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"Oh, cool!" Lyle said at the sight of the Zorua. He climbed in the car, partly to get a better look at her. "She's pretty. Can I pet her?" You always had to ask before touching pokemon you didn't know, and especially ones that were working. They taught that early on in school.

Spinel hopped down from Lyle's shoulder to meet the new pokemon, and skidded slightly when his clawed feet his the smooth surface of the hard seat. He recovered his balance quickly and looked over the other Dark-type with interest. Then he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue a bit in imitation of her panting.

Lyle sat down and reached a hand over Spinel to pet Zaire. "She's really soft!" he said almost as soon as he touched her. Her fur was really thick, too. When he went to scratch her neck in the place that is neighbor's Growlithe liked best, he found that almost his entire hand disappeared into her ruff.

Just for fun, Spinel copied Zaire's movements. "Eye!" he said, before stretching out his neck to sniff her back.

Lyle hardly even noticed when the car started moving. Zaire was cute and fun to pet! He reached his other hand over to scratch her with both at once.

Spinel tried to keep mimicking Zaire's movements, but not having a hand to respond to kind of made things hard. It looked like the Zorua was really enjoying it. Now he wanted scratching too. He bumped his head against Lyle's arm for attention and looked up pleadingly.

Lyle looked over at his pokemon. "Aw, you feeling left out?" Se he switched one hand to Spinel and scratched him on the head between the fins.

Lyle felt off scratching the pokemon to slide out of the car door. Spinel immediately hopped back onto Lyle's hat, which seemed to be a favorite perch of his. Lyle glanced up towards the pokemon and commented, "You like it up there, huh? Good thing you'll never evolve and get bigger. You'll always be able to fit on my head!" Spinel leaned over the brim of the hat to look at Lyle upside down and grinned, quite happy at the thought.

Lyle looked up at the Pokemon Center. "I had a battle with a wild pokemon and had Spinel healed here after, but I dunno how much of a checkup they did." He frowned at the memory. "I wasn't very good at battling. But I'll get better! I joined the pokemon trainer club that meets after school, and I got some books out of the library about Sableyes." He looked up at the cop, grinning widely. "We're gonna catch lots of pokemon and beat all the gyms and be the best!"

"Mkay, sounds good," Lyle said. "That OK with you, Spinel?"

"Sableye," his pokemon said noncommittally. He didn't care one way or another. He wasn't really new to checkups; he might not have had one with his new boy, but he'd had them with his old trainer. He got quiet briefly as he remembered his last owner. Sometimes he wondered what had happened to him, where he had gone that Spinel couldn't find him. He'd looked for his old trainer; had his trainer looked for him?

Lyle noticed his pokemon get more still than usual, and misunderstood the reason. "Spinel, you OK? The nurse won't hurt you, there's nothing to be afraid of. Zaire's gonna go first to show you." He reached up to pat his pokemon reassuringly, if somewhat awkwardly due to the angle.

Spinel hadn't meant to make his boy worry. "Sable!" he said more cheerfully, and nuzzled the boy's hand. He was a good boy.

Lyle followed the cop into the Pokemon Center and went up to the counter. He watched as the cop and the nurse talked, and when she asked him a question he answered, "Uh-huh. I just got Spinel." He pointed up to the pokemon on his head to make it clear who Spinel was.