“So, why did you let yourself get caught?” His mother asked again, a slight tinge of betrayal in her voice.

  “I didn’t,” Larry reiterated with a shake of his head, “I was unconscious when Valerie caught me. Remember what I told you last time when we reunited after you woke up? That the humans saved us by catching us and bringing me and you to a center?”

  His mother stubbornly did not agree with his side of the story, “You were stolen away.”

  With a shake of his head, he disagreed, “No Mom, I would’ve died if she didn’t catch me.”

  “Umm…Everything ok between you two?” Valerie tried to cut in, only to receive a deep, rumbling growl back in response, which shook the room's entire interior lightly from his mother, “Ooookay…Guess that’s a no…”

  “Eek!” Michelle gave off a quiet squeal as she wrenched the back of Valerie's chair helplessly, her knees had already been jelly when the Tyranitar mother had awoken, but by now she looked more like a fearful newborn fawn than the reliable mother figure she was supposed to be.

  “Don’t scare them!” Larry chastised his mother, “I love you Mom, but sometimes you’re just too much of a meathead.”

  The comment hurt his mother, and she pulled back her threatening aura, “They kidnapped you…”

  “No, they didn’t! Valerie is my friend!” He jumped into the chair next to Valerie and hugged her for effect, to which she cooed and reciprocated the hug, “See? She saved me.”

  She simply scoffed back in response, before realizing something in shock, “Wait, don’t tell me, you plan to stay with her?!”

  “Of course! Valerie is my friend and trainer, Mom.” Larry insisted with a nod of his head, “I’m not going to leave her suddenly. I made a promise to her after all.”

  “But-”

  “Weren’t you the one who tried to help me leave the caves, so I could explore the world?” Larry questioned, “Valerie is a trainer, I’ll be exploring the entire region with her!”

  His mother's eyes grew even wider at that statement, “What?!”

  ‘Time to drive it home,’ Larry thought to himself as he crawled back onto the bed to keep his mother from rising, ‘I can’t keep parts of the story from her, especially now.’

  “Valerie saved my life. I said I wanted to explore the world after I got out of the mountain caves,” He pointed down at himself, “We’re both outside now, Mom. We made it.”

  Turning introspective, his mother looked away and didn’t respond for a moment. In the moment of quiet, Larry looked between Valerie and her Mother, who was still hiding behind her daughter's chair. Valerie gave him an apologetic smile, jerking up her shoulder in a “I don’t know either” motion, which Larry wasn’t sure if it was directed toward his mother's or her mother's behavior.

  Finally, his mother whispered something, almost too quiet to hear, “It's too early…”

  “What?”

  “It's too early!” She exploded outwards, “Larvitar aren’t supposed to leave the nest like this!”

  Larry almost flinched back at his mother's accusatory tone. She was so insistent that tears were beading on the bottom of her eyes as her voice began to waver, “You’re supposed to eat your fill of soil, then evolve into a Pupitar! Then, when you’ve grown well and had a fun upbringing, you’re supposed to evolve into a Tyranitar!”

  These were more words from his mother than he’d ever heard before. She looked practically hysterical, “Mom! Calm down, please!”

  “I promised myself I’d raise you right!” She roared out, “Why do you want to leave suddenly?!”

  Just as suddenly as she’d gotten loud, she turned quiet again, “Was I a bad mother?” Tears were now actually beginning to run down her face. She asked again, “Am I going to lose you again? What did I do wrong?”

  “No, Mom! You’re a great Mom. Please don’t get the wrong idea!” He hugged himself closer to her, and she pulled him in with a whine, “I care about you, Mom. You’re the best mom I’ve ever had! I couldn’t wish for a better parent!”

  “Then why do you want to leave?” She questioned with a whine, “Where do you want to go?”

  “I want to go see the world, Mom.” Larry answered, tears now also beading in his eyes, “I know this probably isn’t the reunion you wanted, but I don’t want to stay with you near the mountain caves forever. I want to explore this world, grow stronger, and see different things. Working together with Valerie is the one thing that can make me achieve those things.” In his mind, he completed the thought, ‘I want to finally do something with my life, unlike last time around.’

  “It's still too early, Larry.” His mother countered. Her eyes fell on Valerie, “How can you trust this human anyway?”

  “Umm…” Once again, Valerie tried to get a word in on their family drama, “I don’t think I understood every word, but I can see that you don’t agree with me having caught Larry, is that right?”

  Larry nodded back, and his mother growled in the general direction of his trainer, much to Larry's annoyance. Valerie continued, “Umm, my name is Valerie, and this behind me is my mother, Michelle. I did not plan on keeping Larry when I caught him, the original plan was to release him back where I found him after he was healed. It was only because he told me that his mother's condition was unknown that we set out to explore Mt. Silver, your home, together, to find you.”

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  Valerie began telling Larry’s mother about all the things that had happened since she’d caught Larry. She listened diligently, more than curious to find out what her son had been up to in the time she’d been unconscious. From their first meeting in the PokeCenter, their battle against the Youngster with a Polywag, and how they were interviewed by police on their way to the mountain, where Larry confessed to wanting to stay with Valerie. She continued about their adventures in the First Layer, the Magmar fight, and her being found. Their adventures back at the center and her first awakening, to where they were right now.

  “Back during that interview, before entering Mt. Silver, Larry confessed to me through the officer's Hypno how he wanted to stay with me,” Valerie smiled at Larry, who nodded back at the explanation. “Afterwards, we made the promise to work together, as trainer and Pokemon. I’ll train Larry to become stronger, and in turn, he’ll help me beat the Gyms of the human cities as we travel through the country.”

  Valerie looked his mother, a Tyranitar, dead in the eye, “I won’t suddenly give up on Larry, I’ll train him properly, so please.” She leaned forward, putting both her hands onto his mother's clawed hand, much to her surprise, “Let me and Larry journey together. We’ll return to Mt. Silver occasionally, so you will be able to stay in contact with your young. I’m not taking him away from you, he is simply ‘leaving the nest’, so to speak. So please, let me train and keep Larry!”

  A stare off ensued, his trainer and his mother locked gazes, both seemingly evaluating the other. Larry, still comfortably seated in his mother's arms, saw the sparks flying between them, ‘Oh god, this is tense!’

  Eventually, his mother broke the stare-off with a scoff. She turned to Larry, “Is this really what you want?”

  “Y-Yes!” He nodded, “I want to become stronger, stronger than every other wild Tyranitar. Becoming a trainer's Pokemon is the way to do that.”

  His mother turned away without a word, an introspective expression on her face.

  After another long silence, his mother finally spoke up again, “I had a child before you.”

  “What?” Larry was completely blindsided by the comment.

  “It was stolen by humans,” She had a hard expression on her face, “The egg was taken while I wasn’t looking.”

  ‘I knew it, Donphan already told me about this the first time we met.’ Larry thought to himself, ‘She probably thinks both her children will be taken by humans, but she’s wrong.’

  “Valerie isn’t like those humans, Mom.” Larry tried.

  “I know she isn’t,” She replied with a nod. “I know that…But still…” It was clear to Larry that his mother didn’t entirely trust Valerie, or any other humans.

  His mother argued back, “Would you come back to the mountain with me if I said I didn’t want you to go on the journey with her?”

  Larry immediately nodded, “Of course.”

  “But you wouldn’t be satisfied, right?” She told him, “You want to explore.”

  Seeing what his mother was saying, Larry answered sheepishly, “No, I wouldn’t be…”

  His mother once again turned quiet. The expression on her face was indiscernible, and nobody in the room dared to speak up again. She spoke again, “And you would come visit?”

  “A-As often as we’re able to, we’ll still be traveling across the country after all,” Larry explained.

  Valerie leaned over to Larry, whispering into his ear, “Is she still scared of leaving you with me?” to which Larry nodded back.

  His mother looked past Valerie, finding Michelle still hiding behind her, crouched down behind her seat.

  “Is that her mother?” His mother asked him, with a nod from Larry. Michelle averted her eyes when his mother stared at her. Valerie turned back to her with a whisper, “Mom, you gotta say something too. Convince her!”

  Finally, Michelle picked herself up off the floor from her hiding spot behind Valerie with a sigh. Gathering all the courage she could muster, she spoke up, “Umm?”

  She shrank back slightly at a Tyranitars' gaze, but prevailed, “I-I also care for my daughter here, b-but a journey is seen by humans as a test of maturity. Not every human goes on one, but those who do are well respected for doing so, no matter their level of success. Just the mere act of persevering and stepping out into the world with their Pokemon is seen as something to be proud of.”

  She’d managed to claw back some courage and began to speak earnestly, “Just as you would put your young out there into the world, I’ll be putting my daughter out there as well. I know it's a lot to ask to put your trust into people whom you’ve only just met, but I hope you can see that we’re not acting maliciously.”

  W-What I’m trying to say here,” Michelle refocused as she sat back down on her seat next to Valerie, “Please, trust my daughter with your young! She is an exceptionally smart girl for her age, and if she is anything like her father, she will have a talent for raising Larry into a powerful Tyranitar.”

  Valerie went red in the face at her mother's praise, “Arceus, Mom!” She pushed her to the side bashfully, "That's way too much praise!”

  …

  His mother looked away from the duo's act, once again going introspective. Her expression looked pained and unsure. Turning back to Larry, she’d clearly come to some sort of decision, “You’ll visit?”

  “Of course!” Larry jumped at the comment, seeing his Mom waver, “I’ll visit a whole lot! Valerie caught a Natu, which can teleport. If she manages to train her, I’m sure there won’t be any time we won’t be able to visit.”

  Finally, she squinted her eyes in thought. “I don’t like it.”

  She turned away, “But it was our original goal to leave the mountain. Yet, I still think it is too early for you to go out alone.”

  Before Larry could counter, she continued, "You aren’t going alone, though…”

  “So…I’ll allow you to go on that journey.”

  “Oh my god!” Larry jumped for joy, the bed creaking painfully under the strain of the two, “Thank you so much, Mom! I love you, you’re the best!”

  “Did she say yes?” Valerie asked from the sidelines, seeing Larry jump around on his mom's bed in celebration. After a nod, she joined him in his celebration, “Oh my goodness!” She pounced on his mother, enveloping the giant, rocky Pokemon in a hug, “Thank you so much, Larry's Mom!”

  Michelle, for her part, panicked, “V-V-Valerie! Don’t get so close to her-”

  …

  Walking away from the Center, the trio talked amongst each other.

  “I can’t believe we just successfully convinced a Tyranitar to give us her kid…” Michelle confessed, much to Valerie's amusement, “I guess at the end of the day we’re both just concerned parents, sending our kids out on their journeys.”

  “Yeah, she’s prickly, but with a soft core.” Valerie commented, to nods of agreement from Michelle and her Pokemon, “I’m glad everything went so well, right, Larry?”

  Walking next to Valerie, Larry once again feels his eyes sting as he wipes away tears. Valerie kneels next to him, enveloping him in a hug, “Aww, you’re happy your mom is alright, aren’t you?”

  Larry nods back as he wipes at his eyes, unsure of why he is even crying until he realizes, ‘Oh yeah. It’s relief.’

  Patting him on the head and consoling him, Valerie spoke, “Let’s get Sybil and go get some grub, why don’t we?”

  The big, important fact is, you'll be seeing him finally go on that journey with Valerie in the next Arc!

  For now, we'll finish up all the loose ends at the League Reception town, and then the next Arc will begin.

  I won't be posting an updated picture, I'll reveal it when it's completely done, build some more suspense...