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Late at night Cinderace couldn't sleep. He looked around the room, Ash sleeping on the lower bunk of the bunk bed, and Goh on top. As always, Ash’s bed was very messy. His blanket was thrown to the side and his arms were lifted above his head whilst he was heavily snoring. Goh, on the other hand, was less of a messy sleeper. He lay on his side, under the blanket and wasn't snoring as loudly as Ash was. Lucario lay around Cinderace, his arm still around him, together on the guest bed.
“Lucario?” Cinderace asked. At first Lucario didn’t wake up so Cinderace shook him lightly. Lucario’s eyes opened slowly and yawned. “What’s wrong Cindy?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“Do you want to talk about it? Let’s go outside.” Cinderace nodded and got up silently, trying to not awaken Ash and Goh. Lucario got up behind him and they slipped out of the room. Together they walked outside, to the garden of the Cerise Laboratory. They found some steps to sit on and for a moment they sat looking out over the garden lit by the bright moon.
“What did you want to talk about Cindy?”
“First of all, please stop calling me Cindy, I like Cinderace or Cinder better.”
“Oh come on… Cindy fits you so nicely”
“Please Luca… not now.”
“Hey! That's not… hmfp… okay, I'll stop.” They sat in silence for a while longer, listening to the pidgey in the trees and the caterpie in the bushes. Just barely audible was the sound of the Cerise Lab’s backup generator, gently humming in the background.
“Lucario? I couldn’t sleep because my head was full of thoughts, thoughts of my past and the decisions I took. I thought it would help if I talked with you about them.”
“What’s bothering you Cinder? I’m always here to listen.”
“I was thinking about the time when I was still living in Galar as a scorbunny. I haven’t told you much about my past, but I think now is the best time to do just that. I need to get this all off of my chest. So I was born in the city, I grew up in the alleys and I quickly left my nest to fend for my own. Leaving the nest quite early is normal for a scorbunny, but I can say it did have a negative impact on me. I had to leave my entire family before I was really ready to do so. I don’t miss my parents as much as I should just because I didn’t know them for that long. Now I’ll never be able to find them of course. Somewhere in me I don’t particularly mind that, it’s just how nature works. But in other parts, I really want to see my family again. Do you understand?”
“Hey Cinder, I totally understand that feeling. I was actually born with Ash. I never even got to meet my parents. Before I was born, someone or something took my egg away from my parents, maybe even my parents themselves left me. My egg was found by Nurse Joy and she took care of it for a while. One day, with my aura powers, I could feel the aura of a strong trainer. I had always wanted to become super strong, it is in my nature as a Lucario. So I called out to that trainer, that trainer of course being Ash. He then took care of me and I hatched. I don’t miss my parents, partly because I have never met them, and partly because Ash and Goh are sort of my parents. Just like they are yours. They might not be blood, but you can rely on them like you can with parents, they raised us to become the Pokémon we are now.” Cinderace shuffled over to Lucario’s side and put his head on Lucario’s shoulder. Lucario then put his arm around Cinderace and they snuggled for a bit, looking up at the stars and the way they twinkle. They then laid down in the grass and started star-gazing together.
“That constellation looks like you, Luca.”
“Oh yeah, well that one over there looks like you Cindy.”
“Hey, that’s not my name!”
“Neither is ‘Luca’.” Lucario said and started to tickle Cinderace.
“Hey, Luca, stop that!” Cinderace rolled away giggling with Lucario coming after him. But Lucario rolled slightly faster and ended on top of Cinderace.
“Hey Cindy.” Lucario then proceeded to give Cinderace a small kiss before lying beside him again. The mood shifted back to be slightly more serious and quiet.
“Now we are here anyway, I want to tell you all that is bothering me, Luca. When I was still a scorbunny living alone, I needed some amount of company. And I did eventually find some living in the alley’s like I was. It was a group of nickit, at first they didn’t accept me as my bright fur would give them away but when I covered myself in mud, they let me into their thievery group and I quite quickly became the leader. I had all the right insights for stealing things from humans. At that time I didn’t feel any remorse for stealing, the nickit taught me that it was a normal thing to do. Later I met Goh and Ash, of course I tried stealing from them too, we needed food and they had some. But later that day, Goh had taught me that stealing isn’t all that ethical, I mean we may just be Pokémon but Pokémon are smart enough to understand human language and general norms. Goh taught me that I could work hard for my food and drink, and that it is more fulfilling. I went with him that day, leaving the nickit to find their own food, hopefully by working hard and not stealing. But even though that was quite a long time ago now, before you were even born, I still feel bad about all that stealing. I feel like I should repay all those people that I stole from, but how in the world am I supposed to find them?”
“Oh Cindy, you shouldn’t worry about those kinds of things. Everyone has done at least something they regret, whether that is stealing food, or messing up their one opportunity. For you, you needed that food, you needed to stay alive and also keep those nickit alive. Every Pokémon should have access to food and water. And it isn’t like you stole things worth particularly much to humans. You’re beating yourself up for nothing, Cindy. Now come here.” Lucario patted his thigh, inviting Cinderace to come sit on his lap. Cinderace moved over and lifted himself onto Lucario’s lap. Then Lucario proceeded to hug Cinderace and he gave him a kiss on the head.
“You see, feeling bad about yourself is only a waste of energy. Things that happened cannot be undone and that’s just the way it is. So instead of being stuck in the past, you should put your energy into the now, try and accept what happened so that you can feel better. I also sometimes feel like I messed up, or didn’t try hard enough. Remember the battle Ash and I had fighting Bea’s grapploct? We lost that the first time. I felt like I hadn’t fought hard enough, that I could’ve put in more energy and won that battle, that I should’ve trained harder. Thinking about all that took a lot of energy that I needed for training. So I accepted what had happened and was thus able to put more energy into training instead. That extra training helped me win the next time. It’s the same for you, the more energy you put in feeling bad about what happened in the past, the less you’ll have to enjoy the present.”
“You’re right Luca, thanks so much for talking with me and waking up at this hour to do so.”
“I’m always here for you Cindy, you can wake me up anytime if you need to talk.” Lucario and Cinderace sat together for a while longer, indulging in the sounds of nature. Cinderace now started to become sleepy again and his eyes slowly closed until he fell asleep on Lucario’s lap.
“You sleepy, Cindy?” Lucario whispered before picking him up and carefully bringing him inside again. Lucario put Cinderace back on the guest bed and gave him another small kiss on the head.
“Goodnight, Cindy.” Lucario whispered before laying beside him again and putting his arm around Cinderace.