“AND STAY OUT!”

Slam!

Brad turned his head back just in time to see Rarity’s angry father slamming the door in his face with locking sounds coming from behind.

“Pssh. Like I’d try just walking back through the front door.”

Brad had only ever done that once, and to his credit, it had worked, but it was never something he’d try with Rarity’s family. At some point you just need to count your losses, and he knew that. Instead, he whipped out his phone, found the latest message he’d been sent and started replying when he looked back again to see a familiar cell phone being thrown out the second story window.

“Looks like Rarity’s grounded.”

Normally, this would be a good thing, seeing as how the easiest girls are always the bored ones who are mad at their dads, but still, if he pressed his luck too much, he’d be the one thrown out the window next.

It wasn't like he had a whole lot going for him in his normal life, though. Just two weeks prior he had graduated from Canterlot High School where he spent the best 4 years of his life, at least until his band fell apart and all his hopes and dreams came crashing down. He had spent his whole life trying to be a professional musician, but his band mates decided that they’d rather go to college than risk their future on music. Everyone at Canterlot High had either moved on to college or their careers. All except Brad, who now only lived for his own fulfillment.

“At least I don’t have to pay rent,” Brad chuckled to himself as he fumbled with the keys to his house. As soon as he walked through the door and turned on the lights, though, sitting in the living room waiting for him were his loving, caring mother and father.

“Son,” his father said avoiding eye contact, “we need to talk.”

“Of course,” Brad said sarcastically, retracting his previous statement. Throwing his keys onto the corner table, Brad slumped onto the sofa adjacent to his father. His dad wanted to reply to his attitude, but thinking about the reaction he’d get anyway, he took in a deep breath and let it slide.

“Son, you’re 18 years old now.”

“Yeah, and? Oh, shoot! Don’t tell me you guys have turned 60 already! Ohhhh and I was going to give you the perfect nose hair trimmers too!”

“Brad, listen. Your mother and I aren't going to be around forever, you know.” Brad opened his mouth to retort something sarcastic about their age again, but having 18 years of experience, his father put his hand up and silenced him early. “Son, I’m being serious. What are your goals? What are your plans? I was fully supportive of your music dream, but now that that’s not an option anymore, it’s time to move on.”

“First off, I told you to call me Flash, OK? And second, I can still make it happen! I just need to find a couple new band mates. Canterlot City is huge! I can--”

“And what if you can’t?” Both Brad and his mother were stunned in silence. For the first time in his life, Brad had been told to his face that his dreams may never come true. “Flash… Come with me.”

Brad’s father then rose to his feet and began walking down the hall with his wife and son following close behind. Upon reaching the last door in the hallway, he entered the room and flicked on the lights, illuminating the trophies and ribbons throughout the room. The teenager’s jaw dropped at the sight of his father’s achievements room, thinking that it was just some boring work room the whole time he lived there. Upon meandering through the room a little further, his eyes planted onto a picture of his father in the middle with six pokémon to his side.

“Did I ever tell you about how I became a pokémon trainer?”

“No…” Brad replied silently. “ I didn't know you ever were one…”

“Well, before I met your mother, I was actually a pretty darn good trainer. My pokémon won all types of competitions and contests. You see, I left home a little later than most of my friends. They all left when they were ten or eleven, but I wasn't allowed to leave until I was fifteen. That’s when I first set off with the ghastly my father caught for me.” Brad’s father then pointed to a smiling gengar standing next to his younger self in the center of the picture. “Then from there, we set off to different towns, winning gym badges and beauty contests and adding new pokémon to the team. After doing that for a while, I met your mother and, well, the rest is history.”

Brad continued to admire the surroundings of the room, but he couldn't ignore the main question sticking out in his mind.

“If you were this good at it, why did you give it up?”

“Well…” His father sighed and chuckled to himself. “I guess I just grew out of it. You know something, though?” He then pulled open a drawer with a single Pokéball inside. “I think this is just what you need.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand.”

Pulling the sphere out of his drawer, Brad’s father smiled at his son, placing the Pokéball in his hand. “I want you to go out and catch a pokémon. I think this will help you find direction in your life, just like how it helped me find your mother.”

Brad dropped eye contact from his dad down to the Pokéball. A long, awkward pause filled the air as his father waited to hear his son’s reaction.

“I… I can’t…”

“What do you mean, Flash?” his mother inquired.

“I mean I don’t want to be a pokémon trainer! Don’t you get it?! I already have a direction! You two just aren't letting me go through with it!”

“Son, music isn’t an option anymore. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and even Fluttershy have all moved on to other cities. The only reason Rarity is still here is because she’s waiting to hear back about that textile internship over in Manehattan City.”

Brad’s anger continued boiling up at the sound of his so-called friends. Twilight and the other girls always tried to teach him all the important aspects of friendship, but what real friend would leave someone behind just to travel across the Equestria region?

“Music isn’t an option? Well, neither is being a pokémon trainer.”

Clenching his fist around the doorknob beside him, Brad put the Pokéball back into his father’s hand, stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. He didn't know whether his parents were following after him, and to be honest, he didn't care anymore. Grabbing his keys from the table, he slammed another door and started wandering into the dark wilderness, taking no real aim or direction.

Before long, the blue-haired teenager found himself at the entrance of the Everfree Forest, a safe haven for pokémon, but a danger zone for people. Still, though, Brad didn't exactly have anywhere else to go anymore, and he was never one to give up on a good adrenaline rush anyway.

The forest itself was incredibly dark, allowing only the brightest stars to shine through the tall trees and withering vines. A cool mist breezed through the air, making the hot summer night feel as if winter were knocking on the door. The only sounds emitted from the entire forest were Brad’s feet crunching through the fallen leaves and the occasional slither coming from some unknown direction nearby.

“Applejack always said we should do more outdoors stuff.” The teenager chuckled to himself, grabbing the vine of a nearby tree to help him up to one of its branches. “If only she was here now. Then maybe I wouldn't be the one making camp!” Brad laughed loudly at his own joke before realizing that if he was going to stay here for the night, he’d legitimately need to make some kind of sleeping arrangements so as not to get eaten.

Brad then pulled the vine from another branch and tied it around the one he was sitting on. Upon pulling a few more vines and gathering as many leaves as he had the patience for, he finally had the perfect tree hammock, complete with a fluffy leaf pillow. Not exactly posh, but it sure beat becoming someone’s vore fetish. After hanging up his coat and pants, Brad fell back onto his forest bed, gazing up at the stars and trying to forget that sooner or later, he’d have to confront reality and make a decision with his parents.

“Just be patient, guys… I’ll make you proud somehow…”

”Oh, Brad. It feels so good.”

“I told you I could make you cum quicker.”

“Hang on! I haven’t cum yet, you know! Actually, I know a way I can win for sure.”

“Heh. What are you doing, Pinkie?”

“I can’t cum if you’re not inside me.”

Pinkie Pie then pulled her crotch off of Brad’s pelvis and moved her mouth methodically from Brad’s lips down to his pecs until her mouth found its way making circles around his groin. Giving Brad a grin, she gently held his manhood with her soft hands and leisurely licked her way up his lengthening shaft. As Pinkie found a weak spot at the base of the head, her tongue then began to trace circles around the wrinkles of his penis, stopping momentarily only to suck some of his dripping precum with saliva trailing from her mouth.

“You think I’m gonna win after all?” Pinkie asked with a penis in her mouth.

“You sure you really wanna win?”

“I think it’d be kinda hot to see you finish before me.”

“Then fondle your tits while you’re at it.”

Pinkie giggled at the request, fondling her boobs in front of him as her teeth gently skidded across his flesh. Pulling off of him, however, her she brought her mouth down to his leg and nipped him forcefully.

“OW! Pinkie, what the cock was that for?!” Pinkie Pie answered with another nip at his leg. “Ouch! Quit it!” Then another. Then another. Then…

Brad’s eyes wanted to shoot open, but the pitch black night had turned into the brightest morning he could remember, and opening his eyes all the way just wasn't an option. With another piercing pain in his leg, though, he managed to pull his face forward enough to see a spearow pecking at a pile of berries that must have fallen onto his leg from above. As soon as Brad lifted his head, though, the bird pokémon stopped what it was doing and looked Brad in the face with furrowed eyes.

“Rooow!”

“Get off of me, you stupid bird!”

Brad flailed his arms around, making the spearow flap its wings and fly away, but not without giving him a pissed off peck to the head first. The blue-haired boy rubbed his head where the beak landed, but soon focused his attention on grabbing hold to the sides of the hammock so he wouldn't fall off. He had survived the night, but still with no real reason to head back home, he’d need to survive the forest for at least a little while longer.

“Stupid bird… Now I need to piss.”

There was no real correlation between the two, but it at least made him feel better to shift the blame onto someone else for his problems. Sitting back onto the tree branch, he put on his clothes and began untying one of the vines to his hammock to let him back down to the ground. As soon as his pants were zipped up, however, he quickly slid to the ground and unzipped them again to release the growing pressure in his bladder.

“Ugh… Why am I even out here? Not like a couple of nights in the Everfree forest is gonna change their mind, anyway.”

As he was left to his thoughts, however, he began to hear a distant sound over the noise of his piss stream. Perking his ears up, he could hear that it was a voice. It was singing. It was a girl singing.

“What’s a girl doing in the Everfree forest?” he said to himself, zipping his pants back up. Brad then moved closer to the melodic sound, walking slowly so he wouldn't make a lot of noise and scare her off before he got a good glance at what she looked like. Upon ducking under a few low tree branches and stepping over a couple mossy logs, the sounds were becoming clearer, brighter, more audible.

“Mel-la-la-la-meeel. Mel-la-la-la-meeel.”

“Huh?”

Finally, upon clearing one last tree branch, he saw a figure sitting on a rock and singing as she washed her hair in the river to her side. She wasn't tall by any means, standing at 2 feet tall at most, and her bright green hair traveled all the way down to her feet, which were no more than little stubs. She wore a deep black dress that matched her bow and (from what he could tell) a head mic resting on her right ear, projecting the sound of her song further into the woods.

“Wow… Is that a pokémon?”

Brad took another step forward, but as he lifted his leg, his foot caught onto a log in front of him, tossing him forward onto the ground in a complete facedive.

“Mel?”

As soon as Brad looked up again, he saw that the pokémon's song had stopped, and she was looking him dead in the eye in fear. Quickly pulling himself up, he put his hands out in front of him and said, “D-don’t worry! I won’t hurt you!”

Despite his words, though, the pokémon began backing up, her eyes never leaving Brad’s, and he couldn't even tell if she could understand what he was saying. Suddenly, though, he remembered something and quickly checked his jacket pockets.

“Yes! They’re here!”

Just as Brad had hoped, his pockets were filled with berries from his sleeping place, and just before the pokémon took a sharp right away from the river, he pulled out the food, laid them delicately in front of him and began stepping backwards. The singer stopped dead in her tracks, now exchanging looks between him and the berries.

“Go on,” he said softly. “No one’s gonna hurt you.”

Several moments passed by in complete silence with neither of them moving an inch. Meloetta was still staring Brad in the face, but would occasionally take quick glances at the berries, just to see if there was any danger in coming a little closer. Finally, she took one step forward, making Brad catch himself before he made any sudden movements that would lead her into taking off.

Another few moments passed before Meloetta took her next step, but Brad held still. Then she took another step, and another, moving closer and closer, but still being cautious just in case. Once she was a good 5 feet away, she levitated one of the berries to her mouth, looked it over for any danger and gently placed it in her mouth.

Gulp.

“Mel! Mel!”

The pokémon then rushed forward and dove into the pile of berries, munching them down with a large smile on her face. Brad hoped this meant he was in the clear and slowly made his way over to the feasting pokémon, and to his delight, she didn't move an inch (other than when she went to grab another berry).

“See? I told you I was a good guy. What’s your name, anyway?”

“Meloetta! Meloetta!”

“It's a nice name. It matches your personality, I guess. I really liked your singing, by the way.” Meloetta didn't respond, but instead shoved another berry in her mouth and chewed with delight. “Yeah, you probably already knew that. Sorry to interrupt you, by the way.”

He was almost expecting a response like the kind he'd get from a person, but he didn't have much of a problem watching Meloetta finishing off her berries.

“You know, I’m pretty jealous of you. You know that? You don’t need to worry about paying bills or pleasing your parents. You just come out here and make music, all day everyday. That's the kind of life I want.”

“Mel?”

Brad looked down at the meloetta, who had stopped eating and was looking into his eyes, almost like she wanted to hear more about his life.

“OK. I’ll tell you, but don’t think those eyes are gonna work on me all the time. I guess… I guess I mainly wanna make my parents proud of me, but I want to do it my way, not theirs. They tell me that they’ll always be proud of me no matter what, but I want to be proud of myself too! I can’t go on with life just doing what everyone else is doing.”

Meloetta kept her gaze focused on Brad, eating her last berries like popcorn as she listened keenly to his story.

“Anyway, that spearow got in the way of my wet dream, so I’m gonna go bang one out before I lose my morning wood. If you’re still here when I get back, I’ll bring you some more berries.”

Brad then lifted himself to his feet and began walking back into the woods, looking around for a safe place where he'd be able to masturbate without being interrupted. As soon as he turned his back, though, Meloetta’s head tilted to the side in curiosity, not really sure as to whether or not she was ready for him to leave quite yet.

The blue-haired teen stepped over a few logs and ducked under a few branches before finding a perfect patch of grass situated right next to a tree for him to lean on. He then pulled his belt out of the loops, unbuttoned his jeans and slid them to his legs along with his boxer shorts, his erection practically gone from all the morning festivities. Nonetheless, he sat back, got himself comfortable and swung his penis in circles in his hand, getting the blood flow back to right where he wanted it.

His mind flicked through a variety of girls he could fantasize about, but what he really wanted was to continue where he left off and imagine what else Pinkie Pie could have done for him. She could have put his dick in between her breasts, rubbing them against the base while her mouth suctioned him at the top. Maybe she could bring him all the way to the edge, just to cut him off short to take a new position. What position sounds good, though? Anal? Brad’s erection pulsed, giving him all the information he needed to continue on with the fantasy.

“Melo mel?”

“Huh?” Brad quickly turned his head to see his pokémon friend poking her head out behind a nearby tree, watching intently. “Come on, Meloetta. You caught me at like the worst possible time.”

Meloetta, on the other hand, just blinked, staring at Brad’s anatomy and trying to figure out why he left for something like that. It seemed like something that was almost silly to get so worked up about, but at the same time, there was some unidentifiable instinct that pulled her in. Somehow, the sight of every stroke Brad made caused her face to warm up to a flush red, and she wasn't going to budge an inch until her curiosity was again satisfied.

Looking back up at Brad, she pointed to the phallus and urged him to continue with a “Mel letta!”

“Uhh… Just promise you won’t look, OK?”

Brad then closed his eyes and tried to go back to his fantasy, falling into a deep state where the only sensory information he pulled in were the sounds of Pinkie Pie bouncing on his dick. He could already begin to feel the insides of her vagina clenching around his lengthening shaft and the moist sensation of her wetness dripping down to his testes. Thoughts shifted back and forth whether he wanted her to face him so he could see her lust-driven grin or whether he preferred bending her over so he could take in her slender curves and perfect butt cheeks.

Actually, the thought of putting her on all fours was starting to sound better than ever. He always loved the way she'd back herself into his crotch, pulling his penis from behind and angling it inside her without looking back. Plus, when she really got going, she’d bounce against him so fast that in the recoil, her cheeks would spread just enough for him to get a clear view of her beautiful clenched anus.

Brad’s stroking had picked up into a much faster pace with his chest visibly rising and his hips reflexively pumping into the air every time he thought of just the right image. He could feel it almost as if Pinkie Pie were trying to grab onto him herself. Like, he could really feel--

“Oh, Celestia, what's going on?!”

Brad quickly opened his eyes and looked down to see the meloetta grabbing onto his shaft with both of her tiny hands and flinched backwards, hitting his head on the tree behind him. With his hand gone from his penis, Meloetta began taking over for him, looking as though she were trying to figure out what to do with it. As much as Brad wanted to pull her hands away, though, his hands were too busy soothing the back of his head. Plus…

...the feeling was too good to pass up anyway…

Instead, the blue-haired teen laid back, his mind blank except for the feeling of Meloetta’s hands trying to imitate what she had just seen Brad doing. Her face was now less of curiosity and more like the kind of expression he'd get from a girl when he was teasing to go inside her. That face of longing, desperate to fulfill her biological needs, but still waiting patiently for him to make the first move. Out of pure curiosity and with all basic thought lost in his state of arousal, Brad then moved his finger down to her dress area. She stopped momentarily, taking in a sudden heavy breath and squeezing her eyes shut, then carefully went back to stroking him, leaning her head onto his abdomen.

With one hand moving through her hair, Brad’s finger began its slow descent down her pelvis, reaching dangerously low as he found himself treading below her hips. “La meeehhhh!” she cooed softly, breaking her pace against Brad’s shaft completely to take in several deep breaths. Finally, he could feel the break between her legs, whose touch made Meloetta gasp and squeeze her thighs in response, but for some reason, this just invited him in more. With one last trace down her groin, he slid his finger over the slit of her legs and steadily moved into her empty orifice.

She gasped again, only now her heavy breathing was becoming audible as her eyes struggled to stay open in her unknown fit of ecstasy. He then found a steady, slow pace, moving his finger in and out of her womanhood as her insides subtly gripped around him, inviting him to explore her inner cavity deeper. With her breathing becoming deeper and his finger growing wetter, there was no longer any way he could help the growing sensation of his shaft hardening between his legs. Meloetta’s eyes squinted open to see his penis before looking back up at Brad, almost like she was asking for permission, and with the nod of his head, she pulled her hair back and filled her mouth with Brad’s cock.

The blue-haired teen almost completely lost base with reality in the newfound sensation clenching between his legs, but coming back to real life, he noticed that his hand had stopped and quickly resumed fingering her as deep as he could. Meloetta, however, continued to suck him, using the suction of her mouth to provide him with kinesthetic pleasure while her body seized in her approaching orgasm.

“You're not gonna cum already are you? We haven't even gotten to the best part!”

Brad then pulled his finger out of the pokémon's vagina, dripping fluid that connected his finger to her orifice. Meloetta, on the other hand, quickly pulled her mouth off of Brad’s crotch and grabbed his hand in protest, practically pleading with him to go back inside her.

“Hey, don't worry, OK. Just trust me.”

Then, picking Meloetta up, he angled his penis, lowered her down onto his pelvis and gently squeezed himself back up the pokemon's throbbing insides. Meloetta slammed her face into Brad’s shirt, grabbing on as tighter as her vagina gripped Brad further in and making small hip movements up and down his member. The teenager, however, smiled weakly at the pleasurable pain that he was using to wrack her mind, running his fingers through her hair to amplify the effect.

The subtle thrusts quickly grew faster with Meloetta’s growing impatience, turning into forceful bounces onto his pelvis as she squeezed her arms around Brad’s waist. Now, suddenly, he was the one who felt like the vulnerable one, trying his hardest to get a good look at his dick going further into his partner, but squeezing his eyes closed when her inner walls dragged against him in all the right places. Brad grabbed hold of Meloetta’s small backside, making her coo in lust as he began adding his own thrusts to send shockwaves down her spine.

“M-meeeel! La letta!”

“Gettin’ close there?” The pokémon nodded, firming her grip onto Brad’s shirt and gently biting down on her lip. “Then I think I know what to do about that.”

Breaking the momentum, Brad quickly pinned Meloetta to the ground and began humping her into the grass beneath them, making her body visibly shudder from the newfound energy surging through her womanhood. She was beginning to pant heavily, trying to take in as much air as Brad’s member, but with every libidinous moan she made, she expelled all she had left in her lungs. The sensation was so new to her, so surprising, yet so enticing, that it felt like her ovaries were going to explode, and for some reason, she was begging him to make it happen.

Brad’s pacing grew quicker. Meloetta’s moaning grew louder. Both of them were sliding their crotches together as hard as they could. Brad then very quickly felt a tensing sensation in his balls and made one last thrust into the pokemon's genitals, pinning her harder into the ground and placing his lips sensually against hers.

Meloetta’s arms wrapped around Brad’s neck as her mouth navigated itself along with Brad while her vagina throbbed and contracted against his cock, pulling in the warm cum that was beginning to flood her insides. Pulse after pulse filled her up until it eventually seeped out the sides, unable to tame the torrent of tangible sexual desire shooting in from Brad’s penis.

With a grin, Brad lifted his mouth from hers, looked her dead in the eye and smiled. “Does that satisfy your curiosity for now?” Meloetta nodded weakly, her hips still reflexively beating to the rhythm of her subsiding aftershocks. “I have to admit, you were actually pretty good for your first time. I mean, that was your first time, right?”

The pokémon blushed. “M-melo mel.”

“I’ll take that as a yes. Aaaaaanyway…” The blue-haired teen then put his hand onto his knee and weakly lifted himself up, pulling his jeans up along with him and doing his best not to accidentally leak any semen onto them. “I should probably get out of here. As fun as this was, I don't think running away from home is gonna fix anything anytime soon. Plus, I’d much rather eat an eggo than survive off berries.”

“Letta?”

Brad stopped before he even started moving, suddenly unable to break his gaze from Meloetta’s longing eyes. He had done this plenty of times, having one-night stands with girls and then taking off as soon as the dead was done, but Meloetta, for some reason, looked like she would be devastated if he did that to her.

“Oh, gosh. Could you quit with the Lillipup eyes? Look…” Brad put his hands into his pockets, trying to think of something to tell her that would make him feel less awful about leaving her like this, but nothing came to mind. “Maybe you can find someone else to have sex with? Oh, jeeze. That sounded horrible. OK, uhhh… What if I got you some more berries? Would you feel better then?”

Meloetta’s eyes broke contact and drifted to her feet while still projecting how horrible she was beginning to feel. Suddenly, however, her gaze was quickly shifted to a noise coming from not too far off.

“What? What is it?”

As Brad’s vision matched the direction of Meloetta’s, he began to make out a dark face hiding in the bushes, staring directly at them. As soon as he finally got a clear image of what was hiding, though, a sudden burst of flame soared through the air in his direction.

“La metta!!”

Before he even had time to react, Meloetta quickly jumped into the air, pushed Brad to the side and was engulfed in a violent inferno scorching her body. “NO! MELOETTA!” Quickly pulling himself off the ground, the blue-haired boy rushed to Meloetta’s side, lifting her head off the grass as gently as he could. “Are you OK? Please tell me you’re gonna be alright!”

“La… Mel letta…” The struggling Pokémon then pointed back to the bushes, and as Brad turned his head, he was quickly met with the eyes of a pyroar making its way towards them. “La… La…”

“Don't worry! I’ll get you out of here!” Brad then tried to pick Meloetta up so that he could get her to safety, but was immediately shoved away as she weakly wobbled herself back up to her feet. “What are you doing? You don't stand a chance against a pyroar like him, especially in the condition you’re in now!”

Meloetta, however, closed her eyes and began to float into the air, glowing a soft purple as the aura around her warped and twisted along the outlines of her body. The pyroar, however, didn't give the other pokémon much time to think as its low voice growled and its paws gradually made their way closer to its dinner.

“Meloetta! We have to get out of here NOW!!”

“Laaaaaaa MEEEEEEEELLLL!!!”

Meloetta then swung her arms towards the enemy pokémon, and as soon as she did, a fierce shockwave rang through the forest, picking the pyroar into the air and tossing into a nearby tree. Once the fire-type managed to get back to its feet however, it looked right up at Meloetta, and it looked pissed.

“Was that a psychic attack?!”

“Melo mel!”

“Well? Do you think you can do it again?”

Before either of them had any time to think, however, the enemy leapt towards the small psychic-type, bearing its large jaw and sharp fangs to take Meloetta down once and for all, but with her body shining a purple glow once more, she lifted her arms and flung them once more towards the pyroar.

“Laaaaa metta!!”

Suddenly, the fire-type froze in the air, surrounded by a blue light before its momentum changed, swinging it backwards as far into the woods as she could. Although neither of them saw where the pokémon had landed, they immediately heard the sound of footsteps running away, growing more and more quiet until they gradually disappeared.

“You…” Brad muttered, shaking from the adrenaline of the immediate battle. “You… You did it!” He then quickly went down to his knees and brought Meloetta into a big hug. “You won! We’re alive!”

“Mel! Mel!”

The both of them cheered happily, Brad smiling from ear to ear about winning his first battle and Meloetta laughing in joy from seeing her trainer’s enthusiasm. “I can't wait to tell my parents about… Oh…” The mood of the environment quickly dissipated as Brad realized the fight that he had had the night prior, and to make matters worse, he realized that not only would he have to return to his parents, he’d have to leave Meloetta behind.

“Letta?” the pokémon said, tilting her head from the obvious change in Brad’s tone.

“I… I should probably get going back home now. It was great meeting you, and thanks again for saving me. I guess… This is goodbye.”

Without wanting to delay the inevitable any further, Brad turned on his heels and started walking back to what he hoped was the exit back into Canterlot City, but as soon as he took his first step, he felt something tugging on the back of his shirt. Looking back, he saw Meloetta with pleading eyes that begged him not to leave. As Brad thought about what he should do, he couldn't help but chuckle at the pokémon trying its hardest to keep him there.

“You really don't want me to go?”

“Mello la letta!”

Brad chuckled again, running his hand through his blue hair and sighing loudly. “Alright… How about this? You can come home with me, but only if you promise to protect me in case another one of those things comes back. Deal?” With a bright smile, Meloetta lifted herself into the air and kissed Brad passionately, taking a seat next to him on his shoulder. “Looks like we’ll be together from now on, huh?”

“Mello la letta!”

And with that, the teenager and pokémon made their way to the exit of the Everfree Forest.

“I told you this wasn't a good time to lecture him about his life!” Brad’s mother shouted at her husband. “He just barely graduated from high school, and you want him to find a path in life now?!”

“Relax, dear,” he replied. “He’ll be back soon.”

“You don't know that! He’s been gone for 12 hours! He’s usually home by now!”

As soon as the words left her lips, both of their heads turned as the sound of their front door swung open and closed, and standing at the entrance to the house was a teenage boy with a pokémon sitting on his shoulder. “Hey, guys,” he said. “I’m back.”

“Oh, honey!” his mom exclaimed, rushing to give him a big hug. “I was so worried about… who’s this?”

“Mom, Dad, you were right. It’s time for me to grow up. Everyone else has a path that they’re on, and until now, I’ve just been goofing off. I’m sorry for blowing up at the two of you yesterday.”

“That’s alright, son,” his father said, coming in and giving him a hug of his own. “Now, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?”

Brad looked over to his pokémon, who flashed back a smile as wide as his. “This is Meloetta, and she’s going to be my partner on my pokémon journey.”

His parents were speechless, looking at him in a joyous shock before laughing happily and bringing him back into a giant hug. “That’s great!” his father exclaimed. “Do you have any idea of a direction to head in?”

“I don't really know, but I think I’d like to head towards Ponyville Town and see where life takes me… if that’s alright with you guys.”

“Son,” his father said, grabbing him by the shoulders, “any direction you choose is fine with me.”

“Thanks, Dad. I guess that’s all I really came home to say.”

“Before you leave, let me just grab one thing.” His father then disappeared to his trophy room and returned back with a dark green backpack in his hands. “This was mine when I was a trainer, and now, I’d like you to have it.”

The teenage boy’s face lit up, quickly grabbing it from his hands, opening it up and pulling out a variety of pokéballs, potions, antidotes, and a dark blue hat. Holding back the emotion behind his eyes, he looked back up at his dad and said, “I’ll make you proud. I promise. Come on, Meloetta! Off to Ponyville Town!”

“Mello mel!”

And with that, Brad put the hat on his head, swung the backpack around his shoulders and made his way out the door, waving his parents off before disappearing into the outside wilderness. With a small grin, his father said to himself, “You don't need to make me proud, Flash. You already have.”