Cindy

Morning the next day, Lukas checked out of his rented room and after stocking up on supplies made his way out of Moon City. 

His plan from now on is to take his time traveling to the next city with a junior-gym and try his hand at the hard challenge next. 

Although all three of his Pokemon that evolved yesterday are only at the (low) sub-rank currently, with all the traits they got during the last two advancements and evolution he reckons they can compete against Pokemon at higher sub-ranks. 

Especially if he chooses a gym with good matchups next. He intends to go south from here to the city located in between Celadon and Saffron City. 

Having finished all remaining business at Moon City, Lukas eventually made his way out of the south gate. 

*ring* *ring* 

Before he left the city once and for all, however, his PokeNav started ringing. 

"Hello? Lukas here." 

"Hey Luke, it's me, Cindy." 

"Yo, what's up?" 

"Nothing, just asking if you left Moon City by now?" 

"Not yet I was jut about to though. Why?" 

"Forget it, see you around." 

"Ok?" 

Hanging up, Lukas started to make his way off of the road and into the semi-wild area of route 7. 

Yet not even 5 minutes after he started walking, he heard a loud sound. 

*thud* *thud* *thud* 

Listening closely, it sounds like a Pokemon a bit on the bigger side swiftly making its way forward. 

Since Lukas isn't the only trainer traveling in this area, he didn't care too much about the source of this sound at first. 

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* 

Hearing it getting louder and louder, however, Lukas called out his three Silver-Rank Pokemon and got ready for the worst case scenario. 

*swish* 

Without warning and before any of Lukas three Pokemon can react, a big orange blur passes by them. 

This blur headed straight for Lukas, who got ready to utilize the self-defense techniques he learned from an Aura-master during trainer school. 

*Thud!* 

Alas, it was for naught and upon reaching its target the orange blur pounced on him. 

Before Kadabra and the rest got ready to attack using long ranged moves, however, what they saw next stopped them in their tracks. 

They saw how the Pokemon sitting on top of their trainer did not attack, no, it actually started to lick Lukas face. 

"Hey, hey, stop stop stop, alright it's nice to see you too Arcanine." 

"ARC!" 

*giggle* 

Hearing someone laugh, Lukas, who barely managed to get the excited Arcanine off of him, turned in the direction it appeared from. 

"Very funny, Cindy, and here I hoped you would learn to be more serious from one of your sisters." 

"No way, they're soooo boring and always have this serious look on their face. I'd rather become like Aunt Catrina." 

Answering him was a girl of medium height, short golden blond hair, green eyes and a pretty face. She was wearing a yellow jacket that looking at its design stemmed right out of the FC clothing shop. Additionally, she also wore a Red cap with yellow on the edge. 

This person is, who could've guessed, the youngest of Lukas four cousins. 

"Why would you want to become like her?*sigh* Anyway, why are you here in the first place?" 

"I've been looking for you, obviously. By the way, isn't it rude that you aren't introducing me to your friends?" 

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Well, you know Lucario from when he was still a Riolu." 

Waving at his trainer's cousin, Lucario's left eye twitched a bit, glancing to the side at Arcanine and seeing one of the Pokemon that he got beaten up by in the name of "sparring" before their official journey began. 

"This is Charmeleon, he is the one I got from the starter initiative mom registered me in." 

Charmeleon too glanced at Arcanine from the corner of his eyes. Though he did so with an upturned nose. Ever since he received the trait Flame Eater, he lost much of his respect for stronger Fire-type Pokemon. 

Completely ignoring the fact that those Pokemon could still easily beat him using moves of other types. 

"Kadabra here is the talented Abra I told you about." 

Kadabra did not stare at Arcanine like her two companions, instead she had to hold her laughter looking at their expressions. 

"Didn't you write in the group chat that you caught not only one, but two more Pokemon before you got to Moon City?" 

Pulling out two more Poke balls and calling their inhabitants out, Lukas continues his introductions. 

"Lar/Pidgey" 

"Those are Pidgey and Larvitar, the former I stumbled upon while making my way to Moon City, the latter I caught while Mt.Moon was in chaos a few weeks ago." 

"Nice to meet you lot, my name is Cindy Emerald." 

While patting Arcanine at the places he knows she likes it, Lukas finally decided to get to the point. 

"So, can you finally tell me why you're looking for me?" 

Hearing his question, a big grin form on Cindy's lips before she searches through her pockets and after finding what she has been looking for, present Lukas two pieces of paper that kinda resembled movie tickets. 

"What are those?" 

"Hehe. Oh, nothing important, just two entry tickets to the NNPR-" 

"What? Seriously?" 

NNPR stand for Northern Natural Pokemon Reserve and is jointly managed by the Johto, Kanto and Sinnoh region. The NNPR can be considered a type of safari zone, with the only difference being that most Pokemon there originate from one of the 5 regions of the northern continent. 

It is home to a plethora of different Pokemon that have a good relationship to humans. In exchange for living there, the Pokemon will allow trainers to catch any Pokemon that is willing. Because of that, unless a wild Pokemon demands a fight to see whether a trainer is worthy, using violence is strictly prohibited. 

"How did you get your hand on those?" 

Lukas had every right to be astonished, considering that entry into the NNPR can't just be bought by anyone. Ticket scalping the NNPR tickets is the only way for a random person to buy one. 

The reason those tickets are so sought after is purely because of the inhabitants of the NNPR. 

Many Pokemon, after their trainers retire or die, choose to live and found families there. But not just any Pokemon can move there. To be granted a spot in this very peaceful place, a Pokemon must be at least Diamond-rank. 

Another consideration is the rarity of the Pokemon in question, because of that you can find all the most rare Pokemon of the northern continent at the NNPR. From the royal starters of all 4 major regions to even more powerful Pokemon-lines like, Dragonite-line, Metagross-line, Salamence-line and more. 

Of course, there are also some species from other by human inhabited regions, but they tend to be in the minority. 

"Hehe, what can I say Victini seems to have blessed me personally allowing my fortune to overflow in the most opportune mome-" 

"Oh, so won them from gambling." 

Being interrupted in the middle of her speech, Cindy had her smug expression stiffen. 

"Wha- What are you talking about, I won it fair and square in a match of wits and courage!" 

"If you say so." 

Mumbling something along the lines of "Catrina" and "another gambling addict" to himself, Lukas poses a question he is curious about. 

"You showing me those tickets makes me assume that you want to give one of them to me, am I right." 

"..Yes." 

"Why? Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered, but isn't this a bit too precious to just give away?" 

"You would be right normally, but these tickets are restricted, only allowing the one who uses them to catch Bronze-Rank Pokemon and below." 

Although many tribes of Pokemon live there, if there weren't any restrictions on catching new Pokemon at the NNPR it could hardly be sustainable. 

"I asked the others if they're interested, but all of them told me things along the line of, 'I don't have time to nurture a new team member from the ground up.' so that leaves me with you." 

"Alright, what do you want in exchange?" 

Looking at Lukas jacket that is one of the typical models for rookies, then at his still very clean looking cap, Cindy answers. 

"Forget it for now, I'll wait with my compensation until you become a Junior Elite at least." 

Lukas pondered about her words, among trainer families it is a kind of tradition for higher ranked trainers to just give away precious things to those of a lower rank. 

It is even taught in trainer school that aspiring trainers shouldn't rely too much on others, otherwise they will lose their ability to build proper bonds with their Pokemon and discover new previously unknown mysteries this world of Pokemon has to offer. Of course, this is mostly geared towards more distant family members, and most experienced trainers know how much they can give their younger generation without spoiling them. 

Lukas agrees with this very much, otherwise he could've just stayed at home and train his Pokemon while relying on his mother to buy him all sorts of precious items. 

This is also why he is resolved to pay her back the money she spent on the two Silver-ranked items back then. 

Yet while he would like to refuse his cousin using such reasoning he couldn't, considering he didn't even have a full team yet, having heard about the NNPR's reputation, temptation won in the end. 

"I agree. When do we leave?"