room and into a strange scene. The two boys, left alone, had managed to mess up the entire room. The beds' sheets were all over the floor and the table was knocked over. The two guilty parties were standing on top of one of the beds with pillows held in mid-swing.

"Um," Michael said, throwing down his weapon, "We thought you'd be gone longer."

Luke decided it would be best to let Fae handle the boys. She gave Robert a stern look, though. "Can I have my pillow back?" She teased. She laughed as he handed it to her. She fixed her side of the bed and relaxed. "I think the boys should have to clean up." She stuck her tongue out.

Ember jumped on Robert's head and began picking playing with his hair. He watched Luke as she made her side of the bed and relaxed. Then he jumped from Robert's head to Luke's stomach, and she let out a small "oof" as he landed.

Luke watched, bemused, as the boys cleaned up the room. They really had done a number on the place. This was the first time she had seen the more playful side of Robert. Luke let out a small chuckle as she remembered the look on his face when she and Fae had walked in. He looked like a puppy who knew he'd done something wrong. It truly was adorable.